this is foreign foreign thank you test one two three test one two three good morning mayor representative can we come back up we're going to start with a with a chaplain please good morning mayor good morning well everyone please silence our electronic devices so as not to disturb the meeting and rise for the invocation delivered by El Paso Police senior chaplain David Mayfield morning sir morning mayor leaser Council thank you for the opportunity to come and pray for you and for our city now I invite those of you who wish to join me as I pray god of wisdom we seek your help today come and let your wisdom fall Upon Us Lord As We Gather for this meeting give us Clarity so that we can effectively tackle each part of today's agenda reveal problem areas and show us the best solutions that will apply help us apply your wisdom as we decide on certain matters and make plans keep us ever mindful that we are not only leaders of the community but Servants of the common good father I ask also that you you bless this city Prosper its businesses its families defend us especially those who work to keep us safe all of this we pray in the name of Jesus Christ amen good morning this is a meeting of the El Paso city council for Tuesday August 15 2023 mayor Lisa is present and presiding in site council chambers along with representative Kennedy mayor Pro temanello alternate mayor Pro temolinar and representative Rivera it is 902 A.M mayor we have a court thank you very much well you all like to lead us in the pledge please thank you very much of the United States thank you very much good morning everyone and um I'd like to um you know we haven't had a um a meeting since we had the August 3rd memory of our citizens that lost their lives and and when you think back you know we made a commitment as a community that we would never forget them and we'd never forget what happened as a community to make sure we always stay prepared but as the as we were there on August 3rd we understand that this will continue forever but also continue to make sure that we remember the families the First Responders the First Responders that went in there and I've talked to quite a few of them that went into the Walmart and it's something they'll never forget something that's embedded in their mind forever and when they took the oath they took the oath to protect our community they took the oath to understand that they would be prepared for the unknown and this was the unknown so I'd like to um have a moment of silence so we can pray for the victims for the victims families but also our First Responders within our community that continue to protect us day in and day out and we know that we can go to bed at night knowing that if we wake up in need you'll be there for us without overthinking twice or putting their lives in front of ours and that's something that's really important that they're willing to do day in and day out and these are police officers these are firefighters these are paramedics these are all First Responders the shows that have taken the oath to um make sure that they put their lives in front of ours and I've always told them that our their lives is as important as ours but they don't always agree so I want to make sure we keep them in our prayers and I'm very humbled and honored to have two former police officers that went to my ride when my left I took that oath many years ago and um so thank you all for that thank you sir and with that I'd like to have a moment of silence thank you thank you may God bless you and may God bless El Paschal in the United States thank you Miss Prine thank you mayor and for the record representative Fierro is also present in the meeting along with representative Canales who's also joined the meeting that brings us to the mayor's proclamations the first Proclamation is David L Carrasco Job Corps graduation day representative molinar good morning thank you Proclamation city of El Paso Texas whereas our nation's youth is one of our most valuable resources and whereas the David L Carrasco Job Corps Center an outstanding vocational and academic education training program for the Youth of El Paso and its surrounding areas has reached its 53rd year whereas during these 53 years the David L Carrasco Job Corps Center has provided much needed assistance and attention to students by helping them become responsible employable and productive citizens and whereas the city of El Paso commends the 2023 graduating class of the David L Carrasco Job Corps Center as they celebrate their accomplishments through a graduation ceremony now therefore be proclaimed by the mayor and Council of the city of El Paso that August 16 2023 shall be known as the David L Carrasco Job Corps graduation day signed Oscar liser The Honorable mayor for the city of El Paso can you will you please come up please good morning good morning mayor and good morning Council thank you very much for this opportunity I do have with me uh some of our Student Government officers I'm going to help them introduce themselves but yes thank you uh Job Corps continues 53 years we've been in El Paso for 19 since 1970. we do have an onboard strength of 210 students we do have students that come and go every day and those that do live there so we offer different vocations trades and we welcome you mayor to visit us we'll get together and hopefully you can pay us a visit we're in the the east side and our graduation is tomorrow night tonight we do have a rehearsal and to get ready for tomorrow's event so I'll go ahead and how many graduates should we have tomorrow night so we have over a hundred uh some of them do are from out of town for for a Josh or president is from out of town so we do have students that come in when they complete the program they move back home so we do have a handful that do attend tomorrow's event others do receive their their certificate their diploma and it's mailed out to them so we do have over a hundred and we do have it um we've had it for in August for the past couple of years great thank you you all like to introduce yourself please uh hi there and good morning my name is Joseph Moz I'm taking welding at the job corps I'm also finishing up a few academics for the tabe mathematics and I plan on doing um instructing for welding eventually great thank you very much congratulations good morning my name is Rodriguez I do automotive tech at Job Corp I finished um automotive tech at Job Corp with 12 certifications I'm planning on going to EPCC for diesel for two years and getting my associates and hopefully opening up my own shop soon and El Paso thank you thank you congratulations good morning good morning my name is David Ariano and I'm doing welding at Job Corps I plan to continue welding for the next 40 years and be an instructor hopefully congratulations thank you good morning good morning my name is Sean Howard I just completed rehabilitation in my CNA program I plan on going to college to continue my medical field and that's it thank you congratulations thank you good morning mayor good morning sir I am Joshua Smith I went to David Hall cross Co in January 10th I've been here for eight months now I've done facility maintenance and I finished my trade I'm going to college for renewable energy and I'll be doing that for two years and continue on with solar panels thank you congratulations thank you all [Applause] at this point and for the record representative Hernandez has joined the meeting and representative Salcido is running a few minutes late this morning that brings us to the next Proclamation and that is black business month our friends from the El Paso black Pages come up so whereas national black business month founded in 2004 invites us to recognize black owned businesses across the country and highlight their importance to communities in the National economy and the city of El Paso recognizes the valuable contributions made by black entrepreneurs and business owners to our local community and local economy in promoting Economic Development job creation and Community empowerment fostering economic self-sufficiency and inspiring future generations of entrepreneurs whereas throughout history and despite being systematically isolated from investment Capital development resources and digital visibility black businesses have preserved and thrived despite facing systematic racism redlining and even extreme violence such as the Tulsa Massacre of 1921 and whereas the city of El Paso recognizes and gives honor to those who have paved the way for the current increase of entrepreneurs in El Paso County such as John and Mary Woods who were born into slavery and who after the Civil War married and became El Paso's first black entrepreneurs who built a network of flourishing businesses and whereas El Paso can value the impact and influence of black businesses by supporting initiatives such as El pasoblackpages.com a free platform for El Paso's black business owners El Paso black business Network and various local initiatives that promote business diversity and celebrate the Milestone successes and progress of black businesses and entrepreneurs and whereas black entrepreneurs and business owners bring unique perspectives talents and innovative ideas that enrich the fabric of our city and it is crucial to provide them with the resources opportunities and recognition necessary for their continued success and this year as black businesses continue to recover from economic losses caused by the pandemic it is crucial to recognize support and celebrate national black business month now therefore be it proclaimed by the mayor and Council of the city of El Paso that the month of August shall be known as black business month signed by The Honorable mayor Oscar Lisa good morning thank you the mayor and City Council Members my name is Monica Tucker I am the founder and owner of black El Paso voice it's a online newspaper and we will be in print beginning in September under limited limited number of print and the El Paso blackpages.com which is a free platform for black business owners to list their businesses and services and I'm here with some black business owners and that includes Mr Charles Smith good morning tornes who is also a Navy veteran and our one of our greatest supporters Mr Carl Dwyer and he's a retired military and Miss Rochelle Waldo who is also a veteran um um I stand before you today as a proud Citizen and business owner urged by the spirit of progress and empowerment we are halfway into black business month and this discourse that just transcends a trivial observance and delves into actionable change this change can Elevate our city and its people to new heights and prosperity and unity as we acknowledge the significance of black business month we must shift our Focus from commemoration to collaboration with a sense of urgency and optimism I propose the creation of targeted initiatives aimed at supporting and nurturing black identifying entrepreneurs within our community which we are doing so with what we're doing with Juneteenth and how the city has partnered with us somewhat to um celebrate Juneteenth as we go into 2024 and this is just uh another segment to Juneteenth because it's important to recognize where we've come since then and as representative anello mentioned we do this in the spirit of John and Mary Woods who if you walk outside here and go down Mills they owned mostly all of that that land and property and we're just trying to understand how entrepreneurs who are black here in El Paso have gotten along I guess with the city since then and thanks to the help of the El Paso Museum of History we're finding out even more so we want the city to continue to partner with us to encourage black entrepreneurs to continue to move forward and maybe even create initiatives so that we can grow so that's all I have to say right now no thank you and thank you for being here and thank you for your investment in believing in our community thank you does anybody else want to speak would you like to introduce yourselves if you don't want to say anything I'll go ahead and run it from here if you don't mind thank you good morning mayor and good morning to the the council my name is uh Charles Smith I've been here for 27 years I'm proud of Pastor native I am the owner of gentleman Boutique by gun which is a business catered to the men to get them ready get them dressed for success I understand every day that there's not a lot of shopping opportunities and the ones that we have have been here but you know people are looking for something new so that's what we provide that experience your support and everything that you have done so far is greatly appreciated and I thank you thank you great day great day beautiful Sun City people in front of me how are we fine how are you awesome I'm great thank you for asking my name is shonique Torrens I was born and raised in El Paso Texas so I have nothing but beautiful attractiveness all in my veins I stand before you as a beautiful entrepreneur I represent Stellar travel Texas agency raise your hand if you have traveled All Hands yes great great great great great so I would like to share with every last one of you it is possible I never knew that while I was serving my country that other people were getting paid for the things that we are all doing which is travel so without further Ado if you need anything in that regards please let me know Stellar travel Texas agency go Navy thank you it's a tough act to follow good morning mayor Council first of all my name is Carl Dwyer retired military as as uh was stated the Army brought me here and I decided to stay here remain here in El Paso Community because it's it's a great Community I'm one of the newest member to blackout El Paso voices and um and really I want to lend my voice on the behalf of veterans because many of the businesses black owned businesses out there are owned by veterans and we want to thank you for your support we want to thank you for putting this Spotlight on on these businesses during this month and then we just want to continue to collaborate on the momentum that we currently have in putting a spotlight on this subject because it's all about thriving together if black businesses to thrive then El Paso thrives and we all can Thrive better together so thank you again thank you let me agree with you [Applause] and I just want to say real quick we recently had a black business and Community awards ceremony where we honored local black owned businesses and we also honored those in the community who are our champions of diversity and they aren't black but they support everything that we do in the community to include representative vanillo we honored the city of El Paso um Miss Dion Mack um Pablo Caballero from the parks and rec and many others including uh Cherry Duke from El Paso uh UTEP Opera and many others so we just want to appreciate everyone who has supported us thank you and we appreciate you representing us thank you Miss crone mayor would you like to move on to the consent agenda while the members from the state delegation arrive yes ma'am thank you and if this morning's honorees will please remain in Chambers Council will have the opportunity to take photos with you once the ceremonial items have been completed that brings us to the consent agenda all matters listed under the consent agenda will be considered by city council to be routine and will be enacted by one motion unless separate discussion is requested by council members prior to the vote members of the audience may ask questions regarding items on the consent agenda when the vote has been taken If an item has not been called out for separate discussion the item has been approved Council May however reconsider any item at any time during the agenda I make a motion to approve the consent agenda with the following revisions page seven item 21 take item at 9 30 per capital Improvement Department page seven item 22 take item at 10 AM per economic and international Department page 8 item 23 moved to the Forefront of the regular agenda per representative Hernandez mayor go ahead sir you didn't light up but go ahead okay thank you um air protein like to have item 42 42 and delete it for until the OSAP can properly bet it through their system and make sure that we're doing things well and right so adding item 42 to be deleted page 16 item 42 delete per representative molinar yes sir go ahead mayor can we I I'm curious to see staff's presentation about this I understand that we might want to delete it is it possible to not remove it through the process of the consent agenda and additions and instead just see the presentation we can take no action or delete the item When we arrive at it there's been a motion on do you want to wait till after the presentation or do you want to take this item go ahead while the presentation when we're we're gonna probably gonna be looking at and taking probably some action so that it has not gone through OSAP that's the that's the whole idea of deleting it so we'll take this motion separately uh instead after the consent agenda do you want to hold on let's um representative molinar has made a motion to delete item 42 Page 16 is there a second on that to delete the item okay so there's a motion and a second to delete that item so we'll vote on that one separately ma'am yes sir thank you so this vote is for on the consent agenda with the revisions to item 21 item 22 and item 23 as read into the record by mayor Pro temanello and it was seconded by representative Hernandez on that motion call for the vote here I just have a quick question on that yes ma'am go ahead Mrs Brian do we have public speakers on that item on item 42 yes two okay thank you this is for the consent agenda this does not include item 42. if only the revisions to item 21 22 and 23. voting session is open foreign ello thank you in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously now can we take the representative motion please yes sir and this motion is for item 2042 motion made by alternate mayor Pro tem olinar seconded by representative Rivera and this is to delete to delete item 42. on that motion call for the vote thank you so this is for staff it was under I was under the impression that item 42 was a timely issue and we had to consider it today is that am I correct or incorrect Here Comes um I'm not sure Rodriguez oh my God it's a long walk good morning Sam Rodriguez chief operations officer we do have bids for the uh the river trail that our secretary expire soon we've already extended them that's the reason behind the deletion of the recommendation to be programmed to Edward Central in the Carolina Trail so that we can come up with the funds to be able to move forward with the award of the the river trail so it's a time sensitive yes mayor all right thank you um my Pro Temp I'm sorry I'm trying um I I would like to hear first from public speakers before making the decision to delete I know I do think that this should have gone through OSAP I know that there are some of them here signed up so I'm not going to support this right now to delete but I'm willing to have that conversation again as the item comes back up thank you pardon me no no the when the item comes up at that point sir so we'll take action on the item as voted on and if it fails then we'll hear the item and then we can also take it up we can move the delete again unless you want to remove your second till after the item is heard okay thank you thank you sir so you're removing the second okay so there's no motion to take thank you sir okay and with that I know we have our state representatives good morning yes sir if we can go to items I'm so moody representative representative Ortega item 21 is a presentation of a statement Senator Moody I mean senator Blanco sorry I only have one contact on it's on this side sorry that brings us to item 21 a presentation of a state resolution celebrating the city of El Paso's 150th birthday by the El Paso State delegation the only reason I messed up Senator Blanco's name usually is because he dresses better than me and I know that when he's coming I know I gotta get ready yes sir good morning Lindsay Adams legislative affairs good morning ma'am good morning um I'm gonna go ahead and pass it over to Senator Blanco as you can see we have our delegation here to present a resolution to you all good morning mayor and Council good morning sir how are we doing today what's great to be here to join my fellow delegation members to celebrate the remarkable 150 year journey of our beloved City El Paso you know this Milestone isn't just a commemoration of time passing it's a celebration of our vibrant culture our resilient Spirit and the bonds that tie us together as as a community when we think about El Paso it's easy to be drawn to the star on the mountain or the amazing Mexican food that we enjoy in our local restaurants that we all love so much but what I think what truly makes El Paso um really special is its people uh whenever you talk to folks they visit El Paso everyone says God help you what's in the water here everyone's so nice um it's the families it's the neighborhoods it's the communities that that are the backbone of of our great City uh and that's from the very beginning of this community so Our Roots as you all know are deeply intertwined uh rich with history it's Heritage and they run deep in our communities from and from our humble beginnings as a small Trading Post out in the west to the thriving Metropolis that it is today the city has stood as a testament to the remarkable Vision uh the determination of the settlers uh and the people who helped build this great city um so what truly sets apart our community I think and I think everyone uh in this room demonstrates that it's its strong sense of unity um and especially during the times the challenging times that that our city has had it's the families who have called this city home for generations and generations passing down those traditions in our in our culture passing them down to their families and their children it's the communities that come together in times of need supporting one another through both joyous celebrations and yes sometimes some of the challenging and sad situations that our city has gone through but the way that our community has supported each other in the wake of what seems to be the impossible challenges that that we have faced as a community I think is a testament uh to the resilient spirit that really characterizes our great City so as we reflect on that Journey the 150 years that that has led us to this milestone let's not ever forget and I know you all of you who serve on Council don't ever forget uh that uh the true treasure that El Paso is that that lies in the hearts of its people in this community so here's to 150 years of resilience 150 years of an amazing culture 150 years of community and another 150 years into the future thank you very much thank you sir [Applause] good morning representative Ortega good morning and it's good to be here today I am going to read the resolution whereas proud residents of El Paso are celebrating their 60s quennial in 2023 and whereas located in the Far Western corner of Texas where the United States and Mexico converge the El Paso area had already been inhabited by various Native American groups for centuries when members of the Rodriguez Sanchez Expedition named the site El Paso Del Norte in 1581 Juan de una took possession of the entire territory surrounding the Rio Grande in 1598 and for the next two centuries the city remained under Spanish rule and whereas this diverse community of Spaniards mestizos and Native Americans became part of Mexico in 18 21 and after the end of the Mexican-American war in 1848 it became part of the United States El Paso was officially Incorporated by the Texas legislature in May 1873 and with the arrival of the railroad in 1881 the city transformed from a small agricultural settlement into a flourishing Frontier community over the next several decades it continued to develop into a modern municipality in a substantial industrial commercial and Transportation Center and by 1925 its population had grown to more than 77 000 residents and whereas today El Paso is a dynamic vibrant Metroplex where cultures and traditions blend it remains a key port of entry for the United States furthermore it is a home to the Isleta ortigua tribe the University of Texas at El Paso the Texas Tech University Health Science Center and Fort Bliss the nation's second largest military installation known as the Sun City El Paso offers residents and visitors alike a wide range of attractions and activities including the Franklin Mountain State Park the casner range National Monument the El Paso Museum of Art as well as the El Paso locomotive football club and the El Paso Chihuahua games and whereas celebrating their unique history as they work to build an even brighter future the citizens of El Paso are justifiably proud of their community and is indeed fitting to honor the contributions they have made to the story of the Lone Star State now therefore be it resolved and we're here to present the resolution Moody I know you're always ready sir look if you give me a microphone I'll say something I um uh I I mayor I agree with you in fact I stopped trying to compete with Senator Blanco's um dress code after a while it just wasn't worth it um so that's why I came without coat and tie today um that way it wasn't looking like I was competing no um Echo the sentiments of my colleagues and I will say and I know it's not lost on this body here that it is more important than ever in today's tumultuous world that we stand uh firm in the core values that we have in our binational community the things that bring us together the things that lift each other up I think about our darkest day a day that we just remembered not long ago the fourth anniversary of a tragic attack here in El Paso targeted for Who We Are but in that dark moment there are two moments that that among many that really stand out in my mind one was the long lines outside the blood donation centers that day in the sweltering heat that's who El Paso is giving of what we have to make sure that everyone else is okay no matter where they come from no matter what Walk of Life they're from and not long after that a circle of people two three times around a church for the funeral of Margie record a funeral that her husband thought nobody would show up to because they didn't have family and friends here but we proved that day and we continue to prove that we are each other's family we will always lift each other up no matter the time no matter the challenge and I Echo the sentiments of my colleagues but want to also say that is the challenge that is in front of us today as leaders in this community is to continue that positive leadership that leadership that is forward with love because that is how we conquer the hate that is very often targeted at a community like ours so I thank you for your leadership and certainly for those that came before you and for the ones that will come after you thank you thank you sir [Applause] representative or nuts and welcome back home where oh thank you Mr Mayor I haven't been back since I left uh representative Fiera you look wonderful there thank you no but it is a it's it's truly an honor to to be back here um feels a lot like home but truly uh thankful to you all I know you all don't hear it often sitting in that seat thank you for your service um that's something that you all don't hear often but it is a tremendous honor to be back um and to celebrate El Paso and in our history um thank you all for your service and so I'm just going to go ahead and Mr Mayor present this to you all do you want to take a photo can we do that with a delegation and if any of the other members want to come down and accept that Mr Mayor while you're walking down there I have a question for chairman Moody if you don't mind well you know that would that would solve the issue not interested in the Senate but thank you very much chairman there is some graffiti outside my window is there something that someone outside the center's office could do about that one more good rain and it's gonna be coming you know it's outside of my district but I'm happy to to happy to refer you over to the proper person foreign are you trying to recess you know before before we go take the picture I do want to address our state representatives thank you very much for being here but also you know when we talk about 150 years of El Paso what makes the difference y'all when you talked about it you really hit it right because when we talk to companies when we go out and we want people to invest in our community or reinvest in our community we'll see that today and moving forward the main reason they do it is because of the people and they do they talk about the people make a difference they all have options they all have companies they all have headquarters somewhere else but yet at the end of the day they double down the reinvest because the people care that people want to move forward they want to get an education want to move forward and we made it 150 years the way we are today because of all the people starting from the first person in 150 years ago to everyone that lives in El Paso today and I'm very proud to call El Paso our home but I'm also very proud to represent all the almost 700 000 El pasoans with Carly El Paso their home and thank you all for representing us thank you and may God bless everyone [Applause] through here if we can get a quorum of council at the days we'll need to recess the meeting please if you'd like to take photos at this time there's a motion in a second to Reese as a city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed the meeting is in recess at 9 38 a.m Council and all of our folks who are being recognized today we're going to go ahead and take the photographs out in the lobby we're going to start with the Senate recognition and then we're going to go ahead and go with the David Carrasco photograph followed by the black business photograph out in the lobby thank you all thank you there's a motion and a second to reconvene the city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed the meeting is back in session at 9 50 A.M that brings us to item number 23 that was moved to the Forefront and this is discussion in action to approve the El Paso County 9-1-1 District FY 2023 2024 budget presented by Scott Calderwood before we do that I swoop out Senator Blanco left I took a poll outside and they said I was dressed better but anyway but go ahead I just moved to approved it's a motion and a second to approve the item motion was made by representative Hernandez seconded by mayor Pro Tem anelo don't have them would you like to do a presentation sir I don't we don't need one we don't need one that's okay good go ahead go ahead on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously thank you sir for being here we now turn to page five item 17. this is discussion in action that the city council declares that the expenditure of District 8 discretionary funds to cover costs of stage rental audio visual equipment entertainment hiring off Duty Law Enforcement Officers or private security officers barrier rental for vehicle pedestrian control permitting fees and or portable restroom rental related to the holding of the Segundo Barrio Community block party by the South Side neighborhood association serves a municipal purpose second there's a motion made by representative Canales seconded by representative ribetta to approve item 17 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously item number 18 is discussion in action that the city council authorizes the expenditure of District 8 discretionary funds towards the cost of equipment rental movie license fees permits staff time and other related items necessary for the support of the movies in the park event a series of movie nights and parks located within District 8 serves as a municipal purpose move to approve D there's a motion made by representative Canales seconded by representative molinar to approve item 18. on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously there is an item set for 10 o'clock I'm not sure it's we're still we still have a few minutes okay we can keep them eight minutes we're gonna go next item yes sir well that's gonna take a long time we better yeah I'll just do 20. okay let's skip 19 go to 20. 20 is the first reading of ordinances this is item number 20. there's a motion made by representative Rivera seconded by representative Fierro and this is to improve the introduction of item number 20. on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and that motion passes unanimously Mr cortinas you think you want to do yours will think that'll take we did it yesterday so go ahead sir good morning actually we need to do the mass transit meeting first and that's not scheduled to start until 10 o'clock so we need to wait just a few more minutes okay and that'll cover items 24 through 27. yeah go ahead man item 22 yeah go ahead and take item 22 now okay thank you mayor item 22 is discussion in action that the city manager be authorized to sign a chapter 380 economic development program agreement between city of El Paso and NM edificios LLC in support of a project located at 19 plus Acre Site located off Burgundy Drive near the intersection of I-10 and loop 375. second Motion in a second good morning mayor council Bill Allen with economic and International Development could it pull up presentation please very good so this is discussion and action on a possible 380 agreement between the city and l f distributors like to talk a little bit about LNF Distributors family-owned beverage Distribution Company dating back to 1978. they have eight locations in Texas stretching from McAllen which is their headquarters all the way to El Paso and they employ approximately 1200 people in total they plan to invest 31 million dollars on this project result in 30 additional jobs they'll be moving from their current location which is at 6949 Market Avenue which no longer meets their business needs and they've selected El Paso over Horizon City Socorro Canutillo and Anthony so this project will be located at 9525 Escobar drive it's near the corner of I-10 and loop 375 in District 7. the applicant plans to construct the 225 000 square foot Warehouse two-story office and a 7 500 square foot vehicle maintenance facility they plan to retain their existing 174 jobs and add 30 more at a median wage rate of 17.69 they're also very excited to get even more involved in the community that they than they already are after this project is come to fruition so in terms of the incentives and we're looking at a property tax rebate of 918 910 the term of this agreement is 10 years estimated one-time sales tax rebate on construction materials of 150 000. and an estimated one-time permit fee rebate of ten thousand dollars total package is one million seventy eight thousand nine hundred and ten dollars which represents 3.5 percent ROI on the applicant's investment and of note the county is also participating in this in this project so I wanted to show you the economic impact of the jobs here so we have 174 existing jobs and then estimated 253 spin-off jobs this expansion will drive 30 new additional ftes plus 44 new spin-off jobs that will result in 28.2 million dollars of salaries over the 10-year period of the agreement in addition the job and wage breakdown for you again retaining 174 jobs and creating 30 new maximum wage rate forty seven dollars and 57 cents per hour minimum 1643 which is at the county median threshold the median uh 17.69 cents an hour and then the average is 25.29 per hour so the net community tax benefit over the 10-year period of this agreement for all taxing entities comes to four million four hundred and sixty three thousand four hundred and forty two dollars this is for the expansion alone in addition LNF will be moving uh approximately nine million dollars of personal property from their existing location to the new location which they will continue to pay property taxes on in closing this incentive proposal meets the city's development policy given the location investment and Industry that LNF is in we recommend moving forward with the approval of the chapter 380 agreement foreign F do they are able to tell us I mean I know but I know I'm a distributor a major Beverage distributor no I know and they they do a really good job and you know when you said they're going to get more involved in the community um I've seen them everywhere and they're very involved already in the community and I thank them for that and I thank them for continuing to reinvest in our community it's um I know that a lot of people have a choice and the pick El Paso and reinvest in El Paso means a lot to us so thank you for that thank you representative um Rivera thank you mayor thank you for your presentation I I strongly urge my colleagues to support uh this item um as you said and I've known that the families heavily involved in the community and it looks great the I'm proud that they remain here in El Paso it's only accommodating that we do that and uh they're good for the for our economy as well um you mentioned Escobar yet the uh the agenda says located off of Burgundy Drive is this closer to Escobar then yes sir they actually are going to have to design their own road to get back to where they're oh they're parcel is perfect so it's as close that's why I was asking so all right thank you so much I asked my colleagues to please support this item thank you mayor thank you sir thank you sir representative Hernandez hi good morning Mr Allen um you mentioned the existing location which is in my district are you able to disclose what happens at that site good question uh they plan to sell that location after the effect is complete and as I said they're going to move all their personal property over to the new one okay I was just curious if they're staying there at all um I also wanted as representative lend my support to to this this is a mutually beneficial not only to positivity for economic growth but a direct benefit that helps shift the tax burden from residents to the commercial side and they're doing their fair share and want to say thank you we're open for business we welcome more expansions and congratulations for the future of LNF Distributors thank you and without admission yes mayor there was a motion made by representative Rivera seconded by representative Fierro to approve item 22 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously thank you and I'd like to welcome Mr Fulmer John Fulmer and his family here they um you need to come you need to come more often sir you look good out there sir do you want to say something Polo okay thank you thank you handle it thank you thank you yeah where what time are we going to reach us at 11 okay so we'll continue thank you very much would you like to recess for mass transit pardon me would you like to recess for mass transit at this yes please thank you there's the motion and the second to recess a city council meeting in order to conduct the mass transit Department board meeting all in favor anyone opposed the meeting is in recess at 10 03 A.M good morning this is a special meeting of the El Paso mass transit Department board for Tuesday August 15th it is 20 August 15 2023 it is 10 04 A.M present and presiding as board chair Lisa and also president chambers's board member board members Kennedy anello Hernandez molinar Fiero Rivera in Canales so there is public comment there's one person Mr Jose barriga are you in the audience I don't see Mr barriguez we don't see Mr barriga all matters listed under the consent agenda well there's no personality so we'll move on to item number two Mr Rodriguez not here um I I think we need to um excuse representative salsida it just says that's item number one do you do we want to do that yeah so so I make a motion to excuse um okay so all miners listed under the consent agenda will be considered by mass transit Department board to be routine and will be enacted by one motion and unless separate discussion is requested by board members prior to the vote members of the audience may ask questions regarding items on the consent agenda when the vote has been taken If an item has not been called out for separate discussion the item has been approved the mass transit Department board May however reconsider any item at any time during the meeting and this will include item number one which is the request to excuse board member Salcido motion made by representative Hernandez second seconded by representative Canales and this is to approve the exclusive board member Salcido all those Symphony in the voting session is open and the item has been approved unanimously moving on to item number two this is discussion in action on the proposed FY 2023 24 and 2020 through 2024 budget and we do have one member of the public signed up to speak Mr Jose barriga are you here I don't see him I don't see him either do we need any action on that no no as I mentioned yesterday we put this item just on it's a placeholder in case accounts wanted to have any discussion yesterday obviously there was no discussion on the mass transit Department budget so again we placed it on the engine for today so we can delete there's no action needed on this item can I get a motion to delete the item exactly you're moving motion made by representative Fierro to delete and seconded by representative Rivera voting session is open and the item has been approved unanimously item number three is discussion in action and a resolution that the proposed budget for the mass transit Department of the city of El Paso Sun Metro filed by the city manager with the city clerk on July 14 2023 which begins on September 1st 2023 and ends on August 31st 2024 and also Mr barriga had signed up to speak I'll call him again just to make sure but again I don't see him in the audience we don't swim we do have a motion made by by represent by board member anello seconded by board member Molina to approve the resolution voting session is open oops I've done this before we vote please thank you and the budget resolution um that's the redline version that mirrors the other budget resolution um for the overall budget so the best yes the mass transit agent uh resolution is attached to the backup but yes the changes we went through and preached all the council along you're going to see that posted as a backup on the regular city council agenda I'm just trying to understand are they do they mirror exactly or are they different so there's some minor differences on the mass transit but yes all of the changes we discussed as far as the pay raises and everything else are identical okay like I just I have I really do have a fundamental problem with uh handcuffing staffs hands when it comes to Capital transfers um I certainly don't think that Council should be involved into the weeds specifically as it relates to the expenditures that we already approve I don't support item six and seven being deleted in the red line and so what it states is capital Improvement program provided that the change of a project budget more than a million dollars require additional accounts approval and then the other item addition of a project to an approved CIP must meet the purpose of the proceeds for which the CIP was funded cannot exceed more than five hundred thousand I mean talk about a way to really create inefficiencies and and I truly believe this is what happens um you know it's just as a reminder it's not a strong Council form of government this is a council manager form of government Council already gives the directives to staff in my opinion this creates a lot of bureaucracy backlog red tape and for those Reasons I'm not going to approve it but overall I support the budget resolution but these two items I can't support inefficiencies in a government that's supposed to create an environment that's incredibly efficient and I know you'll do your part to try to make it as efficient as possible but this is too much in the weeds yeah so the response to that is going to be we've been talking about the capital Improvement department and so obviously now moving forward on September 1st all the budget transfers will come before the city council for approval civil Monitor and see I don't believe that it's going to be a heavy burden on staff to be able to bring these forward but if we see that there is some possibility for some adjustments down the road obviously we'll bring those back for future Council consideration and they're huge transfers and I do believe that it needs to be addressed and make sure that they're handled properly so I do agree with the budget and we've had this for quite a while there so I believe that the budget has been vetted and talked about and weeks ago so to make sure that uh everybody was in agreement with and I do believe that by making sure and double double checking everything that's going on and make sure that there is continue to be efficiency and not transfers with not without us knowing makes a big difference so I do agree with the way you guys wrote it so thank you for that and I know that Mr Weston Colonel Weston does agree with that also um thank you Robert I wanted to clarify so the million dollars that was changed in 2017 correct I think it was one of the first city council meetings that I sat at but I don't remember exactly but I believe it was in 2017. yeah I mean to vote that I've regretted taking uh for six years now the city functioned perfectly well prior to that amount being raised to a million dollars so I do think it's a little unfair to say that Council kind of taking back its power and being a part of the city and the processes that happens is going to slow you down I'm sure you wouldn't be recommending it if that was the case so I just wanted to clarify that for the public the city functioned perfectly well before 2017 when that was enacted thank you very much and as I mention if we identify anything that needs to be adjusted or changed obviously we'll bring that back but council's consideration so at this point we have no issue moving forward with the recommendation thank you sir here just one question of all of the raises will be for all of sun Metro's bus drivers does that include the lift services or do we know contract it out so I'm just trying to understand what their salaries are because that also if you don't have that information it's fine I just trying to understand how this is comparable to our contractor staff good afternoon mayor city council uh director for Sun Metro the lift is contracted out so the salary increases will not include any of the lift Personnel okay um that's fine I just wanted to make sure that we can share with some Metro those who work for Sun Metro Staff and not for the contractor will get the benefit of getting their salary increase yeah so just recently recently being a relative but I think four or five months back the drivers from the lifts got a raise I I don't know what that is right off top of my head but I can get that information back to the council yeah no no that's not necessary for today I was just curious uh if this would be you know something that the contractor would provide as well but they will be receiving um uh do they are we still doing the sign on bonuses first I match or is that going to stop at the end of this month so in the budget resolution as we've reaped all the council that will stop beginning September 1st and so anybody who does receive the first payment in this current fiscal year will receive their second payment upon the completion of the probation but there will be no new sign on incentives after September 1st okay got it that wanted to make sure I was accurately conveying that to the community thank you Ms Prime we have a motion in a second Mr buddigas here this year I'm walking in we actually do have Mr barrigan yeah I see him come on up sir we are on um we're on the budget item item three sir you have three items to speak and wear item one number three we're on the budget sir on the budget item we'll take this budget item and vote on it and then we can go back if he wants to talk about the other items I'm just gonna read it all in three minutes just let me okay go ahead luckily I didn't get a ticket okay okay you have three minutes yes just give me let me okay good morning yes good morning wow okay the reason that I'm here is because uh it's because it's facing the iniquity of a public transportation now you can see uh for me the public transit is not a choice it's a necessity is I choose to ride the bus which I try to do because I want to save money protect the environment and all and avoid the traffic and construction hassles as an individual with disabilities I am entitled to the same forensic opportunities that everybody enjoys however in real life accessing some Metro transit services can sometimes be confusing and frustrating experience a few weeks ago I will see her in front of city council stating my opinion when I mention it my neutrality to placing the streetcar fully operational later I became aware that in September the service was back on and all the rights were for your charge I wanted to see the new modified routes for the fixed for the fixed routes for the bosses however the routes the routes were unavailable uh on Friday uh I had to I got one of the schedules when I went to the Montana station uh today at five o'clock in the morning they the schedule was posted uh I live by the Hondo Pass area is you see the bus 35 it was erroneous I was down there like a waiting for the bus uh every Friday I go to William Beaumont Zero 7 30 for treatment every week at the entrance I saw a stand with the bus schedules upon my exit I realized that the schedules were dated November 22nd I draw to the Montana office and that's when I request one of the unrelease schedules yesterday I called back to the song Metro and I asked to speak with the title 6 coordinator they took my information I received a phone call for the customer service supervisor I ask again to speak with the titles coordinator or the accessibility coordinator I gotta know that I know that I know they call later interesting discussion that I had para transit services stop at zero eight o'clock pm which are not free A Streetcar Services is offered for extended hours that are free in September when a schedule takes effect it will create a friction without title 6 coordinator or won't be thank you thank you sir thanks for being here come here uh the other one was Sir you have we got we have a motion on this one and then what we call the other ones back for you oh yes yeah thank you it's just uh okay yeah thank you go ahead ma'am so we do have a motion made by board member anello seconded by board member Molina to approve the resolution with the proposed budget and the voting session is open and the item has been approved with representative with board member Hernandez voting and board member Salcido apps can we um allow Mr Maria Mr Barry are you going to speak on the public comment or we were on item three oh that's on the regular that's on the regular agenda sir mass transit agenda okay go ahead no no problem sir we were signed up for public comment s get the microphone sir please it's basically and uh this is a document in both in both attendant two and three where the states the can we start the three minutes and we'll allow them to speak please for three minutes it's uh it says right there in some in one item I finished 22nd or 23 or 26 27th it's almost at the end page seven actually it's a pay Seven it's a document and uh and it says the the city manager is authorized to to get parking lot for a certain amount 24 hours free for the Glory Road and if you look into that document you will see and then uh it says uh you're right they're authorized only certain amount of free read rights for the for the SD card which actually it becomes a conflict because you are offering it for free and then you gotta rest or you got a an item that so it becomes a it becomes an actual kind of I'm questioning because you're putting something on the budget and then you're doing something else so now I'm I'm questioning the because budgets you say something and now you're doing something else so I'm asking I'm asking which one are you gonna go by are you putting in the budget or are you gonna do this for free which one are you going by are you doing it for free for the whole year or are you putting on the budget looking on the paper it's paid seven looking in the document that you put this this the silicons the somebody's gonna sign for it is on page seven and you'll be able to see what I'm talking about so and I did all that last night they're going to address it so that's the only reason so and I understand that you approve that already but oh you're gonna do one or the other or you have to do the amendment and when you get done with your three minutes Mr cortinas well are you done okay okay thank you Mr cortinas I haven't answered yeah he'll answer you sir thank you yeah I would like to like to again Anthony Kaiser is the director for Sun Metro so for the free parking at Glory Road uh the rule for the for the city is 24 24 Max free parking for City designated events so as long as that City designated events then we're allowed to charge for a park in there and we just started that maybe four or five months ago as we got the automation done and then we charged for events that have to do with UTEP and other events like that so not for City designated events we don't do more of the max of 24. for a minute uh I don't kill them you know what they'll sit down and um I know Miss Cody and the colonel yeah they'll they'll pull it and go over it with you sit down with you right right after this and and that's where we can continue with this so they'll answer your questions right now thank you so if if you all know mine get with him and making sure we we shown that document thank you so just reiterating the resolution approving the proposed budget has been approved do we have a motion to adjourn we have a motion made by board member Fierro seconded by board member Molina to adjourn the special mass transit board meeting at 10 for August 15 2023 at 10 24 am all those in favor all those opposed do we have a motion to reconvene the city council meeting there's a motion in a second to recommend the regular city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed the meeting is back in session at 10 24 a.m mayor would you like to go to the budget items at this time please ma'am that would be item number 24 and this is presentation discussion in action on the proposed FY 2023-2024 budget again this side was just placed as a placeholder in case we needed additional discussion on the on the budget but since we wrapped up yesterday there's no need for this item as well and sir we do have public comment on this item we have Mr boneart signed up to speak on item 24. good morning sir you have three minutes thank you thank you good morning sir um my issue with this is just in regards to um the street Bond the recently passed Street Bond and how it's going to be used I don't think it's proper to use those funds to borrow money to build new streets if it's a responsibility of the subdivider and according to the municipal code and having served on the CPC I became very familiar with this if a road is going through a private development it's a responsibility of the private developer to Bear those burdens I think this money should be well spent and well used on resurfacing the streets everybody knows that our streets are in poor repair but Street extensions through private property and subdivisions those plats and plans should have been well vetted including traffic studies to include that so those roads are the responsibility of the subdividers thank you sir which which are you talking about so I know well specifically my issue has always been with the extension of wrestler and wrestler goes through uh commercial property that's privately developed and I'm not understanding why private fund why public money is being used on a private road through a commercial development that has no benefit that property the subdivision that's north of Trans Mountain that was fully vetted through the CPC and we were assured at that time that that development was well served by arterials and exits and entrances on Trans Mountain and I-10 so I'm not understanding why it's our burden to borrow money to build that street well we'll comment on it right now Sam Rodriguez will come up and discuss it thank you Dr bonark the San Andreas chief operations officer so as as we briefed the council in the community on the community of progress Bond program there were three extensions that that were identified as critical for our community one of them being wrestler because of the continued growth in this part of the city and the lack of access to to uh to the neighborhoods and the Enchanted Hills area which is the Northeast part of that quadrant of Trans Mountain and I-10 the neighborhoods continue to grow there's a single point of access into off of the 375 with extremely long commute and then it was also called that as an emergency exit entrance type of scenario for Public Safety and that's the reason it was included in the public safety Bond we're obviously going to be working through the design process that's already kicked off for right-of-way acquisition that we'll be working with the property owner in these type of situations where infrastructure is needed ahead of development as Mr Barnard stated we typically try to get a developers agreement where some of that infrastructure is paid back through the development of the parcel in the future and we'll be pursuing that as well thank you sir thank you for that go ahead Sir Mr Rodriguez is that the extension that's on the other side of the high school is that where wrestler ends no no no sir this is north of opposition 275 yeah correct okay thank you so much thank you very much thank you Mr cortinas thank you any other public comment ma'am no sir thank you huh delete what um I think so before we need to make a clarification yesterday um at the request of the public Nicole Cody managing director so uh we would like to clarify under the resolution for mass transit can I do this no no because we're not in Mass concert we'd have to reconvene mass transit well let's finish this and we'll reconvene okay okay thank you I don't know um Mr um Mr cortinas maybe delete do you want us to delete those items I was hoping he'd respond let's make sure do we want to take 24 through 27 together as well go ahead ma'am so uh we're recommending staff is recommending to amend item 27 of the mass transit budget resolution so if we can reconsider the item the lady has been adjourned we can come back to them we'll come back to it well we can't we can't approve this budget without amending that first is what she's saying all right so let's go ahead and adjourn this meeting and go back to mass transit real quick recess this meeting right let's do this cortinas did you want 24 deleted it's number 27. yeah let's well 27. so let's let's return this meeting go to mass trans and then come back please so motion to reset it yeah there's the motion and a second to table item 24 and recess the regular city council meeting all in favor aye anyone opposed the meeting is in recess at 10 30 a.m I don't know that we can reconvene a meeting you adjourned if the legal can chime in please yeah I'm not sure we could bring this item back the budget resolution we still have another meeting on August 29th even though it's being adopted we can do it as an adjustment to the budget resolution for the mass transit department and that'll become effective on September one okay we have no issue there so it's just a mass transferred resolution so I motion to reconvene the city council meeting yeah there's a motion and a second to reconvene the regular city council meeting all in favor aye anyone opposed the meeting is back in session at 10 30 a.m point of clarification Mr cortinas you want us to approve 24-26 in delete 27. no okay so what she was referencing is item number 27 in the Sun Metro budget resolution not the agenda item number 27. okay we're on item 24 at this time item number 24 can be deleted again this is a placeholder in case we needed any additional discussions second there's a motion maybe hold on one second I'm sorry representative Canalis uh do we also is the recommendation also to delete 25 26 and 27 or no no okay no so 24 right now okay thank you understood thank you there's a motion made by representative Rivera seconded by mayor Pro temanello and this is to delete item number 24. on that motion call for the vote representative Fierro thank you in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously item number 25 is discussion in action on a resolution that the proposed budget as amended for the city of El Paso filed by the city manager with the city clerk on July 14 2023 is hereby approved and adopted by the city council as the annual budget for the fiscal year 2023-2024 which begins on September 1st 2023 and ends on August 31st 2024. Motion in a second representative Hernandez um thank you just a couple comments again item eight and nine the request to delete the CIP not supporting the budget resolution because of that along with all of the other fabricated problems that are being addressed in this budget resolution so um again not supporting it but support all of the efforts for salary increases and benefits to employees thanks thank you Ms Prine yeah so there was a motion made by representative Kennedy seconded by representative Pierro to approve the budget resolution on that motion call for the vote in the voting session the motion passes unanimously the item number 26 is discussion in action to ratify the property tax rate reflected in the annual budget for FY 2023 2024 for the city of El Paso well second there's a motion made by representative Kennedy seconded by representative Fierro to approve item 26. on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously item 27 is discussion in action on an ordinance living FY 2023 2024 taxes there's the emotion that we need the council to read on the side of an we should have provided it to you in advance I apologize if you can please hand it to representative Kennedy since there was a revision to the tax rate that was introduced on July 31st we need to read the floor amendment to actually reflect the rate that accounts will be adapted which is the no new Revenue rate go ahead I appreciate it which right here yes this year's proposed okay so miss trying to make a motion that this year's proposed tax rate does not exceed the no new Revenue tax rate I move to adopt the tax rate of 0.818875 so now we have a motion in a second that's amended there's a motion made by mayor Pro temanello and read into the record seconded by representative Kennedy on item number 27 on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and that motion passes unanimously thank you thank you Mary councilman and I want to congratulate the team on on a great job this is probably one of the most transparent budgets I think I've ever seen and it still moves the community forward and has a community in mind even though everything has gone up we were able to roll back to last year's but also continue to make sure we're fiscally responsible and you know we had a police new new contract group just well deserved and we're able to put it into our budget we now have through cancellations from tours we now have a steady stream to be able to buy police fire emergency vehicles City vehicles and maintain the City buildings as we saw that what happened this year when they're not maintained properly our air conditioners fail so I want to thank you Colonel Weston and your team Mr cortinas Miss Cody you all worked really hard and this was probably one of the most transparent and one of the best budgets I think I've ever seen and I want to thank you all for for making that effort thank you all thank you Marin thank you to the city council for your clear Direction in the budget development process yeah and the council had a big role in it and I want to thank you all for that thank you all and I think it's important and this shows the unity that that the buyers working together is one we were able to achieve a lot for the community and make sure the community was first so thank you all Miss Prine yes sir if we can return to page six to item number 19. this is presentation and discussion on the 88th regular and special sessions of the Texas state legislature good morning mayor and Council Lindsey Adams legislative affairs manager for the city of El Paso so today this item we have a couple of updates for you beginning with myself and then I'm going to hand it off to our City attorney and they'll go over some of the upcoming code amendments and then we also have our lobbyist team in town Snapper and Lindley so they'll be presenting at the end of the presentation just a quick question before you get started how many bills were passed this year I actually have a slide that's going to go over that yes so you don't know it you gotta wait for the slide huh let me let me verify on this slide I know it's 76. thank you if it can pull up the presentation please um yes it's a very complicated question because there's past signed vetoed Etc alrighty so as I mentioned the purpose of this presentation is to give you an update on things that happen during the session as you all know we came to you all monthly during the session with an update of what was happening and then we did a wrap up on sometime in June which included everything that was passed of course we were still in that veto period for the governor and so now we have a complete update of the 88th session I always like to add a reminder of our delegation you all know them they were here this morning but for the Public's sake this is our delegation and the delegation that got us through the 88th session so some of those statistics that I was talking about and I don't know why it's cut off on the screen I apologize about that but we had um almost 4 550 bills passed throughout the session and the number that's updated on this screen is the 76 bills that the governor vetoed once that veto session ended so Snapper and Lindy will provide a little bit more context on what that means going into the couple couple of the session special sessions coming up um but 76 bills were vetoed by the governor um so in terms of kind of a timeline as you all know the the regular session ended in May and immediately following that the governor called a special session um that ran through June and then immediately following that he called a second special session which ran through July and we'll give an update on some of the bills that were passed in that special session a few in a few moments and then we are anticipating two more special sessions in September and October the September special session will be focused mainly on public education and then October the focus will be local government so we'll be um can't get rid of me that easy we're going to be back for another special session and then of course the Attorney General impeachment trial begins September 5th just as an FYI for you all so now I'm going to go ahead and pass it over to Ms Carla Neiman our City attorney and she's going to go over some of the work that the city attorney's office has done with the code amendments that came out of session good morning Council Carla Neiman for the record can you move to the next slide please I'll get up I'll go up there it'll be easier so in in terms of the work that we've done at the at the city attorney's office you will be receiving a separate memo for all of the council for you to see the specific bills that were reviewed but all in all we've we've reviewed over 150 bills as you know the legislative session began in January the reality is that we while we review an island unless the final bills that impact the city we review thousands of bills that were filed against the city we provided legal advice recommendations to our delegation our stakeholders as well as various City departments in terms of either written written testimony that we provided and then we did have an opportunity to send one of our lawyers to testify against the the Death Star Bill we have already drafted and provided various department heads with memos regarding changes in policy and then there were several changes that will take place you've already approved it on the on the consent agenda earlier today that were introduced and then we will have the public hearing on several on several code amendments at the next meeting at the end of this of August we also meet with each of the department heads and go through various changes that they will be required either in policies or procedures that are currently taking place and then you will see presentations from several of the lawyers who were involved directly it's only a handful of the lawyers that were involved directly in making those changes but those are usually the ones that require the most work or the ones that are more detailed can you please go to the next slide it oh there we go sorry about that so um prior to September 1st we will have the public hearings and I already explained to you but the next presentation will do specifically on PD related changes most of our changes that impact cities regard are for law enforcement purposes and then we will also be doing additional training with the entire organization for the Texas Public Information Act in regards to a bill that passed that changes several requirements under the law and then I'll hand it over to danielas Contreras who's a member of our office who will take over and then there'll be a couple of other lawyers that will be coming up and speaking to you thank you good morning Council I only have one slide for you um assistant City attorneys and I'm here to discuss the changes that house bill 3033 will be making to the Texas Public Information Act all of these changes will go into effect September 1st of this year so we have a little bit less than two weeks or over um there's five major changes that I will be covering in this presentation the first one has to do with the Skeleton Crew days so Fridays are considered Skeleton Crew days for the city of El Paso because of that when we're calculating the 10 days that we have to respond to an open records request from the public we have excluded historically those Fridays in that calculation however moving forward this bill makes it clear that we now have to include those Fridays when we're making that calculation that being said our current average closing time for the year for an open records request is four days so I don't anticipate this being a problem the next thing that I'll be discussing has to do with training so as all of you are aware when you took office you had 90 days to take a training that was on the Attorney General's website about the Texas Public Information Act um that's going to stay the same the only difference now is if the Attorney General finds that the city has failed to comply with the Texas Public Information Act in any way they may require that all public officials take that training again regardless of whether you already took it or not and that is a may require that does not mean they're going to automatically require it's just it may happen the next bullet point is in regards to elections So currently we the city are allowed to withhold information regarding um pending litigation so if they're if the city is involved with a lawsuit and someone requests information that is uh that's still in the process of that litigation then we withhold that information obviously to protect the confidentiality um that's still going to be the case the only difference now is there's going to be an exception to that if there is any kind of litigation involving special general or primary elections that information will now be releasable the the rest of the litigation exception still applies though the fourth point is in regards to the attorney general letters as you know when we are required to withhold information or there's information that we believe to be confidential and we feel the need to protect that information we the city can submit a letter to the attorney general requesting a decision from them in regards to whether or not we should withhold that information currently we submit that information via certified mail this bill requires that we now submit all of those requests through the Attorney General portal every time we submit a request through the Attorney General portal it's going to cost the city 15 per request if we have to make an amendment for any reason to that request then uh to the letter regarding that request then it's an extra five dollars now we very rarely have to make amendments so I don't anticipate there being an extra five dollars very often if ever but it is going to be 15 per letter and right now it is 375 to send its uh certified mail so it's a pretty significant difference there uh and then the final change has to do with the attorney general database and this is just something to provide the public with more transparency this is going to allow members of the public who submit a request to the city when the city um has to write a letter to the attorney general to seek out an opinion from them regarding disclosure of that information this database will allow the public to see where their letter is with the attorney general once that letter arrives at the Attorney General's office then then the public can see exactly where their letter is so they know the process a little bit better so it's just transparency for the public those are the five major changes um any questions no okay thank you very much thank you I'll go ahead and pass it to Eric with yes thank you good morning mayor and Council Eric Gutierrez with the city attorney's office I'm going to be presenting this slide on changes to the police department after this most recent legislative session keep in mind there was over 60 bills that passed that affect the police department and so this slide is not comprehensive but it'll give you a good idea of what we've been doing with both the executive staff at the department and also with the academy itself the first category I have listed is new civil offenses essentially there are new Criminal offenses I'm sorry there's new Criminal offenses that that came with these bills that passed the first one is uh House Bill 1442 with respect to reckless driving exhibitions and this bill creates a new criminal offense for operating a motor vehicle while engaging in a reckless driving exhibition and so you'll probably see these on social media or also in larger cities essentially this is situations where a large amount of vehicles will shut down entire public streets or public highways and engage in these exhibitions involving Vehicles doing donuts cars drag racing down the highway that's been shut down it's a clear danger to Public Safety and so it's pretty clear why this bill passed this bill also allows the police department to seize any property used in the commission of the offense and so all the vehicles that are used to shut down the streets are now open to being towed and seized as Contraband which is a pretty big change in the law the second bill I have listed is Senate Bill 224 this is on the catalytic converter theft and this creates a new state jail felony offense for possessing a catalytic converter and it also creates a legal presumption that a person in possession of two or more catalytic converters has unlawfully appropriated those catalytic converters and so this is a pretty big issue throughout the state and the nation with catalytic converter thefts and so hopefully this deters this going forward the second category I have listed are a new required peace officer training these three bills require our cadets at the Academy and also our licensed peace officers to get get uh up to date with these types of trainings the first one is House Bill 568 with respect to interacting with individuals with Alzheimer's disease or other dementias I did a training at the Academy last week and the academy staff already has a training like this and so what we're going to do is we're going to monitor what T coal comes out with Tico is the agency that's going to actually come up with this training curriculum and we're going to make sure that our training does comply with that when it comes out by the end of this year the second one listed is Senate Bill 533 with respect to responding and investigating child fatalities again this is one that Tico is going to be coming up with the curriculum we have some training at the Academy that deals with these types of Investigations and so again we're going to make sure that our Academy is up to date with what T Cole eventually comes out with uh the last one listed here is Senate Bill 1852 responding to an active shooter scenario this is going to be coming out of San Marcos out of the advanced law enforcement rapid response training center our Police Academy has had this type of training for a couple of decades already and so again we're going to make sure that our training complies with what comes out of San Marcos to make sure we're on the same page as the state legislator the final one the final category I have listed here is efforts to address a police officer shortages this is an issue throughout the state and so these two bills are essentially trying to get us out of the situation that we're in where we have a a low amount of individuals that are applying for the Academy the first one listed is Senate bill 252. this bill allows cities to employ illegal permanent resident of the United States to hold a Tico licensed position if that person has honorably served as in the armed services and has been discharged with at least two years of service and so this is broadening an area a category of individuals that previously were not allowed to apply to the academy and now they are allowed to pursuant to this bill and the final one I have listed is House Bill 1661 this bill repeals a restriction on individuals older than 45 years of age from applying for that first Academy position the cadet position and so again this is an effort to hopefully broaden the amount of people that are applying for our police academy and help bolster up our numbers that we have on the department I'm going to pass it off to Russ abelin who will be discussing some changes to planning and inspections thank you well we got representative molinar followed by representative Louis better thank you very much Mr Gutierrez for your presentation a quick question on House Bill 1442 you mentioned Vehicles can be towed but uh is this anything in the bill regarding seizure of the vehicles as far as acid forfeitures right so it'll be treated like any other Contraband and so it will go down that road if that's something that the police department wants to do with those Vehicles it's a pretty big deterrent probably more so than the criminal offense itself yeah thank you welcome representative thank you mayor thank you sir on that same build Sir uh does it up the offense it used to be a Class A right um it's a so it's a Class A now and there's some aggravating factors that'll jump it up to a state jail felony and so if there's prior convictions it jumps it up to a state jail felony if the driver of one of those Vehicles is intoxicated it jumps it up to a sting gel felony and if an individual is injured in these reckless driving exhibitions it jumps it up to a stageofony as well okay then going down to the new required peace officer training on the uh responding to investigating child fatalities that's all fatalities not just traffic fatalities it's any Italian child are you talking about Senate Bill 533 it's a 533 yes sir yeah so this is with child fatalities so it's sudden infant debt syndrome it's pretty much just broadening the amount of training that these officers are going to get on the different types of scenarios that can involve a child passing away again in the efforts let's go down one further on this PD shortage uh will municipalities be able to add additional requirements for hiring those veterans or do they have to follow uh Senate Bill 2500 I believe we're allowed to have more stringent regulations but I haven't had any discussions with the police department executive staff on this particular bill on making it any stricter than it is could you let us know if you do do you do have some kind of additional information on that yes I can do and then again what was that hiring requirement uh police to the age requirement now so that's just taking away a provision in the I think it's in the local government code that prohibits individuals from that are 45 years or older from applying for that initial Cadet position and so they don't have that restriction anymore they still have to comply with uh you know physical training drug testing all that they have to pass okay will that also interfere with the uh if you have a collective bargaining the pension that they might they may accumulative that they're hired at a higher age than what they are now uh that's that's a good question I'm not sure the answer I have to look into that I know that was a big concern before right and then so um you know on the age but I'm not saying that nobody past 45 can do it but I mean you got to look at that how it'll affect city operations right yes sir um I don't know the answer that I have to get back to you can you let can you let us know as well thank you so much thank you mayor thank you representative thank you good morning Russell Abel and assistant City attorney the first bill I'm going to be talking about is HB 36 3699 and this uh impacts title uh 212 of the um of the Texas local government code and which then impacts our title 19 subdivision code and what what this bill does is it um is going to give Council in the city some more leeway to potentially delegate planning and plan approval authority administratively to give um potentially the planning and inspections inspections director authority to approve those things administratively it also removes plans from the 30-day shot clock requirements so there was a bill back in 2019 that amended again 212 of the Texas local government code that included plans into the shot clock so by removing that the intention of the legislature is to you um those can be approved administratively and hopefully expedite the process there's also some portions of the bill that are a little bit confusing um part of the bill seems to conflict with another part of 212 212.041 which gives the city authority to regulate subdivisions and planning for health and safety purposes basically this new portion of HB 3699 potentially limits the city's ability to require traffic and drainage studies as part of the Platt application process the bill says that as part of the Platt approval no studies can be required again there seems to be a conflict with another part of 212. we've been discussing this issue with other cities and are looking for a way to move forward and harmonize that so as part of this bill also it requires all the checklists and different applications for planning and subdivisions to be online by January 1st 2024. we believe those are already all line and we're meeting that requirement but what we're going to do with this bill over the next few months is work with the planning and inspections department to bring you back these different options and updates as we get more clarification on this bill's meaning and so the next few months coming up to January 2024 you'll be hearing more about this bill and some potentially revisions and new options for the city the second Bill I'm going to talk about is HB 1750 and this bill is known as a right to farm bill and it impacts our city code title 20. and what this bill did is it added revisions to chapter 251 of the Texas agriculture code and previously what that code said is the city could not regulate agricultural operations within the extra territorial jurisdiction of the city and the bill was update that section of sorry of the code was updated by HB 1750 to include within the city limits it also added that the type of Regulation that the city cannot do is zoning and permits so we've we've been talking to other cities and our legislative team about this bill at this time uh further guidance is expected by Texas A M agriculture extension service as part of the bill they're required to come out with a guide sometime after September 1st that will give more clarification to this bill so at this time we don't think it's prudent to make you know vast changes to our to our zoning code allowing industrial agricultural uses in residential or apartment areas until we have more information and clarification from Texas A M again HB 1750 as I as I mentioned it also impacts Title VII specifically chapter 24 which is our livestock regulation within the city limits as that bill says you can't have a permitting requirement for livestock within the city limits and so it reduces the city's authority to regulate agricultural operations and again the state's definition of agricultural operations is very um is very broad it seems to be you know from a small back backyard farm to again industrial agricultures operations so at this time um you know we're monitoring what's going on uh we're waiting for um the um the Texas A M Agri agrilife extension service to release that guidance manual and at the time that we have more information we will adjust that code as needed and again at with both of these bills 36.99 and 1750 as we work to implement and better understand them we will be working with different stakeholders in the community and interested parties questions thank you Russell for the presentation we appreciate it I'm sorry half of council left I think representative Fiero has a question for you yes sir it's a very important question under livestock does that include chickens yes okay thank you it's a really important question I appreciate that it does thank you very much Russell no problem and uh back to miss Adams hello it's me again um so for the next part of the presentation I'm going to bring up Snapper from Focus advocacy he's going to go over some updates from the session and then of course answer any questions you all may have we also have Lindley with us over there also from Focus advocacy but Snapper will be doing the presentation oh here's our pictures in case you didn't know what they look like Council plays no side conversations thank you thank you the chicken discussion in the legislature's been ongoing for three sessions now so I would like to learn more about this chickens um well mayor council thank you all for having us here today um it's pretty you know it's hot in Texas when I had to leave Austin and come to El Paso to cool off a little bit um but uh it thank you all for having us and letting us visit about our our special sessions and in the session the regular session um Lindley heard our legislative Council and Regulatory council is here she works on a number of y'all's related issues as well and did this session I was glad your delegation was here today because we would be remiss if we don't say that you know your legislative activities begin and end a lot with our interactions with your delegation and it affects the outcome certainly they can't decide uh as a standalone delegation every major issue that affects cities but they play a vital role and they are on really great committees that are spread out to help El Paso and candidly to help local governments throughout the state as as we very much operate on a it takes a village to to deal with the number of issues that cities in particular have just to go back to that slide that that we started with on on Bill statistics the most Bills ever filed in the history of the state of Texas were filed this session we then of course had additional bills filed during the special sessions that were considered some on the governor's call some not but I always like to to remind everyone that cities have more issues before the Texas legislature than any other entities public or private without a close second there's not a close second for the number your their legal department going through those now to affect the real world changes that those statutes have for 60 bills that impact a police department we can go on down the list there's bills that impact Solid Waste there's bills that affect your Workforce pensions Public Safety Economic Development Transit environmental land use the the list is endless for what you all in the city of course has to say grace over and there is a statute in a legislative function that affects all of that whether granting that Authority which we're going to talk about locally or preempting us in some manner um we're on the side right now where we're to the announcements that are happening almost daily of members that are announcing either they're going to seek re-election or not of course you have one of your own members here representative Ortega that's decided to to retire from the legislature and to remain here at more in the community number of long time members for Price tracy King and able Colorado are veteran members of the legislature and will be sorely missed in their subject matter expertise areas um they are senior members that have played a long role where the slide could be updated just yesterday Matt Schaefer from East Texas announced he would not be seeking re-election we will see a large number of those between now and filing deadlines which will be coming up um election day will be right around the corner for our um Constitutional Amendments which we will talk about not only in terms of what passed during the regular session but some Constitutional Amendments that finally passed for the property tax relief deal that the legislature achieved and the governor signed as well will be on that ballot they were coming up on the deadline to make sure that we could actually have that election and have those included I wanted to point out and especially in light of the discussion that we just had on the right to farm bills and some of those preemptions there is also a constitutional amendment provision that engages with with that on on the right to farm and ranch and it is a very Broad and we had some concerns about how it might be applied when we look at some of the statutes that were also passed preempting with regards to to animal ordinances and farming ordinances but if you look at proposition one it's the Constitutional Amendment protecting the right to engage in farming ranching Timber production Horticulture and Wildlife Management very broad I think all things that a lot of Texans support but when you interlay that with local regulatory Authority and try to mesh ordinances when you have preemption statutes it can become a challenge to make those things coincide so this list of Constitutional Amendments that will be considered are all things that at some level can certainly impact or Empower a local government some more than others some beneficial you will see prop 4 is the centerpiece for the expansion of the homestead extent limitation value limitation for school property taxes raising that from forty thousand to a hundred thousand if passed it was a major piece of the legislature's property tax or relief package that passed during this second special session it was what the lieutenant governor in particular had been promoting as a Cornerstone piece of of theirs and again we'll get to some of the details on the property tax relief here in just a second um a number of others I won't go through all of these that are there but we do have um several Constitutional Amendments prop six is a good example sjr 75 is a constitutional amendment creating the Texas water fund that will have over a billion dollars in funding that was appropriated by the if passed that that will set up a plan to help develop new water and water infrastructure resources in the state that local governments will get to utilize very big issue that's been going forward Prop 8 also is a Broadband infrastructure expansion for high-speed broadband and connectivity there are statutes again that that impact and this would allow urban areas or underserved areas in El Paso County to tap into the state's fund which I would note is is one of our better successes this session coupled with the federal over three billion dollars in federal relief money there will be a close to a four billion dollar Broadband fund that local governments will get to utilize um again a large number you would note there uh and and would not ours is a county matter but you will note there is a proposition 11 dealing with El Paso counties ability uh to provide Abalone tax to fund development and maintenance of Parks and Recreation facilities there is some history to that constitutional amendment I will not get the year right on this but I think it was about a decade ago a similar constitutional amendment was taken before the voters and it failed uh very narrowly with a large number of people in Harris County voting against it for some reason uh back then so but El Paso County will have a matter that is going before Statewide voters all of these like I said have unique interest in them 14 altogether looking to what was the core of the special session really what was the core of our legislative session although it didn't get done and that is attempting to provide property tax relief from our historic budget surplus and all the leadership of the state the governor lieutenant governor speaker those were their top priorities if we were to list them Unfortunately they had different ideas about how we would get to there and different constituencies that I think that we're trying to Target some of that main relief for and so we were at a stalemate and it got pretty contentious between the the leadership in particular between the lieutenant governor and the speaker and the House and Senate as to how we would structure these and that stalemate led to the standoff that we saw that lasted through through the uh most of the summer up until the end of July when this was ultimately passed primarily this deals with schools of course and not really dealing with you all and your abilities to set your tax rate or any of those things that we've debated in the past so what has come out of this was that the state and if this is all contingent on the passage of those Constitutional Amendments that we we mentioned would reduce the state would basically pay to reduce the school's maintenance and operation property tax rate by 10.7 cents per 100 in value that's billions of dollars Statewide the total value for this property tax relief is slightly over 18 billion in total property tax value relief that is the largest total number in the history of our state to to be rebated back it would expand the homestead current homestead exemption for schools from 40 to 100 000. this is the third Point here is something that kind of came out of the this standoff that we saw and hasn't really been a major item that was debated during regular sessions or past property tax debates and that is that we will now for the first time in our state's history have an appraisal cap or an appraisal they labeled it a circuit breaker but it's an appraisal cap on value limitation of 20 percent for all properties commercial residential industrial that are under 5 million in value at a 20 percent level and that's for a three-year pilot project and so it'll be interesting to see second homes vacation rental properties investment properties all those can fall under this so it'll be interesting to see what the Statewide effect of that potential particular change a large number of commercial real estate holders were seeking this so think of smaller retail shops that that have those sorts of values we're really pushing for this and so again the first time in our state we will see that that requires a constitutional amendment that's a part of that package as well then the last big change is that we've added three county-wide positions that will be elected to CAD boards and nonpartisan elections and that's for in each County that's over 75 000 so of course that will obviously impact El Paso County and that that is the bulk of sb2 and hb2 there are some other minutia items but that is really the key points that led to our property tax break the the next item you'll see is a franchise tax break that was also we doubled the size of our our existing franchise tax exemption on businesses to 2.47 million added about 67 000 small to medium-sized businesses who will be completely exempt from paying those taxes at this point um always like to and I know we will go over this a little quicker in terms of of some of the items that got close to passing or were heavily debated it's also a good guide because these issues and I know many of you have sat through some of these presentations they come back time and time again we get to revisit these so knowing what's kind of the trend for what they're looking at or where we're at gives us a better idea of how to address concerns try to make better you know as we sit there and watch the city's legal department go through those thinking about those bills no and I know many of you that have participated in the legislative process know it takes a whole lot to change even small things and so there's a back story on a lot of those to get to things even on bills that we might wish hadn't passed will pass in in forms that are much improved from where we started and and given the number of issues that cities have we often are in that position we're often needing to try to make things work at the technical level so that city attorney's office is PDS the planning department can actually make sense and make these works when it comes to to doing the real work here at the city level and at the local level um a number of areas in a theme that you will see through a lot of these items that that didn't pass to many are preemption and I will tell you and we'll talk about the house bill 2127 the super preemption bill for a little bit but but that is the theme that we're struggling with right now where do we put that line for you all to have discretion in the Departments and City management to have discretion to manage locally unique unique interest is efficiently and fairly versus this desire for uniformity throughout the state as in I will I will say it sometimes as an excuse to preempt local Authority making which removes that not just from you all but from the citizens in this community to get to determine those systems that y'all put in place and that is a major theme that is in play right now and will be a major point of discussion when we're back debating issues in late September early October in our next special session as well um is where is that balance um and how do we find a fair manner because of course El Paso has unique issues that folks in the Panhandle don't deal with but they have their own set of unique issues just like DFW in Houston does and everybody in between and so that is the major fighting that we do on land use on city regulatory Powers budgeting abilities abilities to do key Local Economic Development tools it's all really at some level a debate about preemption and what it should look like all of these areas had massive uh proposals that affected some good some bad uh that that went through some of these we will see back in the special because they were part of bills that were vetoed that the governor has said he intends to add to a call to be considered again um to that end the governor was one shy of a record uh veto of 76 bills we've included a statement there not because of its great importance on the bill but if you read The veto statement usually the governor will give some policy reason you know a concern Express something in the veto message this was almost verbatim What the vast majority of the veto messages were which was this bill may be important but it's not as important as property tax relief and I'm going to veto it and I may consider it after y'all Pass Property Tax Relief in a future special session and that was consistent through a large number of bills again some good some bad what that ensures is that we're going to likely be debating Lindsay mentioned that we'll have a a a special session focused on school choice and public education reforms that the governor has said that'll likely happen late September early October after they kind of get there and it might not be completely separate what we would expect is then the governor will start adding these issues to the call which he can do literally at any moment once he's called a special session and he's fully in control back to the call to consider some of these vetoed items so if you take a bill like Senate Bill 2035 that deals with the issuance of certificates of obligations or other forms of debt we have to re-debate that whole bill it doesn't just go back through the system as is sometimes they do that but that bill changed shape on us 10 times as we went through the the legislative process we will now have to re-engage there's different Dynamics when you're not in a regular session too the the playing field becomes much more focused on those bills that are actually moving so sometimes that can help and sometimes that hurt but you don't have all the other noise of session or a budget process going on and I bring that up because I think as local governments we're going to have to be prepared this October to be very on top of it and involved whereas a lot of people will just be sitting back watching what's happening in the school debates and or in other areas we're going to have some very active and real items uh everything from land use to debt issuances to Economic Development tools to regulatory Powers permitting powers that will be back in play during that special session and again only the governor gets to ultimately decide what those bills are that what can be considered but that doesn't stop them also from being filed so we'll get a whole bunch of these that are filed and teed up waiting for the governor to potentially add them um there were times this session when our debates in land use were a bit overwhelming to the local government process and I've been a part of dealing with local government land use items for a long time and I've seen more contentious sessions where we've had bigger fights that got more public notice I have not seen a session where more dramatic changes to our land use Authority were being considered in some past and sometimes without maybe the the full attention or vetting because of the other big issues the legislature had before them and some of the other big fights that we were in like the 21-27 fight some of these land use items moved more through the system without maybe the full due diligence being done on them or as I had a a long time member of the legislature say they often don't do good of thinking about the second or third impacts from a piece of legislation and that's the reality of of city attorney's office or Department trying to make sense of something that might be in conflict with other things or the way we've done stuff at times for you know many many years here in Texas Finance issues I wanted to make note of Senate Bill 543 which was the city of El Paso Bill Rapport Dawes and Senator Blanco or the key authors on that that is a bill that has the city and other cities have been attempting to get past for close to a decade now and we were successful and the governor signed that bill very good bill I do like to point that out since we deal with a lot of tough subject matter at times we have had some success and we are seeing I think some members in the legislature that recognize the partnership and getting smart bills passed helps entire communities and more of that that we can have I think we get to better outcomes ultimately Public Safety as the the prior discussion on implementation of these bills always a very big item I do think we'll so although we've had some I think we will continue to have some discussion on school safety and other public policing issues even into this special as we debate some of the public education items um Personnel another item of course that where cities are key also a very big cost driver as it relates to public budgets as you all know they're there hb30 passed this session I'm sorry I don't really get too far away from this I have a couple questions I don't know if anybody else does can you talk a little bit more about the hb3 3660 which is on 25 and HB 1486 which is on 26 if possible if not we can discuss them tomorrow maybe 30 36 60. yeah and I can't give you other than it has the Trap neuter affirmative defense release so that if you're utilizing traps it allows for an affirmative defense that you're using as part of an organized program I wasn't real involved in that bills but I certainly get you more details on it okay thank you that's kind of an example of just how broad of uh coverage that that cities are but that was what that was aimed at to allow for for folks that were engaging in those programs to have a state affirmative defense that you're utilizing I'm sorry what was the other Bill 1486 the 911 dispatchmental Health leave policy does that create that or ban that it's on slide 26 so sorry um yeah so yes that creates a pro program for 9-1-1 mental health programs for for a dispatch Personnel to to have the ability for mental health leave that's great I mean you never know with the state legislatures just wanted to double check I'm sorry to interrupt does anybody else have any more questions on these before Snapper goes through the rest of the slides I think there's a bunch more so no no okay go ahead representative Manila we can send you a more detailed analysis of the Trap and release and then what was the second one that you were asking about uh 1486 but sampler answered my question I just wasn't clear again it wasn't clear if they had created or denied it so okay we will send you the specific explanations we wrote to the departments on those okay thank you um just a few others uh and again there's some here um uh hb30 it was a very high profile bill that was passed uh I would say ultimately got a Costco on representative Moody has been involved in this uh particular issue it deals with situations where you have the suspect is deceased or killed as part of the event in certain uh video and other documents are withheld due to that suspect being deceased this has been an issue in large shooting events it was a direct issue where you vowed the video and other documents were withheld this past the governor signed it it was a very negotiated Bill to get that that done and I think again ultimately you saw that because of some of the involvement of of the Uvalde community and what it was being trying to address for release of some of those documents and videos um House Bill 3613 is one I wanted to point out El Paso I would give a congratulations to Lindsay and others this bill was one that did not start moving and have a hearing until real late in session in May before it had its first hearing it's very rare that a bill has its first Hearing in the chamber in May and and becomes law this is dealing with uh primarily it was filed as something dealing with a lawsuit that occurred in the city of Austin related to after redistricting where some people didn't get to vote within the district that they were then apportioned to this is bill was passed to say after a reimportionment everyone has to stand for re-election which is similar to how they do the Texas Senate unfortunately back to that we didn't think through some of the the details of this they failed to think about how that works with mixed councils where you have single member and at large or if you have a mayor that's at large and others and so there are cities El Paso and San Antonio were the only two to go on record to say there's a problem with this bill that ought to be addressed and uh you all were right and you're lit that it did need to be addressed um and we're thinking that the Secretary of States this won't be an issue for you all now for another decade uh to consider but there are some cities that hadn't finished reportionment and it's an it's issue for them now so actually I think this topic will be back potentially in the special session or we'll get some guidance from Secretary of State as to how we deal with it and this that maybe this doesn't apply to at large positions only single member districts okay and I think representative Rivera has a question just trying to thank you um on Hospital 30 is that strictly related to officer shooting oh during major events like you know active active shooter or or does it pertain to all the absolute laws to all the laws that they did worse so HP 30. the hb30 would apply to any event not just major events any event that was related to that deceased suspect if there wasn't another exception that that kept it if it was ongoing investigate other items that would restrict the release of that information would be would still be relevant but it you couldn't use the deceased suspect exemption as the basis so it applies across the board but only as it relates to that one exception with regards to the suspect so do so for those that are listening could you put it I guess to simpler terms I mean such as uh you know you're not using that information to to to what to identify him to her or whatever what is it exactly that you're that would be released yes uh primarily what this is absolutely please do representative this is as a result of the Uvalde shooting yes the city of Bubala has been involved in litigation over the release of Records unlike El Paso when our shooting happened we were allowed to withhold the records because there was an ongoing pending investigation and crucial survived and he was not shot and killed what I believe Senator representative Moody was saying is a city can no longer claim pending investigation when the shooter is is shot and killed so those records now have to be released because the public should know what happened at the event and there's no reason to withhold it under a pending criminal investigation like what we did in El Paso is we were concerned that if we released the records that it would impede his investigation and he wouldn't get a fair trial so we were able to withhold that record right right in situations when a shooter is killed you don't have to worry about a D.A or an FBI investigation that would be impeded from releasing the records that's the reason that that was so important that that be released now when a shooter is shot and killed okay thank you any more questions about that a few other again just kind of highlighting the the vast coverage that the cities get involved with tmrs bills we had um bills dealing with sexually oriented performances on a city-owned property and the requirement for for local governments to prohibit those that are deemed sexually oriented and the bill goes into some detail there one that has got a great deal of attention nationally now every level of government from federal state and local have either laws and our executive orders that prohibit the use of of tick tock on government-owned devices and so Senate Bill 1893 did that it applied to local governments to prohibit the use of those on City owned in the local government-owned devices um lobbying contract disclosure requirements is a bill that deals with form 1295 disclosures for contracts dealing with a court case that came out again a limit a large number of items dealing with purchasing was considered some of it would have created more problems candidly than it would have maybe solved in attempting to but but we always have a vast number of items there I mentioned uh the preemption is kind of before I wrap up that preemption is kind of at the centerpiece of a lot of these debates House Bill 2127 was as the City attorney referred noted their proponents call it the Death Star Bill and it dealt with basically it's the simplest forms of turning home rural cities into General law cities and saying we needed to point where in the state statute we derive this authority to do whatever undertaking or regulatory thing that the council or city is doing that bill of course the city of Houston now with other cities like San Antonio on El Paso are challenging in those issues I think we will see this debate happening for some period of time we will see that extend into this next special session but it really is the underpinning for all of this is what I wanted to leave you with is that you know I like to point out that that those preemption is not taking your Authority it's taking this community's authority to ultimately get to come up with unique ways to to manage your community or to solve your problems and it is at some level a very important time for our system of local government in that particular case and that topic I think is at this at the heart of it and and we need to to make sure we give it a great deal of attention or else we will look up and be wondering how we got to where we are in a decade if we don't pay attention to that home rule Authority because it really is is a community Authority and I think that's what we're going to be faced with at the legislature in the next couple of years that'll be the main debate that we see thank y'all and thank you for the opportunity to work with such a great City it's always a pleasure to come out and spend some time here in El Paso and see all the wonderful things that are going on and mayor as you said it the People Too are always wonderful we've already experienced that in our short time being here today no thank you and you're right it's um and everything we do is because for the community and for the people that trust us to make sure we do the right thing and make sure they're they're represented not only by us but our state representatives and also people that we we do business with to continue to make El Paso better and and make sure we continue to us as a group we need to continue to make sure we're informed and that's what it's important for you guys to do but also again to continue to move the city forward and make sure that we're representing the people for the right reason day in and day out thank you mayor we do have public comment when council is ready yes ma'am we have Mr Jose barriga that signed up to speak on this item good afternoon Mr barriga you have three minutes sir good afternoon or good morning good morning again sir yes that other uh Athena they should also talk about hb6 fentanyl motor motor or motor uh HB 420 giving alcohol to miners leading to injuries or dead effective about September 1st 2023 I've seen the the statute of limitations to Family Violence HB 467 ah the HB 598 no page after animal cruelty conviction effect is September 1st 2023 County legal voting is now a felony HB for 43 affected September 1st 2023 no tampering with temporary tax I think that's important to know effect is said September 1st 2023 HB 914 doxing is now illegal hb6 11 affected September 1st 2023 refusal to ID while driving SB 1551 effective September 1st 2023 that thing that's a really important for everybody to know new Family Violence enhancement HB 1589 effective September 1st 2023 HB 2306 boyeries voyeurism through electronic means effective September 1st 2023 SB 13 61 big fate pornography exactly September 1st 2023 HB 2187 effective September 1st 2023 elderly abandonment and endangerment HB in 1910 possession of Forge Fortune money affected September 1st 2023 hb3075 oh that's that's already supposed to be effective human trafficking near College campus HB 3553 effective first 2023 HB 3554 human trafficking near daycare's effective September 1st 2023 HB 2129 retailers can send shoplifter to the tips programs effective September 1st 23. HB 1833 attacks on Texas power grid effective September 1st 2023 HB 1730 effective September 2023 the Crackdown on chronic flashers HB 27 15 affected September 20 the September 1st 2023 prohibiting offenders thank you sir you've reached the three minutes and the list goes on another thing that should be important for everybody to know thank you sir thank you for your time again includes public comment on this item thank you ma'am we'll move we'll move forward yes sir the next item is number 28. item 28 is discussion in action on the award of solicitation number 2023-0220 oxygen cylinders rental refill and delivery to sayoksa motion to approved promotion in a second there's a motion made by representative Rivera seconded by representative anello to approve item number 28 on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously item number 29 is discussion in action on the award of solicitation 2023-0403 fire station 38 to emj Construction LLC Motion in a second there's a motion made by representative Pierro seconded by representative Rivera to approve item 29. on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously next item is 30 and this is discussion in action that the managing director of purchasing and strategic sourcing be authorized to issue a purchase order to the vendors indicated below referencing contract 2018-1411 police ordered and non-consent towing of Motor Vehicles to sole Express Towing Inc A.D Record Service Inc Andrea Villarreal DBA Camel Towing Raul Fernandez Jr db8 Dependable Towing 3H Towing LLC per episode yes ma'am go ahead I have a question for the department head um a couple things Mrs Neiman as it relates to this item for towing services um is there like if there's an accident do they tow it or if it's parked illegally do they tow it or I'm not sure from staff whoever so I would defer to the department in terms of when they use the services but you're correct sometimes and depends on what's happening on the on the scene that requires this type of telling well there's a reason why I have the question um because I'm trying to understand you know in the event uh there has been some concern and controversy over our towing services particularly as it relates to Veterans um and there was some media about it and there were some articles about um us uh Towing vehicles and then they could not get their vehicles until they paid like a lot of money and I'm not really sure what the problem is but I'm trying to understand if that concern has been addressed Within These contracts and I'm and maybe it's a conversation we have offline but you know I don't feel comfortable approving these if we're not giving a fair um access to some of our veterans who were not able to get access to their vehicles go ahead good afternoon mayor and Council assistant chief Victor sarut in regards to the contract representative what we're doing this exercising 25 of the non-consent in regards to the times when we as the police department will notify and make a request for a vehicle to be told so um I'm trying to go back to the article to to understand in and it's the government who allegedly was suing the city and I'm just not sure if it's if it's the same company if it's not the same company if these companies don't prove you know don't hold these uh impoundments for too long and then what they do is they auction and then they sell the vehicle so I just want to make sure we're not allowing for that in our contracts with these towing services well we're when it comes to a private toll and we make the notification and it's been impounded in the city lot there's a process that's followed afterwards on the notification of the registered owner of the vehicles that that is in place okay um referring to the item that we're in litigation we can have a separate discussion about that but I don't believe that this is this is I was going to say this is strictly for towing not for impoundment is that correct so those are the district leaders for storage issues this is only for towing services and then the other would be a total different discussion through the holding company when these towing companies when they send it to some of these impoundments do they get to choose where it goes or do we have a site that we send those to yeah Nicole Cody managing director it does go to the city site to the city site yes ma'am but and the Mary is correct it's a completely separate item okay so just this contract is only related to picking up vehicles and sending them directly to the city site not to private empowerment sites because if that's the case um specifically United Road Towing I just would like to understand if we are within this contract allowing it to go to to those other impoundment sites so they're going to confirm for you right now but then again it's just for the five vendors that are eligible for the change order okay and then now I do have a subsequent question after that Paulo Salas with the purchasing and yes the operational storage facility it depends on the accident of course um this one is only for the towing so those are the toes that of any accident that we have to include um Vehicles abandoned we as a city we take them to the lot and that's a separate contract then for private that depends on the owner that's on the owner's pocket basically the owner of the vehicle of the vehicle yes if they want to take it to to a private lot oh they can determine that at the time and towing like say it's an accident or something yes okay I I better understand now now the company the companies that are Towing are they responsible to pick up debris in the event of an accident yes they are they are and that is clear in in the contracts correct okay and then and what recourse do we have when they don't do that because there's debris left over every day and that's a big complaint that we get in our office and we have received Even in our in our department those those calls but the end user is the one that does talk to them to to the vendors address that and they have to make sure it's done that's why you see here uh there's only five vendors from the original eight that were awarded because of those issues the contract was not extended to them and other issues that they have that's why it was only there are only five left so so if I'm understanding they have to show performance that they they are doing that and that that will impact them at the time of renewal if they're not doing that okay but we can make a specific complaint through the CR management process if we can identify that there's debris being left and it and it's quite like it's like almost every day that we get these complaints um I see them and you know just been uh actual parts of vehicles are they responsible to pick up the parts of the vehicles let's say like if it's a the front part of the vehicle yeah you have to record it take everything they're supposed to uh go ahead in and pick up all debris left of the accident okay not just the vehicle itself but and if they need additional now in the new contract because we're replacing this one we're also specifying a little bit more just as an FYI you for them to um be more proactive on in that so we don't come across those issues yeah well there's a direct impact to taxpayers when we have to send co-compliance or go back out and so I want to make sure that that is clearly conveyed to the contractors because they're not those who are good actors great thank you those who haven't performed in the past um you know we hope we plan to hold them accountable because it is it's not being picked up and that's falling on the taxpayers expense two times to go back and pick it up so thank you for that information I appreciate it you're welcome thank you representative thank you mayor those are my exact concerns about three or Council meetings ago now uh the only other question that I have left is does this include private talk no it does not um if they're allowed to move a vehicle from an accident scene why does it not allow the department to say that they're supposed to be picking up the remnants also because if we're going to prove this I don't want these companies that are are legit and are going to do their part be accused of leaving Auto Parts behind from an accident scene so what can we do to remedy that I I'll defer to the department yes how you doing chief good afternoon representative sarut again uh can you repeat your question please yes make sure I answer it correctly Council means ago I brought the same issue uh about the debris being left behind throughout the community not just certain locations but throughout the community where there wherever there was an accident I was told that time that it did not apply to private companies to be told to say pick up the debris from your the car that you're picking up whereas before in the past it was if you remember that so is there any any in there any language in there and that new contract to indicate that that's what we're going to require from private tows called by the the owners themselves to be transported you know at their request for private tools to also have that uh what do we call that law to pick up their their uh right their their owner's debris and so when it comes to the toyna vehicles um when the when the city is involved and particularly the police department that's going to be when you're going to have accidents on the roadway crashes and such right so when we make contact with the towing companies at that time and their response we stand by with while it's cleaned uh and all debris right that's if we're there and we responded to the call if there's no response to the call from the police department side and the individuals call their own touring service they the expectation they're going to be cleaning the area but we're not prison at that time does that answer your question oh well not really because I really want it picked up I mean I just right right not not have you being accused of not doing your job or or the companies that we have we're going to approve here be accused of anything I cannot speak for the towing companies in regards to in the city or the police department and I understand I can look up for that answer I understand that but miss Neiman is there any way we can I know you're saying I was told earlier that private two can private toll cannot be be held responsible but we can always check this to see who who they called to have those Vehicles so you know what I'm saying on a private call yes sir and uh if if the Oscar sees what a legit towing companies remove the property what makes us not be able to assure the fact that that that private Towing Company will also can uh carry their load and remove the property from the streets as was stated earlier yeah it caused the city and taxpayers money to go back to send and pick up somebody else's yes do somebody else's job and they should have done it initially that's right but I think that what you're addressing is you're asking for specific description of the services that we're requesting of a towing company yeah and the question is whether those specifications were included in the bid I I'm not for private toll specifically for private toll the other the other companies are she just stood up there and said they will clean up so this is a different contract and I think we need to distinguish the difference yes ma'am and so if I can make the recommendation city manager Weston if we can bring this back representative Rivera yes let us look at title 12 and the current ordinance that we have that limits the fees and see if there's a way we can address your concerns okay so we'll go we'll go ahead and approve these and also but you'll bring back that private tow issue we'll bring back we'll look at uh options right and we'll bring that up that um that conversation up to you at a later time okay thank you mayor thank you thank you mayor um I think the chief is the root so I think in Chief in Syria I think the answer is very clear already uh having been a police officer a representative Rivera been a police officer having investigated numerous motor vehicle accidents on public roadways it was my responsibility as the responding officer at the scene to ensure whoever the towing company was there that they cleaned up the site and they would not be able to tow that vehicle away until they properly cleaned up the site and you as a police officer were there not only to enforce the laws but to make sure that the site was cleaned up as a supervisor as well as like hey you train your officers make sure that the towing companies pick it up and that's just to me very simple you're on site you're there you're making requests you might even have to make a demand one or two hey do it again clean it up brush it up hey you forgot that piece over there and so therefore it just it's take care it's taken care of by itself but also the other thing too you only mentioned motor vehicle accidents but this contract is also for when someone is then arrested right wherever let's just say without a motor vehicle accident being taken but hey that person's arrested for DWI that person's arrested for outstanding traffic warrants whatever the case may be but that motor vehicle is impounded correct all right thank you without Miss Prime yes mayor I heard representative Fierro moved to approve representative Rivera you were the second thank you on that motion call for the vote in the voting session the motion passes unanimously item 31 is discussion in action on the award of solicitation 2023-0498 Chelsea pocket park construction to Martinez Brothers Contractors LLC move to approve there's a motion made by mayor Pro temanello seconded by alternate mayor Pro Tim molinar to approve item number 31. on that motion call for the vote in the voting session the motion passes 621 with representative Fierro voting the remainder of council voting I the motion does carry next item is 32. this is discussion in action to request that the managing director of purchasing and strategic sourcing Department be authorized to issue purchase orders to bibioteca LLC the sole distributor for biblioteca service and maintenance for libraries Department move to approve it's a motion made by representative Canales seconded by alternate mayor Pro tem Molina to approve item 32. on that motion call for the vote in the voting session the motion passes unanimously item 33 is discussion in action that the city manager be authorized to sign a two-year on-call agreement for Professional Services to perform traffic Engineering Services on a task order basis between the city of El Paso and each of the following three Consultants hntb Corp weight solars Inc Acom Technical Services Inc move there's a motion made by mayor Pro temanello seconded by representative Fierro to approve item 33. on that motion call for the vote and the voting session the motion passes unanimously item 34 is discussion in action of the city manager be authorized to sign a two-year on-call agreement for Professional Services to perform Civil Engineering Services on a task-by-task basis between the city of El Paso and each of the following three Consultants Acom Technical Services Inc cea Engineering Group Inc and grv integrated engineering Solutions LLC there's a motion made by representative Pierro seconded by mayor Pro tem anelo to approve item 34. on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously item 35 is discussion in action on the request that the managing director of purchasing a strategic sourcing Department be authorized to issue purchase orders to Wagner Equipment Company DBA Wagner Power Systems the salt distributor for the cad certified rebuild of compactor landfill for the Environmental Services Department move to approve there was a motion made by representative Canales seconded by representative Molina to approve item 35 on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously item 36 a public hearing on an ordinance amending title 12 vehicles in traffic chapter 12.85 Parking Violations Bureau to update language to current usage to allow substituted associate Municipal judges to serve as hearing officers and to allow commissioned officers hired by independent school districts within the city limit to issue parking citations motion made by representative Rivera secondary by representative Fierro to approve item 36 there's no public comment on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously let's just take 37 what item 37 what is a public hearing on a nordinance amending title 10 public peace morals and Welfare chapter 10.20 to remove curfew ordinance Provisions located in sections 10.20 .010 through 10.20.054 move to approve there's a motion made by mayor Pro Tem anello seconded by alternate mayor potem molinar uh thank you mayor we had a fairly robust conversation about this item yesterday in our agenda review I just think it's for the benefit of the public it's important to note that this is imposed on us by new state law and so this is not something we really have a choice in and we have to amend our code here to align with what the state is requiring us to do in New State law thanks mayor thank you no and we did have a big conversation and and as I said earlier I'm not I don't agree with it uh I but again the state I'm posted on us and we do have to follow state law thank you with that Miss Prine yes sir the motion was made by mayor Pro temanello seconded by alternate mayor Pro temolinar there's no public comment on this item on that motion call for the vote thank you in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously mayor would you like to continue or go to call to the public thank you sir we now move to call to the public the El Paso city council is a local government body charged with serving all of the citizens of the city 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 attendants are expected to displace Civility and Decor that is respectful to other persons without the use of insulting propane 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 uses foreign 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 nine members of the public that signed up to speak the first person is Alejandro Ramirez Mr Ramirez topic is termination of employment contract without my statement and four Witnesses good afternoon Mr Ramirez you have three minutes answer good afternoon everybody on the afternoon of January 11 2023 my supervisor Chief Moodle asked me to meet with Denise Reynosa at fire headquarters Human Resources office when she arrived we sat down at an office on the fourth floor sorry about that my apologies Mr eggnog for me that a complaint from Chief Dieter was made against me for using derogatory disrespectful and defamatory words to him and about both my supervisors handed me a document reading about a fact-finding investigation where I was the accused of the complaint as I read the document asked her that I didn't understand the directive and if I could sit down with HR Director to further explain the form Mr Reynoso said unfortunately she's not available but we need to press on with this matter and you need to sign the document I replied no I don't cite documents I don't understand at that moment she got up and said okay I'm getting a witness to verify your refusal to sign and then said here's another form for you to sign surprises I was and shocked I asked her you're relieving me of my duties because I'm requesting a meeting with the HR Director just like the form says I can that's ridiculous Mr Reynosa replied okay then Mr Ramirez I'm going to write that you're you refuse to sign I told her excuse me but don't put your false narrative on that document I never said I wouldn't sign you did all I'm asking for is an appointment with the HR Director but now you're firing me I'm sorry but no I'm not finding any document until HR Director meets with me and ensures my and answers my questions I'm not young and naive anymore I'm leaving as I left I remarked to both missing no son Chief Duran when you get me that appointment with the HR Director I'll happily find any document you want I got up and I left the office by the following end of the next week my employee contract was terminated terminated without my statement or that of four other lead planners standing in the same room for the on the day of the incident my employment lasted 30 days if this is supposed to be an El Paso strong Community it felt more like a debilitating one after my employee contract was terminated I couldn't afford my rent which in turn left me homeless I couldn't believe that the age of 49 I was a homeless veteran living out of my vehicle homeless for four months Couchsurfing from one friend's home to another yeah just as I suffered through false allegations were unsurmountable we've all in this room have had false accusations mudslinging and false allegations launched at our character this is thing is you were terminated from your position like thank you Mr Ramirez you've reached the three minutes sir okay thank you the next speaker thank you sir the next speaker is Elizabeth Crawford Miss Crawford's topic is culture war against children Miss Crawford star six please two on major telephone good afternoon you'll have three minutes good afternoon I want to speak briefly about what's going on in our nation with the culture war on children and in many ways El Paso is at the epicenter of this war um being located in Texas and between Mexico and New Mexico between abortion the homosexual lgbtq agenda and child trafficking all these things are threatening to destroy the children of our nation and the children that are migrants the level of accountability that we have because of where we're located is unspeakably fine and we need to do whatever is possible to protect the children of El Paso that live here and those that pass through here from predatory behavior God has a special compassion on children in the scriptures and one of my favorite songs Psalm 131 Lord my heart is not bloody nor my eyes lofty neither do I exercise myself in great matters or in things too high for me surely I behaved and quiet in myself as a child that is named of his mother my soul is even as a weaned Child by Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and forever God has a lot in his word to say about children and their need to be protected and about the need to have a childlike faith in Christ so I'm just urging we all have a special Duty especially located where we are um to do what can be done to protect children from abortion from the homosexual lgbtq agenda and from child trafficking thank you so much thank you thank you the next speaker is Leonard Wells the topic is Introduction to mayor council and City staff as new Fort Bliss Garrison Community liaison good afternoon sir I think the mic is broke I'll just hold it mayor council uh ladies and gentlemen my name is Leonard Wells and I'm with the Fort Bliss Garrison headquarters where I work in the plans analysis and integration office as the community liaison and I just wanted to take a brief minute I know you all are very busy but just to introduce myself this is a new position for Fort Bliss and I'm responsible for interacting with governmental and public and private organizations so really in an effort to build collaboration in teamwork and so just as the little background I am a retired army colonel I've been stationed here at Fort Bliss for uh for over a decade a decade ago when I came in as a deputy Garrison Commander responsible for transformation I had an opportunity to work with former mayors and city managers Joyce Wilson and others and enjoy my time immensely and now I've had an opportunity now to serve again in the Garrison and almost in the same capacity with working with with officials uh both public and private and so I just wanted to take the time there to introduce myself and also let you know that I've already worked with uh retired commands our major Paul Albright and his team I've met Miss Dion Mack very smart lady by the way and I've had excellent productive meetings with Miss Nicole farini and her team as well and I look forward to working with the city staff please use me as a resource um for anything on Fort Bliss or off I would be happy to engage that as well and I know that the responsibility of managing and leading a city like the size of El Paso is very formidable it's very difficult and I know Fort Bliss is a small piece of that but if there's anything I can do to help you or your staff out then I I would greatly appreciate doing that so thank you for your time and I look forward to working with you thank you Cardinal thank you for your service I think I did thank you the next speaker is Ron Cuomo followed by Paula Powell Marsha margario Rick boner Wally Schick Mr Como's topic is integrity honesty and accountability good afternoon sir you have three minutes good afternoon uh first thing I'd like to do is thank you for all the messages I've been getting about removing a certain body from our shelter um getting them from all over from California New Jersey Mexico All Over Texas wanting to know how we achieved that this is coming from what we consider boots in the ground which are friends are telling us not to pay attention to them we have we have issues with integrity and honesty and I think we need to address him I think that people that are being paid by taxpayer Monies should be honest we should have integrity we need to clean it up we need to make them accountable for what they said did whatever I was standing here when the interim police chief said somebody breaks a state law a city law he would prosecute well we're still waiting we have some issues that should have been addressed that haven't been and it seems the one common factor is is they receive their paychecks from the city taxpayers of El Paso I want to thank you for what you've done I want to thank you for what you did with the downtown mess getting it cleared up so we're not wasting any more taxpayer money on it I really appreciate the fact that you all did that um I'm looking forward to see where we end up with the upcoming school that was brought up see where we're going we need the extra space because of all the Strays that we've created in El Paso um I would strongly recommend that we get a separate facility one with parking so that we can actually accommodate the people that want to come and look and adopt and rescues to show up so they can pull which I'm hoping we can get straightened out soon thank you again and I appreciate it folks and this one's for you Oscar um we're set we're a step forward we're getting closer we got a few more steps to go and we're going to get this problem resolved I appreciate it thank you so much thank you and thank you for meeting with me every other week I appreciate the time I know the colonel and I meet with you in our every other week so thank you thank you thank you thank you speaker is Paula Powell it's Friends Animal Society in El Paso Animal Services positive progress good afternoon Miss Powell you have three minutes thank you good afternoon mayor and Council again my name is Paula Powell and I work with Best Friends Animal Society and a very proud El Paso resident our team has had a consultant as well as other experts working alongside your teams for the past seven months I want to first of all thank all the hard-working staff at the shelter they are the hardest working city employees they are and commemorate the DraStic positive changes resulting from our collaboration upon their arrival in January they noticed that the shelter was operating at 150 percent over capacity this was the result of lack of appropriate programming and staff support to properly serve the people and animals of El Paso due to these conditions a contagious disease called distemper spread rapidly among the shelter population however we along with your staff acted swiftly to identify and address the outbreak we systematically tested treated and cleared the infected animals and we improved the housing situation to operate at a true capacity for care so over the past seven months the shelter and Community have made a positive change that resulted in the following improvements from just the last year we saved 809 more dogs and cats 287 fewer animals died in Kennels 513 more cats helped through our community cat program and 1383 families adopted in addition we funded the new brand new transport vehicle high impact crates and coating rescue Partners received rescue incentives from best friends if they pulled from El Paso Animal Services and most recently we funded heat relief with fans cooling pads and swimming pools please note that the statistics from Environmental Services do not indicate any increase the number of dead animals they picked up despite some misperceptions that more animals are dying in the street despite our collaboration success on July 18th that interim city manager notified us that they were terminating the service agreement with best friends but they look forward to continuing to work with us thankful for that because I'm here we hope that you continue to support all the positive changes made by your staff and Community during these past seven months some of our next steps we're handling the Foster program if you have a question about best friends or their philosophy please thank you ask best friends thank you thank you speaker is Marcia margario is margario's topic is shelter Animals still need us today miss Mark Ariel star sixth place to unmade your telephone Marcia margario star sixth place two on major telephone good afternoon you have three minutes okay am I audible to counsel now yes ma'am okay um thank you good afternoon city council and mayor the issue of loose dogs and cats is nothing new but it is far more prevalent now at the core of it animal shelters north south east west be they open admission or limited admission low intake or high intake municipal or private they are all struggling with more pets occupying space than is neither optimal nor safe there is not a shelter or a rescue that does not turn animals away every single day El Paso Animal Services as an open admission shelter Bears the burden and the cost of the vast majority of community animals El Paso Animal Services wants to save lives but they also want animals already in their care to have proper housing food water vet care socialization and human contact the public wants all animals in the community State and all animals in the shelter to survive their stay there is zero probability of that happening if euthanasia is not compatible comparable and intake is significantly exceeding live outcomes overcrowding in warehousing animals is the ill-fated consequence truth be told many people are not really bothered at euthanizing shelter animals shockingly they view euthanasia as the solution even after Decades of shelter history irrevocably demonstrates it is not there is little to no logic to taking in Limitless animals even if they kill them it was wrong seven years ago and it is wrong now thank you for your time thank you the next speaker is Dr Rick Bonar his topic is Bond oversight advisory committee good afternoon sir you have three minutes yes thank you very much for your time again the reason why I'm here is because we haven't had a meeting of boak for probably like seven or eight months there's been three or four cancellations of the meetings and it's very important that we meet I think this was one of the community's concerns when this organization was first formed and now that there's basically 160 million dollars more back in the pot it would be nice if we could actually have a meeting and get some public input on how to spend those funds thank you thank you sir the next speaker is Miss Wally Schick this check will be followed by Jose barriga I haven't started the clock man Miss check's topic is demanding her 12 minutes good afternoon Michelle and it will need the Elmo for Ms Sheik's presentation please you'll have three minutes ma'am I'm sorry maybe you're fine hello and please come on I'm sorry this is my 365 stays at City Hall that means a whole year and then after I drew with this presentation I'm gonna tell you what I'm gonna do I have a gift for every one of you and this is gonna help our city make money and please give me your time if it's possible that I could go to Germany and ring the bells of the Ulrich I had a drink for three minutes for the D-Day in 1994. and the priest said I have to ask the bishop first I cannot do that I said I came from El Paso Texas that didn't even know where El Paso Texas was and I said first ring the bell and then tell the bishop dude number one this represents money how you can make this is number two huh number three number four number five number six number seven number eight this is for the mayor the list is the best okay you dropped this but I picked it up yeah thank you for your time thank you Miss check today is my 30 165th day and Aryans thank you may check you've reached the three minutes huh thank you I'll be happy to distribute those that information to city council thank you okay here you oh if my time is up I was prepared for that thank you we're in a present time in a dangerous time thank you the next speaker is Jose barriga Mr barriga's topic is information dissemination we hope to see you in a couple of weeks thank you oh yeah good afternoon Mr barriga you have three minutes sir again thank you sir for the last couple of months I have seen the has been a lot of accidents because there's been a lot of Pursuits must know that much information is available sometimes I had several months ago I think when they had the Cielo Vista shooting I don't remember how long ago was that somebody had uh somebody had a scanner and I listened when somebody was I guess that dispatch was called talking and they were asking to send somebody to check because they the Starbucks has saying that somebody was sitting there looking through the window and they're saying that they look suspicious actually got me thinking about that and I thought about it is uh what's the is there something wrong been standing right there just looking through the window seeing a patrol car passing through and that makes somebody being suspicious though somebody being sitting down there for so long just an establishment just make them suspicious that's what I say this information dissemination um and I understand that the police forces know that is there's all the things that are more important they are individuals in the middle of the night the they have they receive the the dispatch God so many calls like I say I sometimes I do listen to the scanners because I don't have the the I don't have the information and for me for the safety for my family for the city of me uh just to ask just what I'm gonna ask is that just in case anything is any any emergency in any other roads just at least put some type of an announcement [Music] that's the only thing I'm asking there's a lot of stuff in the scanners and this even that they are secure thank you thank you sir mayor that concludes the call to the public thank you ma'am if we could return the item 36 38 sir 38 sorry 30. yes sir item 38 is a public hearing on an ordinance authorizing the city manager to sign a deed and any other documents necessary to convey approximately 37.9194 acres of land situated in portions of sections 21 28 and 29 block 80 Township one Texas and Pacific Railroad Company surveys city of El Paso El Paso County Texas there's a motion made by alternate mayor Pro tem molinar seconded by mayor Pro temanello to approve item 38 there's no public comment on this item on that motion call for the vote in the voting session the motion passes unanimously representative Hernandez not present the next item is number 39. and this is discussion in action that the city manager be authorized to sign a First Amendment to that certain sub-recipient agreement establishment and administration of the city of El Paso small business grant and interest buy down program between the city of El Paso and live fund Inc second we do have public comment on this item okay from Lillian spendler thank you all um can you hear me yes good afternoon you have three minutes good afternoon thank you to the council for having me on behalf of lift fund we just want to thank the city for their long-standing and continued partnership on several different programs that benefit and support small businesses in this post-pandemic recovery and the the funding that you all have allocated previously has um been dispersed over 10 million dollars has been dispersed and uh to over 400 businesses and this additional funding that we're requesting would support 55 additional small businesses if approved thank you thank you a motion in a second yes sir the motion was made by alternative mayor Pro temolinar secondary by representative Canales to approve item 39. on that motion call for the vote in the voting session the motion passes unanimously representative Hernandez not present that brings us to item number 40 and this is discussion in action that the city manager be authorized to execute a sub-recipient agreement between the city of El Paso and the people fund a Texas 501c3 non-profit community development financial institution we do have public comment on this item from Jenny palacek Miss Palace good afternoon you have three minutes [Music] um I'm I'm Jenny palacek I'm with people fund and I would like to also thank you for your support of this program for expanded access and capital to businesses small businesses across the city of El Paso um we're honored to be selected for this sub recipient agreement um this funding will provide continued support for small businesses in the city of El Paso to access additional affordable Capital um through increased business education and coaching including our access to our bipod small business accelerator and women's and veterans program and of course overall this project will bring more resources to small businesses in the city of El Paso um thank you so much for your time today and for the opportunity provided by this thank you Mr Prime Mr motion was made by representative Rivera seconded by alternate mayor Pro temolina to approve item 40 on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously representative Hernandez not present item 41 is discussion in action that the city manager or designee be authorized to sign in advance finding agreement between the city of El Paso and the state of Texas for the design and construction of the transportation Alternative set-aside Program Grant improvements McRae FM 2316 shared use path Montwood to album phase one there's a motion made by representative Rivera seconded by representative Fierro to approve item 41. on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously item 42 is discussion in action on trails and Trail hits to include deprogramming two proposed Trails Alice lateral connection Trail and Carolina to Emerson Trail and transferring funds from Deep program trails to Rio Grande Trail North and moving forward with a feasibility study of a baseball Canyon as a proposed route for the mountain to River Trail is there a public Communist Party yes sir we have three people that signed up to speak on this item we're going to go ahead and take that please yes sir we have Dr Rick bonard followed by Dr Sharon bonard and Joe garibai I.T Miss Dr Bonar will need the Elmo please is there someone that can help move the things so this is a project that's been near and dear to my heart for a very long time and I actually made a presentation on this back in September of 21 however next slide please if you can see here there should be one in between there this is uh also part of the plan that's the green plan from El Paso the mountain river trail is mentioned in there next slide please and then um this is a presentation that I made back in 2008 so this has been going on for 15 years as as something that we wanted to get done and uh when I say we I mean jointly the osab and boak have both endorsed this plan it's not something that I just made up and it's been going for a very long time so next slide please and so um as I said this has been consistently vetted and rated as priority number one in every meeting that's ever taken place whether it's uh osab boak public meetings whenever everyone said build this so next slide please and so and it's always been envisioned as a natural Trail North of Transmountain Road unfortunately the first iteration of this was obliterated when development occurred and that's what we're worried about this time we don't want to have the same situation occur again it's time to act now next slide which is this is this slide shows the area that we would like the trail to follow it's a was presented by the public service board to osab and boac as opportunities for this Trail to be uh have the right-of-way for it to occur and this is what I'm advocating for is yes you can do feasibility studies yes you can keep studying yes but what's going on now is paralysis by analysis this is something that we can act on now we can walk and chew gum at the same time there's nothing stopping you from acquiring this and I think what we're asking for is that you give staff direction to go ahead with this proposal dedicate the funds that are available through the quality of life Bond and storm water to acquire these Parcels now and we can use those Parcels to leverage for other things next slide please and that is this is the type of things that other people get why don't we get nice amenities like this we have two barriers in this plan which is the I-10 and the river in Utah they build overpasses over their uh freeway to allow unobstructed pedestrian travel next slide and look at other other cities they get nice things they get Bridges across the river so other people can enjoy it next slide and so we had presented this before this is part of the buildback better plan which would have allowed us to get money to do this next slide and if you read this and I know it's very hard to read but it's an exact fit to what we're prescribing here it's a natural Trail through a new open space and this is where we could leverage this money or property so by buying the land this is a three to one match those grants went up to 10 million dollars and we should be taking advantage of this and I hope it's not too late additionally there are other grants that are available and that's through the imba your three-minute era yep unfortunately Mrs bonart left the next speaker is Joe Garibay you have three minutes sir thank you good afternoon good afternoon the chair of the OSAP um we have been pushing for this mountain to River Trail for some time and we have lost land through the process because it's taken so long having said that I would tell you that this plan that's before you now did not go before OSAP so OSAP board has not made a recommendation on this I do think it would be prudent to let osab board take a look at it because it does call for two trails to go away and it's also calling for a Trailhead where the lost dog conservation easement is and I know Frontera has not been consulted about having a Trailhead on land that's under a conservation easement I'm sure they would be willing to work on that but I do think there should be a little more discussion at OSAP let us put a recommendation for it to you all so that you can take a look at it I we will work on this very exponentially because we do want this to happen we do not want it to be a delay but again calling for two trails to go away putting a Trailhead out there without having gone through osabite think might be pushing it a little too fast so I would ask you to give us a little time to look at it thank you all mayor that concludes public comment on this item thank you ma'am we are representative canelas followed by mayor Pro Tem thank you mayor sir thank you I want to I'll start just addressing one of Mr garibi's comments which is the the two Trails uh that would be going away as Mr Goody by put it they will be going away regardless unfortunately uh these are two uh two Trails two potential Trails uh that involved right away from the county water Improvement District number one and the new board at the at the water district has decided they don't want to participate in these projects anymore and they won't allow the city to construct the trails on on those you know canals and so that that part we we can't affect today um I did have questions for staff about potential pending bids I understand that we have some bids that may expire if we don't take quick action can you please elaborate a little further CID for the record um yes currently the Rio Grande Trail those bids expired were going to expired we offered an extension so we are pretty cutting close to holding that same bid price with the contractor uh how long do we have what kind of window do we have to act within uh before that extension is I believe it's the end of September okay is there potential to schedule post hold a meeting of osab and have a recommendation come back to council within that time frame not sure if osab's calendar when they meet next we'll meet tomorrow Mr Rodriguez yes sir samadri is the next schedule meeting uh I think you're mentioning um Mr chair uh oh it's the 16th yeah that would give us enough time to work and be able to bring this back in two weeks that would not impact the bits correct you better posted it has been posted I don't think that the item is posted within the 72 hour period so we would need to have either another meeting of OSAP just for this specific to get it back on and then get Quorum for that meeting confirm debates would be good through good good afternoon Council Kevin Smith of planning inspections the next meeting is scheduled for tomorrow that agenda has already been posted for the open space Advisory Board the next meeting after that will be September 13th is when it's scheduled uh is osab in there by law is able to host additional unscheduled meetings as long as they comply with the 72-hour posting requirement they they are um again the next scheduled one is September 13th is that is the next regular rescheduled meeting well we will work with osab on getting this scheduled if for some reason uh that the osab decides that they that they can't have that meaning we'll bring the item back anyway to meet our timeline but we'll work diligently with them to get a meeting scheduled to meet the intent of the city council okay so you'll make every effort to get it scheduled and then regardless this will come back to us in two weeks regardless we need to bring it back before the bids expire but uh you know I'll make sure that that staff works with the osab to get him to get a meeting scheduled and with the intent of being able to make quorum to have a have a meeting to discuss the item okay yeah I think that sufficiently addresses the the concern of this not having gone to osab it'll give them the opportunity and hopefully they're able to have a meeting in uh I think give their support for this item because it makes a whole lot of sense given the fact that we have to deprogram you know out of our control we have to deprogram those those two other trails and like Dr Barnard said this the mountain Trevor Trail particularly has been uh a priority of the osab for a long time thank you mayor yes thank you representative molinar thank you mayor um I will draw my first motion to delete and I'll make a motion to bring it back in two weeks second it's a motion and a second to bring back in two weeks yes sir the motion was made by alternative by mayor Pro temanello and this is too possible in the item for two weeks just a point of clarification is the best action here to postpone for two weeks or do we want to wait to see if osab has some alternative records Colonel Washington said he'd bring it back regardless in two weeks uh right but staff could repost this with potentially something different if the OS app comes to us with a different recommendation if we're postpone then we end up with exactly the same yeah I'm going to remove my second on the recommendation to delete so if staff needs to change the item language based on the conversations with OSAP they can do so yes that that's fine look I I made a commitment we're going to bring this back so irrespective of whether you delete it it really doesn't matter we'll make sure that it gets back on the agenda and that we meet with the osab to get the osabs input into into how we proceed is that what you want Joe Colonel I was going to ask you so uh would it be better for four weeks then so that ozap can have their meeting on the 13th change the language we meet the the issue with the uh the bid so I'll go Sam once you address that yes what we'll do is uh we'll work with um inspections as well as a chair to see if we can get your schedule and unscheduled uh meeting so they can hear this item specifically um if not if if we can go up to four weeks we'll try to pick back in two weeks now their item is if they meet tomorrow and that item's not on their agenda they can't discuss it anyway it'll be a separate meeting mayor correct that's what I'm saying so tomorrow wouldn't that could mean they couldn't discuss it so but it's probably best as representative said or representative Canalis that no I'm sorry or Pro 2 that we go ahead and delete the item because the language will come back differently correct correct it's just for that option too just delete and then they'll bring it back when they're ready yes sir Rodriguez what's the deadline again what's the deadline again for the bit for the bids uh the end of September okay then I'll uh change my motion and move to delete to the language second here's the motion made by alternate mayor Pro temolinar seconded by mayor Pro temanello to delete item 42. on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously you know we have to adjourn this meeting and then reconvene yesterday's correct there's emotion to adjourn the regular city council meeting for August 15 2023 all in favor aye aye anyone opposed and the regular city council meeting for Tuesday August 15 2023 is adjourned at 12 48 PM mayor would you like to reconvene the work session from yesterday thank you you have a motion to reconvene second you'll have to read it in there's an emotion and a second to reconvene the August 14 2023 work session all in favor anyone opposed the meeting is back in session on Tuesday August 15 2023 at 12 48 pm do we need to wait for it to change anything or we're okay okay so we don't need any um I.T yeah we have to go to Executive session we have one item an executive from yes Council but it's not going to take what it's not going to take very long to brief you on that item so we'll do that and then that way is there is there a meeting well it won't take long due to whatever the city attorney's office is having to present I should be afraid is there a motion to retire into executive session there's a motion and a second to return to Executive session all in favor anyone opposed and the city council of city of El Paso May return to Executive session pursuanto section 3.5 a of the El Paso City Charter in the Texas government code chapter 551 sub chapter d to discuss executive session item one aqueous film forming foam products multi-district litigation mdl number 2873 under 551.071 consultation with attorney thank you it is 12 49 pm when Council returns we'll need to switch to yesterday's meeting Link in teams for those joining us in teams thank you no we're going to executive this meeting teacher foreign foreign in here maybe just plug it plug this in and then just yeah [Music]