e e e e e e e e e e e e e e good morning mayor there start our good morning everyone it's 9:00 a.m. good morning sir good morning this is a meeting of the AL Paso city council for Tuesday December 17 2024 mayor liser is present and presiding in council chambers along with mayor protim Kennedy representative AO alternate mayor Pro molinar representative salido that's cool representative Fierro representative rera and representative Canales it is 9:01 a.m. will everyone please silence your electronic devices so as not to disturb the meeting and rise for the invocation delivered by Ministry coordinator for El Paso County Sheriff's Office and chaplain meredi for the AL Paso Police Department Sam feroni good morning Miss lemon and good morning and like I told you and I saw you it's appropriate that we have you for our last meeting and like I told you earlier you know I do love you likewise sir Heavenly Father it is with great ful hearts that we come before you this morning thanking you for the gift of Life a joyous season and for the opportunity to acknowledge your presence in our midst realizing that this will be the final council meeting for several of our members I want to thank you for them the service they have provided to our city for their willingness to seek and serve in an elected position I pray your your guidance and wisdom for them as they enter the next stage of their lives it has been a privilege to pray for mayor liser over the years I thank you for his leadership his love for this city his love for people and his love for you it has been an honor to call him my mayor and it has been a cherished privilege to call him friend I pray that you will guide him and make clear to him the pathway to the next chapter in his life bless all of these with health and safety as they press forward into the future make us all aware of not only the opportunities but the responsibility of making this city this country and even this world better and safer by our words attitudes and the lives we live for the business of this day we ask for clarity in all discussion that takes place and every decision that needs to be made thank you again for a beautiful season help us to always remember why Christmas is observed and celebrated Let There Be Peace On Earth and Good Will toward men please watch over all of those who protect our freedoms and those who keep us safe in the name of My Savior Jesus Christ I pray amen thank you and God bless you thank you all right we're going to do the pledge and I'm going to ask Mr Nino newly elected District 5 bitas to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you um good morning everyone and um we have a pretty full agenda today for the last meeting and I I think that's the way we uh we wanted it nice and short I mean long but uh I do um I do want to thank everyone I have a couple things I I'll be doing so I'm going to keep it short then I'll talk a bit longer in a few minutes but uh I do want to thank uh all the city staff and everyone for the last really eight years it's been incredible it's been a great run and we've accomplished lished a lot and when you talk about things that uh when you run for office you make a lot of commitments and commitments to your family your city your country and I can tell you that uh we met those commitments we did everything we agreed to do plus more and that's something that's been very important that to represent 100% of the people regardless of income regardless of sip code and we we did it this Council worked together we didn't always agree but that's a good thing you don't want to always agree you want to have an opinion and you want to be able to to at the end of the day have consensus and walk off the dis and understand that the difference is because we all care I I always said that uh every council member here didn't have a problem spit splitting the budget 50/50 as long as they got the larger 50 so it's um it's been a a incredible Joy um honor to have uh worked with over 6,000 team members in the city of El Paso and be able to make sure that our city is safe make sure that our city continues to to move forward uh being able to do a no new Revenue which is no increase in taxes based on what we can control you know people said wow I thought you said no new taxes we did and we did it the difference is we control 29% of the bill the rest is controlled by larger entities the largest taxing entity in the city episd is part of your bill uh the county uh UMC uh Community College but we're only 29% of it and um and we we kept our end of the bargain we we had no new Revenue two years in a row but didn't cut Services didn't cut police equipment we were able to open up all the libraries we were able to open up all the senior CI uh centers the parks something that was a big commitment and uh also I I giggled but it was really something that I got a lot of phone calls to day I got elected start picking up our blue bin again we were able to do that um so we um we were through some trying times U Co the worst city in America lost more lives than anybody and yet we pulled together and spoke with one voice one Council and we're able to become the first city in Texas to be to reach her immunity and that was um you and I tell people that um I lost my mom right before I took office on Christmas Eve I lost my brother same year all the co so I was no different than anyone else in the city of El Paso and together we needed to make sure that we stopped losing lives that we represented our um our community no more dueling press conferences no more different opinions the opinion that we had was all with one voice and make sure that and you saw that immediately the difference of fire department uh led by Chief austino really did a great job of making sure that we put vaccines in people's arms make sure that uh we were protected uh we have um so I could go on forever and I told you it was going to be short I'm not quite sure what part is short I misunderstood but uh it's um I could really talk about so many things we've done and um you know the immigration process this community stepped up we spent $80 million plus I and it's hard to figure not one penny on the back of the local taxpayer but yet we treated people with respect we treated them the way you we would want to be treated and people had a shelter people had a um a warm meal and at the end of the day we were able to make sure no one slept on the street we had um where's Chief di austino he's somewhere here Hasam pulling in but anyway we had 5 600,000 people come through our doors but yet it's a pass of the north and yet we treated people properly and again we were able to make sure no one slept on the streets we were making sure that people were treated right and then our number one priority was Public Safety our community and we did that we have a great Police Department First Responders um and we were able to make sure we did that uh we never uh enforce immigration laws we never will but yet we were able to make sure that our community was safe and I know that crimes gone down in the last year and that's uh congratulations to our Police Department that worked really close with uh DPS work really close with the sheriff's department and we're able to make sure again talk with one Voice work with the county make sure that uh we we do that so I'm just um highlighting a little bit of uh what we've been able to do I know we have Aman coming on meta coming on we have the amphitheater coming on uh we got the we've been working for a year we got the um Civic Center expansion we we made a commitment we were going to try to do that and we have money set aside and and we were able to pay off the plasa theater and now we have money to be able to redo and we're working on it now to redo the theater and not impact the local taxpayer not add to the burden of taxes that's something that's really important um people run on no new taxes and um and we did and we did it the last three times there's been no new Revenue I was your mayor and it's an honor that I've been able to do that and continue to work with everyone I'm impressed that uh like I said I had a great Council I had a great team and um and I do want to thank every one of you all for for the job you all did um I'm um I I'm going to cut it short because I do have a lot of presentations to go but um I I do it was an honor never thought a little boy from Chihuahua Mexico didn't speak English was not an American citizen would ever lead the greatest city in America so thank you one more thing I do want to thank uh estraya she's here she was a big part of estraya Escobar thank you for uh the hard work you did and uh your leadership to continue you know no one I'm not sure anyone will ever have a better relationship with the federal government and we work together to make sure that we talked to the president talked I I did numerous trips to the White House was able to sit in the briefing room in the cabinet uh we have uh secretary mayor's on speed dial and he answered every time if not he text me within 2 minutes that's what made the difference the relationship with the federal government and El Pas and they knew El Paso and they knew the great work we did so sta thank you and her's upstairs uh I brought her burrito so she didn't come down but uh her's upstairs she's been with the city 33 years if you run into her today is her birthday but she's been with the city 33 years and she is an incredible asset to any department and all the city Department she's worked with so her I know you're watching and uh thank you and happy birthday by the way and with that Mr fine I don't know where you want to start yes mayor that brings us to the mayor's proclamations for those of you receiving a proclamation this morning your group will have up to 6 minutes collectively to accept the proclamation at the podium Council per Rules of Order no use of personal cular devices nor personal communication should take place on the de while the meeting is in session once you obtain the floor from the mayor you will have up to 10 minutes for debate and may speak twice per item and please speak into the microphone and refrain from side conversations the day while the meeting is in session for the record representative ernandez joined the meeting at 9:04 a.m. the first Proclamation is Tony the Tiger sunbow week may protm come on down guys there's a guy dressed in a tiger suit I don't know he got in what what item is he here for breakfast breakfast W that's great sorry I couldn't resist uh whereas the sunbow association has served as a guide to enhancing the lives of the citizens of El Paso for 91 years and the Tony the Tiger sunbow is known throughout the country as one of hospitality professionalism fun and excitement and whereas the annual Tony the Tiger sunbow has grown to be the largest single sporting event in the city as well as one of the top entertainment values while showcasing the city on CBS to a national television audience for 56 years and whereas the sunbowl achieves its three-fold purpose Pur of presenting a football attraction of national importance promoting El Paso and Southwest and generating tourist income for the area and whereas an economic impact study by Dr David Shower of the economics department at the University of Texas of El Paso revealed that the direct economic impact of this area from the bowl game is 12 to15 million and whereas the Tony the Tiger sunbowl with the University of Louisville Cardinals and Washington huskys in this year's annual contest at 12: pm on Tuesday December 31st continues to a showcase the city of El Paso on a national stage withstanding football teams their fans families and supporters right here in the Sun City and whereas the Tony the Tiger sunbowl sponsored by Kelloggs is a football game that is embraced by the citizens of El Paso as their own and serves as a great backdrop to the city the people and the culture of El Paso Texas now therefore be it proclaimed by the mayor and Council of the city of El Paso that the week of December 30th 2024 shall be known as Tony the Tiger sunbow week signed by The Honorable mayor Oscar ler good morning good morning uh my name is Bernie Olivas executive director of the suble association Mr mayor council city managers uh everybody involved here the county we just want to thank you for this Proclamation and as as a a representative uh Kennedy said we strive to hit those three goals every year and he mentioned them already to have a quality event for the city to have positive national attention and to have a positive economic in economic impact in El Paso and just for the record I know that that study was done a long time ago and it was between 12 and 15 it is closer to $25 million that we bring into that this game brings into our community and gu those are the three reasons why we exist and again thank you for the proclamation we have another great match up this year with the Louisville Cardinal BR Washington Washington played the national championship last year and they're here Louisville has not been here since 1958 and they bring an 8 and4 record to El Paso and in meeting with them last week you can always get a feeling on what kind of game we're going to have and I think both universities are anxious to come to El Paso and the reason I say that because a lot of teams when they wind up in the Sun Bowl they were expecting a Rose Bowl or a cotton ball these two teams genuinely want to be here in El Paso which means to me they're going to bring a lot of people I know Washington has a reputation of bringing of traveling to bowl games and Louisville doesn't go to a lot of bowl games so I expect they're going to bring a lot of people and that's what it's all about bringing people to come to our community stay in our hotels eat in our restaurants shop in our stores and then leave the money here and go home with a very very experience so thank you very much I do have a couple of guests here uh one will be non-speaking but I also have our uh our sun Queen for this year I'll let her introduce herself and say a few words thank you mayor thank you councel thank you everybody thank you good morning good morning hi I'm Reagan Jaber proud to serve as the 2024 Sun Queen and I'm so thrilled to invite you all to this year's sunbow game December 31st in beautiful El Paso Texas as one of the longest traditions in college football the Sunol brings together amazing teams passionate fans and Unforgettable experience please don't miss this wonderful time as we ring in this new year with fun football and Community spirit thank you and I hope to see you all at the game thank [Applause] you great there you go no I I do want to thank you all for um for coming here and Bernie you um how long you've been part of the suble part of the suble for 41 years 41 years thank you congratulations yes and um so I do want to you know between you and John and everyone I mean it takes a lot of volunteers you you know you have probably one of the best ones to your right my left uh Mr Thorton but um and congratulations by the way being the Grand Marshall the parade but um one of the things that um it's been I was sponsor of the parade for 9 years have been sponsor of the the um the football game for 9 years the prayed for two years years I've gotten the honor to walk the parade 15 years and so I know what it takes to put one together and it takes a lot and you guys are committed and and dedicated and the kogs and Tony the Tiger you guys you know I did it for nine years you guys exceeded everything that I could have ever imagined on how to represent our community and how to be part of El Paso and and uh Kellog thank you congratulations you're an incredible incredible partner but uh the leadership at the symol is Bar None the best I've ever seen I've gotten to meet a lot of people I've traveled a lot and I've never seen a bigger commitment to our city so I know that you and John work really hard with the rest of your board but um again congratulations and Tony the Tiger Kelloggs thank you for being a great sponsor and really putting our community first uh you know when people come to the city and like you were talking about they travel well we could spend millions of dollars trying trying to advertise the Goodwill and the great people of the city or the ambassadors that come here leave and all they ever talk about how the great the city is I've gotten to see them after the the game at a a different venue and they all talked about how great it was what a great experience in these players when they come in I we did the first bowl game I ever did was uh 2010 NRE Dame in um Miami and the coach for Miami was an interim coach uh stoutland coach stoutland and about 4 days late four years later he's coaching in the national game for Alabama and he called me the night before and he goes Oscar I just want to tell you something he said this doesn't compare to the job you guys do he said I'm at the national title game and the symble was 10 times better and I want I just called to thank you guys for the job you did so again thank you and congratulations and for dedication and Devotion to our city we we all uh want to make sure that uh when people leave here they have a um a they become all ambassadors and you guys do that uh again thank you and congratulations thank you and again as you mentioned we have the best staff in the business we have over 700 volunteers but with all those people we couldn't do it without the support of the city and the county and what you do would you help us do for you know for this game and for all our events I want to thank you specifically for the partnership that we've had with the city we couldn't do it out with the city we couldn't do it out without the county we couldn't do it out with everybody to work here so thank you very much and before we leave I got a commemorative t-shirts for everybody uh in different sizes so uh if they don't fit you when we give it see afterwards what size you got for me what's that what size did you get for me they only went up to 4X all right if you can fit in one of those or below we got you covered me I want the 4X art wants petite okay well thank you if you allow us to to would you allow us to distribute or you want us to do it later no thank you and um again I'm part sponsor of this game again this year and it's incredible job you all do it's a reason where we all keep coming back thank you and um Good Luck uh to the assol and congratulations yeah I was hoping I got small no I do Mr for next spe e e e and the next Proclamation is Samantha M record alter M molar good morning Proclamation Sergeant record police report of the front Serge n Proclamation city of El Paso Texas whereas Sergeant First Class Samantha m reer a native New Me New Hampshire overcame significant challenges in her youth rising from a turbulent childhood and foster care and early hardships to become a decor leader in the United States Army whereas Sergeant First Class recer has achieved an exemplary military career earning numerous Awards including meritorious service Army Commendation Army achievements career counselor badge and many more as well as completing Advanced military Education and Training Samantha M recer holds a bachelor's degree in Human Service with a concentration on family child family services from Southern New Hampshire University and a certific a from society for human resource management whereas on Veterans Day November 11th 2023 Samantha recer opened a privately owned and operated transition home for homeless veterans in the local El Paso area and her goal of opening a communitybased facility for atrisk youth expanded to also help those who have served Samantha IM recer makes it a point every day to help youth current active duty soldiers and Veterans whereas since the opening of the transition home she has successfully housed 11 Veterans and transition nine as successful working members of society Samantha M recer houses three homeless veterans for up to 9 months to allow them a slight helping hand to get them back on their feet and properly transition into the civilian sector also within the business she runs an 8-week atrisk youth program for teens to be given an opportunity to get on the right path and whereas Samantha M recer began the youth program on April 6 2024 and since then 112 students have enrolled in the program of which 89 have successfully completed and 39 are currently attending now therefore be a proclaimed by the mayor and Council of the city of op Paso that December 17th 2024 shall be known as Samantha M record day sign The Honorable mayor Oscar ler good morning good morning um thank you again they never tell me what I'm coming to these things for they just tell me to be at a location uh she's notorious for this uh so I did not know what was coming this morning I do appreciate um the recognition not for myself but because by you guys recognizing what it is that I'm doing uh I hope that it shares the resource that's available to those in this community whether it's the veterans the active duty soldiers that are getting out or the youth that I help um I really couldn't do it without the support that I have so I just want to say thank you for taking the time to actually look at what resources are being added to this community thank you you know I do want to thank you for for your service but also above the service you do and thank you for you know our veterans You're right our veterans is the heart of our community when when we get veterans to stay in El Paso is the biggest compliment you could ever have because they travel all over the world as you well know and when they decide to stay in El Paso it's a compliment to the people of El Paso that they feel that they want to make their home here so thank you for everything you've done and will continue to do and may God bless you thank you [Applause] on behalf of the program it's an at uh risk youth program that we have and we serve at the VFW in tigua we meet every Tuesday evening and we are privileged that today we are going to be graduating 11 kids they're all at you at risk youth so thank you for your support and we do expect that these kids are going to be great and famous one day and hopefully for all the best thank you thank [Applause] you good morning mayor good morning city council I just want to thank you she has been a tremendous asset to to our community she has given back the most important thing to to our city is the respect of our kids of our future and the kids staying in school we've had with her help the majority of our kids that have gone through her program go from double digigit um absences tardiness lack of respect to the teachers to the parents and made a complete turnaround that now the majority of the kids have gone to almost zero absences their grades have gone now to passing and some have gone as far as being in the AB Honor Ro without her diligence and her commitment not only only to our men and women of service that are transitioning from uh Standard Life to our city or civilian life and she has always been there side by side with them and along with that giving back to our veterans who cannot feed for themselves she has gotten some of these kids to really see the determination and what it is what community service really is and how our veterans so thank you very much for this day and thank you Miss reer for all that you have done to our future our future is in all of our hands but you have made a very big difference in in the ones that we have with your program thank you you want to come take a picture it be our honor I for e e that brings us to the next Proclamation and it's Kenneth hendi nundus good morning ma'am good morning wait for Kenna to come up I'm gonna get my scarf ready I told you all had it the the original as a lifelong soccer player and love of soccer uh I'm not the only one I know we have another U strong soccer advocate here Mr Canalis um it's such an honor for me to read this into the record and so it reads Proclamation city of El Paso whereas in 2018 Mountain Star Sports Group and the United Soccer League announced El Paso locomotives FC a USL championship team that would bring professional soccer to the city of El Paso with a mission to improve the quality of life and economic to promote economic development in the borderplex through sports and entertainment and whereas in 2019 El Pasa locomotives FC rolled out several youth soccer programs including its Lil Loos program and youth so soccer camps to provide El Paso families fun and quality experiences with the intent of helping young players learn the fundamentals of soccer and grow a love for the game and whereas in 2020 the El Paso locomotives FC announced the foundation of locomotives youth club soccer and the locomotive Academy with the mission to develop an internal development pathway that would create opportunities for young locomotive athletes to develop their technical skills and compete at many of the country's most notable tournaments and showcases that would help them commit to athletic scholarships with colleges and universities or sign professional contracts and whereas in 2023 and 2024 locomotives USL u20 under 20 Academy team a fully funded program for some of locomotive's top youth players made great strides to represent the city of El Paso with pride and honor from making it all the way to the final of the prestigious Dallas cup and making a back-to-back USL Academy final appearances the young locals have showcased their passion grit and resilience that embody our own community and Raz on December 9th 2024 15-year-old Kenneth hovin became the first player in locomotive history to go through each step of the club club's youth pathway signing his first professional soccer contract to becomes the locomotive's youngest player to ever sign and showcase that with hard work and dedication the dreams of becoming a professional athlete can be made possible here in the city of El Paso and now therefore be it proclaimed by the mayor and Council of the city of El Paso that December 17th 2024 shall be known as Kenneth hoben day signed by honorable mayor Oscar liser congratulations good morning oh hi everybody sorry I'm a little bit taller um Mr mayor council um my name is Ivan militar and I am the director for youth soccer for AP Paso locomotive Academy um and also I'm the u20 coach so the under 20 team that Kenny is playing on um first of all I wanted to say and thank you guys for giving us this opportunity to speak in front of you guys uh I became American citizen this year and it's just an honor to be in front of you all and and you know understand the processes that you guys are doing um but even a bigger honor that uh we are able to celebrate the youth um obviously you know part of a youth soccer club and the Youth Soccer Organization and and leading that organization um the focus for me and and for my colleagues and everybody that is involved in our organization is is to Foster the youth um I I believe that a lot of times we go by and and we don't think about the achievements and all the things that that we have that we have done uh and don't stop to celebrate and I think it's very important and thank you all for celebrating the youth and celebrating the the future of Al Paso um what this means to the community I think it means that the dreams can come true uh in in that regard our ownership and and and Al Pas Lo FC and the and the and our entire organization has put a lot of work into that and and in this city and and with the help of the city to achieve certain things and and this is definitely one of the one of those days that we celebrate the most um trust the local pro team is also also an important one because sometimes it can be um hard to put together the community and the professional team and I think and I think with the Chihuahuas and and and also on the other side of the border the braavos and and the locomotive um we are we are doing a work and we are proving that you know you can trust the local Professional Organization and uh we can achieve big things together H what this means to the academy is that as you mentioned um the full pathway is now real um our goals and and you know how we measure success based on two aspects one is um creating opportunities for them to as student athletes to continue their academic and athletic careers in college over the last three years since I've been here over 20 uh players student athletes went on to uh play um Collegiate soccer um on scholarship um and then of course now we have more than four um last year we had another one emilano Rodriguez also Al Paso and and who is native that sign a professional deal and canny the first one that went through all the steps and what this means to Kenny uh he sacrificed a lot and I want to I want to say that I'm very proud of him he's an excellent player but even even a better better kid and soon to be a better man um he sacrificed a lot he he never played High School soccer even though his father who's behind me who's also coach for us could be could have been his high school coach I'm sure that that created a lot of family issues um but Kenny Kenny decided that he's going to go through and and concentrate everything on becoming the best player he can be a professional player and he done it so I'm very proud of him and thank you everybody for this recognition we appreciate y'all thank you and I'd like to hear from the Superstar um first off good morning uh I want to thank all of you for the recognition good morning um this is a big uh moment for me not not something that I expected but to to have this recognition is is an honor and thank you thank you congratulations patience on your hard work and your dream coming through there's so many people that um include myself when I was young I used to dream of playing professional football and playing professional basketball and didn't make it to the next level but I kept dreaming day in and day out so a lot of his dream very few of us achieve our dreams and you did so congratulations and your future couldn't be any brighter thank you may God bless you want to come up take a picture spe all right that brings us to the mayor's distinguished Awards the first please come up good morning good morning it's what an honor to be able to honor two great friends of mine and you know I looked at Gary shiding out there and I went wow I remember when he had no gray and I had hair you know we've been friends for 40 plus years and uh and Cindy so really thank you for everything you've done and and it's a great honor to be able to give you the marriage distinguish award and it's a little hard to read so I'm going to try to read it here in recognition of the Braden AB boot Foundation established in memory of Braden which has become a powerful and positive force in the El Paso Community to assist Youth and families your commitment over the past 17 years through many programs under the Beast strong show the love you have for El Paso Braden was a mature Beyond his years and the spirit lives on through your passion to help those in need on behalf of the citizens of El Paso we thank you for your unwavering support in making El Paso a better place to work live and play his memory will live on forever thank you [Applause] I was trying to get away without having to say anything Mr Mayor and councel thank you very much for this U this morning um and this honor um it's been a long haul to be honest with you we um we have the absolute best organization to reach out for this community putting shoes on kids blankets on people that need blankets we've got tennis programs for youth everything is about the youth in El Paso and we've done our our very best to honor our son and honor his legacy and doing so our primary goal has been to reach out to this community because there's so much need and and we are just a very small fraction of those who give back to this community and it has been our absolute pleasure and joy to work with the city to work with the county I think County judge was here a minute ago and um to help kids in need and and um we will continue to do this as long as we possibly can we actually are going on our 18th year and uh we're not stopping and and we're going forward and uh we want to do uh we want to make a difference and and whatever we can do to help uh we're here and uh thank you very much once again for this award it's uh in inredible thank you very much thank you and you said you want to make a difference I can tell you you've made a difference it's been a great honor to be one of your sponsors for many many years but you know when you said we want to make a difference you've already made that difference and we thank you Cindy um I just wanted to plug the blanket drive right now um the foundation has the largest blanket drive going on in El Paso and has been for the last probably 15 years you can drop them off at all the major high schools around town but I will tell you that Franklin H High School dropped off 1,00 blankets last week so we put about four or 5,000 into the community each year but Gary's right uh we ran a run walk for 14 years it was a huge undertaking Gary and I aged out of that very rapidly but it was the major fundraiser to the foundation without the community supporting this Foundation year after year which they continue to do without a fundraiser um that's what puts everything back into Al Paso so our major things are tennis shoes and right now they're blankets but we stock hundreds of tennis shoes in our office for emergency purposes this year alone we've given out probably 1,500 tennis shoes and we're going to AOA Elementary School in um April to put 400 new pairs on those kids so anybody that wants to take part in this Foundation please yeah thousands and thousands of tennis shoes away um beong El paso. org is uh our website but thank you guys we really appreciate this thank you one last thing when I got sworn in in 2013 uh Gary was a a judge at the time and uh he was the guy that I picked for my first time in office to swarm me in was my pleasure thank you thank you congratulations you want to take a picture G Cindy I told you Gary we'd get a picture together somehow [Laughter] thank [Applause] you oh here's some we continue with the mayor's distinguish Awards and the for Council Members yesam I we'll start the way they're sitting on order there no no special order first one I will be reading is mayor's to stimulous award to Henry Retta City representative district 4 I mean seven in appreciation for your unwavering efforts commitment and Leadership and City representative for district 7 thank you on behalf of the city of El Paso and its citizens for years your service to improve the quality of life for the entire community and um I can tell you when I ran for office the first time you were a big part of it and I thank you for it and I thank you for everything you've done for our community thank you sir [Applause] here's the box thank you uh here's the next one all right next distinguished award goes the mayor's distinguished award goes to Art furo City representative district 6 in appreciation for your unwavering efforts commitment and leadership as City representative for district 6 thank you on behalf of the city of El Paso and its citizens for the years of service to improve the quality of life for the entire Community thank you [Applause] can you see me okay told you Mary was working than you here you go allart all right next one mayor's distinguish award goes to Josh aavo City representative district 2 in appreciation for your unwavy efforts commitment and leadership as City representative for district 2 thank you on behalf of the citizens of El Paso and the citizens for your years of service to improve the quality of life for the entire Community thank [Applause] you thank you thank you next one goes to Chris Canales City representative district 8 in appreciation for your unwavering efforts and commitment and leadership as City representative for District 8 thank you on behalf of the city of El Paso and its citizens for your years of service to the Improvement of the quality of life for the entire Community thank [Applause] you you got it thank you May's distinguished award to Joe molinard City representative district 4 in appreciation for your unwavering efforts commitment and leadership as City representative for District 4 thank you on behalf of the city of El Paso and its citizens for your years of service to improve the quality of life for the entire Community thank you sir [Applause] yes sir thank you ma'am the mayor's distinguished award Isabel Cho City representative district 5 in appreciation for your unwavering efforts commitment and Leadership of City representative for District 5 thank you on behalf of the city of Al Paso and its citizens for your years of service to improve the quality of life for the entire Community thank [Applause] you thank you oops marage distinguished award goes to Cassandra ernandez City representative district 3 in appreciation of your unwavering efforts commitment and leadership as City representative for District 3 thank you on behalf of the city of El Paso and its citizens for your years of service to improve the quality of life for the entire Community thank you [Applause] ma'am thank you congratulations thank you for your service and the last but not least and now this one goes to our distinguished award goes to Mayor protm Brian Kennedy and this gives me a great honor to have served with you as I consider you my brother we've been Brothers for a long time and I know there's U that uh I thank you for for your friendship and also like I said I consider you my brother and with that in appreciation for the unwavering efforts and commitment and leadership as City representative for District 1 thank you on behalf of the city of El Paso and its citizens for your years of service to improve the quality of life for the entire Community brother [Applause] he trying to get me out of the picture thank you instead of a seal in the back get AER our tiger talk to the mayor he's the one that doesn't smile again thank you all uh we did it together and we spoke in one voice and we did what was best for the community and um that's what was important and every one of you all will be in my memories thoughts and press forever thank you thank you may thank you may and with that M Pine yes sir that brings us to a special recognition from congresswoman Veronica Escobar from the Texas 16th congressional district honoring mayor Oscar liser and representatives Cassandra fandees and Henry Rea for their years of dedicated service good morning mayor mayor and counsel uh city manager City attorney and to all the folks in city council chambers hello and thank you so much for this opportunity to briefly address you at city council I wish I could be there with all of you in person but we have votes uh at the capital and so I'm coming to you from Washington DC I wanted to briefly take this opportunity to thank all of you the entirety of the city council for your collaboration and for everything that you've done to make sure that my team and I work as closely and effectively with you as possible and and I look forward to continuing to do that in the years to come but I wanted to appear before you because I want to honor those members of City Council who are finishing up their tenure on city council and wrapping up their terms um City representative Cassandra ernandez City representative Henry Riva you both have served your eight-year terms I want to thank you for the incredible service that you've given to your constituents and to the community and for the leadership that you've provided my team has um a special certificate that um will be given to you uh during this meeting and mayor liser it has been such a privilege to work alongside you thank you for your leadership thank you for your friendship thank you for your collaboration we had a uh flag flown over the United States capital in your honor to thank you for everything that you've done for the community and everything I know you will continue to do I know that public service is not not always easy and there's a lot of sacrifice involved and especially when there are tough decisions um to to be made sometimes they're not popular decisions um but I want to thank you all for every tough decision you made for all of the leadership you've provided I know um Isabelle salido and Brian Kennedy also uh have ended their terms thank you both as well for your service we really appreciate everything that you've done all your contributions and again we look forward to continuing our work I know all of you in your private lives will continue to serve El Paso in different capacities and and this isn't goodbye this is until we see you again soon have a wonderful day good morning mayor council uh Priscilla conas for the record with the office of congresswoman Veronica scad and I'm here with my colleague uh Kaye Castile as the congresswoman mentioned during the video we have some special recognitions for those members of council who will be Turing out as well as for mayor liser um the congresswoman said it best but you know the job that you all have is not easy it's difficult you guys are scrutinized you're in the public eye um but you guys do your job and you do it with a smile so we're very excited to be presenting these recognitions to you all um thank you for your service and congratulations um so I have a certificate of special Congressional recognition presented to representative Henry Riva in recognition of your dedication and commitment to serving El Paso's district 7 signed by The Honorable Veronica scad a certificate of special Congressional recognition presented to representative Cassandra ernandez in recognition of your dedication and commitment to serving El Paso's District 3 [Applause] and for the mayor um as the congresswoman mentioned she had a flag flown over the US capital in your honor so we have an accompanying certificate the flag of the United States of America presented to honor the dedicated years of service of Mayor Oscar liser this is to certify that the accompaning flag was flown over the United States capital at the request of The Honorable Veronica es scad member of Congress [Applause] thank you all so much thank you thank you the other way sorry um I know there's um we have U some people that are signed up to talk and then afterwards I'd like to allow everybody that um that would like a few minutes up at the dire to speak and whatever you all want to say uh we'll give you all a few you know whatever time you want all right mayor we do have several members of the public that would like to express their gratitude and appreciation to city council if I may call him up at this time sir we begin with judge the honorable Judge Ricardo Sano good morning judge thank you thank you mayor as I uh it's a privilege I'm not used to being on this site and it feels a little different but uh just want to let you know as as I honor him I'm actually honoring all of you because you've supported uh there's going to be a lot of accolades that I I think are going to be given to you mayor but I think one it's a things that we didn't see that were very powerful and what you didn't see is the chaos that other communities dealt with during the immigration crisis and this partnership that we had was invaluable uh I want to thank you for sharing some of your contacts such as uh secretary mayorcas uh Ken Salasar the US uh ambassador to to Mexico uh your your ability and the relationship you had with them and bringing them to the table I can tell you how often they would show up and the next day uh we would get some of the things that we desperately needed such as uh you know from FEMA a lot of the FEMA money that came in was very difficult until you begin to uh form that relationship with them so I'm very honored and privileged uh also to all of you those that will no longer be serving I know how you are I know that heart of serving to my fellow Jeffersonian uh thank you for for being such a great partner but mayor this is very uh you know the relationship and what we try to accomplish and your passion I think we fueled each other uh I didn't have that uh often there's a lot of challenges but I want to thank you for for that relationship your public service and everything that you did for this community so uh also on behalf Erica or there you are don't you hate when you just give the same prent so we're also giving you a flag not flowing over the the capital but flown over our courthouse uh so it's a very local kind of gesture and then we're really uh proud to be able to do that that it was flown over the the uh the uh the courthouse so once again I thank you for your friendship I know you're do some great things going forward and uh we know I'm very appreciative very uh appropriate that congresswoman also honored you because as you know that partnership was incredible when you talk about the local state and and the federal government we lacked a little bit of the state support but we had a tremendous support from congresswoman escovar so to all of you thank you God bless all of you and on our behalf uh we'd like to present this gift to you so if I could read this please we would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations and deep appreciation to you for your unwavering dedication and and commitment throughout your years of service as mayor your leadership Vision taret efforts have significantly contributed to the growth and prosperity of the El Paso Community this is to certify that the accompanying flag was flown over the El Paso County Courthouse during December 11th to the 13th 2024 given on this 17th day of December 2024 thank you [Applause] Jud you thank the next person that would like to recognize council is Miss Sylvia followed by Jose Garcia from destination El Paso good morning city council I'm not as eloquent so I have to read my stuff good morning ma'am good morning sir uh my name is syia Caron and I am president of the Mission Valley civic association and the Lomand neighborhood association I have been an active Community leader since 2012 when the board passed uh the bond passed to build a recreation center at Mission Valley lomma Land Park was designated area to build a new recreation center and Mr Rivera was instrumental in achieving the community center to be named after me and now is Sylvia a Caron Community Center I want to acknowledge and thank Mr Riva uh and those who signed a petition for this honor to my family Mr Riva has served represent represented our district 7 very well has always always been in good Communications with all the neighborhood associations in district 7 in Spring of 2022 the new census uh were received and the city assigned Commissioners to withdraw the lines for the new districts I knew what Mr Riva had done for our area to include the new chapoteo swim park and was pleased to see that Isleta was now going to have a representative that would meet our needs he met with several of the neighborhood associations in Isleta the Mission Trail Association and the P Senior Center and they they were pleased they were so happy to get a rep that would come and talk to them they danced like a happy thing they were very happy to see someone acknowledging their needs and I thank you for that that was very good Mr Rivera in my opinion in my opinion you are a good man a good cop a good father a good husband and a good leader I want to wish you well in your endeavors that you may have been involved um I will continue to represent our community in every aspect of its needs and uh hopefully I will be doing the same thing with Miss lemon sitting on the chair thank you all God bless you by thank you Miss K [Applause] the next speaker is Jose Garcia from destination Al peso followed by Angelica Rodriguez Jesus Moreno Dora Waka Camilo gimenez good morning sir good morning mayor and counsel uh thank you for this opportunity to uh to really uh extend um a small gift and token of appreciation uh mayor protim Kennedy alternate mayor Pro molinard rep ernandez rep salido rep Riva um of course I'm here with uh the infamous Brooke Underwood um she's always ready to say the Pledge of Allegiance and have a bottle of water and then of course I'm here with Veronica Castro and on May 16th you guys dedicated May 16th to uh Veronica Castro day for uh her 20 years of service um I've only had the opportunity to work with you all for 3 years but I want to extend on behalf of destinational Paso and ASM Global um just the amazing uh cooperation partnership that we had with uh each and every one of you uh for the well it's been 20 years since uh we've been with this city but for me on behalf of me Brook's been with the assoc organization for 16 years 17 years obviously V for 20 and me for three so um it's not easy what you all choose to do uh to be a civil servant and uh and it takes a very special person to do that um and I think as um the congresswoman said it's uh it's not goodbye it'll be see you later and uh we wish you know you all the best and uh from my my twin brother hose be mayor he sends his regards as well so thank you all we have a couple gifts for you all just in case I don't think they caught that they might have giggled a little bit Jose and and then your twin brother hosby right my dad was a firefighter yeah the Jose uh Brooke V you all you may have only been here three years but you guys have made incredible impact and you've done a great great job and and I want to thank you because u i mean you guys have been very creative you all have brought a lot of uh conventions you've done a lot of things in the last three years we haven't seen so um you guys are a great great team and and I want to thank you for that uh the um I mean when we did Theo what we have almost 10,000 people there you know grew just from its second year the Winter Fest uh I know we said that there was about we were going to have like 400 and some odd thousand people I think we had that the first night because so you guys have done a great job to represent our community and I thank you all thank you [Applause] next speaker is Angelica Rodriguez followed by Jesus Moreno oh sorry let me just move this hi my name is Angelica Rodriguez I'm the Rio Grande Branch chair for the National Association of Social Workers and I'm here to thank you and highlight a few Representatives that I've had the opportunity to work with so I'm going to start off with rep Kennedy the first council meeting I attended I had a discussion with you and the biggest takeaway was your volunteer work especially with Big Brothers Big Sisters so just know that you're making a great impact in that Community repaso I've had you gave me the opportunity to attend your fall festival and provide available resources to the community so that's you're giving back to your community and they're very thankful for that rep Canalis you are a great example for meeting the community where they are you have especially demonstrated this by having your meetings all over your district and also attending Our Hope fair and then rep Cassandra from the first day that I met you you really took me under your wings and you have been an inspiration not only to me but to our community and you have especially demonstrated that women especially moms can become great leaders for our community lastly mayor ler when I first attended I still remember sitting over there and you came over to our classmates and shook our hand and you demonstrated that a little boy from Chihuahua can achieve achieve great dreams regardless of the obstacles so I want you to know that you're an inspiration to a lot of people in our community and you have great you had left a great legacy with us once again thank you all for your service and know that you have not only made a great impact for our community but to me as a future leader so thank you so much to all of you thank you the next speaker is Jesus Moreno followed by Dora Waka Camilo gimenez Juana acerto good morning mayor and Council excited to be here again um I just want to say thank you all for representing each portion of the city each of you all represent a crucial part whether it's somebody who's doesn't have a job or doesn't really get civically engaged um I think each and every one of you are here for a reason it's beautiful that we're all here um but more so I I think it's more important that we kind of congratulate or give thanks or acknowledge our our Deputy city managers I mean they do a lot of the work you guys work with them there's constant showg go but there's also constant achievements that are being made and it's always fun to kind of see you guys work together of course there's tons of struggles but at the end of the day you guys are all city leaders you are here for a reason there is a reason why you are are here um and it's fun to see you all work together but thank you all for representing and and and listening to consents who don't really get to their voice heard or or honestly what I see is thank you for listening to constituents who you don't want to have a hard time listening to these conversations or to addressing the the concerns that that no one else wants to hear or address or try to fix it means a lot um especially for you all who have done the eight years eight terms tons of work to be done and I look forward and I'm excited for you all to work with the rest of council the new Deputy city managers I mean you all work very hard I'd like to see all the work you guys do I I look up to all you guys um I'm excited to be here I thank you guys for letting me speak but each and every one you're here for a reason and it's beautiful that you guys represent the city um look forward to you all working and uniting the city as a whole especially for the region I can't imply that enough I mean remember there's not another major city very far from here we have we're kind of representing three states the two countries and you all take a big Challenge and it means a lot from from Oella representing that there's a need for grocery stores to Kennedy representing that there's fiscal concerns to moar representing the veterans and sustain their values to Mayor keeping the hole being the glue to city council to Isabel representing the East a new portion of the East Side to Fiero that's a very big District it's very important I think it's like the second most populated in the country that's a lot of responsibility Rivera being a a police officer knowing what those concerns are and Canada is meeting people where they're at and being active in community I mean it means a lot and it's been a crazy crazy year there's no doubt about it and I'm excited for all you all to start the New Year and thank you guys thank you Happy New Year to you the next speaker is Dora Waka thank you good morning ma'am good morning thank you mayor and Council for your service as we celebrate your accomplishments I take the time to pay gratitude to someone very special to me my husband Henry deetta for his eight-year term of office as City representative for district 7 a role he has held with Incredible passion and a deep sense of responsibility for the past eight years I stand before you today not just as his partner in life but as someone who has witnessed his firsthand profound impact he has had on our community over the years to say I'm proud of him would be an understatement as his wife I've had the privilege of seeing the long hours the sleepless nights the tough decisions and the moments of Doubt all balanced by his unshakable dedication and unwavering love for this city through it all he has been a beacon of dedication putting the needs of others before his own before his Zone and serving with a selflessness that is rare and truly inspiring when he first took office on the role of City representative I knew it wouldn't be an easy path Public Service rarely is the work is often thankless the the hours are long and the challenges many but I also knew that he was someone who would rise to meet those challenges with a spirit of humility and a heart a full purpose and Rise he did over the years I've watched him transform from a committed individual into a true leader one who has left an incredible mark on this city and its people he left a legacy of procuring and implementing drones body cameras recognizing Cesar Chavez Day as a city holiday sponsoring the creation of the women's commission and so much more I have seen him engage with his constituents with a level of compassion passion and integrity that I believe are the Hallmarks of great leadership he listened he sought to understand he worked tirelessly I'm sorry to find Solutions whether it was improving infrastructure advocating for Public Safety or ensuring that every voice no matter how small had a place on the table he approach his approach was always being one of inclus inclusivity bringing together people from all walks of life to build a stronger more connected Community um the decisions he made weren't always easy he was fac criticism moments of doubt and the weight of responsibility that comes with representing an entire city yet he never wavered in his commitment to doing what was right he sought advice from experts he listened to the needs of his constituents and most importantly he stayed true to his values in times of crisis when the city faced unexpected challenges he was there to lead with Clarity and Grace in times of progress he was there quietly but steadfastly working to ensure that growth and development happened in the way that would benefit everyone not just a few it's not just his professional accomplishments that make me proud but also the way he maintained his integrity and commitment to family I know how hard he he has worked and I have seen the sacrifices he has made time away from his grandchildren home time away from our family but through it all he has always made sure that his love for his for us never wavered his commitment to his work never took away from his role as a husband a father and a grandfather he has baned the demands of public service with his demands of family life showing us all that it is possible to lead with both both heart and discipline his ability to serve others with humility and still come home to be that person we need him to be is a testament to the depth of his character he has always made time for us even when his days were packed with meetings decisions events and the responsibilities of leadership and for that I'm eternally grateful to the people of the city I want to thank you I want to thank you for ting trust in him with your hopes your dreams and your concerns his efforts have not gone unnoticed and the Gratitude we feel as a family for the trust you placed in him is immense I also want to take a moment to thank the people who worked along him you the council his colleagues his staff and all those who supported him in his efforts public service is never a solitary Endeavor and my husband was fortunate to work with such dedicated passionate individuals together you have achieved great things and together you have built a stronger more vibrant City in closing I want to say from the bottom of my heart thank you thank you to my husband for his service for his sacrifices and for his unrelenting dedication to this community you have left a legacy that will inspire others for generation and as your wife I'm honored to have walked this journey with you I love [Applause] you the next speaker is Camilo Jimenez Mr Jimenez will be followed by Juan acerto and esta Escobar good morning city council camz Chief of Staff to district 7 with me is Ray R is administrative staff of district 7 um we just want to recognize our boss and our good friend uh rep Henry Riva for U for countless years of mentorship for friendship and for representing his community I want to present you this um this clock and as an inscription that I'll read right now is presented to henrya City representative district 7 in recognition of your two terms in office as City representative eight years of dedicated leadership and 35 years of outstanding service with the El Paso Police Department culminating in an impressive 43 years of commitment to the city of El Paso your exceptional leadership and selfless dedication have profoundly impacted the community leaving a lasting and transformational Legacy for the citizens of El Paso a truly great leader is hard to find difficult to part with and impossible to forget um it's eight years of City being a city representative in 35 years of being a a dedicated police officer equal 43 years thank you re thank you friend [Applause] the next speaker is Juan Certo he will be followed by esta escob and Ivan good morning Amigo morning mayor city council I'm going to try to to make it in English but it's not going to be tough but it's going to be tough in the in the behalf of the mayor Cru perisa and my own thanks for your commitment with the c thanks to make always an effort during the challenges that we fa together during these times thanks to understand what means the compromising between the sister cities El Paso and city of hes also I'd like to thank the city council All My Friends Henry Rivera Isabel Salo Joe molinar Cassandra Josh Brian Kennedy and Mr AR Fiero Chris Canal thank you thank you thank you many of you never hesitate to give a friendly hand in many issues that the to to see this share all of you have a place in our city anytime you need us ESP special thanks to my Amiga esta scobar thank you esta and all the team that you have in your Administration that help us on so many issues thank you mayor we're going to have a good by party for all of you the 11 of Jan 2025 there is going to be a er uh to say goodbye to all of you in your Administration but as a friend always you're going to have the opportunity to be together with us in any time that you need us thank you very much mayor for your friendship thank you Amigo the next speaker is Mrs esar followed by Ivan n I'm a lot shorter than Mr good morning mayor and Council I have the privilege of serving as Chief of Staff to Mayor Oscar liser um I feel that to put my comments in context I need to tell you that I did not know mayor Oscar liser well at all when he invited me to Service as Chief of Staff I knew him like most of the community knows him from his first term we were not friends I did not serve in his campaign I consider him a friend now I also did not know most of you and it's been a privilege to get to know each of you through these last four years um to put this in context for the community I'd like to uh relay that I am in I would say what do you think mayor about 99% of all meetings with the mayor whether they're outside this building or inside this building in his office and I'd like to give a little context um when we came in uh four years ago as the mayor mentioned earlier we were the most infected covid-19 city in the country and uh our community leaders were uh divided on how to proceed we were fighting with the governor I saw the mayor not attack anyone and behind the scenes unify elected officials and come out in front of the community and expertly guide the community out of that along with a wonderful team in the city of op Paso the deputy city managers the City attorney and all the emergency Personnel to become the first city in Texas to reach her immunity on the the immigration issue people feel very strongly whatever side you're on whether you're on the side of raising the wall or whether you're on the side of uh helping people um get a better life whatever side you're on people feel very strongly about that issue and we are ground zero or have been for that issue not one time but multiple times I saw Mar liser expertly work with the federal government with state government even though he's a Democrat and our state government is Republican with fed officials with all of you with Community leaders in order to follow the laws of the United States follow the laws of the State of Texas yet at the same time treat each individual with dignity and respect spend over 880 million with support from the state and from the United States federal government with the help of congresswoman es covad without putting one penny of that on the backs of El Paso's taxpayers that is not an easy line to walk and he did so expertly I saw merly sir people that told him when he ran please be fair to everybody ask behind the scenes for special favors and for him to say I was elected to represent 100% of the people and that is what I'm going to do and you asked me to be fair and that's what I'm going to be right now it's not a lot of people that didn't vote for him because he won with 80% of the vote but he represented that 20% equally and I saw that behind the scenes finally I saw you mayor be Beyond generous without credit to so many so many that I can't even it would be such a long list to say from funerals for people to basketballs for kids to flights for people that are sick all without a press conference without credit and without anybody knowing which now I'm telling you but I'm not saying who or why and and he did so again and again and again I have had the privilege of working for some pretty inspirational people over the years from leaders in DC to a district attorney to a previous mayor and after working 19 years at the site of President Diana natalicio I did not think there was a lot more that I could learn or that a lot more that I could be inspired by i w I did learn more and I was inspired it's been an honor M thank you I don't have a present but I just I did bring his favorite gas Maria this morning for him so not one but two sleeves then next speaker is Ivan Nino good morning mayor and Council thank you for your dedication to public service and to op Paso it has been an honor to serve our community alongside with all of you I want to take a moment and thank representative Isabel salido for her years of dedicated public service to District 5 and the City of op Paso her commitment to our community and her leadership have ensured that District 5 remains a priority and continues to grow and Thrive representative salido it has been a privilege to work under your leadership and witness firsthand the future plans for District 5 together with a great team of City staff we've made significant progress including the Monga Drive Expansion Project the Upper East Side Regional Command Center the Beast Park improvements to Public Safety and streets true quality of live opportunities that District 5 and opas winds deserve Representatives Al see those hard work and vision have set a strong foundation for District 5 and I am committed to ensuring that our community continues to be well taken care of I deeply appreciate your service your leadership and the example that you have set for us all working for a better op Paso councilwoman salido honorable mayor council members thank you much love and God bless you all thank you Mr nin where you going to next sorry where are you going to next I'm thankful Al for o Paso to be the next uh City representative elect for District 5 and uh looking forward to serving all of you thank you and the final speaker that would like to express her gratitude this morning is Miss Wally Sheek Miss Sheek m [Applause] turn okay excuse me I'm going to be 96 I'm trying to catch up with you as as I can do you want to sit you to stand God you this is for all of you my 36 times of volunteer today I claim 12 minutes that the city owes me and I am the boss and you are the servants okay and I want the people to understand to forgive me because I'm 96 years and I'm excused from all rules and regulation today you're good right here put the break on you give me a chair of all the people in El Paso from all the people in El Paso I got a a certificate from you people that I had been serving 96 a tra and we the people gave you this Ross pein it on him and it a and it has a a s little uh symbol here it has a a big star which represents the mountain the star of El Paso and the small star is you and the um for mayor cook correct and the gross I have painted a 20 foot cross in Gold because gold does not rush and our patriotism does not rush either and uh this is from us we the people who you served and I want to meet Mr fer I want to meet Mr Hunt I want to meet Mrs Wilson I face him because they took away our city hall and my husband had a heart attack over this that's why I'm a city Al Paso Widow and I want to be hurt not on three minutes but I used to three minutes and let them have it because in alburg Germany I have a big c that I visited 1994 and had ring for 3 minutes the bells of s ulri and the priest said to me where is Al Paso and I showed him in my hand and this is New York this is Al Paso and I said to them I'm here for the honor of the D Day nobody knew about the dday and how many of you know about the D day and uh I said if it had not been for d day he wouldn't be a priest and I poked at him so he won't forget me and this is what he said and this is my gift to you all Mayors who made Al Paso great let me hold your hand i'm shaken I hope your wife don't [Laughter] mind I I I no painted on his tie yeah painted on his tie oh yeah that's okay payments on the go and I say to the priest I want you to ring the bells of s and the priest said I cannot do that I have to ask the bishop and uh I cannot ring the bell on the Tuesday and I said yes you can I'm coming all from America Paso and you can do it and you explain it to him and he looked at me and he said not only will I ring the bell for I'll pass but I gave a holy mess for pastor so you go over at the C the tar and he gave mess for the whole Al pasor who had lived in the Paso who died in Al Paso in the future so you already got a blessing from alburg Germany and this is my gift to Al Paso through May laser and mayor ler uh I want you to put this in Shan's trunk because I make public I'm going to give you the car that you sold us we didn't know you from Adam in Eve and you looked at the car and you said we never took a car in that like that so they told the salesman because the salesman said I have to call my boss I cannot give you a trade in to make it fair and you gave shy $500 extra for train in with you and all this is what I was City a and I get nowhere and I want you to put it in the trunk of the car I have a painted with flow in the garage is a flat now and is uh the batter is dead because I could not drive with under street without the insurance and without I called up the city county if they make an exception and let me take it out two two miles a day and they said no they would uh give you a ticket and I rather give the tickets to you because I want this car presented from all the people in the Pas that you serve and what do you have yeah okay and this I don't want think is I want to give this to your wife when we have the real lenda because I want the people want me to hold this this is not for today no no no I put this in the trunk in the car yeah that's good idea yeah because I left the hammer here and we put the picture up there and it was painted gold and this was the H to break up communism for the people and for you and I want to give you the CLE on the last meeting because I triy to organize that and I can do nothing I only got in charge with her yesterday there's nothing rehearsed now your three minutes my three minutes after last your 12 minutes already how 12 minutes just like you wanted yeah yeah and the three minutes she speaks I have signed her in for three minutes okay so she's the next speaker okay good okay okay all right thank you m i bless you from all of my [Applause] heart I'll ask her first love you yeah he loves you anyway okay okay so Ben please state your name for the record ma'am okay all right right so uh when Wall-E was a volunteer at uh vistad Del Soul as a Eucharistic Minister she did that for 23 years she never missed a day never took any time off except for when she was in the ER room and um so she there she uh met my mother and my aunt and uh we have all been friends ever since she trained my uh mom there uh the retired chaplain assigned you to train my mom Wally and you trained her and my aunt and um uh Wally has asked for me to to be her secretary I I work I'll work with closely with Wally and uh you know honor any of her wishes that she wants to share uh with anyone here at um city hall and uh the goal uh that we have is to create a uh walberer Sheck uh in honor uh uh Memorial in honor of Johnny Sheek and um and the uh all of the people who who have been a part of El Paso and who represented El Paso she also has a 20 foot steel cross that she had uh made that is painted in gold and that will hopefully eventually make its way to Austin uh Texas in the name of El Paso uh not as a gift but as a Victorious n 91 cross for good over evil for the final glory of God and America so that is uh something that we will be working on doing among a several other things this is one busy woman and she is an inspiration to many and uh it has been an honor to bring her down here to be able to speak with you all and to be able to uh get to know some of you so thank you you got one minute and 25 23 minutes left and I want to say that because I went yesterday to my family doctor and he gave me a prescription for pain and I told them I don't want to pain because I'm going to toor to the City Hall I want from you okay that I'm not cucko right and uh he says no W you're not no you are not yes and yeah thank you miss my feet get out I'm on the pain pill and I take it when I get home yes because I to know that that she is of sound mind if even if she has a little trouble with her her knees so yeah okay Miss Shea thank you very much for coming down here I as a matter of fact when I sat down today I said I hope Miss she comes in and uh you did come in and this will be my last meeting has the mayor of the city of El Paso and you being here made it very special so I thank you no you got your 12 minutes thank you m the next speaker is is the final speaker is Stephanie Ruiz mayor this is the last speaker that signed up to express her gratitude hi good morning everyone thank you michek for being here my name is Stephanie Roy Sala and I just want to thank each one of you for making Al PA so great and thank you for everything you do thank you miss Ma thank you Miss Neiman for your leadership it means a lot and the people in the back too they make a great difference I see Mr nades I Mr Robert cortinas um Animal Services everyone museums so thank you and what I what I want to say is that you you cannot do this by yourself you need people that are in the back staff but it takes leadership and that's why you're here that's why you were selected and I want to say special thanks to my boss because he taught me a lot representa Molin without your help you you took a chance on me I came from San Antonio I'm originally from here from Al Paso but I took the opportunity to come back to the city of Al Paso and representative molad without knowing me he interviewed me and it was it was great coming to to the city and right now I mean I know we have a lot of things that we need to work on for example the amphitheater and meta on District 4 but I just want to say thank you so much and I'm going to miss my constituents some of them have already called Mr cyclos if you're watching and Miss cyclos um thank you so much again and I cannot say enough how grateful I am thank you and with that we'll um that's the last speaker we'll con we'll go to the agenda and I I guess we'll have call to the public at noon when we yeah it's okay it's posted for 10 let's go ahead and do that now oh you know I'm sorry I apologize I did so I'd like to have everybody kind of say whatever the want we'll start we'll start with you represent Canalis and move our way all the way around all right you want represent uh we better to go first go ahead thank you mayor thank you to everyone who showed up today thank you for the kind words thank you for your uh you're being here taking the time off uh I would like to call my staff up to the front first and foremost Camilo and and uh Ray I would like to recognize them a little bit because I would like to recognize them because they they've been so instrumental in in finishing out the term and everything else uh Camilo was uh doing double duties as uh responding with the CRS as well and I want to thank Miss Cruz Costa and then Mr uh Weston who was here and of course with Miss Mack when she continued I appreciate that so much uh and I'd like to show you a little token of my appreciation to you and grateful appreciation to in grateful appreciation presented to Camilo M himz chief of staff for district 7 for your outstanding dedication professionalism and unwavering support in serving as trusted member of the team for City representative me Henry D your commitment and contributions Have Been instrumental in advancing the mission and goals of district 7 your hard work integrity and dedication to Excellence exemplify the highest standards of public service and your efforts have made a lasting impact on the citizens of the city of Al Paso thank you for your exceptional service signed by by me and representative R for district 7 I'll give it to you right now uh I know we're press your time so um for Mr Rya who came in and immediately under the Tage of uh of Camilo took an took an very deep interest and deep learning of of his job and surprises us with other talents that he he uh he has so with you as well I would like to present you with a little token of appreciation insincere appreciation presented to Angel Ray Rya Administrative Assistant for district 7 in recognition for your exceptional dedication professionalism and invaluable support in serving alongside City representative me your commitment to Excellence and public service has played a vital role in advancing the mission and positively impacting the citizens of the city of op Paso your hard work integrity and unwavering efforts exemplify true Spirit Ser true Spirit of service and have a meaningful contribution within our community thank you very much for your exceptional services to district 7 and I will present this to you okay let me but I don't I'm not done [Applause] yet just you not thank thank thank you mayor uh and then continuing uh quickly I uh I I think the chap said it best thank God for for for giving us the uh strength and opportunity to to respond and service our our constituents uh I thank my constituency for uh trusting and believing in me and giving me two consecutive terms uh to serve them and uh when the when the lines were were for redistri were redistrict I made new constituency that I hadn't met before and uh I it was an honor to go all out and work for them and that's my goal as a as a representative uh I didn't mind getting my hands or or clothes dirty in in the process to the staff ad Min the leadership of the city is phenomenal you guys I countlessly asked for briefings directions and so forth and let me tell you what you all came through there's several there's several departments that uh the city itself can be proud of they go to the extreme to satisfy not only the representatives request but also those that the the the service for the citizens themselves parks and wck can't say enough about you streets streets and maintenance can't say enough about you either and and of course uh City Planning Commission amongst those that uh I really had the opportunity to work with quite a bit and came through with flying colors that were beyond belief I thank you I'm not leaving uh I don't want to leave any other department out but I'm I'm telling you as a whole it was an honor and a pleasure to have met you and have worked with you and of course um there's our again our city lead leadership with Miss Mack in place now I thank you very much for your your your dedication to the city of a Paso and the commitment Miss Neiman thank you very much as well um and of course uh as as was said earlier I said uh I I want to thank my children for supporting me and today it just happens to be my daughter's birthday as well Melanie so I would like to wish her a happy birthday I know she's watching from Dallas and most of you met my grandchildren and uh their support was very vital and of course the rock my my my support my everything also uh my wife Dora thank you I love you and I want to thank you all for the for working with you the colleagues past and present it's really awesome you I've learned quite a bit from you all as well and uh I thank you all for putting up with me so thank you Miss Prime you won't have me to be sidebar conversations but it was an honor having kind of bugged you that way or you know everybody everybody in the city that that takes a job here works here uh you have to enjoy the people you have to Mr gordas never never count as the times that I called him he he never he never complained he just he just uh uh consulted me on what I on my answered my questions as well everybody everybody much love much app appreciation to you all and with that I say uh goodbye to all of you and uh I'm ready for some honey D list now baby so thank you very much mayor thank you everyone congratulations on eight wonderful Years thank you very much next will be uh representative molard thank you very much mayor thank you always say I'm your right-hand man because I sit to your right first and foremost I got to say thank you God for blessing us for giving us the guidance the strength the Courage the determination thank you to my family thank you for your undoing support your love your commitment as well de mayor uh I learned a lot from you uh you mentored me in different ways you've given me direction hope and inspiration to my colleagues on this day is thank you very much for everything you've done for our community for our city as a whole um to Esta escovar thank you very much you were the very first person to congratulated me back in January the 5th of 2021i just prior to my um swearing into ceremony to miss Iran mendosa from the chief's office or excuse me from the mayor's office thank you very much appreciate that to Stephanie R Alva please rep to the front there glor on please come to the front and so without these two wonderful employees District 4 would not be where it's at it would not succeed we were committed to doing better each and every day to making it a better place to live to raise a family and it's you've done that job extremely well I'm extremely proud of all of you and everything that you've done um there's there been a lot of highs and lows here but um one of the biggest highs for me was U Back in May of this year when we celebrated the mayor's birthday and so we were able to bring in miachi so even with that you guys did a fantastic job you ladies did a fantastic job on a sad note we did lose last year our wonderful chief of police Gregory Allen ID number 746 he was my friend he's a person that did my background that brought me into this organization called the op Paso Police Department I'll always be in it for him to bring him in and that day that we passed or he passed U the former city manager inform formed US during an executive session of his passing I was advised not to go to the hospital I said no I need to go to the hospital and U his wife Rosanne was there and others as well but one thing that stood out above me anything else was officer Charles Burns I'd like for him to come to the front as well you have to understand what policing really is this man demonstrated initiative and courage and he stood watch over Chief Allen nobody asked them to do that nobody but for the love and commitment and respect and that's the highest word respect for chief Allen this young man this officer took that initiative and demonstrated and he stood watch for the very first time for him for chief Allen and I'll always remember thank you officer Burns we are indebted to you for that as well I know the Allen family is indebted to you for that as well to the chief of police Peter Pia's ID number 962 and yes I am to big into ID numbers he was my Academy classmate he's a great man great family man and we support him as well to the assistant chief Umberto talamantes 1594 that man saved my life I will not go into in what he did but he saved my life I would not be here if it wasn't for him Victor Zar assistant chief thank you very much 1515 thank you very much for everything you've ever done for me appreciate that very much Chief Jonathan killings I know you were here someplace uh Chief the aoso uh Jay Nicholson I know you were here as well Mr Tony narez from the airport you do an exceptional job you people do not understand it's not just for the citizens of the city of El Paso economic development but you bring in families into the airport reuniting them with their loved ones here in the city of Al Paso to all your staff to all the different things thank you for your leadership and your support for many years and we congratulate you on your position as a director Mr Pablo cavayero I'm not sure if you're here or not but anyways you took taken over the helm for Parks and Recreation and so far you've done an outstanding job uh we are indebted for you for all the things you've done so far and for especially District 4 Mr Bristol streets at maintenance um we use our streets every day we owe you a debt of gratitude for that Mr edmundo Calderon uh not sure if he's here or not but thank you very much for serving our committee so so many years Mr Robert cortinez I'm not sure where you're at but you were here earlier um your financial acument is just fantastic M Nicole cot thank you very much you're one of those few people that I could ask you a question I get an answer thank you very much for over the course of years I just cannot thank you enough on that Part Colonel deiser sen Metro I'll continue riding your buses they're clean and their great service Mr Philip pway thank you um all of your people uh Tempi brother and Colonel Weston I know you're not here right now but uh if you're watching and thank you very much I'm indebted to you too for your leadership for your mentorship and for leading me along the way for things to the Texas Municipal League where I served as a board uh director um it was in honor Mr Bennett sandin Rachel pittz and everybody um president Hayward you're probably not watching but you stand out the city of op Paso employees retirement trust I was an honor to serve as a trustee because we have to protect our families after they leave service for the city of AP Paso to the members of foak thank you very much for everything and to The District 4 Community thank you very much for giving us this opportunity it does not go without saying me gracias thank you very much and um it's going to be a great dat thank you representative isabelo thank you mayor just want to thank God for giving me this opportunity but also wanted to thank the constituents of District 5 for electing me for trusting me I want to thank my staff uh my chief of staff iano um also my administrative specialist mik gilar for for all your undying hard work that it really takes in order for us to do all the great work we've done in District 5 if it wasn't for you we wouldn't uh be able to do that that's also within all the staff that's here and I want to thank you I know that everybody's here and I want to thank you all for all your hard work in really contributing in us to be able to provide that service that we need to that quality life service to aaso thank you to the city manager car car Nan as well um danan Mac the mayor uh of op Paso and our my colleagues here for for all the hard work we have all done together and and um that will always remember and uh in the guidance that you all have given me as well um it couldn't have been done without you um I know that there's so many people that I want to thank but in case I missed anybody I everybody has contributed to a great deal of of of uh District 5 moving forward and I want to thank you for the bottom of my heart muchas gracias and thank you for allowing me to serve thank you thank you thank you and um congratulations on the great work you did and how you represented your community in the whole city thank you ma'am and represent nandes thank you uh mayor um first and foremost I'd like to congratulate uh mayor elect Johnson along with uh City Representatives elect Nino congratulations for your hard work and the outcome along with Chavez tjo and Maldonado Roa we're counting on you I know some of you are watching we're counting on you to help lead the city um in the future and I won't go Name by name because I agree with ev Everything everyone says uh our staff they're just incredible and and they do everything in their power to improve this city they live and breathe it they wake up going to bed and they try to determine how can we advance the city and I've seen it every day I have had the honor and privilege to be um a legislator for our city um not only as a councilwoman but also as um an intern to a city employee and now as your city representative um that been over 10 years of countless hours sacrifices uh challenges and struggles and um but we still found a way to get things done um so my gratitude to this Council to mayor liser for also uh dealing with me sticking with me um I do want to thank my team um uh Julia Rafael and Jesse along with our former legislative AIDS Betina Olivares and Luc Glenn uh we have had a dream team they have been super supportive and with their help we were able to raise over $400,000 or private dollars so that we can help Advance the city and reduce taxes and the needs of my district I hosted over 400 Community meetings um we C we address countless thousands of thousands of constituent request and we did it all with a smile with gratitude and a commitment to the service to our city and so I'm thankful for my team and the work that they've done um I also want to thank my constituents uh talk about having the best constituents I know you all will say that but I truly do believe um my constituents not only have been very engaged a lot of them watch every single council meeting um and you all have seen me grow up in politics I got into office at 30 and you have seen me over the years not only the challenges but also the improvements and successes that we got to share together um thanks to my colleagues um for your personal sacrifices they have they have been incredible so I appreciate what you've done there and the work that we did over the past eight years that I've been here is we've increased the fund balance um you know we didn't have any savings we've uh improved the contracts for police and fire that was something that I didn't know that we would be able to fund and we we were able to do that to help make our streets safer inclusive policies making sure that our legislation works for all op pasoans and for that I'm incredibly grateful and immensely proud of my track record and the work that we've done together in unity so mayy liser thank you for the opportunity to um share those sentiments with the public and I thank you all for your personal friendships for the words of just your words your words have been uplifting to my spirits and so I'm very grateful to have met each and every one of you and my work isn't done um in service my heart is in public service so I will continue to do that and thank you to my babies to my family my mother everybody who has stood by me along the way you all don't understand a sacrifice to your children and so I've did that because you all are worth fighting for and so thank you again mayor proam there are 8,000 City employes and I'd like to read all their names um do you have an alphabetical order or do you want me to give you my list oh do you have your list mayor if I use that that would be great um actually when people have asked me what was the thing I found out about the city that I didn't know and the number one thing I found most of all was the expertise of the people that worked here and friends and co-workers cuz some of them became friends some were just co-workers but we always banded together to try and get this done and I will tell you that the most amazing thing in the city of El Paso is the people that work for the city of El Paso okay the quality the commitment the talent that is in this city is unbelievable and a couple people I want to specifically thank is lazette and stand up Victoria and lazette um the people that made ran the office and took all the phone calls know all the people's names know all the background and got things done amazingly for district one lazette Victoria I couldn't have done it without you and yes I took credit for all your good work so thank you uh I also three quick thank yous first one is to my wife Denise Knight who has always supported my crazy ideas and when I told her I wanted to run for district one she said you must be insane how do we get that done and so uh I want to thank her from the bottom of my heart and as a lot of people know I spent a lot of my life in radio and uh there's a Willie Nelson song that says has a line I know your image of me is what I hope to be and that's the way I feel about her also in that song it says I love you in a place where there is no space and time and Denise you are the best of us um the voters that put their faith in my vision um we've accomplished a lot we have a lot more to accomplish I mean a couple things that I'm proudest of is is taking care of a cola for the pension plan and helping to support our First Responders because let's face it you can talk about First Responders all you want when you pick up the phone you've never been happier that they're there to take care of you we have some challenges um my dog talks to me about it all the time he talks to his friends so yeah I have gone crazy uh and finally uh Miss Neeman who had the challenge of having an attorney on city council who didn't know city law but knew just enough to be severely dangerous about it and and and question question things I didn't know and didn't understand your patience with me to help walk me through the legal issues has been appreciated and um You probably will miss my snarky comments but uh I will miss working with you and your expertise because it is amazing Miss Mack we just started in these roles with you here but I will tell you that um I know this is going to Leap Frog forward under your guidance and uh and I'm looking for that finally um mayor liser I blame you for all this I I watched city council and my brother mayor lier um needed some of people to have his back and district one needed people to have his back and I went back to a song from Andre Day called called stand for something with the line it all means nothing if you don't stand up for something and I stand up for you and that's the way I felt about district one and all I'll say if you're a friend of Mayor liser you should call him and ask him for a story about lucky and Wilbur and I'll leave it at that thank you and with that we don't have anyone else up here I just I'll close it out with um you know I think U you all said a lot of names A lot of people and I'd be saying the same names the same people because we all have been blessed to have the same people in in our lives for the last eight years so I do want to thank and I think I know you just said it uh may poam but miss Neeman you worked really hard and and you really um had the patience and I know that sometimes we tried them very hardly but you you kept professionalism and and contined to to guide us through a lot of things that sometimes we didn't agree with and and then we worked together and you did the right thing always and I want to thank you for that you worked really hard you informed me of everything we we we talked a lot and I do want to thank you for that uh you're very you're professional as representative keny said and you're great at what you do and uh Miss Mack i' like I said when you got the job and I mean it more now than I did then I regret not having the opportunity to work with you long ER cuz you bring the energy and professionalism and always with a smile so and I'm sure when your team's behind closed doors on some things not always a smile but I thank you for that smile and um and I'm not mentioning every everybody else but I do want to thank Colonel Weston Colonel Weston stepped up for us Colonel Weston gave us all he had to make sure that we continued to move the city forward and through his guidance and Leadership we had no new Revenue twice and he worked hard between him and Mr cortinez and um Miss Cody and of course their team but I do want to I don't know if he's watching but if you are Colonel Weston you did an incredible job in the city owes you a lot of gratitude for everything you did and um I know he's not here but the guy that uh worked through whether it was covid or and or the Asylum Seekers uh chief dieo Ino there you are you were incredible you L literally made the difference in our community I can honestly tell you because of you we've saved a lot of lives because of you people didn't have to suffer and your guidance and your persistence and I can tell you I called you midnight one of them it didn't matter when when I was cuz I was out on the street almost every night during the Asylum Seeker when we had the 2,000 a day and making sure people were safe and you took the call every day and then you took the call and acted on it and I want to I I really want to thank you and uh I know our police and fire and um all the men and women that uh make sure that we go to sleep at nights and they're prepared for the unknown thank you all um and um Miss PR thank you you um you've really have helped us a lot during the meetings and sometimes you've been challenged but you never rattled so I thank you for that yes sir yeah so I do want to thank um and like I said there's thousands of names but um I'm going to stop at that because I I I'd miss somebody so thank you everybody for making this city a better place to be thank you for allowing us to continue to represent the people like we said we would and thank you for your dedication and again I um as u a good friend of mine said bye for now thank you mayor um Save The Best For Last Miss Laura pry thank you very much you're the oil and the Machine that keeps the city together how you do it I just do not know understand the other thing that's great and honest about you is that how you pronounce everybody's name correctly thank you so very much I don't know how you do it I really don't know um thank you Omar Martinez I'm not sure where you're at but if you're here thank you very much Diana nunas thank you very much do an exceptional job all the time to our City attorney Miss nean thank you very much we owe you a Deb of gratitude for everything all your staff all your assistant City attorneys um you dissect so many things you research and you tell us different things in executive session on our one-on-one meetings thank you very much we truly indebted to you and Miss Mack we save the best for last as a city manager you're the leader besides the mayor for the city of El Paso you guide each and every one of our city employees through the thick and thin and we just thank you very much for stepping up to the plate thank you very much for everything you've done and that you will do for the city of op Paso thank you and again thank you all and one last thing estraya we did it we really did thank you and I love you [Applause] I think we got a C city council meeting going on yes mayor 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 Ed 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 protm page five item 10 move to the regular agenda per representative Canales page 14 suspend The Rules of Order well I guess that's a little late per mayor leas her to change the time for call to the public from 12: to again okay um mood Point page 18 item 40 move to the Forefront of the regular agenda per representative Canales page 21 item 44 move to the Forefront of the regular agenda per representative Canales page 21 item 45 move to the Forefront of the regular agenda for representative Canales page 24 item 56 revised for the Office of Management and budget and that revision is to strike out the amount reflected as ne1 137,138 76 and replac with a negative $160,000 there's a motion by mayor protim Kennedy seconded by representative Retta to approve the consent agenda as revised on that motion call for the vote representative Galis thank you in the voting session and that motion passes unanimously mayor would you like to go to call to the public since it was moved up please ma'am thank you sir we now go to call to the public the El Paso city council is local government body charged with in 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 in decorum that is respectful to other persons without the use of insulting profane threatening or abusive language please note that during call to the public the 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 four members of the public signed up to speak the first person is Miss Elizabeth Crawford and I don't see Miss Crawford in the queue we'll move on to Juan gagos Mr Juan gagos his topic is seeking advice and or assistance with mental health ideas for citizens of El Paso and any other regions good morning you have three minutes good morning morning uh my name is juang gagos I went to UT for computer science for about two years and withdrew to work on businesses now currently owning my own business called R bis rise limited liability Corporation with two subsidiaries resale education and clean path for you uh generating my own Revenue I realized I can greatly help the world in some ways therefore with mental health treatments I genuinely believe believe we can greatly reduce deaths injuries and illnesses around the world we can do this because people kill die and suffer because of anger stress depression expectations abuse Etc by helping those around us manage these emotions we can greatly reduce these bad outcomes and increase good outcomes how we can do this is with my great and intuitive understanding of emotions and how to heal the Mind combined with planning resourcefulness and creativity I genuinely believe we have the knoow to easily Implement plans and solutions to help the world these understandings I gained from my current desire to heal those around me with mental health problems by studying heavily and also trying my best to help those around me I gain that experience one of these possible plans that is one that could be called the mental health sustainability executive task force where we Implement into people's lives healthy routines such as grounding venting gratefulness and calculated pressure just to name a few um it's there's some things to be careful with like around these ideas like with venting like you can't really like vent um to like people because it could like um cause like more bad than good um and then you also don't want to be like completely grateful and forget about like bad things that could happen so that's why you kind of I think have to um still have like that foreshadowing and like predicting um skills um factually some of these ideas are proven by data and science such as studies from Meridian University Utah University and Harvard chance School of Public Health I may send these studies as well to any email if you request as I see the council works with very large companies and serves the public as well I humbly request your advice Assistance or collaboration to advance El pasos and other regions mental health thank you for allowing me the time to speak here I do appreciate this nonetheless thank you thank you sir the next speaker is Ron KOMU Mr komo's topic is constitutional rights to the rescue 1983 Animal Services good morning good morning sir well let's try something different I am not going to complain about all the issues with the shelter I want to thank some people ma'am all of you we haven't gotten along obviously ly well kind of Mr mol thank you folks have a nice life thank you for what we try to do and hopefully we'll get some things straightened out next year but ma'am thank you always I'd like to thank the the city Clark's office the guards out front great people always smiling always happy it's a credit Tel passo when you walk into a place like this they're they're there and uh again I'm going to back off for a little bit see how our new city council fits in and then if need be then I'll be back being my pain usual pain thorn in the butt whatever it takes to get the problems resolved again thank you thank you the next speaker is Miss Lisa Turner she will be followed by Heather Chavis Miss Turner's topic is call to the public somebody left there good morning M Turner good morning mayor council uh it's almost afternoon uh I had a question about Call of the public being at 10 p.m. instead of the Standard 12 that we always see was that a uh your decision mayor or decision by Council to change the time who changed the time to make it at 10:00 who changed the time yes I we don't have dialogue back and forth but after we get down I'll give you the answer okay well what I wanted to say if it was you I would think that would be wrong we just voted on it I'm not sure you saw that we voted on team that's again that's why I'm up here to find out that's what we did is to find out uh if it was just your decision or if it was a council decision and any such decision in a change in rules should always be by the council thank you thank you Mr Turner the final speaker is Heather chavz good morning hi good morning may city council my name is Heather Chavez I'm accompanied here by my husband Gus Chavez we are with the promotion company GHC the company and also representing Lotus social house we're here to invite our community and you all to our first inaugural ball drop that's going to be happening December 31st here at our downtown we're super excited we've been working on this project for a while and we just would like to thank you all for everything that you do and the city of El Paso and all of the staff at Winterfest who has made this happen and so we would like to extend the invite to our community and to you all as well and we thank you guys so much for everything that that you do um and yes so to give you a small token of our appreciation um we give have a little gift for you all and hopefully we can see you out there December 31st um we will be having some live bands and music if it's a familyfriendly event um so we hope that this can really start something new here in our city and so with your all support as well we'd like to see you guys out there and um and come out and have a good time with us thank you thank you than thank you so much Miss PR yes sir would you like to take the item that was moved from consent to regular yes ma'am thank you sir that's item 10 and this is a resolution authorizing the defeasance and Redemption of certain outstanding obligations of the city related to the multi-purpose forming arts and entertainment facility project representative Canalis thank you mayor PM um yes I I asked for this to be moved from the consent agenda to the regular agenda again not because I have any particular questions uh you know goodness knows the council has discussed this issue at Great length over the last several months um but I think it's important for the public to hear uh what this is and what it means uh with regard to the the multi-purpose Center project the NPC the vote that happened in in November uh to revoke the city's authority to issue the the remaining bonds uh and then you know what what this action will mean for the the close out of that so uh if you don't mind sharing that thank Canalis Robert cortinez for the record so excellent question and I'm glad that you have to move it to the regular agenda because this was a lot of the questions that we got when we did all the briefings with the community they asked about what was going to happen with the funds that were remaining from the project that had had already been issued so what this item is it's a resolution basically a followup to the community's vote on November the 5th to revoke the city's authority to issue the remaining bonds so what this item is is a defeasance of those bonds that we have issued previously so in 2016 um and before that and so what this is going to do is essentially take that amount approximately 34 million um plus the amount that we actually had in an escro account that we're working to get back from the title company that was related to the purchase of the properties so that amount plus any investment interest that has been generated off of the funds related to the project so what's going to happen with this resolution is it's going to the city will take those funds put it into an escrow account to be held for safekeeping for this purpose and then when those funds become callable in 2026 and in 2028 those funds will be used to De feed or to basically pay down the debt that was related to the Assurance for the MPC project and of course essentially that means that debt will be wiped from the city's books correct in 2026 and 2028 the earliest followable date for those correct those bonds okay I think that's a good explanation thank you representative oo followed by representative FAL thank you mayor so I just heard you say 34 million and I know we've talked about this for the last six months a lot but as we're moving toward this the public voted to cancel about $130 million right and we had taken out 50 million prior correct 128.3 million was on the November 5th election okay so 128 was cancelled by the public and we had about 50 million that we took out approximately 52 52 okay and out of that 52 how much did we spend about 18 million just under 18 million 18 under 18 million okay and out of the 18 million is there any money that we could recoup at some point since we have $18 million of taxpayer money so those funds were spent on various consultant studies um majority of that was to acquire the properties in the uh NPC footprint the original location of where that project was going to be located the city is currently in the process of developing a procurement method to go out and put that out to Garner some interest and potentially sell those properties and so once those funds are recouped those funds go back to similar what we're doing here to the fees to pay down essentially the debt related to the project and 18 million not all of it will be recruited because um some of that was related to different studies um the city did hire a couple of firms to provide alternatives to the project and the locations at the request of the city council so we don't expect that all of that 18 million will be recouped and again that's all dependent upon the sale of the properties obviously and how much did we pay for the durang Gita properties about 11 I don't have the exact amount but I believe the total was about 13 million which I believed included the legal cost and also the reloc cost so not just the actual acquisition of the properties okay so the 13 million is there a chance that we are going to recoup all of that or maybe half of that or I guess it's all going to I mean I would hate to speculate I mean it's all going to be dependent upon the the sales price of those properties obviously you know Council had some concerns about what they wanted to see in regards to those properties and so again it's all going to be dependent upon what they'll sell for I mean I I would hate to speculate and say we're going to recoup 100% that okay and I appreciate the the explanation I think that it's just I'm asking these questions on behalf of my constituents because this is a lot of taxpayer money and I'm obviously respecting the will of the voters from November but I just also want people to understand the consequences of how um some taxpayer money has already been used and there's a chance that it was used for nothing at this point and we are going to see um if we could recoup the the 13 million and hopefully lessen the blow to the taxpayers but I think that this was something that um we we went back and forth over the past few months on really explaining to the voters that this was something that um we had already spent money on and there was no chance that there was a full um recuperation of the money if we um move forward with cancelling it and so now we're here and and so um I appreciate you answer my questions thank youcome and so what we'll come back and do in the new year is um show you all the updated debt model related to not having to issue that 128 million from the project and then what that looks like over the next few years as we issue the remaining debt that we have that was approved by the voters and and I think uh based on a lot of the investments in downtown and the way property has escalated we're hoping that we'll get over what we paid for we didn't pay overv value for the properties that were pred and uh I know that uh somewhere near the area we paid for so it's been about four 10 years ago those properties were purchased that um there um and we spent roughly 13 million we're hoping they're worth more the area has gone up in value and I think we've seen that through our through the city so I um I'm hoping that we recuperate most of the money and that should be our goal as a just like repr said it's taxpayers money and we need to try to recuperate most of it uh representative uh furo followed by representative adanes thank you mayor u m cortinez or Miss Mac I'm not sure who this question would be addressed to or who could answer it but when that money is sitting there until we return it is does the city have access to it it'll be placed in a NCO account no the city will not have access to or city manager nobody can tap into it no sir okay thank you n this thank you mayor um I have some questions related to uh maybe perhaps for Bond Council specifically I'd like to know um the current conditions of the buildings in downtown um and I I already know the answer I'm just want to know for the public like is there a way that we can help those buildings using those funds so that we can put them back on the market and not have holes or any structural issues with the current conditions of our property the city of El Pasa property with which funds are you referring to the funds that have not been uh defeased yet so representative this you're asking which monies can we use the money that we're putting in escrow I mean any of it it's like 18 or excuse me the remaining funds of the 30 some million so 34 So based on the will of the voters that money is now been canel like we're not moving forward that project the debt that's already been issued that was voter approved correct so the voter approved issued debt was meant to be used for the project and the project has now been revoked so that money cannot be used um on anything it has to be returned to the bond holders it has to be defeased is I I want to understand if there's any alternatives um that a future Council can consider related to the conditions of those buildings or perhaps asking the voters if those funds can be red diverted it's already been issued the funds have been issued and we own the on the buildings so I'd like a definitive answer from our administration of whether or not we can do something thing with the existing buildings um specifically because the current conditions I mean how are we going to get money back for a whole in the side of a building are there any alternatives briefed in executive session I would say that the the funds were used for the project since the Project's been revoked by the voters I I mean the recommendation that's why we have the item before the city council is that those funds should be go back towards paying down the debt that was related to the Assurance of the project how will be project constructed with proper so since the debt has already been issued though it can't be reauthorized by a council for new purpose but those bonds are issued for the NPC project which has been now revoked by the by the vo right so there's no other Alternatives that can be done with the funding is there any alternatives that can be done other than deing the funds that the council has not considered so representative the monies that we're deing today is what the voters voted on right right so we're sending back the money that was on hand we didn't borrow the rest of it but we couldn't even borrow the rest of it the Project's been canceled by the voters so it would be incumbent upon the new Council to decide how they want to move forward with those projects or that property and decide how to preserve them or whatever they want to do with that okay and any use of those Bond proceeds for anything other than the project would be considered a PA may want to correct me on my terminology but essentially a bad use a bad debt expense so that would obviously potentially down the road lead to some IRS issues potentially and so we're trying to avoid those if possible and so again just to followup to the community vote on November the 5th that revoked the authorization for the project and so any bonds that have been used towards the project should be defeased thank you you're welcome thank you sir you're welcome that's and Miss Turner signed up to speak also mayor Pardon Me Miss Turner signed up to speak on this item yes ma'am good morning Miss Turner good morning again good morning mayor councel uh can I ask Mr courtin is a question uh I am assuming that the interest on this money that will Ure between 2026 and 2028 will still be ours too buy the bonds back the interest that we will Ure between now and 2026 on the bonds and 2028 that you are not going to have that interest money will still be able to be used to buy back those bonds what happens to that money that's sitting in the bank that were in escor Mr you can address us and then we'll ask them to answer the question so yeah we'll ask uh the next thing is I'd like to make a suggestion that uh when you go to sell these buildings that the people that you bought them from get first refusal and it will that they can buy it back for at the price you paid them for and then we could go from there that's pretty much yet thank you we'll have Mr courtine answer now so any investment that is earned on the 34 million we put into the discri account go towards paying back the the amount that's owed for the NPC project for the the debt payment thank so it'll be a very safe investment for the Esco escro account and any investment interest earned will go towards paying that debt payment thank you representative Canales I mean you've spoke once already mayor proam and then we'll come back to you sir go ahead mayor pro move to approve second repres Canalis yeah just to ask I think in the clearest way possible uh the any of the investment interest uh can be used for the uh for the defeasance uh and and paying down that debt in 2026 and 2028 but carries the same restrictions as the the remaining bond funds correct that's correct so in proposition two in investment interest that we have on hand that has not already been spent related to the MP project will be defeased as well okay thank you very much thank you Miss PR yes sir there is a motion made by mayor protim Kennedy seconded by alternate mayor protim molard to approve item number 10 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously mayor would you like to ress for the Downtown Development Corporation meeting please Mr cortinez to recess go ahead there's a motion in a second to recess a regular city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed the meeting is in recess at 11:50 a.m. good morning this is a meeting of the Downtown Development Corporation for Tuesday December 17 2024 it is 11:50 a.m. board of directors present are board chair liser board director Kennedy cedo ernandez molinar salido Fierro Rivera Canales the first item on the agenda is approval of the February 13 2024 meeting minutes there's a motion made by representative Rivera second by Board of director Molina to approve the minutes on that motion call for the vote I thank you sir and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously item number two is presentation on the status of the Downtown Development Corporation good morning again mayor and city council Robert cortinez so this presentation will cover the year report for the FY 2024 uh Downtown Development Corporation meeting this is related to the ballpark so I'm going to give you a quick breakdown of how the revenue is performed how the expenses performed and then the amount that was contributed to the capital projects for the ballpark so overall again the main Revenue source for the ballpark debt payment is related to the 2% voter approved project venue tax we did see a little bit of a decrease in the overall occupancy of about 3 and a half% however uh we still hover around that 67 to 70% occupancy rate uh one of the encouraging things was we did see actually about a 2 and half% increase in the average daily rate which actually help offset a little bit of the decrease in the occupancy and probably the most important point on here of this slide is that this was the third year of no general fund subsidy related to making The Debt Service payment for the ballpark or putting towards the capital projects um n FY 2024 so overall between the uh Team Le revenue and the additional Surplus generated from the revenue dedicated to the B Park the city was able to put just over 757,50 this slide here is a breakdown by the different Revenue categories you you'll see overall on the bottom line a little bit of a decrease in the overall revenue from 5.2 to uh just under 5 million primarily related to the team lease Revenue which we did use a portion of that which is allowable to go go towards the capital projects and that will be combined with the overall surplus of the revenues again totaling that 757,50 and so as I mentioned on the first line there the primary revenue source is the hotel occupancy tax and you'll see a little bit of a decrease there in the ovar revenue Source um however again we still generated additional revenue on top of the overall expenses this is a breakdown by the different uh expense categories you'll see the overall expenses are a decrease from 5.4 to about 4.8 million and the biggest difference there is you'll see in that bottom line the transfer to Ballpark capital projects so we did have a decrease from that 1.1 to just under 600,000 um for the ballpark capital projects and so again we continue to Monitor and look at the hotel occupancy um working very closely with the budget staff and the controller staff to ensure we're collecting all of the revenue that's owed to the city um you've heard of Mundo Kon the internal auditor talk about he send you all those reports on the uh collections that are owed through the audits they're performing and so that helps bring in uh again the additional Revenue that is over to the city related to the hotel occupancy tax uh this is again just a slide going back to 2014 you'll see sort of the growth of the hotel occupancy tax revenue up to 2019 obviously then Co hit 2020 we saw that decrease in those couple of years and then we have bounced back in the last few years to hover around that $4.2 $4.1 million a year uh amount of revenue from the hotel occupancy tax approved by the voters in November of 2012 this slide again just U showing you some more information related to what I mentioned earlier on the hotel occupancy you'll see the city was around 71% down to just under 67% for FY 24 however when you look on the right hand side that average daily rate of what hotels are charging continues to increase which again is encouraging that we see that a little bit of increase to be able to offset the decrease on the actual occupancy so the last slide here again just looking ahead the hotel occupancy continues to perform again third year of no J fund subsidy required so again that's really really good news the big discussion no different than what we've talked a lot about in the last few years we talked a little bit about it during the budget process this year is the additional funding that's going to be required related to capital projects at the Ballpark uh the ballpark is entering the 12th year we want to ensure that we're continue to maintain that facility to be the U you know the premier triaa baseball stadium that it is it's a beautiful Stadium the mstar Sports Group has done a really good job of maintaining it however we will need to continue to identify additional funding as we move forward because right now there have been some projects that have been deferred and there's going to continue to be things that come up and so currently we do not have um a set aside fund for anything that may come up throughout the year we've worked very closely the city engineer evet Hernandez and myself work very closely with the mstar Sports Group uh to address any of those issues as they come up however uh this is going to be a situation where we need to make sure that we do have adequate funds to be able to address those issues as they arise particularly as we you know continue to invest in the downtown area uh the recent opening of the children museum L we have the Mac about to open mayor Lisa reference what we're looking to do with the convention center we want to sure that we continue to maintain these facilities to that high level of standard and with that I be happy to answer any questions represent Salo did you have a question oh okay I'm sorry so based on everything you're giving us I know that um with the bu Park we just approved over $5 million in updates and things that they asked for when do you believe that the ballpark will start paying for itself and not rely on taxpayers so the ballpark to be clear is self- sustainable right now so it is generate enough Revenue to make The Debt Service payment as the capital projects right now that there's not enough Revenue to cover but the last the $5 million we gave the other day last last year was not it it was not part of the money they had earned correct so that's over a 5year time period That's the 5year CIP so the 5 million was approximately just over a million a year um the team has submitted in the past I think last year the average amount per year was three and a half to four million do a year of what they felt they needed to maintain the facility at the standard which they felt was reasonable so so you it's it's paying for itself but but every 5 years we'll have to do the updates and they will that'll come off the back of the local taxpayer so every year we bring forth the 5year CIP and so we haven't received it yet from Mount Star Sports Group we'll probably get that in the next few months right we're on year 12 of it year 12 right so the we're required to bring that 5year CIP before city council uh we'll need to work through obviously with mstar Sports Group we'll review the projects ensure that they're adequate necessary and again that they're prioritizing the importance of those projects because obviously there is limited funds to be able to to get those accomplished now being that we're talking about downtown development program do we have the ability to talk about uh Convention Center M nean so we can't say all the money we've saved and everything we're doing and no sir you already had that opportunity yesterday and I know that and then you stopped me 10 minutes into it no I know it was your fault anyway so there's we don't have the opportunity to tell the taxpayers we we have a great plan that we've worked on for over a year now and it won't be on the local back taxpayer but it'll be a huge expansion we can't talk about that Miss nean okay thank you so one of the things that's important as well I mean you all know this but I I think it's important when we bring forth you know not only this report but when we bring forth that 5year CIP it's one of the difficult decisions that you all are going to have to make we need to identify the funding that goes along with it so thinking about Coen stadium and that stadium was 29 years old from the time that it was actually built and finished to the time that it was demolished 29 years so it just barely lasted enough to essentially pay for itself and then it was demolished because it was not invested in it was not you know maintained to the level that it should have been and so particularly because the location of this ballpark being in the downtown area that's the last thing we want to do is to not invest and not maintain that Stadium to the level that it should be obviously that's something that uh we're very fortunate that we do have a m Star Sports Group does have the agreement with AA affiliate for the San Diego project so we have a tenant in that facility but we need to ensure that we're keeping up with not only the minor league but the Major League Baseball standards as well to maintain that facility thank you Mr cortinez for the presentation the 580,000 what is the source of funds so it's all of the additional Revenue that's coming through dedicated to the ballpark so it's after we received the 2% from the project Vue tax the team lease Revenue that we receive the parking the ticket Revenue at the end of the day we pay the de service anything that's left over in cash as of 8:31 August 31st we transfer for capital projects got it um yeah no that I just wanted to reemphasize to the public that the ballark is self-sufficient your property taxes are not paying for it your property taxes are not paying for the Capital Improvements there could be an argument made that those dollars could be redirected to the general general fund so I mean but we also have a contract with u Mountain star and the one thing that I wanted to highlight for purposes of educating the public is the fact that we did not fully fund the request this year in fact you showed year over a year there's always been a million plus in fact that was even lesser than we should be putting this Council decided to give half of that which I disagreed with now it is the responsibility of this Council to remind ourselves that that is our asset that is the city of El Paso's public asset and I'm very concerned that the funding is not being put aside for maintenance long-term maintenance along with some of the critical infrastructure needs I mean they talked about elevators they've talked about improvements for the experience and so all of that is going to improve the longlasting longevity of that site and this Council has already failed that so there's hope for the future um but I do want to for purposes of of reminding the public that the we have to put the money aside and it's not your property tax dollars but um I'm grateful for the work that you've done and I'm grateful for the partnership with mountainstar I've made this very clear to mountainstar that the city council should be doing more and those funds should be red diverted to the capital plan because the capital plan we know what it is today I mean they'll give you an update in next year but we already know the needs and we already know that we should be funding that prayer contract but um I'm in the I'm in the moment right night now of educating the public thanks and that is an excellent point that I didn't make just to be clear that the ballpark is a city asset it's the city's facility and so we need to make sure that just like all of our other facilities that the council has approved the annual facility payo money to be able to address those facilities we need to ensure again that we're taking care of the ballpark as well thank you Sira thank you mayor thank you ma'am one one quick question it was a perfect segue into what I wanted to ask and you know since both the locomotive and the the CHS are using that stadium and we want to protect that asset has there been any talk or any idea of moving the the the the the soccer team the locals motives uh to their own facility with the owner from there I know that there was talk early on I haven't been involved in any recent discussions in regards to a soccer stadium and for the public state do they have do they also pay for the usage of that yes sir so we collect any Revenue ticket Revenue parking revenue from the locomotive games as well we receive that Revenue as well the city's portion that was for the public that so they could know that they do they are paying for it so so there is there is some benefit to having both currently in the stateum we do receive the revenue both for the agreement for both Shah was and the locomotive all right thank you sir appreciate thank you mayor thank you I think they're going to move into when they redo the convention center I'm kidding you there's uh no further questions uh thank you for the presentation do um do we have a motion to adjourn there's a motion and a second to adjourn the Downtown Development Corporation meeting all in favor anyone opposed and the Downtown Development Corporation meeting for Tuesday December 17th 2024 is adjourned at 12:04 p.m. mayor would you like to convene the regular city council meeting yes thank you is there a motion to reconvene there's a motion in a second to reconvene the regular city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed the meeting is back in session at 12:04 p.m. we now turn to page number 18 to item number 40 that was moved to the Forefront of the regular agenda and item 40 is discussion and action on the award of solicitation 20240 584 R Real Estate Management rebit to capap rate Real Estate Group this contract will allow for Real Estate Management Services needed for real estate transactions good morning Crystal boss with purchasing and strategic sourcing item 40 is linked to strategical number six set the standard for sound governance and fiscal management the linkage to the Strategic plan is subsection 6.5 deliver service Services timely and efficiently with a focus on continue Improvement this is a new contract for Real Estate Management services for the streets and maintenance department this was a request for proposal procurement there were 29 views online three proposals were received all being from local suppliers no protests were received for this requirement we are recommending award to capap rate Real Estate Group the highest ranked offer based on the evaluation factors established in the evaluation criteria for this procurement Canal it's okay uh no this is a this is an important service for us to procure um I think uh We've landed in an excellent place with it so thank you uh team and I guess the motion's already been made there is a motion made by representative Fiero seconded by representative Rea to approve item 40 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously we now turn to page number 21 mayor 44 and 45 are related would you like to take those together thank you item number 44 is a public hearing of an ordinance amending Title Five B business license and permit regulations to add exception for events at venues with more than 7,000 seating capacity to amend definitions of establishment and outdoor area to increase the radiuses for property owner and neighborhood association notification requirements to increase the radius for residential property owners to contest a permit to amend the number of violations that can result in suspension or revocation of permit and to clarify that the city May seek civil action and penalties of up to $1,000 per day item 45 is a public hearing of an ordinance submitting Title 9 health and safety chapter 9.40 noise to add definitions for low ambient reading and Stadium event to clarify the reasonable sensibility standard and exception for events at venues with more than 7,000 seating capacity to clarify the maximum sound level for C readings and the location of sound readings to clarify that vibration violations can occur at on any affected property to clarify that the city May seek civil action and penalties of up to $1,000 per day and to clarify which City departments have authority to enforce go ahead sir good morning mayor members of the council Steve Alvarado Co enforcement director with the El Paso Police Department currently so we have uh several amendments coming through um it can you please bring up the presentation for 44 and 45 please so we're going to be going over the process that was developed here that brought us to this point on this day uh title five Amplified sound permit and Title 9 noise ordinance amendments there's a total of eight recommendation amendments in title five and a total of 10 for Title Nine that we'll be including today so a little background on the order Amendment development what's brought us here today um back in 2022 when I first started with the city of elb Paso um we brought a a presentation forward with an update um we came back in June of 2023 at that point this Council gave us direction to on board a third-party consultant that's consultant was responsible Hospitality Institute out of California uh we conducted a comprehensive survey of our social vibrancy U which included social venues Public Safety um public space mobility and several other options there as well um the the survey the assessment took place with associable City assessment started in October of 2023 we held over 29 meetings and today we've held over 43 meetings uh inperson Team meetings um things along that line um at that point uh recommendations were brought forward in May of 2024 and September of 2024 um the sociable City action plan was presented it's a 93 page document which is still available online for everybody to view this project was a true collaboration uh of multiple diverse backgrounds um we had residents neighborhood associations um Hotel owners bar owners restaurants owners down downtown Management District the Texas Restaurant Association um in multiple City departments including fire PD um ES the planning and inspections and of course our wonderful uh city attorney's office it also included at the county level with the County nuisance abatement team Amy mavas and also State level's TABC participated in this project and had input as well uh we can forget about our federal Partners Fort Bliss they they participated gave input it was true collaboration with multiple departments involved and residents um so the Pro proposed action items um as we brought forward back in May and September we had action items that we wanted to bring forward and that's where we're at today these are some of them and I I'll give you an outline on all of them that are being proposed for title five uh propos Amplified sound permit am amendments chapter 503 it's going to include an exception to Stadium events and events with venues that have more than 7,000 seating capacity uh which will include the amphitheater uh amended definition and outdoor area um it'll tell us where to take the property to take the sound readings from the property line now right currently we do it from the center of the outdoor area which could be debated at at some point if we're not accurate and with the radius that we notification to the radius of the neighbors and also those who can appeal the actual application um like I said the radius current radius is 150 ft for those who can appeal the S uh outdoor sound application permit and we notify 300 ft in writing currently we're looking to expand that to 500 ft in writing and those who could appeal from 150 ft to 300 ft uh the appeal process is important to remember is that if 25% of the residents in that 300t radius um write a letter to OS this application then the permit is denied by the permit official so we're also further recommending reducing the number of citations for those permits that are issued for outdoors amp outdoor amplification permits those who have the current permit currently if you have 10 notices of violation then the permit will be revoked we're taking it from 10 down to two is a recommendation we're also adding a new civil citation under chapter 20 54 of the Texas local government code um that'll get increase the Civil violation up to $1,000 per day whether it's a full day or partial day next slide now we'll move into Title 9 amendments recommendations um again we're going to have a definition for the exception for Stadium events planed Stadium event or outdoor stadium including the language adding Amphitheater to the definition we're also including under Title 9 chapter 20 I'm sorry excuse me section 20 a local ambient reading which measures the lowest uh ambient rate for a seawe now the sea we we currently do not enforce we sea we will include the base and vibration that's coming from these establishments that that's majority of the complaints we're getting here in Code Enforcement at PD is because of the Basin vibration being Port you know coming from these uh businesses that are creating the these type of noise nuisances in the neighborhood so that'll be included in the definition um we're also exterior loudspeakers operating a pering between the hours of 10 and 7 we're we're excluding that so it's going to be at any time we're having some minor language cleanup which changes from the location where the the sound is being received to where the sound is being produced and again we are I'm recommending an addition of a seawe DBC which is the Bas in vibration this will allow us to address those noises coming from there currently we just do the AE re readings which is set at 70 uh we're giving the recommendation of keeping the awe at 70 at this time there has been some recommendations to lower it to 65 the reason we want to keep it at 70 is because we don't have the data or the full impact of what the sewe ra readings are going to be uh once we have that and we could always come back to council 6 months a year whatever the recommendation is um and pro you know amend the 70 if needed at that time um we're removing some of the language from the proper joining property line and making it any property So currently we the reasonable sensibility is for the adjoining property line now we're taking away the adjoining and and expanding that for reasonable sensibilities we're also amending who can enforce just clarifying the enforcement departments as Council knows we're currently restructuring code enforcement to create our own Department to enforce which will include multiple factors in this alignment perfectly in in what we're doing here as we keep moving forward please know that we will bring more amendments to the table what's needed once we fully assess it we vet the need and if it's a short-term or long-term goal we'll be back to city council what's also important to know is that code enforcement is changing Across the Nation uh we're expanding we're we're doing more objectives to meet the needs of the community and by no means are we trying to we're trying to create a we're trying to create a social social vibrant economy we're not trying to close down any bars we want to have the best of both worlds if you will where we have a vibrant social economy as well as address quality of life issues so I just want to make sure that we're clear on that uh we're also adding to Title 9 the civil action under title 54 of the Texas state code which increases a civil action up to $1,000 per day per violation um and there's a little explanation on title 50 chapter 54 of Texas local government code you have you um moving forward like I've said previously um we are not done we continue to hold the social City Alliance meetings um which talks about a multiple uh issues in in the committee along with the bars and we've invited multiple people to the table who have Al also par over 100 plus participants in this project which includes bar owners Hotel owners Texas Restaurant Association like I said earlier so this project is not done by no means this journey will continue and we'll we'll bring forward more amendments uh as a need becomes necessary um lastly I would really like to thank everybody at this Council for giving us the opportunity and the support um as well as City leadership city manager Dion Mack and car Neeman thank you household Mario um we we appreciate that support and we'll continue to make changes and work with Community we look forward to working with the new city council as well um one one last thing so we have been doing an analysis of the sound readings even though the the sea we is not in effect uh we we've been taking readings since October 11th I instructed staff to give us some kind of um language so we did 237 readings which is included the average for the DBA which is the AE your highs level ratings was 66.2 the ambient was 56.2 um the average for DBC which is your Bas and vibration was 82 ambient average of 75.9 we did learn a valuable lesson in this because as you know if we take the ambient from Mesa and Baltimore for example it's going to be a lot higher we're allowed to take the ambient within 300 ft or a two block area um so it's depends where we're taking the ambient it's going to impact the DBC more so than the DBA but we're creating a we're mapping out an ambient reading location to standardize our procedures moving forward and this will be just for court proceedings as if it is passed today for the DBC so we have everything in line everything is clean and we streamline this process any questions that Council may have I'm happy to answer at this point I don't think there's anyone willing to no I'm kidding it's all did up but um now thank you for your presentation I know that I asked you the question yesterday and you told me there was 45 meetings or so that you conducted to come up with it you wanted to make sure there was there was not any Rock unturn to make sure that you listen to everybody so I thank you for that uh 45 five meetings that's a lot of input and a lot of listening and then a lot of compromising so I thank you for that thank you representative Canalis followed by mayor proam thank you mayor and thank you Mr Al Al I don't think I have any specific questions I'm going to talk for a little bit if you'd like to sit down up to you um today we uh are are considering proposed amendments to the noise ordinance which I really believe are a necessary step in making sure that El Paso grows in a way that uh both allow allows for a vibrant night life uh but is also sustainable for for everyone for residents and and businesses uh alike it's the culmination of uh many years of process so there's lots of History uh as as Mr Alvarado explained there was an initial more strict proposal uh in 2019 uh that was uh postponed and and event eventually there was action taken that that uh approved what we have on the books today um three more years of work led to a more developed proposal that the council considered in 2022 um but the council chose then not to make a decision that day and instead instructed the the city manager to hire an outside expert to to study the situation and return with recommendations as as Mr Alvarado described in 2023 the council hired the responsible Hospitality Institute to carry out that work um and and after a year-long process involving an incredibly robust public Outreach again more than 45 public meetings uh and and the formation of a of a task force the socialable cities Alliance uh that still meets to this day um and the work of you know a a dozen departments uh in in uh trying to develop recommendations uh that that all culminated in these recommendations that we consider today that came out uh as part of the 93 page sociable City assessment that the consultant uh produced for us they very much reflect a compromise uh you know a lot of folks have met over the years to uh give their feedback and their input has been included in in what in it's being presented today uh I think these are reasonable recommendations um as most people know I think I I represent a district that includes a lot of the neighborhoods that are the the most active and and Lively areas where we see a lot of the noise complaints places like uh Kern place and specifically Cincinnati Avenue the entire Mesa Street Corridor uh downtown and surrounding neighborhoods Five Points uh these neighborhoods are really at the intersection of of two sometimes conflicting uh forces that's a a growing and thriving nightlife that we have here in El Paso and that's a good thing um and also the the quiet peaceful lives that that many of our residents really cherish in their homes um so I think we need to we need to talk about the reality of that conflict a little bit um Al Paso's experienced a lot of new growth in activity in The Nightlife scene I think especially on the back of the pandemic uh and in the recovery uh there are more people out on the streets there's more events there's more music there's more energy those are all great things that that make the city a really exciting place um but with that excitement I think also comes the responsibility for establishments uh and for individuals too in homes to appropriately manage the noise that they generate um whether that's loud music or crowds um or the type of late night activity that can PE keep people up uh when they need to rest so it's it's a delicate delicate balance it's not one that's been easy to navigate and I think this is a good solution for it um in places like uh K and and five points I've heard from countless residents and I think you have two Mr Alvarado who who feel caught in the middle of the conflict that comes comes uh from the the new entertainment uses being near residential uh zones and and places that have traditionally been residential um and of course these people they want to live in a city that's that's dynamic they want to be able to go enjoy a night out or catch a concert um but they also want to be able to come home to sleep to spend quiet time with their families and to feel restful in their in their own neighborhoods and their own homes so the truth is that the the two things the vibrancy of of night life and then the Peace of of our residential areas they don't always coexist easily but the goal of these proposed changes is to make that coexistence uh real for us um to to clarify the the goal of this is not to shut anyone down to put anyone out of business it's not to kill El Paso's nightlife I've seen that language floating around out there um these things will definitely not do any of that um and you know we've heard it's not just it's not just my district we've heard concerns over the years from residents across the entire city who are who are frustrated by ongoing noise problems that they face near their homes um the the proposed changes they they do a lot to ensure that we're listening to both sides of the issue in my opinion uh one of the most important things uh is the expansion of the radius uh for notifying residents about Amplified sound permits uh right now that notific radius is 300t it's rather small um obviously noise can carry more than 300t so under the proposed changes that would increase to 500 feet I think this is important more people will know when uh when an amplified sound permit uh is is being applied for in their area um of course it also changes the uh radius for their ability to uh weigh in on that Amplified sound permit uh and give their opinion whether that's in favor or against um but it it gives a better ability for members of the community to speak up and make sure that they're heard during that process um I think vitally this also gives a clearer standard for measurement um we're defining what levels of sound are acceptable at different times of day and for the first time as as Mr Alo explained we'll be using both DBA the the regular midtones that we already regulate and uh DBC the base tones and lower vibrations um this is important it takes into account the overall uh impact of of sound not just the type of sound but how the different frequencies affect people um the the proposed ordinance of course says that the noise at the property line can't exceed 8 DBC 8 DB C above the uh ambient level uh meaning that we're considering the existing noise in the area uh when deciding whether noise is excessive and I think that's a really important step for us to take um but just as importantly this ensures that there's real consequences for people or businesses that that violate these rules by by introducing the Civil penalties of up to $1,000 a day I think it's making it clear that that noise violations that are repeated won't be tolerated um when the council considered this issue in 2019 uh I was here in the room and again in 20122 um many uh venue owners uh bar owners uh people who came to speak asked the council for an opportunity to prove that they could be good neighbors voluntarily um and many of them truly committed to that and and upheld the promises they made that day but others haven't and some others really really haven't um and in the years since then there are establishments that have received dozens and some even hundreds of citations you know every night they're they're they're uh not adhering to the regulations and being cited challenging those citations in court and then continuing to cause disruption seemingly without regard for for anyone around them and again it's not a large number right this is a small number of of uh I think uh folks acting in in bad faith not trying to comply with what's on the books now so I I imagine that there will be some speakers later who who uh are maybe upset at the need that we feel to in Institute new clearer standards um but I think that those those Bad actors are where the the focus of their IR should be um that's what's creating the need for us to act so uh I I understand that these changes might seem like they're stepping into the way of business but the truth is I I think we can have both the vibrant night life and the quiet neighborhoods and we need this in order to strike the balance um so uh I I asked today that uh my my fellow members of the council we support these changes uh we want El Paso to keep growing in the right direction and our nlife scene to keep growing um and I think that this sets us up for continued success in that area so uh I have received some questions about some different types of potential exemptions for for certain concerts and uh kind of things that get into the Nuance of of enforcement um I think that's something that we can monitor uh as as Mr Alo has said and and adjust into the future if needed obviously things can change as as implementation happens um and I'm personally committed to to making sure that those things get monitored um so that we can consider how it's how it's being rolled out um with that I move to approve the changes thank you sir representative um mayor poam yeah C just a couple of questions um how is the number 7,000 decided on as far as venues you know we took a look at overall venues in within El Paso County city of El Paso as well uh we went I think a lot of them are over that so we just came up with the 7,000 at that point um you're making a mess I have a concern about um tailoring it to existing venues rather than potential venues that could open up I think the 7,000 is um is too high for an exemption very honestly because there's a category that runs from 2500 to about 6 or seven and I think that by limiting that exemption to 7,000 I have a concern about the number um only because we're going to be shutting down at the big venues I I'll just be honest at the big venues it's usually National Touring that goes in there um with some of the smaller venues and I'm not talking smaller small enough to have local neighborhood bars be Exempted uh I'm talking about actual concert you know concerts that people would be putting on between the 2500 to 7,000 so that I mean I would be concerned about that area I don't I don't want to legislate out the local promoters from having the same exemption that we're about to give the national promoters I would have a real concern about that uh the number for revocation from 10 to two what's the time limit for the two violations it's when they're issued okay my Pro my concern with that is that's two violations ever so I could have a violation now and have another one in five years and that's my two violations and I've been revoked is that right you know what I would get have to get clarification from the city attorney's office my understanding is that it's within a one-year time frame yes sir Sor don't you know I'd end up talking to you guys very that is with the city attorney's office yes Chief's correct um it would be within the one-year time frame and it gives the discretion to do that does it mean that automatically all the bars yeah I don't like leaving stuff up to discretion it kind of makes me nervous um but it is under a single year that's correct I I don't I I agree by the way that 10 is too many if if somebody's had 10 violations in a year that that's egregious but I don't know that two you know if you barely cap it out twice in a year you lose it and and I would be concerned that I'm not talking about pushing it to 10 but bumping it up just a little bit the last one the last concern I have and this is going to be one um $1,000 a day and I know that that that's what is allowed under 5417 right because it says may not exceed up to $1,000 a day yeah that's correct so that's a civil action that the city can go to the county courthouse and file a civil action against the establishments and those fines are different they're not criminal citations they're civil citations up to $1,000 a day per violation so there's no way that the city could say we're going to have expanding penalties if you're a multiple violator like 250 for your first violation and as it begins to go up you pay more so that's possible um the way we have it written right now is it just broadly lays out what the criminal violation is and what the Max Fine is um but there is possibilities to have the ordinance would that come under the criminal side then uh a potential as a potential violation here's why $1,000 a day is not going to close down somebody that's really an offender because if you're a business $1,000 a day could be seen as the cost of doing business and that's my concern is I'd like to make sure that if we're citing people we've got enough teeth in it to really make it financially painful for those that are choosing to to knowledgeably violate sure do you know what I mean yes I do I mean somebody who says I don't give thousand bucks a day cool I'll cover that I'm doing $12,000 a night in bar yeah I think that's a situation that we see pretty often in terms of uh yeah defendants coming into Municipal Court willing to pay off the fines instead of you know um fixing the issue and and that's my concern is is if we had an escalation on that you know those are my only those are my concerns with this those three the the the number because I don't want to rule out the the local promoters the you know the 10 to two 10's way too high two may be a little too low I'm glad to know it's within a year that makes me much more comfortable but also I think that we've got to have some stronger teeth in this thing as far as penalties because let's face it if you really want somebody to stop the violations you better hit him in the pocketbook and a th000 bucks with somebody who's doing a big business um from TABC and there are multiples a thousand bucks on a weekend night on a Saturday night okay I mean I know what the what the profit margin is off those having you know not previous existence had clients in that genre and so it doesn't really you know I I want to protect the local promoters and at the same time make sure that if somebody's just flying in the face of it we really got to come down on them and those are my concerns thank you sir represent followed by represent thank you mayor Mr thank you so much I I appreciate the all the work that's g into this document I appreciate that you you you've said that it's a living working document and as you move forward we can we can work with it I want to thank representative Canales for all his work on on moving it to this point um I know he's had to overcome lots of um loss of hair and roadblocks but thank you but I have a couple of questions and concerns um number one is where all the stakeholders ERS presented this document and did they have the opportunity to have input into the final pres what we're being presented to today so many of these recommendations came through the socialable city assessment and it's in the action plan itself the document uh I made some phone calls and contacted the DMD Texas Restaurant Association and a few neighborhood associations but uh they participated in the development but they weren't given this document so people that partic had input in the beginning probably have not some have not seen the final document no some wouldn't have okay um my second question is has all of council been briefed on this presentation uh a memorandum was provided to each and every council member and the opportunity to speak and and go over this was was afforded to each and every one of you so you reached out to our offices and said art do you want a presentation yes okay okay um the other reason the other concern I have is along with what represent mayor protim Kennedy had is where the 7,000 number came from um I think that U there's many venues that we're we're eliminating or not allowing to do business by by doing that and it you know that's a big concern for mine and and I would like to make an amendment to to the the motion to move that number down to 2500 um and then that's all that's that's all I have this time the thank you representative aavo followed by representative Canales thank you mayor so I have a lot of questions and comments but one thing that I was looking at in the presentation was the sociable City plan and it seems like a lot of that has been derived into what you're presenting us today right and that's kind of what you said earlier and I I for one was not very impressed with that plan that um Consultants provided for us I think that one big conclusion that I drew from that is I think the council from a few years ago thought this is the way forward we're finally going to figure out the noise ordinance and then the Consultants did the work and it wasn't very impressive and there was kind of more questions than answers right and I think from what I remember was what is the magical number and when we had the Consultants here present it was just kind of going around in circles and not really giving us clear answers and it just kind of really dampened the final product for me which was that plan that was presented in this nice little book and now we're here right and I think that from what I recall that we've had these conversations is it was really hard to engage a lot of the bar owners you you had a lot of meetings and I know you talked about 29 meetings 43 meetings part of that was to engage a lot of the bar owners and I think from what you said earlier this year there were not very many that participated and do you know why that happened they just didn't want to engage or was there any reasons was it just left unread or excellent question we we reached out to the best of our abilities um we even had a presentation by rhi solely with rhi and no City staff because that tends to bring a lot more bar owners to participate in these meetings and I think they had eight or nine participants during that meeting um we continue to uh grant them a seat at the table we want them to be a part of this moving forward I think it's important that they have some action moving forward and the future development whatever amendments that we're going to bring forward at that point in time that they have some say and a word on that as well so I welcome each and everyone still to this day to to continue to participate okay so I I think that that's where I'm kind of having an issue there cuz I I kind of want to figure out what what has happening you know when there is an issue I usually bring all the parties together and I reach out and it's like let's get in one room let's all figure it out and let's find a solution right and and I think that there is something that is preventing them from coming to these meetings maybe it's a lack of trust in the city or they're already mad at the city I mean over the years I've kind of seen like the city just hates us right well let's kind of figure out and let's resolve those issues and let's talk through things and and I think it takes both sides to do that it's not just on us but I think we need to do a little bit more on that and then also um thinking about the data on the repeat offenders I feel like you could think about the repeat offenders for example downtown there's a particular repeat offender that that just continues to do it over and over and over and over again right but then I think what that leads to is for other bars that are trying to be good neighbors to be penalized for it because if it applies to one it applies to all at that point right and so it's kind of changing a policy just because of one bad actor for the rest of them to suffer and that is something that I'm worried about I I know that um in your presentation earlier you said that the intent was not to close bars you want a good night life and stuff and and I truly believe that that's not your intent and you've been working on this for a very long time but I think that we are seeing some bars that are closing and we are seeing establishments that have been um very iconic to Al Paso right we see that one is going to close at the end of the year and some of the stuff that they've been posting on social media has been saying that the city would not work with them and I kind of looked for the information myself and realized that the city did indeed settle with them and it was not a horrible settlement but I think that we are still not figuring this out when all the other cities have figured it out right and I think one question that I have in terms of this number whether it's going to be 2500 or 7,000 it seems like you pick 7,000 based on on City venues only right cuz we have the the ballpark we have um the upcoming Amphitheater in the Northeast but then we have other venues so it's like how can we not figure this out right and and I feel like we need to use more data to get to to a better point right um data we have the top 10 offenders let's really be aggressive on reaching out on sitting down on seeing what we can do and that's kind of what I I want to see um what about if there is uh a festival right that is going to be closing down the streets of downtown and there's going to be more than 7,000 people there at that point it's not necessarily an arena or an Amphitheater or whatever it is or there's not necessarily going to be seats but it's still going to be quite a bit of people coming in quite a bit of people staying in hotels and bringing in more sales tax it's an economic development driver right and so how do they fall in line within this Arena rule that or Amphitheater rule or 7,000 seating capacity thing when it could just be a street so they would follow the existing process for a special event permit um so some things like that say Winterfest a big concert across the street um they would go through the planning and inspections apply for a special event perment and that permitted to be vetted and sent around for approvals to different departments but then they also have to go through different businesses to sign off on them as well right you know what that is a question I cannot answer but okay sure but that's kind of what I've heard in the in the past where um we could have them come to the One-Stop shop they could go through the different departments and stuff but then they kind of hit a hit a rock wall when they're trying to find that so I think that this is also kind of something that needs to be figured out and I'm not seeing that this is the full solution for it and then um is this going to be for the entire city footprint yes this will be applicable Citywide it's not siloed into any particular district and just for clarification to council um the 7,000 number and the 2500 number 7,000 just an exemption from The Sound outdoor sound application permit so any venue smaller than that number would just have to get the outdoors uh amplification permit it go through that process so which is the the same thing that a festival coming to downtown would go through similar but that'll be longterm um whereas a festival will be like a weekend okay okay and then um so this is inclusive of downtown it is inclusive applicable Citywide okay and so I I've just been thinking a lot about the number that we were given a few months ago that our sales taxs only increased by $3 million and as we have seen people complaining about property taxes and stuff like that I think one of the major drivers is our downtown and bringing in more sales tax revenue to that right and so um I'm just worried about this um the the council voted in May to um include downtown as part of noise ordinance after not being included for many years and I think in those 7even months since that vote took place we have seen that a bar is closing at the end of the year and a lot of it is coming to the noise ordinance so for me that that's that's a big thing that I'm I'm seeing in this and I would like to make a motion to exclude downtown from the proposed plan that you have set forth today yeah I would just advise against that but that's just my recommendation representative okay there's no second on that uh representative Salo um here um what metrics will we be using with city council to determine if the ordinances uh being upheld I'm sorry can you repeat the question what metrics will be will we be using to make sure that everything's being uh ad her as as planned so we'll continue with our nighttime enforcement team which has been active for many years but it's been more streamlined last year so it'll be the same set of team officers we're currently recruiting for a a couple of those vacancies in that position so we will continue our enforcement efforts um Friday Saturdays including Thursdays when necessary um going out there and making sure that everybody's adhering to these regulations I know that you mentioned that uh to xss or what's the time period you're going to come back to city council and let them know if this ordinance is working out and if there needs to be any adjustments um we could uh come back in six months to a year or whenever Council deems it necessary for an update by all means yeah I think I think that's a great idea I think that would be a motion I would like to offer like you said uh six months to come um and and assess if the the impact of this ordinance yes thank you thank you I think this council's going to be breaking up on the 6th of January so I pr for 7 days I'll make it happen May thank you sirk you representative Canalis no I'm sorry representative Rea followed by representative Canales thank you mayor going back to 20 that distance 7, 2500 uh would you prefer to have both in case the venue doesn't fit your the the the need that the 7,000 Cedar requires you know uh I think one number would be um better if if you will um I don't know how many venues have 2500 capacity um the other thing is we're just exempting them from the outdoor sound amplification permit so and then when you when you call for these meetings I know before that because we I've been working on this for a long time with uh so you made every effort to contact the the owners and they just some just refused to show up or or uh you know somebody access their lays on and they get the information later on down the road Road I know because uh the I know Mr Leo from LJ and uh from Anthony from uh the the mid manhatt Heights and everything were the the presence and all they would actually have their meetings correct yeah we we invited everybody we we possibly can and I know um Vanessa Duran with LJ has participated representing Texas Restaurant Association locally so um and we still invite them to this day it's an open opportunity for everybody to participate not just bar owners restaurant owners hotels uh DMD um but every resident and every business in the city we want your input we want to hear what what impacts you and how how do we affect change and that's true I I know I attended some and the fact that the fact that the data that you all obtain is necessary and and I mean you're not just pulling it out of the air and and you know it it's data that comes with an with a a lot of research behind it and then uh I agree with some of the the the the I agree with the changes here but um I just wanted a clarification of 72500 if you want both numbers or you just want one number or what you know I I'd prefer one and the 7,000 was our recommendation but we we'll enforce whatever we is and again that was based on what again based on the current venues that we're seeing out there um things that could have outdoor amplification because that's really what impacts the neighborhood is the Outdoor amplification in El Paso in in El Paso and some of the businesses and other things in in the Amendments was also roll of doors and open Windows which may impact neighborhoods which could then trigger an outdoor amplification okay thank you thank you mayor thank you representative Canalis your second time sir thank you mayor two quick questions first um the you know we're discussing capacity that capacity figure is that the maximum capacity established by the fire marshall no that was just a number based on current venues um correct but as we're enforcing who determines what the capacity of a venue is at the certificate of occupancy it's part of the building process and the Fire Marshall they'll they'll establish how many people could be within that establishment okay so it is the number established by the fire marcial 7,000 no no when considering a particular venue the number that we will use for capacity when enforcing is the number that's established by the fire maral yes I apologize no that's okay um and then one other quick question the the action that the council took a few months ago with regard to downtown that was only to REM remove the exemption for the outdoor Amplified sound permit correct downtown businesses have never been exempt from the entire noise ordinance they were exempt for that portion for the outdoor amplification just to down DMD the area of the downtown Management District right but business downtown still had to adhere to the the decel limits set forth in the rest of that is correct the 70 decel limit okay corre um and then uh you know I was happy to vote on the recommendations exactly as they came uh if we're if we're making amendments then I also want to offer an amendment um I I'll discuss it first before making the motion when there are restrictions on noise of course there has to be an upper limit um and there's been a lot of discussion over the years about what that upper limit should be here in El Paso I know the recommendation that you brought to us today was 70 DB that's the same as what's in our current ordinance um but that was a change that we initially discussed uh that that staff was preparing to bring forward um I I want to add that change to 65 DB to clarify for the DBA uh back into what's being proposed today uh I just want to read uh it's just sum of a long list of major US cities that have 65 DB or less as their uh their upper limit I I'll note before I start that 65 DB is look by Far Far and Away the most standard across the country in cities large and small and medium uh with way more cities adopting something lower than 65 than the few that adopt something higher than 65 our current 70 deel limit puts us in the very highest cohort among the country cities in the country so here's the list Austin is 65 Jacksonville Florida 65 Fort Worth 65 Columbus 65 New York City's just 55 San Jose California 60 Seattle is 60 Washington DC is at 60 Boston is at 60 uh Nashville 65 Oklahoma City 65 Portland 60 Louisville with its hugely popular uh bourbon bourbon Street bourbon experience downtown I went there this year it was amazing incredible NTI 65 is their limit uh Milwaukee is 65 Albuquerque 65 Sacramento is at 60 tucon 65 Cleveland 65 Raleigh 65 Omaha Nebraska 65 Minneapolis 65 TS says 65 65 is the standard across almost the entire country and as you can see there's some that are lower very very few that are higher including us um I I think all of these cities have pretty vibrant nightlife clearly a limit of 65 DB doesn't kill business uh if if they're all at 65 DB or lower then then I don't think it can be said that 65 is unreasonable so uh with that I I move to strike references to the 70 dbel DBA limit in the proposed ordinance and replace those references with 65 DBA and make any necessary adjustments to that effect that's the reaction I thought I might get thank you mayor m p we do have a call to the public yes mayor we do have several members of the public that signed up to speak on on 44 or 45 we'll begin with Miss n Jango followed by by Ronald maluli Brandon Shannon Jonathan Escalante good afternoon you have three minutes good afternoon city council mayor uh Ms Mack and Miss Neiman my name is an Jan Julio and I'm a resident of Kern Place uh my life has been disrupted for The Last 5 Years including just a day a few days ago by music and thumping Bass from the are lost and found today I want to thank this city council for listening to neighbors and for bringing in the consultant to help find the right balance here the items on today's agenda to amend the Amplified sound noise vibrations penalties and enforcement are not everything that residents wanted but they seem like a good compromise to move forward with and after so many years I really honestly do feel heard by this Council and I'm grateful the ability to sleep at night and enjoy one's home undisturbed must be one of the most basic premises of quality of life for our city government to ensure peace in one's own home is a sacred right Worth Fighting For we can all agree on that again I appreciate Council and staff for working hard to reach these recommendations my family and I sincerely honestly wish you all and that includes when I say all uh that includes bar owners managers bouncers bartenders servers DJs performers everyone who's here today on this topic I honestly wish you and your families a peaceful holiday season I want to Express gratitude to these officers that we see in the back of the room I've come to know many of them and I'm so grateful for everything they do for us every weekend all of us that I've mentioned here we all work hard and at the end of the day we all deserve peace thank you so much thank you the next speaker is Ronald Mali Mr Mali if you're in the Q star 6 to unmute your telephone Ronald maluli or Brandon Shannon star six please to unmute your telephone Brandon Shannon good afternoon you have three minutes this is Brandon good morning mayor good morning city council good morning um couple of things uh I want to go over first is what has already been covered in this meeting right now um as far as the meetings go um that were held by city council and the mediation we were only invited I'm a part of three bars by the way off Tunis uh Greeno Theory desert BM now which has been open about 10 months um we were only invited to one meeting so we were here for the mediation when she came in from San Francisco I forget her name um that was the only meeting we attended because that's the only one we are aware of so we've checked emails just now we were kind of scrambling to see uh if we've been notified by any means and we haven't so this this new uh design that y'all came up with right here I would say is a step in the right direction but it's definitely got a lot of open Loose Ends um kind of want to touch on the 65 deel every everywhere in the United States um where most of the most of the uh cities he was stating Austin and um other places that have a you know vibrant night life they're at 65 DB but what's their radius what's the radius on their uh sound permit I wonder because we're extending Ours from 300 to 500 feet um which I feel is a little bit extreme I mean it's at 300 right now if we're going to compromise on the decel let's compromise on the radius so 65 but less than the radius um just a suggestion also um can we look in the possibility of making the residents uh accountable like can we make a member uh Sound Ordinance member for the residents of El Paso give them a number so when they call in it's documented and that way when your when your uh compliance goes out and it's a false reading or its way below the decibel reading you can find them first offense 250 second offense 500 third defense a thousand and then they lose their privilege we can do it that way that way it's a little bit more compromisable uh so businesses aren't just losing and getting fin strictly um on the business side I feel like the calls would probably stop especially on the false reports um someone just disgruntled about having a business next to them um and two it would kind of level the plane field here as far as that I do I do want to say that like the verbiage on this new policy y'all I can tell there's been work put into it but I don't feel like right now it's where it needs to be fully um I think there's a lot of unanswered I would have loved to have been part of I don't know they mentioned 29 43 meetings I mean I think I was at one meeting and I kind of agree and I don't remember everyone's names and I apologize um it was kind of dodging the real issues with the Sound Ordinance when it comes to these business members I know there was a lot of talk about the the bad players uh in this town of thank you Mr Brandon Shannon you've reached the three minute limit thank you thank you for your time D yes' thank you the next speaker is Jonathan Escalante followed by Lisa Turner good afternoon you have three minutes good afternoon good afternoon how are you guys my name is Johnny Escalante lifelong Al pasoan and co-owner of hush hush lost and found later later and jnk present I'm also a former board member of Al Paso's downtown management District the greater Al Paso Civic convention tourism Advisory Board and I'm currently an active member in the TABC it Advisory Board I stand before you today because I believe the proposed changes to the news noise ordinance threaten the delicate balance that keeps our city vibrant growing and future focused as someone with over 14 years of experience producing concerts managing bars and venues and creating community events I've seen firsthand how thoughtful policies can stimulate economic growth while maintaining Public Safety however these proposed changes could inadvertently harm local businesses detour tourism and dilute the unique cultural experiences that make Al Paso special like its beautiful weather and Outdoors at the heart of what we do is create experiences that bring people Joy smaller concerts events cultural Gatherings aren't just about making money they create memories and build community the responsible Hospitality Institute rhi hired by the city to evaluate and propose improvements made several recommendations that were either ignored or applied inconsistently rhi recommended sound level rules to be applied fairly across all venues which is how downtown lost its exemption yet the amendment Grant an exemption to venues with over 7,000 seats like the ballpark while imposing stricter rules fines and permit suspensions on smaller venues like mine two of my establishments are within 500 ft of the ballpark which is exempt but we are held to a stricter standard under the proposed new ordinance this lack of transparency undermines public trust and creates an uneven playing field for small business owners additionally rhi stressed the need for designated entertainment districts to support local nightlife businesses while managing sound and residential areas despite promises from the city for many years we still have no official entertainment districts or zoning Solutions leaving businesses like mine with no place to expand legally or operate within predictable or sustainable guidelines and instead of receiving a road map for sustainable growth we Face increasingly restrictive regulations with nowhere to move rhi also recommended a transparent and collaborative policymaking process involving business owners residents and law enforcements despite my efforts and several emails sent to meet with councilman Chris Canales I was taken aback to receive a forwarded email late last night outlining these proposed changes this process has been marked by a troubling lack of transparency key stakeholders including small business owners like myself were excl uded from meaningful discussions and left to react to these decisions made behind closed doors I hope this was an oversight not a deliberate decision to exclude us from the process on such a short notice Public Safety is a shared priority and we've been personally proactive in addressing it congresswoman Veronica Escobar invited my team and I to join the DWI task force where we collaborated with youve reached the three minutes sir thank you the next speaker is Lisa Turner followed by Monica monarez oh darn represent Kenny is not here I was going to thank him because he brought up it a concern that was mine too where did the 7,000 number come from uh he was worried about people just paying the fine and just keep doing it can we not add in that they will lose the right to to apply for a permit for a set period of time to make sure that they're just not doing that and just paying that fine and going back and being a Serial violator now another thing I'm just wondering you're talking about C waiting you I was wondering about awaiting because uh that's the standard they set for worldwide for uh damage to the ear nor there's anything about Z waiting which is an octave Bandon analysis which lets you know about the background environmental noise and since sound is a wave an environmental noise in the opposite direction can also help cancel it and lower some of the other things that you have to consider is the topology of the area where the noise violator is you have to look at whether or not they've taken any steps on their part remediate the noise emanating from their place of business so if they haven't bothered to put up any sound absorbing materials even like even plywood then they need to be nailed to the wall because you can't blame anybody else they haven't taken any steps uh then there's the weather most people don't understand it in the summer I cannot hear that train as it goes through the intersection down there at country club and Donathan nor can I hear the Coronado band when they're on the field playing in the morning but come winter when it gets cold they have what we call an inversion that sound goes up comes back down and for me to hear the corado band practicing is an almost physical impossibility because I have houses I have a retaining Dam the Army Corps of engineering retaining Dam and I have several you know everything along badier and I'm a couple hundred feet below Coronado so my ability to hear them I shouldn't but I hear them because the inversion effect when you've got the cold air that sign will come up comes back down and that's why I can hear that train going through that intersection all through the winter so there are a lot of things what I have learned here whoever rhi is they didn't use a simple sound engineer and didn't look at any scientific principles cuz I haven't heard anything thank you Miss Turner the next speaker is Monica monares Miss monares star 6 please to unmute your telephone Monica monares good afternoon you have three minutes hello go ahead ma'am okay um hello everyone U thank you for the opportunity to to speak um I'm calling because it's concerning um that this change uh would be happening to local businesses um the 65 uh DB uh if you look it up it's the equivalent of a normal conversation or noise inside of a car going 60 M an hour um this doesn't make sense especially for like a bar that can have like a patio um I don't go out to you know to be listening to people speak music is a big part of uh of our life I think a lot of us took it for granted up until covid so dropping it from 70 to 65 although it's only five points it's a 30% difference so this will affect many businesses that aren't in the downtown area but they're in the outskirts um so I agree with having maybe more enforcement as far as violators um you know there has to be a a better way to um hold people accountable without punishing the others that you know have done their part uh with the communities um I enjoy going to bars and going to patios and um I just recently started working at one and there's a lot of people that depend on uh on this bar for work so you're you're also affecting the livelihood of employees who who depend on this to feed their families like it's already been rough enough on this city um every business is struggling um including bars including um uh live venues what live venue has over 7,000 people you know that's very unrealistic um so I I uh would hope that this is reviewed more and um the 65 decibel average um in San Antonio it's 78 in Houston it's 68 and in Corpus Christie it's 85 at all times so 70 seems to be a better Middle Ground than dropping at 65 um thank you guys so much for for your time thank you the next speaker is James mcneel followed by solidad Gonzalez Jose Gonzalez Keith panel good afternoon good afternoon thank you all good afternoon uh I'm the owner of international uh low brow Palace which is an independent concert venue uh good times and um I'm just here to to make a little exceptions to what you were saying about the seven ,000 capacity I run the only independent brand venue National touring acts and we're 1500 capacity and 750 indoor so that exception to the 7,000 would dramatically affect the only independent venue that exists in El Paso second I'd like to kind of talk about International and and the things that you guys have all been presented to by you know through here and the things that you guys have made changes to we made dramatic changes to uh be a good actor by uh one of the only handful of people that actually have a sound permit now in the city of El Paso our sound goes off at midnight we're running a silent disco where all our patrons have to listen through headphones in in our establishment to mediate our noise uh issues and uh we continue to try to make uh strides in in so many different directions to to to be you know a good neighbor um I think that these issues that you got are trying to make to make things more strenuous are only going to make things worse and not better if you look at the revenue in the bar scene in in El Paso has dropped down dramatically bars are closing we already are dealing with a you know uh an upand cominging um generation that isn't drinking as much so I mean I think bars and entertainment and live uh live music and all that is already struggling M like tremendously so uh I think you all need to reconsider the long-term thing of how this is going to work for here and I think you need to re uh analyze cities like Austin which they have districts and then through the districts there's permits that are presented where you only have a sound permit till 10:00 till midnight till 2 a.m. that are as low as 55 and as high as 85 so I think that there needs to be something done for people such as an or other people that live where zoning is budded up to residential I think the long-term plan is to try to find something where businesses can live and strive and people can enjoy themselves like people coming from the sunbow that are going to be here on New Year's they're going to be on my rooftop music goes off at midnight you know it's what's what's New Year's right they're going to wish they weren't here you know what I mean so long term we need to make changes they're going to make El Paso better because you know I'm almost 40 years old I mean a lot of us aren't young but what about the youth we are losing the youth and if there's no youth here than we're the city in Texas that never boomed right so long term I think you guys need to find a better solution and utilize these other successful cities that are able to do this and strive instead of us sitting here for the last 5 years trying to figure this out thank you thank you thank you we received a statement and opposition from Chris maluli the next speaker is solidad Gonzalez followed by Jose Gonzalez and Keith panel and Yolanda H yes I've been privileged to uh view the wonderful work that you all are doing for us in El Paso and I thank thank each one of you uh I also want to acknowledge our representative Canales for listening to our concerns I'm a second generation homeowner in the Kern Place area my parents purchased their first home in Kar uh 50 years ago I've been in Kern for almost 35 years I've seen current change in so many ways it is thriving I remember the days of Piggly Wiggly some of you may not even know what that is but that was a little grocery store chain that was up in the Hill where now we have the Cincinnati bars located uh it was a happy time a joyful time and we didn't have uh a lot of the social issues that we now face uh we are you I am used to the events that come from UTP um the echo that come to my home that doesn't bother me because by midnight I know it's it's shutting down and and we're used to it we respect it we also enjoy uh the music uh being part of the community um and but we also realize that when it comes to the bar scenes it has been growing and unfortunately we have seen many uh unfortunate deaths because of the multiple bars in our area there are nights that I have to sleep with my TV on till 2 2:30 because of the noise that boom boom boom boom I'm cleaning uh you're talking about during the week Friday Friday Saturday and Sunday for sure so I'm used to that background music I turn on the TV that's the only way I can fall asleep I rather hear the background in the TV than the noise that I have to experience on weekends uh we believe in uh I in neighborly support I've been to uh a few of the bars to ask them for help they listen to me and with a smile on their face they'll say ma'am uh we're within our limits and our owners know have a good day so it just tells me that they disregard the neighborhood and what we represent I feel ashamed that we have to misuse our non-emergency Personnel to go knock on the doors of those bars because I think they have better things to be worrying about and doing for our community than than responding to non-emergency calls with uh residents like myself that just want peace when we're trying to rest I live in a very I live in an area where the taxes are very high last night that I was writing my check to pay my taxes and have them out excuse me I prayed about it and I said Lord can this group of council people these fine group of council people that are exiting some of you are some of you are staying can they please find a solution to the actual citizens and people that also are part of the community I believe in enjoy in thank you ma' you reach the three minutes the next speaker is Jose Gonzalez followed by Keith panel and Yolanda hin good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon uh mayor and the council and mayor liser I would like to thank you for all your years of service for the people of El Paso I am um grateful for the opportunity to talk with you today I would also like to commend um representative representative Canales for all the efforts that he has put forth on this topic my name is Jose Gonzales P I am a retired Elementary School teacher um uh for the for epis uh during my teaching experience I had a good fortune of working in four different grade levels first second third and Fifth and my favorite one was always the second grade because I found out that uh seven and eight year olds have the most amazing mind ever so I enjoyed it I miss it but obviously you know that's in the past I am happy to have lived to 34s of a century mark mostly on Skate but for for a pending um G procedure that I have coming up after the holidays so it's been a a good life for me so I'm and I still have the energy to do what I need to do so for the past uh the past 41 years I have lived in the corner of uh meligan and Alita Park Drive and current place as well uh across the street from me is Mita Elementary and three houses from my house is uh North Mesa Street and when you cross North Mesa Street you find yourself Rudolph Plaza uh who has um uh besides other businesses uh two bars are house there and um and so only one of those nightclubs well of the two nightclubs only one of them has uh created enough loud noise to reach my residence and further up on uh up to santon street so it travels it really does travel that far almost further up there depending on the night and and and the Heat and everything like that um so uh I'm here just Mr Gonzalez thank you sir to three minutes thank you sir next speaker is Keith panel Keith panel Kei Keith two and a half hours okay Yolanda hin good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon ma'am good afternoon mayor and councel I'm kind of tall so let me adjust this um Yanda hin with Franklin Mountain Investments um and here to address this item as you all know uh Franklin Mountain Investments has quite a bit of investments in downtown El Paso as well as other part part of the city and we're in a unique position on this ordinance because we really sit in between both sides that you heard from here today uh Franklin Mountain Investments of course owns a Plaza Hotel but we also own um Anson 11 uh there's a there's a bar in the hotel the Reagan is a bar that we also work on so it really is a balancing of issues for us that we sit in the middle and I'm here to ask for your support of this item I have worked with staff for a very long time and I'm sorry I'm losing my voice um and I've attended multiple meetings uh I don't know why nobody's getting those emails but I actually get too many emails I mean I'm kind of going to say Steve quit emailing me there's been meeting after meeting after meeting and I've been going when I can I'm sending staff when when I can't go but there has been a real open process about this a few of the meetings that I went to some of the bar owners did attend and we had an ability to to articulate our position with them and there so I think for for a vibrant downtown a vibrant City you have to balance the issues uh you have to balance the interest you've got a downtown where we want to have residential and of course Franklin Mountain's looking at residential and downtown but we can't have people being woken up at 2 in the morning with a decibel reading of 85 and I want to put a little bit perspective of what what's happening here today with this ordinance you've always had a Title Five and a Title Nine there has always been regulations on noise and nuisance to today what is happening in my view is beefing up the enforcement and expanding the opportunity for people to have a voice it's expanding the radius who gets notice it still allows for an appeal but what has been happening is some of these bars as uh Mr Kennedy mentioned they see this as a cost of doing business it's a thousand fing no big deal every weekend we can afford $1,000 and you've got businesses that are at 30 40 citations and nothing's being done uh we currently have two permits already for outo amplification uh we're following the rules we don't think it's unreasonable that the music outside stops at midnight we think it's a very reasonable thing the other thing I want you to understand is the decibel reading is important but really what's important is how you measure it because uh what is really disturbing to people who are trying to sleep is the vibration the nois is one but that vibration is really what the problem is and so that change is very necessary so that you have an accurate reading of what that impact is to a residence to a hotel to so forth now we we are very proud of what than you oh what Mr Foster has done and I just would ask you to please support it thank you thank you mayor that concludes public comment on these two items pardon me ma'am that concludes public comment on these item sir all right so let's take the we do have motions and seconds and amendments can you take them yes sir there's there's um a motion made by representative Federal seconded by mayor protim Kennedy and this is to amend Title Five and Title Nine to strike out references to 7,000 and replace with 2500 and on Title 5 it is under section one 5.3.0 one0 C and on Title 9 it's under Section 2 2 A5 and this is to strike out 7,000 and replace with 2500 on the amendment call for the vote voting session is open and the amendment in the voting session the amendment passes 62 Representatives molinar Rivera voting a Representatives Kennedy ACO Hernandez salido Fierro Canales voting I there is a motion made by representative Canales seconded by representative rera and this is to adopt the ordinances as amended on 44 and 45 on that motion call for the vote Yes yes this is this is with the amendment passed to 2500 on the seating capacity and the voting session and that motion passes 5 to3 Representatives oo molinar Salo voting nay Representatives Kennedy ernandez Fierro Rivera Canales voting I the motion does carry thank you all for the long work and the hard work and the community involvement 45 meetings there's a lot of meetings and a lot of opinions and to put them all together and bring it up is a um a great accomplishment thank you sir thank you mayor and councel for all you do I appreciate it thank you and with that we'll be back at 2:30 there's a motion and a second Teresa a city council meeting for 1 hour be back at 2:30 all in favor I anyone opposed and the meeting is in recess at 1:25 p.m. until 2:30 p.m. hey this is a way to go out big Mee you e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e Miss P it's exactly 2:30 yes sir is there a motion to reconvene there's a motion and a second to reconvene the regular city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed the meeting is back in session at 2:35 p.m. oh we are on page number 13 item number 29 and this is discussion and action directing the city manager and City attorney to review and make recommendations on guidelines to ensure local small businesses can meet the competitive requirements needed to secure bidding contracts and doing business on behalf of the city of Al Paso the review and recommendations shall specifically address the following number one strategies to support and enable local small businesses to successfully complete compete for City contracts including Outreach training and resources number two criteria or incentives to prioritize contracts that Infuse additional dollars into the local economy by engaging local vendors and suppliers number three policies to encourage or require contractors to provide competitive salaries to their employees with the aim of improving wages and promoting better paying jobs for the community and number four methods for monitoring and evaluating the impact of these measures on the local economy and Workforce this item was submitted by representative salido thank you represent Salo thank you mayor um this item was just really to re to direct to review and recommendations for guidelines of the small businesses um these are some of the recommendations that were asking me for it to be more competitive but I'm going to leave it to you all to recommend so these were the the kind of guiding um subjects that I got so I wanted to to basically relay that to this Council and uh be res respective of the small businesses and what their needs were um but I'm going leave it to to you all to be able to recommend if this is something we can do hi Nicole Cody um managing director so uh thank you representative good afternoon ma'am good good afternoon so first I'd like to address um well basically each of the items so as part of strategies to support um and enable local small businesses as you know the economic development department in partnership with our purchasing strategic sourcing Department have been working with Supply El Paso and they just recently awarded the procurement Academy they brought that to City counil for uh continued support for our procurement Academy um they are not our only partner so that's the formal uh partnership that we have for them to ensure that we're providing that education component that support component for our stakeholders for our small businesses but they like I mentioned they're not our only partner that we work with year round in order to be able to provide that support for our local businesses including Outreach and training and additional resources um as part of Supply El Paso that was adopted by the city council we also um are looking at other opportunities in order to support our local vendors and so as part of that we're bringing back in in the spring it'll probably be at the Expo uh we want to ensure that all Partners have an opportunity including our County our electric company our water utilities uh as well as the school districts we're really coming together for procurement to ensure that we're making it easier of course for small businesses in addition to that uh we've talked about how we're currently in a review of our higher El Paso first program and so that program is was adopted by Council initially all the way back in November of 2011 as part of an ordinance since then it was amended and um reviewed in May of 2014 amended in August 2014 and then in 2016 the city has made a concerted effort in order to ensure that we are implementing that ordinance and we also have staff to provide support for that and as I mentioned at a council meeting in October we're looking forward to we're currently reviewing it at the direction of the city manager and we will be bringing back any recommended changes to that ordinance in the spring of next year in addition to that just to give you an overview of what that ordinance includes it's that program breakdown of how we Define local businesses of course we're working together with economic development it was a priority for this Council to ensure that how we even Define local businesses consistent throughout the city in addition to that we also have um currently 130 active members over the program history since 2016 we've looked at 304 different members that have uh enrolled in this program and these help us uh specifically with procurement types such as low bids competitive seal proposals um CMS which are construction manager at risk design builds and public private Partnerships of course so that's we the ordinance that we currently have in place in addition to the ordinance uh one of your items that you had also included was Mo methods for monitoring and evaluating the impact of these measures I'm sorry number three policies to encourage and require contractors to provide competitive salaries so that's when we talked about the resolution that we currently have in place so there is a requirement for janitorial and Security Contracts to be best value procurements as part of that we have included the benefits but I know this Council has also asked us to go back and revisit that resolution and make a recommendation that would also include wages so so um I think combined with economic development department and their small business efforts along with the changes that we're doing together with our partners uh I I believe we're addressing each of your concerns representative so what you're saying is you're currently doing this yes sir thank you Nicole and I think the the the part where the business were saying just securing bidding bidding on the contast I think it's a little harder for them I guess on the requirements we have I guess for bonds and I guess it's one of the things that I kept hearing but you've been completely proactive on all the other things and so I I thank you for that well since you have been addressing this I I just wanted to bring that back to your attention because that is one thing that they they keep letting me know about the bidding contracts and with them being able to I guess have that that fighting chance to be able to to get a contract absolutely so one of the key partners with Supply Al Paso is actually SBA our small business administration there have uh a specific program to assist businesses that are having difficulty to be able to get bid bonds or shity bonds and they're able to actually directly um assist them with that and so I think ensuring that we're getting that that information out to the community out to our local businesses that they know the resources to help them assist to be able to be competitive and be able to bid for those uh procurements or those solicitations is really where we're focusing a lot of that effort and you're going to see more to come um in the new year perfect thank you and I know with with that being addressed um the the best way to I guess dispose this this motion would be just to no action right no action on this and and thank you for for listening of of the securing the bidding process and course how these small businesses want to work with the city of El Paso and so I thank you for all your hard work absolutely no ABS thank you and and thank you to this Council for your continued support of um both purchasing strategic sourcing our supply El Paso partnership with our stakeholders and the partnership of course with us in Economic Development thank you we have rep ma'am M where you going oh I'm sorry I thought thank you meant to could go thank you yes ma'am no I U I do want to thank you for everything you've done and I've really enjoyed going to the ferris and everything you put together it's been very impressive and I know from when we started back 10 years ago yes sir to where we're at today it's incredible what was the number 10 years ago oh it was was low it was very it was a small turn and this last year we had 2,000 attendees with 225 uh different vendors attending and we are looking at expanding as as we had been asked to um to ensure that there's more classes available and that all of the vendors that do attend are able to go to classes so it's going to be a day and a half was great and I've been to I was at the first one and I was at the last one so yes sir thank you for your support representative um yes it was my fault that you still had to be up here oh no it's it's okay I'm sorry I I was um I had a few questions from what you were saying first you said that you were doing the academy that you're launching that oh the procurement Academy so can you um kind of describe that a little bit elaborate yes so the economic development department the small business component um has has contracted with our Hispanic chamber of commerce and what they're doing is developing in Partnership um it's really she wanted to call it also a boot camp huh she really so they're really taking this on ensuring that they provide not only um information to small businesses on how to do business with the city of Al Paso but really improve our local businesses opportunities to be able to bid for proposals in with the city with the county with the school district and what's great is that it truly dovetails with our supply El Paso initiative in that um it's providing that in-depth education it's really giving them a lot of that is that educational component and then also the resource is the access to Capital and so it's bringing together all of those components in one U Boot Camp or Academy sessions okay and I didn't realize it was a Hispanic chamber thing I I remember um hearing about this absolutely and one thing that would be helpful I think the Hispanic chamber partnership is great but I feel if we were able to come up with tutorial videos that we could just post online that would be really easy cuz I don't know I I keep thinking about some of the procurement errors that you would like somebody bidding would not realize is a huge error like omitting like putting na or just skipping that part and now you're disqualified completely and really just kind of looking through the application and saying this is what you need to do and this is why you need to do it and then having those available on our website and I know that we do business with hubs and I think that's great but I think one of the things that I am noticing is that we are still not getting to some of the more diverse businesses there are businesses that have different designations as you know we uh small female-owned um business or something and just kind of putting all of that criteria together and something and I think it's a good opportunity as we are hiring somebody I know that it's kind of been a a year-long thing for this particular one not the purchasing director but um launching the Dei office I think that's a great time to kind of collaborate and have interde departmental collaboration on this to make sure that we are having more diversity more inclusion in our procurement I think that would be a big big deal so I we completely agree with you and and the actually the past calendar year we've been working with a third party uh to be able to conduct the disparity study and so what we're doing is that deep deep dive into the contracts that we have uh both for construction and goods and services and we're looking at where are those gaps and so we're going to be bringing that back to council also in the spring the results of the disparity study and I I I know it's premature but we just had the phone survey where we actually did reach out uh a reach out to all of the small business that we have been using here at the city as well as across the city in different Industries and we've got a great response um and so I'm going to I'm just a little bit of a brag so they normally see about 30% response rate uh when they do these disparity studies across the country and I'm very proud of El Paso and I'm proud of our stakeholders they did a great uh job in getting the word out and we had a 45% response rate which is huge that's awesome it is so we'll be bringing that as well and then we'll be able to look at at that Point really tailoring in a way what's that next ordinance look like and how does that um what we recommend for policy as a result of the disparity study and and I think that another opportunity could be for comms to kind of work with you right and almost have like a small business landing page like are you a small business we might have missed you or or having other sorts of Engagement that that you're doing through procurement where you might not know that there's another business in El Paso and you never got to them cuz you sent an email or like continuing that to get more people involved in the procurement process yeah know you read my mind so we have uh what we call a a Vendor Portal but it's but you're right where is it where how can they easily find it on our web page and so we'll absolutely work with their strategic Communications and make that very easy change to start ensuring that things are more accessible to those who are looking for it yeah and I think the theme is let's just collaborate more between departments let's be less siloed I think we could do a lot more better things for the city in that sense absolutely thank you so much no thank you thank you thank you great job I enjoyed the round table discussion we had upstairs and you know we had your keynote speaker up there with us and that was really good so keep up the great work thank you and and thank you all for your support thank you mayor we do have Miss Turner that signed up to speak on this item we sure do good afternoon Miss Turner good afternoon M Turner good afternoon when I heard this uh yesterday today during uh your agenda review it started me to think CU I was scared to death that uh what we had started long ago to start spending more in our community and not shipping our tax dollars out to businesses outside had fallen by the wayside and from what I can hear now that's not the truth so I'm glad that but there is one thing I would ask if somebody could get that for me is what percentage of our tax dollars are we spending outside of El Paso versus inside El Paso I'd like to know that figure to see if we are getting since I can't hear you very well we'll get you that information all right thank you thank you I can't hear so there's no action on this item we'll move on to item number 30 item 30 is discussion and action directing the city manager to hire a local real estate firm to conduct an inventory of all M Municipal real estate and provide a comprehensive Report with recommendations for initiating the sale of surplus or underutilized properties the objective of this item is to identify and sell non-essential Municipal real estate to its highest and best use to generate Revenue funds generated from these sales shall be allocated as follows 75% to the general fund to support City operations with 25% set aside specifically for Street repairs and improvements this ensures a responsible Community Focus approach to maximizing Municipal assets while PR prioritizing local expertise and reinvestment in critical infrastructure without putting a further burden on the taxpayer and this item was also submitted by representative salido representative salido thank you mayor um and then also on this one we already voted on an item I didn't know that they were already hiring a real estate firm which is really really great to hear and extremely proactive and then I I did also came to learn that you cannot allocate 25% for streets but since our streets really needed some funding I was trying to get creative on the approach and wanting to allocate that for that but learning that state law does not allow that um yeah makes makes this um item I'll with no action as well thank you ma'am and with that Miss pran yes sir that brings us to item number 31 and this is discussion and action to direct the city manager to collaborate with the mcad museums and cultural Affairs department and District 5 to identify funding sources for the creation of a documentary program the goal is to engage a local filmmaker to work along site all relevant local entities to produce a documentary that tells our story by and for the people of Al Paso this initiative emphasizes the importance of showcasing El Paso's unique culture history and voices through the lens of our local talent this item was also submitted by representative Sal good afternoon sir good afternoon uh for the record Ben F uh managing director uh so with this item we are seeking a little bit of direction from the council just in terms of the parameters that we'd be looking at um as we work to identify funding it's important to know if we're talking about a 5minute documentary a 10-minute documentary versus a featurelength documentary all of those High ramifications in terms of the amount of funding that we would be looking at um I would just also say that mcad in the past has uh funded a number of film making projects over the years including a series of documentary shorts uh that were called only in El Paso which we partnered with PBS on uh it was a really successful Endeavor that it result resulted in a series of 5-minute documentaries focused on local artists uh local cultural phenomenon and some of our key local businesses that really do tell this story so it would dovetail very nicely with that go ahead man thank you Ben um and I know Ben and I had spoken to you about it I was talking a lot to the youth and they wanted to really uh be the ones that you know tell our story and so I know we we know we have a lot of filmmakers here um in the discretion of aside the minutes that need to be done that would that will I'll have to do some more research on how how long or not but is to identify just the funding I know within District 5 and MCAT uh just to start off and having local everything and when it comes to documentary meaning local artists uh rendering uh what is it um advertisement everything to be local but more importantly to tell our story because we we've seen that the you know the local media and certain you know National media do tell our story which is not correct and so wanted to find a way that this community really Embraces that and be able to tell our story and our culture and and to tell everybody who we are and how beautiful op Paso is um and and so I would say to that ma'am that we do have existing guidelines for these film projects that really do stipulate that the funding goes to a local um you know filmmaker or local filmmaker Collective um and we can just tighten those up to ensure that that the funding really does stay centered on local and and of course that that uh reflect in the finished product perfect and I'll I'll defer to your expertise on on the those guidelines but uh yes so with that I I do motion to approve this item so what your what you were saying basically you you have no idea what the budget will be and we don't know where we're going to get the money so what we would need is a little bit of direction in terms of what the council would like to see are we talking about you know a 5 minute documentary short a 10-minute documentary short versus a 60 to 90 minute just because that'll have uh that will basically determine the amount of funding that we need to look for um you know if this is something that the council's not ready to make the decision on just yet it's certainly something I could go back and work on with staff looking at previous projects and then bring that forward perhaps in the budget process as well I was going to say that that we probably need to look at moving forward in the next budget process which will be next year yes sir all right uh representative FOH you you moved precisions what happened go ahead thank you mayor U my question was did I hear specifically for District 5 or was it the entire city it was just an initiative coming out of from District 5 with MCAT so out of distri oh because I was saying we could use your District yeah thank you that was my question okay thank you represo thank you mayor and I think that that would be great if you kind of look at it I I don't at least from my perspective right now one of nine voices but I I don't think it's a a long 60 Minute thing but I think it is a good opportunity that we reclaim the narrative from the national Spotlight and really showcase what the Border Community is and really in the the times that are coming I think that's going to be really important for us to get out ahead and say this is what El Paso is and this is being said by El pasoans rather than somebody that is in New York in a studio talking about the border right and a lot of times when they talk about the Border it's here in our community so that's kind of how I see it and in that approach and really showcasing the the culture the food and stuff like that and I think it could be shorts a few shorts or something like that so if that gives you some better Direction I'm not sure that does thank you mayor Pro this is kind of like saying I want a car it can be some cars are a great value like a Hyundai um okay as as at one point an entertainment attorney and the executive director and legal counsel for the D the documentary now or never a Tony Romo story which was done R by a local filmmaker in El Paso $2,000 to $8,000 a minute how much money you got that'll tell you how long it's going to be really simply I mean and how complicated is it if it's got drone shots got all this I mean this could average in about five or $6,000 a minute so until you know what kind of budget you're working with and what kind of project you're looking at I mean this is I don't this is a budgetary issue for next year because it's a lot large dollar amount there are local filmmakers here I mean I went to all the film festivals with the local guy that won awards all around the country and he's here in El Paso for the Tony Romo documentary but to send somebody off with this little direction is kind of say like saying hey go find me a tree I'm not going to tell you what kind and where it is and what kind of where you should be I took away the car reference mayor car but I just I mean I think it it may be a great idea but it's got to be handled during budget because you could be looking at tens of thousands of dollars or more depending on what it is so thank you sir I think we would definitely be looking to scale this based on uh what we have in our existing budget also scale it towards previous film projects uh that we have funded in the past we wouldn't want to um accelerate so far that we create a false expectation for future film projects that they can expect that amount of money um but we will bring back I think some ideas and a presentation during the budget process proc okay yeah that's why I agree with that and also agree getting a c it's a lot easier go ahead representative uh Canalis sorry mayor I I hit that by mistake okay I you didn't I knew that second time yes um but I I think from what is here and the way I'm understanding the agenda item it's asking to identify funding sources for the creation of the documentary program so I think with you saying that you would look to the pest and see what kind of funding you have now I think it's completely appropriate for you to bring it back and say this is what we identified in the funding that we have now right and then we could go from there yes sir that would be okay okay yeah it's impossible to find a finding Source if you don't know what you're looking for I mean you got to you have to identify what you're doing I think if if it's $2,000 or $200,000 it's you know it's a it it's going to take a lot and then bring it back and I think like you said earlier it needs to come back during the budget season all right um and with that we have a motion in a second yes sir the motion was made by representative salido seconded by representative ASO to approve item 31 on that motion call for the vote mayor there's a tie no ma'am thank you and the voting session and the motion fails Representatives ASO ernandez salido Fierro voting I Representatives Kennedy molinar Rivera Canales where the mayor broking the tie breaking the tie voting n and breaking the tie so the motion does fail that brings us to item number 32 on the agenda and this is discussion and action on a resolution that the city of Al Paso city council authorizes the acceptance of a grant from Marathon petroleum Corporation in the amount of $1,000 with no additional match required from the city for the 2024 holiday season and this item is representative ernandes representative ernandes thank you may um this uh for items number 32 and my comments will be the same for the for the next item uh we are in receipt of a donation and Grant um to support the offices uh events that we do every holiday um this will be the eth consecutive year um that we've had an honor to partner with um a nonprofit and with the mameo community center um they have over 300 children that live um in affordable housing um right off of Carolina and North Loop um and it's also a privilege to have been um in the neighborhood my whole life and so it's it means a lot to me to to participate to support the kiddos there um I do want to seek some clarification or I just make a floor Amendment for um item number 32 um what I'd like to do is to ensure that I can purchase toys like I have in the past um but the language is missing in 32 and 33 so um with we approve uh the language for 32 I'm not changing any language here I'm only seeking that that's uh that we um clarify in the resolution that toys are permissible um as we have in the past uh these are private dollars they're not um my office discretionary dollars um and uh for item number 33 can I Mrs PR can I um can you recognize 33 so I can if you like to take them together yes item 33 is discussion and action on a resolution that the city council of city of Al Paso authorizes the acceptance of a donation from ztec Construction Inc to pay for meals for the 20124 holiday season at City events which serves the municipal purpose of promoting the visual image of El Paso enhancing El Paso's quality of life promoting transparent and consistent communication among all members of the community and nurturing and promoting a healthy and sustainable Community is there a dollar amount on this by any chance oh um it's a th for it item 32 and it's 1,500 for 33 so for this item I will clarify to add a donation amount to $1,500 um from Zex so if you can add the word um the word 1,000 $1,500 excuse me from Zex and then it goes on to say to pay for meals and I'd like to add and toys um and so we're purchasing 150 toys for the the young children at the mameo community center and we partner with a nonprofit to host an event um they've identified um families who are in need and we will be paying for their holiday meals um at any rate so I would move to approve with with the amendment um to item number 33 thank you go ahead sir thank you this is for Miss Neiman Miss Mack in the future can can we have some guidance on how this works uh because my office has never been briefed on how I can solicit funds and then bring them into my budget somehow and and then how do I spend them and and what what am I allowed to spend them on yes sir it'll it'll be part of the new on boarding for the council members in the the week of the 8th 9th and 10th and they will be guidelines on how to how to solicit if we can solicit how to spend what we can yes sir okay thank you Miss nean and with that we have a motion in a second you have a an amendment correct to each one so the amendment is on item 32 to include the word to include on the resolution that the dollars may be used for to purchase toys correct and then on item 33 the amendment is to include the dollar amount on the resolution of $1,500 and also insert the words and toys after to pay for meals correct okay on those amendments made by representative Hernandez seconded by representative salido and this is to amend both ordinance ordinances I'm sorry both resolutions call for the vote Yes sir I'm sorry did um is are we not in lame duck I mean should somebody else do it in in for representative Hernandez or can she do it as long as it's not discretionary funds okay thank you I just gave you my legal opinion thank you and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously thank you m n Nea is there a motion to approve as amended there's the motion made by representative ernandez seconded by representative Federal to approve the resolutions on 32 and 33 as amended on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion also passes unanimously that brings us to item 34 and this is a presentation and discussion on the FY 2023 2024 fourth quarter Financial report good afternoon mayor and city council this item will be a presentation on how we finished our fiscal year 2024 for the general fund I will start by saying that the numbers you're going to see in this presentation are preliminary and un audited we're currently still going through our external audit process that won't be wrapping up until later in January and early February however we wanted to give you an update as to where we will finish our fiscal year 2024 so go through and I'll provide you a a summary overall summary on uh Revenue expenditures and then on the fund balance um this is really the key takeaway here again these numbers are preliminary unaudited however we don't expect any any changes really to the general fund at all um the fund balance something that's been very very important as referenced earlier this morning this will be the 10th consecutive year generated in Surplus um I'll show you a slide here in just a minute we'll maintain our over 80 Days of fund balance and then both revenues and expenditures were pretty much Spot On Target compared to the budget this slide three key numbers that I I'll point to so one is uh first of all that 4.4 million you see the net change that's Revenue over expenditures that's $4.4 million of surplus for the general fund so again very very encouraging very very good the last thing I'll point to if you look in the far right hand side of this slide here on the table the budget to actual comparison and variance both revenues and expenditures we 99.6% spot on not 100% but very very close on both the revenue projections and on the expenditure projections obviously there's multiple categories so you have some pluses and minuses all throughout however overall bottom line again a very very good job by the budget staff developing the FY 2024 budget continue to monitor ensure that we're bringing in the revenue to support all of the expenditures for the general fund so this is really the key takeaway from this slide again 10th consecutive year Surplus and again pretty much spot on with the overall projections for both revenues and expenses all right so this slide and so where we finished our number of operating days in our fund balance so we actually increased by one day so we went from 81 to 82 days again with that $4.4 million increase also adding in our different stabilization funds that we have which R up into our committed fund balance so again encouraging that we continue to maintain our 82 days of fund balance as we look to the revenue um highlights again property taxes pretty much spot on T Target with the overall budget sales taxes have a couple of slides that talk a little bit about sales taxes and that was one of the key discussions when we develop our current budget as well as we knew we were going to anticipate seeing a little bit of a slow down in sales taxes investment earnings last year continued to perform extremely well with our Treasury Department and leis Mir and his team and continue to make sure that we're being very proactive and generate as much investment interest as we can off of City funds franchise fees again something we discussed not only during the third quarter report but also during the budget process that we made some adjustments downwards on our FR franchise fees and then finally on the intermental revenue last year was the first time we had applied for the rebate from the state for uh the impact to our or from our disabled veterans due to the property tax exemption that they're provided so we generated about $1.9 million of Revenue we didn't anticipate last year we did factor that into the current year Budget on the expendi side again I I have a couple of slides we'll go through pretty quickly just to give you a little bit of comparison on prior years uh personal services actually exceeded so we went over budget primarily due to Public Safety uh we did see a pretty large increase in overtime for both police and fire for various reasons uh Staffing levels the fire events which uh Chief kellings has his presentation um looking at transfers so we are required by the city chter to maintain 5% of the prior Year's budget into our cash Reserve that's our rainy day fund and so so we transfer out of our general fund which would be unassigned into our restricted which is the cash Reserve so we added 1.8 million into that fund to maintain that 5% amount uh we did have the December 2023 District 2 election which was originally not scheduled or um budgeted during the fy2 24 budget and then finally uh utilities actually finished a little bit over budget as well primarily due to water expenses so as I mentioned you see some pluses and minuses but overall again bottom line if you see revenues finished $2 million over budget so we brought in $2 million more on Revenue than we had budgeted again 0.4% so less than half of 1% of budget tax rules comparison uh I'll just point real quickly that because it's an important one the operating transfers in you'll see that it shows under budget by 4 million you all recall going back to last year when we developed the budget we had budgeted $5 million use from the pay for futures we did not need to use that pay for futures fund n FY 2024 so what that does is protects that full amount and that uh part of our fund balance that's our pay for futures so that continues to maintain that $15 million balance going forward we budget it again in the current budget that $5 million but again we're optimistic that hopefully the revenue sources will be able to provide enough Revenue to offset the expenses so that we don't have to use that as well so again protecting and preserving our our total fund balance and actually adding to it at the end of FY 24 sales taxes I we've talked a lot about this over the last several months really over the last several years um we finished our fi 2024 at 1.6% compared to the prior year so only about 1.5 million uh again we had anticipated that when we developed the current year fi 2025 budget taking that into consideration knowing that we were going to continue to see a little bit of a Slowdown until a little bit later in this fiscal year so this slide goes back to FY 2016 and it's really good to kind of put things into perspective on the historical averages and then we see two really really sort of outlier years in 21 and 22 again coming out of covid a lot of federal funds pumped into the economy and then you'll see in FY 23 and 24 a little bit of a Slowdown on sales tax growth compared to the per years on franchise fees again we talked about the a little bit of a decrease that we've seen in our franchise fee Revenue again that was factored into the FY 2025 budget to account for the decrease that we saw last year ensuring that we're again improving our forecasting to account for the actual collections planning inspection something that again it's not a huge Revenue Source but something that we continue to monitor because it does have an impact sort of an economic indicator for how the econom is performing locally and so we did see a $1.7 million decrease in our licenses and permits in the plan Inspection Department compared to the prior years so again continue to monitor that and work very closely with the plan Inspection Department to keep an eye on the permits that are coming through again it's not a huge Revenue Source it's more of a an economic indicator that we use as we're forecasting out other Revenue sources um Bridges this is the transfer to the Jour fund amount so about a $900,000 decrease compared to the prior year nothing alarming again it's not a huge Revenue Source once we get through our our three largest property tax sales tax and franchise fees again something one that uh that we use almost as an economic indicator similar to the licenses and permits from the plan inspections department on the expenditure slide here I'll I'll just point to two again if you look at the bottom line again $2.4 million under budget again very very important that we're staying in line with the allocated budget 0.4% variance of budget to actuals on the public safety side again uh being driven by police fire salary costs um looking at sound governance that 2.1 million again a large portion of that's due to that 1.8 million transfer into our cash Reserve which we required to have by City Charter to maintain that 5% of the prior year budget but again overall expenditures coming in at $2.4 million under budget this is a breakdown of the expenses by category you'll see the top one there the personal services actually finished over budget by 4.1 million however it's important again look at the bottom line so we actually finished under at 2.4 million um our transfers at 1.3 million you'll see we finished a little bit uh actually over budget as well and again that's that $1.8 million transfer to our cash Reserve fund couple of slides just to provide the last five years of actuals you'll see here again the largest driver we've talked a lot about this we have the item on the agenda a little bit later talk about increase in our minimum wage uh not only for our civilian employees again this morning it was referen to the CBA agreements and what we've done to become more competitive for police and fire departments so again the largest cost driver here that we see every year in our Workforce our police and fire overtime again about a 2.8 million increase compared to the prior year Our IT contract something that we continue to Monitor and uh try to renegotiate whenever we can uh these are heavily driven these are Citywide heavily driven a lot of them by public safety so when you think about all the equipment that's required all of the communications for all of our Public Safety Vehicles all of the other technology needed for uh the communications on utilities I we touched a little bit about this already this is primarily being driven due to water um increases so about a $1.7 million increase compared to the prior year and then finally very very important slide mayor liser you referenc this this morning as well talking about about the fund balance and the or the lack of fund balance when you first took office and so you see this in FY 2014 the city was only at 26 and5 million of total fund balance so that's restricted which is the rainy day fund and in the UN assigned less than 9.2 million of fund balance nine days nine operating days of fund balance you compare that to where we're at at the end of FY 24 up to 82 days very very healthy uh exceeding the best practice of the 6 days but again utilizing that to offset the future impacts of budget and that was one of the ways we were able to get to the no new Revenue rate for the last couple of years is utilizing that paper features to help offset some of the impact from some of the larger cost drivers so with that I will be happy to answer any questions that you all may have no thank you very much for for the update uh you know it's really amazing to see that in 2013 when I took office we were one bad week away from bankruptcy I mean really were I mean when your fund balance if something goes wrong and to say that uh now I'm getting ready to leave this our last meeting to be at 82 you guys have done a great job and we really have worked together to make sure that the safety of the community and make sure that because I mean it's hard to believe that a city our size would ever been at nine and how we didn't lose all our credit ratings or anything I mean that's you guys did the Mason job to maintain and keep us afloat and we not lose our credit ratings so I do want to thank you and um Mr Cody and and your team you guys did an amazing job to continue to keep us Mo moving and continue what's our rating today uh we are doublea plus with KB so c bond rating agency has actually received the upgrade last year to put us at doublea plus that's outstanding so I do want to again thank you for that uh I can tell you that uh It's always important and when you walk in you see what you have and you walk out you make sure you leave it in a better place and because of you guys I'm walking out leave it in a better place because you've done a great job and we have a great team and you all have done incredible so thank you for that and uh you know Miss nean with all that money and everything we've said we may be able to do in a uh a Civic Center expansion someday oh no we already we've been working on it for a year by the way and uh I know that's in somewhere in the budget there so thank you and I know it's in the budget and I know we got it coming out and I look forward to seeing it as uh walk watching from the sideline you do continue to do that great work and I know you've you've prepared it and you've been doing it and you've been working on it and it's been part of your budget and it's been part of your uh motel hotel hot tax and reason why you paid off the The Plaza theater to have that Revenue to make sure that when we do expand and we're getting ready to do we acquire the land land and we expand it do impact the taxpayers so thank you for doing that yes sir uh represent Canales thank you mayor Civic Center expansion sounds like a big uh a big expenditure probably something for the budget sessions next year no as a matter of fact it won't it won't impact it at all he that's what we've been working on for the year that there is no impact to the Budget moving forward on that that's what's amazing I wish we had put it on and I apologize for not doing that because it's amazing work by the team um yeah I can put it on for Friday yeah Robert it will be on there be ready Robert you deserve a a big Victory lap you and everybody else uh in and the whole team um you know I you inevitably hear a lot of naysayers talk about how the city is close to bankruptcy and you know who knows if the city will even be functioning next year because they're about to run out of money I hear things like that all the time um and it really grinds my gears because we we see the the great work that you all put in um again we have a near four four and a half million doll Surplus uh I I think people need to hear that I'm going to make you repeat a few different things because I think it's important for people to hear it had some consecutive years of surplus is that right can you talk about that for a second 10 years 10 years of surplus 10 consecutive years of of budget surplus um and that's not just because our revenues are are overperforming but our expenditures came in lower than anticipated as well right right and so I mentioned that these are unaudited and so miss Marine she needs to get credit as well absolutely with the work that she does and so we're currently going through our external audit so we have eight years should be nine years of no audit findings and so I mean it goes hand in hand with the work that all the Departments do working together and it's the council as well because none of this would be possible without the council support I mean I think that you all having the vision to look ahead and not just focus on the one year has been very very important if you think back to May when you all approved doing the defeasance for those bonds that's not going to help us until 2027 and 2028 but you all saw that taking the action now is going to benefit the city in the long term and so I mean I think it's again just a team effort for him I appreciate you saying it Robert but we're trying to say that you did a good job um again I I think uh you know we've seen you and the team closer and closer every year with your uh your forecasting which is incredible too some of them are right on the nose and you make conservative recommendations uh based on spot-on forecasts and every year that leaves us in a really healthy place so I really really do appreciate um the the work and again um I I think there's a lot of people in the city that need to hear it uh you know this the city isn't the city that they may be remembering from 20 years ago that wasn't in or even you know you know 10 years ago that wasn't in the best financial shape um you know the ship has very much been writed and and that comes down to the hard work that you all have done so I thank you for that thank you thank you sir repo can you um remind me how much is one day of operating roughly 1.6 million a day if you take the $599 million budget divided by 365 it's about 1.6 million a day okay and then sorry right here um so it's 82 days I'm on slide 20 uh slide 20 sorry yes so we have 161 million but then we have quite a bit committed so we exclude when we do the calculation for the number of opery days we're excluding the restricted okay so we don't count the restricted in the equation because it's restricted it can only be used for certain purposes and if we ever use it we have to replenish it with any year so when we do that calculation we exclude the restricted okay so it's just unassigned uncommitted that comes out to the 82 days yes sir okay perfect thank you thank you sir great job thank you we do have Miss Turner that signed up for this item mayor Mr Turner again good afternoon mayor council uh my representative represent Canales I will say this people say that we're bankrupt because they look at what we owe versus our assets and since we owe more than our assets that's why they say that uh are we making progress yes but that's why they're saying that uh and of course you you know borrowing $100 million every year on CEOs aggravated the issue and those cosos still have to be paid off so again that's why they say it my concern is your sales tax I expect it to drop greatly if anything that the incoming president puts into place if it's even 10% you're going to see a lot of people not spending money so I'm asking do you have a plan do we have a plan to handle such a drop because if it happens your sales tax revenue is going to drop uh there will be jobs lost businesses go under and I'm just scared to death for the economy especially ours because ours is so border Centric we have so much trade that comes across we have all these warehouses we have all these truckers they buy fuel they eat they drink they live here pay taxes if that happens where are we going to be we need a plan we need to plan for the worst and hope for the best thank you thank you and I think Mr cortinez reports out quarterly to make sure that uh we're never ahead or behind ourselves and we know what it is and based on our Economic Development and everything we've done lately uh I can't see it going backwards I can only see it forward and um because the more companies you bringing the more you know that's part of and I I think we talked about that in executive session that uh when you look at the full impact of a company coming in that includes the sales tax and So based on everything we've seen and all the new businesses and everything that's coming up including meta 800 million Amazon the amphitheater the the new apartments here downtown there's so many things that are going on that it uh I think it will continue to rise because that's all included in the growth of the community right and so we monitor revenues and expenses daily that's what the budget office and the collor's office does I mean we're looking at these numbers daily we report out quarterly let see also you all remember back to July and August when we were developing the budget we were very conservative and forecasting the sales tax we knew we were going to see a little bit of a slow down we received so far for the current fiscal year our September and October sales tax allocation September was down over 8% however that was due to a negative audit collection from the state so the state comes in and does audits if there's a company that paid sales tax when they didn't have to then they'll reimburse and so we' saw a little bit of a decrease in September however October sales tax collection we saw a 99.5% increase compared to October last year 95% is phenomenal we haven't seen that type of growth within the last year we have seen no slow down however we are seeing positive trajectory however again we're very conservative in our Revenue forecasts that's why we're able to generate these surpluses year after year again ensuring that we're trying to be as precise as possible but obviously being very conservative particularly with the volatility of sales tax thank you for what you do sir thank you m p yes sir item 35 is discussion and presentation of prepared recommendations on any necessary local ordinances or agreements with El Paso Electric to strengthen customer protections engage with El Paso Electric to confirm compliance with state law and report findings and conduct an assessment of potential enhanced Municipal safeguards that could be implemented to protect El Paso's residents from disconnection due to financial hardship or health and safety concerns good afternoon mayor and Council Ian Vogal strategic and legislative affairs good afternoon sir thank you uh so uh we're here to present findings of the review that Council requested of the city manager and city attorney's office specifically on these three items to engage with El Paso Electric to confirm compliance with state law and report findings back to council to conduct an assessment of potential enhanced Municipal safeguards uh to protect residents from disconnection due to financial hardship or health and safety concerns and finally to prepare recommendations on any necessary local ordinances or agreements with El Paso Electric to strengthen local protections so on the first item uh we did ask El Paso Electric to come on December 3rd uh they presented on both um their lowincome Assistance programs as well as uh their process for disconnection uh they answered questions from Council we also conducted an assessment so we didn't just take what they gave us uh you know for granted we we looked into these programs uh we reviewed what other cities in Texas are doing um all of them have in place the safeguard that the puc has put in place for health and safety concerns which is that El Paso Electric can't disconnect a customer uh if they establish that they are seriously ill and they also cannot disconnect due to extreme weather uh these are the low income programs the uh El Paso Electric has uh all of these uh we reviewed with the other Texas cities um one of them is not on here uh and that is [Music] a um a special writer for senior citizens uh so that's certainly something that we can look into in the future um but they have for example a low-income Rider they have uh a plan for leveling out payments that's their budget billing plan they have uh payment plans uh for those who can't pay a bill upfront uh and then again for those who have health issues or other issues they have programs as well uh so we were asked to provide uh recommendation on any changes to uh local ordinances or agreements in order to strengthen uh protections we're not recommending any changes at this time and there are a couple of reasons for that the first is that El Paso electrics programs comply with pu rules and regulations uh they also comply with our franchise agreement uh those protections are broadly effective and reasonable uh we also mention that the Pu has a process in place if customers feel that uh these programs are are failing or that they are not uh El Paso Electric is not following the rules that that they are supposed to be following through the Pu we also um found that these safeguards are are again very similar to what other Texas cities already have in place uh we also what I one of the things I want to point out is uh the city attorney's office uh fights pretty aggressively on any rate increases uh they've already saved the city millions of dollars uh just this year uh whenever we have a rate case that number multiplies pretty substantially um we're always conscious of the fact of anytime we want to make a change what impact is that going to have on the rate base uh two things I want to point out really quickly there first uh I we have uh had conversations with El Paso Electric about how they can increase the tempo of communication that they have with customers at the point at which they are in default through to disconnection they are looking into increasing that tempo of communication um we are also uh about to go into a rate case we just received a uh a notice to file uh yesterday in that rate case we're going to open up all of the various rates and that gives us an opportunity to negotiate any increased protections that we want to have all with the help of experts who will help us understand exactly what that impact will be so we'll have the the benefit of data uh and so that is the presentation I'm happy to take any questions representative uh nandes thank you Ian for the presentation um I'm not surprised that there's no recommendations um however I do believe that a future Council should consider um specifically what aaso electric is looking at the disconnections um in the past you would get a flyer on your door you would get a notice that day um to avoid those disconnections and then a reconnection fee and then a potential deposit that you would have to pay in order to get your electricity back on that uh that notice only comes in a mail the required notice um however I do find that uh there is a lot of benefit to opaca Ray payers if there is you know not some just madeup response from El Paso Electric which I'm confident that if they're looking at it they really mean it and one of those things is to utilize technology for disconnections if they can review um text messages or an automated email I get it when my bill is due why can't you send one uh before you disconnect and I know that with AMS and with their technology they can um and they should and that should be something that the rase um should also consider I do have a question about the writer is the writer um is that only in a rase or is that by franchise agreement Amendment orou uh so Matt's here and he can answer that specifically I believe the writer was sep filing we have the low-income writer but you're saying there's other opportunities for other writers and so I'm just trying to understand the process in order to get a writer approved hi uh good afternoon Matt Marquez uh assistant City attorney so the lowincome writer is part of the general rate case so that's part of the plays out in that proing it's not anything separate and uh just to put a little more context in that that's where uh certain low-income customers and I think we have the number here that they have was I think over 8,000 of their customers uh benefit from that uh keep in mind though that's a discount that they receive on a monthly basis that's then recovered by other rers so it's one of those things where you know um protections for some folks means that some other folks have to pay for that so uh but uh to answer your question I guess generally it's part of the right case uh that Mr vogle Weed said uh will be entering uh the beginning of next year so that'll be open for discussions negotiations and what have you is that similar to the Fort Bliss fee that repairs have to pay um similar yeah it's one of those line items on your bills as you know full well uh the customers will see on their bills itemized charges one of them is just a basic customer charge and then various you know charges related to their specific usage for their home or their business and then all other specific writers that get attached as part of the rate case yeah I do or or that after the rate case and they get uh implemented as part of the interim filings that we see you know between the years that we have the rate cases uh that uh are often just uh you know statutory uh Provisions that the legislature determined uh utilities like Alp pass electric can apply for and do use into Ian's Point uh that we're obviously uh you know fully engaged in and try to minimize any of that impact to to right payers no no I understand thank you thank you for explaining Matt appreciate it um of course the I mean there's not much to say about the outcomes because there's no recommendations or outcomes but I do believe uh during rate the rate case um that I hope that the Future Leaders of city council will please hear the pleas of help from our seniors are low-income families it is very clear that families are struggling and so um even though they they tout having a number of folks on payment plans you know there's still people they they haven't demonstrated well how many of them are in collections how much money right now is in collections how many are past due and how many just could not pay their bill um so therefore have no electricity and those are the constituents and those calls that we're getting um so I appreciate the work that you've done uh internally I I believe it's enough I do believe that the city has to push harder um those writers are important the disconnection text messages this is low hanging fruit I mean this is super simple I don't know why that's not a recommendation but it is one that I feel strongly about that I hope to continue to remind the future Council um and the relationships I have there because this is such an important issue for me because this is what we're hearing from our constituents but thank you for for your work you know if I may if you don't mind rep is is u one of the things that we looked at is just to see what uh was already in place in terms of safeguards uh for consumers that the Pu already has in place so one of the things that prompted uh these discussions over the last month or two was the disconnection stuff that you had mentioned previously uh but in US looking at further is there's pretty extensive already uh process that's for not just disconnections but any disputed charges disputed issues related to to reconnection say if somebody does get disconnected that the Pu already has in place uh for consumer protection and in fact they already have a consumer protection division within the Pu that looks at this thing uh these type of issues and really it's a three-step process so um assuming a customer has an issue with the disputed charge or disconnection what have you with uh you know not just a pass electric but any electric utility provider across the state uh that's why the Pu is there right to sort of police this uh area that's what they specifically look at uh the first thing that the Pu does is allow the U essentially the customer and the provider Al Paso Electric in our case right to essentially the first step would be to see if there's any resolution there between the two because they're the two the two parties that are involved right uh the customer and their specific uh issues p uh Al pass electric their data they have on the customer about usage or payment history and that type of thing so any resolution that pu looks is like okay maybe these two in talking can resolve this matter but if they can't do that then the consumer has a two-step process after that first filing an informal complaint and this is all on the puc websit is very uh spelled out very clearly and there's forms that they could uh file an informal complaint what that triggers is uh the Pu gets that informal complaint sends it to the provider I'll pass electric then they give El pass Electric 15 days to respond to that there's a pu investigator who's assigned to that and they look into the details uh and then once they get that response from Al Paso Electric and they have both sides then they can make a determination uh once they do that determination and assuming it's not what the consumer wants to hear or you don't feel like it's an adequate resolution the the consumer can then file that third step which is a formal complaint that triggers a whole proc process of a almost like a legal proceeding kind of like the filings that were involved in with Al Paso Electric uh the point is there there is already sort of that framework uh and that's important because um as you know any of these timee type of situations that you all might hear from your constituents they're very fact specific to very specific circumstances for that family for that business and and so uh that's why that sort of framework is there so they can look at all the information and try to help that one situation so uh that's all there and that's for consumers available for them to do that uh which is part of the reason our discussions and Analysis were there wasn't a whole lot for us to recommend at this point given no I appreciate no I appreciate that um because there was a lot of back billing uh errors from op Paso Electric and so what ended up happening is like families got hit with like three months all at once I didn't know how to advise them and that would that's an important um component yeah and and there's there's actually some some uh in the um in the regulations about the limits that they allow the puc allows them to to recover some of those under build amounts but only for a specific amount of time maybe like two or three months it doesn't allow them to go like a year oh we we under build you for a year now we're going to go try to collect that so they do put some limitations there already in place well during the rate case I hope you review that because there was a lot of that that happened I don't know how many months though thank you Matt and Ian for your presentation of course thank you Miss PR we have Miss Turner Miss Turner signed up for this item as well mayor good afternoon Miss Turner again afternoon I have several concerns being a senior um I have to use oxygen at night uh sometimes during the day so my concern is having my power down I I am not going to store a week's worth of oxygen bottles inside my house because to me that is dangers so I keep one day supply uh the other thing is I have to use a scooter others have to use a wheelchair power goes out we don't get it connected how do we move how do we get around so those are things I think are important uh there should be no discon connection now the other thing is we're talking about low income so what is considered income uh most of the times your Social Security is considered income your disability from the VA is considered income pension from the VA is considered income Social Security uh disability is considered income I'd like to see that wiped away that those things are not considered income that way the only thing that is considered income is what is earned in taxable so and I know HUD has recently changed the rules by removing the disability from the VA because that was keeping a lot of veterans qualifying for benefits which led to a lot of them on the streets so HUD made that change it's working great but I'd like to see that kind of change made with our utilities when they start talking about income we remove that because that will address most of you it'll take care more majority of your seniors and we'll take care of a lot of your disabled vs thank you thank you Mr Turner m p yes sir that brings us to the introduction of ordinances these are items 36 and 37 there's a motion made by representative Rea seconded by representative Fiero to approve the introduction of ordinances items 36 and 37 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously are we going to move to 55 next ma'am yes sir item number 55 is discussion and action on a resolution that the mayor be authorized to sign an agreement between the city of Al Paso and the Camino Regional Mobility Authority for the assignment of tax increment funds collected from Transportation reinvestment Zone number three go ahead please good afternoon mayor and city council we have a presentation that we did with each of the members when we briefed you all we can go through it if you like or we can just open it up for discussion did you brief everybody I know I got briefed uh we offered all members of council but a few were not did not accept the that weren't available it was offered to all members but not all members accepted or scheduled all right well okay well looks like we got brief um appr can I ask you guys a question do you all recommend this item hen I think it's important for us to see what's where staff is at I mean I got based on the briefing I got um it didn't seem like uh staff was recommending due to that the first faes were paid through the state and that this face also would be paid by the state and there was no need to use taxpayer money to pay for it so uh good afternoon or good evening W Rodriguez uh with capital Improvement department so our our intent in bringing this item forward was that council did commit to establishing the transportation reinvestment zone for these purposes back in 2008 um our you know hesitation is that these are local taxpayer dollars going towards a well-funded uh State Highway project uh but ultimately that decision uh is up to you as as Council to make the final decision on that oh your recommendation means a lot to us this is what you do for a living and you do it real well um representative Canales thank you mayor I think you've very uh quickly and eloquently hit on a lot of the concerns that I have um again the the purpose of a transportation reinvestment Zone yes is to uh invest in in this kind of Transportation project but in this particular case I I feel that you know phases one and two of of uh the project have already been funded by uh the state through the TTC and and uh I I just don't think uh that Al you know respectfully I don't think that they need our money um and it has it again has nothing to do with I I don't want to disrespect the the crma or Mr T I see you back here thank you for being here um has absolutely nothing to do with that um I I just don't know that it's the best use of uh These funds to to contribute towards this project that I think will be funded anyway uh by the Texas Transportation Commission um and so I I mean I shared with you all during the briefing these same concerns um you know I I think uh am I correct in saying that if we don't uh use these funds in this way they are restricted still to trans Transportation uses and and most likely to Transit uses so just to clarify so one I think is for the Public's benefit one the request that we received from the crma is for the city to assign the agreement is essential assignment of the tax increment funds generated by Transportation reinvestment Zone number three to be assigned to or alloc allocated to the Borderland Expressway project so essentially right now what ended up happening is there's no current obligations in our transportation reinvestment Zone number three so without this action before you all today at the end of this calend year since there's no current obligations the transportation reinvestment Zone will terminate right so currently the transportation reinvestment Zone number three is Genera in this current year about 1.6 million uh we did see pretty sizable growth in this uh Zone last year year compared to this year and the property values Mr Turner I believe was going to ask a question about that um we saw about a 67% increase in the values in the property values so went from about1 127 million up to $213 million of just the incremental value so it's being captured in the zone and staying in the zone and so as of right now about 1.6 million a year the CR currently has about 2.8 million doll that the city has transferred there's no obligations currently so essentially the crma is holding on to those f funds until there is an obligation if this was not to pass and the zone does terminate the $2.8 million that they currently have would be used for Transit purposes however the $1.6 million the annual allocation would come back to the general fund general fund unrestricted since the Zone would be terminated similar to what we did last year with the trz number two yes sir yeah again I I uh I'm just of the opinion that I think this project will be funded anyway it's a it's the the borderline Expressway project is a good project um you know I just don't know that this is the most appropriate use of these particular funds I I think it's important to state for anybody who's managed to stay with us through the meeting this long and is still watching that uh it's this is the you know it's gone by a few different names it's the Northeast bypass right this is the way for uh transportation to flow around the core of the city uh it's it's it's not a bad project and and I'm not saying that in any way uh but we just want to uh I think be good stewards of the city's funds and uh you know it's my opinion that this isn't necessarily the best use thank you mayor thank you may um Mr rodrigus we're talking about a state highway correct correct Texas is projected to have $20 billion in a train day fund at the end of this B's budget I mean surely Tech can can go and get some funding for that for the third phase I mean this there there's more I think needs for us as a local community than there is with somebody with a 20 billion excess on their budget I agree with um representative Canales and the mayor that that we should um use the our dollars differently thank you mayor you have a motion um I have a motion to deny it h you can delete Del it you can delete the item you what no action all right representative um Haso thank you mayor I had a question around I guess for Miss Mech if we were not to move forward with this um what can sun metrol do with this is there a plan for that or that hasn't been explored yet it wouldn't be Sun Metro sir this will be coming back to the general fund so as we're starting to consider our next budget um those would be additional dollars that would be coming to the general fund um on an annual basis for us to consider to offset some of our ongoing expenses in that area okay sorry I misunderstood in in our briefing um on this item I I thought it was going to Sun Metro because it could only be used for that not for the general fund so I must Miss So currently the crma currently has $2.8 million that the city has transferred and we did that several months ago we stopped transferring since then those funds that they currently have on hand that $2.8 million would have to be used for Transit okay as fighting when the transportation reinvestment Zone was created so that's separate in apart that's one that they've had in in Prior years so the current fiscal year again that $1.6 million that would be generated through the incal value would come back to the journal fund okay that that's where the confusion was I'm sorry about that and then um I wanted to ask Mr T kind of what your thoughts on this were um the request and just give you the floor good afternoon sir good afternoon mayor Council uh Raymond theas I'm with the kamino regional Mobility Authority uh so we u in many of the roles that we play uh in the region it's a partner and so that's what that's the role we're playing here partnering between the city and techto um it made sense to me uh because when you go back to the original uh intention of the trz number three it was to fund the Northeast Parkway that was the intention and so uh after that it actually funded the Northeast Main Lanes expansion and the aesthetic improvements along uh along that corridor and uh eventually Tex out like that that uh scheme so much they put it on the on Northwest side but in either event the point is the trz number three as I understand it from back in those days was to was to fund a portion of the Northeast Parkway which is now known as as Borderland expressway I will mention too the phase three uh is entirely unfunded so I think there is a need for it um and so this would be considered part of your kind of local skin in the game sort of a thing but either way ultimately we're a partner these are your funds this is your trz and and we're happy to help if you want to do this if you don't that's fine too are are you going to be asking for funding in the next session for phase three it's a Tex out project so the RMA will not be asking so you okay so that's why you're just the partner between us right now sir okay okay thank you yes sir representes Mr Dez before you go I do have a question for you um I what you're describing is exactly what I remember over the years um and before we closed one of the TS it went to State roadways yes which is what helped um generate revenue and I understand staff's concern about revenues here but I mean we're talking about a huge project for the Northeast that will connect communities um and also be the Gateway for future metas and and other Advanced manufacturing needs so I do believe it is critical for our Economic Development and the the problem is is what you mentioned skin in the game we have to compete the city of L Paso has to compete for All Phases and so I'm not sure if you can answer this but do you know that let's say we were to put you know funding aside for phase three and then we got full funding from techto in the future could it could we just cancel it or can we get reimburse from the crma if we did get the funding from teot to complete the entire project you know I'm not sure that I have the answer off the top of my head I mean ultimately when when you create that trz much like the funds that you were talking about before that are already allocated uh they're they were generated within the trz and they have to be spent within that trz so it's it's somewhat limiting once you do it um and so but ultimately I I don't have an answer we could certainly find one we could get you an answer but I I don't have an answer for you today yeah I know I just that's such a I think that's important for Council to know and I'm not sure if staff has a response if we we know um cuz you you all um are like a quasi governmental organization and I know we do transfers to you but I've never seen an instance where you transferred back um yeah is do we do we have an understanding on whether or not we can get reimbursed so I will mention we did that with with the last tzs so when when you decided to extinguish those debts we did transfer those funds back to you okay or actually there was a the back and forth that you're talking about so there is some precedent for that okay thank you Mr for being here um Mr cortinez do we do we know in the event it gets fully funded phase three whether or not we can seek a any unspent proceeds from CR I was looking to find the language in the agreement and so in there we included language that any funds left over at the end of the project would be returned back to the city okay so that's the only I wonder if Council would consider just helping pay for um initial call what is segment three what area phase three excuse me do you know the boundaries Martin Luther King to State Line I think corre Martin Luther King of New Mexico 213 I believe phase three is the connection actually from uh from phase one which is between dire and and railroad to the spur okay so phase three would be M okay to Anthony phase three I'm sorry I heard the representative say something from railroad to to the spur railroad to the spur okay so that's that's kind of that segment that connects back to the other state roadway um you know I I appreciate the recommendation from from staff I I do have to side on the the needs for transportation especially for this project and the and the hostility there is at the state level to even get our fair share of funding so when they see a community back Transportation projects we can go you know as a member of no we can go and advocate for our fair share of funding and I think that's the context that the council needs to understand is that it's just not a matter of waiting for the funding to become available there's timelines very strict timelines and it's one of those if you don't use it you lose it and by the time the state figures out what they're going to do with their excess funds we've already started the projects the Environmental Studies we've already started all the other groundwork that needs to be done and and I really do feel that because of what's at stake in in the the Borderland um the the West the Northeast Parkway all the names it's had over the years they've fought very hard the this community has fought very hard for this project and I would hate to see our chances fail um if if if our funding alignments and timelines don't adhere to the needs of this project so um I am supportive of the project I have mentioned this years ago that I was supportive of the trz as well um because that's how long this community has been talking about the trz once the one that we had had finished how we can re red diert those funds to the next Transportation project what Transportation projects are is anyone proposing but for a new proposal this is one that I feel is very imminent and needed in in the Northeast so for that reason I won't support uh the denial or deletion and so I would move to approve repres molar thank you mayor so so let let's really think about what we're doing here today so far today we've talked about Economic Development we've talked about everything that we've done well that we're doing well Mr cordz you your spot on and everything we're trying to do for the city of Al Paso call it the Northeast Parkway call it the Borderland Expressway whatever you want to call it this thing has been around probably 2025 years plus I used to work with a former The Late City representative Carl Robinson on this when I came into office I was so surprised when I went to my first Borderland Expressway meeting I'm thinking how far ahead we are no we're talking about the same thing we were talking about 10 years ago I couldn't believe my ears U something's definitely not right so we talk about Northeast um we talk about a rail spur and we're not talking about it that we're going to build it but the need for a rail spur we have meta thousand plus acres they're going to be coming in it's going to be a boom for them as well we talk about compul compul is already engaged houses are being built people are living in their homes there it's going to be a boon for that area as well we've been talking about the amphitheater for quite some time it's going to be a game changer again for the amphitheater people coming in from different parts of New Mexico people coming from the East side connecting to different ways to get to there we need this Borderland Expressway this is phase three it's one of the smallest phase two is the largest one phase one is already on construction almost completed if it's not already completed phase two is there the money has been let out okay great we need this and it's from Martin Luther King New Mexico 213 from there 213 turns into New Mexico 404 we just absolutely need this uh should the next Administration want to do the deck Park guess what you're going to need a bypass transportation and I know representative fedos you have experience in the state house but what are we begging for how long do we have to beg from the state of Texas I don't care if they have a surplus of $20 billion that doesn't guarantee we're going to get our fair share it doesn't happen you don't believe me think about the things we've already asked for and we do not receive from the state of Texas I can tell you on the Shan Hagerty the extension between let's say Dyer and momes that thing has been going on since 198 85 we the city of El Paso have handed taxpayer money and cash matches so this is not the first time we're going to do this we've been doing this for quite some time and if I've memory surg me correctly we've done two cash matches for that one so project you're talking about Shan Hagerty and the let's say the bridge where us54 is well they've already done the environmental they've done the archaeological they've done everything the design everything that's ready to go it's been ready since before I took office the money still has not been let out we need Northeast needs this project I moved to approve but no one second it I'm not sure who uh motioned to delete it but we really need to I would ask my colleague whoever did there's a motion if there's a motion to delete in second then there shouldn't be any more conversation there's a motion to deny okay well I I my there's no more conversation I made a motion to approve I can drop m i I make a motion to I mean I'm going to drop my motion so representative molar can make his all right so we have a motion you have a motion first and then if that didn't pass you going to make a motion I already made a motion but you haven't gotten a second that's what I'm saying a second mol's motion okay so if that one fails we'll take yours M we do have Miss Turner signed up to speak on this item Miss Turner she mayor council this city has over 7 miles of unpaved Roads okay now why should the city pay for a state road when we had have 7 miles of unpaved roads in our city that need attention yeah what look fine we'll do that if the state will pay those M unpaved roads you've got an item here there's no budget there's no ideal what it's going what it is how long it's going to be in existence best thing you can do is delete this if not postpone it for 6 months and we'll find out the state of Texas has 32.7 billion in a surplus and over 25 billion in an economic stabilization fund seems like there's more than enough money for them to handle phase three without going into this tur as far as as I'm concerned the best thing to do from my point of view is uh boat it down let it die and let's get that money back into our general fund that's just my position I know we need Transportation if when they start working on the decks everything's going to fall apart you're not going to be able to move in this town you're not going to be able to get the traffic over 404 you're not going to be able to get the traffic over Trans Mountain it's just going to shut down so the deck gu deal is one of the dumbest things I've heard yet it ranked right up there with the street cars but uh we have unpaved roads in this city they need to be taken care of first before we take care of a state funded Highway thank you we that M PR yes mayor we have a motion made by representative Federal seconded by mayor protim Kennedy and this is to delete item 55 on that motion call for the vote shouldn't add any discussion in the voting session and that motion fails 5 to3 Representatives oo ernandez molinar Rivera Canales voting n Representatives Kennedy salai the motion does fail now there's a motion made by representative molinar seconded by representative ernandez and this is to approve item 55 on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and that motion passes 5 to3 Representatives ASO hernandz molar Salo Rivera voting I Representatives Kennedy panales voting n the motion does carry mayor may we go back to item 38 yes ma'am this is on page as long as represent Mard didn't yell anymore this is on page 16 and item 38 is discussion and action that the city manager be authorized to sign contract number 2024 - 0178 R physical exams and drug screening for the fire department between the city of Al Paso and Muhammad samid Khan dbnn Ventures LLC DBA fastest labs for physical exams and drug screening services for the fire department and mayor Miss Turner signed up for this item Miss Turner signed up to speak on item 38 is there a motion in a second who's that representative Riva made the motion seconded by representative [Music] Federal my question was uh why a 98.6% increase we're increasing the annual testing what is the thought behind this as to why good afternoon Council mayor uh Chief killings Al pass fire department so the increase in this contract is just to uh ensure that as we move forward for the recruitment over the next five years for the El Paso Fire Department we have the ability to um provide these uh physicals and uh screenings pre pre-hire screenings for our recruit classes that's a good thing Chief yes sir thank you with that we have a motion in a second yes sir the motion was made by representative Rea seconded by representative Federal to approve item 38 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously that brings us to item 39 and this is discussion and action on the award of solicitation 20240 676 R operation and maintenance of city of Al Paso police department Municipal vehicle storage facility to United Towing Inc DBA urvms this this is a revenue generating contract to operate and manage the vehicle storage facility there's a motion made by representative Fiero seconded by representative Riva to approve item 39 on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and that motion passes unanimously that brings us to item number 41 and this is discussion in action on a resolution authorizing the city manager to sign an agreement for Professional Services between the city of Al Paso and ganet Fleming Inc for a project known as architect and Engineering Services for theeta Port of Entry pedestrian improvements project we have Miss Turner yes sir Miss Turner signed up to speak on this item before I start on this can you all make a suggestion next time around that when you all jumble the agenda that you all print one out so we'll see what's the order that it's in it would be nice uh you this says foreign for-profit corporation authorized to trans transact business in Texas is it possible that we get the name of the country that we're dealing with included in the agenda I'd like to know where my tax dollars are going so the name of the company is that what you said I don't care about the name of the company I care about foreign for-profit corporation authorized to transact business in the state of Texas so when you are dealing with somebody and our tax Bayers are going outside of the country I'd like to know the country that it's going to architect and Engineering Services on the iseta Port of Entry in The Pedestrian Improvement project that's where it's going for I'm just reading for for profit Corporation well just saying they're not a nonprofit and they're doing it and they're profit company but they're in engineering and Architectural company that are a for-profit company and they're we're hiring them to use their skills and design but what country are they from these are not us this is not a US company this is a foreign owned Corporation our tax dollars are going out of the state of Texas and the United States of America to a foreign owned Corporation I have no problems with people making a profit but I have problems seeing my money go [Music] to a corporation outside of this country when we have corporations within this country capable of doing this thank you Mr Turner we have a motion in a second okay okay yes a motion was made by representative Rea seconded by alternate mayor protol to approve item 41 on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously representative Fiero not present item 42 is discussion and action on the award of solicitation 20240 366 janitorial services Municipal service center and various locations to Ace Government Services LLC this contract will provide janitorial services at the municipal service center complex Delta Northeast and Mission Valley coral and San hinto Welcome Center Miss Turner I've already talked to Mr cortinez about this the reason for this contract variance is for an hourly rate increase it's 103.3 1% increase but the hourly rate is going from 12 to 20 that's not 103.3 1% but that is the sole reason this contract has experience um I want to know where the rest of the money is going to because it sure isn't 100% let alone 103.3 one m [Music] p you have a motion in a second yes sir the motion was made by alternate mayor protim molard seconded by representative Salo to approve item 42 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously item 43 is discussion and action on the request of the managing director of purchasing and strategic sourcing be authorized to issue a purchase order to international eagle Enterprises Inc referencing 2023-24 a collector and above Street resurfacing 2023 this change order will add three new line items that will be used to address existing un unstable subgrade that does not meet required compaction and stability standards to ensure there is a proper foundation for the pavement motion approve second there's a motion made by representative Federal seconded by representative Canales to approve item 43 on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and that motion passes unanimously that brings us to item 46 and 47 these items are related mayor would you like to take them together yes ma'am thank you item 46 is a public hearing of an ordinance changing the zoning from a to c apartment condition and C2 commercial to C4 commercial and imposing a condition this is at Stan Roberts senior and us54 Patriot freeway item 47 is an ordinance releasing a condition placed on the same property move to approve second there's a motion made by alternate mayor Pro molar second by representative Riva and this is to adopt the the ordinances on items 46 and 47 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously item 48 is a public hearing of an ordinance changing the a portion of 7705 North Loop Drive from A2 apartment to C4 commercial and impos in conditions sorry oh second I knew you're were going to say that there's a motion made by representative ernandez seconded by alternate mayor protol to adopt the ordinance on item 48 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously item 49 is a public hearing on an ordinance changing the zoning of all Lots from R3 residential to C4 commercial at Vista Del Soul drive and Joe Battle Boulevard and we do have public comment on this item from Brandon Middleton followed by Tariq Samuels good afternoon good afternoon Brandon Middleton with kimley horn in forth I was here just to answer any questions that Council may have or there's any opposition so thank you for your time we've been briefed on that thank you sir and Tariq Samuels good afternoon I'm Tariq Samuels Quick Trip real estate project manager um I'm here to answer any questions as well thank you for being here both of you with that Miss P yes sir the motion was made by representative Federal seced by representativ Retta to adopt the ordinance on item 49 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously item 50 is a public hearing of an ordinance changing the zoning from m2c heavy manufacturing special contract to C4s commercial special contract and imposing a condition this is at Englewood Drive and alamaa Avenue motion approve there's a motion made by representative Riva seconded by representative salido to adopt the ordinance on item 50 on that motion call for the vote voting session is open voting session is open thank you and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously item 51 is a public hearing of an ordinance vacating 10 foot public utility easement at 6300 via sit in a drive second there's a motion made by mayor protim Kennedy seconded by alternate mayor protim mol to adopt the ordinance on item 51 on that motion call for the vote I think we're is daring anybody to vote no in the voting session and that motion passes unanimously item 52 is discussion and action on a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute a chapter 38 Economic Development agreement between the city of El Paso and Klo El Paso Texas LLC for the development of a 60,000 foot data center facility at North lot brive and Via Mia Drive approve M Turner we're getting close the evening I think uh this is a data center which means computers which means they require cooling I want to know how much water is going to be used so I would ask you that you postpone this for two weeks to four weeks until you can get the water department to come in here and tell you how much water is going to be provided to this data center for cooling and how they're going to cool it so just a you know we did it to the data center in the Northeast I think we should be doing that not only for the data for the water but also for the electrical demand thank you thank you m p yes sir the motion was made by representative Rea seconded by representative F to approve item 52 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously item 53 is discussion and action that the city manager be authorized to execute a chapter 380 economic development program agreement between the city of Al Paso and National Center for defense manufacturing and machining in support of the applicants business operations located at five Butterfield Trail Boulevard s andb move to approve second there's a motion made by representative ernandez seconded by alternate mayor Pro molinard yeah Miss PR I don't see the last one closed out yet okay it's Clos item 53 there's a motion by representative ernandez seconded by alternate mayor Pro molinard to approve item 53 this is a chapter 380 Economic Development agreement with the City and National Center for defense manufacturing and machining on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously thank you item 54 is discussion and action that the mayor be authorized to sign an interlocal agreement between the city of Al Paso and Al Paso MHMR DBA emergence Health Network for the purpose of continuing to operate a crisis intervention team in the city of Al Paso second what three seconds there's a motion made by mayor protim Kennedy oh that's the same time seconded by representative molard and theal see we knew you had a sense of humor just waited till the end on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously I think we need to reconsider item 15 I because I don't think that representative mullinar properly explain Bullfrogs and in one meeting he told us that bullfrogs do what bullfrogs do in Northeast and I think we should get an explanation mayor thank you very much and I know this is not on the agenda but seriously so I'm sorry is there is a motion to rec considerer 55 no okay oh we just want to know about bullfrogs okay that brings us to item 56 item 56 is discussion and action that the city manager design be authorized to effectuate the listed budget transfers to complete the sea line exhibit upgrade and the leopard exhibit renovation projects establish the information technology infrastructure 2025 and fr road traffic management and the closure of the Mac project there is a motion made by alternate mayor protim molar seconded by representative Fierro to approve item 56 on that motion call for the vote you're ready sweetheart and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously we have a hot mic the final item is item 57 and this is discussion and action that the city council authorizes the amendment of section 19 of the FY 2025 budget resolution to revise the city's minimum wage to $15.75 per hour starting on February 23rd 2025 second we have representative caneles followed by representative as I knew you'd get one more I know I know thank you mayor um you can you all can listen to me one more time uh today's uh proposed well actually mayor can we see a presentation first from staff I think it'd be beneficial the see it what never mind we're okay I'll talk about it I'll talk about it it's okay uh today's uh today's proposed action to increase the the city's minimum wage to $15.75 an hour uh effective early next year February 23rd 20125 it's a huge milestone for the city's Workforce um and a direct direct result of I think strong leadership and collaboration and uh shared commitment to our employees so without patting myself on the back too much I'm especially proud uh to be to be having this discussion today because started with an effort that I a proposal that I brought forward in in March 2023 um which you know not long after I took office uh it was really important to me and and that proposal passed by the council then was to phase in an increase to the city employee minimum wage reaching $15 an hour by 2026 correct um by the end of 2026 so I I made it clear at the time that I hoped that that 2026 goal would be the minimum expectation and that we could we could hopefully accomp accomplish that sooner I'm very happy to say that this proposed action today like greatly exceeds uh the expectations that I had at the time for how quickly uh we would be able to do that and how realistic that proposal was um so when I when I introduced this in in 2023 I did so with a really clear belief that the hardworking people uh of of our organization keep our city running every day and that those people deserve wages that that reflect the value that they bring to our organization and and because of who we are as a public entity to the entire Community um I I think they deserve to know that their their work is recognized and rewarded uh not just in words but in in actions like this so that's that's not just an altruistic belief of mine it is that um but it also reflects the principle I think that well-compensated workers are happy workers and happy workers uh who feel valued in the organization provide the exceptional service that that we uh always guarantee to the community that we want to be able to provide um I think uh job Seekers seeking uh employment in local jobs will be far more likely to apply at the city when they can Bank on us paying them a fair wage and they know that will happen um this impact this this uh increase will will impact 1,489 current employees I'll I'll deliver the presentation for you uh it it's lifting their wages it's improving their quality of life it's it's strengthening their ability to support their families uh it's very important it's it's not just a victory for our employees I think it's an investment in El Paso it's an investment in retention in morale and uring that that we remain competitive as an employer here in the community so uh for that reason I think this increase isn't just the right thing to do it's a it's a necessity for us it'll allow us to fill key vacancies and we still do have a significant number of vacancies um and it'll help us to retain the really excellent employees that we do have the reality is turnover is expensive training new employees is expensive and I I think it's smarter and better governance to make the investment upfront in the form of Ferro wages instead of having to go through those expenses of rehiring and retraining new people all the time um you know Texas does not allow cities to adopt a minimum wage for all employees within our jurisdiction and all employers uh but I think we can't ignore the role that we play in setting the tone for fair pay in our community we're we're a very large employer um I I want to acknowledge the the comprehensive work that's gone into ensuring that this is a financially responsible and sustainable decision uh the human resources department um Miss Wiggins the budget uh teams and and uh everybody who's worked on this uh have have really carefully outlined the the prated impact for for the upom year the compression that will be necessary the the adjustments that the Departments are going to have to make um and I want to thank all of you for your your diligence in making this happen um I I think it reflects incredible progress it reflects great leadership from Miss Mack and and her City leadership team uh it reflects what happens when we have the vision to to pursue what I think are are bold and meaningful changes uh that aren't always easy in in pursuit of doing what's morally right yes but also what I think is right financially as as fiduciaries towards of of taxpayer dollars so um I I can wrap up here with a statistic that I think is important as I mentioned before 1,489 employees are are impacted by this increase and if I understand correctly the average among those employees uh and what they will realize in pay is amounts to an annual increase of about $2,969 correct um the the average family in Al Paso there was a report just I think last week now spends $250 on groceries uh per month which equates to $3,000 a year the average wage increase will cover groceries for a working family and I think that's huge for someone who's trying to make ends meet um you know if if we can provide an increase that es the the food insecurity that someone might face uh you know we're doing a really good thing so I'm I'm really proud to have championed this increase I'm even prouder to see it hopefully come to fruition today much faster than we anticipated um I think fairly compensating our employees is a is an excellent way to invest uh you know a portion of our of our budget surplus essentially uh and I use the term invest very intentionally because I really do think that this will pay off for us uh down the road in terms of the the impact it has on our Workforce so I urge my colleagues to support uh this item uh again as as uh you know you did a couple of years ago when when this started and to show our employees here at the city of El Paso that we value them not just as as workers who you know again hopefully follow through on performing the the excellent service that we expect from them but also as as people with households and families that they have to care for so thank you mayor thank you and um and if I may I'd like to just add a little bit you know um I didn't know there was any more to add there there's a lot more but I just wanted I wanted to come from our side of the table because I wanted it's been very important um throughout the time that we we've heard all of you with you know in addition to rep Canalis we've heard it from you know from many of you that this has been an important factor so it was important to us that that we be able to bring this to to you so that you have the opportunity to vote on this so I'm proud to be bringing it to this Council I'm also proud is the very last item that you're going to vote on and I think it's a very important one um and it is because you know Miss Miss Mack gave us the go-ahead the green light and the directive to go that we were able to do this and it was a lot of work I have to tell you um my staff U Monica kushmer she she ran those things many times there were many different iterations that had to be viewed then the budget office um reviewing everything so a lot went into it but there was a lot of passion that went into it so it was one of those that we're really happy to bring to you so thank you for for letting me speak on that item thank you and I know that I've met with you and I met with M Mack and uh your goal was not 1575 uh M Mack what was your goal what was your attempt to do without impacting the budget and being able to work within the current city budget 1724 1724 she so and she's working that that was the original and we'll get there we'll get there and they're still going to continue to work in that direction and this is where the budget them to was 1575 but they they really value uh our team players our city employees and believe that uh livable weight is something that's really important to our um our team players so uh M Mack miss Wiggins thank you very much for you know wanting to make sure that we continue to take care of the people that take care of us and as we talked earlier this morning you know without every person every individual that works in the city place a important role from number one to number 6,000 and they pay a very important role in how our city moves forward and things we do and uh whether it's uh picking up trash whether it's fixing streets whether it's uh Finance I mean I could go on and on so everyone has a really important role and it's important that we take care of them we care for them and Miss Mack I and Miss Wiggins I know that both of you I commend you for looking ways to move it forward But continuing to move it forward and have that needle up you know where like I said you really tried I know you wanted it really hard at 1724 and you'll continue to to look to achieve that without impacting the the taxpayers and the rate so thank you for both of you thank you representative aavo Dr oo how's that thank you either one um no I I really want to Echo what what my colleagues are saying and wanted to bring up a few things what well one um thank you for your leadership Miss Mack miss Wiggins on on this I think it's a it's a great idea I've been talking to my constituents about it over the last week ever since you told me I ran with it and they're they've been very very supportive of this and they think it's a good idea I think that um for many years the county has been ahead of us and they're taking a lot of employees and I think this is finally going to make us more competitive with with the county right and keep people here and I think one one of the other things that I wanted to highlight I think it's Monica that did this if not okay she got all the data together and pulled it together in a really really nice way and I think we are finding out a lot from this data like the the fact that our Workforce in terms of years of service is very young right most people have been here for one year to 5 years and those that have been here for a long time it's about 1% and that that 1% is probably decreasing cuzz if one of the people saying over here a second second Road over there at the end um is going to make that that stat decrease right and I think that that we need to start thinking about this and making sure that we are are keeping people here for a long time and I think the the reality that we go into this next budget cycle for um next year we got to look at the compression and I'm really glad that you're already thinking of about that and seeing how we're going to catch up on that and really discuss that with the new Council so just very happy with this and hopefully we could get to 17 sooner rather than later but thank you so much thank you with that we have Mo no Mard you're next I'll be very quiet thank you mayor so miss Wiggins thank you very much um Monica with a K thank you very much as well to everyone that's M Mac thank you very much for proving everything for on this item and so um El Paso a great place to raise a family live and work and play but it's also for the city of El Paso uh few of us here on this day as have been city employees in the past and so it's been a great honor to serve the public and so we thank you very much appreciate it thank you thank you and mayor we do have public comment on this item they must have signed up late we have Alma Aranda followed by Lisa Turner they're not on my sheet they did come in later almost Miss on here during the day sir M Turner sign up late thank you Council um on behalf of Workforce Solutions our CEO couldn't be here but she wanted to make sure that um we took the time to thank Miss Mack for bringing this forward and the council as well as this is going to be your legacy um the city itself is a vital employer in the community and it's important that you guys are an employer of choice so I think the presidence that you're setting now is an example for other employers to follow as well um as you know with Workforce Solutions we use the living wage which I know Miss Mac um has had those conversations with with Lea but this is a step in the right direction ction I know you've talked about you know affordability the there was conversations that mandz brought about the utilities this is such a step in the right direction so I just wanted to congratulate congratulate you for moving forward thank you thank you and if um excuse me ma'am yes sir I do want you to pass a message to Miss Melinda that uh she does an incredible job of uh representing the workforce and representing the the community and I know a big part and a big part of your budgets for daycare and for for care for for women that need a lot of assistance and and a lot of training and I happen to be the chair of the board and obviously this will be the last but she does an incredible job and I thank you for I do want to I wish she was here because I would thank her for the incredible job she's done to continue to represent and take care of the people yes sir thank you so much thank you again good evening mayor and counsel your name ma'am uh Lisa turner oh thank you Troublemaker in [Laughter] charge uh Miss Mack I would have been happy to go with the 1724 but I know all journey start with a single step so I think we just taken our first step now Mr mullar representative molar if you have a frog population out there in the Northeast let me know I'll grab my frog gig and come out cuz I haven't had a mess up frog g frog legs in 50 years okay I hav't managed to cook up a mess of them this best stuff in the world now I'm talking regular F frogs I don't know what kind of YouTu have cooked up uh but I do want to say this I've had a blast working with representative Kennedy representative Hernandez representative molar representative celo and representative rera and I was not going to let you adjourn this meeting before I got the last word in thank you and now we need to vote on it I got a feeling yes sir the motion was made by mayor ptim Kennedy seconded by alternate mayor potim molinard to approve item 57 on that motion call for for the vote in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously can we talk about bulls now no I'm kidding M and with that uh been incredible four years thank you all and we've accomplished a lot and we accomplish a lot with great leadership from the city staff to city council and I again and and I said it earlier that U when we walked in we knew what we had and we walked out we left at a lot better place thank you and may God bless everyone May happy holiday is there a motion to adjourn motion second there's a motion in a second to adjourn the city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed and the regular city council meeting for Tuesday December 17th 2024 is adjourned at 4:45 p.m. thank you Council it's been a pleasure Ser thank you