e e e e e e e e e Miss pran we're going to get started in about a minute okay yes thank you mayor we're having a little technical issues here but we'll be there thank you sir for for e all right good morning Miss Prime we're all set thank you mayor good morning this is a meeting of the El Paso city council for Tuesday January 7th 2025 Mayor Johnson is present and presiding along with representativ Chavez representative ASO representative roacha representative Treo representative noo representative Fierro representative leemon and representative Canales it is 9:02 a.m. mayor we have a quorum okay we're all set yes sir would you like me to continue please thank you and now will everyone please silence or electronic devices so as not to disturb the meeting and rise for the invocation delivered by El Paso Police senior chaplain David Mayfield Johnson Council thank you for this opportunity to come before you and pray for this Council and for our community and with that I would invite those present to join me as I pray Creator God As We Gather here at the start of a New Year let us take a moment to reflect and Center ourselves we are grateful for the opportunity to serve this community and to work together in the spirit of collaboration understanding and progress may we approach the decisions before us with humility integrity and a commitment to the common good let this Council be a place where all voices are heard where ideas are shared openly and where challenges are met with creativity and courage May our deliberations today and throughout this year ahead be guided by wisdom fairness and a deep sense of responsibility to those we serve may we work not just for today but for the generations to come striving always to create a community that is inclusive resilient and full of opportunity for all with gratitude for the trust placed in us let us move forward together in unity and Hope all of this we pray humbly in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit amen Mayor Johnson will you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance iedge Al to the flag the United States of America to the republ for it stands one nation under God indivisible with Li and justice for we're ready 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 presiding chair you will have up to 10 minutes for debate you may speak twice per item and please speak into the microphone and refrain from side conversations at the de while the meeting is in session for those of you joining virtually please make sure your microphones are on mute to reduce any background noise thank you and good morning everyone I want to welcome you to our very first city council meeting and I want to say that it was a very special evening last night and um I want to thank the the city manager and and also please thank your staff for an incredible evening that we had and all the swearing in ceremonies and and and all the work that went into making a special evening for a city council representatives and for the mayor uh I understand there was close to a thousand people there last night which was an incredible number in the community came out and we we appreciate that uh I also want to thank everyone that's here today and the audience to to be at our first city council meeting it is very special to us and and it's uh uh we're going to be a little rusty but we'll get through it uh and we'll learn we we had some little technical issues early on but we we will get through that I think the first item Mr Prime we have is selecting a mer protim and a alternate mer protim yes sir item number one is discussion and action on the election of Mayor protm and Alternate mayor protm okay you you know as We Gather here today um I would like to discuss what's an important leadership uh uh discussion that will help guide the community uh for the months and if I'm in if I'm absent so we need to select what is called a a mayor protim and an alternate mayor a Pro Temp and they will serve in my absence if if I'm unable to be at a function or or something happens to me uh we are very fortunate to have uh very eight qualified uh city council Representatives that can certainly do this job and and this is a very uh tough decision this council is also made up of a very diverse group uh of many years of public uh experience and professional experience and varied backgrounds uh we have a number of different genders and ages here on the city council uh and it is with great pride and enthusiasm that I would recommend representative Alejandra Chavez to be our next mayor protim uh and here's why uh Miss Chavez was a very successful small business owner that served the El Paso Community for two decades she has been on a number of boards in our community and continues to make her family and children a priority what sets representative Chavez apart is not just her qualifications but her unwavering passion for fostering inclusivity and collaboration in addition she understands that effective governance requires listening to all all the constitues and working together to find solutions that benefit everyone her ability to bring people together in a work setting is a testate to her leadership style which is both compassionate and effective her journey in a accomplishments will inspire young women and girls to pursue their dreams and take on leadership roles appointing her as mayor Pro Tim is not just a recognition of her capabilities it is a step towards greater representation and equity in our local government I believe that she will excel in this position I would also like to recommend that representative art Fiero be considered as the mayor alt mayor Pro him I have known Mr Fiero for over 15 years and I've had the pleasure of working with him on boards and watching him represent El Paso uh as a Texas State representative 79 at the state capital in Austin he is also a proud father and his commitment to serve this community expands decades he brings with him a lot of valuable historical knowledge and important Public Service experience for these reasons I would like Council to please consider representative Chavez as the mayor protim and Mr art Fier uh Fiero as the alternate mayor protim and I would entertain a motion uh if Council would so approve them mayor uh I make a motion to approve okay and Miss can we take them both in in one vote Yes you can okay second I was to second I was too any other nominations no okay well now there was a motion made by representative n seconded by representative ASO and this is to appoint representative Chavez as the mayor potim and representative fedal as the alternate mayor po on that motion y call for the vote loing session is open and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously [Applause] congratulations item number two is discussion and action on a resolution adopting the rules of order for City Council meetings this is to approve the existing rules of order yes sir I second is there any discussion yes Mayor Johnson uh I just I I did a comparison of the ex in Rules of Order and then what is uh provided here in the backup I didn't see any discrepancy um I don't know if the city attorney's office is able to answer is this uh exactly the same as the existing rules of order yes it is Sir okay that's my only question thank you mayor okay any other discussion M Prime please call for the vote Yes sir there was a motion made by representative Federal second it by I second representative roacha and this is to approve the Rules of Order on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously that brings us to the consent agenda all matters listed under the consent agenda will be considered by city council to be routined and will be enacted by one motion unless separate discussion is requested by council members prior to the vote members of the audience may ask questions regarding items on the consent agenda when the vote has been taken If an item has not been called out for separate discussion the item has been approved Council May however reconsider any item at any time during the meeting move to approve second there's a motion and a second any discussion district 7 yeah I'm sorry I just see a light here that popped up sorry there you go thank you I would like to ask Council to please allow me to pull consent agenda item number six excuse me number five five and although the no reason is needed I do want to let you know that when I reviewed this list there were three or four um residents from district 7 who were on this list this was a very interesting topic during The Campaign which we just got off the trail and I would like as I used to do the opportunity to contact them make them aware of why they have this lean and the opportunities that they have to pay for this lean before it becomes a permanent thing on the on their on their bills on their home and so I I ask Council to please uh second this motion and approve it thank you and what item is that uh representative item number five the solid waste leans okay and that's a revision that will be considered with a consent agenda okay is there any are there any other revisions to the consent agenda there is a motion made by representative AO seconded by representative Canales and this is to approve the consent agenda as revised on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously and Mr Mayor if we can may we go to item five that was moved to the regular agenda yes thank you item five is the solid Wast leans posted on the attachment with the agenda be approved I make a motion that we move that item to our next meeting which would be in two weeks time so you're just going to delay it yes postpone it I'll second that thank you all right we have we have a motion and a second is there any discussion all right M bran call for yes mayor signal on yeah okay here we go I got to get this figured out here so uh let's start with the representative Fier if it's mayor if we're going to postpone it I don't I can send my question to Miss Mack email all right uh representative Canal thank you mayor uh the department is standing by I just wanted to make sure no no issues for you operationally if we move this two weeks no so there's not okay thank you okay any further discussion Mr Ry yes sir there was a motion made by representative leemon second by representative Ferro and this is to postpone item number five for two weeks and it will be postponed to the January 22nd regular meeting that'll be on a Wednesday on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously that brings us to the first reading of ordinances this is item number nine on the agenda move to approve second there's a motion made by representative ACO seconded by representative Fiero and this is to approve the first reading of ordinances this is item number nine on the agenda on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously that brings us to item number 10 and this is discussion and action on the removal of Award of task order 2 under solicitation 2023-the project number two to Keystone GC LLC in an estimated Award of $721 4231 representative let me make sure I get this right asabo District Two thank you mayor um I just um wanted to tell you EV that I'm thankful for the meeting yesterday and explaining what's Happening Here I think the the big takeaway that I took from that is that we need to have more controls in place and I appreciate that you're doing it as your department to mitigate any of the risk that is happening with stuff like this so um I I am a little frustrated that we have to do this and it's going to delay the project but at the same time um thank you for catching this and making sure that we're going to get a good park at the same time right and I think overall um what I'm seeing as as this whole thing I think we are really lacking a purchasing director right now and I think that purchasing director could really help mitigate risk and be the check and balances on some stuff maybe you don't catch it or they don't catch it and you could have that collaborative effort so as we get to a point where we find a purchasing director I really want to make sure that we are thinking about that and we're thinking about the the procedures that are going to be put in place to just make our our government function a lot better than it's functioning right now so thank you for all your efforts appreciate you I move to approve there's a motion and a second any further discussion oh representative Canalis thank you mayor uh yeah EV that I have a question for you um the this is a cdbg funded project do we have any issues uh with the the cdbg funding rolling over into the next calendar year and and potential future Award with the previous year cdbg money um good morning mayor and councel I this city engineer uh representative Gales that was one of the reasons why we did have a delay we are waiting from cdbg to roll over to fiscal year um starting in September um once we were provided those f funds then we realized that we were at capacity with this task order so we should um not experience any issues now that the project is out to bid with a low bid procurement okay understood thank you yes sir any further discussion all right M Prime there is a motion made by representative ASO seconded by representative Leon and this is to approve item number 10 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously item number 11 is discussion and action on an emergency ordinance extending emergency ordinance number 01 9333 authorizing the city manager to assign personnel and resources to assist in addressing the humanitarian and Public Safety crisis resulting from a mass migration through Al Paso there's a motion and second any discussion represent Li yes thank you thank you thank you presentation on this information please good morning may morning representative leemon Mario de austino Deputy city manager for the record um we don't have a presentation but this ordinance is what allows us to do the operations we're doing right now for migration efforts so it's not a declaration it's an emergency ordinance but it's allowing us to do things like maintain staff we have over 51 dedicated employees that work just on the migration crisis they're being paid through federal dollars right now it's transitioning over to an shsp which is a reimbursement method rather than Advanced funding like we had last in previous years so that is changing but we still have those people so far this year Jan since January 1 we've had to house I think 182 people with over 48 rooms it's mostly been family units so there's two to three people per room most cases and so we've been doing that nightly it's very small amount the average number of people coming into the country right now in this El Paso sector region is about 300 a day except for the last 3 days it's dropped down to right about 100 so we're seeing even a decline from what it's been so these these numbers are not anticipated to keep we're not anticipated to keep doing the housing they haven't been long-term housing it's just been overnight that's just until they can get their transportation out of the city the following day and so we're that's what this emergency ordinance does that's what it allows us to do and to continue doing yes ma'am any further discussion M Prime call for the vote yes there was a motion made by representative Federal second it by representative Nino and this is to approve item 11 on that motion call for the vote mayor on emergency ordinances we do require your consent do you consent thank you and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously with the mayor's consent that brings us to item number 12 and this is a public hearing of on an ordinance amending title line health and safety chapter 9.52 fire prevention code and this is to add definition of fire response expense to add by annual inspections to amend the height limit of combust combustible materials per unit to add subsection 105.5 56.10 response expenses to add response expenses for permit holders stemming from fire events representative Canales thank you mayor um yeah I want to thank uh Chief killings and and uh Chief harisu in particular I know you've put in a lot of time uh and effort into into getting to hear um obviously a lot of the conversation was uh precipitated by the the at a recycling facility in in the chami sad neighborhood in District 8 uh last year and um you know I think this is a good a good start in terms of the response uh from the city to to that kind of very large uh event obviously uh you know we we've had the discussion here in in previous Council meetings about how this was one of the largest fires uh that that the El Pasa fire department's ever had to respond to uh in in particular in terms of resources and so um I think that these changes to out the outside storage of combustible materials will really help uh to alleviate some of those concerns um obviously this is part of a a larger effort that we have been undertaking uh with the neighborhood to and you know with a a task force of of uh members of of many different city departments to look at at some broader things that we need to address across the chy Community I want to urge the the the neighbors to remember that that this is just a start um but this is a good a good place to start and I think that uh we will hopefully see a change in in what those regular fires at at facilities uh that store outside materials look like I think that that will change uh with this Title 9 uh Amendment so thank you both uh for for all the effort that's gone into getting here and to all the members of the of the task force who worked on this I think it uh is is bringing us to a better place so I just wanted to say thank you to both of you uh representative Fiero followed by representative oo thank you mayor Chief um I'm curious as to what input the stakeholders or or different departments had in this in in the titl length changes um was there anything that was recommended that's not in the changes and I I understand a living document that like representative Canalis just mentioned um but is there anything that we left out or or could have should have added yes so good morning mayor councel Jonathan killings fire chief of passive fire department so like uh representative Canalis was talking this was a really uh the uh a joint effort from multiple departments um multiple stakeholders including the businesses themselves um the uh neighborhood association and and the citizens that live within that District um so this is just one small Tool uh this is just one part that's going to be able to give us some components to be able to recoup some of the costs that are associated with these large responses when we're dealing with these large organizations or these large businesses and also be able to put some some extra um eyes on uh these businesses uh and make sure that um we we can control the storage that that the amount of storage and what they're storing outside of their business um as far as the input Chief arisu was really uh on the Forefront of this and he was coordinating with with all the stakeholders so he can speak to some of the things that uh perhaps were pushed further down the road to continue as we continue to to to build this this this project and chief as you continue to build it there'll be more input from the stakehold the businesses and the the constituents and um they'll be able to have their input also right right and it's built into this ordinance to to be able to uh go down and look look at all the businesses that could F possibly fall within this ordinance meet with them and provide education it's not just a tool to go out and uh you know um provide enforcement it's also a tool to provide education and familiarization so that everybody understands what's at risk with these large fires thank you and how to prevent them Mr Mayor that answers my question thank you sir thank you mayor um this is this is great um since the summer and we kind of gave the direction to do those cross cutting measures and to see a product come out of that and I know that you were kind of going back and forth on this ordinance to get to where we're at um I I think it is really important to sayate that this is the first step and there should be more steps after this right and I think that I continue to kind of say this um over and over but more collaboration between our teams is really key and we've had really good conversations um my myself and the city manager on this and so I I think this could also be a really nice case study just to kind of see what went wrong what went well and stuff like that in the future as we continue doing more collaboration across our teams one question that I had I the last time that we talked about this one thing that I was kind of wondering was how is enforcement going to look because I know we were talking about doing a yearly thing or maybe twice a year or something like that so do you have an idea of how that's going to go so within the ordinance we added um a second inspection so that we're going out twice within the year um also initially uh enforcement is going to look more like education we want to get out there and meet with the the property owners and and educate them and and make sure that everybody understands moving forward what's expected and why so okay that that sounds great and I I I really hope that we we have that continue because I think the the residents um some of them my constituents also will really appreciate that I I think in the past what's happened is there's a lot of ordinance is out there and people are like well can you pass an ordinance to fix this and then I go look and we already have an ordinance and we're just not enforcing it so I really don't want this to Fall by the wayside and I'm I'm really happy that you're going to go out there twice a year to do that educational part to get them to code so I appreciate that thank you yes sir thank you and Dr oo just want to add that you know as you know we begun talking about developing a code enforcement department that really gives us the capacity to to build on um our ability to be able to address the issues and concerns that we have um we have about 46 people who are in our nuisance area right now but we have seven different areas of of Code Enforcement across the city by consolidating those together we will have about 163 people um they will be cross trained they will be able to step into some of these areas because we certainly realize that it really is about having more capacity um to be able to follow up and as the team learns things having the capacity to have people on the ground who can follow up to have that education in terms of what we might need to do next so we appreciate the comment and we certainly will be following up with you representative Canalis I move to approve second any further discussion M fryan yes sir the motion was made by representative Canales seconded by representative Leon and this is to adopt the ordinance on item 12 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously that brings us to item 13 and this is a public hearing of an ordinance amending title 12 vehicles in traffic chapter 12.44 stopping standing and parking gener generally and this is to amend paragraph a policy to add recreational and entertainment for residential uses to delete to preserve the value of the property in those districts amend paragraph B to add applicant amend light density residential district amend resident amend res residential property and to add paragraph C creation of residential parking districts to delete paragraph G parking permits sub paragraph 4 limitations on the issuance of parking permits item D and to add paragraph G parking permits sub paragraph 4 limitations on the issuance of parking permits item D motion approve there's a motion in a second um just just I have a a question so um is can we get any background on uh this ordinance and the amendment yes sir um I'm Richard Bristol streets and maintenance the residential parking districts when we originally did them our problems were in neighborhoods and I'll give an example um high schools that are AB budding neighborhoods we had a lot of students would park in the neighborhood and not in the school parking lots and it just created a mess in the neighborhood another example would be like over here by UTEP the students had a history of parking up on red in the neighborhoods up there um around Cincinnati so we came up with this concept of a residential parking District to minimize um these these problems that are associated with it because they bring a lot of trash they bring a lot of debris um we've had a lot of issues uh especially when there's uh say like a bar nearby um some of you are familiar with some of the issues we had in Cincinnati district so we came up with this as a way to limit people from parking in their residential neighborhoods when they did not need to be there because of uh M multiple problems but what we didn't have at that time was an issue with a medium density neighborhood so we got an application from for a neighborhood traffic I mean the residential parking District rather from the um San Francis Xavier District uh neighborhood now the issue with them is that is zoned medium density our ordinance was zoned low density we had it zoned low density again because that's where the problems were when we originally started this now what we're doing is modifying our policy to accommodate this neighborhood so that we can implement the same uh traffic control measures that we've got in the other uh neighborhoods as well now it's a little bit harder to do this in higher density neighborhoods because there's more people there and there's going to be more cars there going to be more parking that's why we didn't do this originally so this is the first time we've done a medium density we believe we are going to make this work there is a big issue in the neighborhood it was item that we touched on earlier we introduced it the San Xavier neighborhood association um that's the one we're accommodating this for and their real issue that they're having is it but the it's very close to the the bridge the free bridge and people Park their vehicles and then they leave them there sometimes for days and they walk over the bridge and then these residents are not getting access to the parking front of their house so this is why this modification is in place okay thank you representative asto thank you mayor um this this is amazing this has been months of work and I I think the the meeting that kind of kicked everything off was in May or if I don't if I remember correctly so to have this product that the residents are going to really appreciate is is really incredible I think that one one thing that my constituents are going to be wondering is how are we going to distribute these parking passes and how are we doing that so when they call my office I kind of want to walk them through it sure I'm gonna ask Joe if he could walk us through that real quick yes uh Jose Hernandez with streets of main world record um with with that said uh the previous um city manager had um set them to not for them not to pay fees on on the parking fees right um but as far as Distributing um it could yeah I'll have I'll have to help on so originally the when we had that meeting we talking about the fee was going to be waved um we can't we don't have anywhere in the ordinance where we can wave that fee so that is not part of this okay and that's simply why so if that's going to be an action we cannot initiate that right you would the fees are instituted through our budget resolution in Schedule C and and we requireed to charge based on the cost that it to provide the service so you can't just wave the fee it would have to be done by ordinance so that would be another Council item that we would have to put on the agenda correct and you would have to do a cost benefit analysis on what the cost is to the city and then who Bears the cost of not paying for that yeah so I I think so the public has a better understanding of this neighborhood it's probably like 30 houses at the most and my My worry is that they are really kind of secluded by a freeway by the bridge of the Americas and it's it's a very very small area and I don't know if they're going to be able to afford two parking passes every year and so I really want to make sure that I understand what you're saying the the legal part and fee schedule but if there is a special fee that we could come up with in another agenda item is that something that we could look at so let me discuss a little bit more the legal problem it's it's a gift of public funds which we'll discuss with the council over the course of the next couple of weeks but um you have to have a conversation about whether or not you waving a fee would amount to a gift of public funds and then it rolls into a slippery slope because you charge fees for a lot of other applications right so if you wave it for one why aren't you waving for others so before you all want to go talk about waving a fee there have been instances in which members of council have contributed are the discretionary funds to pay for onetime fees we could have a conversation about whe that's something that may be available in this situation um but I would not recommend at this time that you move forward with amending the ordinance to wave the fee and and I understand the gift of public funds and I understand that there needs to be a fee but maybe it doesn't need to be the current fee which is like $50 well the fee is based on what the cost is to provide those Services I'll I'll defer to Miss Mack let us take some time just to pull all this together for you sir to understand how it would impact the entire city look at the um cost for providing service look at any other options we might have and we may come to the same conclusion but let us just be a little bit more thorough and bring in the answer back to you if you can give me a month yeah that's fine be happy to bring that back to I appreciate that I move to approve this item there oh there sorry yeah uh there's some more discussion so uh representative Canalis followed by representative Fier thank you mayor yeah um a lot of I I won't say all I think it's not all but most of the existing residential parking districts are in District dates so I get a lot of questions and and uh communication from my constituents about this the decals I believe correct me if I'm wrong Mr Bristol it's $10 $10 per year correct $10 you get two per residence okay and it's for two or it's $10 like $10 per residence or it's $10 per per you will get two okay and then two visitors passes as well correct yeah is it two visitors passes I think we no it's it's $10 per vehicle per year okay I'm sorry that's why I BR Joe that's okay yep $10 per vehicle is is what I maximum two vehicles and two visitors passes okay um yeah I mean I I agree I think we'll run into if we wave a fee in one residential parking District but not the others we run run into a problem there it's it's uh you know I I I appreciate uh miss Ma that you'll look into it and get back to us with more information about what's possible but um I I just I I I think the $10 per vehicle per year is is a pretty reasonable fee and I agree maybe for for St Francis Xavier I know it's a very difficult location uh it used to be in District 8 uh when I was a district a staffer and so I've had a lot of communication with the residents there too this is actually the uh the solution that we proposed to them back in I mean this this conversation didn't start this past year we started this conversation in 2017 I think um and and we proposed this solution back then they weren't interested then um I'm glad things have changed now I think it makes a lot of sense uh to have a residential parking district there um because there's such a small number of of residents is um again I think the solution of looking at uh discretionary funds and whether that might be a solution is is a good option too um I just want to make sure that we we apply the the fees for residential parking districts fairly across all of them um they actually some of the ones in my district are more expensive because if they're within the downtown planning area I believe it's 30 $30 per vehicle per year so our fee is $25 per application on the RPD yes the application fee is $25 and it's $10 per vehicle per year on all across all residential parking districts okay it was my understanding that the downtown ones paid uh additional fee no okay in that case thank you all for the work on this I know it's not been uh it's not been easy with the the uh San Havier neighborhood so um you know I appreciate the work that you put in over many years to get to this place and uh you know thank you to representative aavo who I think has advanced this a lot in the past few months um you know I I felt the the hurt of that neighborhood again they're surrounded by highway on three sides it's not a it's and they're triangles so it's all all all three sides um not an easy place to be so thank you well thank you thank you guys any further discussion you're welcome Miss briyan yes there was a motion made by representative Federal seconded by representative n and this is to adopt the ordinance on item 13 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously item number 14 is discussion and action that the city manager or design be authorized to deprogram the proposed philippy Court Street reconstruction and execute necessary budget trans transfers to the Mexican American Cultural Center project and museums and cultural Affairs Department Art Museum HVAC replacement move to approve second there's a motion any uh discussion on this item representative lion thank you mayor I'm I'm so I'm not familiar with the philippy Court Street uh situation is that something you could explain to us at this time yes good morning evand this Capital Improvement Department um so Philip E Court um that is not a dedicated street so when this was identified in the 2012 2013 Bond The Hope was that the residents would see the benefit of having this um Lane dedicated as a street and then resurfaced and maintained by our streets and maintenance department we worked with many of the residents um along this area um unfortunately the discussions were not fruitful and they did not want to um dedicate the RightWay so that this could become a dedicated Street where where's where is it located it's an unpaved Private Drive unpaved Private Drive is that what it is yes ma'am how did it end up in uh what 2012 as a project then um I believe because there is already some Milling some asphalt it does appear to look as a street and the intent was hoping that the residents would after discussions with the city want to dedicate this so that it could become a street and so technically who owns that street the residents the residents own the street correct portions of the street yes and what was the total amount allocated I believe 900 sorry I don't have the original amount I want to say it was 970,000 okay I'm sorry yes 970,000 okay so so that amount now is um you're requesting that it be transferred to the Mac correct um and to the art museum so those two projects so how will it be split so on on the backup you'll see with exhibit a 160,000 is being allocated to the Mac 6 uh 37 7,000 will also be allocated and then we're transferring 113,000 so my apologies the the um philippy was 797 632 my apologies I was uh adding those both okay because the 100 in exhibit a for the art museum the 113,000 that is identified project savings so my apologies on adding those both together I miss spoke and the money for the Mac will go specifically to what so we have uh four different items that we need to complete with the Mac um so a water softening and also reverse osmosis that is needed for the humidifiers um we need to install author's names on one of the glass walls that is on the public library um they've also realized that they uh require kiosks so we're making the purchase of kiosk and then the last one is to also clean disinfect and get the furniture ready for move in that's for the museum the Mac Public Library it's been combined as one project yes ma'am okay clean and disinfect furniture that will go where in the public library so the reason why it's identified as the Mac our uh financing has it identified as Mac Public Library so it's combined since it's one footprint it's combined as one project is the library open no ma'am okay and when will the Mac be open we should be complete with construction end of this month thank you very much good morning for the record Ben F managing director quality of life we'll be announcing the official opening date uh within the next few weeks we are very excited staff has begun to move into the Mac side of the building uh but as you heard from Mr there's still a lot of work to be done thank you any further discussion did did we have a motion in a second yes sir the motion was made by representative Canales seconded by representative Federal this is to approve item 14 okay any further discussion on this item all Miss Bry on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously that brings us to the final item and this is item 15 discussion and action on a resolution that the city manager or designate is authorized to effectuate the purchase and closing of a 1720 acre parcel of property legally described as a portion of track 1 Section 32 block 80 Township 1 Texas and Pacific Railway company service surveys in the city of Al Paso Al Paso County Texas including any and all improvements located on the property for 62,6 second there's a motion is second any discussion seeing no discussion Miss Prime yes the motion was made by representative th seconded by representative Roa representative or mayor protm Chavez and this is to approve item 15 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously council at this time we would need to recess the meeting until noon for call to the public so moved we need to recess the city council meeting until noon for the call to the public you have 10 o00 that's a separate meeting move to recess until noon second there's a motion in a recess to recess a regular city council meeting until noon all in favor anyone opposed and the meeting is in recess at 9:50 a.m. and we'll reconvene at noon and the mass transit Department board meeting will convene in 10 minutes okay thank you thank you e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e Council if you'll please return to the day it is 10:00 and we need to reconvene we need to convene the mass transit Department board please e e M pan you ready yes sir let's do it good morning this is a meeting of the El Paso mass transit Department board for Tuesday January the 2025 it is now 10:01 a.m. present and presiding is board chair Johnson also present in council chambers are board members Chavez acedo Maldonado roacha poar Trejo Ivano Fierro lemon and Canales there is no public comment and all matters listed under the consent agenda will be considered by mass transit Department board to be routined and will be enacted by one motion unless separate discussion is requested by members of the P by Me by by board members prior to the vote members of the audience may ask questions regarding items on the consent agenda when the vote has been taken If an item has not been called out for separate discussion the item has been approved the mass transit Department board May however reconsider any item at any time during the meeting the only item on the consent agenda is the minutes second motion and second any discussion Miss pran we do have a motion made by board member Fiero seconded by board member ACO I don't see it there thank you voting session is open no okay I'll open it again do you see it now voting session is open they don't see it do you you don't see it still okay I'll take verbal roll call Board member Chavez yes ACO yes Roa yes tjo yes noo yes Fiero Leon Canales I Mr chairman approve thank you and the consent agenda has been approved unanimously item number two I mean number three sorry it is discussion and action on the request to issue purchase order to increase contract this change order will increase the referenced contract by 12, 35995 for a total amount not to exceed 61 m799 975,000 move to approve second I'll try the motion again let me see motion made by board member Canales seconded by board member Fierro any discussion on this item Miss Nunes do you see the voting session open no ma' no yes there good uh there's discussion uh representative leemon I just wanted a little bit more information on this any information that you can provide as someone new on Council Deputy transit officer so we have an existing contract with new flyer to purchase buses um under State Statute you can modify the contract by 25% without having to go out for rebid last summer we won we were awarded a $32 million Grant to purchase uh 30 buses 30 35 foot buses so we we are increasing this contract amount in the amount necessary to to purchase those buses and to receive them prior to 2027 the reason we're using this as well is that the new flyer has announced they will no longer um manufacture 35 foot buses which are about $300,000 cheaper than 40 foot buses after March 2027 so we want to get our order in get in the queue get manufactured and accept the buses if they're no longer going to be Manufacturing um what will happen to uh maintenance Parts service for those places the engines and and parts will stay the same the difference would be the the dimension they'll go to a 40 foot bus instead of a 35 foot bus there are some advantages for the city in going to a 40 foot bus um it allows us for example to have dual compressors for air conditioners which helps us keep the buses cooler in the summertime in addition we're also looking at all of our routes to and our Riders should belong those routs to determine whether it's more cost- effective to use a smaller bus like we use for the lift they're called cutaways that carry up to 18 passengers instead of running a full bus I am very interested in hearing about that possibility I always worry about the big buses right with very very few people on board so thank you thank you very much Anthony deiser the director of from for Sun Metro um just to um add on to what Jerry was saying um So currently we use um new flyer buses we have about 158 buses um in our in our inventory um and so like Jerry said we're just we we since new Flyers moving to 40 foot buses no longer will supply 30 35 foot buses they're still using the same engines and the same parts and so the engines will remain the same and so the maintenance will remain the same so there we will require no more training but if we move to a different type of bus we we would then put two types of buses into our inventory and so that would become uh problematic with the the parts the different other contracts that we have we'd have to go out and get new contracts for those parts we'd also have to go to training so it' become quite expensive for us to to change it will cost us more money to get the 40 foot buses right right and so we have to do this but what we do do is we pay pay these this when we increase the contract what we'll do with the contract is we'll pay it with the formula grants which the formula grants are reoccurring grants and we do that because then we can get the uh Transportation development credit right with this Transportation development credit over uh every two years in the future we'll buy 10 buses right and the reason why we'll buy 10 buses after this surge because we just got a Lano Grant which makes us we can get 32 buses off a loo Grant which is free right and then we just had 20 buses come in that we bought and we got 10 more that we we have coming in so off of known funds and after we get these 32 from Lo no in the future we'll buy 10 buses at a time so in about three years we'll have replaced every bus that Sun Metro has so in the first for the first time in the history of Sun Metro We have replaced all the buses right and so the the FTA says recommends the guidances that you should have um all the bus is replaced before a certain period of time or before they go over a certain amount of miles right so this would be the first time in the history of Sun Metro that that's happen and now we have a buy Plan the buy Plan has us now depending on how many grants we get in the future is to buy 10 buses at a time and so we use this um transportation development credits and use formula grants to buy the buses so we want to increase this contract right and then pay the contract with these the formula grants so we can use the trans Transportation development credits to get back money how much money 5% every two years which means every 20 buses we get a million dollars back so we're trying to look at every way we can spend money but save money and so we need to increase this here so we can pay it back with the formula grants so we can get money back we don't want to change what we're doing just like we don't want to change and go electric yet because if we change and go electric right then we got to change the infrastructure we got to change the infrastructure and then it'll cost us a lot of money to change the infrastructure probably $10 million because we're already set up for CG right because we're already low no low emissions because we use CG we get it pumped right into sun Metro's talk right and we're already set up the infrastructure set up that way and all the mechanics are set set up that way but we are going electric we're going electric at the pair Transit and so half of our Fleet is going to be electric at the PA Transit we're also going electric with um um uh yes thank you with microtransit because we're doing this sunm Metro rising and sun metr rizon is a new um optimization for all the fix route but I'm going to get on everybody's calendar that's new and explain to you some metr rizing and how it optimizes all the fix route but uses the same amount of resources and now to get to to what Jerry's point is some of that is not using the bigger buses on the routes that does doesn't have the ridership and so what I want to do is I want to buy cutaways right so a cutaway cost about $250,000 but a bus cost a million dollars so now I can buy four cutaways for the price of one bus so what I want to do is I'm looking at my strategic um financial goals right and I want to make it so that we don't spend any money out of the fund balance in the future right so we went from spending $10 million out of fund balance to $3.5 million out of fund balance going forward but I have things in place so that now we're not going to spend that $3 million either but I have to do things like what I just described in the future but I'm going to get on your counter explain that to you but I just want to get this right here passed today that's what I'm trying to do yeah if you have any other questions thank you very much that was very good thank you yeah you you know Anthony before you leave I I do want to congratulate you guys on uh running a very effective Som Metro program I had the opport to uh hop on one of the buses there at the Veterans Day Parade in in in Northeast not too long ago and and and you always Beam with pride when when you're showing uh the buses and and the things you're doing and also congratulations to the the entire team on getting the grant of $32 million that that's incredible and I know there will be more dollars out there and what you're doing with the pair Transit as well so congratulations to the whole team and and keep making history you said this was the first time ever in Sun Metro history so keep it up and keep up the good work because Metro love El Paso yeah the El Paso uh folks appreciate what you're doing keep up the good work thanks sir and is there any other questions yes we have uh one other question coming out of Representative Chavez Mr deiser thank you for your explanation and I also want to congratulate you on getting that Grant and I'm looking forward to our conversation just coming off the campaign Trail I did speak to many constituents in District One regarding Sun Metro routes and I would like to uh convey those messages to you when we get a chance okay thank looking forward to it thank you thank you any more discussion he's trying to get this P so any more discussion all right I believe we have a motion in a second Miss Nunes the voting session is open I'm missing a few votes thank you and the item has been approved unanimously including Chairman's vote next item is item number four and this is discussion and action on the request to decrease contract 2023 0673 janitorial services mass transit rebid to Francisco Coral doing business as Eagle Janitorial Service Company this change order will decrease reference contract by 1,295 800 6950 for a total estimated amount not to exceed 4 million to 12840 is there a motion to approve motion approve second there's a motion and second any discussion and we do have a motion made by board member Fiero seconded by board member Canales and this is to approve the item voting session is open voting member leemon can I don't see your vot we have a some discussion thank you ma'am uh represent leemon no no that's okay requested to speak but no that's okay all right no worries call for the vot voting session the voting session has ended and the item has been approved unanimously item item number five is discussion and action on the award of solicitation to lulac project amistat doing business as project amistat for an initial term of 3 years for an estimated amount of 1, 890,000 and this contract will provide additional pirate Transit capacity to meet user demand motion approve second there's a motion and a second uh discussion representative Canalis thank you mayor yeah I don't see Amistad here but uh they've done an excellent job carrying out our our uh Transit part part of our Paratransit service over the last several years so I think it's a a great idea to stick with uh a provider that's doing a good job thank you all representative leemon thank you I just a couple of things um two things is uh did um project Amistad not change to Simply amista yes they go by amista okay because here it's still listed as project amist stuff and then second of all this is a service that's provided like to seniors uh uh seniors going to doctor's appointments things like that these are uh provided to the Paratransit Community those that are emotionally disabled or physically disabled and unable to ride normal Transit and this is what was the lift what I've always known as the lift this is the lift with okay thank you so the lift currently is operated by a company called MV and MV is subcontracting to Amistad and that costs us 10% % more uh because they mark it up 10% So to avoid that markup we're taking that contract inhouse and when we need it we will supplement the actual lift service provided by MV very good my mother was a a regular user of the lift programs I'm always very interested to know and hear how it's operating uh very successful in our belief and so thank you very much for the information today thank you appreciate it any more discussion Miss Nunes and we do have a motion made by board member Fiero seconded by board member noo to approve the item voting session is open Mr Canales the voting session has ended and the item has been approved unanimously item number six is discussion and action on the award of solicitation 2025 0056 R physical exams to fastest Labs of El Paso for an initial term of 3 years for an estimated amount of 150,000 and this contract will provide required physical exams for bus drivers second we have a motion in a second is there any discussion on this agenda item hearing that Miss Nunes thank you we do have a motion made by board member leemon seconded by board member Canalis voting session is open Mr Canales voting session has ended thank you and the item has been approved unanimously is there a motion to adjourn all those in favor I anyone opposed and the mass transit Department board meeting of January the 7th 2025 has adjourned at 10:20 a.m. thank you Council and the regular meeting remains in recess until known for call to the public thank you thank you e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e Miss pran do we have a quorum yet yes mayor there is a quorum all right let's call the meeting council is there a motion to reconvene there's a motion and a second to reconvene the regular city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed and the regular city council meeting is back in session at 12: noon we now go to call to the public the El Paso city council is a local government body charged with serving the citizens of the AL Paso 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 Civility and Decor that is respectful to other persons without the use of insulting profane threatening or abusive language public comment 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 had two members of the public sign up to speak the first person is Elizabeth Crawford Miss craw Crawford's topic is Epiphany inherits Massacre of infants good afternoon Miss Crawford you have three minutes good afternoon thank you good afternoon um I'd like to speak briefly about um the Advent season um yesterday as we know many people celebrated Three Kings Day the account of Christ in the Bible Jesus was saved from infanticide Herod had targeted the babies in Bethlehem by God Mercy the Lord Jesus was was saved by God's Providence one of the most fascinating accounts of the Magi the astronomers is how they saw the star and came into Bethlehem we're told in Matthew 2 now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king behold there came wise men from the east of Jerusalem saying where is he that is born King of the Jews for we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him as the account progresses we read of how God warned in a dream and because of God's warning Jesus was saved while many babies were slaughtered in our world where abortion infanticide in the womb has become overall accepted there is one who sees all and who will one day hold everyone in account to account for Action as New Mexico is ramping up in Southern New Mexico targeting the young ladies of Texas and specifically El Paso with the abortion industry we must keep in mind that God sees all we're told that the celestial expans reminds us of God's sovereignty he is in complete control of all he has created the psalmist writes he tells a number of the Stars he gives to all of them their names just after writing the God heals the Brokenhearted and binds up their wounds the same God who has intimate knowledge of each of his guards also knows and cares for people who are broken and wounded is it any wonder that even those who try to ignore God stand at all his majesty displayed in the sky and for those who know Christ as Savior the feelings go beyond a the sight of the Stars bring comfort and hope it reminds us of God's promises King David wrote when I consider your Heavens the work of your fingers the moon and the stars which you have ordained what man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him thank you so much hope you have a very good new year thank you thank you Miss Crawford oh we also Aro ernandez sign up to speak however I don't see him I don't see him in Chambers mayor so that concludes call to the public and that brings us to the end of the meeting all right is there a motion to adjourn move to adjourn second there's a motion in a second to adjourn the regular city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed and the regular city council meeting for Tuesday January 7th 2025 is adjourned at 12:04 p.m. thank you Council and you have the voting down to ass sciance so thank you very much