e e e e e e e e e e one two e e e e e for good morning everyone Miss py uh we're ready please good morning mayor good morning ma'am I got your stuff there if Council will please good morning everyone can you um thank you Miss PR yes we need a quorum of Council on the days please so the meeting can convene well we're going to start it's uh 9:00 so we'll start now oh [Music] man yes sir we don't have a quorum yet but we can start with the invocation thank you and this is to be delivered by El Paso Police chaplain Joe marada good morning sir good morning if you'd like to receive the invocation today let us bow our heads together Lord we humbly ask that you be in these precedings today we ask that you grant wisdom and understanding to our elected and appointed officials as they govern on behalf of the residents of El Paso bless them as they strive to make the city of El Paso a better place to live to work to go to school and to retire we pray for our community today we pray for their safety security and serenity we pray for our city our neighborhoods and our homes children are God's Heritage therefore we also want to take the time to pray for our children today we pray for their health and their welfare and we ask that you bless their caregivers and we would finally like to ask that you would bless and keep all of our First Responders and their families in your name we pray amen amen that brings us to the pledge of Allegiance this morning we have students from Scottdale Elementary School we have Mia Daniela gilera Riley Jade Acres Luis Enrique Alonso Jr beta emaline cero Abraham ignasio Dominguez Gabriel Duran the 4 idali Karina chavaria emed Kyle gr Genesis Vian gura Jordan Josiah errera Mila Ray Legette Nathan Jacob Malon gonzale Skyler Renea Papo Edmonds Emilio roacha Eric Leonardo Valenzuela Dominique Gabriel Varela and Shane Matthew Adolfo Savala of the United States of America the for it stands one nation [Applause] godice now we got a certificate for yall Mia where's Mia oh there's Mia how are you again huh okay Riley all right Riley how are you again good good good l brother Abraham it Genesis hello again I like your hair looks pretty is running for mayor he need to know right you're ready tell me I didn't have to worry he's only n though are you all right we'll take a photo now please towards the [Music] middle no smiling okay Sarah [Applause] thank you [Laughter] all good morning this is a meeting of the AL Paso city council for Tuesday April 23rd 2024 mayor liser is present and presiding in council chambers along with mayor protm Kennedy representative ACO representative ernandez alternate mayor Pro molinard representative Fiero and representative Rivera representative salido has requested to be excused today mayor we have a quum thank you very much and uh thank you all for for being here and you know we have a lot of little blessings in life and having these kids do the pledge of today was a great blessing for us as a council and as a community and I say this every time we have young people here but it's true that the future of our city and our country is the youth and I had the opportunity to meet all these young men and women and our our f looks really bright it really does I had one one little boy come up to me and says so how old do you have to be to be mayor and I said well you have to be at least 18 and you have to be register to vote he goes well I'm nine so you don't have anything to worry about so you know and these are the blessings and the smiles that uh really make everything worth it what we do today what we do every day and you know Chaplan was talking about uh you know go to school grow up play and have the opportunity to retire in a great Community is what it's all about and you know I've gotten most of them done I I grew up I went to school I played a lot and I'm looking forward to being here the rest of my life so thank you all and I want everyone to really kind of take a moment of silence and just think about all the joys of Life the little Joys that really bring a smile to to you and and to our community and I'm going to look around and I hope everyone's smiling when I look around so thank you thank you again for everyone being here and May get God bless hel Paso and may God bless America thank you thank you sir that brings us to the mayor's proclamations of first Proclamation is National infant immunization week who's who's got that one the national infant immunization week [Laughter] Proclamation May whereas immunizations U are an effective public uh health tool to increase life expectancy quality of life for families and whereas in 1994 the vaccine for children's program was created to protect children fostering on those living in under served areas communities improving accessibility equity in uh vaccine Administration whereas the city of Public Health activities promotes provides life-saving vaccinations to infants childrens and community members who otherwise would not be able to afford them thus ensuring a healthy Community whereas the Department of Public Health immunization program manages the Texas vaccine for Children's Program establishing Community Partnerships recruiting engaging Health Providers to administer vaccinations to vulnerable under served infants and children whereas a department of Public Health along with 97 healthc care providers receiving vaccines through Texas vaccines for children program have successfully protected infants and childrens in our community Through vaccinating uh placing El Paso Texas as a leader in the vaccination rate in the state and whereas every year in April the Department of Public Health along with the Center for Disease Control and prevention observed the national infant immunization week to emphasize promote awareness of the importance of vaccinating the infants childrens to protect them from diseases and other complications now therefore be it proclaimed by the mayor and Council of CityVille Paso that April 22nd through April 29th 2024 shall be known as National infant immunization week signed by The Honorable mayor Oscar liser good morning hi good morning thank you mayor and city council for this at all of our four Immunization Clinics that are ran through the Department of Public Health the aim to stop vaccine preventable diseases National infant immunization week really puts the spotlight on having our youngest residents be up to date on their vaccines so thank you thank you and uh I see Dr okara in the background he always comes in and looks very proud of uh every one of y'all and and the work and and that the city does and every one of you all so Dr okad always a pleasure to see you thank you all the next Proclamation is Li I'll start go ahead sir I was enjoying the parade um good job guys whereas dios noos deos libros emphasizes the importance of celebrating the rich diversity of cultures and languages in our community provot promoting Multicultural literature and encouraging children to embrace their own cultural heritage while also fostering an appreciation for the cultures of others and whereas this day serves as a reminder of the critical role that lously plays in children's lives and by providing access to books and educational resources diodos noos diodos lios helps children develop essential literacy skills sparking their imagination expanding their knowledge and empowering them to succeed academically and Beyond and whereas Dia deos noos diodos liberos encourages a lifelong love for reading and learning by providing fun and educational programming and activity sparking curiosity creativity and empathy and whereas the cele ation of diodos noos diodos libros in El Paso has been held since 1997 and has donated hundreds of thousands of books to Children of El Paso and the surrounding communities now therefore be it proclaimed by the mayor and councel of the city of El Paso that April 27th 2024 shall be known as diod deos noos diod deos libros day signed by The Honorable mayor Oscar liser good morning mayor and Council thank you much for the proclamation I am honored to be standing here um in front of you behind all of my staff here um I want to give great kudos to the library staff and our Parks and Recreation that work very hard to put this program together it has grown I think we're growing it back to how we first started back in in 30 year 28 years that this has been going on so I am really pleased and proud of the staff that work to make this happen for the community thank you for your support and I also want to give a big shout out to all of our sponsors that make all of this happen thank you thank you now there's going to be a parade we will be starting with a walking parade at tell me again at the col at the Coliseum at the Coliseum at 10:00 a.m. and walking to Washington Park to start the activities by Saturday Saturday you're all invited April 27th Saturday um the parade at 10: and the activities at 11 at Washington Park thank you I hope to see everyone there one of the things that I did learn when um when we kicked off the other those n de Leos that u in the 28 years that uh you all have given out free books over 300,000 books and that's very impressive that you don't talk about literacy and you talk about giving back to the community Parks and Recreations has given back to the children to help them and continue to help them over 300,000 books and that's really something that you all should be very proud of and our community and our city should be proud that we'll continue to do that and continue to give out all these books and we got books again this year we do sir we have 15,000 books that will be given away 50,000 books 15 15,000 well that's uh great and I know you have some great sponsors that made it possible that all this you're doing is not on the taxpayers you had some great sponsors and uh when we kicked it off I I got the opportunity to meet them all and uh and thank you again for the sponsors that uh help you all be able to do this and not put it on the back of the taxs but also continue to grow um the community you uh I know that um some of the the sponsors was kan's chicken the great khil Foundation uh Teachers Federal Credit Union ra um I El Paso Children's Hospital I can read all of them from the back of somebody's shirt I don't remember them here we go the great colleague Foundation tundo El Paso children's K's EXA FM R 98.3 Radio children's the El Paso Public Library friends the Sun Metro MD kids and Al Paso Kim than thank you and I know you all thought that she was reading the back of his shirt but he had him tattooed to his back that's how committed he is thank you all and I appreciate everything you do we do have a little token of our appreciation for the council can we approach to provide that thank you if you did bring us shirts I would like a small one thank you thank you for the grandkids um I was just going to say that literacy is so critical um growing up there was not a lot of money laying around my house but I got to travel the world through books and you know I got to pretend I was a cowboy and an astronaut and it was all through books and it really is a lifelong skill that never changes so congratulations on everything you guys do thank you sir thank you thank you and if this morning's honor will please remain in Chambers Council will have an opportunity to take photos with you once the ceremonial items have been completed the next Proclamation is El Paso fashion month for the representative Canales join the meeting at 9:20 hi good morning I'm honored to read this Proclamation on behalf of Representative Isabelle salido um the proclamation reads city of El Paso Texas whereas the city of El Paso Prides itself on its mosaic of diversity creativity and cultural heritage and as a proud aaso and fashion show consultant and producer Brady W launched El Paso fashion month to highlight the importance of fashion style and Beauty as significant facets of our society embodying essential avenues for self-expression and creativity warranting acknowledgement and reverence on par with other Industries excuse me whereas entrepreneurs such as brother and sister duel and designers of Imperial Legacy clothing mark and Faith Smith serve as advocates of and mental health professionals alongside illuminatis like Emmanuela Nam of nanka clothing Neda Gasco owner of n boutiques and Charles Smith of gentleman Boutique byon are infusing the industry with deeper meaning and whereas these industries contribute significantly to our economy employing a diverse array of talents raging from designers and seamstresses to Beauty Artisans stylist models and locally owned boutiques El Paso's fashion industry entrepreneur entrepreneurs desire to witness a return of a robust textile manufacturing industry in hopes of establishing a purpose of actualizing an an El Paso Fashion District and whereas by designating April as op Paso fashion month we aim to shine a spotlight on the invaluable contributions of all op pasoans who aim to Excel and are excelling into industry now therefore be it proclaimed by the mayor mayor and Council of the city of El Paso that April 2024 shall be known as El Paso fashion month signed by honorable mayor Oscar liser congratulations good morning mayor Lisa representative Salo and every esteemed member of city council my name is Brandy W I was born and raised in the city I'm proud to call it my home I am a consultant and fashion show producer and the founder of fly event promotion we Mentor young men and women on behalf of the entire on behalf of the entire Al Paso fashion style and Beauty Community I extend a heartfelt thanks for proclaiming April as the city's official fashion month the recognition underscores the pivotal role fashion plays in our cultural landscape acknowledging entrepreneurs like markets and Faith Smith Emanuel Nam and Charles Smith of all whom will share a few words with you is not just celebrating Talent it's recognizing fashion and its potential in our city to contribute to Economic Development and aspirations for El Paso to be a fashion Hub we observe El Paso fashion month with the hopes of uniting and supporting local talents and businesses encouraging an En environment to ripe for growth and Innovation our beloved El Paso the outfit that I'm wearing today is from nanka clothing by Ella um one thing that does unite us we all wear clothes whether it's for work for our personal time um but it allows us to express ourselves to show our personality and to also um to connect with others it's a way of expressing and growing and I hope and I'm very thankful for you guys recognizing us and supporting us and a few words from Ella good morning morning everyone I am Ella andong to emanuela I am from Cameroon but I'm also a proud citizen of this country I hold a plator of degrees including a doctoral certificate in industrial and organizational psychology however today I stand before you as a small business owner and a fashion designer in the city of El Paso nanka clothing is a member of El Paso the black El Paso voice and the Chamber of Commerce the El Paso Chamber of Commerce ever so often soon we begin this great journey is embedded with skill and um the potential for success but we ultimately fail not from a lack of trying or working hard harder hardest even but because often times we want to be handed the keys to someone else's home we seek answers to someone else's questions we want interpretations to someone else's dreams however I believe that in order to fulfill the skills that we possess we we need an opportunity an opportunity to build our own homes an opportunity to interpret our own dreams and an opportunity to answer the questions that we have I wholeheartedly do believe that this Proclamation will Propel the fashion industry in the city of El Paso to Greatness the kind of greatness that exposes the debt of fashion Beyond just putting on a piece of fabric on our bodies fashion that ex exemplifies our psychology how do I feel when I wear this dress what perceptions do you have of me when you see me in a dress like this fashion that describes our culture what significance or history if any is there behind the dress I'm wearing today what stereotypes do exist because of the clothing we put on finally fashion as it relates to our economy the skills that would evolve um in the manufacturing and employment in the world of fashion how are clothing and boutiques represented and sustained in our city how do small businesses and Brands like mine step in and let our voices be heard um as a small and minority business owner the biggest challenge I continue to face is the lack of opportunity so I do believe I really do believe that this Proclamation will allow nanka clothing to come forward and prove to every one of you that we can bridge that Gap that exists through the lens of fashion that builds walls that cause us to leave as strangers in our own home we want to live comfortably and still accept the uniqueness of each one of us and remain the same so thank you so very much to the mayor and the city council thank you Brandy W for giving me an opportunity Against All Odds thank you Monica talker for words that I still am trying to find to express how grateful I am hash too many things thank you especially to my family for allowing me to Dream On for a day like this thank you thank you and [Applause] congratulations good morning sir good morning I'm GNA be very brief to our city officials representatives and your respective places I count it a distinct honor to speak in front of you today my name is Charles W Smith Jr and as a citizen being raised and born in AP pasle Texas I am honored and privileged to be a part of a hard work community of ambitious individuals that continue to strive for excellence as a business owner of gamman Boutique byon as well as an active motivational speaker with the message entitled reboot my way of thinking I find it imperative to brid the gap between the fashion and inspirational sector in my line of work you will observe that they both go hand in hand for every garment purchase initiated conversations are enlightened advice is given trust is established and the evolution of confidence is constructed and the momentum is ignited to be able to shine the light on fashion is more than clothes yet is an outward expression from an inward reflection of value or selfworth it is essential to comprehend that clothes do not make people it is a people in which bring the clothes to life then for the moment we stand in as such as this on today Tuesday April 23rd 2024 we'll continue to exemplify to AEL an addition to the world that our Sun City is not only strong nevertheless we have been clothed with perseverance and determination and to conclude we have endured resilience through pressure and fire only for a beautiful exceptional and esteemed Diamond to be birthed in the words of Ralph Lauren I don't design clothes I design dreams thank you for your time [Applause] we're faith and Marcus Smith Legacy clothing good morning we want to thank the mayor and the city council for this honor uh we've been on our fashion Journey for about 13 years now and the whole purpose has always been to empower the youth to understand that even though you're in Paso Texas get still shine just as bright anywhere yeah we just encourage them we use our mental health platform to encourage them to speak out loud and show their feelings you thank you thank you m p the final Proclamation this morning is economic development week I got you good morning Proclamation city of El Paso Texas whereas the week of May 6th through May 10th 2024 has been designated as International Economic Development week in El Paso to increase awareness of local initiatives to create jobs Advan Career Development opportunities and increase the quality of life whereas economic developers Champion the economic Prosperity enhance the standard of living within their communities through the creation retention and expansion of employment opportunities fostering growth enriching wealth and cultivating a divers iers ified stable tax base and whereas the city of El Paso has supported incentives that will generate over 870 million dollars in New Capital Investments for fiscal year 2024 including the creation and retention of hundreds of jobs this includes the recent announcements by eat Corporation of a 70 million investment and the $800 million first phase of meta and whereas the establishment of the business One-Stop shop boss program in conjunction with securing 22 entrepreneurial support organization Partners to collaborate with boss and the successful acquisition of funding through the cares act has facilitated the distribution of cares and arpa funding to support and benefit the small business community and whereas recognizing that recent Economic Development initiatives have yielded tangible results including expansions and announcements from notable companies such as Project Ara and New Mexico edificios LLC along with exciting forthcoming announcements that include significant Capital Investments major expansion and downtown Redevelopment and whereas the city of op Paso acknowledges the significance of these invaluable programs and initiatives understanding that Regional Partnerships play a crucial role in enhancing both the quality of life and the overall living environment for the citizens of El Paso now therefore be a proclaimed by the mayor and Council of the city of Paso that May 6th through May 10th 2024 shall be known as economic development week signed the honorable mayor Oscar liser city of El [Applause] Paso good morning good morning uh Karina brasgalla I've only been the interim director of The Economic Development Department for a few months but I am just incredibly impressed every day with the work that our staff does um it's an exciting time for El Paso I'm very thrilled to be in this position and to have everybody here with us so that you can see some of the faces of the folks who work on these deals with us um I'd also like to recognize our entrepreneurial support organizations we have a few folks here those esos really help us do the work that we do out in the community support our businesses support our local economy um and as a reminder so Economic Development week May 6th next week is Small Business Week so keep an eye out for those events please buy support local businesses um and that's it thank you all so so much thank you very much and one of the the things that's uh important to think about if you when four years ago we um we had this thing called Co and we had to work our way to put Co behind us and to bring companies to El Paso and to help companies that had closed their doors open their doors through Bill back America through a lot of things that we needed to do and as you heard represent Mullen are reading the thing that have come to El Paso the things that we'll be able to announce later on today and probably within another 30 days we have another really good announcement or somewhere in the vicinity is you know we broke those barriers we we put Co behind us even though we still need to be aware of our surroundings and continue to be careful we have really grown like we we wouldn't even um anticipated on doing um I'm very proud of you your department and all the people in the city Colonel Weston um your department youall have done an incredible job of uh not making excuses but making things happen and it's easy to make excuses but I think we realized it was easier to make things happen and to help people and the bring companies to El Paso and create a lot of jobs um I know that people talk about that it's El Paso's time El Paso's here is not El Pas those time it's already here and it's important that we we see that because of the great work you all have done we we can um we can talk nonsense or we can do what we do and you guys did it and I'm very very very proud and very excited that uh we'll have something coming up very soon um sooner than most people think but um I um I um I I could Ramble On and On because we meet on a weekly basis and talk about the great possibilities and like I said you guys have not made excuses but made things happen it's not El Paso's time El Paso is here and no Pas ared because of you all thank you thank you Mr PR Mr Mayor would you like to continue with the with item 26 please item 26 thank you sir we will move to item 26 item 26 is discussion and action to approve a resolution that declares the fourth Saturday of April as celebrate Trails day and urges all residents to participate in this observance by exploring and supporting our local Trails this item was submitted by representative ernandes hi good morning if um our representatives from the Rails to Trails group can come up forward um I'll read the resolution into the record thank you mayor whereas the Rails to Trails Conservancy a nonprofit organization dedicated to advocating for and creating a nationwide network of trails has established a yearly celebrate Trails Day held on the fourth Saturday of April as a day of national recognition for the value of trails in our communities and whereas this observance aligns with the city of El pasa's strategic goal of enhancing El pasa's quality of life through recreational cultural and educational environments and whereas Trails provide a safe Equitable and accessible recreational opportunities for residents of all ages and abilities contributing to the physical and mental well-being of our community and whereas the Pas nor Trail offers a blend of connectivity historical significance and Environmental conserv Conservation which enhances the quality of life for our residents and visitors alike and Ras celebrate Trail's day encourages individuals and families to explore and enjoy the network of trails available in our community fostering a greater appreciation for these valuable facilities environmental stewardship and sustainable transportation and res the collaboration between local governments nonprofit organizations businesses and Community me Members is essential in the maintenance expansions and promotion of our trail system now therefore be it resolved by the city council of the city of El Paso it recognizes the importance of trails and promoting Health Fitness conservation efforts as well as in fostering Community ties and economic development within our city and declares the fourth Saturday of April as celebrate tril's day and urges all residents to participate in this observance by exploring and supporting our local TRS and I will make a motion to approve second yeah we do have a motion in a second but we'd love to hear from you first good morning good morning everyone my name is iberti thino and I'm the friends of the trail coordinator for the basa North the trail celebrate Trails day is a nationwide initiative sponsored by Rails to Trails conservancy and it celebrates America's trails and and Trail systems and encourages people across the country to go to get outside and enjoy their local Trails El Paso has much to celebrate this year the health Foundation is proud to have partner with the city and other stakeholders on the B the nor Trail a vision for a over 70 mile County white Trail over the past 5 years during this time together we have expanded pad drain Trail from 3 miles to 8 Miles connecting es park to capano park and this is just the beginning as of this year the the combined efforts of the city county teot the no city of sakoto and the health Foundation have secured over $50 million in funding for the design and construction of almost 30 miles of Trail these efforts will provide safe and comfortable facilities for residents to walk and bike to for transportation and recreational purposes we invite you all and the El Paso Community to celebrate tr day this Saturday April 27th at on the pad drain show this event will kick off at 8:30 a.m. at the intersection of mimosa and Vocational drive we will plant 25 trees to enhance the shade canopy ensuring a more enjoyable experience for all tra users thank you mayor and city council for your continued support of the baso North Trail thank you thank you [Applause] there's a motion made by representative ernandez seconded by alternate mayor po molar to approve item 26 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously will the consent agenda that way we can uh break yes sir we'll now move to page number three to the consent agenda all matters listed under the consent agenda will be considered by city council to be routined and will be enacted by one motion unless separate discussion is requested by council members prior to the vote members of the audience may ask questions regarding items on the consent agenda when the vote has been taken If an item has not been called out for separate discussion the item has been approved Council May however reconsider any item at any time during the meeting May Pro page three item two request to excuse absent council members and that's to excuse representative salido page five item nine delete per airport page nine item 27 Revis per representative Kennedy and that revision is to add Co a co-sponsor and that would be representative Canales page 10 item 30 delete per mayor liser page 18 item 52 revise per capital Improvement department and that revision is to strike out the words to execute the approved Capital Improvement plan in FY 2024 and replace with in support of the 2012 quality of life projects thank you and I just do want to emphasize one last time that uh item 30 is being deleted so we can come back and work with the city manager and some City Council Members I've already talked to a few to bring it back and add some teeth because the importance of privacy and the importance of being able to have an executive session and not share with the elite few is very important if that's what we want to do then we need to share with all the taxpayers and all the citizens so we are going to bring it back pretty soon as uh I know the City attorney has already been doing some work on it so thank you all for that and mayor we also have public comment on item 11 from Robert Campion who's that Robert Campion Mr Camp I don't see him okay I don't see him coming forward sir no ma'am so there is a motion made by mayor potim Kennedy seconded by representative Retta to approve the consent agenda as revised on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously can we have a motion to reses Second there's a motion in a second to recess a city council meeting all in favor all in favor anyone opposed and the city council meeting is in recess at 9:43 a.m. in order to take photos with this morning's honor e Council we're going to go ahead and start with the national infant immunization week followed by the lios then El Paso fashion month and the economic development week and last but not least the celebrate Trails day and we will be taking the photographs out in the lobby area thank you e e e e e can we get the council member to join us in the lobby area please can we get the council members to join us in the lobby area if we could get all the council members to join us in the lobby area if we could get all of the council members to join us in the lobby area please e e May all right can I get the national infant immunization week like e e e may I get folks folks to come out into the lobby e e e e e e e may I get the fashion folks into the lobby area the fashion month e e e e e e e e e one more photograph with the trails celebrate Trails Day celebrate Trails day if you could join us in the lobby area e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e there's a motion in a second to convene the council meeting all in favor anyone opposed the meeting is back in session at 10:09 a.m. we are on page number nine item number 27 and this is discussion and action to direct the City attorney to draft an ordinance Amendment to the Sound amp amplification permit to include the downtown district this item was submitted by mayor protim Kennedy and representative Canales you want to start represent Canalis yeah I know yeah okay let's uh we'll we'll go the 28 yes sir item 28 is discussion and action to approve a resolution that declares the expenditure of district 7 discretionary funds to purchase two radar based traffic data collectors to be utilized by the AL Paso Police Department serves the municipal purpose of increasing Public Safety operation efficiency and this item is representative Rivas representative Riva thank you mayor yes this uh expenditure here is uh you know how we've been dealing with a lot of fatalities and and you know uh dark areas and and Speeders and the like uh this will be equipment that will be used for the uh from the police department uh we can have Chapa us cheapa us he's s talking well you know what while he finishes up there I guess we'll get to to show you all the the equipment uh upon uh receiving it so we don't unless you have a picture right now do you have a picture of the of the item okay well I guess we can show when you come back uh when you receive it actually but I was telling him this is a can you let them know the equipment that we're getting to you yes sir good morning mayor council record the uh the uh radar uh box so when uh we're getting traffic complaints whether they're coming in through uh Council or the mayor's office on speed complaints what we have to do is we have to send out a Traffic Unit or motor officer out there to determine uh the magnitude of the the traffic issue particular speeding with this uh piece of equipment that representative Rivera is uh uh purchasing through his discretionary funds allows us to put the this device up on uh uh different fixed objects uh utility polls for example and we're able to read the traffic going through to see if there is truly a uh uh a speeding issue and that we just download the information and we're able to say yeah we do need to put uh traffic people out there to handle the these don't look like regular speeding uh no sir they look like they're pelican cases that you uh can uh attached to fixed objects thank you sir representative FAL Chief is are they movable so if representative R has an issue on P pelicano can he move it to George Sosa or can you all move it is it mobile yes sir so we get once we we've secured the data in one location now we can move it to another location as they pop up so then he can lend it to us next yeah okay good thank you you all got to work that out thank you thank you and with that I make a motion to approve there's a motion a second yes sir the motion was made by representative Riva seconded by alternate mayor protim molinard to approve item 28 on that motion call for the vote representative ernandez yes thank you thank you and the voting session thank you Chief and that motion passes unanimously thank you Chief 27 sir uh item 27 now please thank you item 27 is discussion and action to direct the City attorney to draft an ordinance Amendment to the sound amplification permit to include the downtown district district and this is was item was submitted by mayor protim Kennedy and representative Canales mayor protim yeah um this is an item there there's some issues with uh late night weekend sound in particular downtown amplificated Amplified sound I should say and what this says is if you're right now it's just uh taking off the carve out it's not adding anything to the ordinance it's not adding anything to it it just takes out the carve out for downtown so I mean if you're on in place you have to get a permit if you're on the east side you have to get a permit and this will we're asking the City attorney to change the ordinance that takes out the car route for downtown so that the the ordinance will actually be consistent throughout the city of El Paso and and with that I'll make the motion to approve second representative canandes thank you mayor yeah um when the sound amplification permit was first uh passed in 2022 to um the downtown Management District had asked for uh essentially to be carved out of the boundary uh well to carve be carved out of the the requirement that businesses within their boundary uh receive a sorry I'm not being very eloquent today the downtown Management District asked for their boundaries to be carved out from the requirement to get an unamplified sound permit um I think that was an okay experiment to do at the time uh we didn't want to have a any negative impact on the businesses downtown but I think we've seen uh several instances where there have been conflicts between uh neighboring businesses uh in particular uh a lot of disruption to hotels uh multiple hotels downtown have have submitted complaints about uh about noise and Amplified sound that's disrupting their guests um and and I think uh at this point it makes sense to uh reverse that carve out that was made in in 2022 and uh see if that helps us address the problem so uh it's just again a small change uh but I I think it will be a significant one I urge my colleagues to support it today thank you thank you um representa uh yes sir thank you mayor I just had one question and and uh it's just the fact that it's that's all that's the only amendment you're making to it you're just adding it onto the downtown area unify the city oh yeah the correct is it it all be the same we're removing the car that's it okay that's it okay thank you thank you and I know that I had conversation with some of the downtown um investors and it it really created a a problem for the Nate you know 3 4 5 in the morning where people they actually they brought a stack of complaints that people actually checked out and left the hotel and left the downtown area we have a huge investment in our downtown we have a huge investment everywhere and we committed to invest not only in downtown but through the whole city but this is really impacting the uh the downtown area and the and the Investments that the hotel owners made and um I think that uh it's important that uh we listen to the people that invested in our community to to make sure that their investment doesn't go you know goes bad because we weren't willing to really do the right thing so I I thank you representative Kennedy I know you coign representative Canales on this forist listening to the downtown um people the people that uh have invested in our community and um with that uh again thank you for bringing that up mayor proam we have a motion in a second yes sir the motion was made by mayor protim Kennedy seconded by alternate mayor protim molinard to approve item 27 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously mayor I have a question before we move forward is there a deadline that you all want us to come back with do I'm asking because there's a concurrent project with a sound amplification company um and I believe they're making the same recommendation and others do you want this to come forward beforehand or as soon as possible by Thursday at noon okay yeah I was I mean it I realized there's some other parts but I didn't want to slow this part down for that part so if we could bring this is 30 days enough yes okay we'll have to introduce it'll be 30 days it'll be introduced and then the public hearing okay thank you sir thank you thank you m p moving on to item 29 this is discussion and action to authorize the expenditure of District 4 discretionary funds to supplement the cost of playground equipment option number one for the sole installation and use at Arlington park located at 10360 padena Circle located in District 4 serves a municipal purpose of fostering Community Pride improving the visual impression of the community creating Innovative recreational programs and aligning and implementing key investment strategies sustaining and enhancing Park system operations and outdoor offerings and this item was submitted by mayor potim molinard uh rep molard good morning thank you very much mayor um this park has been I'm not going to say neglected but things have changed in this park for quite some time we've heard it very loud and clear from uh the community in that area Arlington Park that it needs an upgrade currently there's five swings two park benches and that's it and so when people go there to visit the park you know there's not very much uh activity there's not too many things to do so we did collaborate with the Parks and recre Recreation Department Mr cavayero and his staff to come up with some brainstorm some ideas and we were presented with four different options we did meet with the Comm again and get their input and so we did decide on option one together and so um we use of discretionary funds I would ask for my colleagues on the days to support this item thank you motion to approve we have a motion in a second yes there was a motion made by alterate mayor proar seconded by representative F to approve item 29 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously that brings us to item number 31 on the agenda and item 31 is a management update on enhanced library card good morning again mayor council Norma Martinez director of libraries good morning again a presentation if we can bring it up please of the enhanced an update of the enhanced library card thank you so much it so we ask what is an enhanced Library cart the enhanced Library cart is a library cart with a picture on it it will have all of this um personal information on it it will be available for adults 18 and over it will have um some high security features uh g g gioso lines um gios lines a hologram and holographic lamination on the card thanks to the county we will be able to one second can we um Miss p and I apologize for interrupting um we we did have a group that coming that wants to be part of public comment and and speak but uh they're not here because they know we're breaking at 10:30 so they're coming up to 10:30 if we could and I apologize but if we could table this till after our 10:30 break and go to the next item I would appreciate it and I apologize for interrupting you I'll be back thank you thank you ma'am yes mayor so at this time item 31 will be tabled and we'll move ahead to item 32 well I think we better skip 32 also because that's going to take more than 10 minutes okay unless uh Mr stone is uh got an energized we can talk yeah so we'll go the next one after that okay that'll be the first reading of ordinances these are items 34 to 37 there is a motion made by representative Riva second it by representative Fierro and this is to approve the first reading of ordinances these are items 34 to 37 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously we'll take item 38 item 38 is item 38 is discussion and action on the award of task order number one for solicitation 2022 d678 Fire Station 15 fs15 renovation to Keystone contractors and Engineers good morning ma'am good morning mayor I nandz Capital Improvement Department this is for um the renovation at Fire Station 15 um this is located within District 1 the construction budget is estimated 1,4 51,5 188 this project will be paid out of the 2019 Public Safety Bond and it's to renovate our fire station to enhance worker health and safety this is the location of fire station 15 located out on shorty Lane and as you can see from the existing conditions we have deteriorating mill work damaged flooring uh the pavement is deteriorating so the scope of work is the replacement of flooring doors frames Windows um really updating the the um fire station this is home for our firefighters that keep us safe um and also the new addition of office a decontamination room which is very important to keep the Decon away from their living space and also restrooms so this will be awarded to the key Keystone contractors construction will start in may with an estimated completion date in February of next year and so the recommendation is to award the contract to Keystone contractors motion approve thank you there is a motion made by representative Fiero seconded by representative Riva to approve item 38 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously we'll take 39 item 39 is discussion and action on the award of solicitation 2023-24 R prisoner transport security to Universal Protection service LP DBA Allied Universal Security Services for a three-year term motion approved there is a motion made by representative FAL seconded by representative Rea to approve item 39 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously we'll do the next one and it'll be the last one yes sir item number 40 is a public hearing on an ordinance amending title 15 Public Services section 15.08 point1 120 special privilege licenses and permits to add new uses for the sidewalk cafe and parking parklet programs and adopt the RightWay Cafe design guidelines good morning ma'am it's a motion in a second yes sir motion made by representative Rea seconded by representative P to approve item number 40 there's no public comment on that motion call for the vote mayor sorry I requested to speak here go ahead sir I know you're trying to watch the time I would like to see the presentation on this item you what I I know you're trying to watch the time I would like to see the presentation on this go ahead sir we're fine please okay good morning mayor and Council Daniela Cal for Capital Improvement um thank you for uh to see the presentation I'm going to have the lead PM that did the bulk of the work for this project give you the presentation I think most of you have already met her from the briefings so I'm gonna hand it off to miss Stephanie vario Ura thank you Ana good morning mayor and Council um nice to see you all so again my name is Stephanie barisa I'm with the Capital Improvements department and today I'm here to present the RightWay Cafe program which is a significant step forward in our City's commitment to community safety and vibrant public public spaces so initially conceived as the Sun City safe program um which came as a response to the covid-19 pandemic and the safety um guidelines that were set by the CDC the RightWay Cafe program is a permanent initiative designed to enhance pedestrian experience uh expand sitting and dining options promote economic growth and job creation increase social interaction and Community engagement engagement sorry and prioritize safety and accessibility so the RightWay Cafe program consists of two permits which is the sidewalk cafe and the parking parklet permit and I'll expand further on those in the following sides but first um we did do some um process enhancements so we made information a lot more accessible by making sure that it's accessible online and then we also created the design manual um which is a handbook that we created with with all the standards for safety that the sidewalk cafe and parklet parklet would need to be um put in a safe Manner and then we also streamlined the process by standardizing the development agreement simplifying the application um procedure um making sure that the permit is two years long and then we also gave uh applicants a 3 month advanced notice for permit renew so moving on to the Sidewalk Cafe um The Sidewalk Cafe as is it name suggest it's a cafe that sits on our public sidewalks um and it still allows for pedestrian access in a safe and accessible manner um while also allowing businesses to use our sidewalks for their outdoor seating and with Street Maintenance we created some parking par oh sorry some traffic control permits um to make sure that when the sidewalk f pH are set up and when they're in existence they're in a safe Manner and you know for both pedestrians and our drivers and that's another example and then we have the parking parklet program or permit sorry so the parking parklet is a sidewalk extension that sits on our on on Street U meter parking and as you can see in the image here um it seats on our meter parking you know extending our s sidewalk while creating seating options for um the businesses so we did do some design requirements that will make sure that those are implemented in a very safe manner so um we did limit the parking parklets to be set up on streets with a speed limit of no more than 35 mes per hour we also um made sure that they are going to be at least 20 ft from any intersection or crosswalk um they must be 10 ft from any driveway and at least 15 ft from fire hydrants and water connections for our fire department um parklets may also not be located in any text out right away or any along any yellow or red painting curves which are are curves that are designated for our um again our fire department and then um bus stops loading zones and designated bike Lanes might must also remain free and then then um again with stream meance we created the traffic control um plans to make sure that when they're um set up and while they're in existence they're in a safe manner here's another um example so we are proposing uh again changes to title 15 so more specifically chapter 15.08 to add um the parklets and then to reference the designed guidelines for the rideway cafe program and to revise the language to name the The Sidewalk Cafe and at the parking parklet and then we're establishing a permit duration of 2 years and stimulate a 3-month notice period for permit renewal and then we'll also Implement um a fee for the parking parklet and maintain the existing fee for the Sidewalk Cafe so there is an application fee of 371 per permit um that is for both types of permit um for The Sidewalk Cafe there is a 159 annual fee um per site which if you add it up it comes out to 530 and then for parking parklets we are going to um Implement a fee of $2,000 per meter space and that's an annual fee and that is to make sure that we are not losing revenue on our meter spaces but also that we're being fair to the applicant and the total Co cost for the parking parklet comes out to 2,371 and that is all i'll take any questions now so you have to pay the 2,000 yearly yes do you pay your permit do you renew your permit every year um you renew your permit after two years but the $2,000 fee is yearly okay good and uh thank you for that I was just going to add um the parking parklets because I know representative nandes uh mentioned something you know along the lines of what Citywide and what is more limited the sidewalk cafes again are Citywide the parking parklets are limited to our par paring metered spaces which currently are only in the Uptown downtown area and even of that boundary of the Uptown downtown area only about 10% of that is dedicated to metered parking so I just want everyone to understand the scale of what we might see happen with par to our city manager and I I did bring up the the concern that uh you know we do talk about availability and parking and make sure that we have parking so we are going to monitor the parking to make sure that it doesn't create an issue for people coming to downtown and being able to find parking and I know that colon won just turned on his microphone to kind of expand on that because him and I had that conversation because it's important to make sure that we do Monitor and make sure that we don't take the parking away from big events that we have so I yes sir mayor I and as Daniel said um it's limited and you look at the eligible um spaces for that I think it's what 10 you said 10% % so um and also just to add we are only allowing it in parallel parking meters or parking spaces so any um diagonal angled or um perpendicular spaces are still going to remain free they also need to be right in front of the business that it's um applying so if there's no restaurant in you know in that in front of that space there's not going to be um um parking Park Le but yes it's about 10% of our Li the three spaces of eligible so it's so it's it's rather limited um but we'll continue to monitor it as people have take advantage of the the permits for it and just for for additional reference and context currently only 63 businesses are eligible to take advantage of the parking parklet permit great thank you for that with that we do have a motion in a second yes sir the motion was made by representativity seconded by representative Federal to approve item number 40 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously thank you for that presentation good job thank you thank you and with that we have a motion to go into executive session second there's a motion and a second to re reti to Executive session all in favor anyone opposed and the city council of the city of Al Paso May retire to Executive session pursuant to section 3.5a of the El Paso City Charter and the Texas government code chapter 551 sub chapter D to discuss executive session item one discussion on potential Economic Development opportunities in northeast El Paso Texas HQ number 23-1 1857 under 551.071 deliberation regarding real property and 55108 7 Del ation regarding Economic Development negotiations it is 10:36 a.m. e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e let's stay out there we go do we have a motion motion there's a motion and a second to come out of executive session all in favor I anyone opposed and the regular city council meeting is back in session at 10:58 a.m. mayor protm e ex1 motion made seconded and carried to approve a term sheet for a performance performance-based incentive with notes live Inc for the development of a 12,500 seat Amphitheater venue to be located at the northeast corner of Cohen Avenue and US Highway 54 in El Paso Texas the incentive package includes a combination of rebates via tax increment reinvestment Zone number 11 on real and business personal property sales and use and mixed beverage taxes an 8-year development note backed by the tech Economic Development Fund and the conveyance of city-owned land the purposed project will result in the construction of a state-of-the-art destination entertainment venue a catalyst for the Cohen Entertainment District in line with the adopted master plan and securing of an operator contract for a minimum of 40 National touring events per year and a minimum investment of $80 million we have a motion a second I know you have a presentation so we'll do your presentation first thank you sounds great thank you all good morning mayor and Council Karina brasgalla economic and International Development for the record today's action marks a massive step towards delivering on the vision of the Cohen Entertainment District master plan which has sat vac and the Coen location which has sat vacant since the demolition of the stadium in 2019 as a reminder here's the site so the city owns approximately 50 acres a portion of this will be Tak taken uh down by notes live to per put the amphitheater on the site um and this does lie within turs number 11 there was an extensive public Outreach effort in 2017 and 2018 to look at Redevelopment options for the Coen Entertainment District this master plan stated several goals uh again via public there was commitment over time to really look at a entertainment and Retail destination that has family oriented activities and a Central Outdoor venue goals were to revitalize the Coen Stadium site provide a catalyst for development in northeast El Paso and really create a regional destination project the master plan and design standards were adopted in August 29th 2018 by city council the master plan development included uh again a central venue outdoor space and uh master plan commercial development with restaurants family oriented entertainment activities retail hotels office and recreational uses you'll hear a substantial bit about our partner in just a few moments but I'd like to give some highlights so notes live Incorporated is one of the fastest growing entertainment and hospitality companies in the United States they have venues and projects underway in Colorado Georgia Texas and Tennessee so that's Colorado Springs Gainesville Georgia um a recent announcement in the past few weeks in mcken and Murphy's Boro Tennessee El Paso is selected as a expansion Market due to our uh great capture of the Mexican market but also just where we are situated in the region and the Jewel of the notes live inventory is the sunset Amphitheater model so we would be looking at the sunset Amphitheater in El Paso so 12,500 seats a state-of-the-art outdoor Amphitheater that includes um luxury entertainment offerings restaurants other Hospitality access it would host 40 Premier National touring Acts or concerts per year via contract um they have operators at their other venues via Nation or AEG we do not have a an operator identified for this site just yet but they work with the best of the best here's a review of the key deal points although the term sheet will be public for everyone to look at so it does include conveyance of approximately 15 Acres of city-owned property there will be a development note uh an 8-year term at 0% interest and that is underwritten by the Texas Economic Development Fund that is the money we get from El Paso Electric as part of the iif merger acquisition uh a waiver of permit fees a a rebate on construction material sales tax on those uh construction materials a rebate of the city's portion of property taxes on both real and business personal property a rebate on sales and use tax and mixed beverage sales taxes um those rebates are on a decelerating schedule they are all out of tax increment reinvestment Zone number 11 so there is not a single uh part of this incentive package that is coming out of the general eneral fund the estimated incentive value is $30.6 million of that we recover the full incentive value within 17 years of the project being active this is a 28.8 so almost 29% return on investment for the city this is a quick review of the project impact so during construction that investment of $80 million total construction impact at84 million um job reported via the construction period so those are temporary and then average annual impact at full operation we are looking at 261 million annually for the lifetime of the project5 billion um to the city's economy as a preview for everyone so there's a several items that we'll need to come forward the term sheet is just one of the steps that we need to take to eventually effectuate a full chapter 380 agreement a contract of sale to convey the land um we'll be looking at a parking management agreement to allow for the use of the parking spaces at Cohen and then immediately after this we will start going into preconstruction and pre-development work um the part that I have not mentioned is that this venue will be open in March 2026 so two years from today we will be at a concert um it's an incredibly short timeline so we are eager to start working on uh and continuing to work on the infrastructure planning out there and uh start working with our folks uh our community Partners um at our higher education institutions for alignment on programming but also working through improvements uh with utilities Tex do Etc um because this is within a tax increment reinvestment Zone the project will also necessitate an update to the tur 11 project and financing plan that is another item that Council will see in front of them in a few weeks and then ensuring cohesive development um while we continue to have interest on Co at Cohen and we will work with those developers um we want to make sure that we have comp able timing and uses and that everything on site supports the master plan document and the design standards adopted 6 years ago here's the timeline of events so today we are adopting the term sheet uh we will anticipate introduction of several items at the end of May with hearing and approvals happening in June um the construction period will start as soon as we're able to and then the venue will be open again March 2026 and with that I leave it open for any question questions or comments at this Venture well first of all thank you and congratulations to your team and of course the city manager and everybody involved in it um it's um it's TR a an incredible project for for our community and a lot of it couldn't happened without the state representatives when for the last two legislations we've asked them to please give us the opportunity to convey the land to a project like this and our own senators Senator Blanco was the author of the bill that made it possible for us so this is really exciting that we probably wouldn't been able to do something like this without our state representatives and our own Senator really authoring that bill so I'm excited to see this you know I see all the numbers you're given and and I look at everything and as I said you know everything inclusive $5.4 billion is going to be the impact to our community over the next 20 years you know that's a number that we've you know we've been trying to we don't see we haven't seen and that they have the private public sector that's the important part it's private public sector and they chose to continue to develop Northeast that that's really incredible and I know you mentioned it a minute ago that in 2018 the council took action that to reimaging of the Cohen Stadium come with a plan and this is part of that plan so 7 years later or six years later we've come to reality of the vision that we had and uh so I congratulate you all but you know to have a private public partnership like this is hard to find and I want to thank the company for choosing Al Pas and having the trust to invest in our community and one thing I can tell you you won't be sorry thank you thank you um representative Mard followed by mayor poam thank you very much mayor good morning my name is Joe molad I'm the city representative for District 4 where this entertainment venue will be established it is a great day for northeast El Paso but even a better day for the city of Al Paso and all of its citizens and we welcome notes live to our city Ben venidos um it's a honor and pleasure to be here miss Karina brala to you and all your team the city manager Colonel Weston thank you very much for everything that you've done for us uh this is going to be an exciting day for El Paso uh once construction starts you're going to see a first class entertainment V venue that is going to be second to none bring your families start making those appointments now start buying those tickets now and look forward to a great time thank you thank you and congratulations to you and all of Northeast and like you said congratulations to the city of Al Paso U mayor protm okay much of a shock I'll try to keep it short um I've got a little bit of time in this industry and if I've learned anything through the years that I was in the industry the decades it was if you start with the right partners and you have the right deal the odds way to the top that this is going to be a monster okay we have the right Partners not only notes live but when they have operating we've got the right people building it we have the right people that are going to run it and the deal is right and if you've got those things then it's time to just get out of their way let them do what they do and start buying tickets and having fun and so I want to thank the economic development department and Colonel Weston for everything that you guys did to make this happen because this was not easy but it was done and and I am excited about where this will help the city of El Paso continue to move forward on the entertainment range I mean this Amphitheater is an entirely separate genre of touring acts and they are things that we have not been able to tap into that we now can and that's why having the right people involved will snare those people and will throw the net out as they come down the freeway and so I'm just coming from the industry I'm just so excited about this I cannot tell you this is an amazing job and congratulations to everybody and I want to thank notes live for having faith in the city of El Paso and the knowledge to understand that we are a hot Market thank you m protim and I I think you're correct when when we talk about you can only Envision as community and city leaders that we could have a project like this that would become a game Cher for our community so this is really a game changer for the city of El Paso and that's so exciting to be able to to be part of it and be in office when something like this happens um representative furo thank you mayor I first and foremost the mayor Pro and mayor absolutely correct these this is a great time to be in El Paso this is a great opportunity for our community and and I believe mayor this question is directed to miss uh Neeman is it too late to move it to District Six motion to Del leete art fierro's motion so is there a motion there's a motion a second yeah and with that M Prime we do have a motion in a second yes sir the motion was made and read into the record by mayor potim Kennedy seconded by alternate mayor poen molinar on ex1 on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and the motion passes 621 representative ernandez voting nay the remainder of council voting I the motion [Applause] carries second there's a motion in a second to recess a city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed and the city council meeting is in recess at 11 11 a.m. mayor for how long for 30 minutes e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e can we get a motion to return second there's a motion in a second to reconvene the city council meeting all in favor I anyone opposed the meeting is back in session at 12:16 p.m. Mr fr before we return uh we go to call the public I'd be remissed if I didn't um give credit to the the house when um this bill was passed that we talked about and Senator Blanco was the author of the bill and the Senate um representative or Dosh was the a author of the bill when it went to the house and representative ordas as was a council member and knew the importance of what this would do for the city and she authored that bill and moved it forward and we do want to thank her and U we didn't mean to leave her out because she was so important in getting that done for us so I'd be remissed again if I didn't thank her as like I said she was part of our Council that understood the importance of this so representative dos thank you for that thank you ma'am thank you mayor that's duly noted that brings us to call to the public the AL Paso city council is the local government body charged with serving all of the citizens and the meetings must be focused on the meeting at charge the City Council meetings are public meetings under the Texas open meetings ACT public comment is an accommodation and not a requirement of city council all persons in attendance are expected to display Civility and deorum that is respectful to other persons without the use of insulting profane threatening or abusive language public comment will not be used for personal attacks against a person a group's character or Integrity which are not pertinent to City business nor May any member of the public use form for political statements or campaigning please note that during call to the public the city council may not deliberate or decide any subject that is not on the agenda however Council May propose that a topic brought forth be posted on a future agenda this afternoon we have six members of the public that signed up to speak the first person is Miss Wally Sheek Miss Wally shek's topic is my vote is my honor today is my 95th birthday and I wish to celebrate with Council and City Hall M Che I need a hug before you get start God bless you all every one of you and I reached my goal I need a hug before you start I Haven seen you know I love you can only happen in our is from Linda Farland McFarland yes the ma the general yes correct and this is the book she gave me and I want you to have it great it takes a whole day to read it took me a week but that's all right yeah and this wait wait wait hold on this is my gift you had a birthday and inside is the car that you sold me 21 years ago and we're going to have to make this legal and this is Germany my family okay yeah this is for the security that takes me all the time to the bus and I reach my goal I'm 95 years today and and I truly can say for 72 years I'm in a pasle I have sacrificed for reaching my books and my gift is for every fundraiser who is legal doing it for a purpose to have them published himself and make the profit I don't want to take one penny because this is for our world war second soldiers that gave sacrific their life for people like me to come I'm a war prde and I came in 1948 and there's not very many people that can say they saw Hitler in person and I saw Hitler in person the Brown Devil and I don't want to keep up with it I just want to say today you can get in touch with Mr and Mrs Fenton and make the arrangement and everybody can make the money on it for a purpose but not for diamonds or for codes or Lincoln okay so God bless every one of you and I will write you letters and then may you can read it because it's difficult for me to go on the bus okay yes ma'am God bless everyone of them and please pray for America God bless you what you have on the desk I sent one to the Supreme Court and to the speaker of the house and I made connections okay God bless everyone of no in me please God save America nice to see you [Applause] again thank you Miss she and happy birthday the next speaker is Elizabeth Crawford Miss Crawford's topic is Psalm 90 a Psalm of Moses good afternoon Miss Crawford you have three minutes Miss Crawford good afternoon you you have three minutes you're back on mute Miss Crawford star 6 to unmute your telephone good afternoon good afternoon I apologize can you hear me now yes ma'am thank you in in light of Passover in light of having uh recently honored death of Christ um this past month in light of the situation in the Middle East I would like to read Psalm 90 a prayer of Moses the man of God lord you have been our Dwelling Place in all generations before the mountains were brought forth forever for the earth and the world even from Everlasting to Everlasting you are God you turn men to destruction and say return ye Children of Men for a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is passed and as a watch in the night you carry them away as with a flood they are as asleep in the morning they are like grass which grows up in the morning it flourishes and grows up in the evening and is cut down and Withers for consumed by your anger and by your wrath we are terrified you have set our iniquities before you our secret sins in the light of your countenance for all our days are passed away in your wrath we spend our years as the tail that is told the Days of Our Lives are 70 years and if by reason of strength they are 80 years yet their strength is only labor and sorrow for we for it is soon cut off and we fly away who knows the power of so even according to your fear so is your WRA so teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom return oh Lord how long and let it repent thee concerning thy servants oh satisfy us early with your mercy that we may rejoice and be glad all our days make us glad ACC according to the days you have Afflicted us the years we have seen evil let your work appear to your servant and your glory to their children and let the beauty of the Lord Our God be upon us and establish thou the work of our hands upon us yes hands establish thou it Psalm 90 the psalm of Moses the man of God thank you so much thank you thank you the next speaker is Ron KOMU and Mr kom's topic is policy and procedures and animal Serv Services good afternoon sir you have three minutes good afternoon ma'am uh last wait before you start your two minutes can you stop it because I heard that you're really really good singer and today's Miss she's birthday and I'd like to sing her happy birthday that would be wonderful but I'll go outside and sing it it save you all the sound all right ready you're one 2 three happy birthday to you birth bir [Applause] to thank you good job Ron you did great you did great I could hear you I you can or can't are are you you being like my wife what okay now good afternoon um you know last city council meeting there was a person up here that was told to stop speaking and it was uh a violation of policy and procedures I find that pretty interesting because if we actually followed policy and procedures for Animal Services the hos program would not have been put in and would still not be in again I find it very amazing we pick and choose what we want to follow and what we don't want to follow kind of like the ASAC we on Robert's rolls well kind of what what is it what you know we either are or we aren't you know let let's step up but let's follow policy and procedures needs to be done so we had an instance which I text you guys the information some of about a dog that two dogs that killed a cat in the lady's backyard and the dog ended up at uh El Paso animal services and from what she said was euthanized within 24 to 48 hours I I find that also interesting because we have all these Strays running the streets attacking people with their dogs and killing them and attacking them and the shelter does nothing nothing are we picking and choosing on that too animal cruelty I sent some of you guys some pictures that showed violations of title 7 after several text messages back and forth with me and the director and the owner of the property and the director I finally got tired and sent it to Oscar and finally got taken care of 15 dogs were abandoned in a property the property was a disaster because of what the customer the person did we are sitting here we are having nothing but complaints about the shelter from the community do we allow this to continue or do we get somebody in place that has customer service skills along with shelter experience you know knowledge of a shelter how to run it can actually handle a real transport I mean uh the other thing I'd like to say is I brought to the attention that people wanted to come back to work for Animal Services good people and they had some inquiries about the problems the message I got back from the person I talked to is they talked to them all and they had nothing but positive things to say about the shelter so I'm wondering when those people are going to come back to work because it's been months and actually they're applying for other jobs somewhere else in the animal industry so it's not the animal industry indry it's help passo Animal Services we are getting ready to have two facilities run thank you Mr Como we need to get employees thank you sir the next speaker is April Martinez April Martinez's topic is public parks renovation and reservation good afternoon you have three minutes good afternoon ma'am hi hi everyone I'm back I've been the last time I was here was in November uh so the reason why I come again is because I'm definitely a person about scope and sequence being a teacher and part of district 7 I love education I love investing in our future and I am a person who uses the parts frequently right I play softball co-ed I've been playing for the last two years I have lots of family and friends that are involved and uh I want to give kudos to whoever did update one of the parks they did update weo but I have a question for all of you would you use this toilet would you really like with your beautiful hair your beautiful suits your nice cars your nice homes this looks like a jail cell right over here we have vandalism everywhere we have the same cone from the pictures that I sent you guys or that I gave um mayor liser in November and I just think that there can be a better way to solve this issue especially when we have our youth using these areas we have our elderly people using these areas my aita doesn't even want to go see me play because the toilets are very important for old people right um and with that being said being part of district 7 I think that we should really use money or use grants that are coming into El Paso to to revitalize these Parks not only just pull everything out of the root but use what is there already right um being part of district 7 I live in the area where it's like Soro so we're getting like the Amazon Factory we're getting more people on this side I live in the middle and I see these parks that are being neglected but yet we're building these new cheap homes these new cheap apartments and we really need to make sure that the people who are in power right that are doing the their research or doing the right things because then we're having these really cheap buildings being built and over the long run it's not going to be good for our economy right uh another Park that I would like to highlight is also the Rio BOS so if you know like I live right there by the Rio BOS we have a it's over two miles long the tech do is trying to build a highway through there I don't know about you but if you've ever stood next to a freeway you know that that's not a beautiful sound to be next to right and then also here's uh a lot of native habitat that we're missing and also Feather Lake is part of that District too and it's been closed for the last 5 years so please consider revitalizing our parks in district 7 thank you ma'am the next speaker is Albert Riva Mr riva's topic is the noise and police response at a bar called Hush Hush good afternoon sir you have three minutes hello good afternoon sir good afternoon this past Sunday was probably one of the worst sunds I've ever had living at my house in San Francisco Heights now the bar house house is putting up a mobile DJ on the porch next of my house which is ridiculous from 5: to 11: on Sunday they played music you wouldn't believe how loud it was and I wish I had the 911 tapes that took place when this happened eventually me and the me and the bar manager got into it verbally downstairs this is getting out of control they don't have an extended sound permit to put up a DJ on that place and they're telling everybody they did during the process of this going on two young police officers showed up and didn't even know what the heck they were doing and that's not their fault they didn't even have a sound meter that I requested from 911 to bring to do the job to test the to test the sound decimals of the place so they couldn't even do their job and I'm getting tired of the police officer showing up young and it's not their fault but asking each other what to do and not knowing what to do and showing up without the meters that if they need to do their job there has to be some restrictions on this bar that doesn't have a roof again and put in a DJ on the porch next to my house I have legal counsel and it's going to help me resolve the sound problem but it's not going to end it city council City Hall city law City permit authorized this problem and put it in my neighborhood in an abnormal setting you all need to fix it and buy the property back and rezone it it can be a commercial property but not a bar I'm 3 feet from that bar and before that bar was there the black bird container was there and I haven't slept in my bedroom since 2018 my thermometer is about the bust I'm putting this problem and making my family the beneficiary of this issue because I don't believe I'm going to make it you have the authority to end this problem you created it you end it it's on you if something goes worse on every one of you I've been coming here over a year bitching about this problem and I'm not going to let live with this piece of property that I own until I die listening to that crappy music put it in your neighborhood get it out of mine and the people that live in San Francisco Heights please thank you for your attention and the final speaker is Patricia Osman Miss osman's topic is ethics violations and impropriety good afternoon Miss Osman you have three minutes Council um I hope you're enjoying your repre from this swamp ha being in front of you hello yes ma'am we can hear you okay uh in regards to comments when I last spoke need I remind that the freedom of speech and freedom of the press are instilled in our constitution specifically to speak speak out against the government when citizens speak regarding city government tax paid in and tax paid individuals it is not a personal attack it is accountability mayor liser you use brain drain often but refuse to see City policies in favor of real estate developers that are pushing our children out of our city with over taxed and now soon to be renter over homeowner New home builds which are across the us contributing to homelessness not home ownership th killing systematically the American dream due to ever Rising rents that now exceed what many mortgages would have been for those same homeowners the once promised American dream is being killed by our city council when you allow real estate developers like the Fosters to uh get all that property in the Northeast to specifically build a development that is going to be a majority rent rented homes not homeown that across the United States has been contributing to homelessness and now you are bringing that to our door in our city you said our city is here El Pasa is back El Pasa is here that is not what you are doing that is not what we are seeing with the policies out of the city council now I am very glad that that Amphitheater is going to be in Mullen AR's District but it makes me question why it is the NPC almost an exact replica was even put forth in front of City Council were we going to have two amphitheaters they were going to compete against each other there's a a drastic issue that is going on within city government and leaving it to the Future to our children and grandchildren so that they don't have part of El Paso is exactly what your policies are doing and I hope you all can understand that because some of you like me will be dead while they suffer in the loss of the community they were born and ra you've reached the three minutes thank you ma'am mayor that concludes call to the public this afternoon thank you ma'am we'll need to do uh the U Appraisal District as they they have appraisals to go do at one so yes sir that'll be item number 32 we're on page 10 item 32 is presentation and discussion by the AL Paso Central Appraisal District's executive director and chief appraiser Dina Kilgore on the city of El Paso's 2024 preliminary values and protest period I know you've been here all day and I thank you for it thank you so much uh mayor and council members David Stone assistant chief I always bring him along uh he's he's a really good guy to have uh around so we're going to go over it real quickly I know y'all are tired and you've still got a long ways to go um our presentation do you have that up okay okay thank you see if I got this right okay so yall know what Mass appraisal is again notices are out in the mail uh we do Mass appraisal um we look at properties as a whole we look at what's going on in the economy and in the sales and El Paso is still very strong right now uh when we uh appraise as of January 1 the uh number of homes in inventory was about 2.9 months worth you want to have about 6 months worth right now it's probably about 3 months worth of inventory so we are seeing some increases in construction but we did not see that much as of January 1 so we looked at everything on a mass basis and most of the uh increases are based on the market uh we saw very little new construction going on I think just a little over 1% of new construction here in the city of El Paso that includes commercial um multif family uh so there was not a lot the market because of that is still very strong disadvantages of mass appraisal again we do not know the individual characteristics that's why it's very very important and what we're going to stress more uh at this time is please follow your protest if you have an issue with your property because we don't know the specifics we know the neighborhood we know uh the grouping of the homes we know the characteristics of the home but we don't know the individual instance es so we really encourage people to follow protest your deadlines please follow the the calendar May 15th is the deadline for most people or 30 days from the date of your notice whichever is the later and what we always tell people is file your protest because you don't know um may take some time to research it but go ahead and file your protest this is a really good slide and it kind of shows what the city is um pre-preliminary your preliminary role will be going out at the end of April and you can see the overall new construction is just a little over 1% so it is the market that is uh driving the values right now I'm gonna let David go over some of the particulars on that market thank you all David Stone Deputy Chief of appraiser um as we can see from this chart overall over last year we went the the city went from about $ 48.8 billion to 56.6 billion in taxable value on residential property we went from almost 30 billion to 33.3 billion and on commercial property we went from 9.2 billion to 11.5 billion but as Diana mentioned that third column that you can barely see that's the new construction we're not seeing a lot of new construction in the county most of this appreciation is coming from appreciation of existing properties percentage wise we're looking at a almost a 16% overall 1.1% of that is new construction residential we're seing in 11.8% less than 1% of that is new construction commercial we're seeing a 25.46 about 1 and a half% of that is new construction other categories we're looking at multif family um these include apartment complexes we're going from 2.7 billion to 4.2 billion um 29 million of that was new construction in business personal property we're going from 3.1 billion to 3.3 billion this um area has some room to grow because the rendition deadline was April 15th but there's a mandatory 30-day extension if requested by the property owners which many do so we don't have finalized business personal property numbers yet and all other property we went from 3.7 billion to 4 billion um overall multif family is going up 52% this year 1% is new construction business personal property is going up 6.3% so far and and only 0.15% is that is new property and every other category is going up 7.2% and about 3.4% of that is new construction okay um every year we we hear why are you guys raising the the values you're only supposed to reappraise every three years unfortunately we're also required to keep properties at market value especially in years where the comp holders office does a property value study which this year is one of them what this slide is showing is in the various areas of El Paso County we're comparing what the 2023 appraised values were to what the sales were for 2023 so in the First Column we're looking at the west side we were only at 88% of market value in the Northeast we were at 94% of market value in the central area we were only at 76% of market value on the east side we were at 94% of market value in in out in the county outside the city limits on the east side we were at 87% of market value and in Horizon City we were at 95% of market value so we are still we were still below market value even though we've been reappraising basically for the last three years we're we're reappraising again this year and this is the reason why because we're still too low from what the market is showing us on sales on properties um now a couple of comments on that one is this these numbers are after we have our hearings um Property Owners do come in and file protest commercial properties file their protest so we run these numbers afterwards to see where we ended up because that's where we begin going into the next year year what David showed you on the multifamilies it corresponds with the low number of new homes for sale you see an increase in apartment rentals you see the rents going up and you see Apartments being occupied this is our overall level of appraisal when the com controller comes in and does their study as you can see in 18 we were at 97% we were at 26% in 2020 and in 2022 we're at 98% on the level of appraisal it's kind of hard to read but we threw this in here the state com controller does a top 10 appraisal districts and the bottom 10 appraisal districts overall in our level of appraisal here in El Paso County we were number eight we were the only Metro in the top 10 in single family homes we were number two the only other Metro was Bear which is San Antonio and in the uh commercial uh category real estate we were number two again in the top 10 with Dallas being number eight and Williamson being number 10 so we are trying to maintain that level of appraisal I know people do get real upset uh to see their home values go up but the market is still very strong and this shows it on our Maps review that's our our methods and procedures review that the com controller does you can see we have multiple years that we came in at 100% which meant that the appraisal district is meeting the tax code and is following the tax code and the rules set by the controller's office so again let's go under the protest I know I I I kind of broached it a little bit at the beginning of this remember May 15th are 30 days Property Owners uh remind them you guys as City Council Members you talk to your different groups you have your breakfast meetings or your evening meetings remind them to file by the deadline if they don't have time to do the research that's okay just file by the deadline if they decide that they're after do they do their research that their value is okay they don't have to show up there's no penalty for not showing up but if they don't file by the deadline there are very limited ways that they can be heard bring in hard copies of your their evidence um pictures pictures say a thousand words you saw a couple of those being presented today under public comment we want photographs estimates of what's going on with our property if a property owner comes in and says I just don't like my taxes I understand that but unfortunately that's not something that we can address they need to bring just like in any kind of a trial bring us evidence to show what their value they feel their value should be and it defends that value we will take some digital evidence it has to go through our department our mapping department so that we can make sure it's clean before we upload it we do not take videos so if somebody comes in with a video we do not take that kind of information we don't have the capability to keep that kind of data uh you can file on a paper that was sent to you a a protest was sent in with your notice we have it uh digitally you can go into our website and you can now file and it automatically will send you a appointment hearing you can have an appointment with informal with an appraiser oneon-one and we can talk we can visit then if we don't agree you can go before the appraisal review board or you can go straight to the appraisal review board if you don't want to have an informal but you have that option uh with an informal we can be a lot more relaxed we can show the evidence with a formal it is an open meeting so anybody can uh can come in and listen um the the the uh formal uh is a the appraisal review board members sorry are currently being appointed by the local administrative judge for this year that will change going into next year um after your your protest if you go before formal there are a couple of other things that you can do um if you disagree with what the appraisal review board did you can file for arbitration or for lawsuit uh tips for filing a protest make sure you're looking if you're looking at your neighbors that you're equal uh sometimes they have exemptions that you don't because they're veterans or they're over 65 make sure you have your exemptions if you're entitled to your exemptions make sure you have those um also uh check the appraisal District's evidence if you request it we'll send it to you we'll give you the evidence whatever you need if you just bought a home or you had a finance bring that information in and again get comparable market analysis a lot of Realtors will work with you and give you some information um bring your evidence let's look at it please though don't bring hundreds of pictures we don't have the room to store those you can usually tell a story in 10 to 20 photographs um don't bring your phone and expect us to take it we will not touch your phone um we've had issues with that in the past everybody's very um you know their phone is their phone don't touch it if something goes wrong so please put it on a thumb drive or some way that we can transfer it into the system now I'm going to turn it over to David but we're both here we're sharing okay uh we're both here to talk about some of the new legislation we wanted to bring up some of the new legislation uh yall do have an item on there uh regarding uh uh the child uh child daycare so there's a couple of things we wanted to go over with you okay uh we just want to highlight some important uh legislative changes that were enacted last year uh first one is Everybody Knows by now that the school districts raised their homestead exemption from 40,000 to 100,000 and you might say well why do we care we're not a school district but where this is going to have an impact is on your share of our budget our budget is allocated amongst all the tax and entities according to their Levy so when the school districts had that exemption they lost a lot of Levy and that changed the percentages of uh what the various entities are going to have to contribute to our budget if if this is kind of hard it's it's small but if you if you look a Paso ISD used to be 16.57% of our budget now they're only 133% of our budget the city went from 25.25% of our budget to 26.5 uh 26.31% of our budget so when the legislature gave this big exemption to the taxpayers on behalf of the school districts it kind of shifted the financing around on how the appraisal district is being financed this will also impact uh as we'll get into later on allocations for appointment to our Board of director is also going to be based on Levy now and this is going to give the city more of a say in the the appointment of our board of directors than the school districts would have had if they hadn't had their exemption in increased uh speaking of which uh the legislature totally redid how our board of directors is going to be appointed we currently have nine members that are appointed by the tax and entities that according to an agreement that was made back when the appraisal district was formed and they're ba basically assigned by entities or geographic area in the county that's all out the window now it's going to be strictly based on tax levy from now on um in addition to that the state created three elected Board of director positions that are voted on in a countywide election the election was supposed to take place in this may election date but we only actually had three people sign up to run so there was no election necessary and those people automatically are taking office uh in addition the County tax assessor is being appointed to our board of directors to represent the county and we're going to have five remaining positions that are going to be appointed by all taxing entities but you guys have to vote on that based on your Levy you're going to get a certain number of votes allocated to each tax and entity based on the levy that they collect and you have to actually vote on people but it used to be like the city had a automatically two board of directors positions that they would appoint and they didn't have to do anything else but you're not going to be able to do that anymore we're going to have to actually have nominations and voting based on the levy so it's very important uh y all will be getting more information starting in July about how this process is is is going to happen according to state law and and I just want to emphasize that it's not business as usual anymore and you all are not going to have two guaranteed positions on our board of directors anymore so uh uh be aware that that this is a change and and yall are going to have to treat it differently also uh as Dina mentioned the ARB members used to be appointed by the administrative judge that's no longer going to be the case the legislator is giving it back to the board of directors especially because we have elected board of directors now so from now on the board directors will appoint all ARB members and the officers of the ARB the next uh change is pretty big this is uh what the legislature is calling a circuit breaker um I don't know if you all are familiar with on on homesteads there's a 10% cap on value increases on homesteaded property and that's been around for a long time well this year the legislature decided to start a p pilot program with the appraisal District that's going to last 3 years and they're going to Cap all real property regardless of whether it's a homestead or not so we're talking vacant land we're talking commercial property we're talking apartment complexes we're talking rental houses all res all real property is going to have a 20% cap now the only catch is that the owner had to own it on January 1st of the prior year and January 1st on the current year so then your property cannot increase by more than 20% over what it was last year unless you have new construction on your property and that will get added to it uh this is like I said this is a three-year pilot program it's going to expire at the end of 2026 so I guess the legislature will decide whether they want to continue it or not um the Homestead Property still has a 10% cap so it's more advantageous for homeowners but now all other property real property owners are going to get the benefit of a cap now this cap does not apply to business personal property only to real property and the property has to be $5 million or less in value to be able to get the cap and that's this year's value the 2024 value I put a little example on here if my 2023 value value was 250,000 and then the appraisal district raised me to 500,000 in 2024 the cap would kick in at 20% of 250,000 which would be 50,000 so my property value would only be 300,000 and 24 instead of 500,000 now that doesn't mean it stays like that forever that means in 2025 it's going to go up another 20% and it's going to keep going up 20% every year year until my market value is equal to my appraised value but this is brand new for this year um that 5 million Max uh is going to be set by the controller's office so for this year legislation set it at anything under 5 million will be part of that circuit breaker um controller will set based on CPI the max amount for the next uh year and the following year so for right now just for this year it's any any real estate property that's a non-homestead that's under 5 million um the next new piece of legislation which I guess is is appropriate since y all are considering it today is the child care facility exemption that that's new for this year it's only available to municipalities and counties it does not apply to school districts or any Special Districts The the there the it's it's kind of a little bit strict the owner or operator has to participate in the Texas Workforce commission's Texas Rising Star program and at least 20% of the number of children enrolled must receive subsidized child care services through the program administered by the Texas Workforce Commission it only applies to the real property it does not apply to the business personal property and it does not apply to proper properties that have a homestead exemption so if you're running Child Care out of your home you're not eligible for this exemption it can be claimed if if the if the owner of the child care facility owns the real property they would apply for the exemption but it will also apply to properties that are leased by Child Care Facilities so if they're like in a strip center and they have a slot in the Strip Center then the owner of the Strip Center can apply for the exemption that will apply just to the part where the child care facility is located but then the owner of the property has to lower the rent for the child care facility to make up for the exemption that the owner is going to get on the property and they've got to sign a a Affidavit of how they lowered the rent for the child care facility um it uh this per the percentage that you can grant for the exemption has a minimum of 50% all the way up to 100% so it's totally at the discretion of the Council on on what percentage they want to use for the child care exemption um currently just to let y'all know the property owners do have the right I mentioned it in the protest that after go they go before the appraisal review board if they feel like they still um can be adjusted in the value um so they can file a lawsuit or arbitration that is Norm normally held by lawyers and tax property agents that have multiple clients they will file uh lawsuits because it is just another way of them earning their income and another way for them to get try to get an adjustment uh we cannot take them all to trial as you can see we have um 1,700 a little over 1700 accounts right now that's that range from 2008 to 2023 that are under lawsuit um I can't take 17 to trial so we try to negotiate the best that we can to get those taken care of a lot of those that you see from the 2008 to the 2023 is every year they will add on the new year uh to to continue going forward you don't see 2024 yet because uh we're just getting started with the notices and we haven't had 2024 hearings uh yet but we are uh scheduled to start our hearings on May 2nd um so people can uh start start coming in and having informal and formal hearings we will certify the role by July 25th and get it back to the taxing entities uh we will also be sending um the uh preliminary role the end of this month but we'll be sending monthly updates so uh Commissioners uh council members if you would like to know what the status is uh your office will know uh Mr cortinis and of course the mayor's office will have those numbers we'll do monthly updates the end of May and then again the end of June so you can see what the process is and that's kind of it um we're here for questions um I have one question for you that um you know we you started out the conversation by saying that people need to be able to um protest their value and they have to do it by May 15th if history shows what percentage of the people that do follow the protest are successful you have those numbers we can we can see I will also tell you that from the entire appraisal role 63% of the appraisal role that we send over last year was Residential Properties um the majority of protests are split between residential and Commercial so just the residential not the commercial I'd like to know what percentage of the Residential Properties we had 14,000 that 14333 that just talked to the appraiser 89.7% of those got some kind of reduction 89% 89 89% and we had 8,385 actually go to the ARB and 70% of those got some kind of reduction that's good news yes uh in informally that's why we tell them bring in your information we don't know the real specifics are you having Foundation problems you know old appliances what kind of trouble are you having um that's where we get a lot of our information uh to go forward into the next year so a majority of of our protest in uh informally that gets settled are residential commercial will go to the appraisal review board and not really have informals uh but residentials uh Property Owners single family homeowners we really do want them to come in because an appraiser can take more time uh it's limited in the formal hearing they have a limited time that they can can hear them and and if if I could just make a point because when I say those percentages it sounds really bad like oh you guys really screwed up but what I want everybody to know is for one thing only 10% of the properties protest so 90% of people are okay with their appraisals and usually if you're if you file a protest because you really think something's wrong and if something is wrong obviously we all want to fix it we don't want to have wrong valuations out there so even though those percentages sound High remember it's only 10% of the total number of properties and you know usually if you if you protest is because you think something's wrong and if something's wrong we're happy to fix it if you point it out to us and and that's why I asked that question and also I think last year when we talked about this the way you figure property value and the value of properties that are disclosed to you is less than 3% correct So based on less than 3% you're determining the value so that's why it's important for people to do that so I thank youall for I know representative has a question but I do personally thank you for giving our citizens an option and coming out publicly and talking about it thank you for that representative nandes thank you mayor um thank you all for the presentation very informative a lot of changes this year makes me makes me nervous um I want to ask about um how you determined the percentage of the levy for for the operations of the of CAD I saw there's an increase for the city and the county but there's pretty much like a decrease across the board is there is this a formula that we create or is this uh State statutory formula we just take the total amount of Levy by all tax and entities in the county compare each individual entity to that total and that's the percentage that you end up with understood so it's based on the taxable values well it's actually based on the levy on the levy okay yeah all right and that's the same way the votes are going to go for for our for the board the board of director understood okay um and then there was you mentioned I for I didn't hear what your confidence levels had to be for The apprais Valleys to Sals what what's the golden standard we have to be between 95 and 105% to be in confidence when the state does our evaluations so you can see in when they do their property value study in uh uh 2022 we were at 98% yeah but but 2023 it doesn't look like you had those those 95 or higher except for well 2023 will be a Maps review okay uh our property value study will be uh 2024 the next one so they'll determine based on a year prior and then going to the conversation about the child care um deal there's going to be a lot of questions related to like implementation so I so with the assumption that city council um wants to provide that exemption for child care facilities when if Council would to approve at the next council meeting when does it actually become into effect is it immediate immediately and then when do you like what guidance will you give to child care facilities okay well the deadline for filing for this year for 2024 it goes into effect for 2024 is the last day of April okay but the statute does allow the chief appraiser to extend it for 30 days for additional information so we've already visited uh with uh Mr cortinis and staff here and we are going to extend that application period till the end of May May 30th okay so that uh if you don't if you're discussing it it doesn't get passed to maybe May 7th or they will have until the the end of of May uh to file that application and it will be for 2024 if you pass it uh this year got it got it so they can apply by the end of May 31st but it when does May 30th excuse me May 31st but you're saying that it wouldn't go into effect until January of 25 no it'll go into effect this year it'll go into on their tax bill this year okay so then is it pro-rated no no no it just be what if you'll say you give a just an example you give 50% and the Real Estate For That Daycare is on at 100,000 then their tax bill will come out at 50,000 for this year okay for 2024 okay so it'll it's not going to prate it's just accounting for the entire year correct yes ma'am um these are the questions I get so I'm sorry for um they're kind of like it's really confusing though so um do you have the application ready or is this the application you have to create no the state controller put together the application we just received it a couple of weeks ago so we do now have the application and in the application it actually refers to the section of the tax code that this that this is part of that where this is uh stated so if a property owner wants to go to get the application and go to the code to read it and that's where it states the restrictions of what they must comply with to be able to qualify understand okay um and as soon as it is passed then you will make that available online on your documents and form yes we've already have it ready we've already had folks coming in uh asking us to fill out the application but nobody had passed it uh I believe the county just uh passed 100% uh May 25th uh no uh March 25th so uh we'll be accepting it uh for the county for the county understood okay um and then if a home daycare elects not to keep their homestead exemption are they still allowed to benefit it it probably would wouldn't benefit them because this the the child care exemption would only apply to the city portion of taxes and the county portion of taxes but School District taxes are a large percentage of things so you're giving up your $100,000 exemption for your homestead exemption for the school for 100% for the city in the county but I don't know if it's going to be economically worth it to to yeah no I agree with you but then there are FKS they could but an investment home right plus they'll be giving up the local option some of the folks have local option on homesteads so they'll give up not just the school Homestead but any of the other entities that have a a local option Homestead amount um and they have to meet that uh Workforce requirements and if they lose that requirement then they have to re they lose it then they'd have to reapply for the homestead but it wouldn't be good to the next year um and if they're over 65 they'd lose their their uh uh freeze um I would if somebody were to come in and ask us for that I would strongly advise them to really research it before they decide to do that um because I I don't think it would be beneficial but in the event like there's multiple homes and one home does not have an exemption either way they I'm just trying to understand is there a Prohibition for homes home daycares well there is some language in the law about people not residing at the child care facility oh okay so it does it's not specifically that it can't be like a single family residence but it has to be a single family residence that nobody lives at underst okay well thanks again for all that you're doing for the community um I know this is a tough time of the year but this is very valuable I'm happy to share with our constituents well you everybody says it's a tough time I'll be honest with you this is a great time for us because this is when we get a lot of information from the citizenry so um we take it as a very positive time of year thank you thank you thank you again I appreciate uh you all's presentation thank you take care thank you thank you so much number 43 please yes sir item 43 is a public hearing on an ordinance amending Title 9 health and safety chapter 9.85 emergency and transfer ambulance services to add factors considered for public convenience and necessity and to move section 9.85 one40 and be replaced with suspension revocation appeal giving due process after suspension or revocation come on up chief good afternoon gust Chief Department uh do you have any questions regarding the Amendments for tile n actually I'd like to make a motion to approve it's a motion in a second yes sir we do have public comment on this item okay we have uh Robert Campion he will be followed by Rachel hering and Tony Bear good morning hi good afternoon yeah good afternoon Rob Campion with uh Elite Medical Transport uh my apologies for missing uh my previous comment uh window earlier as I was pondering the value of a helicopter in Westside traffic this morning uh so I want just wanted to come out and support the uh the contract with air methods um also want to support this agenda item uh been working with the fire department they've done a wonderful job soliciting input from uh everyone that will be affected by by this um have been great Partners uh in this process and all throughout uh just wanted to let Council know that it had the full support of Elite Medical Transport thank you for being here thank you the next speaker is Rachel Heron followed by Tony beard good afternoon good afternoon mayor and Council my name is Rachel herxing I'm president of Life ambulance and we definitely support this change and we believe it's great for the community number one it allows new applicants to be accountable and number two it allows us the current franchise holders to also be accountable so we're grateful for the change and we look forward to it being enforced thank you thank you for their time and I know I said good morning to you so thank you for waiting thank you and the next speaker is Tony be good afternoon good afternoon Tony demand and ambulance director of operations um just going back about six months ago we were asked to submit recommendations for making changes to these ordinance which we did to Chief devis from the fire department which we reviewed the last couple months we had multiple meetings to discuss these changes uh just to let you know domain and Adit is supporting these changes and asking for your approval thank you very much for being here and um thank you all for being here and uh Chief I know we talked about this a little bit yesterday this is um something that's well needed in the in our community and it's really going of help for an emergencies for air transportation that's something that we've been lacking in in the fire department for quite a long time here in the city our size needs something like this so thank you for the vision and I know that you all were a big part of it as we we talked for the last 6 months of how we could improve our service to our community so thank you for that with that we have a motion in a second yes sir the motion was made by representative fedal seconded by mayor protm Kennedy to approve item 43 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously now if I'm not mistaken we skipped 33 because of time elements so we'll go to that one first actually 31 sir 31 31 is next okay we'll go back in the order again thank you thank you sir item 31 is a management update on enhanced Li Library cart thank you for for your patience on that absolutely thank you for having me noran Martinez director of libraries thank you so much it this is a an update of the enhanced Library cart the enhanced Library cart will have a picture on it and personal information it will be available for adults 18 and over it will be valid for 5 years it will have some really neat security features the G lines the Hologram and holographic lamination it will provide access to services our Public Safety the community will benefit from it by having people have a secondary ID it will enhance the participation in the library and I really want to highlight that we are the six city in Texas to offer this option it will be available in four uh different libraries this pilot program plus we will also have a popup that will be moving throughout the county in Al Paso this is a sample of the um identity documents that we will be accepting we will be using a three-point system to allow our users um easy access to the card as well as a residency verification this is also a sample uh with the documents that we will be utilizing for that and The Residency and identity as well as the frequently asked questions will all be in our Library web page uh which is recently being revamped right now so we look forward to bringing that up in our next meeting we want our users to have a very positive impact when they come and get their library card uh you know from filling out the application till the waiting time which is very little minimal to getting their Library cart their enhanced Library cart um right away so they will be able to use the card that same day our next steps is that we are hiring the staff uh we should have our equipment by the end of April which is next week uh we will be training staff and doing a soft launch in the middle of May and our marketing team is working on the promotion of the cart to make it uh exposure to our community and we hopefully hopefully to launch it in the end of May which is right after Memorial Day and on May 7th we will need c council's action to on these three items to amend the ordinance 16143 to add the um term fees and Library cart fees to the ordinance we will need um a resolution to be amended for Schedule C and we will need the resolution for the mayor to be authorized to sign the agreement between the city and the count and the county and that concludes my presentations do you have any questions uh there is no question I know we have uh public comment thank you yes mayor we do have public comment we have eight people that signed up to speak on this item we have Ellen lisara followed by Margarita arisu Susan errera Olivia Marine rias Fernando Garcia good afternoon you have three minutes good afternoon good afternoon mayor um city council my name is Alan saraga here with the border for human rights just again thank you all for for taking action um to provide our community the opportunity to have access to an identification um our community members are really excited about this program we're really really um looking for it um and we hope to continue to be um of of service to you all um to our reach to our community to make sure that we get this ID to the the most vulnerable residents in in our in our city so again just to thank you again to thank everyone involved um in the creation of this IDs we really do have um you know the opportunity to show the rest of Texas what leadership looks like um and I'm just proud to to be speaking in favor of of the IDS thank you the next speaker is Margarita arisu followed by Susan errera Olivia Marine rias Fernando Garcia Irma Cruz good afternoon you have three minutes gracias Mr I would also like to thank Council for this new enhanced card the next speaker is Olivia Marin Ras Fernando Garcia I want to start this uh good afternoon major uh council members uh first again uh want to express our gratitude um for the support to this program uh this is been a long road to actually get to this point and we want to reassure you that this is a major step for our community uh and I think we are ready the Border Network for human rights it is putting some funds uh into what is going to be called uh community outreach and education campaign to actually try to get everybody in El Paso to get this ID um again I want to thank you for your patience for your support and uh count with the B Network on this gracias thank you the next speaker is er ma Cruz followed by dul Carlos and Samantha Singleton good afternoon you have three minutes pas I want to thank the city for this community identification I need I need F fulfilled a fight we have had for almost 10 years we believe that this identification will bring many benefits to many El Paso residents who contribute to the city's economy every day and who for years have struggled to carry out different processes we want to thank the city government and the County government and everyone involved in this task of making a community ID a reality this will continue to make the AL Pasa Community an inclusive community thank you very much thank you next speaker is dul caros sign muchas thank you Miss Carlos is also in favor of the card and appreciates the work that has been done on this the final speaker is Samantha Singleton good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon mayor and Council my name is Samantha Singleton and I am the policy director at the border Network for human rights it's truly an honor to be a part of this moment standing in solidarity with those who have worked tirelessly to make this program a reality launching this program as soon as possible will undoubtedly Foster a profound sense of togetherness within the El Paso Community by coming together to launch this initiative we are sending a powerful message of unity inclusive and inclusivity we are reaffirming our commitment to supporting every member of our community regardless of background or circumstance this program represents a tangible manifestation of our shared values and aspirations for a more Equitable and compassionate society as we move forward with this endeavor let us continue to work hand inand Guided by our Collective vision of a community where everyone feels value respected and included together we can create a future where the bonds of solidarity are unbreakable and the spirit of togetherness is our greatest strength thank you for you all um being dedicated ated for your passion and your unwavering commitment to building a brighter tomorrow for everyone thank you thank you mayor that concludes public comment on this item thank you very much before we go any further Miss Mack can you come up do we have one more one more sir okay and then Miss Mack margar come on up good afternoon everyone our community is thank thankful your pleas for the support what's your name uh my name is Margarita visu thank you thank you I'm sorry okay good afternoon uh everyone our community is thankful for the support to receive of this uh on this new community ID and we are excited that we are going to be able to put it in use thank you you all gracias Miss Mac I am I know I've met with you numerous times and you've done a lot of work on this and and I do want to thank you for you know you you started from up here and then went to here and here and how long youve been working on it uh we spent about last February I got assigned to the project yeah so kind of give us a little bit of background and working with banks and everything and what you've done because I know that I met with you and and it was very um interesting and I was very impressed with a lot of the work you did that uh I I I would like for you to share it with the with the community and everyone else some of the things you did okay um I was assigned um in February when the community came together along with the county to have a discussion about how we could move forward with having some type of community ID um I work closely with community members to really understand what the requirements were uh they were really helpful and helping us to understand what the challenges were in the community in terms of not having an idea and what that meant for people uh we began to look at two different models that we thought would be successful we utilized a model uh the uh Municipal ID model that we found in many places but we're concerned that that might be challenged here in Texas and really wanted to make sure that whatever we put in place would be uh substantial and would be able to um serve the needs of people for a really long time and so we were able to bring this program forward and the county has been a wonderful partner with us uh they going to they will be paying $75 for each card they will also be paying for anybody who wants a card in the county and that's been something we've been talking about for many years and so this has really been a passion project I had a lot of people working on this with us and this is the work we sign up for these are the types of things that bring us joy in terms of Public Service to know that we have such a far reach in the ability with resources that we really already have in place and I thank Council so much for uh the approval of this and the money upfront last year uh to make sure we could get this done and so it has really been wonderful to to work with everybody and we will continue to do so through the pilot thank you you so much for all the work there's a motion to approve this was just a presentation Council no action no action sir if there was an action he would make it I guess represent NES um I for either Norma or or Dion um Wanted again send my thanks to B&R and all of The Advocates and wonderful folks who have been fighting for this and I want to say over 15 years anos um and uh so part of the success of the uh IDs will be who accepts it and that was a conversation we had and I I wanted to share a little bit about what the city will do utilizing our website so that we can highlight which banks which credit unions which organizations will will accept it including school districts and other municipalities so we are going to do a really robust um marketing campaign around this and when the website launch there will be a place on the website that lists all of the entities that will be taking taking this ID at launch we know that we will find people throughout the community who begin to take the ID and so we will um have those listed on our website um as we move forward one of the other things that we thought about was maybe having some type of decal or something that somebody could have on their website that really identified that they are one of the businesses that accept this card and again it's a pilot so if you have ideas if there's anything that you think that we're missing um we will be more than happy to capture that and make sure that we're contining to improve the projects as we move along and I know raiz um Credit Union had confirmed that they will accept the ID for purposes of banking this ID does not replace your required uh Texas driver's license or ID um but it is another another tool so that you uh folks who um don't have access to IDs now will not only have membership to this community but can provide and uh critical services to their families to include picking up their children from school because now IDs are required so really excited about this thank you for all your hard work thank you for listening to our Advocates and it's really nice to see the implementation and all of the hard work come to fruition it's a great job everyone involved thank you very much and Mr caran I know you've been in front of us I don't know how many times and we got it done I can remember back in 13 14 15 and now we are in 24 and we got it done so thank you for for working with our team and getting it done thank you and with that M PR oh representative um yeah so the reminding me of um this starting almost 10 years ago is when I remember it as well cuz I I was working on this almost 10 years ago and this is insane that it took this long and I'm just really excited that this is finally coming in fruition and one of the things that I was talking to Norma about is um the website is great and I'm happy that all the places that will accept it will be on the website but I think the the number one thing that I see as as a huge benefit as soon as you get this card is that people could open a bank account at rise so um I was telling Norma that when they get this card can they just get a brochure or something with r saying like go open an account if you don't have a bank account here or something like that because I think that's one of the most important things around this card and then the website could supplement the the rest but really just trying to get the word out to everybody that this is um possible with this card thank you thank you sir now with that Miss PR yes sir that brings us to item number 33 item 33 is a public hearing to discuss and review a proposed ordinance amending land use assumptions Capital Improvements plan and impact fees and this public hearing is open at 135 pm. good afternoon Russell ablin assistant City attorney um the good news is that we're getting towards the end of this process so under um chapter 395 of the Texas local government code um if you have impact fees like we do in the city of El Paso since 2009 you're required to re-evaluate those every five years and so that's the process we're going through now so um it really started in January um with cak uh the capital Improvement advisory committee um they reviewed the proposed update to the uh land use assumptions Capital Improvement plan and impact fees and made comments that were provided to you um then it was presented to you all um just a general update as required by the code on those things and then last at March 12th we had a meeting um where you all reviewed the land use um assumptions and capital Improvement plan and then set the hearing for today and what today is is is it's the hearing on the proposed amendments um to update those things the land use assumptions Capital Improvement plans and impact fees so you really have you really have three options today um you can amend the land use assumptions CIP and impact fees um and then that will move on to the the first reading of the ordinance and then uh the second reading of the ordinance in May and on May 7th you can amend um the luas the CIP and not the impact fees and again that will continue the process um that was that was the option selected in 2014 or you can um choose not to update those um the Lu CIP and impact fees so also by Statute um under 395 you have 30 days to either approve or deny or deny the amendments to the land use assumptions Capital Improvement plan and um impact fees so that's the schedule and the the decision that needs to be made today um El Paso water is going to have a presentation uh following me are there any questions represent Fiero followed by representative dondes thank you um mayor so isn't there a fifth option I mean couldn't we vote on on not having impact fees so I think you could as right now we do have impact fees so you have to go through this process um then you could I think you'd have to bring that back separately to um to to edit our code or or amend our code to take um the impact fee statute out of our code but that is um definitely an option you can do uh at a later time but once the process is started on um amending it every five years you have to either um decide to choose to amend it or um not to amend it okay so we could choose not well actually could we choose to amend it at a lower rate than the existing rate yes okay so there that could be our fifth option yes and that that motion could be made when um as soon as you all like I'd recommend um you know I know we have a lot of public comment listening to El Pasa Waters presentation taking public comment and then um any motions could be made at that time well then just for the for the for the public I soon as the presentations are done I'd like to lower to the lowest rate $1,000 that that's going to be by well you can make a motion at any time and it can get second but we won't take action till the end oh then I'd like to make a motion to uh make the the fee $1,000 second okay there's motion a second but we do still have presentation and we still have public comment so uh Mr Duron thank you for being here now when is your last day at the water I'll pass water uh not sure yet mik mayor when not sure yet in May right no well we're still debating the date well they have a hard time let go he wants he was he's talked about retiring he's done a great job so thank you okay so good afternoon everyone aruro Duran CFO for Al Pasa water and thank you for having us here and uh we're almost to the end of uh the process so the agenda today is going to be the community outreach that we receive impact fee areas just to summarize the areas that we have and the city council impact fee options that we have avow for for you to decide and the new steps and impact fee schedule that we have so first of all at the request of city council we we did have three um Community meetings one on the west side at the D huskins recreational service center and on the east side the beace recreational center and then the Northeast we have the Northeast Regional uh Command Center so out of those we did have participation from our residents and also from our uh representatives from the development and real estate uh section it was 28 uh residents in total and we we pretty much uh gave the information to to the the options that we're presenting to city council and we presented before and the those ones that provided comments in in writing to us uh all of them were in favor of impact fees is is how much uh are the fee to be approved uh five of them were uh were provided the information that they were in favor of 100% of the fee one uh to collect 5 million and three of them were uh just to adjusted to an inflationary rate and there were some comments uh provided I would say out of uh all the residents uh with the accept of the representatives from the development Community they were all in favor of impact fees it was just uh by how how much it was that was the the one that they didn't have a consensus the impact fee service areas just to to uh go over on the west side is located north of Borderland Road and North of uh Northern Pass and between the Texas and New Mexico state line and to the Franklin Mountain State Park on the northeast that's the largest area we have um located north of uh LMA real drive and Angora Loop to the New Mexico Texas state line between Fort Bliss and the Franklin Mountain State Park and on the east side is pretty much located east of Joe Battle and Saragosa road to John Hayes Street and Century Drive and just to to make sure everyone understands like if you if if the the new meter installation is not done in one of these areas there's no assessment for impact fees he has to be within those areas Council please no side conversations thank you so the the options that uh that we provided is uh if 100% of the fee uh is calculated what what the fees are going to be uh just to remind everyone this is for water and waste water only so the total calculated fee is based by area on the northeast the calculated fee for 2024 was 5684 on the west side $3,257 and on the east side $17,988 of the current fee that has not been updated since 2009 uh the fees of VAR between 1469 and 1617 So currently the utility collects about $2 million on impact fee annually and this is just a portion uh of the the amount that we spend on CIP projects for these areas through the end of February we spent over $165 million out of out of which only 19 million was collected and used for for this uh areas so it's a it's the minimum uh amount that we receive from Impact fees currently but if 100% of the fee that is uh calculated is approved then uh it would have H A material effect on on the revenues so 17.6 is estimated based on if those uh projections that were used to calculate the fee come through so it it would have a some effect on uh the amount of debt that we had to issue to fund those projects So currently over 80 85% uh is funded through red payers like everyone uh through their rates uh is funding for infrastructure that is needed within this impact fee areas so city council also requested well what if we face in over the next five years those those fees so what you see over here is over the ne next five years starting on on the current year 2024 collecting 60% of the calculated fee so and 25 would be 70 20 uh 26 would be 80 28 would be 90 and in 2028 it would be 100% of the calculated fee so you see here the the effect that it would have on 2024 uh the calculated fee based on a on a phas in uh for the first year it would be 4,890 on the east side Northeast 2312 and on the west side 1912 so every year would increase uh the fee up to reaching 100% so this is based on 100% face in the next one is the option two would be 75% of the calculator fee back in 2009 city council approved 75% of the calculated fee so we did the the same analysis on this one and pretty much if if city council was to approve it the calculated fee uh based 75% on the northeast 4263 West Side 2443 and on the east side 13,485 keep in mind this is for um a 3/4 inch meter uh installation 93% of our of our customers have a a 3/4 inch meter including residential and Commercial so the revenue that we would collect on this one of course would be less 13 million to 200,000 and we did the same analysis on the phase in over the next five years 60% 70 80 90% And 100% over the next five years so the fee uh would vary on and those are the calculator fees we also did the analysis on what if uh the total revenue for impact fees was just uh to to come up with $5 million so that's pretty much 100 150% of the current fee that we have uh since right now we're collecting 2 million and the the calculated fee based on on 150% of the current fee would be 3,673 to 4,000 depending on the area and we also did the phase in for five years of this fee so the the first year we just took it to 56% and then the the additional years would be uh proportion to get you to $5 million now the the the last option was an inflationary adjustment based on an index for construction and this is 56% so out of the the current fee uh we took 56% in addition to the fee 156% of the current fee you see the current the total calculated amount 2,292 for the Northeast and and up to 25 22 on the east side so of course this would have the least effect on the revenue that we collect from our customers it would be an additional $1 million keep in mind the budget for the utility for CIP projects is huge and the current year uh our CIP for projects water and waste water is over $550 million okay so impact fees is a small portion uh that we that we collect uh we do need to make investments in this areas over the next uh five to 10 years is is over a billion dollars that we need to in order for us to provide services to just the impact V areas is who's going to pay for for that uh investment from the utility so the next uh steps uh as I mentioned we had those three me Community meetings that city council requested and the next step uh is on May 7th that we have it as the second reading for City Council Al to adapt the impact fees and with that I concluded my my presentations I'll be glad to answer any questions that you may hi yeah now the impact fees are only for El Paso city limits or more or less like outskirts the county and stuff like that don't have impact fees is is within our city limits and our service area so there are some areas on the web west side and on the east side mostly on the east side that are outside the city limits that how about like Horizon Soro CER lario do they have impact fees no not to my I didn't think so or Anthony or anywhere any competing areas within the home builders okay um okay uh represent randez thank you thank you mayor um you mentioned about over a billion dollars of investment just for these new growth areas and if it's not paid for by impact fees what is the how how are we paying for that investment we would have to issue debt mainly to uh to do that improvements on the infrastructure for this areas so all the rate payers uh of the the the El Pas of water would pay for for those uh improvements got it so the the alternative here is who pay for the development either um the home developer Community um incorporates that into their business model as a cost of doing business or we shift that to all of the rate payers in El Paso um which has disproportionately been shifted already over the years since it hasn't been increased since 2019 um I'm concerned um that we even have different options because there has been so many times times that Council has just decided not to take action adopt a a smaller portion of what's being um proposed and and in this I mean the current motion on the table is only $1,000 which is significantly less than the current rates which could mean that our revenues are half that amount um which El Pasa water would have more or less about a million a million dollars or less to go towards the critical investment so that we can provide clean and safe water to the fringes of our city um I do want to put that into perspective for the public and then I'd like to make another motion um if we were to only accept $1,000 for the Northeast um that would only account for 17.59% of the actual need meaning that 82. 41% would be shifted back to the rayer in the west side if you only adopted $1,000 Which is less than the current rate it would account for 30.7% of the rates that's being proposed with a gap of 69% that would be shifted back to the El Paso rapair and the Eide because of the growth and because of the need of the new plant which will cost almost $700 million that would account for 5.7% with a variance of 94.3 3% now the the El Paso water rapair would have to cover that difference the state law allows for El Paso water to collect how much of what's been expended by El Paso water so as I mentioned the Inception of the the program in 2009 we have spent $165 million in just this uh impact areas and out of that we have collected only 19 million so 16 5 million spent and collected 17.5 well as of the end of February it was 19 million 19 right so like uh 12% that we actually collected from Impact fees uh for the amount that we spend on Capital Improvements programs but the state statute only allows op Paso water to recoup up to 50% yes correct so the there's two options on the calculation you can go with a with an option for 50% of the the calculated and that's what we and that's what you use in your in your models and then there's another option for based on Revenue but is is is the impact fee would be even more so what we presented to city council was just the option with 50% of the calculator fee that's and to put that into limit terms that means if you spend if El Pasa water spend $100 million to put waste water and water and the fringes of the city the ray pair is already paying 50 million of that 50% % of that and then the other 50% could be collected by impact fees by way of passing that on to the consumer and purchasing that price so theoretically the El Pasa Ray pair for over 15 years has almost subsidized Almost 100% of the total cost of development water development at the fringes of the city that is unacceptable I consider that to be a severe Injustice this is one of the most pressing issues of my tenure and I'm so disappointed to hear members of council year-over-year Advocate to pay more money from the rap payers pocket versus development paying for its own development it's not even Equitable it's not even 10% it's not 5% it's not 50% we are paying 100% of all of the development at the fringes of the city and it's unacceptable every other city across this country that has implemented impact fees other municipalities could Implement impact fees it doesn't preclude them to and the city of El Paso has to lead by example I I just I'm just so fled by that the the options that you're proposing which is option one it's 100% which is the Northeast 5,684 wests side 3,257 and East Side 17,28 that's 100% option one yes okay I make a motion to amend the impact fee schedule so that we can achieve 100% of what's being recommended by op Pasa water so that we can build the necessary infrastructure for the homes that the developers are building it is a cost of doing business not even a single portion of that is being paid for by the developers however it is being subsidized by the rapair and very disproportionate amounts and the lowest income and most vulnerable members of our community are even further impacted disproportionately and I find that unacceptable so that's my motion and I'm open to having a conversation about phasing that in because I won't let perfect being be the enemy of good here but we cannot reduce the current rate absolutely not thank you represent none this now let me ask you a question um when we talk about the increase what's being paid by all the rate P which is what 200,000 roughly how many R how many people get a water bill about 200 220,000 so 220,000 what is the amount of per water bill that it would cost somebody so the the current bill uh for Water waste water and including stor water is about $80 a month for our typical residential customer so right now uh these fees don't have any impact what we're collecting doesn't have any impact on on the on the on the amount that we charging our customers so it's not impacting the rate payer well is the revenue that we're collecting is so minimum that uh it doesn't have any impact on what we're charging our customers because most of the most of the those expenses okay now I get what you're saying so let's say representative nand said we want to collect 100% what would be the difference of savings per rate paay it would take uh time so it's it all depends on on future years and the budget that we have but based on on the current um U financial plan that we have on five years you won't see any change on the residential Bill until three years from now that would be on 2728 that when based on the bills at that point uh the calculated bills at that year because we're going to have rate increases uh regard regardless of impact fees or not uh So based on that it would be $1 difference so let's say if the calculat uh rate the calculated bill for a customer is $106 uh it would be $105 so it' be a dollar difference per R difference based on that so let's say there is no impact fees all around around us so the builders and we say it's passed on to the builders the builders pass it on to the homeowner and the homeowner ends up paying for it so they end up building outside the city limits and now we don't have rooftops and now we don't have the taxes being paid I know you wouldn't know the answer and I don't either but it'd be pretty impactful for all the taxpayers because now our growth has shrunk and now they're building outside the city limits and I know that they they have planned about 10,000 rooftop s in Horizon City within the next 6 7even 8 years and they have no impact fees and I um I can tell you that U I would believe that uh the increase in taxes because we they wouldn't um I mean they couldn't build homes they they would build them somewhere else they have options and that's what's really worries me that um cuz I've talked to some of the builders and they said that uh before they would pay it they would build outside within the city limits and um but you and I both couldn't figure out what that impact would be unfortunately but I think it'd be it'd be pretty large um and then another thing that bothers me is that if the price of the homes end up going up because we're charging additional impact fee and they're rolling it they're passing it on to whoever's buying it the people that uh can least afford it would not qualify to buy a home they wouldn't be able to come up with a down payment because now the down payment's greater and also the uh payment would take him out of the debt to income so we would end up hurting the people that were trying to help which is um the people that uh are trying to become firsttime buyers and trying to buy a home and that's um that's a thing that I really worry about that we're trying to help and in return we end up hurting the people were helping and uh I know that you know that that for fact would raise the price of homes because they're going to pass it on to the buyer and um then you have a percentage of down payments that's required and now based on the rates which are high but we're talking about today a lot of people wouldn't qualify for a home plus they wouldn't have the additional down payment um representative U and I know that you and I could have this conversation but we really don't have answers thank you um representative um um Canalis I forgot you already spoken so I got to move around followed by represent thank you mayor um I I I won't be very brief because I think this is very important he's got 10 minutes yep in in considering the issue of of impact feeds in Al Paso I think it's really important that we recognize the the gravity of the decision that we're making today and hopefully as well when a final decision is made in May and the Really far-reaching uh implications that these decisions have um in in the city's future and the way that we grow so the the the current landscape of of impact fees it it really underscores a a pressing reality for us which is that the existing framework by which the city grows um is not sustainable and it's inequitable it it means that people who live in the core of the city have been subsidizing nearly all of the cost of infrastructure servicing new development for the last 15 years plus um so it brings up the fundamental question who should be paying for the cost of servicing the new development at the geographic edges of the city and and I think for too long that that burden has fallen disproportionately on El Paso's households and and rate payers um while the the the folks benefiting from the new development have have reaped those benefits uh without shouldering their their fair share of the costs so I I want to begin with a little bit of a discussion of the history of the issue because uh this isn't a new discussion and the history of it is important so throughout history El Paso has has grappled with the issue of impact fees and what their role would be in the the growth and development of the city um you in the early days of El Paso's development uh impact fees were a pretty novel concept uh Nationwide um and there was there was very limited precedent to guide the decisions of policy makers who were making the decisions back then so the city experienced pretty rapid growth um particularly during the the mid 20th century when there was a lot of expansion uh and it saw the the growth of Fort Bliss brought a lot of new people into El Paso and that's when it became very apparent that there was a need for more and better infrastructure to support the the new development um particularly as the city grew to the east at that time um in fact much of our infrastructure today still dates from the mid 20th century um as it reaches and and in many cases exceeds it's its useful life and needs replacement and Al Pasa water has been doing a great job of uh hurrying through that that replacement schedule um but we still have a lot of old infrastructure servicing much of our our city um it it wasn't until the later part of the last century that impact fees really began be uh began to gain traction as a potential method for um you know a more systematic and Equitable way to fund those infrastructure needs in the new growth areas um the the first serious considerations of impact fees go back to the 80s and the '90s um but it wasn't until the mid 2000s when the conversation really picked up and then again the late 2000s when uh impact fees were were finally adopted 20 years ago essentially today um the adoption of of impact fees uh was of course Very charged very fraught and it's remained so for the last 20 years and I think that's very evident in the fact that impact fees have been updated once since their adoption 20 years ago that was 15 years ago uh when they were adjusted 15 years ago 100% of the fee was not adopted they adopted 75% of the fee and it hasn't been adjusted since so essentially we're operating now with 75% of the calculated fee from 15 years ago that's clearly not enough uh funding for the infrastructure needs in the growth areas of the city which back then were mostly just in the the Northeast and some sorry in the East the Far East and and somewhat in the Northwest and now also includes the the far Northeast um as we see a lot of growth there um there are still a lot of challenges with uh providing infrastructure Water and Wastewater uh infrastru structure to support that growth that gets further and further out it's more and more expensive every single uh every single mile that the city grows I shouldn't use mile every single half mile quarter mile that the city grows becomes more and more and more expensive to service those areas the geographic area gets larger and larger and the the amount of funding that Al Paso water is able to contribute uh it goes less and less far because you have so much more infrastructure that you have to maintain including a lot of the older infrastructure in the core of the city um the proposal to reassess and and uh potentially I'll say hopefully increase impact fees um it it doesn't come out of some arbitrary intent to hurt the development Community um it's nothing like that at all it's just just a pragmatic response to the realities that we need to fund water infrastructure and Wastewater infrastructure in our city um and and a recognition of the need to have a more Equitable system to do so um I think failing to adjust impact fees and certainly lowering the existing impact fees it just peret this will just perpetuate a cycle of uh subsidization of of this growth by everyone else who lives in the city who does doesn't truly benefit from the growth um existing rate payers right now are left to foot the bill uh you know I by my calculation about 88% of uh they provide about 88% of subsidy to all of the new growth um I I think people need to understand every dollar not collected through impact fees translates to higher utility rates and service fees on people's water bills across the entire city um this it's a hidden cost to people I think a lot of people don't know what impact fees are they don't understand that they're subsidizing the growth um but despite it being a hidden cost to them it is an economic burden to them that they don't know about um and I really think this undermines the the principles of fiscal responsibility uh for us for the water utility and and also um you know equitable distribution of of the responsibility for uh the the infrastructure needs of our city um I I think it's really important to dispel some of the Notions that impact fees stifle growth or deter investment um on the contrary I think they're a really important tool for promoting responsible development and and ensuring that the growth that we see occurs in a way that's financially sustainable and that it's aligned with the interests of the the entire community of the city um saying that develop ERS that simply move outside the city limits I think completely ignores and frankly insults what the city of Al Paso has to offer um people want to live within the city limits for a reason right they want service from the uh a Pasa police department they want the excellent service that's provided by the the fire department they want to be able to access the city's uh community centers and recreation centers and libraries and parks and all of the excellent facilities that we have um not all of those are available to people who live outside of the city limits they certainly won't uh get responses from the police or fire department um people want those things and those are drivers of business decisions that that uh developers and homebuilders make when they choose where to locate uh their their Investments so I I want to also make it clear that the proposed adjustments and you went through a whole good presentation on this are not plucked from thin air right there's a whole analysis that happens with projections for the future land use uh where the growth is going to happen and then projections for what infrastructure needs uh are are there in order to service that that projected growth um this is a a really meticulous calculation that happens uh would it be fair to say a whole year of work has gone into this maybe more uh to these proposals so to me adopting anything last than the the full cost of the new service that will be needed to to service those areas um really undermines the Integrity of impact fees in general of the the infrastructure needs of our of our water and wastewater systems um and as I said it really perpetuates a cycle of the people of Al Paso having to subsidize greater and greater amounts of the infrastructure needs um and I I personally don't find that fair so um again today I I hope we can advance uh proposal for 100% of the calculated impact fee to the next uh meeting when I think we can have a discussion about whether or not we uh look at some sort of compromised phased model or it would be my preference to adopt 100% of the impact fee again this has nothing to do with the development Community uh being punished for something or or uh anything like that this is just out of fairness thank you mayor thank you sir and I think you brought up a good point as we've seen a lot of these cities around the city of El Paso's growth go in double digits some of them as high as 30% of growth in their Community around El Paso and we were at 4% in last census and all those people that live outside the community as you were talking they get to use all those great services that we have we get to pay for and enjoy had no cost to them so so thank you uh representative oo uh so one one thing that kind of came to mind when you were presenting and I I think the mayor asked this question um but I had been asking since we started talking about this if El Paso County had impact fees and then I finally got the answer a few weeks ago and yeah Horizon doesn't have them or anything but I think the more clear answer that I was looking for was the map is not not um necessarily created around the city of Al Paso but more just the entire County and then there's certain pockets of El Paso county that does have impact fees so really the answer was yes the county has some impact fees and so that was just something that I really wanted to clarify because it was just really frustrating that there were people that that were saying that El Paso County does have impact fees and then I would ask and then there would be mixed answers on it right so I just wanted to put that on the record um just for complete clarification I I think um I want to go back to something that you were saying on 2027 2028 that there would be a dollar more um for people and is that based on just a regular rate increase or is that kind of saying we're going to do a rate increase and this is what's going to pay for all the necessary infrastructure that we need need on the West Side the Northeast and the East Side okay so the utility does uh an annual budget and that's what it gets approved on an annual on an annual basis the the utility also does a five-year financial plan in which we take into account um the onm budget Debt Service and the CIP in the next five years we see a lot of Need for CIP on the Water and Wastewater which affects the debt that that we have to issue so this is just saying if if uh if the growth uh occurs uh based on on the on the assumptions that were that were presented for the impact fee areas and based on the on the five-year financial plan is the rates that would be charged let's say three years from now uh and and if we had 100% of the fee uh collected it would have a $1 effect on the on the bill for the customer the typical bill is and and and keep in mind this is based on if everything uh the fiveyear financial plan stays every year it changes but we had to make some assumptions to give you that what what would be the change to or effect to the to the repay and that's the the assumptions that we had that the growth would happen as as uh as the impact fee population calculations were done that the CIP for the utility was spent exactly like it was on the on the fiveyear financial plan so there's assumptions that you're taking uh but we in order to to do a calculation we had to get those assumptions so it would be $1 uh three years from now so let's say instead of a $106 the customer the typical customer would pay $1 less 105 if if impact fees pass at 100% yes okay and of course if is less than that the amount would be minimum maybe 50 cents maybe no no effect at all because most of those projects are funded through debt so we have to issue more debt so the less the way I see it is the the less impact fee uh Revenue that we get the more debt the utility has to incur in order for us to finance and pay for those projects that are in this areas okay and so if impact fees were to go away what would it look like for the rate payer in 3 years you haven't done those calculations minimum minimum effect like I said the calul feed let's say 3 years from now would be $115 that's customer would pay it's minimum because we don't we have such large cips on the next five years that uh the impact fee that we're collecting or that we would collect based on this on this ones is is still minimum to that I think it has a bigger effect uh let's say if your CIP was smaller so collecting $17 million a year uh then it would have a a bigger effect on on rate increases but um my the assumption is based on our five-year financial plan with the high cips that we have um projected uh there would be minimum effect on the rates and and so would this also be affecting storm water cuz that that's such a a big thing in my district and I know that we just said to go instead of the 20-year plan do a 10-year plan so how what kind of effects does that have on not all so impact fees that the city approved was only for water and wastewater Services there's no impact fees for stone water but you're issuing more debt to get those things done right and we just have a study that was done in partnership with the federal government that's set the mou mountain is not the issue for any of the storm water that is in pretty much Central El Paso right and so it's the streets that are the issue so would you have to issue more debt or get to a cap of debt uh and so would it affect fixing those issues in storm water if you weren't to do the impact fees so let's say for stone water is totally different no impact fees so it's just pretty much no I I get that they're different but you're still going to have to do more money and other areas right so if you're issuing more debt for the outskirts of town there's less debt to get other projects done is it is there any effect on that that's what I'm trying to ask so there's two Capac uh the the storm water utility is separate from the water and wastewater utility it's two separate uh um um municipality uh utilities that we have that the El Pasa water manages so their budget is completely separate from water and sewer and stone water okay so but to answer your question is most of those projects have to be done through the issuance of uh debt in order for us to Finance Stone water projects so it's two separate utilities that the alasa water manages okay and then the probably the last thing that I was thinking on all of this something that's been really present on on my mind is is that we we're seeing a lot of the development happening on on those three areas that you identified and I think a lot of it is is probably happening because I mean that's where the city's growing um and that's where the growth is happening right but at the same time I'm also thinking about another issue that that comes to mind and that's in INF field development where I think my area would really benefit on and I I really want to tackle that issue cuz that's been kind of a nightmare um in in terms of I think there's a lot of people that may not want want the fixer ERS right that are going to be proliferating my district and it's it's a great District historic and and not everybody wants to deal with old pipes or anything like that so they're going to this new development and so I I understand that point but how can we tackle infill development in a better way um and I feel like that's a phase two off of whatever is decided on impact fees how we can get to that to make it a lot easier to bring more new stuff into Central Pas Paso the Northeast South Central stuff like that where we are not necessarily able to grow anymore but we could definitely do a lot of infield development all I can tell you is it does in some way promote infield development because it gives I think it's from from the the home buyer is they have different options they can like you mentioned U most homeowners or home buyers they one the the newest uh uh houses so is they want to go into this areas new areas of the the city uh but is this they also have the option if uh affordability is an issue for home buyers to uh go into into the the core of the city it's it's options that the home homeowners have is a that's the that's the difference between the two is that there are options for homeowners but it's up to them to choose but we could probably work on something to make it better no in terms of infield development promoting infield development that could be like a second phase to this work that you've been compiling for the past year on impact fees where I see infield development being such a a big deal that we need to tackle yes yes okay thank you sir representative mulad followed by representative f thank you very much Mr uh mayor uh Mr welcome thank you um you mentioned earlier that if you eliminate the impact fees there would be approximately $1 increase for the residential customer and I'm not talking about the commercial so this is space like I mentioned three years from now if we were to collect 100% of the the impact fee as option one the additional Revenue that we will collect from that would mean less debt that we have to issue 3 years from now based on the scenario from our fiveyear financial plan the customer instead of paying let's say $106 would pay $105 $1 difference and this is based on just option one 100% okay and you mentioned there are no uh impact fees on storm water correct that's correct okay but every residential customer they do pay a monthly fee what is that fee for storm water management about $6 $6 so you might not call it a impact fee but it is a charge everyone's paying for that correct that's correct within the city limits all right so I'm going to talk about District Four I'm going to talk about Northeast op Paso okay so even if we increased the impact fees if we increase it by whatever I don't like that know them tiny ones we have a hot m please make sure you're on mute okay so even if we increased increased it let's just say another 20 25% so the developer the Builder they're going to pay for that they're going to pass that amount to whoever the homeowner is going to be I doubt very seriously that the home builder the developer is going to say hey this is how much we paid an impact fee so when they close on that house the cost of that house has increased when they go to mortgage that house that cost will be applied over let's just say a period of 15 maybe even 30 years so whatever that amount that they paid that that Builder paid that homeowner is going to be paying I don't even know I'm not a realtor but they're going to be paying 10 12 multiple times it's just like when you buy any house you buy $150,000 house after after a 30-year mortgage you've paid a lot of money 400,000 so that impact fee is going to be a negative on that new home builder or excuse me a new home buyer how does that affect the market in El Paso that people are trying to buy a home for the first time if they're trying to buy their second home they're trying to buy their third home especially let's say I'm going to say northeast El Paso would you agree with me that's going to be a negative I think uh it's it's different options that the the home buyer has uh I mean if if I cannot afford uh 260,000 house uh on on the new area but I can afford uh existing house in central El Paso I have an option of uh where where do I do I move and right and you're absolutely correct that home builder is going to try and buy what's best for him is or their family uh it may not be exactly their first choice but they're going to try and buy and and we all know that we've done that before but having just recently taken tours of two different areas the Jonathan Rogers treatment plant and the Bustamante Wastewater Plant I can tell you your CIP is going to grow it's going to be huge especially Bustamante you are seeing change there like you've never seen El Paso will get ready trust me get ready you haven't seen anything yet it will change how you pay your water bills and how it impacts all of us all of us regardless of what part of the town you live in it's going to impact all of us so get ready I'm telling you right now get ready it's going to be an eyeopener experience when that day comes hopefully it'll be phased in I don't know I'm not the water company but it's going to be a different change on what's going to be happening so thank you very much representative um f thank you Mr Mayor you know first we keep talking about developers and what we should be talking about is rate payers you know what we should be talking about is first-time buyers being priced out of the market not only because they have to pay almost $177,000 in in Impact fees but then now the higher you interest rates we should be focused on how much we're losing in tax dollars because we're charging almost $177,000 to the new homeowners in the east side who can move a few blocks over and and not pay impact fees because the county all the research I've done County doesn't charge impact fees you so those are the that's where the new homeowners are going and how much are would those dollars if they were in our tax base save the rate pairer I wouldn't I don't think we'd be talking about a dollar increase I think we'd be talking about saving dollars you know using the analogy of of this the the city as a whole paying for this new um infrastructure um impact fees what about what's the these new homeowners who are paying $117,000 for their impact fees proposed why are they paying for the infrastructure improvements in central passle you know why you know that doesn't make sense to me if we're talking about that's not fair for them but it's not fair for them the other thing if we passes this at the highest rate is El Paso water going to stop um bringing bonds to us no n and and so in the last nine years the way I calculated we've had an increase um in our water rates you know I just it doesn't make sense to me that we're talking about about these savings when we should be talking about a dollar savings in three years potentially when we should be talking about lowering it so we can get more homes built in the city limits increase our tax rate and lower um not a dollar but dollars is it well that's all I have M thank you thank you represent canes thank you mayor um yeah I have a few more things to say um there's been a lot of talk recently about uh the the county doesn't charge impact fees but you know who else doesn't charge impact fees City to any other residents anywhere else in the city outside of the specifically carved out impact fee zones and so uh yes someone could choose to relocate two blocks down the road outside of the city limit but they could also choose to relocate a few blocks down the road into the existing part of the city and they also won't be paying impact fees um that that's a big part of the consideration of this the way we've had the conversation today makes it sound like every single new uh home in El Paso pays impact fees and that's not the case uh you can move anywhere else in El Paso outside of the impact fee zones uh people the builders can choose to build anywhere else in El Paso outside of those impact fee zones and they won't have to pay it either um when we're when they are choosing to build in those impact fee zones um that is creating a new demand for infrastructure and that infrastructure has to be paid for so I think it's fair that the people who are living in the who are choosing because they have a choice choosing to move to those areas uh pay for the cost of the infrastructure that will serve them uh and realistically only them water infrastructur is and something that you can dig out and move with you to somewhere else right so it that new infrastructure is impacting it's it's serving only those people who are choosing to move into those new growth areas um I have a question for Miss I imagine it's for Miss nean um is given the recent changes to our ethics ordinance is it prudent for me as a member of council to disclose any contributions that I've received from the development Community before making a decision on impact fees so the the reason amendments require that you disclose contributions from uh a contributor who is receiving a benefit and is listed on the council agenda so it's directly tied to whether that group or person who contributed to your campaign is receiving a benefit I don't this item is um not listed on behalf of or no specific developer is or isn't getting a direct benefit from this you certainly can do it if you feel inclined to do so but I don't interpret the code to require on this item that you disclose contribution from developers okay um I think in that case I'll I know B it's a caution I'll do it uh proactively voluntarily then uh I want to disclose that I've received campaign contributions from Woody and gaale hunt from Doug uh Schwarz Robert Foster and Scott Schwarz all from the development community um I think it's important that we disclose things like this when taking a vote like this especially if we're considering a reduction in Impact fees um I think there's a very real direct benefit to the development Community um that that would be realized by a a reduction in Impact fees um again um this is uh and and I know it's a it's a complicated process ESP especially for uh someone in the public who doesn't get to follow this for its entire course for a whole year uh to understand I I want to make it clear this is a kind of second to last step that we are considering today this public hearing um is to approve uh the land use assumptions uh and and a potential change to the impact fee but there's a final approval step uh scheduled for May 7 is that correct that's the next city council meeting two weeks from today um I I really think it would be prudent to advance 100% of the impact fee which again I I said last time I spoke could then be adjusted uh adopted a different way in two weeks correct that's correct uh if we advance anything less to uh the council meeting in two weeks could we then go back to something higher than what the council chooses to advance today I'll let legal respond to to the one thank you Russell sorry to bring you back up so at the at the final meeting um you could decide to to change to something else higher or lower yes okay so essentially it's irrelevant what's Advanced today it could be anything after yeah the final decision has to be made within 30 days of today's hearing okay so but um making a motion and a um and a decision one way or another is going to make it a lot easier for El Pasa water to bring back the ordinance on May 7th to have those numbers that they anticipate you all agreed to okay um I'll emphasize one more time uh there's no part of this that is punitive toward the development Community the home builders anything like that uh it's 100% a question of fairness um and I I know we've been talking about the impact in terms of dollar amounts on the specific bill of one par of One customer for one month um and it's easy to make the numbers Sound small when you reduce it to one month of one customer's bill but we're if we look at the total impact again current impact fees average about $2 million annually correct in Revenue collected that's correct and option one the 100% calculated impact fee would collect a revenue of about 17.6 million annually that's correct how many uh house or not households how many connections did you say that there there were in El Pasa was it 220,000 220 well we have over 220,000 connections for Al Pasa water so that the difference from the current impact fee uh Revenue to uh what would be collected at 100% is $15.6 million that divided by 220,000 connections is $70 91 cents that's the real impact per customer so I know it sounds small when you say it's $1 in one particular month three years from now but we're talking about essentially $71 per customer that everyone else in El Paso will be paying in order to subsidize the cost of the growth and that to me is what is is not acceptable is that uh El Paso water rate payers will be asked to pay $71 essentially toward the cost of new infrastructure so I'll leave it with that mayor thank you thank you sir representative erandis um thank you mayor uh thank you representative um Canales I I'll follow your lead and and also disclose that four years ago I was a recipient of a campaign contribution from Woody and Gail hunt as well um so I just wanted to put into perspective for um El pasoans about what are the arguments you're hearing today because there's two sides to every story um the argument one storm water fees are assessed to all taxpayer rate payers that's true but those rate payers receive a direct benefit as a matter of public safety to sure that we have storm water infrastructure because if we don't then the cost to rehabilitate that infrastructure would cost property tax homeowners more money there is no benefit to the op Paso rayer to pay for the development costs there's no develop there's no benefit to them there's no public good and return to the rayer for subsidizing that new development argument number two well it's only going to be savings of$ two to three dollar a month every month for every single Paso rapair how many rate pairs do you have about 220,000 220,000 so if you did the simple math um maybe about $700,000 that we could recoup um if we set aside $3 that wasn't going to pay for the development but if we if if El Pasa water had set aside those $3 that they would save we could defer cost to your debt your debt payment you could defer cost um for your maintenance and then reinvest money back into storm water reinvest money back into maintenance because I know you are getting the same complaints I am those ponding and Basin areas that need maintenance you can wait up to three years for those ponding areas to be maintained by Al pass of water according to their current schedule and according to their available funds if that's changed recently um you can correct me but that is what I've heard year-over-year that it could take up to three years to get to your ponding areas we could reinvest those monies but there's there seems to be a concerted effort not to want to so if the savings are not cut from the rayer the savings the the cost could stay there it could be reinvested argument number three well we should be uh focusing more on firsttime home buyers or homeowners in this area why why is that the only only determination is the only determination that homeowners should pick up the cost because it sounds like this is a cost of doing business so is it because the rayer should pay and subsidize profits or should the homeowner who's purchasing a home in these fringes in these areas in the fringes they should be subsidizing profits that's not good business the two options here is homeowners were suffer or the race payers Suffer Well where's the third option the home builder should also take into account the cost of doing business and I'm not saying for all of it because the state statute says we can only recoup 50% we're already paying our fair share we should not be subsidizing the rest um there is this uh notion that the city of El Paso is not in support of impact fees not only do we have an ordinance all of our planning documents says that we need additional impact fees our Eastside master plan specifically points to the fact that we need additional impact fees so that we can offset the cost of infrastructure and not to mention our infel development policy to encourage that development to happen to the areas like representativ asa's District who have thousands of homes built into early 1900s including my district there are thousands of homes in El Paso that could be rehabilitated put back into the market and that is something that we should be encouraging and not additional sprawling so every argument today is flawed to benefit the special interest who are sitting here in the audience today who have made deliberate misconception fear-mongering tactics to make us believe that we are hurting the citizenry of El Paso and that is absolutely false and quite frankly disappointing um the question was asked earlier will there be an impact to your debt models what is the capacity of El Paso water right now to issue debt the utility doesn't have a a debt ceiling for for debt do you have we issue thatb as needed uh to fund our our CIP projects and we don't have a a de you should have a um a the amount of revenues you can't issue debt to the extent of the revenues that you exceed so you do have models the city of El Paso has models can you re-clarify and Recon there there's a debt service coverage that we that the utility targets corre for the water and sewer is two times for The Stone water utility is about 1.75 so so what that means is if you're collecting $100 million in revenues two times of that is $200 million of revenues you can issue debt that's correct that's correct okay so whatever your budget is is two times your has to be twice the debt that we're the payment that you're going to give your debt service payment that you're going to give annually do you have a capacity to issue a billion dollars in debt right now it would have to be through rate increases okay so there's so it would have to so you would either have to increase your revenues through increasing additional debt or you have to phase out the amount of debt you issue every year so that it's not too big of a blow to the ray payers but that payment somehow gets done either by way of impact fees rates or um um you like what is the alternative if you don't have the debt capacity to issue as far as the the debt that we that we paying is just through our revenue for water and wastewater uh collections that we do from on the storm water is the same thing from the storm water fee that we collect operating revenues paid for the debt okay and that and those debt models come to excuse me those uh debt issuance come to city council for approval and so well yeah yes when we shoot debt uh when we shoot bonds or any other uh tool for financing it comes to city council do you recall the last request you made to the city of Al Paso and how much debt you wanted to issue for it was on 2023 so we did a a bu issue for $150 million $150 million okay plus uh it was to refund commercial paper so it was uh over 4 Milli we've done in recent years we've done a few uh material uh issuance of debt to finance CIP projects what I recall is over $400 million that we just issued last year for stone water for your new facility and for capital projects that you have is that accurate I would say in 2022 that's when we issue a large amount over the 400 million in 2023 what we did is uh we had a huge CIP but what we did we just issue the bonds that we needed for that fiscal year so that's what we did $150 million yes for CIP projects right so so my point is about this is that when you account too much El Pasa water debt to pay for new development areas it directly impacts the amount of debt that we can issue Citywide for Capital needs we have open sewage that's happened in the west side of El Paso as a result of not investing in our water lines Why Can't We invest in our water lines I wonder how why can't we do that because we are paying for the development and the outskirts of the city that is where the primarily amount of our focus of our current investment for op Pasa water is going to the fringes of the city instead of in the interior of the city where we have deterioration of our water lines open sewage in neighborhoods in the Rio Grande going down the city we can smell it is that the op Paso water that we want to promote or is the op Paso water we want to promote an equitable one that invests in all communities and not in just certain areas of the city I have a motion on the table and I hope that I can get a second thank you thank you uh representative Kennedy and then I think we uh how many people called to the public m point I know we had a lot signed up but I got a feeling a lot have left we have 14 that signed up thank you yes sir KY then we'll take call to the public so we heard how there's let's see fear-mongering flawed fairness here's some reality unless you're going to do price fixing on Builders they're not going to pay for the impact fee unless you're going to say here's what you're allowed to charge for this house and you have to take some of your profit to pay for the impact fee it's not going to happen the consumer is going to if you don't think that's true you have a fundamental misunderstanding of business models okay that's not going to happen do I think we should have a plan to try and draw people into the inner city and infill I do but trying to penalize people and hoping that they'll choose to have a home to renovate rather than take what they wanted which was a new home and move a couple miles to the east or the North or the West into New Mexico is is a bit of a fantasy we can't penalize people into living where we want them to live they will choose that they will choose if they want a home to repair and renovate and turn into you know a wonderful place or whether they want someplace new but to say we're going to jam this fee down and we're going to force the builders to pay for it I would say there is no legal way to force that to happen you're not allowed to go to somebody and say you have to lose $117,000 net profit on this house because they'll just go somewhere else they'll go to part of the what was it mayor 10,000 home rooftops in in Horizon City and when we have stagnant population growth in El Paso and growth all the way around the first question could be taxes there could be some other issues I think El Paso is a great place to live and I would choose to live inside the city and we all do but to say that you know we have to decide what we're going to do with these fees but we're going to make the builders pay for it because nobody no the home buyer is going to pay for it the home buyer is with a $170,000 home on the east side will suddenly see a deposit go up 10% how many does that disqualify your payments will go up 10% because your home's gone up 10% how many does that disqualify and so we say we're trying to we're trying to help the people that are affected most yet because of the wide base that is in El Paso water it is easier to defay it that way and the other question is if we don't have any new rooftops what happens to our tax base I mean $170,000 home is about $1,390 to $1,400 per year into our tax base so I'm just I mean I'm trying to figure out why we think we can drive people into infill by penalizing the outer reaches of the city of El Paso instead of maybe finding incentives to make it more attractive to move into the inner city and maybe we need to look at at that as a way to do it but I just I mean I keep hearing that all these things are going to happen and how it's not fair and that there's fear-mongering but then we're going to say to people well you're you know you're paying for everything I think it's real simple we have to sit down and say we need more rooftops we need more of a tax base and we need to find a way to do that and I don't think jamming the price on top of the home buyer is the way to do it thank you repr molar wants to do a he not he just wants to disclose something uh yes thank you mayor So In fairness thank you very much represent of Canales so I did receive campaign contributions from a Randy bowling a Robert bowling and a Lopez thank you thank you with that we'll do call to the public yes mayor we'll begin with Mr Richard deu he will be followed by Jerry CA Jose Miguel Reyes Kenneth Bell Kent Harrington Samuel schy Miguel escoto Harry Steven White good afternoon sir you have three minutes good afternoon Laura mayor liser members of council Richard de you for the record Thunderbird management consulting and I am a registered lobbyist with the city and I am here representing several clients but importantly I'm also speaking to you as a private citizen property taxpayer and an epw customer I understand the statutory requirement to review future land use and impact fees every five years I offer the following factors for your consideration and your deliberation for next steps affordable housing has always been and continues to be a challenge in our community the issue of affordable housing is growing uh Across the Nation as housing costs have only increased along with interest rates interest rates currently are at 7% or higher and Al Paso is experiencing these same issues for the record the median price of a new home in El Paso now exceeds $260,000 and the cost of resales has skyrocketed as well the proposed new rates will only further exacerbate the ability for new home buyers to qualify for a loan after attending many of these Community meetings that was discussed it has become apparent that there is a misperception that existing rate payers are subsidizing the new development the reality is that once new development is complete the new rate payers are contributing to the costs for upgrading existing old infrastructure within the city we talked about the number of 220,000 roughly single family water connections and the service area if Council considers any action related to the rate payers it may be more prudent to disperse that needed cost for infrastructure improvements among all rate payers the impact each water meter would be minimal and would provide epwu with the funding needed to meet its obligations and by the way the C's presentation earlier I think is somewhat timely as they underscore the cost of affordable housing now epw has done an excellent job in preserving and protecting our most precious natural resource and ensuring that we have an abundant supply for the next few centuries and Beyond but there must be an improvement in their effective utilization of our financial resources to that end we have not had any discussions regarding our real estate holdings which are significant most of the communities that epw uses for comparison purposes when discussing impact fees do not have land Holdings to sell in order to cover their costs we do but we have not managed those resources equitably or judiciously in my view in order to maximize the financial value to the utility or to use to pay the infrastructure needed noteworthy that most of the regional cities use as points of comparison are cities that have experienced tremendous population and economic growth thank you the next speaker is Jerry CA followed by Jose Miguel Reas Kenneth Bell Kent Harrington good afternoon sir you have three minutes good afternoon sir honorable mayor and counselors uh thank you for this opportunity to speak to agenda item 33 my name is Jerry CA and I'm here representing Community First organiz Coalition Community First is a nonpartisan network of organizations and leaders whose purpose is to empower the community to bring improvements in social economic ecological and political conditions in El Paso there are about 30 members on our steering committee representing various organizations some of them are here today new development on the edges of our city mandates extension of services to affected areas among which are sewer and water infrastructure for the past few months I have been attending the El Paso water Citizens Academy uh to learn how this is done if you haven't seen it there's a lot of concrete pipe buildings people and Equipment involved it is very costly and developer impact fees are one way of capturing the cost of these services from the companies that benefit from the sale of properties on the city's Edge these infrastructure costs are not the same as Urban amenities like Parks libraries police and fire stations that are funded out of the taxes levied on the value of property improvements rather Water and Sewer are like streets they have to be there first in order for construction to commence for this reason they are the legitimate expense of the developer otherwise these costs are levied onto all rate payers as a subsidy to the developer a kind of reverse Robin Hood model where the many pay for the benefit of the few in your agenda packet on page 777 and I know you've read all 1,200 pages of the packet the proposed impact fees calculated by Al Paso water in accordance with recognized land us assumptions for new service units and Capital Improvements in the affected areas are there in a worst case scenario the combined the $188,000 roughly impact fee proposed for the East sector if passed entirely on to the home buyer would increase the medium price of a home there from current medium of about $255 ,000 for The Association of Realtors to $273,000 about a 7% increase that's not enormous that's something but it's not enormous this is a result of coming up against the limits of expansion and what is essentially a desert ecology the impact in the west sector would be about 2% and in Northeast about 3% using that same logic this is not going to make housing unaffordable in El Paso I urge you to adopt the fee schedule to second the motion forwarded by representative Hernandez and assess these fees because they're not unreasonable and they're going to save the rest of us a lot of money um El Paso water is doing a good job for us support them in this counselors thank you thank you the next speaker is Jose Miguel Rees Jose Miguel Reyes if you're in the the Q star 6 to unmute your telephone I don't see his phone number in the que Kenneth Bell he will be followed by Samuel Shelty Miguel escoto Harry Steven White April Martinez good afternoon you have three minutes hey my name is Kenneth Paul I am here to speak in favor of the proposal to have the water impact fees reflect 100% of the calculated cost to the city impact fees are used to pay the debt of the buildings at the water hookup of the water hookups and these costs should be paid by the developers who own and build the properties we the people should not be subsidizing developments that we do not own or have a stake in so we don't get the profits when they sell the houses or the buildings we should not get the bill a policy of privatized gains and socialized losses is unreasonable unfair and unsustainable so so again I support option one of the public service board report while it's not perfect it is a start we should ensure that the investors in these developments Finance their own Investments and that is the cost of doing business thank you thank you the next speaker is Samuel schy he will be followed by Miguel escoto good afternoon you have three minutes uh good afternoon thank you honorable mayor uh counselors my name is Sam schy I'm uh my name is Sam schy I'm a a small business owner a new father and I'm here to talk today because I'm in favor of the waste and uh water impact fees reflecting 100% of the of the cost now I'm like a facts and figure Chicago school economics kind of guy and I think having market prices that really reflect the cost of development of the choices that I want to make as a future homeowner is important to me I want to make sure that the home that I buy for my family is one that's going going to be in an area that's going to be economically prosperous I want to make sure that it's in a place where uh the city has made good long-term decisions about what to buy I'm the person that you're saying wants to buy a house and I don't want to buy a house that's underpriced because it's way on the edge of town and services are going to be harder to get later I think that there's a Clear Choice in this uh in this proposal in the idea that we should Advance this I think the basic economics that look at our that look at our city and look at how we're going to grow over time show me that if I was an investor in this company the company being the city which I want to do which I want to do by starting my family here by expanding my business here then I want a board of directors that's thinking not two years and eight years but 20 years in the future that is going to be able to make economic decisions that benefit me over the course of my lifetime and the lifetime of my children not in two years I may want to buy a house in two years but I want that house to be in a city that's economically prosperous over the next 30 uh with that in mind I think the E the impact fees allow the allow the true cost of this building to be to be shown I believe in markets and I believe in their ability to show us as taxpayers and us as City members and us as business owners what those things mean I want to buy a house that's an infill development and when these kinds of subsidies exist they are removing my choice in a real realistic economic sense the realistic part of the economics is that my choices are reduced by this subsidy not increased by it if the subsidy wasn't there the costs of infi development would be more properly accounted for and you're distorting that price by not having that be to place right and over time the effect of that on the plans the city can have the effect of on that that has on me as a homeowner is that it'll be more expensive so I urge I Ur the council to support support um the motion to make the 100% of those fees these there I would be prepared to argue with anybody about the basic economics of it and being fully ready for the facts and figures but uh that's what I've got for you today thank you very much for your time thank you the next speaker is Miguel escoto followed by Harry Steven White April Martinez Don drisle good afternoon sir you have three minutes welcome back good to be back um but wish there were better circumstances um yeah Miguel escoto resident of District 2 and with the organization I'm man said people's project um we are over 120 members strong and our membership is very concerned about El Paso's air pollution problem this is a life and death situation we are the 13th most polluted city in the country and uh when it comes to Ozone and ozone creates uh respiratory illnesses like asthma uh being a lifelong El pasoan I have asthma need to use my inhaler at least twice a day and a big reason why we have this pollution it's not just an accident it is because of the decisions that happen in this building a lot of them being urban sprawl the amount of cars that um are needed in the way the city is designed so for that reason I am in favor of uh option one the cost of the development should reflect the calculated cost by the city I think it's a bad idea to subsidize Land Development uh corporations that are contributing to this urban sprawl problem and the urban sprawl like I said doesn't happen by accident it happens by the decisions that are made in this room uh one of them is um this this issue of of impact fees so if land developers want to continue their urban sprawl um then they must pay the cost of doing that that they must pay the cost of business it's not fair for the average rate payer to do that for them because these companies they do have every right to do urban sprawl they do have every right but but they don't have a guaranteed right to make a profit if they want to do a business model then they have to pay for what it costs to do that business and so that's why we're um in favor of option one again that the cost should reflect 100% of the calculated costs by the city thank you thank you sir the next speaker is Harry Steven White followed by April Martinez Don drisle Jesus Reyes Anna Fuentes rad delto good afternoon you have three minutes thank you so much good afternoon Council nice to see you guys again uh my name is Harry White I'm a dad artist and organizer with am Mana people's project I 100% agree in favor of option one I think that um these companies should have to pay I want to answer directly to what Mr Kennedy said when he said we they're not going to pay it to me that sounds like saying they shouldn't have to make sure that buildings are built up to code they should get the freedom to do however they want well that's not the case we want them to build buildings up to code we don't want families to be crushed by bad buildings we want them to pay their fair share I'm from I currently live in District 2 but I grew up in District 4 so I love the far Northeast I am very accustomed to that area and my son's grandparents live in a trailer park in the far part of the Northeast right adjacent to where these new developments are and the difference is sprawling you have twostory three to five bedroom houses in the new development next to trailer homes with where people keep horses or live in improver conditions um having those poor communities pay for these new developments that are popping up right next to them is unfair I think the developers who are making massive amounts of money off these developments should have to pay for it in the same way that we expect them to make these uh make these developments um uh up to code all of this should be fair so that the residents don't have to bear this burden one thing that you guys had mentioned before is that it wouldn't go it wouldn't be an increase but then the word debt kept on being tossed around almost as if this was a magical amount that who knows what it amounts to the thing is when we don't make the developers pay it becomes debt that then the rest of us citizens have to pay I think people do want to live in the city people want to live close to supermarkets shopping access to fund activities we should invest in the city that we love so much invest in District make it better so that people want to stay in the city and not move out to the urban sprawl again I am in favor for option one thank you so very much thank you the next speaker is April Martinez followed by Don drisle Jesus Rees good afternoon you have three minutes good afternoon hello honorable Council here we are again so I am for Parks right uh and I love uh nature and everything and I love Vol Paso I was born and raised here I'm part of District and voila Monti right so I do support Parks but I'm also in favor of being politically active right because we need our youth to step up we need people that look like me that look like us there with you helping you giving you these ideas of what we're going through right so I am in favor of option one because we do need to make these people these developers responsible for for what they want to build right if I want to build something I'm going to be responsible for going to Home Depot buying those Nails buying that hammer and placing it there right I'm going to be responsible for paying the taxes that come with it so if I were to tell my neighbor hey you're going to give me $5 because that's how it works right to help me build these things I don't think they would be happy with that right and like I told you I'm like your typical Chana I live with my grandma born and raised hey I live in one of those houses that has to be renovated like in District 3 District to I'm hoping our pipes do get renovated because I don't have money I'm not married in the military to go and buy these houses that are being bought by the military in District One district 6 Etc right so instead of giving these people a free handout where's my handout what did you do for me but take my money and make my grandma who's barely making it on Social Security pay for these things right a single mother having to look for two jobs just to make ends meet just to pay for these people who are making millions off of me The Fosters wow only if I wish I could be married into the Foster family right then I wouldn't have to worry about the these issues but unfortunately that's not the case that's why we entrust you all our city council to hear us out to hear the community and to make good decisions for the long run for the future you might not be here in 10 years right I might not be here the future is never promised but what I do know is that we can leave a positive impact bless you bless we can leave a positive impact on our community we can change the narrative from WIP out and redoing to using what we have and appreciating El Paso for who it is and what it is instead of letting people come in and take all our resources thank you so much I'm in favor of option one make them pay for it thank you yes thank you the next speaker is Don drisle followed by Jesus Reyes Anna Fuentes and Rhea dto good afternoon you have three minutes good afternoon council members and mayor thank you for your time today my name is Don Driscoll I live on Elm Street in District 2 um I'm a member of a monere I've been a union organizer for 35 years perhaps more importantly in informing my perspective today I'm the incoming elected Precinct chair in Precinct 70 in central El Paso um in that in in previous electoral work in the last year I've knocked on about 1,400 doors talked to a lot of people there's a perception most of all actually with people older than me that choices for the city are often made without considering the interest of ordinary Working Families I know that's not your intent but that's how people see it and today we're talking about something it's like the death of a Thousand Cuts I don't care if it's a dollar $2 dollars or the $ three do that was reported the news a few weeks ago the perception is somehow I don't really matter it's emblematic of a problem now I don't know who ends what I do know is if you choose not to raise the rates or to cut them you are actually interfering in the market don't have any Illusions about that you are creating an artificially low price for a house on the east side that will strain the resources of the city resources that we can't seem to find to fix the streets and Roads that drive people nuts increased you're just we're just pushing out and increasing our tax burden in the long run it shouldn't be that the city or the rate payers subsidize that we're already going to do it we're going to send more cops out there we're going to send firefighters we're going to build fire stations we're going to provide other services right if we're concerned about growing the tax base residentially growing it is not the best way perhaps we should reconsider what we're actually getting for the very substantial subsidies we passed even here today to out Town corporations for shortterm not for long-term full-time jobs not for $40 an hour jobs but to sell popcorn and beer at concerts now I don't necessarily think that was a bad thing but not actually projecting the actual cost of how we're growing our city not balancing the cost of a house in a newly developed area with the many houses that are vacant in our neighborhoods that could be filled out that doesn't make good sense it is also fun mentally inequitable to the ABA living in Highland Park who's going to pay more money on her water bill and only to string things along and to not think we are going to be under serious ecological assault that is why we have these large numbers we're talking about with the water department adding sprawl or subsidizing sprawl people can still choose it they should choose The Fill cost if I choose to commute 50 miles I pay for the gas the rest of us shouldn't Subs my choice in a situation where I clearly have onek you sir thank you the next speaker is Jesus Reyes Jesus Reyes Anna Fuentes Miss Fuentes star six please to unmute your telephone Anna FES good afternoon you have three minutes hello yes ma'am you have three minutes great thank you good afternoon Council my name is Anna fentis I'm a consan of District 8 in a community organizer with a people's project and I'm speaking here today in support of item 33 and ask that you support option one to adopt 100% of the Fe proposed by the city aset stands of pasan such as myself are paying for 88% of the cost of building out services and these new housing developments we can continue to subsidize home builders and develop ERS developers have created this reality where it is more affordable to move into the outskirts of the city but it is only more affordable because the rest of op Paso op Paso such as myself are subsidized in that cost developers also create the conditions that discourage firsttime home buyers again first-time home buyers such as myself from buying homes within the city in areas where we actually want to live in areas where we don't have to drive 30 plus minutes to see our friends and family members areas where we and walk down the street areas like Central El Paso then they tell us what we want they tell us that we want large new homes and the outs of the city what the what the de what the developers are arguing for is essentially a self-fulfilling prophecy they create the problem and then they sell us a solution this not only affects our water bills but it incentivizes the emptying of our city in my organizing in central aposto I talked to hundreds of people who are concerned about enrollments and school closures which is a SYM of incentivizing sprawl we should not give into the developers threat threats that we know are empty again I ask that the council prioritize the fiscal and general well-being of their constituents over the over the needs of the developers and adopt 100% of the fee proposed by the city thank you thank you the next speaker is Raya dto good afternoon sir you have three minutes thank you mayor and Council Ray adalto aleso Association of builders I imagine that 50 years ago when cornado was being built we had the same issues come forward from the folks that live in Kern certainly from the folks that lived in central Al pasan by the way I'm a district 2 Resident as well as having a property on the east side development happens whether you want it or not development happens and um to hear the to hear the opposition to uh to fairness and a business plan we have to remember that the El Paso water utility is also business back in 1950 the utility was smart enough to go out and buy land in order to sell to create to give the El Paso residents good water good sewage and protection from storm water properties are still available we haven't seen that being sold it's not even being mentioned in this meeting as an option instead we're blaming the terrible developers who've created what we call El Paso I have a question for for you guys as well and that is if there were no more developments within the impact fees service area would Capital Improvements still be required and if so how would you pay for them if you claim that there's no money that the money would uh not be spent then will you let developers out of their agreements that you have those are questions you need to ask are you going to have a tax base or you're not one of the two we continue to see expansion into the outer areas because it's more affordable to build land prices um Services we're still going to use them I'll be back here probably in the next few years arguing the same points again I'm just uh surprised that we're really looking at two issues one is it fair is it fear one of two and I leave you with the choice that you need to make as a business the city's business make it the right choice mayor those are all the speakers that signed up we did receive two statements in favor of the item which I have shared with Council just now I'm didn't so we got uh one we got two motions if one doesn't pass we'll do the other one yes sir and the first motion was made by rep representative Fiero seconded by alternate mayor Pro molinar and representative fero I'll ask you to please restate your motion my motion was to bring all the impact fees to $1,000 across the board thank you this is to set the impact fees across the board at $1,000 correct yes sir on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and the motion fails with Representatives ASO Hernandez Riva Canales voting n Representatives Kennedy molar F voting I the motion fails the next motion was made by representative ernandez second it by representative Canales and this is to take option one to set them at 100% calculated impact fees on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and that motion passes 4 to3 Representatives Kennedy molinar Fierro voting n Representatives ASO ernandez rera Canales voting I the motion just pass now this will be brought up M miss nean it will be revoted on or the options I kind of what what options were you telling us he's coming up so this was to um update the land use assumptions um what you all voted on were with the impact fees so um the the final hearing because we require two readings of the ordinance will be on May 7th will there be additional voting at that time yes okay so it'll be revoted on again correct so this was more of an exercise correct thank you it was a public hearing it was a public hearing that's what I'm saying because we vote on it again that's what I thought you said that's why I asked so this is the this is the the public hearing on the Amendments um you all voted on those um um due to way the way our our Charter is structured and that ordinances require two readings um you have the first reading today and then a second reading so it it requires an approval now and then an approval also at the second reading right um and then ordinances um they at the second reading in public hearing they can they can be amended also that's what I thought you had said earlier thank you thank you for that can I more clarifying question just about the process here you've already talked twice sir okay and I I think we'll uh like I said it's going to be brought again so but okay thank you thank you and Council can I have a motion to close the public hearing motion there's a motion and a second to close a public hearing all in favor anyone opposed I'll take a ver a verbal roll call to close a public hearing mayor Tim Kennedy hi raso hi Hernandez yes molinar Fierro Riva Gales and that motion carries the public hearing is now closed at 3:21 p.m. thank you everyone for being here thank you for taking your time we appreciate that thank you again mayor that brings us to items 40 1 and 42 they're related what council like to consider them together yes yes yes thank you sir item 41 is a public hearing on an ordinance of the city council approving amendment number 23 to the project and financing plan for tax increment reinvestment Zone number five amending the plan to update the projected tax increment reinvestment Zone revenue and establishing project cost categories and item 42 is a public hearing of an ordinance amending ordinance number 06528 to modify requirements for membership on the board of directors of the tax and reinvestment Zone number five and we do have public comment on this item from Patricia Osman Miss Osman star six please to unmute your telephone good afternoon ma'am you have three minutes good afternoon Council uh I just have a couple of questions in regards to this um it's not very clear as to what the changes are going to be uh for the bond uh for the board of director's members and uh neither very clear as to how the tax increment zone is going to change but um I am curious and I would like to find out is this going to affect any future Arena plans I know that there have been talks about building at the Civic Center which is in reinvestment zone five so I would like to find out whether these changes on both the board of directors on both 41 and 42 or sorry yes 41 and 42 uh are going to affect any f future Arena agenda plans thank you thank [Music] you mayor that concludes public comment on this item thank you ma'am would you all like to see a presentation all right motion a second there's a motion made by representative Canalis seconded by representative Riva to approve items 42 and I'm sorry 41 and 42 these are the ordinances for the tiers five on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously that brings us to item number 44 and this is a public hearing on an ordinance changing the zoning from A2 apartment to SD special development and approving a detailed site development plan to allow for a business office at 2607 Montana Avenue move to approve Motion in a second there is a motion made by representative Gales seconded by representative Fierro to approve item 44 there's no public comment on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously item number 45 is a public hearing on an ordinance changing the zoning from RF Ranch and farm to C1 commercial and imposing conditions this is at 319 and 323 North Sosa Road motion to approve second there is a motion made by representative Riva seconded by representative Federal to approve item 45 there's no public comment on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously item 46 is is a public hearing on an ordinance restating a special privileged license granted to the county of Al Paso that authorized a construction installation future maintenance use and repair of 540 linear feet of all necessary desirable subsurface wires cables underground conduit manholes or other related infrastructure and this is generally along a portion of Ooa Street 1 Avenue and South Florence Street move to approve there is a motion made by representative Canalis seconded by representative Federal to approve item 46 there's no public comment on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously item number 47 item 47 is a public hearing on an ordinance amending title 2 chapter 2.92 ethics to include a requirement for candidates to provide notice of contributions of 5 $500 or more for notation on the city council agenda in the same manner as members of city council to approve and we do have public comment on this item mayor we have Miss Osman Miss Osman star six please to unmute your telephone second second good afternoon you have three minutes uh Council the reason I am going to speak in regards to this matter is I know not all of you have the time to watch all of the bond um meetings that occur but the one that particularly occurred in regards to this agenda item I want to make sure that youall are aware of comments of some of the directors because it's not always stated what the directors had stated within the meeting it's just usually uh it was overall agreement or not but two of the directors had very valid points in regards to not wanting this to move forward which are that the reason why city council actually has this requirement and candidates do not is because city council actually sits on the council with make policy candidates do not it makes great sense that candidates would not be forced to meet the same requirement as city council members who are actually voting on policy versus some everyday Joe who decided to pay a fee to try a run for office so holding them to the same standards as the people who are voting in policy and making the choices is vastly different and I do want to say that I agree with the two border director's members who made these same comments this is this is what came out of the board of directors and I agree when I watched that meeting that candidates should not be held to the same standard as every one of you sitting on that di if you are already in city government that is a whole different standard we should as Citizens expect you to be held to a higher standard than somebody that does not have any power to make any policy that's it thank you I hope you all have a great evening thank you mayor that concludes public comment on this item there is a motion made by mayor protim Kennedy seconded by repres Senator F to approve item 47 on that motion call for the vote voting session is open and the voting session and that motion passes 521 representative ernandez abstaining and mayor protim voting n the motion does carry that brings us to item 48 and this is discussion and action on a resolution that the city manager or designate be authorized to sign the peer-to-peer car sharing company operating agreement between the city of Al Paso and turo Inc second there is a motion made by representative Federal seconded by representative Gales to approve item 48 on one second please representative Anis um thank you I I I want to um if if this passes today I want to welcome turl to um working with the city of El Paso but I do have a concern with some of the terms in the agreement specifically I don't think it is appropriate that they utilize short-term parking because of the limited accessibility and access to short-term Park parking we essent essentially um create a um you know just we can potentially lose parking spaces for this operation there's no limits there's no potential enforcements um I think the goal is to get there however I don't feel comfortable because we've just limited veterans from utilizing short-term parking and then now we're going to allow a private company utilize parking spaces and short-term parking when the priority should be our public um I think it's a wonderful um uh option for our residents and tourists to use I just fundamentally have a problem with short-term parking and so um I don't know how the rest of council feels I just don't want there to be a problem in the future where we cannot have space for the public now I was open to considering ideas like restricting those funds that we get as a result of this um agreement so that potentially we can have more short-term parking or if we can find some other benefit to the public but I don't see an exchange to the public for using public land for Commerce and so that's just my only concern um I won't support it because it hasn't changed um but I just wanted a record to reflect why thank you ma'am well that Miss P we have a motion second yes sir the motion was made by representative F seconded by representative Canales to approve item 48 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and the motion passes 521 representative ernandes voting n mayor protm Kennedy not present the remainder of council voting I the motion does carry that brings us to item 49 this is discussion and action on a resolution authorizing the submission of an application to the office of Congressman Tony Gonzalez requesting funds from the community Project funding program in an amount of $8.8 million with no match required from the city for the fire station 12 reconstruction project and I believe uh staff wanted to take 50 and 51 together also cor is that correct Mr Martinez all three item 50 is discussion and action on a resolution authorizing the submission of applications to the office of congresswoman Veronica Escobar requesting funds from the community Project funding program in the amount of 14 million to be distributed among Isleta Port of Entry developmental study project innovation Factory Phase 2 project Aerospace and defense technology training center design project Advanced manufacturing District project Union Plaza renovation project and number 51 is discussion and action on a resolution authorizing the submission of an application to the office of congresswoman Veronica Escobar requesting funds from the community Project funding program in the amount of one $1,744 th000 with a 20% match of $436,000 from the city for the Sun Metro electric vehicle charging station network project motion to approve second Motion in a second there is a motion made by representative FAL second it by I'm sorry motion made by representative Rea seconded by alternate mayor protim molinar and this is to approve items 49 50 and 51 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously the next item is number 52 and this is discussion and action that the city manager be authorized to effectuate the budget transfer for Al Paso Zoo and Botanical Garden as necessary in support of the 2012 quality of life projects approve second a motion in a second there is a motion made by representative fedal seconded by alternate mayor Pro molar to approve item 52 on that motion call for the vote voting session is open and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously that brings us to item 53 and this is discussion and action on the frona road traffic study and recommended treatments we do we have U we do have a public comment yes mayor we do have public comment from Susan Martinez followed by Danny pivar good afternoon you have three minutes good afternoon mayor and city council it's good to see you all again um thank you very much for your support for this critical Endeavor of ours and thank you to Mr Rodriguez for doing the traffic study and keeping us all in line so that we understood the process and what we needed to do to make this success uh there were three critical issues in our uh plan and that was safety safety safety uh safety for the infrastructure safety for pedestrians and safety for vehicular traffic so thank you very much I appreciate all of your help thank you very much the next speaker is Danny pivarnik star six please to unmute your telephone good afternoon you have three minutes go ahead Mr pavar you have three minutes okay thank you for allowing me to speak with you regarding the fronti road study my name is dowy pavar I'm a native El Pasa and I'm proud to call this city my home fra road is a collector radway consisting of two travel Lanes one in each direction that flows from east to west the road is paved but not developed beyond that it has no curbs or gutters or sidewalks the traffic study completed in December 2023 states that ftera is operating at an acceptable level but future development may cause it to fail what the traffic study doesn't fully address is the health and safety of the residents to use this road many people walk and Jog along the side of this roadway with no sidewalks or Curves they are endangered by motor traffic there are also two monor schools on fra daily congestion from these schools create many most create cos many motorist to speed through the school zones endangering the children when they are dropped off and picked up daily the roadway hasn't been repaid since 1982 it is Pock marked by 40 Years of pothole repairs the surface is far from smooth recently a large sinkhole opened causing traffic to be diverted off from Terra through residential areas along riverband and little lane repairs on this sinkhole have been going on for over a month and still have not been completed the proposed 250 home development in zland park would potentially add another 1,000 vehicles to this daily congestion the traffic studies offer a solution diverting traffic off fra to other roads lessens the additional wear and Tera fra and enhances the safety and residents of the neighborhood long it this project initially presented November 2022 table to review cost and viability is now ready to be passed the measures proposed by this traffic study ensures the safety of the residents of the Upper Valley while also lessening future maintenance of the road as it would not be subject to additional heavy traffic I strongly urge you to pass this resolution thank you mayor and city council for your consideration on this matter mayor that concludes public comment on this item thank you U representative molar has disclosure thank you very much here and also once again in full disclosure I did receive a campaign contribution from Miss Susan Martinez thank you thank you and repr with Lis hi hin um the language on the agenda item it doesn't specify so what is the actual action that's being proposed on the last slide of the presentation the action we're looking for today is to direct staff to identify a funding source for the improvements to front that our road okay so you all haven't determined where the funds are going to come to no no we know how much we're going to need um which is also on that last slide I believe it's 3 $325,000 it says to direct staff to identify funding source for design and construction of recommended improvements up to $325,000 correct and then that's for all the options that's for the three gates and the diagonal diverter okay is there currently a capital fund no no is is this going into the recommended action to the next fiscal year to the next budget Year I'll defer to Robert on that I think we would come back with a recommendation for how to fund this uh at a future meeting correct and so we can incorporate this as part of the budget process or we can look at this when we bring back our second quarter financial report at the end of May if there's a potential Surplus there that we're projecting that may be a potential option for Council to take action on I know I think in the backup P provided a couple of different options as soon as we start obviously the less expensive it's going to be and I know that the public and the community has been waiting for this project to get started so by the end of May we should bring back a recommendation no I think this is um a much necessary um request and for safety improvements I just want to make sure in the spirit of equity that we have a conversation about the much needed Capital Improvements that we all need in our districts and so all the time during budget Seasons I'm asking for set aside a pot of money so that we can now determine a 2024 Capital plan on how we're going to invest within different districts and so to have these kind of peacemeal approaches to um funding individual needs in a district I just I I just don't believe that that uh methodology is best served for Equity with an equity lens across the city so I am happy to support this today but we absolutely need to have a conversation about bringing back those Capital needs in different districts so that we all can have funding for our districts so that just not one district will benefit but all district City why can benefit thank you thank you H how long has this been a or Mr Rodriguez I apologize how long has this been a conversation so the the development in Sunland Park I think has been a conversation amongst the residents for over three years I years specifically as a as a task for us as staff um it's been about a year and a half was prior to Mr Schwarz I know that when he was here it started back then so it's been a long time correct so and I think we'll thank you for that and with that we have a motion in a second yes sir there was a motion made by mayor potim Kennedy seconded by representative Riva and this is to direct staff to identify a funding source for design and construction of recommended improvements up to $325,000 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously Council we've reached the end of the agenda no second so we'll keep going is there there's a motion and a second to adjourn the regular city council meeting all in favor I anyone oppose hi and the regular city council meeting for Tuesday April 23rd 2024 is adjourned at 3:45 p.m. thank you Council