Testing testing testing. What's What you do? Just guard it for you. You know, make sure security on it. I just ordered an extra set of my last I couldn't. Yes sir. Good morning everyone and welcome to city council. Miss Prime, we are going to get started. Good morning mayor and good morning everyone. Welcome to the presentation of the mayor's proclamations. We begin this morning with a pledge of allegiance. This morning we have students from Idea Edgeir public schools at the invitation of city representative Diana Maldonado Rocha to lead us in the pledge. With us are Luis Avalos, Adrien Garcia, Zoe Rayundo, Elana Lopez, Juliana Costa, Mildrid OA, Rebecca Cvantes, Hector Garcia, and Sebastian Gonzalez. proclamations. Yes, sir. That brings us to the mayor's proclamations. For those of you receiving a proclamation this morning, your group will have up to six minutes collectively to receive the the proclamation and speak at the podium. Okay. Representative Chavez. The first proclamation is Nina Tony Day. Yeah. Representative Chavez. Thank you, Mayor. Can I get Nina and her family up to the podium please? Up. Yeah, right there. Good morning. Good morning. And today we're here to celebrate Nina and the wonderful work that she's done. I'm going to read the proclamation, but it was also Nah's birthday just yesterday. And so we're going to have to to sing happy birthday, Mr. Mayor, please, afterwards. Welcome to city hall, Nina. Whereas the city of El Paso takes immense pride in recognizing exceptional young individuals whose compassion, vision, and civic-minded spirit reflect the very best of our community. And whereas Nina Tani, a remarkable young leader and incoming high school student, has distinguished herself through her unwavering dedication to uplifting women and girls across our region. And whereas inspired by the transformative mission of the Women's Fund of El Paso, Nenah answered the call to service with extraordinary generosity, rallying the support of friends and family to present a $1,000 donation and contribute over 70 designer purses collectively valued at more than $16,000 gifts that symbolize dignity, empowerment, and opportunity. And whereas with wisdom and heart beyond her years, Nenah took her commitment even further by founding Teen Pop, a nonprofit initiative under the Paso del Norte Community Foundation with the goal of amplifying the voices and potential of young women through programs rooted in purpose, mentorship, and empowerment. And whereas Nina Tani's exceptional leadership, philanthropic spirit, and genuine compassion embodies the hope we hold for future generations, demonstrating that change begins with a single act of kindness and the courage to lead with purpose. And whereas the city of El Paso is proud to celebrate Nah's remarkable achievements and the profound impact she has already made in the lives of others. Now therefore, be it proclaimed by the mayor and council of the city of El Paso, recognizing her inspiring contributions to our community and her enduring commitment to building a brighter, more equitable future for all. June 24th, 2025 shall be known as Nenah Tonnie Day, signed by the Honorable Mayor Bernard Johnson. Good morning, Nina. Good morning. And I don't know if you want to share how old you turned yesterday. That's up to you. But but you're young and fearless and and we love that. 14 yesterday. Yeah. Congratulations, Nina. Well, Nina, good morning. You want to say a few words? Well, maybe we'll get mom to start and then maybe you'll join in. Andrea, come on up. Yes. Oh my gosh. Um I am just so inspired by Nenah. Um, you never know when your daughters or your children are listening and watching and come up with an idea. And uh, as we're running all over the place as working moms and working parents, I grabbed Nina after volleyball practice and she went took her with me to an event that was hosted by a number of women here in the community. And they were launching Power of the Purse and Nah got the idea to help other women, but she said, "I could get my friends to join." in the next generation and um she did and family and rallied everybody and then she pitched her idea to Ma and Ma empowered her to start Team Pop. So, um, you never know what your kiddos are watching and learning and growing an idea that can help others. And, um, the women that have supported her, such as, uh, Representative Chavez and in recognizing her and our friend Angie, um, and surrounding her with amazing women, um, like Nika and all of our community leaders who have lifted Nina in in her idea. So, thank you for recognizing Nina today. Thank you. All right, Nina, we're gonna we're gonna actually you you don't want to say anything, Nina? All right, but I tell you what we're going to do. Since we know it was your birthday yesterday, I'm going to see if everyone will join me in singing you happy birthday. How about that? All right, represent. One, two, three. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Nina. Happy birthday to you. Thank you. You're very welcome. And Nina, thank you for all that you're doing. You are truly an inspiration and a role model to so many. You you are a role model to me and and so many of us sitting here at this this desk and DAS and so many other people in this room. So, you continue to do what you're doing and sky is the limit for you. Okay? And happy 14th birthday. Happy 14th. Okay. We're so proud of you, Nina. [Applause] Oh. Oh. All right. Shift a little bit. There we go. All right. Ready. Big smile. Ready. Okay, you got this. [Applause] And the next proclamation is uei I represent Masto. Thank you so much, Mayor. Miss Kurthers, I I think you brought an entire parade with you. I will travel. Well, let let me read it and then we'll we'll give you some time to to speak. But thank you for being here. It does. Proclamation. Stay at that the mic. Yeah, the podium. Yeah, there we go. Proclamation city of El Paso. Whereas UEIE I eat is a nonprofit organization founded on September 3rd, 2015 by Darin Kurthers which provides essential meals to El Paso and facing food insecurity. And whereas this important organization provides hot meals, non-p perishable food drives, clothes and hygiene products and school supplies to El Paso youth. And whereas You Eat, I eat Eat is 100% volunteer-based with funding coming through the community and fundraising efforts. And whereas Miss Kathers and her and her volunteers have assisted more than 3,000 children, served 1,000 meals at their last giveaway, gave out more than 800 turkeys during last Thanksgiving Day, and offered toys to nearly 500 children during the last holiday season. And whereas even during the CO 19 pandemic, You Eat I Eat did not close its stores, but instead implemented a drive-thru distribution system which serves 10,000 individuals. And whereas You Eat, I eat Eat has begun an unhoused outreach program going out into the community to find the needy and give back to the community. And whereas Mrs. Kurthers describes her organization as a food bank on steroids, creating it after overcoming an illness herself and leading it into the future. despite the recent loss of her beloved husband. Now therefore, be it proclaimed by the mayor and council of the city of El Paso that you eat, I eat, Darin Kurthers and their countless volunteers be recognized for the dedication, selflessness, dignity, vision, and love they demonstrate to the community. June 24th, 2025 shall be known as You Eat, I eat day. Signed, the Honorable Mayor Renard Johnson. [Applause] Good morning, Dorine. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Is it my time? It's your time. Well, um, first before I say anything, I want to say, um, one second. I'm so sorry. I should have did this a moment before. being here today. Um it is extremely extremely uh important and I am so truly truly grateful and appreciative um for uh to be here. Uh let me first say that uh first first and foremost I have to give the ultimate glory to where it really belongs which is to our heavenly father. you know without um I believe him touching my spirit uh and changing me um it's no way that I could be here you know I could not also be here and service thousands um without the support of who you see which is the village you know um the community is what makes you eat I eat successful it's not me okay it is the thousands of volunteers that has given that helping hand up. It is the thousands of sponsors that has made monetary contributions to be able to give. And so beha on behalf not only my husband that I wish was here to see this day, he told me it was coming. He told me that you eat I eat has already been recognized by our heavenly father and that's how we've been open for 10 years. That's how we've been open. But I'm just so grateful um to the community, grateful uh to the volunteers, and grateful actually to the clients because they allowed us to help them. They allowed us to give that helping hand up. You know, there are a lot of places that um people can go to that are facing food insecurities, but I think that You Eat I Eat Community Unity Food Pantry Corporation uh is is different. When you come into You Eat I Eat, we love on you. We treat you as we want to be treated ourselves. The food that we serve, you eat, I eat. The food that I cook, you eat, I eat. The food that my volunteers cook is, you eat, I eat. And so, not only do they come in for the non-p perishable food distributions, they come in for the hot meals, they come in for the afterchool program, they come in for hygiene the homeless. Okay. our special events that consist of which is coming up uh on the 26th and the 27th which is our um back to school backpack. And you know what? This is what we're doing this year because there has been so many requests on school uniform shirts. We will be distributing over 200 uniform shirts and backpacks loaded with school supplies. Okay? And that's just a request because we hear the community. We hear them and we want to be here to service the need, but we cannot do that without the support of the community. And so on behalf of myself, my husband, all of the volunteers, the clients, we thank you for your uh acknowledgement um for You Eat I Eat Community Unity Food Pantry Corporation. Thank you. Darin, congratulations. And you did bring a village with you. Do you mind if they introduce themselves? I don't mind at all. Let's Let's do it. And and everyone tell tell everyone how long you've been volunteering with UEI. I eat when you come up. Okay. My name is Robert Nichols. I've been volunteer about seven years. Seven, eight years. Good morning. Good morning. I'm Pelma Wilmont. I think I've been there for like four years. Okay. Good morning. Good morning. I'm Sylvia Kolinowski. I've been with this organization for about a year and eight months. Congratulations. My name is Cristiana Mason. I've been volunteering here for almost nine years. Wow. My name is Jamie Liil. I've been volunteering for about two years. And let me just say Jamie, she is here representing uh Domino's Pizza, which has been a supporter of ours for the last eight years with donating thousands of dollars throughout the community to impact the children with pizza every Tuesday and Thursday. [Laughter] Good morning. My name is Gary Kenny Brew Jr. and I'm here with my family. uh my wife Robbie and my children and my niece, we have been contributing and volunteering with UEI in some capacity uh since 2018. Fantastic. Thank you. My name is Pastor Carl Heimer. I'm a pastor at Grace Lutheran Church and we've had the privilege of having them over to be with our community and I've been with it for about a year. [Applause] Good morning. My name is Denise Rabowin and I've been with her for a year. Oh, fantastic. Don Hamilton Conroy and I've been assisting for about a year. [Applause] Hi, Vanessa. And I've been contributing and volunteering for about six years now on behalf of TCC Verizon. Oh, very nice. Hello, my name is Christina Mesa. My grandson since well, since he's been born, he's been volunteering for nine years. [Applause] Okay. Representative Tjo, good morning, Dorene. I met you and your husband last year. uh he was just as passionate as you were with what you're doing and he's with you here today. Thank you and your team and your village. Uh one of your members in your village is my niece Vanessa. So it's great to see you all here and we uh thank you for all you do for our community. Thank you. And Dorin, we can't thank you enough for all that you eat and I does for for this beautiful community. You do so much. You do more than just meals. you do the backpacks, the clothing, all of the things that you do to help keep El Paso, especially people with food insecurities. We cannot thank you guys enough because as you said when you walked up, you know, you brought your village with you. So, this is what it's going to take to continue to make our community and to to really put a dent into what you guys are doing. So, I encourage anyone else that wants to come volunteer and work with you to get a hold of you to to to help. But, uh, congratulations to you guys on on all the great work that you do. We're so proud of you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. All right, we're gonna take some pictures. All right, Sure. Thanks guys. Sorry. [Applause] I know what happened. We'll just grab. And the next proclamation is United States Army's 250th birthday. Representative Tjo. Thank you, Mayor. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Whereas on June 14th, 1775, the second continental Congress representing the citizens of 13 American colonies authorized the establishment of the Continental Army. And whereas the collective expression of the pursuit of personal freedom that caused the authorization and organization of the United States Army led to the adoption of the Declaration of Independence and the cotification of the new nation's basic principles and values in the Constitution. And whereas for the past 250 years, the US Army's central mission has been to fight and win the nation's wars. And where is the motto of this will defend is cited by which the American soldier lives and serves. And whereas no matter what the cause, location, or magnitude of future conflicts, the nation can rely on the US Army to produce well-trained, well-lit, and highly motivated soldiers to carry out that mission entrusted to them. And whereas the components of the US Army to include the Army National Guard, the US Army reserves and the regular army have contributed immensely to the health and natural disaster to health and natural disaster response. And whereas members of the city of El Paso have proudly served and made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation's freedom while serving the United States Army and other branches in our nation's military. Now therefore, be it proclaimed by the mayor and council of the city of El Paso, expressing appreciation on behalf of the people of El Paso, to the United States Army, and to the dedicated soldiers who have served in it for over 250 years. It has been that it has been in existence. June 14th, 2025 shall be known as the United States Army Army's 250th birthday. signed by the honorable mayor Renard Johnson. [Applause] Good morning, sir. Good morning. And first of all, I want to uh just say thank you, Mr. Mayor, uh and the council for that heartfelt proclamation. Uh my name is Brigadier General Rory Krooks. I'm the de deputy commanding general for operations for First Armor Division and for Fort Bliss. And uh even though I'm a relative newcomer to uh the El Paso area uh it's it's very clear uh if you look at El Paso on a map uh its strategic importance from the natural lines of drift with the river, the pass, its proximity from the Gulf Coast to the Pacific and the investment that we we began to to make early on in this community uh has been extremely important as trails become roads and roads become uh railroads. You know, this became an area that we that we really wanted to protect and invest in. And I think that in in that investment, we've had an opportunity to prosper along the way. certainly what uh the the government and the US Army in particular brings to this community uh in terms of investment that's it's brought in and helped promote commercial investment and uh and that's also attracted academia and culture and it's it's such a a vibrant representation of uh of that culture here. Uh we are so proud to be a part of that. Um there's those that would say that maybe we're we're in trying times right now. Uh I would leave that open for debate. But uh I would say that definitely the antidote to any kind of uh uncertainty or instability has always been community. And uh that is something that I think is encapsulated in in our motto of two states, two nations and one community. And uh I know that all of us here to include the US Army have a genuine collective stake in the success of El Paso and Fort Bliss. Um especially from the standpoint of the army. You know, we've all taken an oath to defend uh our the idea of a constitutional government and in our way of life and we're just so proud to be a a central part and major part of this community. So, thank you for the proclamation. you. Uh, good morning, Captain Kristen Gabby Aligado, the new Army recruiting for El Paso. Very excited to be here. Um, thank you again for the proclamation. Uh, but yes, for the leadership for El Paso. Excited to continue working with you all. Well, thank you guys. And and and for two and a half centuries, the US Army has has stood as a symbol of resilience, discipline, and service to the American people. And many of the the people that are stationed here at at Fort Bliss have become a part of the El Paso fabric. And we want to thank you guys for your service, for your sacrifice uh to the United States of America and for all that you do and most importantly for your friendship uh and being a um a true partner to the city of El Paso. We are truly blessed to have you and we thank you guys for all that you do and and again, you know, God bless you and God bless the United States. Would you also like to be in the bottle? Perfect. That looks great. A little bit less. There we go. Beautiful. All right. Perfect. Awesome. All right, we're looking good. Ready? Big smile. Ready? One, two, three. Thank you everybody. [Applause] And the next proclamation is project bravel represent nino. Thank you, mayor. Welcome to Project Bravo. It's an honor to read this proclamation. Proclamation for the city of El Paso, Texas. Whereas El Paso's community action program, Project Bravo, has long provided essential services to address and alleviate the causes and conditions of poverty. And whereas Project Bravo was founded on May 18th, 1965 after the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 was signed into law, thus authorizing the creation of community action agencies all across the United States and its territories. And whereas Project Bravo delivers impactful solutions by developing opportunities for families to achieve financial stability through skills training, employment support services, utility assistance, home weatherization services, HUT certification, housing counseling, affordable housing, and access to affordable health services. And whereas community action agencies are founded on the principles of community participation through a tree tripartriate board that represents the entire community including elected public officials, representatives of lowincome individuals and families and members of private sector that includes businesses, faith-based groups, schools, and other essential community institutions. And whereas Project Bar Bravo makes essential contributions to individuals and families across El Paso County by stabilizing and strengthening the community in times of extraordinary economic challenges, natural disasters, and health crisises. And whereas Project Bravo's mission is to build bridges to opportunities to help individuals and families to thrive in our community. Now therefore, be it proclaimed by the mayor and the council of the city of El Paso, committing the work of Project Bravo's board members, staff, and volunteers through its 60-year history to bridge access to opportunities for residents of El Paso to alleviate the quality of life through education and social services that lead to self-sufficiency. June 12th through June 28th, 2025 shall be known as Project Bravo Week. Congratulations Good morning. Okay. Well, thank you very much, mayor. Thank you very much to all the members of the city council for this honor. I'm La Pon. I'm the executive director for Project Bravo. Um uh I have the honor of leading an organization uh of people that are very committed to our community. I think that um uh working at Project Bravo has definitely been the highlight of my career because I'm surrounded by people that are dedicated to helping others help themselves. Um first of all, I want to introduce my team here. Um and they're going to state their name and the department that they work for as as you could tell from the proclamation. Uh we have a lot of different types of programs and services. Uh because poverty uh the reasons for poverty are also very different. Um, and so please if you can all come up and state your name, your department. Good morning. Hi everyone. My name is Jesse Vasquez and I work in the housing programs the housing department. I'm the housing programs manager and I'm a HUD certified housing counselor. Good morning. Good morning. I am Andrea Cortez and I am with the executive department. Good morning. Good morning. My name is Melissa Vargas and I work at the weatherization department. Good morning. [Applause] Good morning. My name is Ivon Science and I'm working project Bravo for eight 18 years and for the weatherization department. Good morning. Good morning. My name is Angie Van and I'm the health and wellness coordinator. [Applause] Good morning. My name is Emma Marcuso and uh I work in the community services department and I've been with Project Bravo for almost 16 years. Um and Project Bravo, a lot of people don't know that we're part of a nationwide network of over a thousand community action agencies. We serve every community in the United States, every county, every city. Um and we receive federal funds uh that allow us to do this work. Uh uh the project bravo was started in 1964, actually 1965, but in 1964 the economic opportunity act established community action agencies. And in 1965, a group of leaders in El Paso formed um Project Bravo so that we could receive these federal funds and address issues of poverty over the years. Um a lot of people may not know that there are so many initiatives that started at Project Bravo. Head Start started at Project Bravo. Um there uh and and we have a all sorts of different programs that address housing and and uh health and wellness um and even uh uh helping uh homes to be more energy efficient so people reduce uh their consumption of gas and electricity and people that are on fixed incomes can afford the utility bills. Um in El Paso about 18% of the of the uh population lives in poverty. Uh for a family of three, that's an income of about 26,650 people. Uh and so almost 20% of the people here in El Paso are living um with that income. Many of them are working um but unfortunately their income is just not enough to sustain their family and allow them to afford their home, allow them to live in comfort, allow them to be able to to provide for their families in a way um that will uh keep them healthy and well. And so that's why we never um we must never forget that there are families struggling in this community, but these families are struggling, but they're very resilient and all they need is support um and and the the support of the community and the support of organizations like Project Bravo and other nonprofit and governmental entities um that help them in this type of need um so they can surpass those um uh issues and really move forward and give their family the best life possible. So I thank you all uh members of city council. I thank you, mayor, for the work that you do for our community. Um, please make sure that you keep our families in mind whenever you make decisions. Um, and know that when you support those families um that are under that living that are living under the the most dire straits, you're supporting the entire community to be better. So, thank you so much. And and lot of congratulations. And and and I got to recall the first time that we really talked about Project Rob. I knew what it was, but we sat on an airplane. We were flying to a Texas Lysm meeting and you took the opportunity to explain to me all of the great things that you guys do because I had no idea. And you know, the bridges to opportunities, the training, the food, everything that you do is just incredible and and we could not be prouder of your organ organization, what you do for El Paso. And there's uh you know I just mentioned the group the Texas ICM and there's three other directors here. So we're going to have to take a a picture because we have to prove that that's the rule. We have to prove that we were together. But congratulations and and keep up the great work. Thank you so much, Mayor. I love your Everyone right here. Can everybody see me? There we go. Perfect. All right. Couple more. Ready? One, two, three. One two three. I need And the final proclamation is El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame and El Paso Sports Commission Week. Representative Rocha. Thank you, Mayor. Can I get all the recipients, inductees? Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. We have uh eight inductees and five of them are here with us today. So wonderful. I'm very pleased with that. Thank you. Here we go. Proclamation City of El Paso, Texas. Whereas the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame, now celebrating 70 years of existence, was founded in 1955 to honor male and female athletes who have in their athletic fields of endeavor brought great credit upon themselves and El Paso County. And whereas the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame honors each year, the Ray Sanchez Memorial High School Student Athletes of the Year and the Hall class of 2025 under President Ruben R. Ramirez has two endowed scholarships with UTEP named John Burkehead Jr., Dick Shenot Scholarship, and the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame. And whereas this year the inductees are Bobby Rodriguez Kirkley, Kendra Chambers Coleman and Natalia Enoo in the living athlete category, Yena Alaron Ortega will be inducted as a coach and Corey Herman as a coach administrator. In the trainer category, Scott Smeltzer is the inductee and Joe Mwench is the media selection while Leon Wade is theostamus inductee as a coach. The banquet will be at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, June 24th at the El Paso Community College Administrative Services Building, building a 9050 Vicount Boulevard. And whereas the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame has inducted 416 men and women into this prestigious organization. And thanks to the University of Texas at El Paso, the individual plaques are proudly displayed in the concourse of the Don Haskin Center on the UTEP campus. And whereas the title sponsorship of the El Paso Sports Commission and President Omar Oh boy. Ropeil Roelly. Thank you. Sorry about that. It's okay. And their great staff along with the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame's annual efforts continues to provide fond memories for decades to come for El Paso, the region, and the nation. Now therefore, be it proclaimed by the mayor and city council of El Paso that the week of June 24th, 2025 shall be known as El Paso Athletic and El Paso Sports Commission Hall of Fame Week, signed by the Honorable Mayor, Renard Johnson. [Applause] Thank you very much for that proclamation. Thank you again and good morning. Good morning. I am Ray Adalto. I'm the uh current vice president. I'm here representing uh Ruben Ramides who's away on assignment. Uh Ruben is a 2005 inductee and I'm a 2017 inductee. So I'm here representing him and our leadership. Um thank you again, mayor, for this proclamation. Uh thank you city council for that. Uh we would like to give special thanks uh to our Hall of Fame committee members and especially our executive team uh including uh Donna Carter uh parliamentarian uh Ron Leman uh our immediate past president Dr. Scott Stein and I would be remiss if I didn't say Mr. El Paso Wayne Thornton proud uh proud member of that and who coordinates all of this for us year after year. So, thank you, Wayne, for all you do. You know, uh we've had um a wonderful opportunity to be uh sponsored this this year again by our title sponsor, the El Paso Sports Commission and President Janet uh uh Vargas on it. Um and our sports strategist Tony Rodriguez. Uh not able to attend tonight uh in this and not here uh are three of our very important members. Joe Mchch, who uh many of you remember as the El Paso Herald Post, El Paso uh sports writer. Um he will he won't be able to attend this this event. Leon Wade's coach Leon Wade, our postumous inductee, his family will be represent tonight at the installation. And Bobby Rodriguez Curtley, who is our living athlete, an outstanding all-American from Eastern New Mexico, Eastern New Mexico. And so, by the way, he was one of the top 20 players and the leading scorer in basketball for for that great D1 team. I would like to introduce at this time our members. They'll come up and give you um a quick rundown as to why they're in the hall. And um I have to tell you, just like Ruben said last night, uh this particular class of 2025 is one of the most uh wonderful, experienced, and athletic that we've ever had. Each one of these people had a um was nominated and voted on, and it was a tough class to vote on, I have to tell you. So, we're very proud to present our class of 2025 to you. Uh, let me bring up first Kendra Chambers Coleman in our living athlete department. Good morning. Good morning. Hi, mayor. Good morning. Good morning. U, my name is Kendra Chambers Coleman. I went to Hanks High School where I was a state champion in the 400 meters. Um, I also attended the University of Texas at El Paso for one year. Transferred to the University of Texas at Austin where I was a eight-time all-American. I had an eight-year uh professional career where I was a three-time Olympic trials qualifi qualifier in the 800 meters. Thank you for having me. Thank you very much. Next in our living category is Natalyia Inoho. Good morning everybody. Uh my name is Natalyia Inoho. I born and raised El Paso native. I graduated from Outwood High School where I was an undefeated state champion. um high school national champion and then I went on to uh compete at Oklahoma City University. Um I was a multiple all-American national champion and also competed at the senior level where I qualified for Olympic team trials as well. So I'm super thankful and blessed to be here. Thank you. In our coach administrative category, our inductee is Corey Herman. Hello. Thank you for having us here today. And I'd like to thank the Athletic Hall of Fame for having us here today. It just seems like yesterday I moved here from uh from Canada and I have hundreds and hundreds of people to thank for this and to them I'm truly truly grateful. But it's truly an honor. Thank you. The rhinos. Okay. That's he's the iceman. Yeah. Um in the trainer category. Um, and we kid him because he says he's worked on thousands and thousands of ankles and smelly feet. If you've ever been an athletic trainer, you understand. Please welcome uh Scott Smeltzer. I'm I'm also known as the Iceman, too. So, but I uh my journey started uh I grew up in Houston, Texas. uh when I was about 12 13 years of age, fractured my arm, couldn't couldn't play. So, uh they they hooked me up with the district athletic trainer and kind of started from there and then he recruited me to intern with the World Football League Houston Texans at the age of 16. Uh and so got to work with uh Don Maynard was on that team. Uh uh Jason Garrett's dad was the head coach. Uh, and then graduated high school, came on to UTEP, uh, got to work with the legend Jerry Rossmore, uh and went away to coach, uh, football, baseball, and a couple other sports. And then came back to Texas, uh, and then eventually came back to El Paso, uh, and I got help from Dave Binder and Don Hearn to, uh, work on getting my trainers license. And then I spent 30 years after that at Eastwood High School uh as the athletic trainer. So, a lot of district champions and uh a lot of good athletes that came out of there. But thank you for having us. I would uh I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that we have a lot of their family members here and their friends also wanting to come and see the proclamation. I'd like to thank Dave McKini. He's my right-hand man over at the uh at the uh athletic hall of fame. Yesterday we honored our race high school student athletes and teams of the year. Uh and tonight is the soldout banquet at the El Paso Community College. Um thank you Art. Um however that event will have uh will be livereamed on kvia.com. We'd like to thank our general manager at KVIA U Brenda Deand Swan. And I personally would also like to thank on behalf of Wayne and myself um the folks at El Paso Community College. They have been outstanding. They've been a great partner of ours and I can't tell you how grateful we are for them. So again, on behalf of the El Paso Sports Commission and the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame, we want to thank you again, Mayor and City Council, for this wonderful proclamation. And once again tell you to don't forget these fine people here. Their plaques will go up at the Don Haskin Center uh this year later on this this summer and be proudly displayed for all to see. Once again, thank you. Wow. Oh, hey Ruben. I'm glad I showed up. I saw you you tried to sneak in real quick. Yeah, snuck in here. But uh I just want to echo what Ray said. Thank you very much for having us today. But uh we can't go on without introducing our coach from the lady on the hill uh coachia. Don't worry. I' I've been guilty of that at banquetss too, so I understand. Good morning, coach. Hello. Good morning. My name is Yen Larco Nortega. Uh raised in El Paso, graduated from El Paso High School, and still currently the proud El Paso High volleyball coach. Thank you for having us. And I I have to confess my grandkids went to El Paso High and now they're going to be after me, too. So, a slip of the tongue. That's all right. Well, I'm glad I'm glad Ruben snuck in there, man. No kidding. Snuck in at the But congratulations to each and every one of you. And I don't know how the selection committee picked anyone. I mean, this would must have been very, very tough. But, uh, we want to congratulate all the athletes that, uh, are being inducted this year and the ones that have come before you and the ones that will come after you. And we want to say thank you for putting El Paso on the map and not only here locally, but nationally. So, congratulations to you guys. Very well done, Reuben. Thank you, Mayor. Um, I I don't want to take up very much time. Heck, I'm not even supposed to be here, but uh, I drove by and I saw the truck outside. I said, I'm just going to go ahead and cruise inside. But uh yeah, this is a really great class for us. Like Ray said, um very very difficult class to to have chosen this year. Uh I want to congratulate them again publicly and uh we'll have some festivities tonight that they'll be involved with and uh thank you all again and thank you for the opportunity to address you all. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. Let's go take a picture. Excuse me, ladies. Sorry. I'm going to need this. Yep. Thank you so much. I'm sorry. No, you're good. Excuse me, guys. How wide do I have to get there? This is going to work just All right, let's have everyone shift over this way for me, please. Perfect. And then everyone get in nice and close together for me, please. Awesome. Looks good. All right. Uh, Representative Canales, can I have you come down a little bit? And then Representative Fier as well, please. Thank you so much. All right. Ready? Big smiles. Ready? One two three. Got some phones. Hold those smiles. One, two three. One two three. One two three. Here you go. Okay, you're you're qualified. I hope so. All right. Ready? One, two, three. One, two, three. Good job. You get an A. Mr. G, do you want me to take one from up here for you? No. Yes. Okay. All right. Stop your recording. All right. Ready? One, two, three. Thank you. Absolutely. Anybody else? Thank you so much. Thank you guys. You're welcome. I was like, "Please don't drop the man's camera." Please don't drop it. I'm fine. You got it. Thank you. A Thank you. It's good to see you. Oh, cool. Thanks. Miss Prime, I'm gonna let Represent Fier say something real quick. Miss Prime, I'm going to read my bio if you don't mind. Mr. I'd like to take the opportunity to um since we're talking about birthdays um wish a very belated happy birthday that Miss Mac she just turned around went the other way to Miss Mac to Mr. Gortinas and to Tammy Fon. All of them had birthday and Jesse my my sister. Yeah. Not to Jesse but and and to those three wonderful and to Jesse. Happy June birthday. Thank you, mayor. Happy birthday. Thank you, too. That was last week. All right, Miss Prime, we're ready. Yes, Mayor. Good morning. This is a meeting of the El Paso City Council for Wednesday, June 24th, 2025. Mayor Johnson is present and presiding in council chambers along with mayor prom chavez, representative maldonado rocha, representative oatjo, representative nino, alternate mayor prom, representative canales, and we have representative Lemon joining us virtually. It is 10:02 a.m. Will everyone please silence your electronic devices so as to not disturb the meeting and rise for the invocation delivered by El Paso Police Senior Chaplain David Mayfield. Good morning. Good morning, Mayor Council. Thank you for having me. I invite all of those present to pray in their the tradition of their faith as I will pray in mine. Gracious and sovereign God, we come before you today with humility and gratitude as we gather for the work of our city. Thank you for the opportunity to serve this community and for the responsibility entrusted to each one here. Grant wisdom and discernment to our council members and all who participate in these deliberations. May their decisions be guided by justice, compassion, and a genuine desire for the common good. Bless our city, its leaders, its workers, its residents and neighborhoods. Bring unity where there is division, peace where there is tension, and hope where there is need. Help us to listen well, to speak kindly, and lead with integrity. And we pray all of this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. Miss Franklin, call to the public. Yes, sir. Thank you, Chaplain. Council, per the rules of order, no use of p personal cellular devices should take place, nor personal communication on the day as nor while participating virtually while the meeting is in session. Once you obtain the floor from the mayor, you will have up to 10 minutes for debate and may speak twice per item. Please speak into the microphone and refrain from side conversations at the day while the meeting is in session. For those of you joining virtually, please make sure your microphones are muted to reduce any background noise. That brings us to the public comment portion of the agenda and this is public comment on consent and regular items. This morning we have one person that signed up for item 43, Marcy Chavez. Marcy Chavez. I don't see her. Uh VJ Smith signed up for item 43, but he wishes to speak at the time the item is heard. And we received letters in support of item 49 from Christian Lopez, Michael Bester, Henry Garcia, Marcela Caro, and Deborah Torres. These are all statements in support of item 49, and they've been shared with council. That brings us to call to the public. The El Paso City Council is a local government body charged with serving the citizens and the meetings must be focused on the meeting at charge. The city council meetings are public meetings under the Texas Open Meetings Act. Public comment is an accommodation and not a requirement of city council. All persons in attendance are expected to display civility and decorum that is respectful to other persons without the use of insulting profane threatening or abusive language. Public comment will not be used for personal attacks, nor may any member of the public use this forum 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 morning, we have eight members of the public that signed up to speak for call to the public. The first person is Donna Franco. Donna Franco, Elizabeth Crawford. Good morning, Miss Crawford. Star six, please to unmute your microphone. Miss Crawford's topic is anniversary of overturn of Row versus Wade. Good morning. Good morning. Thank you. Today marks three years since Row versus Wade was overturned. We as pro-lifers would be thrilled if we could say that since then abortion is way down in our nation. But sadly that is not the reality. Though many surgical abortion centers have closed, chemical abortion has skyrocketed which has actually resulted in a huge uptick in ER visits by young ladies who subsequently hemorrhaged after using abortion pills. Another widely unagnowledged side effect of the abortion pill is the trauma. There exists account after account of young ladies in the privacy of their bathroom seeing a miniature formed baby floating in the toilet flushing that baby down and freaking out. We as a nation are in a mess and neither political side has the answers. The only hope for any of us in our nation is found in the one who was born as a baby in Bethlehem about 2,000 years ago. Speaking of Mary and the Christ child, we are told in God's holy word, "And she shall bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." Our only hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you, and hope you have a good day. Thank you. Thank you. The next speaker is Claudia Contra Siller. Miss Siller's topic is the beauty and majesty of cats. Good morning. You have three minutes. Hi. Good morning. Good morning. I want to thank everybody that takes care of the city. I always bring this flag with me. It's the police department. Blue line, the green line represents the military or border patrol and the blue the red one represents the firefighters. And I want to give them thanks because they do have a a really hard job. I want to talk about the cats. Um the best way to help the stray cats in the city is by doing the TNR. There's a lot of people who are volunteers but they need more and want to and I want to encourage people that need a hobby for them to go to city hall I'm sorry to city c I'm sorry to animal services and to help them with the puppies that need bottle feeding the kittens and also to give cats a chance for you all to know them and uh also to TN are the cats in your community. I want to say that the best way to help those cats is by trapping them, taking them to animal services and then they will fix them, vaccinate them and take them back. The incorrect way to take care of the cats is for people to dump them or get rid of them because they are territorial. And I also want to say that they are the best pest control. If you don't you don't want rod rodents in your in your territory, don't kick out the cats. Uh in chaparal there there is a lot of rats and mice. So, because they don't have cats and also I want to invite the media uh for them to continue to educate the city and for common sense and justice because there's a lot of animal cruelty going on uh for it to resonate in the media uh for the citizens to be uh creative to start using the platforms. That's why I'm here because I have um you know like a bigger chance to get to people and tell them what's going on with the animal cruelty in the city. I want to thank the animal cruelty unit as I always do and animal services. Um, as per CNN, every 3 minutes a video of someone killing a cat, it's uploaded into the web. And that is really bad. And I want to invite people to write letters to the president for him to do something and to go after the the countries that don't have animal cruelty unit. I'm sorry, animal cruelty laws. And I want to read this really fast. It's Matthew 23:25. I'm sorry. I was hungry. You fed me. I was thirsty. You gave me water. I was a stranger. You invited me in. I was naked. You clothed me. I was sick. You care for me. I was in prison. You visited me. And uh the stray animals are our neighbors. Thank you so much, everybody. Thank you. Thank you. The next speaker is Ron Ko. Mr. Ko's topic is exercising his constitutional rights to the rescue 1983 animal services. He will be followed by Barbara Valencia. Thank you. Good morning. Good morning, Ron. Good morning. Uh, let me start out with something interesting. 2023 budget for salary and wages is 4,7 information off the internet. The actual expenditure was uh 6 million and $21. Well, 21 whatever. How do we spend that much money when for years our budget was 4 million and for years we've been told that the shelter is short-handed? That being said, Oscar Liser told me they bumped the salaries and wages in in 24 so that we could train and hire staff for the new shelter on the west side. That hasn't happened. I mean, if you look, we were we we would heard that the shelter on the west side would not be anything more than the Times building. And to date, all they did was move over the temporary kennels and five employees, as last I knew, from the Times building. Why did we buy four huge buildings because of a stray issue? Our shelter is not picking up all the strays because they say they don't have room. We've got four huge buildings over here being ignored, not getting done. Why? Now, back to my conversation last Mayor told him to intake on the west side was not done. Colonel Weston told him to open intake because it was against Texas law to do managed intake. Three, city council voted unanimously unanimously for Morehead to be a fullervice shelter. So, here's my question, guys. Who's responsible to make sure what you all vote for gets done? Because we need to find out why it's not being done. It was not voted on to be an adoption center. It was not. It was voted to be a full-ervice shelter. I expect that to happen. I you know what are we doing? If you guys voted for something, wouldn't you expect it to be done? Wouldn't you? Why are we not doing what was voted on? We need the shelter. We need the space. We need to stop the excuses. Thank you. Thank you. The next speaker is Barbara Valencia. Miss Valencia's topic is animal services 311, no help coming. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning, everybody. I'm Barbara Valencia with Huckleberry Hound Dog Rescue. Okay, this is a partial transcript with a 311 operator. Caller, I need to request a welfare check on a dog. The dog was left tied up in the backyard when the owner moved out and the dog has no food, water, or shelter. 311, what is the address? Caller, blank, blank, blank, blank, blue ridge. 311. And what is the reason you're requesting this welfare check? What is your concern in regards to the dog? Caller: The owner left the dog tied up in the backyard and the dog has no food, water, or shelter. 311. Did you physically see them move out? Caller: No. 311. In order to submit a report, the person has to be the one to visually see them move out. Caller: I am requesting that somebody go out to do a welfare check on the animal. Whether or not I physically saw the person move out does not negate the fact that somebody needs to check on this dog. That's why I called 311. I can't submit a report because you didn't have visual. You didn't actually was witness them moving out. I need the name and contact information for the owner of the dog. Caller, I don't have that information. 311. And you did mention that the dog has no access to food, water, or shelter. Is that correct? Caller. Correct. 311. But you don't have visual of the dog collar. The dog is tied up in the backyard. I don't really want to be doing this. I would much rather go get the dog, bring it into the rescue, get it vetted, care for it, and find it a loving home. That way, it won't be the city's problem, and the dog dog won't take up space at the shelter. But I can't because the dog is on private property. That is why I'm calling you. 311. Unfortunately, that is our protocol. caller. I am a taxpayer requesting a welfare check on a dog that is tied up with no food, no water, no shelter. It's going to be close to 108 degrees this weekend and this dog is unable to get shade or relief from the sun. Is someone going to check on this dog? 311. Unfortunately, we can't go. This call went on for over 20 minutes where the caller asked repeatedly that someone needs to go check on this dog and the 31 operator refused to submit a report for a welfare check, leaving this dog to suffer with no help coming. In order to request a welfare check on an animal, the only requirement is an address or location and why the welfare check is being requested, which the director of animal services confirmed that is all that is needed for a welfare check. This isn't the first time this has happened and it definitely wasn't the last. The next day, the same 311 operator refused to generate the request when someone called about another dog. And again, she did it on Saturday to someone else. How many animals have patiently suffered p have painfully suffered in and died because of this 311 operator refuses to do her job? How many other 301 operators are not doing their jobs? It's necessary to hold this 311 operator accountable for her deadly actions. Yes, deadly animals are suffering and dying because this of this broken and dysfunctional department and our tax dollars are paying for this ineptness. This is both animal abuse and abuse of our tax dollars. Thank you. The next speaker is Arnold Foandez. Mr. Arnandez's topic is independent auditor review and ICE arrest in the community. Good morning. Good morning. I'm here to address the uh review of the independent auditor at Mundo Calderon. Um I support uh Mr. Calderon. Disclosure, I don't know him. I've never spoke to him, but I know his work. Um the voters, me included, brought the internal auditor under the jurisdiction of the city council and took it away from the city manager the last time we voted. His charge is to review city programs. um financial expenditures to ensure compliance with city policies and laws. It is certainly within your purview to review his performance. However, that recent outside uh audit report should not be used to defang or intimidate Mr. Calderon. He uncovered the use of the end misuse of the gas cards of two former representatives. Don't use the secret report as a basis to kill the messenger. Strengthen don't weaken his role in city government. I know I know his work. Let him continue his work. Do his job without fear of reprisal or intimidation. My second topic is the ICE arrests in the community that are taking place throughout our country. They chill the rights of our community to come forth to the seat of government as we do here to red address their grievances. I note behind me the vast majority of these people in this room are Mexican-American like me. But I also noticed that there are more empty seats than occupied seats. It could be that they received the same text I did, that this rogue DHS agents are outside our city hall looking to arrest folks. city man city man says mayor you have the authority and the duty to protect our citizens including those that look like me and our Mexicanameans from masked jack booted thugs acting under the color of law to arrest our citizens I'm asking you to direct our city police to enforce ICE agents self-identification. We should know who they are. We should know their names and their badges. This rules that they are afraid u to be identified uh is nothing more than that because they we should know who was behind that mask. They're not arresting criminals. They're not arresting um gun toing individuals. They are arresting common citizens like you and me. This this this must stop and I think you need to take the lead as our mayor in the city of El Paso. We can't ask any. Thank you. Thank you. The next speaker is Marcy Chavez. Marcy Chavez. I don't see her coming forward. and Miss Wally Sheek submitted a statement uh with a topic write the wrong which was shared with council mayor. That concludes call to the public. Okay. Thank you, Miss Bry. And she also shared this handout as well. So, I just wanted to file it. Thank you, Representative Malonadocha. We'll we'll scan it and share it with council as well. That brings us to the consent agenda. All matters listed under the consent agenda will be considered by city council to be routine and will be enacted by one motion unless separate discussion is requested by council members. Prior to the vote, members of the audience may ask questions regarding items on the consent agenda. When the vote has been taken, if an item has not been called out for separate discussion, the item has been approved. Council may however reconsider any item at any time during the meeting. Mayor prom. Yes. No. Thank you, Miss Prime. Um, I do not have modifications to the consent agenda, so I motion to approve. Thank you. There's there's a motion and a second. Any discussion on the consent? All right. Hearing none, Miss Prime, please call for the vote. Yes, sir. And for the record, Representative Aso joined the meeting at 10:22 a.m. There's a motion in a second to approve the consent agenda. Motion was made by Mayor Prom Chavez, seconded by alternate mayor prom. On that motion, call for the vote. Thank you. And the voting session and that motion passes unanimously. We now turn to page nine to the first reading of ordinances. These are items 26 to 41. Motion approve. There's a motion. Is there a second? Any discussion on any of these items? All right. Hearing none. Seeing none, Miss Bryan, call for the vote. Yes, sir. The motion was made by alternate mayor pro Tim Fiero, seconded by representative Maldonado Rocha, and this is to approve the first reading of ordinances. These are items 26 to 41. On that motion, call for the vote. Representative Lemon. I thank you, Representative Nino. Thank you. and the voting session. And that motion passes unanimously. That brings us to item number 42. This is on page 14. Miss Brian, hang on. Representative Canales. Uh, mayor, I move to reconsider the consent agenda. Okay. Second. Okay. There's a motion and a second. There's a motion and a second to reconsider the consent agenda. All in favor? I. Hi. Anyone opposed? Thank you. Anyone opposed? And we're back on the consent agenda. Okay. Represent Canales. Thank you, Mayor. Uh just realized uh on item number 11, it's a detailed site development plan. Wanted to note for the record that I received a campaign contribution of $1,000 from uh Douglas Schwarz. I think there may be others as well, council. All right. He lit this up like a Christmas tree. Represent represent. Thank you for catching that. Rep. Canonales. I received $500 from Douglas Schwarz. Representative Brocha. Thank you, Mayor. I also received a contribution from Mr. Schwarz. Representative U Chavez. Thank you, Mayor. I also received uh $3,500 from Doug Schwarz. Representative Nino. Oh, no. No. Okay. Represent Pierro. Yes, Mayor. I also received a contribution of 2500. Okay. As well as I have received a contribution from Doug Schwarz as well. So, any other changes? Represent Canales on this one? You good? Okay. Oh, Lemon is signaling you. What's that? Y represent represent Lemon. Mayor, yes. I too received a contribution from Doug Schwarz. Okay. All right. I'm going to make a motion to I'll move to approve the consent agenda. All right. There's a motion and a second. Any further discussion on the consent hearing? None. Miss Bry, please call for the the vote again. Yes, sir. The motion was made by representative Ganales, seconded by alternate mayor prompo to approve the consent agenda. On that motion, call for the vote. Representative Lemon I. Thank you. Representative Nino. And we'll get you assistance, sir, in the voting session. And that motion passes unanimously. Okay, Mr. That's right. I believe we're on item number 41. 42. Two. Yes, sir. We're on page number 14. And item 42 is a public hearing of an ordinance authorizing the issuance of city of El Paso, Texas general obligation refunding bond series 2025 for debt service savings in an amount not to exceed $285,640,000 levy and continuing direct annual ad valorum tax for the payment of such bonds and resolving other matters which are necessary to effectuate such issuance. Good morning Robert. Good morning mayor and city council. If I may ask, can we take item number 55 as well? There are two separate items. We can vote on them separately, but there are two items that are somewhat related. They're related to generating savings for the Sure, we can do that. Yes. Let me read item 55 into the record. And item 55 is discussion and action on a resolution authorizing the defeas and redemption of certain outstanding obligations of the city approving and authoriz authorizing the execution of an escro agreement for the deposit of funds in an amount sufficient to defease and redeem such obligations. Resolving other matters. incident and related there too and providing an effective date. Robert, uh before we begin, can I have a motion to approve this one? Move to approve. Okay, so we can have discussion. There we go. All right. Good morning again, mayor and city council. Robert Cortinez. So, two very exciting items. Again, we're always looking to try to identify ways to save the city money, particularly as we're leading into the FY2026 budget development. and we've briefed you all on those particular items and we have a budget presentation scheduled for July 7th and 8th for the public to participate. Um so these are two critical items again to generate some additional savings for the city particularly on how we're managing our overall debt. So this slide is becoming one of my my favorite slides and so you're going to see this again in the next presentation. It really speaks to what we've been able to accomplish over the last several years. Um we've gotten a lot of questions the last few years how we've been able to achieve the no new revenue tax rate. Um this is one of them. Um there's been several other things that we've had to do as well. Um deferring some investment unfortunately using some of our fund balance. um some additional savings on our vacant positions, but how we manage our debt has been one of the critical tools. And so you see on this slide here of not only accomplishing and finishing out our bond projects, but how are we doing it to minimize the impact on our taxpayers? So you see on the lefth hand side there going back to FY2022, that's the city's overall portion related to our debt service tax rate. And you'll see that since 2022, we've been able to lower that by about 6 cents. Um, you'll see on the right hand side, again, this is my favorite slide. So, you'll see this in the next presentation as well because you all, myself, the city manager, we hear a lot about the city's debt and what are we doing to minimize and bring that down. This slide on the right hand side shows that since 2022, we've lowered the city's overall principal debt by $300 million. I'm going say that one more time because I think it's very important that it speaks to what we've been able to do over the last several years and how we're managing our debt. again, not only producing the projects that we do the grand openings for, we have new fire stations, a new police regional command, all the groundbreings. We have the East Side Regional Sports Complex recently, which will be the next item. Um, but these type of refundings, the refinancing, the defeasance, which you're going to see here in just a minute. Um, not issuing debt in the last few years has really played a key role in being able to to again bring that down by $300 million since 2022. So on this particular item, so for item 42, this is a refunding and so we're taking old bonds and basically we're going to refinance them to get bring in a better interest rate to save some additional money. Uh there's a whole team of people that are critical into actually making this transaction happen. Um starting with the city manager, myself, our deputy CFO, Margarita Marin, the city attorney's office, Miss Neman and her team, our financial adviser plays a key role as well in helping come up with um the structuring of these deals. Mr. Beina is here. We have Paul Braden, our bond council. Again, we can't do anything without our lawyers. So, Miss Neman and Mr. Braden play a key role in that. And then finally, our underwriters. We have a representative from Jeff here this morning, Pedro Ramos. He's um representing Jeff who's the senior manager on this particular transaction. So, a little bit about this overall transaction. Again, this is basically just a refunding. So we're taking old bonds um from 2015 2016 old CEOs and geos and basically we're going to refinance so pay them off reissue new bonds at a lower interest rate again just to generate additional debt savings so no additional debt being taken on this is all for debt savings for the city back on June the 12th the city manager myself visited with both S&P and Coral Bond rating agency we went through the bond rating process very happy to report that both of those bond rating agencies have reaffirmed uh Coral reaffirmed our double A+ bond rating and S&P reaffirmed the city's double A bond rating and you'll see on the right hand side just provided for context so you can see where we kind of rate overall. Um again that double A and double A plus high investment grade again very very low credit risk which is very important obviously when we're looking to get investors to purchase through the city's bonds again to be able to bring down those interest rates um for the city. This slide here shows you the different series that we are refunding. So as I mentioned the 2015 CO and GEOS and the which are currently callable. The 2016 co and geos are not currently callable. However, we're doing a bond tender. Um something that has become very very popular recently for bonds that are not currently callable. But essentially the way that it works is that we're going to extend an offer to our current investors who hold those bonds and in hopes that they tender or turn in those bonds for a set price. So essentially we're encouraging them to sell those bonds back. Um the thing is is that it's not mandatory. So it's voluntary. So we need to um get those investors to be willing to participate. And so with that being said, right now we're estimating about 50% of those current investors that hold those particular bonds will participate. We're optimistic. We're hoping that we're going to generate um a little bit more interest, but just to be conservative, we're um estimating about a 15% participation. So, the overall par amount that we're expecting to refund is at 87.4 million roughly. So much less than the item that's actually posted on the agenda, the 285 million. And again, that's a result of the expected participation on that uh particular tender offer. But here's the the money slide here. $4.6 $6 million of estimated savings from doing this refunding. You'll see the net present value savings at 4.3%. And the estimated borrowing cost, so the interest rate projected right around 3.7 3%. Um, so you see my little disclaimer there at the bottom. These are estimates obviously based on what we're estimating the market to be when we actually go out to price these bonds. Uh, right now we are estimating July the 10th to be the date that we actually go out and price these bonds. So these numbers may change slightly. Uh but we're actually hoping that they change for the better. And so included in the ordinance as posted on backup as backup to the agenda. This is the key thing that you all are approving. So you're delegating the city manager, myself as the pricing officers to move forward with the transaction. The maximum interest cost um not to exceed 4.75. As I just showed you, we're estimating that to be actually around 3.7. However, we build in a little bit of flexibility just in case we see some fluctuation in the market. um prior debt management policy we need to exceed 3%. And so right now we're estimating again 4.3 u the aggregate not to exceed principal amount 285 million again we will not exceed that. Uh, one of the key points as well, the final maturity date, December 31st, 2042. Again, we never extend the maturity dates when we do any refundings. We always maintain the same maturity date. So, we're not extending the life of the bonds. Uh, we continue to maintain that current maturity date. And then the expiration of delegated authority is up to 12 months to move forward at the actual transaction. However, as I mentioned um today with so uh Jeff and our bond council, they're anxiously awaiting approval because they're actually going to post the notice to tender these these bonds today. Um so they're going to do that here probably in a few hours. We have a tenative pricing call July 8th and as I mentioned July the 10th is the date that we'll actually go out and sell the bonds and then at that point in time we'll know exactly where we stand as far as the overall savings for the city which we can incorporate into the FY2026 budget. Very good. And so with that, I'll be happy to answer any questions or we can move on to the next presentation or if you all want to take action on this particular item. Represent Canalis, you want to represent Canales, you want to talk on this item. Um, are you want to wait? Okay, go ahead. Uh, yeah. Thank you, Robert. I think uh this is one that maybe gets a little into the weeds for people, but is important for people to understand. Uh because, you know, we we put debt to work for the public, but also uh as as you make these uh moves to to refund and to refinance the debt that we have outstanding, uh we are actively saving people money. Uh you know, this will reflect in their uh tax bill for next year and the year after that and the year after that. And I think that's something that uh it's something that we should be shouting from the rooftops unfortunately. Uh again, sometimes a complex topic for folks, but uh I think it's uh a testament to the work that you do and Margarita and the whole team uh that you're constantly looking at ways to uh alleviate some of the pressure on our on our debt service rate and uh ultimately save people's money. put money back into the taxpayers's pocket. So, uh, thank you for doing this. Um, and I think I already made the motion to approve, right? Just for this item. Okay, we'll hear the next one. Repres. Thank you, Mayor. Mr. Cortinez, you mentioned something about $300 million. What was that? That is the overall reduction in the city's principal debt amount outstanding. So, we've lowered that since 2022 from 1.6 6 billion down to 1.3 billion. A $300 million reduction in the city's debt in the last four years. I just want to hear you say it again. Mr. Cortinez, thank you very much for to your team, to Miss Mack and her team, and to everybody who's worked so hard to um be stewards of of uh taxpayer dollars and and it's great for you to come up here and and enlighten us on this savings and and show us your hard work. and I I cannot thank you enough uh for myself and for the constituents of District 6, which is the heart of El Paso as you know. But thank you, Mayor, Representative Chavez. Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Robert, for that presentation. You know, sometimes it's difficult to talk about the numbers because it could make people feel uncomfortable, but this is a great day to talk about numbers, especially when you're giving this type of report. And I would also like to highlight something important that you mentioned about our AA rating. Um, can you just speak more about that? and and how long we've been there and and how we got there and just any other information you can add. So the cities have the double A rating for quite a while. So two years ago we actually received the bond rating upgrade from Croll. So we went through the process with them. We actually got upgraded to AA plus which is a notch up which is a really really good sign that we're doing things right. Um so some of the things they point out as far as being positives is city management. They look at our leadership. They look at our policies internal controls. Um they look at our fund balance. It's something that they look at very closely. They look at are you generating surplus every year. Are you managing your operations effectively? Um but we do know that we have challenges. And so some of the challenges that we have that we've put plans in place to work on are unfunded liability related to pension is something they continue to point out. Our debt which now we've got, you know, a lot of key results that we've shown in how we're managing our city's debt. Um and then overall just the economy. That's something that the medium wage forum our city is we know is low something that we've been working on with the economic development efforts the different industries that we've really been focusing on. So we know we have challenges but really I think it speaks to that boundary really speaks to the overall effectiveness of the city as far as financially and how we're managing the city's finances. H how do we compare to other cities in Texas? Do you know with our rating? Um most cities are double AAA plus. There are a couple of AAA. I believe Fort Worth is AAA. I believe San Antonio is also AAA rated. That's our goal is to get there. Um and so that's the reason why we continue to look at we recently brought to the FAC the fund balance policy. Something that really shows that we're very thoughtful, very focused on how we're maintaining and preserving our fund balance. um pensions become an issue recently and so we've been working with an actuarial Mission and myself to really start to identify what kind of what would a pension funding policy look like um not just for police and fire but for our civilians as well. Really just to show the bond readers that we have plans in place, we have internal controls and that we have strong policies that are really making these results happen. Okay. Thank you and thank you to all the city staff. Thanks. And Robert, before we vote again, congratulations. um to go from 2022 to 2026, the 300 million savings, that's that's incredible. And to maintain the bond rating that we have as a city is is something that speaks volumes of you and the team. So, we want to congratulate you on doing that. And again, this is a savings, right? Yes, sir. Yeah. I just wanted to make sure that we said that one more time and I appreciate the representatives pointing that out. So, uh we have a motion and a second. Is there any further Miss uh Representative Lemon, do you want to add anything? Okay. Is there any further discussion on this item? All right, Miss Prime, let's call for the vote on item 42. Yes, sir. The motion was made by Representative Canal, seconded by alternate mayor prot. On that motion, call for the vote. There was no public comment. Representative Lemon. I thank you. And the voting session and that motion passes unanimously. All right. Uh Mrs. Brian, let's take item number 55. Yes sir. Item 55 is a resolution authorizing the defeasence and redemption of certain outstanding obligations of the city approving and authorizing the execution of an ex escrow agreement for the deposit of funds in an amount sufficient to defease and redeem such obligations and resolving other matters incident and related here to and providing an effective date. All right. Is there a motion to approve this item? Motion to approve. Second. Okay. All right. Robert, you're up. All right. Good morning again. So this item again is another item to again generate debt service savings for the city of El Paso. Um this one's a little bit different than a typical refunding. And so this is a defeasence to essentially pay off obligations related to debt that's was that the city issued for the East Side Sports Complex. Um so this action would do really three key things. And so one, not only will it further reduce our overall debt burden, and so we're paying off debt early, which is always good because you're going to save interest cost. So that's one of the key things that it's going to do, but then two, what it's going to do is it's going to take funds that are currently restricted in a tiff, tax increment finance zone, this one being in TUS 9, and it's going to free up those funds to be able to come back to the general fund going forward. And so on this agenda today, um I believe it was item number 22, there was the introduction of the ordinance to dissolve tur number nine. On the July 22nd city council meeting, there will be the public hearing to affectuate that action which will be effective on September 1. And the reason why we did that is for uh the purposes on the last bullet point that 4.3 million currently in the fund. So once we defease these funds that 4.3 million currently in the fund will become unrestricted and so we have the ability to utilize that for the FY2026 budget and so uh this project is in district 5 and so uh we've had some discussions working with Miss Mack and the capital improvement department with the completion of the east side sports complex. Uh there's some additional projects that need to be completed related to some street lights and then some shade canopies in that particular project in that area currently in the zone. And so of that 4.3 million, we're projected to use a little bit of that to be able to complete those projects. And so um I believe that Representative Nino can comment and we can actually do the amendment uh Miss Neman to that ordinance at the time of the public hearing to actually add in that um 2.3 million of that 4.3 will be for district 5 projects to be able to complete those at the east side sports complex. And so this uh particular item again reducing debt, it's freeing up additional uh dollars that are currently restricted. And then three, it's really going to help complete the site sports complex project and then also provide additional dollars in the general fund that will become unrestricted for the FY2026 budget. So this is the gift that keeps on giving because that 2 million annually will continue to come to the general fund going forward and will no longer be restricted. So, I told you this is my favorite slide, so I have it in here again. So, you see again the reduction of $300 million in the city's debt since 2022. And so, this particular item again on TUS number nine, this was created back in 2017. It was a tax increment reinvestment zone that was created along with the public improvement district. So, the incremental revenues or the revenues generated from those two items reimburse the debt service fund from cos that issued. utilize those revenue sources to pay for the project. Um, important to note here that with the uh dissolution of TUR number nine again at that July 22nd meeting uh the PID number two that was created will continue to remain. And so that's important because that public improvement district those dollars will go towards the actual operating and maintenance costs going forward for the project now that it's complete. So I included just for reference here these are the boundaries. This is the boundaries of the actual tur number nine. This is the property tax revenue again going back to the creation in 2020. So there was approximately 2,200 homes that were built in the area. Um so you see as they were building those homes the increase in the overall property tax revenue uh topping out at 1.8 million in FY2025. How many how many homes, Robert? Approximately 2,200. Okay. Homes that were built in the area. And so this is the property tax revenue that I was mentioning. that's currently restricted. It's so it's restricted to these uh particular TRIZ again to make the debt service payment, but since we're going to be defeasing or paying off these bonds early or these obligations early, um this additional revenue here will become unrestricted and flow back to the general fund starting in FY26. So, as I mentioned, this defeasence is a little bit different. Essentially what we're doing is in the uh resolution that's posted on the backup. Essentially what you're authorizing is for us to take approximately 13.5 million. We're going to enter to an escro agreement with an escro agent. That escore agent is going to manage those funds and we'll become responsible for making the annual payments essentially taking that liability off of the city's books. And so we're utilizing our debt service reserves to be able to do this early because as mentioned it's approximately 13 and a.5 million. Uh we have funds built up in our debt service reserves that we've been able to generate through investments investment interest in those funds. Uh we've also taken some old bonds that hadn't been spent to move those into our debt service fund. And so that's uh providing us the opportunity to pay this off early. However, not completely depleting those reserves. So we'll still maintain approximately $5 million in our debt service fund. again just as a cushion for our fund balance related to debt service. So as I mentioned the escro account will be set up with computer share trust company they'll serve as the escro agent and then they'll essentially invest in government securities. They'll manage those funds and then again ensure that they're paid off accordingly. And again the key there is that it becomes no longer liability of the city when this is actually defeased. So the total principal and interest outstanding 17 almost 17.9 million as I mentioned the total amount to defeze or to pay these bonds off 13.45. So the overall debt savings by doing this 4.4 million essentially on interest that we're saving. But if you think back to that first slide I told you it's not just this 4.4 million. It's that 2 million every year that's going to come back in property tax revenue to the city every year going forward that up until now had been restricted that would become unrestricted going forward. And so this is the action is to approve the resolution essentially to set up the escro agreement and move forward with defeasing these bonds. Okay. Representative Nino. Thank you, mayor, and thank you Robert and Miss Mack and also the city attorney. I know we've been in a lot of conversations in regards of TUS 9. I'm really excited that we just recently celebrating celebrated the the completion of phase 2 for the east side sports complex. And to my colleagues, you know, kind of what Mr. Dr. Cortinez did mention um I didn't comment on the first reading because usually we don't comment or make amendments on the first reading but I'll be making an amendment uh in the next council uh or in July 22nd for the TUS line overall. You know TUS 9 kind of if I don't know if uh it could show the map briefly of the boundaries of TUS 9 slide five. Thank you. So t 9 if you see the lower left portion of it that is the the east side sports complex and um in this completion one thing that I did notice is that there was no shaded canopies in the second portion of the east side sports complex and some of you got to experience how hot it gets out there. So I wanted to ensure that you know this entire boundary 2,200 homes are the ones who invested in this uh development and moving forward by us dissolving this tax increment zone that community is still going to be providing to our general fund. But prior to really dissolving or you know committing to all those funds, I wanted to ensure that we do add more amenities to the east side sports complex. And also on the Monga Drive portion where the park is, there's no street lights. And I know my district has been advocating for street lights. It's completely pitch black. So I want to ensure that um you know in the future I'm not trying to play catchup for these amenities are extremely needed for uh that community that has been asking for it. But so that that's a little bit of background of something that I've been brainstorming and really trying to advocate for. So hopefully I could have your support uh in the July 22nd meeting. Thank you. Appreciate you, Representative Rocha. Thank you, Mayor. And thank you so much, Robert, for the for the uh presentation and and I do agree that it's definitely necessary for Rep. Nino's uh district. I just have a question on the on the escrow piece. Yes, ma'am. The underwriting, the fees that where are they included? Uh so the fees are built in overall I believe it's listed in resolution. The fees to actually do this is very small. I believe it's only about 35,000 the cost to actually do this to feasing. So again relatively small amount for the transaction and and the upfront fee would be the 13 and a half or 13.4 million. Okay. Thank you very much for the clarification. And I need to correct myself. So the public hearing will be July 8th. So this particular item we did is schedu for July 8th city council meeting. So that'll be the second reading of that ordinance. Thank you, Robert. Appreciate it. Represent Masto. Thank you, Mayor. I I just wanted to get some clarification. Mr. Cinos, by taking the action today and then going into July 22nd, what Repino just stated will still happen, right? He'll get the canopies, he'll get the street lights and and we'll be okay in that sense. Yes. So, it it'll be July 8th will be the second reading of that ordinance. So yes, when he makes the amendment that will allocate 2.3 million of that remaining fund of the remaining funds into those particular projects and we'll work with Miss Neman and her team to make sure we incorporate that into the ordinance amendment. Okay. Thank you. Because I I think what he said is is really important and I I don't want to take an action that is not going to allow him to get that in his district. Okay. Thank you. But we cannot. Yeah, that's right. All right. Any other question? representing um Canales. Just quick question. So that it's $2.3 million in capital projects then. So to do the street lights and the street canopies, we're estimating 2.3 million and that's uh against the net present value savings. No. So the 4.3 is already in cash. We already have that in the fund. And so once we defease these bonds, that 4.3 million will become unrestricted. Okay. So it'll just it it would be a general fund expenditure after those funds are unrestricted in the general fund. Exactly. Okay. Thank you. All right. Any other questions for Robert? All right. Hearing none, seeing that Miss Prime call for the vote. Yes, sir. The motion was made by Representative Nino, seconded by Repres Representative Canales to approve item 55. On that motion, call for the vote. Representative Lemon. I thank you. In the voting session and that motion passes unanimously. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Robert. All right, Mr. Brian. Let's take item number 43. Yes, sir. We now return to page 14. Item 43 is a presentation, discussion, and action on public utility commission of Texas PUCT docket number 57568. The El Paso Electric Company petitioned to approve changes to its base rates. It is a public hearing and it is open at 10:52 a.m. And we do have one public comment on this one eventually, Miss Pry. Yes. Okay. Good morning, Matt. Good morning, uh, mayor, council, um, everyone in attendance. My name is Matt Marcus. So I'm one of the assistant city attorneys uh in our office that is part of our utility regulation team. So we're involved in all the utility filings that the city is a party to. And so the purpose of this presentation is really to have a discussion and for council today to take action on El Paso Electric's uh request request to increase the rates uh as initially filed back in January. So, I'll give a quick overview of the case. Uh, some of the main issues we've identified. Uh, members of El Paso Electric's uh, team are here to give a presentation of their own, a followup of sorts to the presentation they gave uh, back in March after this case was filed. Uh but at this point since we've been uh with our team analyzing uh this case for several months now about five months now with our outside counsel our expert consultants we do have a recommendation for council uh to take action at this stage uh of in this stage of the process but I will touch on the next steps going forward as this case proceeds at the state level with the public utility commission of Texas. So I'll jump into uh a little bit more of the specifics. So, the reason why here why we're here is El Paso Electric filed uh what's called a general rate case or a comprehensive rate review and they're required to do this about every four years or so. The last one was in 2021. And what this process essentially does is determines the rates that El Paso Electric customers will pay uh going forward for electric service over the next uh few years, what it's reflected on their monthly bills. Uh like I said, going over going forward over the next few years. Um now in this case uh significantly El Paso is claiming they have what's called a revenue deficiency on the amount of money that they require to be able to recover from customers every month to be able to pay for all their operation and maintenance expenses but also importantly to make a return on their investment in their infrastructure. So think all their generation capacity to build a power plant to generate electricity, all the transmission lines to carry that long distances uh and the infrastructure at the local level, distribution lines uh that carry the electricity into our homes and businesses. Uh so they do break it down uh based on different customer classes, but overall the increase is about $93 million. Uh and again they talk about and they will touch on some of the investment investment they've made since the last rate case. So since January of 2021 uh so there's uh some specific uh aspects of this that I'll get into but just to first put this in historical context uh going back for the last few rate cases this will be the fourth rate case request from El Paso Electric as part of again the comprehensive rate increase um since 2015. Uh but what you'll notice here is this request is uh significantly higher than what it has been uh the last few rate cases. And you'll note that's more than double of what was requested by El Paso Electric back in 2021 and 2017, the most recent rate cases. Uh I mentioned that they have different customer classes. So uh this is directly from their filing that they filed at the end of January. And what it shows is about 17 groups of customer classes. Uh and they do that because different customers require different uh services, you know. Uh and the first line is residential uh customers. And we highlight that because you'll notice that a significant portion of this increase is coming directly as proposed by El Paso Electric to uh the residential class. And of all those different categories of of ray customers, um only four of them will actually see a decrease uh as proposed by El Paso Electric. Uh but what does that look like on a monthly basis for the average residential customer when they get their bill every month? And on average, and again this is from El Paso Electric's filing, uh is they would see an increase of about $22 per month. uh about 23% increase over uh the current bill as it is currently. So in terms of timeline and and the path forward where we've been and kind of where we're going so to speak, this case like I mentioned was filed at the end of January. El Paso Electric when they do this they file with their uh all their uh state regulators at the state level, the PUC, but also the local municipalities like the city of El Paso. Again, why we're here. So the city do though has a limited time to review and analyze the request uh and act and that's why we're here today under the Texas utility code which is the statutes that govern utility regulation in the state and it kicks off a process um and there's a lot to do. El Paso Electric filed this uh and there was over 5,400 pages worth of documents that our team has reviewed uh and we've been working over that the last few months. El Paso Electric came and gave a presentation in March at council's request like like I mentioned uh and they had some comm community meetings to to inform the public of the changes. We filed some testimony in this case with our experts. We're continuing that process as we speak. Uh but the takeaway here is even again you know whatever the action is from council today the case will proceed because it's going to go to the the state level and and uh there's a currently a hearing set with the administrative law judge who's assigned to the case in August. Even then the process will play out over the course of a few months. So, we're looking at the end of this year or even early into next year for some resolution at a hearing and a final uh order by the public utility commission. So, still in the process and for today like I mentioned this case was essentially just consolidate at the state level. Uh recently some of the local municipalities in our area, Clant Horizon, Santa Lizario uh denied the rate inqu rate increase uh as proposed by El Paso Electric and so their cases are getting consolidated at the state level uh like I mentioned at that state level there's a lot of interveners uh involved and so this picture just shows what we what we did is try to organize it based on kind of categories. So you have a lot of governmental entities. You have commercial industrial groups uh that all have their um or sign significant users of electricity, big customers of El Paso Electric. Uh so they want a seat at the table, so to speak. And then you have entities from the county like all the school districts in the area or most of the school districts in the area. All that to say is there's a lot of folks at the table going forward. And so the city's involvement uh and what we've been involved in and doing uh as as you know we've been exercising what's called our uh city's original jurisdiction and we have that to be able to be involved in the rate setting process to be able to ensure that these rates um any increase is is reasonable and based on you know or follows the the state law in this area. And to that end, we've engaged attorneys that are uh well-versed in this very niche area, public utility regulation, but also expert consultants to be able to analyze, like I said, the 5400, you know, yeah, 5,400 pages, give or take, of the initial uh filing, but also to send discovery requests to El Paso Electric, similar to like litigation in the civil context where you can ask questions. We did 20 sets of those and our team has reviewed all the responses by El Paso Electric. Uh they've been very busy because other interveners have done the same thing. So we've been reviewing all that to be able to identify a handful of main issues and concerns at this point in the process. And one is first and foremost the overall rate increase I talked about in the beginning is more than double the last two rate cases. uh and the impact that that has in a lot of right classes but primarily the residential customers the return of uh return on equity from their investments they're requesting at 10.7 our experts think that should be lower uh in the neighborhood of 9%. Uh Newman 6 they have a Newman power station on the northeast part of town. Uh they built a new unit and it went operational at the end of 2023. uh we have some issues with the construction cost overruns for that and the price tag at the end of the day for that project uh and that's trying to they're trying to recover from uh the rate payers. So we have some issues there. I'll fast forward uh solar uh customers solar distributed generation. El Paso Electric is proposing a pretty significant switch in the current model. uh they're trying to move away from what's called the minimum bill that's been in place since 2017 and switch to a demand charge. We filed testimony that we have some issues with that. Uh and again, the rate designed for the residentials uh customers. Uh El Paso Electric as proposed is looking to increase that customer charge, which is that fixed charge every customer gets a residential every month uh just to be connected to their system to increase it by about $4, a little over $4. and some other issues. But uh I'll leave it with that and I'll I'll end on our recommendation. Happy to take qu questions or yield the floor to El Paso Electric. But the request or the recommendation right now at this stage like I mentioned is to deny the amount of the request and uh the rate design proposals uh as currently filed so that we can proceed get authority from council if you wish to negotiate settlement negotiation terms with El Paso Electric and the other interveners going forward uh so that we can work towards a resolution down the road. Okay. But uh with that I'll I'll yield the floor. You guys want to take questions now or see El Paso Electric's presentation? Represent Canales, you question now. Okay. Represent Canales. Thank you, mayor. Matt, I think it's important to clarify this for for everybody, for the public. Ultimately, the decision the council makes today will be to approve or deny the the full proposal as filed. Correct. So, not uh modified from what was initially proposed by El Paso Electric. Correct. Yes, sir. And there's no uh leeway to make changes today or anything negotiated right now today here in this public hearing. Uh it's it's simply a vote on approving or denying uh the proposal exactly as it was filed. Yes, sir. Exactly. I think it's an important clarification to make. Um obviously whatever decision the council makes today is not the end of the process. And so um Exactly. I I think it's important for the public to understand there are still many steps here. Uh and this is an important initial step but just one step exactly and and the settlement negotiations and that's our recommendation is because that'll be fruitful we think uh in going forward and that will also uh you know affect how the PUC officially uh finally makes a decision on this whether it's at a hearing a contested hearing or as part of a settlement process. Um so uh that will definitely influence what the PUC uh decides at the end of the day down the road. So hope that helps. It does. And then again uh I think it's important to note for the public's benefit as well. The public utility commission uh here in Texas is not an elected body. Correct. No sir. It's appointees that uh serve uh by the governor. Governor appoints them and it's made up of I think four or five commissioners if I'm not mistaken. and they will they have ultimate rate making decision power in the state of Texas. Correct. Uh I will say though that if the case proceeds to a hearing, uh there's an administrative law judge that's assigned. So what the judge will do is hear all the evidence, the testimony. Uh there'll be a hearing over the course of a week or two in Austin. Uh that judge will uh provide a proposal for decision is what it's called. So they essentially hear all that and then have a proposal uh a recommendation to the commission to act on it. But of course like you said they do have the final say. You anticipated my next question. Thank you Matt. Thank you. And Matt quick question. You on slide 11 you said the what is the return of equity? the return of equity uh thank you sir is um currently it's uh about 9.35% uh and again this is on their investments in their infrastructure uh related to be able to deliver service electric service they're requesting 10.7 uh% uh and then uh our experts in this area analyze um their testimony I'll pass electric's testimony and are proposing that it that should be closer to the 9% range okay on the low end yes sir Okay. Represent Canalis. Okay. Okay. Which does have a significant impact on the overall increase. Exactly. Yes, sir. Okay. All right. Uh Matt, we're going to keep you close by and we're going to hear from El Paso Electric. Yes, sir. Good morning. Good morning. I feel like I should have been standing right behind Matt because that was too long of an ominous walk. Sorry about that. Uh, good morning Daniel Pettis with El Paso Electric. Let me get this out of your way. Those were my notes. Um, thank you all for mayor council. Thank you all for your time again um to come back and cover this RA review process in a little bit more detail. Uh we've we've got some uh witnesses and experts of our team um as part of that RA review process and I think you all just covered some of the some of the points that that I think are very important for the public to understand that this is just another step in the process. And um you know we we really welcome the opportunity to to to to be here as often as we can because we we take the the uh you know the the privilege of of being here and and and and explaining how we propose on providing affordable reliable power uh to our customers. Right. So um with that I'm going to turn it over to uh Jennifer Bordon uh from our team and and she's the the director of of this rate review process for us. Uh and then along with her is uh George Nolla who's who's also our our director of regulatory uh policy and and economic research. Um but um let's get going. All right. Good morning. Good morning. [Music] Thank you for having me, mayor and council. My name is Jennifer Bordon and I'm the strategic rate case director for El Paso Electric. Um on where do I move the will you move the slides for me or do I sorry that okay thank you all right so I'll be be providing an update of where we are in the case and uh we'll be providing the next steps in the procedural schedule and also an overview of our uh request to revise the rates Sorry, I didn't press it hard enough. We filed a request with the PUCT and the cities in Texas on January 27th of this year. Shortly after that, we entered into a discovery process, which is a four-month process where we answer questions from all of our interveners and also from the PUC staff. And after after that after that process, the um the interveners review our after reviewing our filing and reviewing all of our uh responses to those uh requests for information. Interveners filed their testimony on June 4th and staff uh submitted their uh position in the case on June 11th. So there were 14 interveners in the process in in this case. Um most of these also intervened in our in our last case in 2021. So the the intervenors are listed in the in order of the number of questions that were submitted and city of El Paso was number one. We had over 18 close to 1,800 questions submitted and city of El Paso accounted for about a third of those questions. So you did keep us busy. So what are the next steps? So right now what we're doing is we're reviewing the intervenor testimonies, staff's testimony, and we're compiling our rebuttal testimony which is due to be filed next Wednesday um with the commission. After that, the commission will or we will have a hearing, a public hearing at the PUCT the first couple of weeks of August. And after that, the commission, we're we expect the commission to have a final order on on the case by the end of the year. As we have uh said in the past, it is a long process and customers won't see the effect of any rate changes until the beginning of next year. So, as an accountant, this is my favorite slide because it has most most numbers. Um, but I promise I'll try not to bore you. So, this slide summarizes the company's request, which is based on the Texas jurisdictional revenue requirement. One of the first steps that we do is we uh decide what the test year end is. And in this case, it's September 30th 2024. Now, because we're a multi-jurisdictional utility, we do have to allocate all our investments and costs to all our jurisdictions, which is reflected in the difference between the the two columns. The first column is um our total company requirement and uh the second is the taxes any everything that we've allocated to the Texas jurisdiction. So the revenue requirement is the total revenue that we're required to collect in order to cover the cost to serve customers and also to earn a reasonable return on our investment. Now what is our investment? The investment here is in in the filing is referred to rate base. So it is the first line on this slide and it's essentially the value of the utilities assets that are used to provide service to customers and examples are our power plants, our transmission lines, substations um and our distribution networks. And so the total cost to serve our customers includes a return on that rate base. And it's calculated based on our requested return. And our costs to serve customers include operating expenses such as the day-to-day cost to to to operate the utility, maintenance costs, um to to maintain the equipment in a good working condition and to provide to continue to provide safe and reliable service to our customers. Some of the other costs include depreciation decommissioning and taxes. I won't get into too much detail on that because it gets it can get really technical really fast. Um I'm sorry. Um as I mentioned earlier the the total cost to serve is sorry the total cost to serve is then compared to the revenues that we're currently collecting and the difference is our revenue revenue increase requested. So the largest component of our rate base is our physical assets and uh in the last four years since the last rate case this is we've we've invested over 1.55 billion in our system and these are the investments that were asking for recovery in the case for costs that we for investments that we've already um completed a little bit on our our return on equity. So re the return on equity is the profit that a utility is allowed to earn that in this ensures that the company can attract future funding to continue to invest in the necessary infrastructure to provide reliable service to its customers. The requested return in this in this filing is 10.7 and it was determined by our expert witness who ran several financial models to um to ensure that the requested ROE reflected the utility's risk profile and the current market conditions. The recommended ROE was the midpoint of the ROE range resulting from all of these analysis. As you can see, she ran two discounted cash flow models, two capital asset pricing models, and the last one was a bond yield plus. So, each one of those studies resulted in a in an ROE range, and our request is the midpoint of all of those ranges. So, I'm going to wrap up with a few points on some of our cost of service expenses. AP is is continually seeking to improve to to improve our processes and control our costs while ensuring that we don't compromise the safely safety and reliability of our service. With that being said, we've been able to uh keep our on andm relatively flat flat for the past four years. Um, one of the things on depreciation uh it's a way to spread out the cost of our utility uh physical assets over the useful life of those assets and that ensures that the company can recover those costs gradually rather than all at once. So the 1.55 billion that I mentioned ear excuse me earlier uh we're not requesting the full amount all now it's we're requesting the return on it which is the return um of the roe return of that investment and return of which is that depreciation which is uh spread out over time over the the life of the asset and so that life the life of assets is determined in a depreciation study and that's what our depreciation rates in this case are based on and then the last point on here uh wanted to say that a decommissioning trust fund is a fund it's a special fund required to be set aside by utilities like us that own uh nuclear plants since we are 15.8% 8% owners of Balo Vera station were required to maintain a minimum level of funding in in this trust. So in conclusion um the the revenue requirement is comprehensive well-justified proposal that's aimed at ensuring that we continue to serve customers reliably safely and efficiently. Our request is a our request is based on a thorough analysis of all of our capital investor investments expenditures and rate of return necessary to attract and retain funding for all our future investments in our system. So, thank you for your time and I'll turn it over to George Novella who will go over some of our proposed tariff changes. Thank you. Thank you. [Music] Good morning, mayor and council. Uh, George Nolla. I'm the senior director of regulatory policy and rates within El Paso Electric. Uh, very happy to be here today. Uh, under the purview of my responsibilities is the rates department for El Paso Electric and I'm also a witness in this case. I'm the regulatory or lead witness essentially summarizing the case. So if you look at the the testimony, it'll be the first testimony summarizing the case, introducing our witnesses. And a few months ago, I had some colleagues come and present to you, James Shitzel, Daniel Perez, and they provided an overview of the case. And rather than just kind of bring that same type of presentation forward, we thought it'd be more valuable if I go into some more bit more of that detail. And hopefully that's helpful to the the mayor and the council members here. Uh so with that, let me start my presentation. um and I'm a rep uh a resident of district 7. Um with that, let me start the presentation on some key items. And the first one is uh rate classes at full cost of service. So, traditionally going back uh a number of years, decades really, we actually at El Paso Electric submit a case where we moderate or we do what's called gradualism with rates. We'll generate a revenue requirement. We'll look at a cost of service study, see what different classes should be paying as a percentage of that overall number, but we'll actually moderate some increases. So, we'll say like, okay, this class is growing at a at a higher percentage rate than maybe what we're used to or feel that, you know, we should do in this point in time. So, let's moderate it to a certain level, say one and a half times or two times the system average. In this case, what we've done differently is let's just put out as our base case what is the actual cost to serve every customer and not do that moderation or gradualism approach because when you do the gradualism approach what you're doing essentially is uh introducing subsidization. So every time you actually artificially reduce someone's number someone else is then being moved up higher. So at this point what we've submitted in the case is a full cost of service. So I think that's a good starting point for the filing. Uh, another item that we filed is with regards to our customer charge. We've increased it, as your council uh said earlier, from $9.25 to $13.71. One of the things that we like to highlight here is that in addition to increasing this customer charge, what we're also doing is increasing the low-inccome rider. So, we'll float that up to the same level of this customer charge to the 1371. So, our low-income customers can get the benefit of, you know, not having to pay that 1371. So it'll fully offset. Another is our rate structures are changing and what we define as on peak. So we know that EP is a summer peaking utility and a lot of the infrastructure that we build is just really built for a few hours a year. So you know it gets hot for certain amount of days, certain key hours. So they're not being used 8760 hours in a year. So we really want to focus on reducing our peak. Uh but I think our definition for on peak was a little too broad in the past and we wanted to reduce it make it easier for our customers to be able to contribute to reducing that peak. So we reduced our window from 6 months to four months. So it used to be May to October and now it's uh June to September. We also used to have a peak hour from 12 to 6 and now from six hours it's gone down to five hours to two to seven. And if you notice, interestingly enough, we're moving it to the rightward direction. We're peaking later and later. So we're minimizing it and also shifting it to the right. So I think hopefully this makes it easier for our customers versus a broader definition of peak, make it smaller. So hopefully that they can help reduce that and maybe that'll help us delay some infrastructure needed or or or not needed in the future as we reduce our our load during peak hours. Some other items and I just have two more slides of of tariff changes we'd like to highlight. It's the minimum bill uh to that we're replacing the minimum bill or at least proposing to replace it with a demand charge. I myself am a Texas residential solar customer. So I pay the $30 minimum fee. And uh as said earlier that fee came about, not the past case, but two cases ago in our 2017 file case based on 2016 test period September ending where we actually introduced a proposal where we wanted to separate DG customers from non DG, analyze them and derive a rate uh essentially to make sure that we're charging them correctly because we felt that they were uh being subsidized by non DG customers at the time. And through that process uh in settlement actually with all the parties came out this minimum bill. So that 2017 case and we've kept that going. Well this past year what we did in uh 2024 is we met with our solar customers all those customers that intervened in those cases invited them to uh invite all these other solar uh installers local state national folks and we had a lot of people meet with us. We met four different times to get their input on what they wanted to see. Uh and what what did they not like or like from our current rates and one of the things that we heard loud and clear is they didn't like the minimum bill. And so we wanted to offer a proposal and that proposal is here's this demand charge rate where we think it's much more fair. So personally I pay that $30. I use a lot of electricity because someone's at home throughout the day every day. But maybe a house down the street uses a lot less electricity. So in my example, maybe I use 6KW and uh in this proposal, we're charging $6 a KW. So instead of paying that $30, I'll pay say 36. And some smaller home, maybe they have evaporative cooling and they have a 2KW load, 2 * 12 um I'm sorry, 2 * 6 to get to $12. So now they no longer have to pay that $30. They pay much less than the $30. So we think that's a very fair uh change and we hope that's uh welcomed uh by a lot of our our local folks and solar developers. Uh the next item there is the LED lighting lamp ranges. Lighting lamp ranges. This this item really is just a modernization to our lamp rates. There's a lot new wattages. We're just increasing the scope of what we have out there. And also we're seeing decreases uh in LED pricing. So we wanted to offer lower rates as people converge from the older technologies now to the LED technologies. And and finally, and it's a big item on on this uh PowerPoint right here, it's reduce subsidization risk from uh special requests. So one thing that we really want to focus in on all the time and in this case we're really taking a hard look at it is fairness. Making sure that the people are paying their fair costs and so from the commercial side we get requests for different things or you know that's why we call them special requests. Sometimes some commercial customers want backup feeders. So they have a feeder that serves them but if that feeder goes down I want another feeder to serve me. Well then we have to reserve that capacity now in two feeders. And we want to make sure that that cost is borne by the person requesting it and it's not shared or subsidized by other customers. And there's other similar examples like people requesting a bigger transformer than what they actually end up using. Well, that bigger transformer costs more money. So, we want to make sure that that is born by them and not shared amongst other customers. And also large loads. We keep hearing about large loads entering our our service territory or hopefully entering our service territory. bringing with them that economic development, but at the same time, we don't want to bring in these companies and have our our our citizens subsidizing these large loads. So, we want to make sure, at least within my team and the rates team, that we're particularly looking at that and that they pay their fair share 100%. Uh, in addition, the final item with that is lighting disconnects and connects. uh for unplanned lighting disconnects or sorry planned lighting disconnects and reconnects. We've just been putting that in our general maintenance cost, but really we we created a new rate because people need to bear that cost because it it it's not insignificant and we don't want to share that with our other customers. Uh finally, two other items is our fuel factor calculation. Now, if you recall, uh fuel is a pass through for El Paso Electric, meaning we're not making any profit. We're just collecting that fuel and uh we operate very differently with regards to how we treat fuel in our Texas and our New Mexico service territory. Recently in in Texas there was some legislation that allowed us to change the current methodology. Currently we have what's called a fixed fuel factor. A handful of times we're allowed to change the fuel rate. So what happens is we kind of we develop a balance as the months go on either an over recovery or under recovery of fuel. So then we have to do something about it. like uh recently we did a a a large uh dispersement because we'd overreovered and we want to get away from that practice now that the law has changed and uh what we've seen in New Mexico is much better. So we've made that uh proposal where it's more real time. You do a uh monthly revision and it has like a two-month lag where you're more quickly being able to align with current fuel pricing so you don't develop this large uh balance one way or the other. And and finally, one of the the things that we're proposing here is a peak time rebate pilot program. And I'm really proud of this one and some other things that we're filing this year actually. We have installed the smart meters and it's easy. You know, you get these meters installed, but what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do with all this information? How are you going to empower people just not install them? And and we're doing it. We we did a TVPP uh time bearing rate pilot program that we filed and and right now we're in a settlement discussions in Texas. We got it approved in New Mexico. We're going to try these really interesting rate designs with our our customers and our citizens. nine uh about eight total actually where we look at critical peak pricing on peak on- peak demand and and we get to compare them to control groups. It's a really well done study. So hopefully in a few years we can bring and propose a rate design that benefits both the system in reducing our our on- peak system our load so we don't have to build as much for summer but it also benefits monetarily our customers. So, we're excited about that and we're adding to that filing in this case where we're doing a peak time rebate pilot where actually customers get a a credit for reducing their load uh during a certain portion of the day where we need people to curtail or reduce energy. So, we're excited to get this pilot and the other pilots out there to make sure we're using uh these meters and that interval data that our customers are getting in almost real time. We're we're excited about that. And finally, you've seen this, this was in the uh previous presentation provided by my colleagues. Um, as your council said earlier, we have about a 25% increase request for base rates or about $22 per month or 75 cents a day. Uh, now because we're going to full cost, uh, you'll see some customers actually have a negative, a decrease or, you know, you'll have some customers with those kinds of increases. And finally, I like to always end off or or our folks always end off on a slide like this to remind our customers that to give us a call if they're experiencing any kind of hardship, are interested in learning about our any of our energy efficiency programs, anything that can help them uh with their bill uh to please call the number on this slide below. And with that, I'll entertain any questions. Thank you, mayor and councel. Thank you for the presentation. Lots of questions. Um we'll start with Representative Canales. Thank you, mayor. Uh, thank you to all three of you for being here to present. Um, and again for all of the information that you've provided throughout the whole process. I know we asked a lot of questions, so we appreciate your diligence in getting all those answers to us. Um, I I still do have a few other questions. Um, some of them might duplicate some of the questions that the city submitted. Um, El Paso Electric is looking to recover again about 1.55 billion total uh in capital investments through through this proposal and much of it is tied to generation facilities and upgrades to transmission uh and and your distribution system as well. uh what what specific cost control measures did El Paso Electric implement during the the planning and completion of those those projects uh to ensure that they were they were completed efficiently and uh that regulators and the public can be assured that that all of those capital costs were were prudent. So we begin with a just before we even start the the construction or the decision on what projects to go with, we go through an intense uh capital budget process where all proposed projects are reviewed and finally decided, you know, brought down to we we whittle it down basically to the projects that that we find necessary to do at a certain point in time. Once construction begins, we have project managers assigned to to each project. They are their responsibility is to make sure that we do stay on stay on budget when whenever possible. Of course there are issues there there does there are situations where we don't necessarily stay on budget but that that is the job and we try or we the the purpose of the project managing um department is to to make sure that that stays um within reasonable bounds. And what we do is we are in constant communication with our contractors and with upper management as as the the the project continues. Okay. Yeah. Newman 6 is one of the major capital projects that was uh included in this uh rate proposal and it experienced pretty significant cost overruns beyond what you initially budgeted for it. Um, I know El Paso Electric sought to recover some of those costs through interim filings and and is now looking to roll those into uh the the base rate. Can you provide more detail about uh those additional uh costs being rolled in and how those get passed on to rateayers through the through the proposal? Sure. So, with regards to Newman 6 and just to level set, we had a unit go online in December of 2023. Uh, in the Northeast, it's about, I believe, 231 megawws. And as you uh said, um, um, Councilman Canales, we experienced actual cost that exceeded our estimated cost. And that makes sense, right? Because the actual costs from Numan 6 were from pre-COVID. So, and we think of any good and we got a price from pre-COVID and now you built it and it went online in 2023 it experienced significant price increases. So, we provided a lot of testimony in this case. We actually brought in an expert witness that talked about uh increasing pricing as you build generating plants uh nationally and what they saw in terms of price percentages and and uh price increases. So, with regards to recovery of Newman 6, we're recovering about 80% of it uh through what's called a GCR generation cost recovery writer. And what we're looking for in this case is to get the remaining 20% with regards to Newman six in base rates and Texas base rates. There's a lot of growth in Texas. Uh there's a lot of need for capacity and generation in Texas. Not even talking about large loads. There's so much need just organic growth from our customers switching to refrigerated air uh growth in terms of customers moving in residential growth. And we need generation. And this is a very beneficial resource to the the community because it's already been built and it's it's at a really good price compared to other options. So, uh, with regards to recovery, 80% and we're seeking to get the remaining 20% in base rates in this filing. Okay. Um, I I understand that El Paso Electric has also sought to recover some of that cost overrun from Newman 6 from your contractors. has has the company successfully recovered any of those funds through through that effort or whether that's like through legal action or settlements? Um, and if so, how are how is that treated in this in this filing? Like specifically are are those funds uh being used to offset the costs that are passed on to the customer or is there any risk of double counting here where where you're recovering from from the contractors and and also from the rateayers? Yeah, so great question and you asked earlier about how do we maintain costs and cost controls and I love this item because it shows that we're willing to fight for our customers with regards to costs. We could have just taken the invoice and accepted but in this case we took it to mediation. We went the legal route and said these costs are not right and we went through the mediation route and that is finalized and and we reduced uh the sum and I can't recall the exact amounts uh considerably and uh the savings go to our customers in the form of lower cost for this uh facility and we're not for sure we are not doing any double counting. I'm not any concern like that but it's a good example and we're highlighting it of oversight of our contractors. Thank you. Yeah thanks. Uh shifting a little bit uh to return on equity, you're requesting that 10.7% return. Um that's that's higher than what's been approved in most recent rate cases in Texas. Um what's the specific risk profile that you're pointing to that that justifies the the proposed return on equity especially again in a region like like your service area where you essentially operate fully as a monopoly and you know as a fully uh vertically integrated utility meaning you're doing generation and transmission and distribution with minimal competition. So what's what's the risk profile that that justifies the the increased ROE? So, our expert witness pulled uh similar companies in her in her analysis. Um similar risk profile. I'm not an ROE expert, so I I can't answer specifically those, but I do know that during her analysis, she did um look at um companies that had similar risk profiles as ours. And so that is the information that was uh um run run through her her uh financial models. Was that one is that testimony uh part of your your testimony that you filed? Yes, it is. Okay. I don't think I read that one, so I I still have more reading to do. Um I'm I made my way through a lot of your filing, but it's a long filing. Yeah, it's very interesting. and and um you'll you'll see the the companies that she chose and and the analysis that was completed. Okay. I'll uh I'll keep my reading going. Yeah, it's Jennifer Nelson to help you find it. Make a note. Yeah, thank you. Okay. Um and then the the monthly customer charge. I wanted to ask about that as well. So that you know theoretically covers the fixed costs for for serving your customers. Uh and you're proposing an increase from $9.25 25 cents to 1371. Um I understand you know for example inflation is a contributing factor like we we feel the cost escalation all the time as well here at the city. Uh since the last rate case so looking back since 2021 cumulative uh consumer price inflation has been about 23%. This proposal represents an increase of more than double that at about 48%. Can you break down what accounts for that like increased uh fixed cost that you have to serve your your customer in excess of of CPI? Yes. Uh and that's another good question and and really it boils down to the history that I explained with gradualism and moderating certain groups. We did that to residential. So for residential we in our past case didn't provide a cost of service where we're actually uh submitted the cost of service to to to serve them. It was less than that. So other groups were subsidizing that. So why do we see a bigger increase here? Because now we're going to full cost of service. So not only do we have the layer of four years of atypical inflationary pressures, but we also have a base period that we're comparing it to that was below what they should have been paying if they were not subsidized. So you're saying essentially you haven't really seen cost to serve your customers exceeding inflation. You were just under you were under collecting before. There there could be some portions where they're exceeding inflation. depends on the good that we're talking about, right? If we're looking at a standard CPI, uh there may be some goods that outpace it, uh and they may be at a higher rate. So, I wouldn't want to say that the that we're under CPI, but in this case, I think a a bigger share of it is just that the base period or that we're comparing to in that percentage increase was a is a uh number that wasn't at full cost to now a full cost value. All right, one more question. I think I'll run out of time. uh under your the new proposal, the fuel charge uh on customer bills will be recalculated every month as as you presented. Um since that's a a pass through directly to to customers uh really without without profit to the company, you're directly just passing that cost through. Um it's important that that calculation is is accurate and and fair. What safeguards or or oversight mechanisms do you have in place to make sure that your customers aren't overcharged on on the fuel costs like especially in months uh where where we see a lot of fluctuation like many of the recent months all of the recent months um and uh you know I know you have to account for lag as well like you said they lag those those those prices lag a few months do you have any thirdparty validation or you know how can rateayers feel assured that the fuel charge that they see on their bill is is fair and correct. So there's a few um few layers of oversight. Uh first and foremost, our books are audited by independent auditors on an annual basis. But specifically with our fuel uh fuel costs, we go through a fuel reconciliation procedure with the Commission of Texas as well where they analyze um all of our costs, all our procurements, and make sure that we're prudently um you know, purchasing power when we need to and and getting into contracts that are that are prudent for our customers. And as far as um being able to mitigate high um big bumps on on costs, um we there is a mechanism in in the proposal where if that were to occur, there is an option to spread those costs over uh a few months. Okay? And those the fuel costs are reconciled annually and you either have an additional collection or a or a refund. So uh the reconciliation is every two years with the commission and as far as the refunding or searchcharging that's the that's the mechanism we're currently on where we're building that balance and you know it's it per the commission rule if we are materially over or under um funded or collected sorry if we're materially over and under collected and we expect to continue on that same path then that's when it triggers a refund or are charged to to to give that money back to to our customers. Just this is more for my own uh curiosity and understanding. You say materially, what is that threshold? It's 4% of 12 months of fuel costs. 4% of 12 months of fuel costs, but reconciled every two years. Yes. Okay. Thank you. I think that's the end of my time. Mayor, I I have one or two more questions, but I'll come back at the end. Okay. Represent Brocha. Thank you all again. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. and and thank you all for for being here as well as the rest of uh El Paso Electric that I see in the in the chamber today as well. I just have a couple of questions and just to level set people that may not know or be aware, how many customers does El Paso Electric have here in Texas? So, in total, we have about 460 uh,000 customers and and Texas makes up about 80% of that. So, Texas is 80% of your total. Okay. And the total is 460 and that includes New Mexico. Did you say that's correct? Okay. Just wanted to confirm. And then here here's the questions that uh kind of go into that. So what percent of customers are expected to see? You say it's an average of you know $22. What percent of customers are expected to see that out of the 460? So again, residential would Texas would just make up a subset of that. I don't recall exactly how many of them are there. Say 100,000 customers. Uh and that's an average. There's going to be some below and then some above that average. I don't have the exact count on how many would expect to see an increase. Uh assuming that they did not change their load consumption behavior at all. I don't have that with me. So let me ask you then when it comes to the the that's the residential side. On the business side, is there an average that that businesses are going to be increasing? So, on the business side, and if you recall the tables that you've seen with all the rates, um residential makes up one, but the rest of them are pretty much all different types of business rates. So, there's not just one business rate. So, there'll be some for our smaller customers, midsize, large, and even special rates for those really large customers. So, they can all be different. And and based upon that table, you'll see that some actually are decreasing and some are increasing. And they're increasing or decreasing at different rates. Mhm. Let me see if I can pull it up for you. Yeah, I I saw that. That's why I was asking for for dollar amounts. I saw percentages on there. Oh, okay. Then if the dollar amounts, it's just here is the percentages. Let me see. In the appendix, we have dollar amounts, but only for residential. Typically, we get asked more about residential. I know. So, you included those. Yeah. But there's there's uh I've I've been contacted by some businesses as well. And so I definitely want to make sure that we have that information in there. I know residential is is just as important. And so I just wanted to see if you had that breakdown. And we do and and we submitted it with this filing. We have to uh do that anytime we make any proposal. What are the changes and what is the impact on those customers? So we have that available just not handy. Thank you. I appreciate it. So, just a few more questions and I'll probably take up my just a few more minutes, but uh what programs or technologies will El Paso Electric offer to customers or to actually help customers shift away from these peak periods? Yeah, and this goes back to the pilots I talked about, right? In Texas, there's no requirement to do what we just did with the TVRP, the time varying rate pilot proposal. There is in New Mexico. And we wanted to do that because we want to empower our customers now with this metering that they have. And part of that filing, there's a lot about on education. We're going to be sending emails, constant contact with the customers so that they can benefit, learn how to change their behavior so they can learn how to benefit financially from these new rates. And what we want to do is we want to run that pilot two years. We don't want to make a big change in rates broad for everyone uh with regards to say like a force demand charge. We want to study these things first. So, we're going to focus in the next two years really studying and analyzing these pilot rates before we make uh a broader type of proposal. But beyond that, we do constant um marketing and campaigns on savings. So, I'd welcome you to go to our our website and uh you know, we have some marketing folks here that they have a lot of marketing around reducing their load, shifting appliances. Uh we have electric vehicle rates that are really great where you could put charging at night to reduce your overall bill and you're charging at a very very cheap rate. So we have a lot of options. We're actually very modern with regards to our offerings uh especially since we just started with these uh advanced meters and with these pilot rates. I'm excited to what's going to come out in the future. So I think uh we're definitely on the path of empowering our customers and giving them what they need to save money on their bills. Thank you for that. But I do appreciate the explanation because I know that the marketing team does a really good job of of going out and trying to do the outreach piece of it. So, in addition to what you do for the programs and technologies, now we're going to talk about the rebuttal that that's coming up. Have you been keeping your customers apprised of that or do they have to call in in order to do that? Apprised of the what? the the rebuttal phase and the hearings that are coming up is, you know, does El Paso Electric do a a I should say, what do they do in order to keep their customers informed of the phases? You know, the city does a pretty good job of of doing that, but I'd love to know what El Paso Electric does. We typically don't uh communicate specifics at, you know, at the rebuttal phase because, frankly, they can go in different places. I've seen them go into settlement talks. They don't go into settlement talks. they go into hearings, maybe partial settlements and um you know any case is is wildly different. So okay and then so I I do want to add that um obviously as as we go through this our filings and anything we do are on our website. Um we are more than willing to go to any community meeting when anybody requests it. Um we you know any any avenue we can to talk about what we're doing, right? So, um, just wanted to highlight that because because again, it is on our website and and and like George said there every case can be drastically different. So, there's no template or anything like that, but but we're more than willing to go and present and talk in front or answer questions right where wherever folks need them answered. So, yeah. And I do appreciate that. I know that you all came out to a community meeting for for my district very early on, uh, probably right after the filing, I believe. And so, I appreciate that. And then you also did some additional outreach. um at every district if I'm not mistaken as well. So, I was just more concerned with going forward. You know, I I'll take you up on that, Daniel. I'll definitely take you up on that. And then, um what opportunities exist for customers to take part in these PUCT hearings. So, and please correct me if I'm wrong, but uh basically anybody who's a customer of ours can participate in this process, right? So, yes. Um, and I think Matt used the line I like to use is everybody's at the table. Literally, everybody can be at the table in this process, right? It's not up to any individual or any any any sort of of body, right? It's everybody gets to to participate. Um, you know, he he brought up original jurisdiction. Even if the city wasn't didn't have original jurisdiction, they could intervene in the case, right? I mean, anybody can have that ability. And did I miss representative? Thank you so much. and and I just wanted that to be more vocal for the public. And then, you know, essentially going back to what Rep. Canalis said, the city really doesn't have jurisdiction over how much is going to get charged or what that bill will look like. you know, we are interveners in the process and we will we will um go through that process accordingly. But what steps are planned on on El Paso Electric's side to prepare customers for that increase that they could potentially see in 2026? So between now and when we actually understand the the amounts and what's going to be changing per customer, we can't do much because we don't know what they will be. they can change uh wildly, but as soon as we get a final order, we work with our marketing teams and we work with our rates teams under my area uh to make sure that they understand as well as our customer care center that we're properly communicating what we expect to change and when do they take place. Um Miss Bordon brought up the dates that she expects that the the newer bills would go out being early 2026. So, we have plenty of runway for that. It's just that right now we wouldn't know until we get a what's called a final order from the state of Texas. Right. And I just wanted, you know, more the public may not always be completely informed on what um steps are being taken and so it's really for their benefit to, you know, that I that I ask these these last few questions. So I appreciate the answers. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Representative Chavez. Thank you, Mayor, and thank you for the presentation. I also have just a few questions. you know, before before you did this rate increase in conversations amongst yourselves in the company, how do you uh balance affordability versus reliability? Yeah, that's a that's a good question because as an El Paso and multigenerational, we understand the community and uh we don't do any increase lightly. You know, one thing I've gotten the question in in in uh in meetings that I've gone to and we've done to several of them. It's like it's almost like if we're not El Paso and it's like I went to Easta High School and and you know what our our revenue requirements gentleman went to Sakoro. Uh the person that does a percentage allocations went to Riverside and the G the manager of rates went to Los Cruus High and it's like we're the community and and we don't do um anything lightly, you know. So, we make sure that we do the proper analysis because we know what we're doing is is going to increase rates, but we know that they're justified and we know that we need to uh increase rates to pay for the things that our system needs in order for our customers to have good reliable service. So, we feel very good about that. But, so we don't do it lightly. We make sure that we analyze it uh completely and feel very comfortable before we make any proposal like the proposal that is before you. And so when you're talking about affordability specifically, I mean, what what kind of what kind of conversations are those that take place? Sure. So, one of them I brought up the customer charge going up to $13 and change. And one of them was let's increase the low-inccome writer because let's help those uh low-inccome customers and if they don't have to pay at all any of that $13, let's do that. So, let's float it to that customer charge. So that's just one example of many where we have those kinds of discussions of things we can help our customers or we'll do them. I think it's also important to note that um for quite a bit of time right we've had where our residential rates have been subsidized. Um, I think, uh, we're at this crossroads, right, in our community where we're trying to strive for as much economic development opportunities as we can, right? And so, back to the the cost of service proposal that that the that the company submitted, um, we said, okay, this is what it cost each customer class, what it cost us to serve each customer class. We don't want to put the finger on the scale that one customer class gets subsidized by another. We'll leave that up to our regulators, meaning you all and the state, right? And so um again for quite some time residential rates have been subsidized by other res by other customer classes. Um we we we don't want to make that decision right as to who who you know who who's paying more than their their actual cost or less. So, uh, we leave that up to the to to the regulatory bodies. But, but I think that shows how, again, historically we've we've always, you know, like George said, another number somebody asked earlier, I think Representative Maldon Roacha about how many customers we have, 460,000 customers. 50 of those are also customers and they're our employees, right? So, it's our bills as well. So, just just wanted to add that. Yeah. Daniel, can you talk a little bit more about that though because that that's something that I think is interesting to me specifically and maybe for the public as well. Um, you said typically, you know, the the residents were in a different rate class but not not in this rate increase specifically. You're you're making it more equitable ac across different rate payers. Is that correct? Yeah. So, essentially uh right now and and and I think your your all's legal presentation highlighted the with red, right? the the residential customer class um and how the increase how how how significant that that was increased, right? That that increase was. And so um the reason being is because again historically um the the initial proposal even uh included lowering or not a true cost of service for the residential customer class and the other customer classes uh would would subsidize it. Um and so now what we're saying is this is the true cost of service to each customer class, right? So residential, small business, large business, you know, mun municipal pumping, all sorts of other customer classes. This is what it truly costs and we'll let the regulatory bodies make the decision as to should somebody be subsidized or not, right? But we're just saying this is what it truly costs for each customer class because I think someone made the comment that they didn't want residents to sub subsidize big companies. I think that comment was correct. It's been the opposite for quite some time. Okay. And so again, if we're striving for economic development, right, we we need to keep that in the conversation, right? And if we become a data hub, for example, I mean, that could potentially adversely affect residences. Am I correct? Potentially, right? Do you want to talk data centers or do you Yes. And and the answer is no. So uh the rates department again is under the privy of my responsibilities and we design rates to recover the costs associated with serving different customers 100% the rate design for those data centers or whoever comes in would be set up in a way where they pay 100% of their costs and nobody is subsidizing them. Okay. Okay. Um let's go back to slide five real quick just because I want to compare it to to different um rate increases. 1.55 billion investment and I know uh Representative Canales touched on this uh a little bit but your rate increase is this time around is more than double than the previous rate cases from 2021 in 2017. What was the investment like in those years where the rate increase was a lot lower. So it it it does correlate. I mean our investments in those years were was about half of what it is now. uh the annual capital budget was in the 200s and now it's it's it's doubled that and I know it's mentioned it's been mentioned before but mostly it's um because of the update in infrastructure that you've been doing. There's a lot of reasons. Yes. The updated infrastructure, the growth in our region, the the increase in in um low demand. So there's there's quite a few reasons why. Okay. Um let me see. One more question, my final question. Um, you talked about fair pricing for for rate payers. Um, how do you define fair? So, we we our proposal is what we think we need to um recover from our customers. The final decision is the commissions. So they're the ones that is are looking out for the best interest of of both the customers and the company to to define what that is specifically. Okay. I I appreciate the response and and I too want to invite you to one of my community meetings to make sure that you have the opportunity to speak to my constituents directly. Absolutely. Um I do want to say that you have been very responsive in all my questions that I've been asking El Paso Electric in the last 6 months. So I do appreciate that and I know that this is a difficult conversation but it's important as well. So thanks thanks for the information. Thank you for your time as well. Representative Trey. Thank you mayor. Uh excuse me. Before I ask my questions I did want to acknowledge uh some uh high school and college interns that are here today with the El Paso County Democrat Democratic Party. Um they're now on their third year and this cohort was selected for their strong leadership experience and commitment to expanding their political knowledge and they're joining us today uh to gain a deeper understanding of the local government and and in action and their city here. If you all just want to stand up and say hi way thank you all for joining us today. Welcome. Uh I do have a few questions and I I it might be repetitive to what has already been asked um regarding the the rate request. Okay. So you had uh less than half half of the investments or less than half or let me go back to this question in in 2021 and 2020 2017 your rates were less because of the investments. Correct. uh and now the the request is because there's a full cost of service. So what does that look like for future rate increases? So again the rate increases uh due to a couple of items. It's one uh going to a full cost of service versus having some customer classes being subsidized. So depending on the customer class that may benefit you or it may not. Uh and the other is we've invested quite a bit of uh infrastructure as seen by the uh slide by Miss Bordon. So a lot of that infrastructure has gone up in recent years between the rate cases. Now with regards to future rate cases um it will be um driven by a variety of factors and those factors being mainly what are we going to build and and it's a function of what do our customers need? Our customers are using more and more. It used to be pre-COVID they were using about say 40 megawws a year and now I've seen postcoid 1885 um you know these numbers are huge the the difference between precoid and postcoid usage has increased quite a bit and that's not even talking about large load customers that's just our normal organic customer load uh so if they keep increasing their usage at those rates we're going to keep building infrastructure so you you know as a business you forecast more or less what it looks like in the future. What it what is your forecast for say next year or in the next two years? Uh generally speaking on load it'll vary. Right now I believe it's probably about generally speaking on a compound annual growth rate I would imagine it's about 40 to 50 megawws per year of megawatt load growth not um and it can vary widely uh depending if you make assumptions around any large loads that were to come into our system. So that's just like a baseline model. Okay. Does this uh larger rate request uh affect the the cost in the process? Does it increase the cost the cost for for the process of what we're going through here in terms of u what our customers are seeing the the rates or the cost overall? Does the does this uh rate increase request increase the the rate of the cost of of what we're doing here? Yeah, my question is not making sense. So in in other words, by going through this process, does the cost go up on the utility side? Is it is it increasing by going through this process? Oh, um okay. Uh understood. So like the administrative process definitely as the process longer the the administrative costs for the filing go up parties are paying their legal counsel you're having all this interrogatory these uh requests for information back and forth all of that in introduces more and more costs as the process goes on and on. Okay. Does it increase because it's a larger rate. Does that make a difference? No I I don't think it's a function of say the dollars. It's more so the amount of items how uh controversial they may or may not be. Maybe uh some items may may uh invoke a lot of questions and therefore a lot of administrative burden some items may not uh introduce many questions. It just depends on more more a function of that. Okay. And then uh in regards to the rateayers uh how many have enrolled in the lowinccome writer? No, I don't have that number off the top of my head. I apologize. Would you be able to provide that? Yes. Okay, no problem. Um, and approximately approximately how much will these lowincome rateayers monthly bills increase with the proposed rate increase. So that totally depends on on their consumption, right? And I think there was a question earlier about what does the average customer truly mean, right? Right. And so and a lot of folks don't believe us that that is a true average. Our true average customer is consuming about uh 600 kilowatt hours a month, right? And so um again that that doesn't necessarily mean that folks that consume less than the average are low income or that folks that are low income don't consume quite a bit. Right? So uh so totally depends on their average on on their actual consumption what their their impact will be once the you know the final order on this case is is has been issued. Um I I I did want to highlight one of the points George made about um the increase in annual um demand because you said 40 megawatts and up to like 180 megawatts, right? Something like that has has happened in a year. And so I think it's important to note that you know we we mentioned Newman 6. Newman 6 is rated at 220 megawatts. So in one year we saw an increase of demand to our system almost as much as that turbine. Right? So, if people's consumption just keeps going and going up, we have to continue building to that unless we we we get folks to to really look at at at at all those programs that that George mentioned that, you know, not using power during peak. And uh one item uh council member that I think would answer your question in the appendix of our presentation, we provided um some uh estimates for price changes as a result of our proposal. And what's really nice about it, it shows you the price estimates or impacts depending on how much you use. So you could look at maybe some of the lower users and you could say, okay, if they're, you know, at the bottom third, this is their estimated increase on their monthly bill and and we even increased it above that. So what happens to low, high, middle users? So that's all there in the Thank you. That's all the questions I have. Thank you, Represto. Thank you, mayor. I I'm trying to gather my thoughts. Um, but first I I want to state for the record that I have received $1,750 from the El Paso Electric employee pack. And um, the next thing I'd like to say is that I have really enjoyed working with all of you. It's just been a very professional relationship and it's very nice to see how responsive you are to constituent work. It's immediate and you have even been at a point where you're sending texts saying, "Hey, this just happened. Is everything okay?" or "How can we help?" And and I think that my constituents really appreciate that type of responsiveness. And and it's important to have a company like yours that is so essential to the community be that responsive. So, I wanted to say thank you. Um, so just in as I I've been looking at this, I've been talking to constituents, there has been a lot of sticker shock with the $93 million price tag, right? And something that I've kind of thought, other constituents have kind of thought as we look at what has happened in prior rate cases in 2021 and 2017 specifically. At that point, the initial requested increase was around 40 million. And so I I just got to ask this question in in terms of going as high as 93 million and knowing that you were going to go through probably a year-long process to get to a final outcome. And I know you talked about the risk profile earlier. Did you go to 93 million? So when this is all said and done, we end up around 40 million and get to the point where you've asked in the last two rate cases which was around 40 million. No. Uh all of our analysis is u based upon our revenue requirement and our cost of service. There's no inflated cost or or anything like that. Everything that's in there we feel strongly about and uh are defending in our in our proposal and our in our rebuttal testimony that's uh upcoming. And so because in 2021 your outcome was at $7.5 million, did that contribute to you asking for more since you didn't get a lot at that point four years ago? Yeah. So as you get numbers less than what you asked for in the future when you look at your revenue requirement, there may be a larger deficiency due to past outcomes. But there may be a portion of that in there. But generally all speaking, this is all driven by or mainly driven by increasing customer growth and need on our system. The the load that we're seeing is so unanticipated atypical that's occurred that we have to serve it and we have to build for it. and and as I continue to hear you kind of say, "Well, there's there's a lot more demand." And I understand the factors that go into the demand and your your message sounds like, "Well, we have peak hours. We we need to conserve a little bit more here and there, right?" But then I think about a lot of our older residents that are retired and it gets really really hot, right? We're we're we're starting out right now and I I believe those are some of the most vulnerable populations where I think with such a big increase, you are getting people to not turn on their air conditioner and kind of rough it out for a bit or just get a fan instead. And and that is what worries me of the unintended consequences of we need to conserve and people are making the decision to kind of be hot, you know. And I know that for me, like I run hot and I am always like I get in the worst mood if I'm I'm really hot and I'm younger right now and I'm I'm okay. I could tolerate it. But for those vulnerable populations, I worry about sending that message. So I I don't know if you have something to say to that. Yeah. Uh first off, and it comes back to the last slide that I had. We really welcome and want you to talk to your constituents about the programs that we have and offer for our low-inccome customers. We want more people on those if they're, you know, if they can be part of that. And the other thing is when you see time of use and I talk about on peak and I'm talking about um 12 to 6 or 2 to 7, those are all voluntary time of view options options. So we're not forcing anyone to join a rate where between those specific hours there's a higher increase. Uh so just to be clear that that's not something that's mandatory. That's just those are options. No. And I I totally get that it's optional, but when you're consistently saying that message, people might take that to heart and say, "Well, this is how I could save money and I'm just going to have to do that." And use a fan instead, right? Like I said earlier, and and we help at as a city in the summer, we have our cooling centers, right? And so I know that people that are able to access that do, but it it just kind of worries me on how that is being messaged and it could probably be framed in in a better way. Understood. Thank you. And one one other thing that I wanted to kind of talk about was solar and there is the minimum charge of $30 and you're you're trying to move toward more of an ondemand charge and I have gotten complaints from constituents on saying why do I have to do this minimum right minimum $30 and I I just I don't want to do that. And so as I was kind of looking through this, I said, "Oh, well, this is great. We're we're getting rid of that minimum." But as I looked at it more, I feel that another unintended consequence of that is that now that minimum would be erased and the demand charge would actually yield more money and that would become the new minimum for people. So, I think there there is um like a good intention, but at the end of the day, the rateayer is going to pay more. I wouldn't necessarily agree with that. And I think this is a great proposal. And and and as I say that as a solar customer, a Texas solar customer paying the minimum bill, I don't think it's fair that I pay the $30 minimum bill and a smaller home that uses half the power that I do pays the exact same amount. I want them to pay less. And uh what we're providing here does that. So I want I should pay more and and they should pay less. You know, all things equal, it should be based upon the cost causers. And going back to your previous question, the minimum bill, why do we even have it? And again, it was from the settlement from the 2017 case where we said, you know, what we're seeing is subsidization from non DG customers to DG customers. And I'll use myself for example, if I install a solar facility, really reduces how much electricity I use throughout the day or the month. But if you look at that peak hour that I use with regards to my daily peak, it went down but not as much my overall energy. So my cost to serve you didn't go down as much as what you're seeing on your bill. So I think people understood that in that settlement and that arose from that and and uh we want to move on beyond the $30 bill. I think this is a a great step in a fairer and more equitable way to recover those costs that we were recovering previously from the cost causers, the higher users than say your loss users because I want it to be beneficial on a business case level for even your evaporative air cooled home less usage to put solar on their home. And I think this does that. And and so what would the demand charge be? It's about $6 a kw. And and so from my understanding, the average person probably uses about six. No, they pull about three three. They use three. So you think under this proposal, they'll be paying $18 instead of $30? That's right. If you were consuming three, but there's going to be there's some larger homes in in this town and there's some much smaller. So, you know, with averages, you get swayed one way or the other as you do a simple average. Uh but on average uh you know we're about three $3 I'm sorry 3.2 KW say per home. So that'd be fair about $20. Okay. And and so is that mean derived from 12 months the 3.2 that's a monthly value. So that's like their peak uh usage for one 60-minute interval of time for that month. What is the maximum 60-minute interval time for that month? And that'll be their peak demand. But in June, July, August, it's still 3.2. Oh, uh, I understand what your question. No, that's a 12-month average. Yeah. You have to, uh, see, so the it depends. So in El Paso, it's an interesting place too because unlike a lot of the US, a lot of our cooling is evaporative air, which uses very little demand. So about half of our our customers, half of our citizens here, right, use still residential uh, I'm sorry, a swamp coolers, evaporative air. So there is actually not a high amount of demand on the summer as you would see in other areas because of that. uh though it's very different for our region compared to say like Phoenix. So I'm not sure what the differences are. I I could provide that to you. I I think that would be helpful just because I think that's when it's going to be a lot higher and you're not you're not disconnecting anyone in the summer right at all. You you can't do that. But then what ends up happening is October comes around and it's hundreds of dollars of somebody being behind because they were using the air conditioner and it becomes a problem at that point, right? And I know you have the different programs, but sometimes people don't realize that that is going to happen. So when we're doing an increase like this, it it kind of worries me. So I I understand that you got the 3.2 too. And I think that's probably very true for like March and February, other months of the year, September, October. But when there's a peak, I would really like to see that because I think it'll probably be a lot higher than the $30 right now. And you know what? And and I will say it's not that high. And the reason being, if you think of your home, what uses electricity, the highest uh using appliance is your HVAC. So if it runs for one hour in March or runs for 1 hour in June, guess what? It's the same amount of load. So usually you'd actually don't see a big difference between June and say a March for on your personal max 60 minutes because if you ran it for 60 minutes and it didn't stop it's that's your biggest user of load. So you you wouldn't see I think the discrepancy you're seeing but we're happy to provide whatever you need. That would be helpful. Miss Prank, how much time do I have? You're up sir. Well, you have one minute. You start out at 12:05. Okay. I I will hold off for another round. Thank you. represent Nino. Thank you, Mayor, and thank you to my colleagues for asking so many great questions and also Opasic for being here. I'm also interested in learning um the question that Rep. Djo mentioned about how many Texas rate payers are enrolled in the low-inccome writer and also how much these low-income writers um their monthly bills might increase. But that leads me into my one question that I have. Um I think a lot of our residents or constituents have also reached out uh trying to get clarification of the other um cases that get filed. I know that we're speaking about the rate case, right? But my question is if El Paso Electric intends to file any distribution cost recovery factor cases, transmission cost recovery factor cases or purchase power recovery cases in the next several years. and if so, if you all know about how much or or how we would be moving forward with that. So, right now with regards to 2025 and and we look out several years, but we don't know the amounts or when we're exactly going to file, so I can't give you any our timelines for any filings, but ideally, I think we'd like to file a DCRF this year sometime in 2025. uh we've been spending so much and investing so much in the community with regards to distribution costs um that it just makes sense to do the so and I don't see any hard dates for any upcoming filings in the next couple of years. Okay. No, no further questions. I just wanted to get clarification again for the benefit of the public because I know a couple have had that question and concern because they don't understand the different filings. So, thank you for that. Representative Canales. Thank you, Mayor. Um I can basically I have just very short very short uh and some others have asked similar questions. Uh but I do want to get at one one small bit of information. Uh the new demand charge for DG customers um it it will pretty significantly shift recovery for for solar households one way or the other. Um you you gave examples and they were good examples of yourself and then you know another hypothetical user who uh maybe has evaporative cooling and uses uh less uh consumes less and and would see a reduction in their bill. I'm more interested in getting at like your average DG customer. Have you done an analysis of of the average usage of your DG customers and and tried to get an understanding of how this new rate structure would would affect that average uh DG customer in practical terms? Yes. Uh we should have that analysis. I don't have it at the top of mind but something we could supplement. Okay. Uh do you I know you don't have it top of mind. Do you know if it shows an overall decrease or any? Generally what we would strive for in this case is that essentially on average what you're recovering is what you're recovering already on the uh minimum bill. So on average we're essentially recovering the minimum bill amounts but through a different means a different methodology where now the higher users pay more and the lower users pay less but on average you're getting back to that same overall recovery number. So you're getting back to that $30. The the Okay, the minimum bill was set in 2017. That $30 was calculated in 2017. I would imagine we've seen increased usage since 2017. That's right. And one thing to note on the $30, it was from a blackbox settlement. So it wasn't costbased. And so you know that that's one reason too also to probably move away from that is that this is going to be costbased and uh it'll be uh driven by again the usage of a customer rather than some settled uh fixed amount. Okay, understood. And then uh it's easy to forget I think that residents also pay electricity through their property taxes to the various taxing entities who are also you know large users large customers of yours. Uh rate 41 is the the rate category that covers uh electric service to city of El Paso facilities. buildings, uh, you know, basically all of our our operations, uh, as well as other large public entities like El Paso County government, for example. Um, we we've focused really heavily today on discussion of the residential rates and kind of the direct impact that people pay through their bills. Can you talk a little bit more about the proposed changes specifically to rate 41 and how that would apply to us as the city and again the costs passed on to not rate payers but taxpayers who are paying for for electricity in their property tax bill. Understood. And and I don't have it up but I have that uh slide with the different uh rate increases or proposed rate increases by rate and you could see there uh rate 41. And the main difference it goes back to the full costs. So, we're going to full cost for everybody. That includes uh uh rate 41. So, that's the primary change there. Okay. Yeah. And it is I mean it reflects a significantly smaller increase than the residential rate. I imagine that's because uh we were we were already we were not as subsidized as the residential rate essentially. Is that how you would Is it fair to I don't recall um what their cost of service was in the last case and and what ultimately we settled on versus uh their actual cost of service. I can't tell you what that difference was. Okay. Um and again, I I think uh it's my last chance to speak uh before we take a vote. I want to make it clear again, El Paso Electric uh is absolutely entitled to recover a lot of your real costs. Um, I don't think anyone begrudges you that. And I mean, it's it's safe to say almost 100% for sure to to rateayers like you will see some increase there. There won't there won't be a scenario essentially where there's zero increase because that's just not realistic. um just like anybody else, El Paso Electric is dealing with inflation and increase costs and uh you know also legitimately uh taking steps and making efforts to make your service more reliable and uh you know better serve better serve your customers. So I I I want that to be clear to the public. Um and and also that you know this isn't very adversarial. uh we're a regulator and and you know we do our job to make sure that uh what the the utility is requesting is correct and reasonable. Um but again the question that we're going to be asked to vote on is whether or not to approve your filing in full. And uh if if we vote yes, we're essentially saying we agree with 100% of your filing. And I I don't think that will be the case for me. Um I hope you understand. Uh uh and I I hope the public understands that process. And that's why I led off with saying um this is this is one step in the process. It's not uh the whole thing. Uh again, the city council uh saying yes or saying no doesn't necessarily mean that the the process has reached its end. uh but we do have an important role to play as as an original jurisdiction regulator and so uh we'll do that today one way or the other. So thank you all again for being here to answer all the questions. I know it's not easy to stand up there and I hope you didn't take my questions as a grilling. I didn't mean it to be that. I I legitimately am interested to know the answers to the questions that I asked and uh I'm already looking for Miss Hudson's filing. So, uh, I'll be doing some reading tonight. Thank you again. No, thank you, Council Member. Representative Ato. Thank you, Mayor. I'm going to pick up where I was in my notes. I I want to talk a little bit about the merger that happened probably like 5 years ago at this point, right? And I know that there was a lot that happened at the time. I was uh a member of the public, right? And so I attended some of those community meetings and I know that none of this council voted on on that and um now we're here. So, one one of the things that I remember from that merger is when it was first announced, one of the reasons that El Paso Electric wanted to go private was because JP Morgan would be able to provide El Paso Electric with the necessary funds for future investments. So, since the merger has happened, how has that worked out? I I think it's it's a it's easy to see. I mean, just looking at uh for example, our advanced metering uh deployment, right? We were literally the last utility in the state of Texas, which I stand that as El Paso Electric's government affairs person who goes to Austin. That's embarrassing. Um we hadn't done something like that. Um, we have some of your colleagues who who helped who helped with with getting that bill passed so that we could do that type of program which again that was an investment that is now a possibility because we have a new ownership. We have one shareholder that allows for uh, you know, for investments like that that our community needs. Um, again back to the the in word George's words like unprecedented atypical I mean load growth that we had never expected uh to to to to grow that fast, right? Um we wouldn't have been able to react to it um without having that type of of ownership that was uh willing and able to provide uh capital to for us to to to have a grid that was responsive to that type of growth. So, um I think it's it's just it's it's evident how and then and then again some of the challenges that have happened in since since that acquisition, right? I mean, you had the pandemic, you you had inflation, all sorts of of factors, but I think it's it's it's easy to see how how we've been able and the number one aspect or the number one thing I I like to point out, representative, is um I mean, and again, going back to the last utility in the state of Texas to to install AMS, but you know, the only utility to stay in power during her, you know, wintertorm Yuri and look at our our track record, right? we keep the lights on and and it's it's getting very expensive and very difficult to do that but we we have we we face that challenge every day and and and that's what we look forward to doing to every day every single day. Okay. And and once the merger took place, I think there was an exodus of some people. And since the merger has taken place, did that also increase salaries, especially for the people at the very top because now you were under JP Morgan? I I think it's it's easy to see how our the number of our total employees has has stayed um flat. Um we if you look at what um you know our our average uh employee makes it's it's it's at market if not under. Uh so and in regards to leadership uh and I think you've heard our CEO say this pretty much everywhere she goes that I mean there was uh there she there was an elimination of an entire level of leadership meaning an entire level of of vice president roles that were eliminated. Um so in regards to you know this whole idea that we've had an exodus of employees or anything like that um not true. I mean we've held our number of employees. Um we've we've and again back to it's just what whatever the the market for that position. That's what we we tr we try to to hire at and and and and compensate employees at. Right. Okay. So there go to add um just wanted to add also that since the merger our board of director costs have uh steadily decreased and we're at a point we're at we're at half of the cost where we were before the merger. So yeah so then elimination of VPs at the very top and then board of directors you're at half the cost. Okay. And there's been this has been in the news as well as we look at replacing wooden transmission poles with new steel poles. Believe you spent over $40 million on this. Was there any analysis on why you should do this? Yes. Um our distribution transmission team did a lot of analysis to pinpoint the right areas to go from wood to steel and thank you know it's not thankful that this occurred but there was just a fire that's raging in the Hila right now and that fire from my understanding went through the stretch of the 299 poles we did over 50 milei stretch that we're talking about here and none of those structures went down. So, I think uh obviously we're not looking to do that in all parts of El Paso in terms of a forest fire, but if you look at and pinpoint it strategically in key areas, I think it's a great investment and uh luckily in something that's happening right now in real time, it it looks like it was a very prudent and wise choice. I just wanted to add one more thing that that line is used to bring in power from Balo Verde and that's one of our base load resources. So, that would have been catastrophic for for us. So then the it was disruptive. The the wildfires that have happened in New Mexico were were disruptive and this was a better idea to prevent it from happening. So El Paso brings in a lot of power through New Mexico and if you know you go I like to go camping with my family to the Hila and things like that and unfortunately you see forest fires there. So our transmissions lines will be coming through sometimes those areas. So imagine a case where those fire those fires put out lines that are importing a lot of power to the point where we can't uh serve our El Paso customers here locally. That'd be that'd be horrible. And one thing you could do to mitigate that is instead of having wooden poles in a forest fire potential, you have steel. And is it is it cost more? Yes. But does it make sense? I believe 100% it does through areas where you can have a forest fire, right? You it's it's it makes sense. And it's not easy to get to some of these wooded areas, right? it's it might be difficult to get in there and do that kind of work, but uh our customers on this side benefit from that reliability as a result. And I think it I think it's important to note also because George mentioned about maybe not wildfires or forests here in El Paso, but one thing that steel structures also make a huge impact on is when you have high wind speeds. And again, I think it's easy to see this year how we've had more and more days where there's higher and higher wind speeds, right? and and if you have steel structures, especially um on the transmission side, you know, they they stand up to those wind speeds, right, where where where a wooden structure might not. And a lot of that makes sense and I appreciate that explanation. I as I've been kind of keeping up with with this case for for months, you know, I I think messaging I I come back to messaging and the importance of the messaging at at some point where, you know, we can have emotions running high over this and there's a lot of public pressure that comes from it and there are people that are upset and stuff like that, right? But I I think you need to make sure that that doesn't allow you to be kind of insensitive at at times, right, with the rateayer. And I feel that at some point, um, El Paso Electric said that you would be cheap if you just never did any rate increase and we would just have wooden poles instead of steel poles and we could just kind of maintain that status quo. And and I think that's where the balance needs to happen, right? I I understand that the rates can't stay the same forever. It's it's it's a good understanding, but how we present that to the public is really really important. And so I hope as this continues there those sensitivities are more addressed that way the public has this understanding of why this needs to happen. And you could probably even get buy in, right? And this is a very large number and I'm not sure you're going to get the the full buy from from people, but at least the the understanding is there and you balance that with the needs of the residents and their pocketbooks and tight budgets and stuff like that. And Miss Prank, go ahead. No, understood. And and we we appreciate that feedback, Representative. Um we we do have our our our corporate communications team here in the room as well. And so we appreciate that. Um and and you're right, it is a balance. It's a balance of uh you know uh we are unapologetically uh going to provide responsibly affordable power. Um but it is you know there is a cost to it. It's getting more expensive and and and it's a balance and and and that we keep our our customers well informed as to why why it h why these costs, you know, h how how we're doing everything. So thank you for the feedback. I appreciate it. Miss Prin, is there a motion? No. Okay. Miss Neman, um, for this motion, you have a resolution. So, okay. So, what do we do to get that resolution? What's the We're going to hear public comment before we we do that. We have a resolution part of the backup. Okay. So, is it a move to approve or move to deny? It's a it's a motion to deny the rate case and then also ask for authority to engage in settlement discussions with El Paso Electric and our interveners. Can can I say so move to that? Yeah. Yeah. I know stated and we're going to re whatever we can we'll have public comment then you'll we'll have you do that. Okay. All right. Any other questions for El Paso Electric? I've only got a few comments. I I promise you. Um, so on slide page five, your intangible number of 190, I believe I asked this last time. What does that number make up the $190 million on the intangibles on page five of the presentation? So those include software products that we installed throughout the years, throughout the last four years. Okay. And and I know this is you know this is this is tough you know especially for us sitting on the dis as elected officials because you know we're getting the calls where you know people are concerned with inflation uh the high rising food costs gasoline cost and now utility costs. So, I appreciate you guys' professionalism and coming here and and laying this out. But but again, as a regulator, you know, we have to make sure that um you know, if you say it's blue, it's blue. And we're just just doing what we need to do as as the the city body. But uh I also want to say publicly that you know it has been a very good relationship with El Paso Electric and you guys have been very good corporate citizens but um you know with all the philanthropy that you do in in El Paso. But again you know we're asking these questions because our constituents want to know why are the rates going from you know one amount to you know from you know an average of 223 uh 9 per bill. So it's something that we have to do on our end. So we just want to make sure. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Matt. You're back up. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, mayor. And uh we do have a resolution. So, however we want to do that, I'm going to take public comment, then we'll do that. Okay. Thank you, Miss Fry. Yes, Mayor. We have two members of the public that signed up to speak. The first person is BJ Smith. followed by Marcy Chavez. Good afternoon. You have three minutes. Thank you. Good afternoon, Mayor Johnson, members of council. Uh, manager Mack, city attorney Neman. For the record, VJ Smith with Western Refining doing business as Marathon Petroleum. I'm also registered with the city of El Paso as a lobbyist. Um, not a lot of comments. I think the city did a great job bringing forward the details. Um, but we do I want to make sure everybody knows we appreciate the opportunity to participate in these uh proceedings and in this case. We also thank the council for your careful careful scrutiny uh over this uh application. Um we're committed to working with all parties to the PUC uh in this case in an effort to find a mutually agreeable solution including uh working with El Paso Electric and they've been a great business partner of of ours over the years. Uh just for context, we uh employ uh directly 450 uh at the facility and then we employ an additional 1,400 approximate uh contractors. So any on any given day, there's about 2,000 jobs uh at the refinery here in El Paso. We're also, if not the largest taxpayer in the city, one of the top few. So just just for context um one of the major pain points for us of many with this is um beyond uh the energy reliability council of Texas there are three other vertically integrated power companies in Texas like El Paso Electric and our re local facility here pays higher rates than those other geographies. So we're already at a competitive disadvantage. Um, but that that's just one of many points. I think the city again did a great job and I think we'll just tag on to their comments of of the the fi full details. Um, so just wanted to be on the record uh that we do ask and request that the council um uh deny the proposed you know as proposed increase by El Paso Electric. And to the extent that you will uh look at supporting adopting certain rate structures, uh we've uh submitted testimony of our recommendations to the PUC in those proceedings and would be happy to provide those uh that testimony to you all if you haven't acquired access to it. Be happy to do that. So those are our brief comments and uh thank you for considering our request. Thank you. Thanks. The next speaker is Marcy Chavez. Good afternoon. You have three minutes. Good afternoon. Good afternoon everyone and God bless everyone. Uh number one, I just wanted to make a quick statement. I'm very happy to see new faces because I do constantly come to the city council meetings, you know, and various things that occur within our city. Well, speaking about the electric company, I just want to contradict a lot of their speeches. The reason why is because either I'm a victim or I may be living in another planet. I did bring my utility bills which is don't add up to what they're saying. Number one, last month I paid $730 on a small home in in electric. Then because I got disconnected because they I didn't want to pay the 700 and I've been questioning this amount since last year in January it was a thousand. I I just get this ridiculous amounts of bills. Now you were saying Mrs. Aeda about refunding. Well, I haven't seen no refund of the hundreds of dollars that I've paid to um how can I say it? Um because they disconnected me. Well, when they disconnected me, I still had the old meter because I don't like the smart meters. I know what the smart meters are all about. And I'm not going to get into it here. But anyways, because I I had the old meter, they threatened to either I paid the $730 right there and then in the you know when they went to my house or they had to replace the meter and I didn't have to pay anything. So, how's that possible? Either you're going to disconnect me because of nonpayment or you're threatening me to put the smart meter just to save whatever. I still had to pay the 730 afterwards. So to me, I've been taking pictures of the smart meter. The smart meter uh puts one number and then it puts error and then it puts zero. And it's just a control of computerized, you know, machines, I can say. Two, I paid the $730. I did not pay the deposit they were requesting because they were now they're requesting $235 for me to have my additional service because I did not pay the $235 when I got this past bill which the bill was $96. Thank God finally normal numbers if I can say uh I was I'm getting ready to get disconnected again. To me, it sounds like a scam. And even though they say they have their independent auditors, I want the names of those auditors because apparently they're not doing a good job in their numbers. And I'm not the only one complaining. Believe me, all my neighborhood, all my people that I know, because I know a lot of people in El Paso are complaining about the bill. Thank you, Miss Travis. You've reached the three minutes. Thank you. And if anyone's interested, I have them. Thank you. Thank you. Matt, you're back up. M Miss uh Representative Lemon, did you have anything you want to I'm sorry. Thank you, Mayor. No, actually Matt's presentation El Paso Electric are very very clear. It was good to hear some of the questions that were brought forth and uh thank you for the opportunity to speak. Mayor, thank you represent. Okay, before we call the vote, Representative Nino. Thank you, Mayor. I do I failed to mention for notation that I did receive $1,000 from the El Paso Electric Employees Pack. Thank you, represent Rocha. Thank you, mayor. And I too have received a donation from the El Paso Employees uh pack as well as I have received a donation as well. Anyone else? All right. Representative Oto. Oh, represent Lemon. Yes, Mayor Johnson. Just to acknowledge I too received a donation from the El Paso Electric Employees. Perfect. Represent As Thank you, Mayor Matt. Can you read it and and I could just say so moved that way we get the language exactly how it needs to be. Yes, sir. Exactly. I'll do that. Uh now therefore be it resolved by the city council of the city of El Paso one that the rate increase rate class changes and rate design changes identified in the application of El Paso Electric Company to change rates filed January 27th 2025 is in all things denied. two, that the city manager shall so notify El Paso Electric Company by having a copy of this resolution delivered or mailed to the chief executive officer of the company. And three, lastly, that the city attorney in consultation with the city manager be authorized to engage in settlement negotiations with El Paso Electric Company and the other intervening parties in the application of El Paso Electric Company for authority to change rates under the Public Utility Commission of Texas docket number 57568 and to take all steps necessary, including the execution of any required prepared documents in order to effectuate this authority. So moved. Second. Second. Okay. We have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion on this item? All right. Hearing none. Seeing none, Miss Prime, call for the vote. Yes, sir. Just to note, the public hearing is now closed at 12:43 p.m. There was a motion made by Representative Oedto, seconded by Representative Nino to approve the resolution read into the record by Mr. Marquez. On that motion, call for the vote. Representative Lemore I thank you. And the voting session and that motion passes unanimously. Okay. All right. Council, I would entertain a motion for a 10-minute recess. So moved. Second. There's a motion in a second. Miss Ryan, there's a motion in the second to recess the city council meeting for 10 minutes. All in favor? Anyone opposed? Thank you. The meeting is in recess at 12:44 p.m. What's that? Yeah. Okay. I can come in here today. You know, normally when you're thing about it. Mayor My name is They did tell me for a long story short. I went around the people. I don't know how many people We need uh three more council members on the day. Yes. Yes. [Music] We need two more council members. Council, is there a motion to reconvene? Is there a motion? Okay. Motion to a second. There's a motion and a second to reconvene the city council meeting. All in favor? Anyone opposed? Meeting is back in session at 10:03 p.m. Miss Ryan, item number 44. Yes, Mayor. Item 44 is on page 15 and 45 is also related. Would you like to take those together, sir? Please. Thank you. Item 44 is a public hearing of an ordinance changing the zoning from RF Ranch and Farm to C4 commercial and imposing conditions north of America's Avenue and west of South Sight Drive. Item 45 is a public hearing of an ordinance amending the future land use map contained in plan El Paso for that same property from 01 preserve and 03 agriculture to G7 industrial and or rail yards. Okay. Represent Lemon We don't hear you, Representative. Hang on. No, we can see you. Hang on, Miss Prime. We can see you. We don't hear you. Can you try again, ma'am? We're still it. We're still unable to hear her. We can't hear her in chambers. I think she said I'll pass. Okay. Okay. Motion to approve. Second. There's a motion in a second. Any discussion on this item? Representative Rocha. Yes. And and Rep. Lemon, I know that this is uh this is something that I was briefed on as well, and so I know that you're very excited about this opportunity coming to your district. So, while we can't hear you, I hope I can at least convey your sentiment. Um, we spoke with the developer, we had an opportunity to be briefed by it. and we're very excited to have this opportunity come into her district and just provide um the additional development opportunities in an area that I feel definitely needs it and so I'm I'm really looking forward to this opportunity and I know uh Rep Lemon is is also agreeing with that sentiment as well. Okay, thank you Repone. Just trying to get your point across. Thank you represent Fedto. I I agree with everything that my colleague represent Maldonel just said. I may only add one thing. It is not too late, gentlemen, to move it to district six. And if if Representative Lemon has a uh if she objects, she'll say something. No objection. There you go. All righty. You sure if you want to uh Representative Troy home. Thank you. Uh can we see the presentation? Good morning. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Uh mayor and council with Samora with planning and inspections. So item 44, 44 and 45 are related. As mentioned, this is a reszoning and a future land use plan map amendment. Uh the property, if I can get to change it. So the property is located close to the uh Sarosa port of entry uh on Americas uh bounded by Sarosan southside as you can see on this aerial uh again there's two items in in this one the future land use amendment uh plan amendment uh this area was calling for 03 agricultural and 01 preserve uh which we in reviewing it's kind of obsolete there's no more farming in this area uh and there's obviously ly potential for the property to be developed. So again this is the proposed change 01 and preserve and agricultural the propos is to go to the G7 which is industrial and or rail yards. Uh again the resing part the really just a portion of that entire property that's been changed for the future land use map. Uh this portion it's on RF ranch and farm. uh the rest of the property for development. It's already zone C4. So this is kind of bringing the entire area uh under the same zoning. And here's kind of a conceptual plan just of the proposal again and I don't know how visible it is. The uh yellow portion outlining yellow to the top is kind of the portion being resone and again everything is kind of going for that future land use plan amendment. Subject property is vacant. It's been vacant for a while. Uh surrounding is you have more uh other general warehousing uh across outside obviously you have uh 375 Americas. Uh to the east to the south it's kind of still the 375. Uh to the west you have Sarosa and there's more vacant land right now. To the north there's the um what's it called? The cemetery. uh portion of this land was sold to the developers uh to develop this. So that's kind of what they're proposing. We did send notices when we had the zipline commission uh obviously before council notices are sent again. Uh by now we only have received calls in uh support of this request with no position. Uh the city plan commission did recommend approval 4 to3 uh of both the reszoning and the future land use map amendment. This concludes my presentation. Oh uh in addition there's some uh uh recommended uh conditions uh being proposed for the reszoning part to make sure that uh the surrounding neighborhood is is addressed right for consistency. Okay, we have a motion and a second already. Any further discussion on this item? Thank you, mayor. All right, hearing none. Seeing none, Miss Prime call for the vote. Mayor, just may we ask Representative Lemon to test her mic really quick. Okay. Representative Lemon, will you try to unmute your mic once again? Yes, ma'am. Can you hear me now? Yep, we can. All right. Thank you. And my vote is I Thank you. Okay. All right. Miss Prime call for the vote. Yes, sir. Motion was made by Mayor Prom Chavez, seconded by Representative Aso to adopt items 44 and 45. On that motion, call for the vote. Representative Lemon stated she votes I in the voting session and that motion passes unanimously. Okay, let's take 46. Yes, sir. Item 46 is a public hearing of an ordinance changing the zoning from R3SP residential special permit to R4SP residential special permit and imposing a condition. This is at 7213 Royal Arms Drive. Okay. Represent Canales, you want a motion to approve this one? It's in your district. It is. Thank you. Move to approve. Second. There's a motion and a second. Any discussion on this item? All right, Miss Brian. Call for the vote. Yes, sir. The motion was made by Representative Canales, seconded by alternate mayor promped to adopt the res the ordinance on item 46. There's no public comment on that motion. Call for the vote. Voting session is open. I thank you. And the voting session and the motion passes unanimously. Items 47 and 48 are related. Mayor, would you like to take them together? Please. Thank you. Item 47 is a public hearing of an ordinance changing the zoning from A2 apartment to A3 apartment at 2821 North Kansas Street. Item 48 is a public hearing of an ordinance granting a special permit to allow for a 70% parking reduction also at 2821 North Kansas Street. Represent Canales. Move to approve both items. Second. There's a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Represent Canales. Thank you, Mayor. Uh yeah, I'd just like to say uh I'm very happy for this kind of densification, especially on an existing uh project. I think it makes a lot of sense to add units on a lot like this that has existing apartments but is not particularly dense. Uh so kudos to the the property owner who recognized this and uh is is working to to essentially double the size of the the housing offering there. So hap happily uh supportive of this and enthusiastic to support this kind of infill development. Thanks mayor. All right, Mr. Bryan call for the vote. Yes, sir. The motion was made by Representative Canales, seconded by Representative Maldonado Roachcha to adopt the ordinances on items 47 and 48. There's no public comment on that motion. Call for the vote. Representative Lemore, I. Thank you. In the voting session and that motion passes unanimously. 49. Item 49 is a public hearing of an ordinance changing the zoning from R5C residential conditions to C1C commercial conditions and R5 residential to C1 commercial and imposing conditions. This is at 7600 Hunter Foster Drive. Motion to approve. Second. There's a motion second. Uh represent Seto. Thank you, mayor. I just wanted to disclose for this item that I have received $500 from Douglas Schwarz. Representative Chavez. Thank you, Mayor. I also want to disclose that I did receive uh $3,500 from Doug Schwarz. I also want to um say that this property was always to be considered a commercial property and the developer has met with the neighborhood association has been very involved in his plans for this uh specific area. um and in many ways um was very amendable because um you know initially it was thought to be a C3 property and um he decided to lower it to a C1 and we appreciate him considering all of the input from the community and um you know these types of relationships and and uh open communication and collaboration I think is important in terms of building trust within our community and so I appreciate that from him. Thank you. Very good. Representative uh Canales. Thank you, Mayor. Uh just wanted to make the same disclosure that I received a $1,000 contribution from Douglas Schwarz. Represent Fedto. Thank you, Mayor. I received uh $3,500 from Douglas Schwarz. Representative Roachcha. Thank you, Mayor. I also received a donation from Doug Schwarz. Okay. As well as I did receive a donation as well. Any further discussion? Oh, Representative Leon. Yep. Yes, sir. Mayor, I too received a small uh donation from him. Thank you. Okay. Any further discussion on this item? Okay. Miss Bryant. Yes, sir. And for the record, we did receive letters of support from Christian Lopez from the Enchanted Hills Neighborhood Association, Michael Bester from Enchanted Hills Neighborhood Association, Henry Garcia, also from Enchanted Hills Neighborhood Association, Marcelo Karia, El Paso Neighborhood Coalition, and Deborah Torres from Pueblo Vejo Neighborhood Association. Okay, call for the vote. Yes, sir. The motion was made by Mayor Prom Chavez, seconded by Representative Nino to adopt the ordinance on item 49. On that motion, call for the vote. Representative Lemon, I. Thank you. And the voting session. And that motion passes unanimously. Okay. Item number 50. Item 50 is discussion and action on a resolution to authorize the expenditure of district 2 discretionary funds in an amount not to exceed $3,000 for the purpose of hiring a part-time administrative specialist. This is Representative Asto's item. Represent. Thank you, mayor. I move to approve, but I want to kind of talk about this item for a bit. Uh, on the last council agenda, we um approved something similar, but after going back and forth with HR, we realized that we needed a different position, not an intern. So, this is what we came up with. And we are not using the past resolution that that that was passed by council last time. So, this is more of a correction and we're moving forward with this. The attorneys asked us to put it on the agenda again. So, that's why this is here. Second. Thank you. There's a motion in a second. Any further discussion? All right. Hearing none, Miss Brian. Yes, sir. The motion was made by Representative Bedo, seconded by Representative Boyco to approve item 50. On that motion, call for the vote. I thank you, Representative Lemon. Voting session is open and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously. Okay, let's take item 51. Yes, sir. Item 51 is an operational focus update to provide an annual report to the city council on operations of the storm water utility. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Um, let me see. Where's my presentation? It will bring it up. They're working on bringing it up. It This is item 51 from El Paso Water. It is currently looking for the presentation. waiting. Miss Bryan, do you want to take 52 while we're waiting? Yes, Mayor. I think that would be best. Okay, let's take 52. Thank you, sir. Item 52 is discussion and action on the award of solicitation 2025-0205 EPIA West parking lot expansion to Grayson Engineering and Construction for a total estimated amount of 1,635,323. This project will consist of the expansion of the west parking lot at the airport to meet increasing demand and improve functionality. Representative Rocha, do you want to make a motion to Yes. Motion. Motion to approve. Second. There's a motion in a second. Uh any further discussion on this item? All right. Hearing none, seeing none, Miss Prime. Yes, sir. The motion was made by Representative Maldonado Rocha, seconded by alternate mayor prom to approve item 52. On that motion, call for the vote. I thank you, Representative Lemon. And the voting session and that motion passes unanimously. You want to chart for 51 again? Yes. It do you have the presentation? Mayor, may we go to 53 in the meantime? Let's go to 53. Thank you, sir. Item 53 is discussion and action on the request that the director of purchasing and strategic sourcing be authorized to issue purchase orders for solicitation 2025-0349 EMS stretchers parts repairs and maintenance to Helmetica Oionics Corporation DBA Striker Sales LLC the sole manufacturer and service provider of Power Pro stretchers for an initial term of 3 years for an estimated amount of $771,850. [Music] This contract will allow the department to purchase new stretchers for ambulances as well as provide repairs and maintenance to the existing inventory. Motion approved. Second. Chief, do you want to say anything? Uh, Assistant Chief Brian Silva, Paso Fire Department. Um, this is a vital asset to our our stretcher, our our ambulance fleet, the stretchers. Um, it's not just a stretcher itself. It's also we have to think of it as it's a safety security system. And uh just so you all know, all of our ambulances are equipped with a loading mechanism that loads the stretcher. So stretcher goes onto the ambulance and the loading mechanism actually lifts the stretcher up. So it prevents us from having to lift up and prevents any back injuries. So again, very important critical asset to our department. Thank you, Chief. Is there any further discussion on this item? Thank you. All right. Hearing none, seeing none, Miss Bryan, call for the vote. Yes, sir. The motion was made by alternate mayor prompo, seconded by representative boyjo. And this is to approve item 53. On that motion, call for the vote. Representative. Thank you. And the voting session. And that motion passes unanimously. You want to try 51 again? I think we're ready for 51. Okay. Item 51 is uh an operational focus update to provide an annual report to the city council on operations of the stormwater utility. Welcome back. Thank you. Good afternoon everyone. Uh my name is Kella Dagnino. I am the utility chief operations officer for the stormwater utility at El Paso Water. And today I'll be um we'll be going over some of the accomplishments of the stormwater utility. Okay. Okay. So in 2006 um the city of El Paso created the stormwater utility and the purpose was not to solve the stormwater problem but to develop a master plan, create a dedicated funding source and execute the capital improvement program. So um authorities were divided and the city kept the permitting authority. So in essence, uh what the city does, it permits development to discharge allowable runoff onto the street as per existing standards um that have been in place since 2008. And they've been they do a great job at it. While El Paso Water administers funds, maintains the system, executes projects, and helps preserve open space. And as you can see on this slide, we have a big system and with only 40 front liners uh to do the maintenance, it's all about strategizing, prioritizing and impact and we follow established policies to guide project um uh project selection. uh we've evaluate uh factors like public safety, flood risk, environmental impacts and cost among others. And what this does is ensure that limited resources are directed where they are needed the most. Also to ensure transparency and responsible spending, our projects go through a structured process where we collect data. uh projects are evaluated, scored and ranked and then the highest ranked ones moved into the capital improvement program and this also explains why some projects move forward before others. Okay. And public engagement plays a key role in storm water planning. Um this year a stormwater task force was convened to tour facilities, evaluate projects and help revise priorities uh based on community needs and and um resources. And this is not the first time we do this. Similar task forces were convened in 2008 and in 2017. The 2025 stormwater task force um includes members from several El Paso communities. Um it is a very engaged group and we're very happy to have them and we had our final meeting on Friday. So at this point we're compiling all the data, all their input. Uh we're re uh applying those scores to the project so that we can rep prioritize them based on their recommendations. And now that we've seen who helps guide the planning process, we'll go over some projects that are have been completed and they're also in the planning and design phase. So we have 21 projects completed. Uh four projects are in construction, four are currently bidding and 26 projects are in the planning and design phases. 21 projects completed. Um all of our projects result in protection of properties and infrastructure downstream and around the areas. Uh we completed eight that address conveyance, three dam improvements, three um ponds and drainage and seven pipe rehabilitation projects. And we we'll go over some of these on the next slide. Uh these next projects uh are projects that addressed aging infrastructure. The Canterbury Trail Improvements, it was a joint bid with the city of El Paso. And here we were able to rebuild a reconstruct the pro uh the Canterbury um channel between Stanton and Richest, which is about half a half a mile. Um and then also with the city uh with the joint city with the bid with the joints bidding with the city uh we were able to also um build a trail on the south side of the channel. So it came out u very nice. Now the course channel, this is a also a a channel um uh a channel reconstruction project, but in this one we we replace it with an underground storage system um because the channel was undersized. So what this allowed us to do is split the flows and direct half of the flow into an existing pond that we also upgraded and the rest of the flow continued it its path downstream to an existing um channel to meet the capacity. And what this does it's uh protects critical infrastructure such as the railroad and helps with um flooding in the area. the Mesa and Texas storm pipe um addressed a a pipe that that had failed and it was creating settlement of the street in central El Paso. Okay, the next slides will highlight projects that help with increase or restoration of storage capacity. The San Jose pond, it's a new pond in central El Paso. And what this pond does, it collects water from the street uh and releases it in a control manner. So when it's raining, there's less water on the street than uh than previously experienced. The lower Morehead retention pond is immediately downstream of the Morehead Dam. And what this project does, it's um it'll collect any sediment, debris, or um overflow from the dam in this pond. And this will protect streets and infrastructure downstream. The Austin pond is an existing pond that has a thick clay layer under it. So it doesn't allow for water to percolate to infiltrate. So what we did here, we installed a small pipe and connected it to an existing channel so that it removes water from the pond and uh restoring the capacity and also um helping and mitigating mosquito breeding. On this project, what we did, we removed an existing rock wall on the upstream side of the of the dam and we replaced it with a rod iron fence. And what this does is allows water to flow into the dam quicker. Um, and this helps uh with uh um with traffic, right? Protecting vehicular traffic. The next slides will uh reflects our strong coordination and communication with TCQ and the core of engineers. So here we have the the North Hills Dam where we restored its capacity to ensure also structural integrity. And this is just one of the 37 dams that we have here in El Paso and that are inspected annually by the core of engineers and TCQ. And this is an example of our response to these inspections by federal and state agencies. And I do want to mention that uh recent TCQ inspections resulted in a highly positive feedback on the conditions of our dams. And for Aoyo stabilization, we have the Aoyo one conveyance improvements. Um this project helped us stabilize an uncontrolled earth and Aoyo with green infrastructure. um where we improve flow control, reduce velocities and also maintain a visual appeal. And we also received an award for this project. And now we'll turn our focus to several construction projects that are underway or getting ready to bid. And the last three which we will be focusing on are currently in construction. Here on the Feather Lake Basin improvements project, we are adding a metal bridge and a slle gate to help us manage flow. Uh, and it'll prevent upstream flooding at the intersection of North Loop and the Mesa Drain. The Jonty Hickerson stormwater basin is immediately upstream of the wastewater treatment plant that treats all of the sanitary sewer from the west side of El Paso. So the new pond is going to store water that's coming down on existing AOYO and reduce flow velocities and this will also help us protect critical infrastructure. The animal services pond is being expanded to increase storm water capacity and better protect adjacent city infrastructure from flooding. We currently have 26 projects in planning and design and these are the numbers per category and as I mentioned previously it's a big system and and we have only 40 people to do the m maintenance. So this slide here shows the number of assets maintained last year with those 40 front liners. And I mentioned that we we it's all about strategizing. So what we do is we divide the city into five areas that we call satellite. One in the northwest, northeast, central, um mission valley, which is the east side and homestead which is the far east. And we assign a eight um staff to each of these areas to provide the maintenance. Um last year we accomplished about 30% maintenance of the system. Um so if we wanted to do 50% then that means we would need to double our front liner. So we would need about 80. And if we want to do 100% of the system in a year, we're talking about 160 to 200 front liners. So um they do a lot and um it's a it's a big task and we still have a lot of work to do. As far as the stormwater fee, initially it was set up based on master plan needs and then that same year the fees were lowered and we didn't come back to that level until 2022. This year's storm water budget totals $101 million with 22 million being uh debt service, 66 million being for capital projects and 13 million for the operation and maintenance of the system. Of the 66 million in c uh capital, um 54 million are for storage projects, ponds and dams and 10 million for conveyance. And our funds come solely from the $742 monthly storm water fee. Um, and we've delivered significant results because as we saw on the previous slide, we maintained over,300 acres of ponds and dams, over 80 miles of storm drain um, in channels. We cleaned over 9,200 inlets and over 50 projects advanced across planning, design, and construction. We also actively pursue state and federal funds and and it's a team effort. So our communications team, our finance team and our stormwater team work very close together whenever we pursue these grants. And up to date, we have received 19.2 million and we have 31.3 million in pursuit. And since the inception of the stormwater utility, we have invested approximately $280 million in projects across the city in engineering and construction costs. Um, and this is from the estimated 650 million of construction costs only. We have also removed over 20,000 properties from the flood zone and this represents over $11 million in savings for our customers in flood insurance costs. In addition, um our investment in storm water management has improved our community rating system score and this is a FEMA program um that ranks communities from or scores communities from one to 10, one being the best and this is all based on flood flood risk reduction efforts. And last year in a joint effort between El Paso Water and the city of El Paso's planning and inspections department, uh we were able to to improve our city score from a nine to a seven, which translates from 5% to 15% of savings in flood insurance costs. So, so this is something really big and this reflects the success of ongoing flood control investment that results in better protection and lower insurance costs to our community. And for a 2025 mons monsoon season, El Nino has moved in and will be here from June to August. We are anticipating a stronger monsoon than the prior two years, however, still below normal and the possibility of extreme events still remain. The storm water utility is building resiliency. Um, we are committed to protecting public safety and private property. This concludes my presentations. I'm happy to answer any questions. Very good presentation, Representative Chavez. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you for that presentation and um I was just mentioning to you uh the wonderful work that you did close to where I live. Um and and it it makes a difference, right? So, thank you for that. I have a question regarding storm water streets. There's some streets in the city that have been categorized um to help with storm water and um it recently came to my attention that inlets would be um a possibility if we wanted to in the future build sidewalks on some of those streets. Is that something that El Paso Water has done um specifically to make some of those streets ADA compliant? Um, and would those be uh initiatives that you'd be interested in collaborating with us with? So, the the streets are part of the conveyance system. All the streets in El Paso are part of the conveyance systems, but they are owned and operated by the city of El Paso. The inlets are part of the drainage the the actual um infrastructure, right? The drainage infrastructure. And those usually come in when when there's a when there's a project. Now, if there's going to be sidewalks or uh street reconstruction and and um uh inlets need to be added, definitely we do. That's when when we come in and help as well. But does El Paso Water have any um specific funding for that to make some streets uh ADA compliant? I'm just wondering. Not for ADA compliant because that's a street function and the the resources that we have are strictly for drainage improvements. Okay. But if but if we had to make a sidewalk with drainage improvements to make a street ADA compliant, would you uh do you have any resources for that? So, and let me put it this way. If it's a if it's a storm water project, we install a system and our systems are very large. So more than likely we have to relocate utilities and we have to um address curb and gutter and um sidewalks and everything and we comply with with current um city of El Paso standards which is uh incorporation of ADA compliant ramps. Yes. However, if the city is doing a project, then the city addresses the ADA compliance because that's also part of the current standards and and I don't want to speak for them, but that's to my understanding that's I just wanted to see if there was a sense of collaboration or some sort of resources that you could provide, but maybe we can have a different conversation down the line. So, the city whenever they're doing their projects, they coordinate with us to see what improvements are needed on the drainage side so that we can collaborate and and and go out to bit together, join bits. So, yes. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Representative Trey Hall. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you for the presentation. I I have a couple questions. Uh I didn't see the Fred Wilson project on there. Is that a in process project? The the the Fred Wilson one? Yes. Right now they're they're doing the it's like a large reservoir for the flooding. Okay. So this is are you talking about the animal services pond by the animal services location or you talking about Will Ruth on Ren Street on Ren. Okay. Yes. So that is the the Will Ruth project that is currently in construction. Uh right now we're we're digging the hole to to get ready to bid out the actual uh conveyance or the actual pipe work that's going to lead all the water into the the pond. Okay. It's not in your presentation, but that's a pretty large project. Yeah, that is a very large project and the reason we didn't put it because we've been showing it so many years. So, we wanted to show new projects. Ah, got it. Got it. How many homes are being affected by that? Positively affected by that. So, with the Will Ruth, we'll be removing approximately 600 properties from the flood zone. Okay. Very good. Thank you. And then I have one more question on the North Hills Dam. There was some uh work done there. It's beautiful. I mean, what what you all have done. One of the questions that I've been asked by our constituents is so when it gets very windy, a lot of the dust blows into the homes, it affects their landscaping and all that. Is there a way to make that cemented so that it's not just loose dirt? Um the actual dam inside it's it's all it's all dirt. So we we can't it's the area that goes into this dam is very large. So and it's all natural open space pretty much. um the actual dam which is the structure protecting holding the water back when it does get full holding the water back protecting the residents downstream. That one I believe it has it has a concrete spillway already and that was since since it was designed and built. We don't have any plans to to do any any upgrades to that and that's one of the all of our dams actually are inspected by TCQ. So there's very limited things that we can do. Um that's called maintenance and if we do anything major then we have to go through the permitting process through TCQ in this case or the core of engineers if the dance belong to the core of engineers. Is that would you take into consideration what the community is is asking and and the challenges that they're experiencing. Yes, we always do. That's part of the stakeholder input which is very beneficial to our utility. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Very good presentation. On slide 30, you talked about a team of 40 that's responsible for the entire citywide storm water system. Is that full of your FTEEs? Are you missing people or is that 40 takes care of everything? 40 takes care of everything. And this is the boots on the ground. This is not the administration or the engineering. It's our actual boots on the ground that are doing the actual maintenance of the system. And aside from from all this maintenance, they also apply herbicide. They uh tend to customer service requests. There's trainings that they have to do. So this is just a very small No, not a very small. This is just a portion of everything that our storm water field crews do. Small but mighty. Exactly. Yeah. All right. Any further questions? Thank you for the presentation. Thank you, Miss Brian. Item number 54. Yes, sir. Item 54 is discussion and action on the award of solicitation 2025-0170 vehicle off-site fueling to Emprex Proximity LLC, DBA Southwest Convenience Stores LLC for an initial term of 3 years and an estimated amount of $2,910,000. This contract will allow for the fueling of the city fleet at offsite locations. Is there a motion to approve? Motion approved. Second. Okay. Any discussion on this item? All right. Hearing none, seeing none, Miss Prime, call for the vote. Yes, sir. The motion was made by alternate mayor Poen Pedro, seconded by Representative Ganales to approve item 54. On that motion, call for the vote. Representative Lemore I thank you. And the voting session and that motion passes unanimously. You want to take 56? Yes, sir. Item 56 is discussion and action to accept the results of the accounts receivable hotel occupancy tax review P2025-01. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. I lost Liz. I I move to approve. Good afternoon. I'm Munda Calderon, chief internal auditor for the city of El Paso. Uh I brought along Liz Delo, my deputy uh chief internal auditor. So that way you guys can connect the face with the name going forward. Um what we have today are three audit reports. That's I don't know we want to do them all together or one at a time. Sure. There was a motion in a second. Okay. Yep. Let's do it. Okay. We have three audit reports. The first one is the accounts receivable audit we did on on hotel occupancy tax. The second one we did which is item 57 was the uh accounts payable audit we did out at the El Paso International Airport. And then the third one is item 58 which is the follow-up audit we did on the Division of Military Affairs on their travel and their accounts payable. Okay. and it's already been vented through the uh fallback committee. Okay, there's a motion and a second to approve. Is there any discussion on these items? All right, represent Canales. Just quickly, um I read these I I read the audit reports when we received them and or not I read the presentations, I should say. Um and uh I just don't know these typically haven't been placed in this manner. Is this how we intend to accept audit reports moving forward? Yeah. And and I know there was a recommendation that came from the FOC this is um something that we we're seeing them at FOAC and then we'll move them over to council and then they just become very official after that. So any management responses are now a direction of council for them to become a reality. Right. So actually captured formalized by council and Okay. Excellent. Um, and do we anticipate that the reports will be presented or will if if council I know they've been presented to FOAC in great depth and so I don't I think if council um requests any of the reports to be um presented then we can but if they have been reviewed and there's no questions or you don't want to see the presentation um just like any other item on the council agenda. Okay. Yeah. I'll just note for anyone in the public who's watching if we don't go through the presentations we're not hiding anything. These have been presented again in great depth at the FOAC which is also a public meeting also livereamed on on YouTube and available to watch. Uh if if you'd like to go back and watch um I I anticipate most times the council is not going to see the presentation when these are here for notation. This is a last step. So that's important to throw out. Thank you mayor represent. Thank you mayor. and and also I would assume that the chair or one of the members of FAQ if there was something to be highlighted would have mentioned it. Thank you. Okay. Very good. All right. See no other comment. Representative Chavez. Thank you, Mayor. And just to add what Representative Canales was saying, not only can they go back and look at those presentations on YouTube, they're also posted on the agendas and made public. anybody can just read through them and definitely reach out to one of us if they have specific questions. Okay. And again to Representative Foh's point, if there's anything that the FOD committee wants, especially having the chair here, you would should we mention the members? Yeah. Yes. I definitely highlight something if there there was something that um was egregious that we needed to really discuss, but the these these worked out and I feel okay about them. and repres you tell us who the members are of FOAC. Um the members of FOC are are me I'm the chair and um Representative Chavez, Representative Mandel Roachcha and Representative Nino. Okay, perfect. All right, Miss Bry hearing no further discussion. Would you please call for the vote? Yes, sir. The motion was made by Representative ADO, seconded by Representative Maldonado Rocha, and this is to accept the results on items 56, 57, and 58. On that motion, call for the vote. Representative Lemon. I. Thank you. And the voting session. And that motion passes unanimously. Okay. Can we take 59? Yes, sir. Item 59 is discussion and action to request that the city council approves a deductive change order in the amount of $453,371.60 to ZTEX Construction, Inc. for contract number 2024-0472, traffic signals improvements. Representative Chavez. Thank you, mayor. I I want a motion to approve, but I do want to request the presentation because I was not briefed on this item. Okay. Thank you. Is there there's a is there a second? Okay, go ahead. Good afternoon Capital Improvements. So this is uh the the current budget right now for this traffic signal portion is 2.5 million. Uh the budget request is a deduction of a change order for 453,371 and the new total budget of 2.1 million for this particular uh pack of uh intersections. So at Pasota North and Northern Pass Drive um we substitute the wire in interconnect system which is the boring which is actual physical uh installation underground uh with a wireless interconnect and that's where the savings comes in for this particular uh uh change order. Um this will also uh deduct the contract amount by substituting the original scope of work with a more cost um uh effective solution. Uh, also at this intersection, we are going to relocate and substitute the overhead electrical service with a new underground electrical service, which is the new requirements by El Paso Electric. Uh, this change will have a cost impact of $15,47, but overall we're still saving $468,000. the interconnect system at Paso North and North Pass. Uh we coordinated with the user departments uh that reveal this opportunity to upgrade and value engineer by substituting the wire interconnection system with a wireless uh cellular modem. And by doing this also prevents by having a lot of cables out there. You won't see it because everything will be uh cellular and the underground service. So just a cleaner area that at the end of the project. Um this upgrade also reduces the risk of any underground utilities um hitting any underground while we're boring any water lines, gas lines. So it does uh save time and effort as well and prevents us from u you know any mis uh fortunate accidents that sometimes happen. So originally this project was designed in 2019 coordinated with El Paso Electric. Uh we ended up uh recoordinating with them in 2024 due to the time elapse of the project. Um El Paso Electric updated the city improvements requiring all the underground electrical services uh instead of overhead. That's the reason that we have it part of this change order as well. Uh and this change does ensure that we comply with El Paso electric requirements and prevents conflict with existing uh conditions uh underground conditions. And the action requires that the city manager of the city be authorized to effectuate the deducted change order for this contract 20240472 awarded to CE construction by an amount of 453,371. Okay. Representative Chavez. Thank you. Thank you mayor. Thank you. So how many traffic signals are going to be installed here in this uh contract is four traffic signals in this particular group of traffic signals. Okay. It's not a four-way stop in that intersection though. So that's is it I'm sorry. It's on a four. It's not a four-way stop right now. No, it's it's just the the actual signal itself. Okay. I'm looking at the map and I'm thinking Okay. I don't I don't know where the four traffic signals will be. Well, there's four traffic signals, but in different locations. It's not the four signals at that particular intersection. Oh. Um so we on this particular package there's a signal at Hawkins at Vurges. There's another one at Westtown and Pasa Norte. This one at Northern Pass and Pas Norte and then also Fonta and Roxberry. Uh uh but the Fonta and Roxberry there was a lot of confusion and it was also on on the news. Um and it's not a traffic signal. It's an actual crosswalk that's going to be installed there. It's a school flasher and that's what we're looking into right now because yeah, there was some confusion there was and some agreements with the school district. So, ourselves with the street department were are looking into that. But there there was also confusion on the news channel because someone said on the news that it was a traffic signal and it created a lot of you know emails and incoming calls from my constituents. Correct. But it's a miscommunicated right. It's a flash. Not a typical signal that you see at an intersection for the traffic. Okay. So, okay. I I would have appreciated a briefing because I'm I'm not very clear on where these traffic signals are going in and it it would be best for me to know so that I can communicate effectively to my community of what's coming up next for them. Okay. What What happens with the $453,000 in savings? Where does that money go? It just goes back to the to the bond. So if we ever need money for this signals or another signals, we can utilize it as long as is utilized within the the signal projects. But it's not allocated to any one district. It's just general, right? It's general. Yes. Okay. Okay. If you could please brief me next time, Gilbert, so I can get a picture of what's happening. Represent. Thank you. Represent Mayor Pim. Yes. Would you like us to delay this till the next meeting so you can be briefed? Um, well, I don't I don't want to create a delay if if it's going to negatively affect the city in any way. Would it would it, Miss Mac? I don't want to create a change order. We We're fine. We can bring it back next time. Could you bring it back next time? That way I could just see exactly where. Thank you. Okay. All right. So, I would need a motion on that. I would need a motion. Yeah. So, then motion to post to delay or postpone this till the next council meeting in two weeks. Second. Okay. Thank you. Motion in a second. Can we do four weeks because we have the budget? How long, Mrs. Smack? Four weeks. Four weeks. As long as it won't negatively impact anything, I'm okay with whatever you suggest. Well, this change order, we do have to order the the modus for the underground. So, yes, we won't be able to order anything until it's approved. Yeah. And this offends the district. Sorry. I'm gonna speak out. Give me one second. I Okay. Could you just repeat that, Gilbert? It would affect it. How? Yeah, because part of the change order is to order the the modem, the wireless modem. So, yeah, we won't be able to order it until the change orders are approved. Okay. I'm I'm not trying to be difficult. There was just a little bit of miscommunication based on what you just said that created an influx of emails and phone calls to my office. And so, in the future, I would like to be very clear on what's happening so that I could effectively communicate to my constituents. And I would appreciate a briefing on that. That's all. And we're we're available whenever you request a briefing more we're more than happy to go ahead and provide them for you. Yes. I guess um I guess I I thought that um I thought that it was going to be the opposite, but that's fine. I will request it going forward then. Okay. So, we have a motion on the table though to to postpone. I think this has four weeks. We're fine with four weeks. We'll get you make sure that you have clarity on all of it and we'll bring it back. We're fine. Thank you. Okay. It's okay. Motion second discussion represent Trejo. I just have a a question regarding how is this uh capital improvement and not streets and maintenance. I'm sorry how why is uh why is this not a streets and maintenance proposal? Yeah. Yeah. We got to we got to discuss the motion that's on the table now. The postponement. Oh, I just have a question. But I'm just wondering why this is capital improvement that's doing the We work together with street and maintenance and the newest signals uh we'll do a lot of signals for them as well. Uh we coordinate with them once we finish it we turn it over for their maintenance and upkeep. So just a coordination effort that we do with street maintenance. Okay. Thank you. Representative Rocha on the postponement. Thank you mayor. So I I just want to I just want to question is is are the the signals only the ones that are in the presentation? I'm so sorry. We got to get back to the I know I need to make a motion. I just I know but we have to resolve the motion first. You're right. And I can't approve that. We're voting on a postponement. So there's a motion in a second. Any further discussion on the postponement? Yes, ma'am. uh represent Canales um with the so there is that there is an impact in postponing because you cannot order you can't place the order until this is approved by the council correct for for that intersection yeah but we have the other intersection husb that we can probably start but on that particular one yes so this the a postponement would simply change the order of the projects maybe that change the order that you're working on the project we can yes okay so it might delay the project in district one compared to the other projects. It's because we have the four intercessor we have a period of time. It's not going to it's not going to we'll we'll figure out the the impact but it's not going to be a a tremendous impact to the time because we have other intersections to work at as well. Okay. Uh go ahead. Go ahead. No, it's okay actually. Thank you Mayor. Representative Ato, I'm I'm I'm okay with the postponement, but where you're really throwing me off is you're saying Hawkins and Burgess. Yes, there's But that's not in the presentation. So that's why I'm wondering why you're bringing those streets up, but we're talking about Pasel Norte and Northern Pass. So before I vote on postponing this, you're telling me that it's affecting all of those streets. It's not just the ones in the presentation. This this group of uh signals is four areas and Hopkins and Burgess is one one of those areas, one of those intersections. So yeah, it's not this doesn't impact that that intersection just in impacts the northern pass and PO. That's it. But it's it's all the traffic signals have been broken up in different intersections. Can Miss Miss Mac I I think this this like my vote on postponing this is is really getting kind of blurry at this point and I don't know if maybe we don't postpone this and maybe we delete it and we bring it back with better information cuz right now I'm solely voting on district 1, but it sounds like there's something in district 3 that is affected that's not part of this presentation. Point of clarification here. Yeah, we're going to take the the motion that's on the table first. point of clarification. Yes, sir. Sure. Just I I think what he's saying is that if this one gets postponed, they will work on another one first. And that is the the the other project that he was talking about. I don't think that's potential. They will potenti they have other projects to work on if this one gets delayed is what he's pointing. Yeah. But but he keeps saying part of the four traffic signal lights are traffic signal. Let's hang on. I bet go ahead. Good afternoon, Evette. uh mayor and council just so I can provide some background for scale of economy when we put a traffic signal we group them together they could be located throughout anywhere in the district the reason why we have signals is because streets and maintenance have already done their traffic impact study and it's warranted and so that intersection needs a signal. So, what you have before you today is we have a package that has various locations. Looking specifically at this intersection, we're just asking you to say we found a cost savings. It's going to be a savings of 450,000 at this intersection and that's what we're asking for approval today. It does not impact the entire bid package that has those different locations. Okay. Representative Chavez. Okay. Thank you, Mayor. So, just to be clear, when you say package, we're not we're not referring to item 59 as a package, right? Correct. You're only You're only the two in the presentation, only those two items where he indicated it was 15,000 and the 430. I believe that's all that we're asking for is to approve that change order because it's be over the $100,000 threshold and so we need council's approval. Thank you. Yes. Okay. So the motion on the table is to postpone this for four weeks. For four weeks. Let's call a vote on that first and then if that fails we'll go back to the original one. Yes sir. The motion made by mayor prompt Chavez, seconded by alternate mayor promped is to postpone item 59 for four weeks. On that motion, call for the vote four I four weeks in the voting session. And that motion passes 6 to2. Representatives Nino Canales voting nay. The remainder of council voting I. The motion does carry. Okay, we'll bring this one back in four weeks. Item number 60. Item 60 is discussion and action on a resolution that the city council ratifies the payment to SurfPro of West El Paso, Surfpro of Southeast Butterfield, El Paso for the performance of restoration services in an amount up to $171,74755 to mitigate the water damage to to the airport east administration section of the airport terminal. Okay. Is there a motion to approve the second? Okay, Tony. Good afternoon, Tony with the airport. Um, just I'm sorry, Representative Alto, I see you on the Okay, then you Okay, go ahead. Ready for your question. Okay. Uh, so I I I don't I don't need to see the presentation. Uh I we we reviewed this so I appreciate you coming to my office and and telling me about this. I generally it's just a comment and it's what I shared with you in my office is I'm supportive of this and and this is fine but I I think the overall thing that I want to say is more to Miss Mac. finding this out, finding this happen in June and this happened in January is a big problem for me and I'm glad that we're we remedied it and we fixed it. We needed to act and it was an emergency and all that. But I I think I would have appreciated had I known about this back in January saying, "Hey, this happened at the airport. We're moving on fixing it. We'll have something for counsel later." Yeah, this was the second one we talked about when we brought the first one where we didn't provide the detail. Yeah. And and I I think that that's where I I want to know about these things happening because we we should have that communication, right? And and the first one was the rock wall falling. We we had the FitFam video. We found out through the news and I feel that we should have that information at the very least that an incident occurred and and we're going to remedy it. That's all I wanted to say. Okay. Represent Canales. Thank you. I'm also fine without a presentation. I think it just it's worth noting for someone watching from the public who doesn't understand what we're talking about. Uh there was a there was a malfunction in a uh HVAC unit at at the airport and uh there was pretty significant water damage. Water leaked down into the offices and the employee gym. Uh, and so this is this is the cost that it uh that the airport incurred to clean that up to dry up the water and replace some stuff, clean up everybody's offices. So we're we're now going back, you know, the the airport took swift action to take care of it uh without the the approval of the council, which is okay in an emergency situation like this. And this is the ratification of that payment. So just making it clear for the public. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you Tony for acting swiftly on this. Tony, thank you. Yeah. And and uh sir, we'll do a better job of communicating that all the way up. Thank you. I appreciate it. So we have a motion in a second. Any further discussion on this item? Item number 60. Going once, going twice, gone. Miss Brian. Yes, sir. The motion was made by representative Maldonado Rocha, seconded by Mayor Prom Chavez to approve item 60. On that motion, call for the vote. Representative Lemon. I thank you. And the voting session and that motion passes unanimously. All right. Before we adjourn, I want to thank council for a very good meeting today and for staff sticking through this with us. But I would entertain a motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn. Second. There's a motion and a second to adjurnn the regular city council meeting. All in favor? Anyone opposed? And the regular city council meeting for Tuesday, June 24th, 2025 is adjourned at 2:07 p.m. Thank you, council.