good morning mayor good morning everyone just reminded me good morning this is a meeting of the AL Paso city council for Tuesday October 24th 2023 mayor liser is present and presiding council chambers along with representative Kennedy mayor Pro manelo alternate mayor Pro molinard and representative salido representative Rea is running a few minutes late and representative ernandez just arrived it is 9:01 a.m. now will everyone please silence your electronic devices so as not to disturb the meeting and rise for the invocation delivered by senior police chaplain David Mayfield well once again mayor liser members of the council thank you for allowing me this opportunity to come and pray for you and for our city thank you I invite those present to join in praying in their tradition as I will pray in mind Creator God author of all we ask that you bless the Gathering of this Council today guide us as we deliberate over plans the plans to improve and prosper the city and plans to address the problems that result from so many people living together bless each member of this Council and help them to govern with wisdom and compassion help them to do the hard job of working for everyone who has come to live in this city regardless of origin finally father I pray that your mercy and Grace would flow to our city as we work toward the benefit of those who live and work and play here we ask all of this in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit now may God bless this Council the city of El Paso and the United States of America amen thank you sir may God bless you and this morning to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance we have students from sageland micro Society Elementary we have Jackson V NOA Robert Hernandez KRA Garcia levier Espinosa Amani Medina Emma bastardo Amari Solin Delila Campos Ethan Rodriguez Angelique aiia Tiana Flores noani Martinez Allison Aguilera Lily soell Kayla Rodriguez Brian Medrano Kelly Evans Dario Chavez Allison kamacho Delany Enriquez Angelo DEA Cruz Emma Hernandez Jones Javin Cora Ethan bella ayani carasco lily Vian NOA and Abigail araga to the flag of the United States of America theu for it stands one nation God indivisible liy and justice for [Applause] all I know to I know I'm us yeah to us sopia so Bri spe foree squeeze in a little bit more can we move a little bit more this way put your Shir I brought your cushion back it well yeah last time yeah excuse me sir for the record representative Fiero and representative Canales have also arrived did you get representa F yes sir oh okay thank you that brings us to the mayor's proclamations the first Proclamation is epidemiologist date which is the first one that would be me I think representative thank you so Proclamation the city of El Paso Texas whereas an epidemiologist is an investigator who studies the occurrence of disease or other health related conditions States or events in specified populations to include carrying out research to investigate the transmission of diseases and develop means for prevention and control and whereas the city of El Paso Department of Public Health monitors disease occurrence in our population by collecting analyzing and providing statistical data on responsible diseases and sharing this information with the community and whereas the city of Al Paso Department of Public Health conducts surveillance investigation prevention education and controls activities to reduce the spread of communicable and infectious diseases in the paso del Norte region and whereas the city of El Paso Department of Public Health Works and collabor operation with our regional Partners including Texas Department of State Health Services region 910 Centers for Disease Control and prevention CDC army public health Fort Bliss secretaria de sorry Salud de Chihuahua dur santaria 6 New Mexico Department of Health for a healthier paso del North a region and whereas the city of Al Paso Department Health provides education and Technical Support to healthcare providers and the community in the management of diseases of Public Health importance and whereas the city of Al Pasa Department of Public Health ensures compliance with regulations and laws to protect and promote Health in the community of Al Paso Texas now therefore be it proclaimed by the mayor and the Council of the city of El Paso that October 24th 2023 shall be known as epidemiologist day signed by The Honorable mayor Oscar liser good morning good morning honorable mayor Lisa city council members and El Paso Community members my name is Loretta ernandez I'm the current lead epidemiologist with the Department of Public Health first I would like to give all the glory and thank our incredible Team Awesome team standing behind me who began with us at the onset of the co 19 pandemic back in 2020 and stuck it out with us to the very end of their contracts for the Emergency Response in which most of them will go on to other positions tomorrow and others next Monday we had 200 plus staff helping us during the emergency response and have had a handful of the team left that made it to the very end which are 22 of them in epidemiology standing with us today we could not have mitigated the outbreak over the past three years without them and are very grateful for their time and commitment during the outbreak over the past three years um and we're grateful for the time that we had them we can't thank them enough they were our true Pillars of Strength and support when during those three years the epidemiology program worked seven days a week sometimes mandatory overtime all holidays and all weekend days with no vacation time off and no time to spend with their families until finally Thanksgiving of last year we had our first holiday we were a Relentless team that did what it took to get through the numerous cases that had to be investigated contact traced and monitored followed up until we could release the individuals from isolation who were positive for coid 19 and also dealing with deaths the pandemic is no longer a public health emergency but it did teach us that prevention education preparedness communication and teamwork are vital when anticipating the next outbreak thank you to our health leadership Dr okara and all of our health leadership all of our city leadership for their guidance and thank you to all the El Paso Community for their patience as we we all nervously had to learn just what we were dealing with during that unprecedented time which was a hor historical time as we move forward we continue to perform surveillance and monitor the health of the El Pas Community behind the scenes to keep outbreaks at Bay we perform case investigations on over 90 other notifiable conditions aside from coid that are reportable by Texas law and we continue to monitor any variants related to co 19 the team also assists with outbreaks in the community that are in congregated settings such as nursing homes detention facilities assisted living facilities migrant shelters homeless shelters um for any Refugee seeking Asylum after the pandemic I think just about everyone one every household finally understood what anep what an epidemiologist was otherwise known as disease detectives and since then we have received many requests for career day appearances at schools where we hope to inspire and plant the seat of epidemiology as a career for our future Generations our team is here to assist with any education and prevention in order to maintain the health of our community for for everyone to experience an excellent quality of life thank you thank you thank you all for being here and I think you know as you you talk I think one of the best biggest things we see is that U you know awareness and then how to prevent and continue to be prepared so um I thank you for that thank you all thank you the next Proclamation is El Paso har Haron School of Science day repr nandes hi good morning welcome proclamation of the city of El Paso whereas Harmony Science Academy El Paso and Harmony School of Science in the harmony Public Schools West Texas district have been named 2023 State schools of character by character.org and whereas eache character.org certifies schools and school districts that demonstrate a dedicated focus on character develop ment that in turn has a positive effect on academic achievement student behavior and school climate to qualify for the school of character designation campuses must Implement comprehensive multi-year character educational programs and undergo a rigorous evaluation process in 2023 only 15 schools in Texas and 73 schools Across the Nation receive uh character School honors and whereas by fostering learning environments that emphasize positive values and personal growth Harmony Science Academy a Paso and Harmony School of Science are providing students with important instruction that will serve them well throughout their lives and each school's commitment to this endeavor is truly commendable and whereas the city of El Paso congratulates Harmony Science Academy El Paso and Harmony School of Science on being named 2023 State schools of character by character.org and for winning fifth place against the top 100 rocktree teams from across the country at the 21st annual American rocketry challenge at Great Meadow in the PL Virginia and Ras teams at the National Finals represented 27 States from Alaska to Florida and at the National Finals a coin flip determined that competing teams in the first round of competition had to launch the Rockets to 875 ft without with a flight duration of 43 to 46 seconds safely carrying one large hen egg and the top 42 teams conducted a second launch that was required to reach 825 ft with a flight duration of 4 1 to 44 seconds and Ras by winning fifth place Harmony Science Academy automatically earned a spot in the NASA student launch initiative to continue their exploration of rocketry with high-powered rockets and challenging missions parameters and Ras members of the winning team include students Jacob poras Rodrigo Valdez Galilea Rodriguez Thomas Joe allic web Ian Ambre Kiera de deera Jose Cruz and their coaches uren Tango and hasi Tucan and now therefore be a proclaimed by the mayor in the Council of the city of El Paso that October 24th 2023 shall be known as El Paso Harmony School of Science signed by honorable mayor Oscar liser congratulations good morning good morning good morning honorable mayor and city council member numbers just I want to say a few words about Harmony Public Schools Harmony Public Schools is a system of 62 Texas public charter schools that provides rigorous high quality education focused on science technology engineering and math through a caring a collaborative environment Harmony provides students from traditionally underserved communities the opportunities to Exel through Project based learning where they learn the skills necessary to become a contributing Global citizen in the year 2000 Harmony Public Schools opened its first school in Houston Texas and still houses Central Administration in the Houston area since expanding Harmony has grown into all major areas of Texas including West Texas currently in Al Paso region we have six campuses serving over 4100 students and uh we've opened our first campus back in 2006 thank you so much for your time thank you and if uh the students uh come come up and introduce yourselves one at a time i' we appreciate that hello honorable Judge um mayor I'm sorry and committee and all citizens of op Paso I'm Mariana mendosa and among with rocketry for Harmon Science Academy we're also here for SLS service leadership Society my name is Mara mosa and pres president of C society and among the other Harmony Public Schools students thank you hi I'm Ain Martinez I am also the service leadership Society in Harmony Science Academy and it's great it's a great school thank you good morning I'm PC Martinez I'm also an SLS uh at Harmony Science Academy thank you good morning good morning uh my name is Joanne ye and I am the service leadership Society Treasurer thank you good morning good morning my name is J Gonzalez and I'm vice president of service leadership S Club thank you hello my name Isen Rodriguez I am in the student service leadership Society but I'm also on the rocket training team thank you good morning my name is Ed payan and I'm part I'm an SLS member and as well a rocket tree member thank you morning good morning my name is Lis and I'm a mentor in the SLS club and I'm also in the rocketry club thank good morning I'm Jacob coros and I'm also a member of the rocketry team good morning I am Thomas I am part of the rocketry student thank good morning believe it or not I'm not a student but my name is Pera agilera and I'm the dean of academics over at Harmony Science Academy thank you good morning uh my name is Michael lean sepesi and I'm the principal of Harmony School of Science Elementary thank you good morning morning my name is arson tangel I am a coach of the rocketer club good morning my name is mahm CH Harmony Science Academy ala campus principal thank you good morning my name is s Vasquez and I'm the science teacher at Harmony Science Academy and as well as the sponsor for the students and I do have Gwen Rodriguez that would like to say a few wordss hello uh I go to Harmony Science Academy I'm in the service leadership society and as well in the rocketry team which began in the year 2018 that's when we started our rocketry team at Harmony Science Academy and every year since then we've qualified for the Nationals and last year when we qualified for the Nationals and we went to compete in Washington we actually got fifth place uh out of 798 teams competing being in that area thank you all and and I want to thank you for for being here and you know one thing I've always said that the the youth is the future of our city and our country and by getting to meet you all our city is in great hands thank you for the representative Rea has also joined the meeting the next Proclamation is National veterans Small Business Week good morning morning Proclamation city of Al Paso Texas whereas nearly one out of 10 small businesses across the United States is veteran-owned from Main Street storefronts to Virtual high-tech startups that Advance America V veteran-owned small businesses are a pillar of our economy and contribute to the foundation of our nation and whereas veteran and Military SM spouse small business owners are resilient disciplined and Mission oriented thanks to their commitment to serving our country and communities and whereas we resolve ourselves to strengthen our communities we must Empower and support the Giants that veteran oper entrepreneurs are in our economy and whereas National veteran Small Business Week highlights the programs and services available to veteran entrepreneurs through the US small business administration and Resource Partners and whereas the city of op Paso supports and joins in this National effort to help America's veteran owned small business start grow and recover their businesses after a disaster and help our communities Thrive now therefore be a proclaimed by the mayor and Council of the city of El Paso that October 30th through November 3rd 2023 shall be known as National veterans small business weeks signed Oscar liser The Honorable mayor for the city of Al Paso good morning good morning Mr Mayor and members of the city council thank you for uh having us here this morning my name is Dante aosta I'm the district director for the US small business administration El Paso district office which encompasses 10 Western counties in uh the real part of West Texas up there I don't know what that is but this is West Texas right and with me today is um Leanne Vega our Pio and also our lender relations specialist and with me on my left is Amy Rodriguez our Outreach and marketing specialist and administrative officer and uh I want to once again thank everybody and thank the public for being here I know you're all here for us and not harm any no right the rocket club is definitely very exciting uh and a lot of those uh young people will go on and start their own businesses and that's what we're all about at the small business administration and I want to just highlight a couple quick things and and um and move on here but the the SBA wants uh with this Proclamation and with veteran Small Business Week we celebrate and empower the service member veteran National Guard Reserve member and the military spouse entrepreneurs which is an very a very important component uh during this National veterans Small Business Week uh we're celebrating America's hash vetbiz and # Mill spouse business owners during this year's 10th Annual National veterans Small Business Week events hosted across the country by SBA and its extensive partner Network highlight information about the resources available to Veterans service members and Military Spouse entrepreneurs and I would like to encourage people to uh check out our website at sba.gov you can see all the events there if you know any me uh military members or spouses or veterans we'd like to encourage them to Avail themselves of our programs we have an upcoming program called reboot which is a big component of our assisting uh veteran service members that have transitioned to civilian life and are considering or have opened small businesses and again all that is available on our website as along along with our boots to Business program and our veterans business Outreach centers which are available uh we do have uh what's the date Amy I forgot already the uh boot boots to business reboot reboot yes sorry November 8th at the um Small Business Development Center over on the viout campus of of the um of the Community College here in uh in El Paso one of our wonderful Resource Partners so I encourage you all to um to Avail yourself of their of their information and all small business owners not just veterans uh but we are highlighting oursel our veterans and uh this week uh coming up and we really are proud of them and all that they do to contribute both while they're in service and after their service serving uh the business Community as entrepreneurs once again mayor liser and members of the city council on behalf of of our office across the street at the US small business administration district office we thank you we thank you for your time and attention thank you you know it's um I know veterans days coming um November 11th but in El Paso we're very thankful for all our veterans and all the people that have served our community and then the biggest compliment any veteran can make is the after they've traveled the country and the world is to come back and retire and open a business and be part of our community so and El pasor we believe that it's Veterans Day every day and we want to thank all the veterans that are here today and all the veterans in our community thank you thank you mayor the next Proclamation is World polio Dayo thank you mayor good morning Proclamation city of op Paso Texas whereas World polio day is held on October 24th in celebration of the birth of Jonah stock the American researcher who developed the first polio vaccine in 1955 and whereas polio vaccinations rate in Texas are around 93% and whereas in 1985 rotary launched a polio plus and in 1988 helped establish the global polio eradication initiative to immunize uh children of the world against polio and whereas polio cases have dropped by by 99.9% and since 1988 and the world stands on the brink of eradicating the disease and whereas the date rotary has contributed over two billion and countless volunteer hours to protect nearly three billion children in 122 countries from death and paralysis from polio and whereas the efforts provide much needed Operational Support medical staff laboratory equipment and educational material for the health workers and parents and whereas the members of the op Paso Rotary Club sponsor Services projects to address critical issues such as disease poverty hunger illiteracy and environment in the El Paso around the world now therefore be proclaimed by the mayor and the city council of the city of El Paso October 24th 2023 shall be known as World polio day signed by The Honorable mayor Oscar liser good morning Mr Miller good morning mayor liser and city council my name is Jimmy mver I am the district 5520 polio plus sheriff for our district we're represented by the El Paso clubs here we do so much in the community but this day happens to be our polio day all over the world there are in 1985 is when we started the polio plus campaign to eradicate polio people that have lived back in the 50s will remember with with people who were in Iron lungs that was the only means of survival back in the 70 president Rotary International looked at the world map and saw that it was polio all over the world even in the United States so he challenged all the rotarians all over the world which is 1.2 million rotarians to eradicate polio we are this close to eradicating podo there are podo and only two third world countries there's six in Afghanistan and two in Pakistan n and four years ago there was a total of 167 polio cases and so we challenged all the rans to donate money and we have been doing that for many years and we are getting very very close to eradicating polio and we're very very proud rotarians and I would like to introduce the uh presidents of of other clubs here so ladies first morning everyone my name is Cia J I'm representing at sarosa R Club from um El Paso morning Mr Mayor city council I'm Patrick saravia president of the Northeast op Pasa Rotary Club mayor Isabelle hello uh Eric Smith I'm the president of the Sunrise Rotary Club here in El Pas morning again I want to thank you all very much for the propagation okay I'm sorry hello my name is rul Kota president of Cino Ro Club from El Paso thank you sorry again let me thank everyone for doing this Proclamation and God bless America thank you and the final Proclamation this morning is Ron Roth day where's Ron go ahead represent Kennedy whereas after 30 years of dedicated service Ron Roth is retiring from the planning and inspections department and whereas he started working for the then Building Services Department in 1994 and has served as the chief res residential building inspector for the city of El Paso since 2006 and whereas Ron's knowledge dedication and contributions to the development Community have greatly improved and fostered a collaborative working relationship and whereas his guidance and Leadership has Le left a lasting Mark that lays the foundation for generations of future inspectors and whereas Ron has assisted educated and served an immeasurable number of el pasoans on their construction projects whereas we are extremely grateful for Ron Ross devotion and passion to the city of El Paso and the development Community now therefore be it proclaimed by the mayor and the Council of the city of El Paso that October 24th 2023 shall be known as Ron Roth day signed by The Honorable mayor Oscar liser good morning morning you know M Roth I um I probably met you before then but 1974 as you know your um your mother hired me at silis tomal and I Was the janitor for her place of of business and that's how I originally met you and your mom uh I think of your mom quite a bit cuz she was one of my first bosses I ever had and and um and then when I ran into you here when I got elected and then we started talking at uh such a small world so congratulations for your great service thank you mayor mayor councel thank you very much um I'm deeply honored and and humbled uh at this recognition uh I it's been a an interesting 30 years um but I've had a had a good time and I I want to thank you all uh Mr Weston uh Mr Atway uh affectionately known as boss Mr DEA Cruz affectionately known as boss also U just for the opportunities to progress and get to the point where I'm at and I want to thank the city of El Paso for employment for 30 years thank you very much thank you Mr Mayor Tony L Cruz planning inspections for f first and foremost thank you for this Proclamation for uh Ron Roth uh following up with with uh where ask for Ron even though the boss might kill me after this uh I get out of the building uh whereas Ron really hates this type of recognition because he feels that overall the work that he has accomplished throughout his 30 years a CO is a collaborative effort which really makes him the leader that he has shown to be in the last past 30 years I just want to say to Ron thank you for everything you've taught me in my last 20 years with the city and hopefully in the next five years we'll be uh RV and Yellowstone together good morning mayor and councilor Ray adalto El Paso Association of Builders thank you for allowing me this couple of moments to thank Mr Ron Roth for his service to the community to the building community and development Community he will be missed a lot uh I think every particular house that's been built over the last 30 years has has his fingerprint somewhere on it and uh that that type of uh fingerprint you can't replace so from the community of Builders and developers and homeowners business owners construction people we want to thank him for his service and thank you for allowing us to have him once again thank you thank you thank you all and um Mr Roth there'll be a big vacancy and um we thank you again for everything you've done and um you know I'm sure you're saying this was my job and I did my job but you did your job well thank you that's fine mayor would you like to recess at this time for photos motion to recess there's a motion in a second to recess the council meeting all in favor anyone opposed the meeting is in recess at 9:36 a.m. in order to take phot photos with this morning's onor e folks we're going to go ahead and take photos out in the lobby area we're going to start with epidemiology day followed by the Harmony School of Science then the veteran small business followed by World polio and then Ron Roth if you can all could first group of epid epidemiology could meet me out in the lobby please they Miss PR can we um Miss PR yes mayor if Council can please return to the dat yes we need a we reconvene the meeting please make a motion motion is there a motion to reconvene motion to reconvene there's a motion and a second to reconvene the city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed the meeting is back in session at 9:56 a.m. and that brings us to the consent agenda all matters listed under the consent agenda will be considered by city council to be routine and will be enacted by one motion unless separate discussion is requested by council members prior to the vote members of the audience may ask questions regarding items on the consent agenda when the vote has been taken If an item has not been called out for separate discussion the item has been approved Council May however reconsider at any time during the meeting mayor proen I make a motion to approve the consent agenda with the following revisions page 12 item 35 postpone two weeks per city attorney's office page 13 item 36 move to the Forefront of the agenda per representative anello council are there any other revisions uh yes I want to delete item 24 I'm going to repackage it for reintroduction in two weeks uh that is page eight item 24 second there's a second second second thank you mayor we do have public comment on three of the consent agenda items we have item five this is a resolution by the city council of city of Al Paso electing to participate in tax abatement agreements and establishing guidelines and criteria governing tax abatement for economic development prospects in the city of Al Paso in accordance with chapter 312 of the Texas tax code we have Miss Lisa Turner that signed up to speak on this item M Turner good morning mayor councel good morning M Turner what are your intentions here what what are your intentions here to I have a city council meeting why huh mayor I can I can speak to this um the the tax abatement is a tool we've used we used it when I was the economic development director back in 2014 it's a a tool just like a rebate is every time there's a a project um it's just another tool if if an abatement makes more sense to the project as opposed to a rebate um that's part of the incentive package and we bring it to the city council for the city council to evaluate and approve it's nothing more than that see my opposition to this is simply put 2% of our management business Business Financial computer and Engineering stem jobs are only occupied by women uh construction forget it there's none involved uh women are underrepresented across the board and I can't see handing out tax abatements or any other benefits to anybody else who does not increase the number of women that they have working in areas like this uh you all have that ability to pick and choose what company companies you wish to do business with and who you wish to give the taxpayers monies with uh it's high time that this city quit undervaluing the value of its women in this city we don't pay them properly across the board whether you're in business or here at the city they're not paid properly and they're disrespected for the very hard work that they put in every day uh I know uh Mr Rome sent me the the wage rate which was $14.11 those are poverty wages poverty wages how in the world can you survive on that especially if you happen to have a child or about to give birth women are not represented in these jobs and I think it's high time the city take position and start demanding when you do business business with somebody they have to tell you the breakdown if they've got women working there fine you can do business with them if they don't go look somewhere else thank you no Mr Turner I I agree with you because the state of Texas minimum wage as your aware is seven and a quarter and I'm not sure how anybody could ever live on 7 and a quarter and that's one of the things you know our household medium income in the city now is up to 1650 roughly so I agree with you that uh you know the state of Texas needs to change the minimum wage structure no doubt I'm not worried about state of Texas I'm worried about the city of Texas guess what we're part ofas that's where you have the ability to do but we're part of Texas and shame on Texas for having that type of low wages to me that's a comp out you have the ability to pay the women a proper weight we do and we do miss Turner Miss Turner also has a question on item number seven and this is a resolution that the city council approves a change order in the amount of $321,800 Phelps construction company for the Furnishing and installation of Class A fire rated phelp panel above the new linear plank ceiling to meet National Fire Protection Association 13 code requirements for the AL Paso International Airport again women according to Workforce Solutions borderplex there are basically no women in construction in this city and yet we hand out millions and hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars to companies who discriminate against women that's got to come to an end Miss Turner also has a question on item 14 and this is a resolution to amend the October 10th resolution ordering a special election to correct the date by which applications for mailin ballots are due from November 25th to November 28th so it's just to correct the date just no difference from the last one you passed Laura Prim city clerk that's correct Miss Turner we're just correcting the date for the deadline to file an application for a mail ballot from November 25th to November 28th all right thank you thank you thank you m Turner so there is a motion made by mayor potim anelo seconded by representative Salo to approve the consent agenda as revised on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously that brings us to item number 36 on page 13 that was moved to the Forefront and item 36 is discussion and action on a report regarding the feasibility and benefits of issuing El Paso City identification cards to Residents and an implementation plan for implementation of an El Paso City identification card program good morning Dion Mack Deputy City Manager for quality of life hello Miss de Mack good morning good morning it if you could pull up 36 for me please as that's coming up I will be joined in this presentation by Mr Juan Gonzalez from uh the uh City attorney's office um thank you so much um we are delighted to bring back a feasibility study that um was ordered by Council back in April we will be covering uh the overview and background as well as the feasibility study components and also our our recommended next steps I just want to take a moment to acknowledge the team that did the heavy lifting I warned them that I was going to like Point them out and ask them to stand up stand up folks stand up I'm so proud to be a part of an organization that regardless of the work we have the talent in the organization to get it done uh and I'm just so proud to have all of them come together with their expert expertise in a very short order to make sure this was well researched that we were bringing forth the best recommendation we could for our community so we will go over our overview as I mentioned this was a timeline and we we came um to you back in April uh we will be uh going to uh the Commissioner's Court next Monday for presentation and what we're looking at in terms of recommended um implementation plan if approved today would be targeting April of 2024 Juan Juan Gonzalez for the record uh so what of the first things we did when we started this program or actually this project is we wanted to identify all the local state and federal laws that would be relevant and provide some sort of guidance moving forward so that whatever Solutions we provided and offered to council were actually implementable um we identified various uh regulatory uh requirements from the state as far as record retention we identified areas that could be helpful for us in being able to move forward and then we made sure that um what we're proposing doesn't run a foul of the Patriot Act the personal responsibility and work opportunity reconciliation Act and the real ID laws um with that then we were able to move forward with the rest of the presentation thank you so I know we've had the discussion before and we know that there have been various programs across the community one of the things that we all talked about and we've discussed broadly across the community is understanding that having an ID is essential for civic and economic opportunities within our city so what we're representing what we are presenting here is really an identification form of identification for our community members to make better use of the services within our community we want to make clear as uh Mr Gonzalez said it is not intended to replace um uh federal or state ID as previously mentioned so it would not be utilized for any of the things listed on the slide and so we talked a bit about some of the things that we would want to have as benefits um for this um as we were moving forward we talked about Bank banking um hospitalization housing uh the ability to be able to pick children up from school folling a police report we will be talking about and implementing some of those as we move forward we are also in Communications and have partnered with uh a variety of Texas organizations who are doing this work throughout the state and so we've got some ideas about some other um organizations that we'll be talking to about uh accepting this if approved today and so just a reminder we were working on the feasibility and benefits program as well as developing a plan um for and I didn't you know Sor aot mic will you please make sure you're muted to if you're joining us in teams please make sure your microphones are on mute thank you m man thank you and number two was developing a plan for implementation so we had a multi-part um resolution that was brought forward as you may recall for item c um at the adoption of this year's budget there is funding that is allocated um towards um this program as well as we have the verbal commitment continuously from the county uh to help us to also support the program you'll be seeing all the other items that we have listed uh in terms of our response to make sure that we were thorough in our research and in our recommendation moving forward one of the things that we heard um a lot was about privacy and so I'm going to turn it over to Juan to talk about that so as we mentioned before um you know we wanted to identify the state and federal U considerations to make sure that it wind run foul of that but also be able to promate solutions that would address the um potential card holders privacy concerns which was you know at the utmost of their conc consideration we identified the uh areas that would be helpful and that we wanted to make sure that we addressed which included the Texas public meeting or Texas Public Information Act uh and along with various uh Records management and retention statutes there's existing specific um code regulations with regard to the library exceptions as far as how those uh rules are handled or sorry how those records are handled for those requests uh we're leaning upon this um to address a lot of the privacy concerns that the potential card holders would have once we've kind of set up that construct then uh staff which Miss Mack mentioned they did some really good benchmarking to be able to provide us with really good Solutions as what are the best practices in order to be able to move a program like this forward we tied that in just generally to the specific legal considerations which included the application process how do you what's the best Prospect or best way to um confirm identity without um running a foul of individuals privacy concerns um then we also addressed how the cards would be used um how they could be used we also worked with a risk management to make sure that we mitigated as much risk as possible for the entity us that will be issuing is uh moving forward and uh I think with that then Miss Mack will take over on the rest of this presentation thank you sir thank you so much so as I mentioned we had a variety of questions that we gathered and wanted to make sure that we answered uh um in response to uh the resolution and one of the things that we really wanted to make sure we focus on as we I think we heard as one of the questions when we had the resolution move forward as well as looking at some of the transcripts from other cities who engaged in this uh uh um process was the question of security and so we had our uh security team as well as everyone that you saw stand up have a variety of meetings and discussions about how we can add additional security features to our card unlike some of the other institutions that I'll be talking about um moving forward in the presentation we will be adding and recommending a security feature that allows you to scan a QR code on the back that will allow you to validate whether that card is um a counterfeit card or not and so it does cost a few more cents but we think it adds a lot of legitimacy to the card and so we've already worked through those processes of what that might look like one of the other things that we thought about was the data management piece and really thinking about data transmission because as you just heard privacy is a huge concern and it was one of the things that really um kept some other municipalities from moving forward because we're utilizing and our recommendation will be to utilize um uh the enhanced library card model that already have the security um provisions of um coverage under St um state law as you saw in the previous slide and so we think we've addressed um those issues and concerns that we see uh as being prominent as you're implementing this type of program so what we did was we went through every model that we saw um out there in terms of program and so there's local government run programs the enhanced library card primarily here in Texas uh in California there were some third-party as administrator um programs that really require you to go out uh to uh get a vendor and RFP for that process um we did take a look though at San Francisco which utilized that process in the beginning and they have since gone to a free card and not utilizing that vendor in the same way so it would not from my perspective based on that program have been a huge cost difference in terms of how we look at that we do see nonprofit run programs that we'll talk about in a few moments um and that that was something that a few cities had to lean on because of the privacy concerns so these were the organizations we looked at we chose New York and Chicago because those are very wellestablished programs and then we tried to look for programs that were underdeveloped underdevelopment or recently launched like the 2018 moving forward the enhanced library cards um were programs that are continuing to be launched throughout Texas and we'll talk about those as well so here are the programs that we looked at um Across the Nation uh New York and Chicago really are the the programs that have been very well established with lots of registered users but then you start to think about programs like Miami day they did a wonderful job they did an RFP they went to council like four times uh they um had the funding they uh pushed out their announcement and then they ran into the privacy issues that we just talked about and so although they had the political support locally they did not have a way to be able to address some of the privacy concerns for people applying for the um that card and so they moved to a nonprofit organization called branches that is now running that program so it's not a city program uh Wake County North Carolina launched very similar to uh Miami it's also a a third-party organization that is running that program uh Minneapolis tried to launch their program back in um 2019 beautiful website FAQs everything is there same thing it was the Privacy um concerns and issues and so you'll see that posted on their website the latest one to launch um to announce a launch is Kansas City and so we were tracking that um they announced like in June or so one of the things I liked about the Kansas City model although they had not launched was the way that they were utilizing um their health department um as one of their key partners and so that was one of our takeaways from that program and we'll we'll continue to see if it launches but just again it became about privacy which became one of the hindrances to how people could roll out some of these programs and so as you see in Texas one of the things that we've seen various um large municipalities do is lean into uh the enhanced library card um uh I think we have seen since um 2020 San Antonio was first um to launch the program Harris County continues to grow their program uh Austin launched in May um and they are ALS rolling out to various locations uh San Marcos has one location but they have been sticking with it and we're hearing others who are really looking towards having this program move forward the benefit are the benefits that you heard Mr Gonzalez say in terms of that protection for privacy um you know as a library director I have to say protecting people's privacy and their records and understanding those systems are things that I know really well and we're really proud that this is something that libraries could do to serve our community in addition to the library services that we do traditionally these are just some examples of what um other organizations cards look like we would go through a design process if approved today our uh recommendation would be to come back to you in about late uh February or so and so we will have some of the things in our implementation plan sort of worked out but I would really like to make sure that as we're talking about development of our card do we include our community that we make sure that we have practitioners who may be serving those communities at the table to make sure as we're thinking about the documents that may be required and I just want to highlight here because I got the question over the weekend these cards are meant for residents you know you're you're asked to um show your proof of residency as well as your proof of ID uh proof of identification so these are processes that libraries already have in place um our goal is to make sure that we can have our card as widely accessible as possible and so we want to make sure that we're taking a couple of samples of these various lists and making sure that nothing is missing in terms of types of documents that may be available to people I really like this Harris County model because I recently went to renew my driver's license and I took everything I had had because I could not figure out in the website what I needed and I didn't need any of that and so we wanted to be as simple as possible for people clear about what you need to bring and I just wanted to let you know that we have no intention of retaining any of the documents that people bring to apply for this it's the same as what we do with library cards right now we ask for residency we ask for identification we verify that on the spot we return those original documents to the applicant and then it Bec comes a part of our system of record that falls under our confidentiality laws so we found various um promising practices as we looked at um various programs throughout we love the idea of the popup events uh that we could partner with various Community organizations that we could partner with with each of you if you would like to have us come out to uh do a registration in your um District that we would be able to do that beyond the bounds of a building one of the things that we saw as one of the other best practices was making sure that our registration process and the website was very clear and that we had the ability to have U Community Education and awareness campaigns ongoing and a staff person sort of committed to that so we did do a cost comparison of the two programs um in terms of a local government run as well as the enhanced library card um as you are aware we have um around 84 Librarians or Library staff who work and are issuing cards and so that cost is already something that we are providing and so you'll see that the cost of providing an enhanced library card um recurring cost is less than what it would cost us for a local government run program we did fully develop what we thought a local government run program would be to make sure we completely understood those costs and expenses and what we did was do some sampling to understand what it would take for an individual to be able to issue a card it was about 12 minutes and sort of backed out holidays and all those type of things to land at um a one and a half people or two and a half people to be able to issue about 10,000 excuse me cards and and taking in consideration travel and other things and so this would be the cause and as I said what we really liked about the model that we saw um in uh that was being launched in Kansas city was the fact that they were utilizing their health clinics and so we do like to idea that if we were to even consider a program like this that our health clinics would be a resource for us as they would be for popups as well so our recommendation is the enhanced library card you know as you saw it has been successful uh since 2020 uh without any opposition or or litigation around that card our library will be turning 130 next year um and so we're the longest running library system in the state and we have the ability and capacity to be able to issue these cards and make sure we're uh T taking care of the data and keeping it confidential in the way that we would want so our recommendation for this model would be to start a pilot um that would be at four locations we would have one additional FTE that would really be primarily for the Outreach and training as well as the popups that we want to have throughout the country I mean country throughout the county uh again we did talk about um the partnership with the county and so we think the popups will give us the opportunity to make sure that we're covering the County area as well and we will be partnering with the county to make sure we can publish that schedule and have that available on our web page so um one of the things that we did um look at was making sure that um we have more than a number of cards that we would think we will be issuing we did study a variety of other um of entities and we know that the 10,000 is at the very high in but that does gives us the flexibility as we're going through procurement if the card is a little bit more or less that we're well within the the price that we are listing here for you again um one of the things that we talked about with the county was um we do have a non-resident library card fee that is in place and so I've already had initial conversations with Miss Keller regarding anou that would allow us to have them uh pay and reimburse for any cards that would be issued issued um for any um nonresident or non- city residents uh according to the schedule that we have in place and that would be coming back to you uh for approval um and amendment to our schedule C so I do want to go over our service inventory here one of the things that we knew was important you know was that making making sure that we had a conversation with the various departments who accept ID for various purposes and we do have here listed um our agencies who will be uh willing to take the card in addition I've begun conversations with Sun Metro because I love the idea of Chicago has their card is also their Sun Metro card and so that's something that we will be talking about in the next year year and a half or so as they're doing some upgrades to their work um one of the questions that we did get um in terms of this program and we've seen as being a question and some other municipalities was a participation of our police department and so we do have our Police Department um uh willing to to accept as well as the sheriff and so these were the organizations on the county side who have already uh come back and say that they will be um accepting a card and I'm sure this list will grow as you're looking at other um agencies uh for example Austin is adding like every other day agencies who have decided to take the card or even not other um programs that are not City Affiliated they can let us know that we're accepting a card and then we put it on the website so people will know that they can use it in those places as ID as well and so our next steps as I've said will be working on theou with the county again we're presenting next Monday um to the County Commissioners uh we are going to continue to work with the financial institution we have one here who will be speaking with you a little bit later uh we also want to make sure we're continuing to work with other partners uh I've already begun the conversation with you know uh uh my portfolio in terms of ways that we might be able to utilize it as a discount card and so that would come back to you all for consideration via a Schedule C Amendment we need to complete the procurement um for the process we did have conversations and dialogues with people who are already pre-approved and allowed to have that conversation thank you Miss Paula for keeping us on track um and also it's also about training as you know each one of our departments have policies and procedures um that will need to be put in place to make sure that we can roll this out well we will need to make sure that everyone who will be interacting and engaging or accepted we have that as a part of our written documents as well as any training for any of the Departments that are listed we also want to take some time as I mentioned to finalize the variety of documents that can be accepted and I do want to make sure that we're engaging the community to make sure that we're not missing anything in terms of documents that can be listed there and we've included in the number that you saw is 105 for the pilot around $7,000 for outreach and marketing to make sure that even printing documents making sure people know about the program um any of those costs and expenses would also be included within the plan as we move forward so our recommendation is to um uh establish a is pardon me I'm talking too fast establish an enhanced library card program to be administered by the library department and we have the motion here for your consideration can we sure miss PR we have we do several members of the public that signed up to speak the first person is Irma Cruz I think we have 19 Irma Cruz followed by elen castorena we have about 16 and when then we did receive comments statements from other members good morning hello good morning my name is Irma Cruz and I'm part of the red frona for over the years I've been um I've been noticing the necessity of thousands of families to be able to perform their daily activities which we already give uh we're already we already take by given such activities include picking picking up our kids from school getting a birth certificate for our children um open a bank account uh cashing a check picking up a package from the mail and so many other more activities the creation of a program for uh communitary identification uh would not only make life easier for thousands of el pasoans but it will also recognize the identity of thousands of its residents this will bring us a benefit that more people will be able to interact in a better in a better way with different agencies and entities to satisfy uh their different Necessities I do believe today is a very historical day not only for R frona but for the community in Al Paso Texas I would like to thank the support from you as Representatives um and also for this proposal to be given and I really hope that all of us can have an El Paso ID soon thank you thank you thank you thank you Miss Osco the next speaker is Elana castorena good morning you have three minutes good morning good morning um council members mayor liser my name is Elena STA and I'm part of B&R board Network for human rights I come here today to urge you to vote in favor of this community ID card if pass this will not only be a historical event but it will be changing the lives of so many here in the Borderland the lack of of an identification negatively affects the lives of residents but impacts more the marginalized communities with a community ID members of our community will finally be able to open a bank account pick up their SK their kids from school and just simply identify themselves I hope you have grasped the importance um of passing this program today and the effects it will have on the communities you were elected to serve and represent today thank you thank you the next speaker is Miriam Guerero Miriam Guerero followed by Betty kamaro Alan Lara Miriam Guerero good morning you have three minutes good morning my name is mam Guerrero I'm here on behalf of Border Network for human rights in support for item number 36 in our community ID campaigns I'm Community a community ID is identification card issues by or with approval of our local government if adopted our city has the O opportunity to make a photo identification C avable to all El Paso Texas res El Paso residents this identification include the basic futures of any ID search has individuals name photo address and signature currently 10 of thousands of a Paso residents can add a government issued ID this include this includes senior citizen veterans individual experiencing home lessness transgender disable mixed status families and victims of domestic violence without the right for from off ID a person may not be able to open a bank account or check a check or cash a check pick up a sick sh from school access healthc Care Service pile a report with the police department borrow a book from the library or even collect a package for the Post Office a community ID for all a Passa resident is to a step in the right direction to guarantee that everyone has access to Beta And essential service they need today I ask to help us create a more quality credible AO for all by support item number 36 I am a Paso I support the creation of a community ID thank you the next speaker is Betty kamaro Betty kamaro followed by alen Lara and Fernando Garcia good morning you have three minutes thank you morning good morning mayor good morning city council um my name is betia Margo I'm State's program director with the Border Network for human rights I do want to start by thanking representative anelo for her leadership and for being a champion on this such important issue which is a human rights issue and there were times that it wasn't very popular or receptive and she was still there to representative ernandez for guiding Us in moments where we were unsure where this was going and finally for all of you for showing leadership and understanding how essential this is for our community the study that we just watched is really the culmination of the long battle campaign I am Elbo that border Network in our border Community has LED and has never given up on proving that a human rights proving that a human right should always be fought for with an organized Community behind it in today's Texas climate El Paso is once again showing that integration is important we are directly addressing these issues and working towards a greater inclusion and justice for all it is important that the state of Texas and our country as a whole recognize the value of of every human life and the importance of providing basic rights and protections to all individuals I am proud to stand with the community of alaso today in hopes that today you can vote Yes to implement an enhanced Library um and therefore together we can continue to fight for the rights of all individuals thank you again representative anelo representative ernandez the Border Network and all those who have worked highly on this issue thank you thank you the next speaker is alen theara followed by Fernando good morning you have three minutes good morning good morning mayor good morning city council my name is Alani Zara and I am here on behalf of the Border Network for human rights um and I also want to thank representative Hernandez representative anelo and Mission Mac and all of bhr who have worked on this issue uh for quite a long time an issue that many of us in this room hold very close to our hearts as I prepare my comments for today um I reflected on the purpose of this campaign I reflect reflected on the hours the days the months and the years um that the B&R has ously organized the op Paso Community towards a community identification program I reflected on the stories of mothers who cannot pick up prescriptions for the sick children the stories of parents who were unable to pick up their child from school the stories of heads of households who were unable to cash their heart earn checks I thought about the survivors of domestic violence and those who are currently experiencing homelessness what is being proposed today at its core represents the belief that all of us regardless of our background regardless of our circumstances deserve the opportunity to live a life with dignity we deserve the opportunity to have the right to an identification and we deserve the opportunity to take part in the everyday privileges of a community life and this campaign symbolizes the Privileges of local belonging we must acknowledge that identification is security it is visibility and it is the access to those vital services that most of us take for granted a community identification c will provide access to a range of Municipal and private services including Library access access to uh financial institutions and Emergency Services among others by doing so this car will help better identify City residents and it will provide them an easier access to to public and private services this will make for a better and more connected El Paso today I ask you that you uphold the values that make El Paso a Beacon of Hope in our country and in our state I ask that you to reflect on the barriers that thousands of op Paso residents face on their daily basis and that you V in favor to bridge these gaps I ask that you remember your duty to address the needs of all op Paso residents and that you provide all of us here an equal opportunity to participate in our booming economic development that you give us an opportunity to share in our community Safety and Security and that you begin fostering Community integration I am op Paso and I encourage this Council to vote in favor of item 36 and I support the creation of a community ID thank you the next speaker is Fernando Garcia followed by Rosa Aila Veronica Maas good morning you have three minutes yeah buos di good morning major city council first I I would like to thank the very hard and dedicated work of the cityfs staff Dion Ma and the team you did a great job and I would like to tell you that border is behind the proposal fully so um this has been a long journey and um there's been several Champions on this I would like to recognize the leadership of Representative vanello I mean she she was the one that introduced the first proposal in 2014 2015 uh and um and here we are I mean I years nine years after talking about it and maybe passing it today also representative Hernandez that actually had uh have several conversations with city council members and members of the community that understood that this is an important issue for our community this is about Community safety this is about um uh creating the conditions for businesses and integration uh is this is this is good for our development in our community so border networ launched that campaign that is called I am uh El Paso as you see there's like big uh ID cards there we've been using it since then because we believe this that this is good for our community uh I just would like to recognize all of the members that actually took time from their uh jobs on their schools to be here with us is it's not everybody but I think these present the thousands and thousands that actually uh sign signatures petitions and participating in multiple city council me meetings like this to present their support for this issue so thank you gracias um so again I would like to just uh say again reinforce this idea that uh these Community IDs are good for businesses I think we do have representatives from a financial uh institution today that is going to speak about how this ID will be used precisely in this in that financial institution um we really recognize also that uh their leadership they're going to introduce themselves in a minute uh this is good for Community safety I mean uh police department the chair's office will be used be able to use this ID to identify that person which is at the end good for Community security uh and in and this works well with the police department which I believe also they are they are behind this proposal um and this is good for the overall community and I I wanted to say that yes it's been mentioned that certain communities are more propense to not to have IDs but everybody's going to get the chance to get this library card I going to get my library card so probably 10,000 is not going to be enough uh so hopefully we're going to have an hour round so thank you for doing this we hope that uh today you going to make the right decision gracias the next statement was submitted by Rosa Aila the statement reads good morning my name is Rosa Aila coordinator of the Border Network for human rights I come on behalf of the community of district one I come to tell you the importance of obtaining a municipal identification card with it we go to the school for our children enter the hospitals change checks and most importantly identify ourselves with the police officers and that would be sec security for the community and for the officers that is why we ask for your support of all of you thank you the next speaker is Veronica Maas she will be followed by Susan errera Adriana Cadena Samantha Singleton good morning Miss good morning my name is ver and I am of I would like to thank all of you Representatives I would like to thank you for the support that you've given us and and today we hope that you'd make the best decision for all the city of op Paso thank you gracias the next speaker is Susana [Applause] errera good morning my name is Susana erera and I would like to thank you all first for all the work and the presentations that you provided us today to All City reps uh even the ones that have been here since um 2016 even if you're not the same ones we appreciate all the support you've given us and today I am hoping for a good resolution on this issue and since this would be really um really helpful for all people in Al Paso for this identification gracias and because it's a human right thank you thank you miss the next speaker is Adriana Cadena followed by Samantha Singleton Adriana Cadena or Samantha Singleton good morning you have three minutes good morning morning mayor good morning Council my name is Samantha Singleton and I am the policy director at the border Network for human rights um all of the individuals prior to me have talked about the benefits of this card and I can continue with that and the individuals behind me will talk about the benefits of this card why is it important to have a proper photo ID because you know who you are but the other individual doesn't know who you are it allows you to be a part of something to identify yourself to another individ visual is very important it's extremely authentic why is it important to open up a bank account so you don't have cash on you because if you do have cash on you you have the possibility of getting robbed and then you have to go file a police report but if you don't have the proper identification to do it you probably won't do it so the person that doesn't have identification is the individual that's losing out in the community we have an opportunity today or you all have an opportunity today to do what you've been saying for so long that El Paso is strong that El Paso is capable of showing Humanity you have the opportunity today to show other cities in the state of Texas and the United States as a whole how to properly incorporate an identity card whether it's called enhanced library card that's the minimum of the concern the maximum is what is the priorities what are the benefits and today you have the opp opportunity to show nationally how to do it and how to do it correctly so I think that alone is a reason for you all to consider the approval of this agenda item today thank you the next speaker is graci baa graciella Bessa good morning my name is I'm also part of Theos um and and I come in support of item number 36 an can help over thousands of people people here in El Paso to do simple tasks like picking up their kids from school um um cash checks um it can be really really helpful for everybody to be able to open a bank account or even make uh police reports when needed ific ID gracias we thank you for your support and and the opportunity to bring this uh to you and I support um El Paso with this identification ID gracias thank you missos the next speaker is Lisa Turner good morning Miss Turner good morning mayor council is there a need for this yes but I was curious because I heard privacy concerns and none of my IDs I believe protect my privacy so can someone tell me what the difference is or explain that to me Dion ma Deputy city manager some of the Cities actually um collected the documents and stored the documents within their database and then that led to um open records request for that information and documents even in wellestablished programs like New York City um they had a challenge to that from a State Assembly person it went through a full uh litigation process for them to determine that those records records were actually protected and then they decided not to start to retain those records and so those those become the conversations about what happens to those documents what do we store what do we keep and how are those available to any other agencies through an open records request and so that's what we've seen um in practices across the country so we will not be retaining documents from individuals so is this a government ID it is a a city of Al Paso ID government ID I'm curious because well as you know I'm a trans one and sitting in the courthous is my name change order anybody wants to go look for it all they have to do is search it it's a public record uh I I see this as a public record and I don't know if you can just choose not to take it and keep it I don't know what the procedure is but will Texas allow you not to since this is an El Paso ID card it becomes a public document so isn't all that information to require that public document now public record that's the only thing again I know it's needed it's needed but this is something I see that needs to be worked out Juan Gonzalez for the record so the the ID is a municipal ID it's an ID issued so that the holders can Avail themselves of services that the city provides any other ancillary uses by Third parties that's within the third party agreement to do so but for our purposes the ID is being issued so that the holders can Avail themselves of City provided services and goods um with regard to the privacy concerns we're relying on since it is going to be a library card on the specific U statutory um regulation which allows us to withhold and actually makes the certain information associated with the issuance of the library card confidential um what it does it's more about use about minimizing the exposure of how the card is used and protect the identity of the person and how they're using it with regard to availing themselves of the surfaces as opposed to the actual privacy concerns of the individuals associated with their documents we're addressing that latter concern by doing uh verification when they're applying for the enhanced card and we're not keeping records we're you we're requiring and Miss Mack mentioned it in the in the presentation there's certain uh documents that will be accepted to uh verify the individual that is requesting it is indeed that individual and we will not be keeping records of that the uh library card will be issued just like all the other library cards um except this one will be enhanced it will have additional um information in it obviously say have a picture typical library cards don't it will also have um in essence the self-verifying um uh QR code of functionality that other library cards do not have thank you Mr thank you Mr Gonzalez the next speaker is Dulce Carlos followed by Ivan Diaz [Music] okay just be patient for my English good morning uh my message is in gr to the entire team that has been supporting this ID proposal for all their efforts to push for Community IDs uh to become a reality and provide an example as an inclusive City that cares about the worldbe and identity of all some of the needs that will be covered with this identification that will be approved today that will be approved today will be for those people who need to pick up uh some control medication from the pharmacy for themselves or for for their childrens uh for all those parents who have a conflict to register or pick up to their children in schools or academic acmis of development activities for those who need to put the utilities of their house on their own name or for those people who had to leave their homes due to domestic violence and who are trying to recover their dignity and identity this this is just to mention a few of the many needs for identification thank you again to all the representatives and the mayor of this beautiful city for listening to us in this fight for an ID and to the entire team um for expressing their extreme concern and have pulled out their effort into creating a safe and secure IDE ID for our communities in community dul Carlos thank you thank you thank you the next speaker is Ivan Diaz Miss Diaz star 6 please to unmute your telephone Ivan Diaz good morning good morning everyone I want to first of all start by thanking um V Network for human rights for being in this F for for so long and um everyone involved the represent Hernandez and representative Alex andelo I think this is extremely important that gets pass this morning um and I I'm I'm not only speaking for myself as a DOA recipient um I the times that I remember going to the library even when I was in high school and or even like After High School when I was in college um and I wasn't able to get a a brand books because I could could uh I didn't have an ID or I'm also speaking for for my parents I remember my parents being Rob like my dad like so many times because he did not have an an ID to cash like his checks and my mom I remember crying so many times coming back home that she had so much trouble to get my brothers or my siblings out of the school early for doctor's appointment just because she did not have an ID um it's not only about that it's also about like uh I'm a former case manager and I remember having some of the clients not having an ID for over 10 years 20 years um because of different difficulties and and different um they've been born in different states and and how difficult was it for them and and falling into the system so I think this is important so important for for the community for people uh that live in Al Paso even we want to acknowledge or not we have a population um I'm part of that population that needed those IDs like over 10 years U but I we're still here and and I think it's important to acknowledge people uh for or veterans or or uh formerly incarcerated and and people um immigrants that are we are all part of a pasive community and I think it's a step forward that we do approve this community ID so we can all uh continue to to be um United you know p and continue to make this community strong as somebody else said earlier so I thank you and I ask you to please vote Yes on this item thank you the next speaker is Carlos Manaka good morning you have three minutes thank you uh WS I'm Carlos Paka former city council member in New York and resident of this incredible county of El Paso I'm here to say thank you uh your unanimous vote ensured that the incredible team that Miss mlad and the incredible voices that you're hearing got us to this place uh what I want to comment on is that relationship that everyday El pasoans have with their City this is one of the most intimate kind of tools that you're all going to be working on and hopefully after today's resolution uh a good resolution passing will allow you to build a kind of Community Trust with the city of El Paso this is not a state or federal program this is a city this is the int the most intimate relationship that any Resident can have is with their City you impact the city more or you impact people more than some of the other levels at the state and federal uh what I also want to do is lift up the voices that I heard today in terms of the things that the city can do to provide Everyday People in El Paso to pick up their children at school to cash a check but I also want to highlight something that may not have been talked about too much which is the relationship with the police for me this is one one of the things that surprised me the most in the work that I did in Brooklyn part of what this is going to do is also give a tool to the police to have a relationship that is not confrontational from the get this is going to allow for people to engage the local police departments and have a relationship those things are going to make our community safer uh and that's something that I think I just want to not only say but uh anticipate as the police department that has said yes to signing up to this resolution and the sheriff's department will give a different relationship uh hopefully a better relationship between communities that don't have identification and those that do and finally I want to say I want to say the following the financial resources is something that continues to be a thing that plagues communities that don't have identification this is going to open up opportunities and different tools to get built around the identification card uh this is something that I think is still in beta form in a lot of ways but I think in El Paso Texas you're going to be able to build things that other cities are going to be to look look to you to make happen uh and so thank you so much for all the incredible voices which uh and I'm I'm just going to continue to listen to that beautiful uh and Visionary and transformative project before you today thank you the next speaker is da aneles da anes followed by Genesis roacha good morning you have three minutes hi good morning mayor council I'm here on behalf of Riz Federal Credit Union we are are a community development financial institution as you all know we used to be teachers we rebranded about a year ago and a lot of why we rebranded is to let the rest of op Paso know we are open to all and we are rooted in uplifting and empowering our city by providing Financial education we can't do that if there's not an ID in front of us we can't open a bank account if we don't have that piece of ID that gives them that human dignity so we are here today to support um The Border Network for human rights and to ensure that we close that Gap and we are rooted in providing Financial education we have a whole department um that is focusing on providing that to our community members that are under banked and providing those financial services so we are here before you today to support um the El Paso City identification card and we will work very closely with border Network for rights to ensure that we accept this ID thank you the next speaker is Genesis Roa good morning you have three minutes good morning my my name is Genesis roacha I too am here on behalf of Border network of Human Rights I support item 36 it is our community ID campaign currently thousands of apostle residents cannot have an ID issued to them that that includes many senior citizens Veterans of this country individuals that are experiencing homelessness the transgender Community people with disabilities mixed status families and victims of domestic violence without an ID a person may not be able to open a bank account cash a check pick up a sick child from from school access many healthc care services file a report with the police department which is very needed in our community borrow a book from the library which many people need need have access to the libraries um or even collect a package from the post office a community ID for all aoso residents is a step in the right direction to guarantee the that everyone has access to vital and essential services that they need today I ask you to help us create an equable ELO for all of us and to support item 36 thank you thank you the final speaker is Adriana kadena Adriana kadena star six please to unmute your telephone hi good morning you have three minutes hello can you hear me yes okay thank you um yes hi this is AD C prot immigrant families Coalition um in support of this resolution just wanted I just wanted to mention and and thank the city council and this um it's an important component for individuals um to be able to have an identification through a library card be able to have a form of which they can um be able to establish identity whether it's being able to go to school to pick up their kids or being able to present to um get a service that they may need and so I just want to appla for the consideration of this resolution and also um you know confirm let you know that um it would make a big difference as you've heard through the different types of testimonies from the community um on the impact they will have on individual's everyday life and this would be I think really remarkable and historical for the city of pastel to be among the very few um cities around the country that actually are able to address um their needs of all of their residents thank you so much thank you thank you and we did receive four other statements also in support of the program mayor that concludes public comment on this item thank you thank you everyone for being here M with that representative mayor pro aleandra thank you mayor um thank you everybody for speaking um it's really exciting to be here today um this is one of the first items I'd ever put up at my time in City Council in 2017 and we came extremely close um unfortunately the tie was broken against by former mayor D Margo um and I'm really excited to be here with the with the new Administration moving forward um since 2017 this community has gone through a lot the pandemic um the August 3rd shooting and there were many times during those instances that I heard community members City staff other governmental entities really say like I wish we had a community ID to help people um political ideologies aside we know that there are individuals in our community who do not have identification and get left behind and there is no negative or setback in helping those people Advance themselves with health care and education to pick up their children and as we heard from Rise Bank um you know banking institutions and and financial literacy there's no negative to that and so um I'm really excited here today it it's um I want to take a second to recognize Chief pasas I know that he has been working on this very hard with staff um I also want to recognize Norman Martinez I think we lean a lot on libraries these days um and so appreciative of you um being open to these ideas of course I want to thank Dion Mack um and Eric gutieres who have been working very hard on this uh for months um meeting with the community I think is something that may not be a very obvious to people watching is that this has really been a collaborative issue I think it has been a really great example how staff has sat down with community members and built something right we really wanted a community ID um we know that for a lot of reasons um the library card is a little bit better but we wanted to M to merge those two programs and I think we have a really great product here and that is because of the collaboration and the work on staff um I'm going to get a little emotional here um but this is the first thing I put on Council and it's not lost it this will be the last thing one of the last things that I do um and I'm really happy to be able to work on this with B&R and staff um it has been an honor so thank you all um so I'll make a motion to implement an enhance library card pilot program at four library locations with a potential expansion to additional locations in the future based upon available funding in need second one motion two seconds um representative Arthur furo thank you mayor um miss m please can we go back to the slide where you showed the the information needed to apply for one of these IDs please go I know it's just an example it's really tiny thank you no well it's I'll give you let you in a secret I don't have my glasses so I can read it anyway um in that on that slide what is the differences between what's on there what we're going to ask for and what the state asks for for license for or or a state ID so I think all the key because I actually looked at all the state issued ones a lot of those are already here but as you get to um the bottom of the list like say for column three it starts to talk about like your Sam's Club card and Costco card you know additional things that you might be able to get towards some points and so we want to make sure that in those categories that we've thought thought about the things that we may have available within our community um that we want to make sure that we include on the list it isn't radically different than what you see you know in terms of recommendations or requests you know for some of those um IDs that you see other places so the Sam's card or the Costco card is just an additional proof that I am stating who I correct so what this does is a point system and so we really like the idea of a point system because I think it gives you points for each item that you have of course if you have um the First Column which we have listed here as um your your veteran's ID or your permanent resident card that's a full three points and you don't need additional but if you happen to not have um those documents and you can go to column two and take one of those documents and then column three and have a combination of those to get the get to the number of points needed for identification so you stated that next week you'll will be going to present in front of um Commissioner's Court correct to to be a partner on this correct um have you heard or have they uh communicated to you any changes or differences they want that you haven't presented to us they have not and so the only conversation that we've had is real support about how we move forward and being a true partner in this uh we've talked about the cost and expenses and again I put this here as an example because one of the things that I think is going to be important that we didn't do during this process is that I want to make sure that I have Community practitioners um come together to make sure I'm really covering this um uh military and Veteran Affairs we've already talked about rapid rehousing and making sure we have somebody in that space I would like to make sure for foster care uh we we talked about uh people who may have experienced uh a domestic violence who may not want their address and so there's some categories that we still want to make sure that are very inclusive clusive of this document and then we'll make sure that we're coming back to you in about late February or so which will be um coming back with um what the library card what the card looks like um what the documents look like a change to the fee schedule and we also have to come back with theou and so we'll continue to give you some updates this one I like because it was cleanest and it was the most complete and they have really been um very active in terms of engaging community and the number of cards they've issued so just for it's clear in my mind you're going to go next week to uh Commissioner's Court they potentially will make changes so even if we approve this and move forward we're not approving the project until after the February time period it is my understanding that the we would be moving forward today and the city would be moving forward with the project regardless if the county chooses to participate or not but the county came to us asking that we you know that we launch this and so I don't anticipate seeing any you know changes to this process Miss Keller has been very active in a discussions and conversations and meetings my concern Deion is not that that they'll participate but that they they'll suggest and make changes I think any suggested changes would be in theou and thatou would come to you all for approval so there would be nothing they don't have authority to direct okay so that won't be until February yes I just want to make that very clear um also can you touch on the status between the banking the school districts UTEP and Community College so one of the things that we talked about was an implementation plan and so one of the things that we'll be doing first is working on um concurrently working on finalizing this this document working on the design for the card but also the hiring of a person who is going to be primary to outreach and in the community once we have that person in place I believe we'll have the bandwidth to have someone continuously go out and provide education about this program I think it'll be more solidified in terms of design what the C it looks like and then we can make sure that we're having conversations about how do we get school districts and others to continue to um to sign up and as you're looking at other cities and municipalities we're continuing to see Services expand and I think one of the things you heard is the key things that are important we've got those but we know that there's more conversations and dialogues that need to happen thank give us back uh mayor I'll have one more question for the chief please you know he walks Lord now that he's officially the chief chief um your opinion on the safety of these IDs and how they're going to be used in our community uh former representative uh from Brooklyn Mr vaka and I don't have my glasses thank you for that um mentioned that it could enhance the the relationship between police and and citizens is are those statements pretty accurate uh Peter pz for the record so uh it's all going to be uh in the design that uh Miss Mack talked about they're going to have to talk about the design so that uh it uh doesn't have the potential for uh the ability to be easily counterfeited or forged so that that's going to be worked out out uh in the process uh also the uh between the relationship with the community and the Police Department police officers you're always trying to identify somebody out there and sometimes when we're out there in the field and can look at the both Representatives you would ask somebody if they didn't have something you might ask for a school ID card or something like that just just so you can get a a foothold on who you're talking to so this will help if they come to make police reports or things of that nature what it will not do is it does not allow them to drive a a vehicle uh legally they still have to get a driver's license from either the state of Texas or the state that they live in okay thank you Chief May thank you sir thank you sir representative Canales thank you mayor um I want to express my very strong support for the implementation of the proposed enhanced library card program uh as outlined in the in the feasibility report that City staff works so hard on thank you again I know it's it's been a many months long effort um and that was just presented to us by uh Deputy city manager Miss Mack uh the initiative it really holds a huge promise for our community and I believe it's a big step in the right direction for a more Equitable future for El Paso um the the essence of the enhanced library card program is to ensure that all of our residents uh regardless of their their background or their circumstances have equal access to all of the Civic and and economic opportunities that El Paso has to offer um as stated in the presentation it's not an identification for voting uh as the chief just mentioned it's not a substitute for a driver's license uh it won't Grant elig eligibility for for government benefits or serve as a a proof of legal age for for the purchase of alcohol or for tobacco um but it will be a crucial tool for th those El pasoans who find themselves very often unable to fully participate in in our society because they don't have uh a state ID uh the the lack of a governmen issued identification can be a real barrier uh for living a fulfilling life uh it can really hinder people's access to fundamental services like opening a bank account being admitted to a hospital picking up uh prescription drugs uh or or picking up children from school uh among the many many other things that we heard from from speakers uh from the public who who came up here today to support the program uh this card as mentioned will also allow people to be identified by uh the police department or the sheriff's office when they need to report a crime or by a paramedic arriving on the scene of an accident or by a property manager uh considering their application for uh a rental property um I think we have a responsibility as a community to reach out to those Al pasoans who are most vulnerable and to ensure that they can fully participate uh in all of the opportunities that that our city provides the enhanced library card isn't just a card uh it's a it's a testament to our community's commitment to leaving no El Paso in behind uh I think that commitment is something that's already embodied by our libraries uh libraries and I say this all the time remain as one of the last spaces uh where one can spend their time and meet new people and uh have fun with friends uh learn new things and even uh access formal education all while uh not being asked to spend any money so the library system is a a true benefit to the public and I think it's a perfect landing spot for this program for that reason um I'll acknowledge uh former New York City council member menaka uh thank you for being here today and for for showing your support uh when I lived in New York City before I moved back home to so I went through the process of applying for a New York City municipal ID uh it's known there as the ID NYC this card came with a lot of additional benefits uh through various Partnerships free access to museums uh discounted membership at things like fitness centers and even special offers from stores and supermarkets including Costco uh even as someone who was fully able to access a state ID in New York I was able to directly benefit from the from the IDC program uh I know that our staff is exploring a lot of uh the additional ancillary benefits of our enhanced library cards and I know that many more will emerge organically once the cards are circulating in the community uh the the proposed implementation of this program both aligns with and learns from the best practices observed in various communities across the United States who have already implemented this type of program uh the city of El Paso has issued library cards for decades uh to our residents and as Miss Mack explained our library uh staff already verifies identity and residence when someone signs up for a library card so this is a small additional step I think augmentation of our library cards with a photo and with some additional information and security features makes perfect sense uh I applaud the team working on this project for arriving at that very elegant implementation solution for us uh to address Miss Turner's question about uh privacy concerns the library staff member who's issuing the the card uh will review the the required identity and residency documents uh submitted by the applicants and go through a process uh to properly verify the authenticity of those documents and then return the documents to the applicant um upon issuance of the enhanced library card so copies of those documents won't be retained by the city government after the card is issued um and I I think that's a very uh apt way of of conducting this where we do have verified uh uh documents but we don't retain those uh I urge my my colleagues on the council to support this enhanced library card program today and really to embrace a vision of El Paso that's more livable and more accessible for all of our residents um the enhanced library card initiative will really Empower El pasin and make our city a better place for all of those who call it home whether they are from here or they choose to be here uh because it's a special place thank you mayor thank you sir representative followed by lost I think representative nandes thank you I hit it twice sorry thank you mayor did you okay thank you uh um well pretty much everybody everybody has said what I'm about to say but miss Ma thank you so much for a great presentation you and your staff go above and beyond always without fail as and your determination to bring back to council something that's that's uh prove that we can we can work together as as you know a councel and and come up with a solution in your case and and my colleague's CA case you knew where I stood at the beginning of this at the very beginning when it was first introduced uh your your your your staff has gone above Le uh Mr Gonzalez from uh the city attorney's office has gone above and Beyond to to actually cover all bases as has been said before uh your experience I guess in the New York area has has really brought forth that information to El pasan and El pason's alike I do have some questions though on on on the program itself it's strictly being run by the city of El Paso and regardless of what me uh what's the outcome of the County's meeting will be it will be a program under the the city of Al Paso correct correct so it's a city of Al Paso program because the library system is actually a a city department and so our thought was that to make sure that we're also serving uh people who reside in the county because they do have the opportunity now to apply for and uh to be issued a library card uh that the county will be paying that cost and expenses for the enhanced um library library card and one of the things that we're working on is um look looking at the issue time we saw 5 years as being one of the better time frames versus what we have right now and so we're looking at some of those pieces the county will be paying the costs and expenses that will be associated with providing that service under our state requirements and so we know our per capita number and so I've already had an initial conversation they'll be paying that per capita amount for every card that's issued in addition um we also talked about sharing of costs and expenses for the most expensive piece which is primarily to person as well as mileage um that would be associated with that so the ongoing cost you pretty much see sort of like a 5050 split because the cost is really the the person rather than the card itself okay and we're assured that even after those of us that uh are here right now are gone this this will continue to be funded or how long do you foresee this program to go so we're running it as a pilot and I think well for a year and I think it's going to give us a lot more information about the number of cards that are being issued I know that we Prim primarily looked at the total number of people who we thought might uh need access based on some data that we saw over a three-year period which was 30,000 but we saw far fewer numbers that were being issued other places recall also that the library already issues cards and so once we no longer have a huge supply and backlog then we'll utilize some of that um already allocated resource to help us to actually purchase a card just to be clear the actual card itself costs .71 so I don't see the challenge being not having enough cards once we make that initial uh investment of the cameras and that's those pieces which are about 4,500 each it isn't a huge lift for our organization I think the biggest cost we have right now is about $63,000 for an additional person we need an Outreach person anyway um but that'll give us a better sense of whether that's enough and how we move forward and so I really see it as being very embedded into the work of the library and really us being able to beyond the cost of that initial equipment having it be a part of what we do every day because it really is W thank you so much thank you for your again thank you for everything that you and your staff did as always you came across with flying colors and you know what I well you'll you'll you'll hear my vote thank you thank you so much thank you so much and I've got a question for chief though you can take your time sir and and and maybe maybe uh you and in participating in this program here uh and I forgot to ask Miss M Mac another question but um have you talked to DPS about them uh accepting this as a form of ID so they can get a valid Texas driver's license or Texas ID State well a d PS they have their and it's a Statewide program so they have their system on how they uh mandate or they they check somebody's identity so they're going to use their same system um that that uh conversation with them we haven't got that far if they're going to accept it as a form of ID for whatever inforcement they're doing or or report taking or any of that that type okay but it's it's really what I'm trying to get at is is to also encourage them to get a valid Texas driver's license here if they don't drive a valid Texas ID card right both will support it and you and I know that as far as and represent not as far as a police officer is concerned having two IDs is just as as important having one right so uh so I was wondering if you had to met with the DPS any of the DPS uh Administration on that no I haven't I haven't talked to them if they would accept this as an ability for somebody to establish thems with a texus ID card or driver's license okay and and you don't have to leave but M ma the question I forgot to ask ask you is are you all encouraging them to to move on to have that second ID with the state of Texas uh once they get their card so we're really primarily focusing on people who have not had the ability to apply for some of those other forms of ID so that they can utilize this ID locally I think it certainly provides an opportunity for us to pursue anything the council fills that we should be asking those questions of once we have you know staff in place to do that I don't think it's it's aad thing to explore those opportunities and we have chief zeror who's on our cross functional team and we're taking notes and I'm also speaking with Mr Gutierrez I think a lot of this is going to be once we have the program developed just really asking the question setting meetings with people and showing them the documents and showing them the benefits and allowing them to opt out I think that we do have a huge opportunity for people to utilize um this program and document as as best practice and and for a variety of reasons throughout our state okay again thank you thank you so much both of you appreciate that and now for my colleagues representative Ando representative Hernandez this shows I I know where where I know you guys knew where I stood and uh I tell you what your tenacity and your work with these with the uh community and staff has brought up a real program that we can say it's a valid working program I thank you all for for sticking with it making sure we we had the right proper guidelines in place and so forth so that people having these cards or being assign these cards will have something valid to prove to everybody else and and everybody's uh done their part so I thank you both I thank you both for not giving up on this and continuing this so thank you so much for that thank you mayor thank you sir representative nandes Follow by m hi good morning everyone um wanted to give a special thank you to our team I think that was really the missing team um missing piece here was to have um the Dream Team behind uh the efforts of B&R um and the stars and the moons um have finally aligned uh to create what is going to be so beneficial for generations to come and I'm so proud of each and one of you um when they said no to you in the 2000s uh you continued to persist you came forward they said no to you again in 2019 that didn't stop you you persisted you came forward and you fought for what you thought was right and I'm incredibly proud of all of your hard work the countless hours and meetings even just planning meetings Samantha and Betsy you guys I mean I you've met a lot with me so I can imagine how many other key Partners you met with and of course with the with the strong leadership um from Fernando and and all your hard work thank you for not giving up and thank you for fighting for what's right um you've heard from coun from Council and I'm I'm sad to see you guys still holding them I know you're all are tired um so we talked about why benefits um families why it benefits El pasoans you heard what it's not you know I think I think we really need to cover that uh very clearly for the friends of the media what it's not it's not here on a standalone um car to give migrants or mixed status immigrants um new uh rights and so we we just want to be clear um that that is not the intention the intention here is to have all El pasoans regardless of your status to have a clear membership to our community and uh I'll I'll send a message in Spanish I'll try try my best in Spanish um nastes the you never stopped fighting for what is right and together with this ID we can avoid the concerns of borders Wars and forever you will have a membership of our community and that is key that we care for you we want you to have generational wealth we want you to be able to get your prescriptions and to care for your children um and with this community ID this enhanced library card this was a very eloquent way to address the concerns the security concerns um that is unfortunately arrived derived from the state that we're in in Texas but with staff with all of the support everyone you all did such a wonderful job and this is just the beginning so now let's have a conversation about how we can make it more inclusive and more accessible to everyone um and then you know as you're aware the city of El Paso we approved um residency fees for municipal services and so now you're able to establish your residency you're you're able to get discounted rates so that you can take advantage of our Municipal Services you can enter into public facilities you can go into the public without fear um from your government and it'll help with uh weaving that trust between the public and our law enforcement and Public Safety but we didn't get here by ourselves we got here with your continued fight and with your determination and so we're all very incredibly proud of your hard work and um congratulations thank [Applause] you well I can answer that question in four different places okay but anyways good morning thank you very much graas item here okay uh Miss I do have a few questions for you though um I know you mentioned veterans but uh this would be issued like to a repatriated veteran that has been deported to another foreign country and for they fight to come back to the United States after having served in the military uh defending our country so with that they become eligible for that as well as long as you can provide the documents that are requested um then that's to keep piece I have been in conversations with Mr Albright and he's he's traveling today sir so I apologize that he's not here but he is in my portfolio to talk about the various ways that we can ensure that people could uh we can help them to get the documents that they're missing the documents because sometimes that's the case you don't know how to apply for things that you're um eligible for how to replace documents that may be missing and so we've talked about some of those pieces and so I think that we will find a variety of of ways to make sure that it's available um including the one that you just gave okay also do you have a starting age that uh someone is uh being able to apply for this we have um we are choosing 18 for the pilot we do see that some municipalities do have a younger uh demographic we think that that helps us to be more manageable and very focused on folks who U may be without and and working and in in those um in those situations right now beyond the pilot I would like to intr ruce that we are starting to to have uh additional um ages included with that one of the things that we identified as we're uh relaunching our volunteer program is that sometimes we have young people who are coming to work and their school ID don't have an address on it and so how do we ensure that we can provide that but right now we're starting in 18 to to make sure it's manageable thank you ma'am if we could have a chief but see us BL to the mic please by the way Chief he's the last one on here so you'll be okay quickly no uh thank you very much Chief appreciate everything uh this gentleman he and I go way back but anyways um training for our police officers of course that's always it's always ongoing and you have a um plan in effect now to or will soon have a plan in effect to have training for our officers yes so once once this is established and the the ID card the format things of that HR yes we can do that and we can do it relatively quickly either through training bulletins or roll call training uh both or both ways okay thank you very much that's all I have for right now and for those of you holding signs a little bit higher please thank you I'll um I want to again thank Miss nean and your team city manager Colonel Weston and your team and Mr Garcia and your team this didn't start in 18 19 I think Mr God remember probably somewhere around 2013 and we kept trying to do the same thing and we kept getting the same answer so and we weren't working together and we didn't unite as one with the community and the city and that's what it needed to be that you can't continue to always go the same direction and expect a different answer and that's what we were doing for a long time I think Mr gcia you you were here I know you've been in front of us um numerous times and Miss Mack and um the rest of the team you were thinking outside the box how can we do this how can we make something that we know it's been turned down we know that it wasn't going to work and um how do we make it where it will work how do we do something different and then look around and and I think uh we looked at other areas we don't want to be like anyone else but we don't want to make the same mistake someone else made so that was it was really important that we looked around and saw all the areas what they did what we liked we didn't like about it but also bring it back as how it fits our community how it bet benefits our community and they get police involved I I remember back in 13 we didn't have that involvement and now we have you know all department involvements and we've all learned you know we talk about coid we talk about things that uh we learned that if we all spoke with one voice and we acted in the same and went the same direction we would succeed and I think this is no different so um congratulations to the city team and numerous and this Council because this Council was very resilient in making sure and I know Mr nello Mayor poam he got herey because you saw the success of the hard work and um so Mr Garcia and your team you didn't give up and I know it been pretty easy to give up cuz um one time you brought how many signatures 20,000 almost yeah I remember that yeah yeah Miss PR's still counting them by the way but um it uh because we UND you know we understood we were going the wrong direction and we changed it so thank you again for um continuing to Advocate But continuing to adjust and adapt as we did as a city and now as a community and right up you know as when we get elected our number one priority is public safety and public safety for all and I think this is a perfect vote as you'll see that um this council is prepared to make sure that we protect every citizen in the community of El Paso so thank you all and thank you for working hard thank you fine have a motion in two seconds remember yes sir commissioner Stout is not able to be here today but he also sends his support and I'll share his statement with councel there is a motion made by mayor po manelo seconded by representative erandis to approve the item number 36 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously [Applause] the next mayor may we move on to the next item thank you the next item is number 23 and this is discussion and action that the city council declares that the expenditure of district 7 discretionary funds in an amount not to exceed $1,000 to books or gems for use towards the purchase of books and serves a municipal purpose of providing educational and cultural activities to the residents of the city of Al Paso this is representative rea's item if you can please take the discussion out to the foyer can we go out to the [Music] pleas uh thank you mayor this item has uh as you know I've put it in on the agenda before and it's it's been approved it's for a purchase of books for our our children in the uh areas where they're needed and so uh I would ask my Council to please support me again on this as books of gyms is really a fun and nice program to have for for our children of all ages second second I hold on I'm going to make the motion it's my motion wait a moment here so therefore I make the motion to approve second thank you mayor we do have public comment on this item we have Miss Turner that signed up to speak good morning Miss Turner you have three minutes again good morning mayor council my apologies uh representative Rivera I couldn't hear a word you said because of the background noise it is a very worthy program and I believe you were here the first time it was passed as well and it buys books for much uh for the much uh needed population down in one of the areas that I represent my question is what are the rules for this for use of discretionary funds there's plenty of them pick them huh there's plenty of them the change pick them for me there's there no no I'm serious what are the rules that you go by I'm not picking on you it just so happened to come up this this is for public use for that's for sure one of them and that's this is what this is for do you have something to it's written down mayor if I can can I address uh Miss Turner's questions sir Miss Turner um this is a process that we've done historically out of the city attorney's office most recently Council approved an amendment to the budget resolution and you can see I don't know the the specific paragraph but we can provide that to you what happens is that the council members ask for permission to use their discretionary funds and we have to show that it meets a municipal purpose that the city will have the ability to control that the money is used as stated we we document it and then we show that the city receives something in exchange for the benefit so it also that is what we call meeting a municipal purpose or the public purpose involved in the use of those funds and that's primarily what all of our funds process go through so is there a requirement like nonprofit status or what or anything like that it it it doesn't necessarily have to be a nonprofit status but historically uh members of council have used their discretionary funds to use um nonprofit organizations who receive the use of these funds and traditionally we use it when there's a government program that is already funding portions of it you see it a lot in Parks uh and cdb they are nonprofit aren't they miss nman they are yeah yes sir so um we can certainly provide additional information in the backup but as a result of the change in the in the ordinance in the resolution this past budget um we are doing this process methodic every time okay I just needed to know and understand thank you there's also contracts that are involved in in these that document thank you represent pis thank you mayor uh Mr her I just wanted to point out to the full the full language of the agreement is posted with the backup uh it's a full 11 page contract that outlines the she gave me everything I need okay perfect just in case you'd like to see it there has their insurance requirements and indemnification and everything about the agreement and and how the F will be us okay I won't today m p there's a motion in a second yes mayor we also received a comment for the record by U Emma Costa and it says I'm writing to convey my heartfelt support for the proposal to allocate district 7 discretionary funds not exceeding $1,000 to books our gems an organization that is deeply committed to nurturing the educational and cultural development of the young residents of El Paso as the executive director of books or gems I want to express my sincere gratitude for considering this initiative which aligns with the city's goals to enhance literacy and Foster a love for reading among our children Bookstar gems has con has consistently demonstrated its dedication to enriching the lives of our youth by providing access to Quality literature and fostering a love for reading our programs and Community engagement initiatives are offer a myriad of benefits that extend well beyond the pages of the books themselves it is critical to recognize the numerous advantages that this $1,000 donation will bring to our community number one improv literacy books or gems has proven has a proven track record of enhancing literacy rates among young readers our efforts are not only to promote better reading skills but also encourage a lifelong love of learning number two educational enrichment research has shown that children who are own at least 20 books tend to perform better in school and are more likely to graduate high school and are inclined to pursue higher education by providing books to children we not only enhancing their educational opportunities but also increasing their chances of success in school and Beyond number three Community Building books or gyms serves as a hub for Community fostering a sense of belonging and pride among El Paso residents this donation strengthens the sense of community and reinforces the city's commitment to its residents number four cultural appre appreciation by offering diverse books and cultural materials books are gems encourages cultural appreciation and understanding among our youth contributing to a more inclusive and diverse Community number five Future Leaders by investing in our children's literacy and educational development we are nurturing the Future Leaders of El Paso the benefits of this initiative will be felt for generations to come and fortunately due to a compelling personal matter I'm enabled to attend city council meeting to present this proposal in person and it goes on and I'll I'll be be happy to share this with Council thank you thank you with that there's a motion from representative rera seconded by representative Canales to approve item number 23 on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously Representatives anelo Canal is not present that brings us to items 25 to 33 these are are the first reading of ordinances there's a motion made by representative Riva seconded by representative Salo to approve the introduction of ordinances items 25 to 33 on that motion call for the vote in the voting session the motion passes unanimously representative Zelo ernandez gal is not present that brings us to item number 34 item 34 is a public hearing on an ordinance authorizing the issuance of city of Al Paso Texas Water and Sewer revenue bonds series 2023a in the aggregate principal amount of $8.6 million to the Texas water development board to finance certain Wastewater system improvements and resolving matters which are necessary to affect such issuance and we do have public comment on this item mayor yes sir what kind of debt are are we issuing commercial paper or what good morning Council uh Renee Leon uh will they pass the water they water and sore revenue bonds right 2023a and just exactly what were we going to spend the money on uh the funding is uh going to be used for first time Wastewater service in the Montana Vista area and the bonds are issued through the Texas water development board at a low rate too yes sir at a very low rate that's the benefit of this program is a twdb set what is that rate I know was real low I'm sorry what was the rate I know was I believe it was 3.6 yeah it was a real low rate I know that yes sir thank you with that we have a motion in a second yes mayor the motion was made by representative Rea second it by representative Molina to approve item 34 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously Representatives anelo ernandez ganal is not present the next item on the agenda is number 37 item 37 is discussion and action that the city manager be authorized to execute a chapter 380 Economic Development agreement between the city of El Paso and desert pass Town Homes LLC good afternoon Elizabeth Triggs with economic and International Development we talked about yesterday we do have public comment on this item M Turner yes sir M Turner okay yeah again I would like to uh express my displeasure about using tax money and you not knowing if these people are employing any female workers this was the $12 million project construction uh and again I'm relying on Workforce Solutions borderplex numbers there aren't any women in construction and nobody's making an effort to get any in construction and I'm tired of seeing my money benefit only one gender and women being excluded from decent paying jobs thank you thank you Mr trer we got a motion in a second yes mayor the motion was made by representative Fiero seconded by representative Rea to approve item 37 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session the motion passes unanimously Representatives anelo ernandez Canales not present that brings us to item 38 can we uh before we go there representative um molinar wants to reconsider item 22 he just wants to add something to it yes sir right can you make a motion is there a motion to reconsider item 22 there you go yes there's a motion in a second to reconsider item 22 all in favor anyone opposed the motion passes item 22 is a notation of the peard transactions for the period of August 21th to September 20th 2023 for mayor city council representatives and staff not thank you very much mayor uh Miss bran thank you very much for your consideration on this item so um yesterday during the agenda review I did ask a few questions as far as how many PE cards are currently in active in for the city of El Paso Mr cortinez did mentioned there was 434 and we all received the the spreadsheet so that's good um however recent events this year 2023 have um changed many things for the city of El Paso and operations we no longer get served lunch by the city of El Paso tax Paradigm and that I'm and I accept that our city uh fuel cards have been removed or taken the program has been suspended thank you very much Mr Colonel Weston I have not a problem with that either but we do have a sit or we had a situation where we were in the Limelight in a negative way referen the PE cards and how much money was being expended and we had certain departments that were expending over a half a million dollarss that's taxpayers money and we can go back and try and figure it out but I say we can't undo the past but we can move forward and so now there is an item where we are putting on a monthly basis the PE card expenses for our us as the city Representatives the mayor's office and I accept that as well however I'd like to uh make a motion today to have both the city attorney's office and the city manager's office added to the um every time we post this on the agenda and also post it onto the website there a second have a motion in a second I don't believe this item was posted for Action Council it was for notation it's not it's for notation only yes so we can bring that back recommend that it be posted bring it back yeah next time they bring it back they'll have that on there thank you so let's uh the item motion to appr we have a motion to approve the item so moved as as it is oh there's no action no action so why did we have it on consent it's on the consent agenda and you you approve the you note it for the record I no but then we voted on it then it's only mayor it's listed on the agenda for notation for notation only under consent agenda right it's on the consent for notation only so we did vote on it you noted that you received the information that pull it out for notation you requested we shouldn't have voted on it what I'm saying yeah so we shouldn't have reconsidered it we shouldn't have voted on it and it's for notation only so maybe next time we'll put it in a different spot so we don't vote on it it's always it's always included with a consent agenda along with other notations such as campaign I get that but we voted on consent agenda to approve as submitted which means we voted on this item yes sir so we shouldn't have voted on it so we need to votee on we just we just vot to approve notation right so we don't it's notation only so we shouldn't have voted on it anyway okay so we just move forward to item 38 or do we need to vote on it Miss uh Neeman because it's notation only so so mayor you vote to accept everything that's on the consent agenda it's the same thing that happens when you post the items for notation from foak so it's simply that you're recognizing that you've received the information so do we need to take a separate vote now no nothing need happen I'm saying I don't think we do but we open we yeah we just reconsidered consideration was to have Mr Mard state that he had received the information he asked for yest there's no action required right exactly that's what I was trying to say thank you next item 38 yes sir item number 38 item 38 is discussion and action on the school's Zone safety strategy good morning Mar and counc Rodriguez with the capital Improvement Department it can you bring up the presentation for item 38 please yes it this is a presentation from item 38 please okay thank you it you can go to the next slide it so Council good morning walking to Rodriguez with CID this item is a response to your action taken on September 12th in regards to school zone safety um in addition this item really ties in closely to the recently adopted Vision zero action plan which you all adopted in June of 2023 there were a number of strategies uh and recommendations from the vision zero action plan that specifically addressed uh school zone safety and the safe routes to school program so this is a presentation of our uh recommended strategy moving forward to address these concerns next slide please in response to that action it item and in response to what we'd like to achieve with school's own safety um there's really a few things that we want to focus on the first of which is understanding our existing conditions so that's going to consist of working closely with streets and maintenance department in creating an inventory of missing or outdated infrastructure structure um and also identifying outdated ordinances where there's room for uh Improvement and room for streamlining our internal processes um there's also a lot of ongoing maintenance that's currently happening which we can expand um and rethink to to make sure that we're using our resources as efficiently as possible one thing that we've been working on in the capital Improvement Department um which we'll F which we'll touch on later in this presentation um is really creating a data driven prioritization uh to ensure that we're focusing our resources and Future Investments on schools that based on uh crash data and a number of other factors are what we would identify as high-risk schools um some of the things that we're looking at are Mobility data Census Data related to vehicle availability and of course crash frequency from uh the state crash database uh in addition what we're proposing as part of this strategy is to adopt a formal safe routes to school action plan um we feel we can develop that plan internally using staff and C um and additionally we'd like to focus that engagement effort not on um not on a sort of resource-driven Engagement effort from our staff but on leveraging the resources of the mobility advisory committee and the vision zero task force to accomplish that next slide please so this is just a snapshot of the vision zero action plan to reinforce that there are a number of strategies and recommendations adopted in that plan um that we feel would really help us uh respond to the action item from September 12th um but also just address school's own safety in a more holistic manner next slide please so I'll pass it over now to uh Randy Garcia from our streets and maintenance team to talk to you about some of our ongoing efforts good morning Council mayor Randy Garcia streets and maintenance department this slide illustrates a project that we completed in partnership with the American Heart Association Al Paso Independent School District and the mo mobility advisory committee so the streets went out there and built out these curb extensions we designed them in house while ke was able to get these Partners together to really engage the community and let them know what safe routes the school is going to be like um once it was completed you could see the results there next slide please so another quick build that we did at streets of Maintenance here as part of our maintenance uh program was um installing what is the first rapid flashing Beacon it's a pedestrian Crossing to enhance the the pedestrians in the rideway um this is a new technology takes out recommended it's part of the new uh traffic control devices that are being pushed out there and they're being asked to um to bring out to the community so they can be aware of what's out there so this is just a new build that Al pass oh high and you'll see more of these going forward as we work with the with the school districts next slide please this slide illustrates points that align the safe process school program and our schools own safety strategy with the Department of Transportation American Heart Association plan Al Paso and of course Vision zero this promotes improv public health for the kids walking to school and being more active and it reduces car dependency dependency and traffic around the school zones next slide please this slide illustrates our high Injury Network that's was brought up to division zero as what Keen said earlier the points are actually schools that surround the high Injury Network so that's where we want to put our initial focus on um this is going to be a very data driven uh process and programming we go through as we develop the strategy so we just want to really illustrate that we are using data to come up with these ideas and the strategy that will present going forward and next anent from c will take vot good morning uh Anna Mesa zent I'm with the capital Improvement Department if we go to the next slide please so the content of the action plan is going to be formalized through a focused public Outreach but we have identified some major Concepts that we would like to include in the plan the first one is going to be an inventory analysis of the existing conditions of the infrastructure in the existing school zones the other thing is a equity-based prioritization outline and this will be a prioritization list that is data driven and Equity based where we identify schools that has higher volumes of walking and biking to school lower socioeconomic status and higher concentrations of collisions with severe injury type so in this context we will measure socioeconomic status by identifying in median household incomes Within These schools as well as their accessibility to vehicles within their H within their households excuse me and in this context also as we evaluate crash data we're going to weigh all of the collisions that are occurring in these school zone areas by perceived injury type meaning that um killed or seriously injured collisions are going to be weighed higher than lower injury collisions in the school zones so another element that we're intending to incorporate is a Solutions and strategies which will identify the ways that we are going to achieve our goals in this plan and that goes hand inand with a decision-making Matrix which will identify what Solutions and strategies are appropriate in what context we will also identify relevant State legislation and policies that pertain that are existing that pertain to the document as well as recommendations for future legislation and policies and then lastly an implementation Matrix which which will clearly guide and identify who is responsible for what action items and what timeline is appropriate for which action items next slide please so the goals that will be incorporated in the document are going to be guided by focused Outreach however we are proposing four goals that we would like to see actualized for the plan the first one is to create a safe connected comfortable infrastructure Network for children to walk and bike themselves to school this second goal that we would like to achieve with the datadriven equity prioritization analysis is to prioritize areas that are at risk underrepresented and highly utilized and the last two goals are to provide a clear and implementable pathway for future improvements and to effectively reduce vehicle speeds and improve safety through design and enforcement next slide please so we have identified four major phases for this action plan the first phase will be focused Outreach that will occur with the complete streets Mobility advisory committee as well as the vision zero task force the complete streets policy as well as the vision zero policy have overlapping goals and overlapping methodology with what we are proposing for the safe routes plan and we would like to leverage the background knowledge and existing expertise that the members of those organizations already have that understanding with we would also like to leverage their existing Partnerships many of them belong to our institutional partners that we will be likely expecting to incorporate in the implementation Matrix and that we will utilize during implementation so we will utilize the input received during that initial Outreach phase to create a public draft and then we will present the public draft to these focused Outreach groups as well as the city council to receive uh input to incorporate into the final draft which we will present then for plan adoption and then the Final Phase after plan adoption will be implementation which we will use the implementation Matrix and our relevant stakeholders and partners to complete and execute next slide please so our next steps in the short term we really want to look at updating our current uh school zone traffic installation inventory so looking at again missing missing or deficient school zone installations um retrofitting anything that's missing or deficient and enhancing infr or sorry the third bullet there is really just to show that enhanced infrastructure um like ran Randy mentioned the rfbs and the curb extensions that's really going to require School District funding for us to execute um then moving forward um we want to continue to support those quick build and demonstration projects with willing Partners um we're going to continue to expand that Outreach through the mobility advisory committee and the vision zero task force um what we really would like action for today is to move forward with developing the formal uh safe routes to school action plan again we would be uh doing that internally so no uh no funding aside from just our staff time would be uh required to complete that and then just as another note here another piece of of this strategy um working with no funds we are in the middle of an upgrade to the city's traffic Management Center um where we're really going to be looking at deploying and implementing uh Intelligent Traffic system uh updates to our entire network um so again the action we're looking for today is for direction to move forward with the development of the formal safe routes to school uh action plan and I'm happy to take any questions you all might have for us yes mayor there's a motion made by representative Pierro seconded by representative mol to approve on that motion call for the vote really quick mayor uh what just what is your timeline representa go ahead sorry I'm sorry I forgot that I had this question uh what is your timeline on on the things in the last slide uh we think we can get the action plan adopted and drafted within 6 to eight months okay great and then we would again we' be we'd be moving forward with a lot of the things like creating that inventory of missing or deficient infastructure that's ongoing yeah so that's going to be happening during the development of the plan it's not like we're going to wait six months before we start anything great and you're are you working with the committee that you all have set up so we we haven't started doing that yet um once we have this action to move forward with the the development of the action plan um we'll start to have some targeted meetings with the mobility advisory committee and division zero task force specific to this safe routs to school plan great thanks appreciate it repr you're done thank you mayor the only better thank you sir U the only questions I have so slide 12 is your whole motion indeed or just to to continue this support bullet number two sorry I don't have slide 12 in front of me that's the final slide yeah so so the action that we need is really the second to last bullet develop a formal safe routs to school action plan the other items are things that we're already working on as part of our day-to-day operations both within C and streets and maintenance all right thank you for clarifying that thank you mayor thank you sir with that we have a motion in a second yes sir the voting session is open in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously mayor may we move to call to the public please thank you the AL Paso city council is local government body charged with serving all of the citizens and the meetings must be focused on the meeting at charge the City Council meetings are public meetings under the Texas open meetings ACT public comment is an accommodation and not body requirement of city council all persons and attendance are expected to display Civility and decorum that is respectful to other persons without the use of insulting profane threatening or abusive language public comment will not be used for personal attacks against a person or group's character or Integrity which are not pertinent to City business nor May any member of the public use this form for political statements or campaigning please note that during call to the public the city council may not deliberate or decide any subject that is not on the agenda however Council May propose that a talk topic brought forth be posted on a future agenda this afternoon we have seven members of the public that signed up to speak the first person is Elizabeth Crawford her topic is sing a little louder Holocaust Survivor testimony I don't see Miss Crawford coming forward oh she's in go ahead Miss Crawford star six please to unmute your telephone good afternoon you have three minutes yes good afternoon thank you so much good afternoon Miss Crawford um short good afternoon um shortly after I began sidewalk counseling at um a very large abortion Mill in New Jersey I was handed um a pamphlet um that's entitled sing a little louder um the lady who wrote it is um Penny Leah um that's going to be read later by Grace fou is a very powerful um write up um it's about a man who had lived through the Holocaust in Germany who considered himself a Christian um and yet he and the others in his little church and many other little churches did nothing about what was um being done in the Holocaust um the article draws parallels to the situation with abortion in the United States it'll be the article will be read a little later by by gr fou um sing a little louder is the name of it if some of you want to look it up later also um we're told in God's word that Satan is the enemy of our souls um and we're told we do not against flesh and blood but against principalities against Powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world we're also told that the God of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not the light of the Glorious gospel of Christ who the image of God should unto them Satan is aboutness all about decep but Jesus Christ is the light of the world um the word holocaust by definition means burning um recent months on the East Coast one of the largest waste medical waste companies was signed almost $2 million for improper handling of medical waste but the story behind the story um is that um within that medical waste or um the bodies of unborn babies who were aborted not according to regulation I guess um by the wayte rules being used for energy is absolutely barbaric what have we come to in our nation the scriptures say that the thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy but Jesus said I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly thank you so much hope you have a good afternoon thank you thank you the next speaker is gray Pou good afternoon you have three minutes the topic is abortion Holocaust thank you very much for listening to this very touching story sing a little louder by Penny Leah a pro pro- life speaker several years ago I was ministering at a church in Upstate New York and I spotted an elderly gentleman standing at the front of the church I caught his eye and my heart broke I had no idea what his story was but his face was etched with pain I knew that he had something I had to hear his old hand took mine and he began to speak speak he said I was a young man living in Germany during the Holocaust I considered myself a Christian I attended a little church with my family from the time I was a small boy we all heard about the atrocities that were happening not far from us in aitz but it was too difficult to comprehend what could we do anyway there was a train track behind the church so we were familiar with the sound of the whistle and clacking of the wheels but one morning we heard noise coming from the train it was the sound of railing and moaning we were shocked when we realized that there were people in those box cars they were being led away to their death the dear old man began to weep I stood there in shock as tears rolled down my face he continued week after week that train whistled blue and we heard the sound of those poor Jews crying out it was so disturbing that we devised a plan we moved up our song service so that when the train passed by we would be singing loudly we sang as loud as we could to drown out their cries if we could still hear them we would just sing louder years have passed since then and no one talks about it much anymore but I could still hear the sound of that train whistle in my sleep I can still hear them crying out for help God forgive me tonight I came here and I heard your cry he continued you kept you wept over the millions of babies who have died right here in America and it's happening all over again God says in 2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked way I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land thank you all for listening thank you the next speaker is Steven Strummer Mr strummer's topic is trees for downtown he's coming up good afternoon Mr Strummer good afternoon good afternoon sir it's a poem What would life be without trees life isn't Pleasant without trees come here to find out in the summer you'd sweat it out what would life be without tree life isn't pleas without trees I know I've lived here without these run to the shade if there is any shade life isn't present without trees dear Council life is tough without trees in our border outside think of these they add to our life a canopy of Life dear counsil life is tough without trees I look at our desert the desert far land in Israel of hia by the Sea they add to the shade a pure desert Glade I look at hia near the sea I pray we look at the trees I know you are busy as bees they make make us content no I haven't invent your counsel I pray behold trees I weep at a life without trees it's hard to sleep at night without trees I sure miss the sound of trees ever found I weep at life without trees life is poor of heart without trees it's hard to sleep at night without these the burn of my face as tears s down my and Trace life is poor ever poor without trees we are the most treeless downtown ever found without trees so scarce hardly found could there be ever be more trees here my ple oh Lord dear Lord ever be I have a list of 13 places that will send us trees if we ask them if you want to read it thank you very much for hearing me sir thank you sir thank you Mr Strummer the next speaker is Ron KO Mr kom's topic is Animal Services advisory committee and animal services Mr kom's star 6 please to unmute your telephone good afternoon you have three minutes I I'd like to apologize for not actually being there in person for a change uh wasn't able to little concerned that Miss Wally hasn't been here in a couple of meetings I hope everything's okay with her I'd like to revisit um some of the things we discussed at the last city council meeting the pretty little black pup that nobody took care of his five freedoms or worried about how he's being treated humanely I want to bring to your attention the fact that the dog was taken into the shelter after being hit by a car and when a rescue questioned The Man In Charge what the situation was going to be as far as vet carry and she was informed it would be probably the first of the week before anybody saw the dog um she offered to take the dog so she could get it to a vet at that point conversations went dead after a period of time she contacted me with the screenshots asking me if if I could check on it I also asked the person in charge what the status was and what was going on with the dog and never received any information a couple days later we find out the dog you have died was euthanized but we don't really know for sure I'd like to know why as a rescue this dog was not turned over to a rescue so we could get it immediately to a vet um sorry brain went blank again um as far as far as uh ASAC goes um we had conversations about term limits um our city rep at the ASAP committee read City rule uh policies and procedures on term limits and they stated that no one could uh be on the ASAP committee for more than or serve more than two term limits uh two terms I'm sorry at that point they were at their term limit they would have to be off for four years we are not abiding by those rules still even though it was brought up at a previous meeting and as far as I know the the one that doesn't hasn't put anybody on still hasn't I request that we do that the other thing I'd like to bring up is as we keep being told we're on the no kill equation the no kill equation is everybody knows that anything to do with uh no kill information was written by Nathan winterr Nathan winterr was questioned on whether El Paso was using his no kill equation his response was I have no clue what El Paso is running on that's got to give you a clue that the man that wrote the no kill equation is not seeing his plan implemented or being used in the city of El Paso I think it's time we address that concern and want to answer on what we're really following and then we need to ask when and where and what month and what city council meeting that these plans that we've been running since what April of 2020 have never gone through city council thank you thank you sir you've reached the three minute limit the next speaker is Barbara Valencia topic is Animal Services the implosion of this department she will be followed by Mark Fierro and Lisa Turner good afternoon ma'am you have three minutes thank you good afternoon M good afternoon 151,000 88 it's not just a number standing odly by while watching the collapse of animal services the city's Department that oversees the lives of living breathing feeling companion animals is inexcusable and unacceptable the animals I will be showing you are in are the animals that are in animal services foster care program Animal Services put these animals back out into the community with no followup being done basically abandoning them within the community this puppy came in to the program two years ago as of today she is out in the community and not spayed this little kitten she too came into the program two years ago she has not been spayed this little puppy he came into the program with this City 2 and 1/2 years ago he has yet to be neutered but he is out in the community this little kitten has been in the program for a year and a half she has not been spayed yet this puppy came into the program with the city two years ago out in the community she has not been spayed yet in two years this kitten same thing two years not neutered and this puppy he's been out there for 2 and a half years in the community he has never been neutered this goes on and on and on there are over 2,000 of these out in the community what has happened to these innocent animals their respons the responsibility for these animals lies with the city you are responsible for these animals for 3 and A2 years we have watched Animal Services go from a fully functioning Municipal shelter to an Department that has a lack of any compassion and care for the animals in our community abandoning these animals and their responsibilities to these animals and a department that has been absolutely with no oversight or accountability you have been witnessing the implosion of this department and your solution is to buy an old school while a larger shelter is absolutely needed it does no good if you allow the collapse of this department to continue City officials are protecting incompetent management at the expense of the animals community members and taxpayers until you address and fix the internal issues within Animal Services no matter it doesn't matter how many schools you buy and convert into shelters $1,888 is what the taxpayers are paying the director of Animal Services a person who is obviously unqualified for this position as a taxpayer Community member and local rescue I stand before you to present a vote of no confidence for the current director of Animal Services you it's time to bring in a coment director to prop the next speaker is Mark Fiero Mark fero's topic is Animal Services can you hear me cry at night good afternoon you have three minutes good afternoon thank you in August I read directly from animal services website s it where it's stated on at least two different portions of the website that this is an open admission shelter animal services management has since taken those words off the website this blatant attempt at concealing and misleading the tax paars of El Paso has not gone unnoticed removing that statement does not absolve Animal Services nor the city of your fiduciary duties and responsibilities to the taxpayers cour across the country have ruled against cities and their Municipal shelters for closing shelter intake as violations against the tax Pairs and fraud in the rulings it states open admission shelters are operated by municipalities and are paid for by tax dollars and they are to admit every stray animal in their jurisdiction regardless of health age breed or temperament can you hear them crying they're out there managed admission shelters that are municipalities and are paid for by tax dollars must maintain open admission policies to admit every stray animal in their jurisdiction regardless of health age breed or temperament can you hear them crying they're out there limited admission shelters May accept animals based on self-defined criteria and are to be privately funded not public publicly funded no tax dollars can be used for these privately funded shelters and rescues so I just want you to think just for a moment about the animals that we see in our community the young dogs the older dogs the little kittens and the larger cats some are Strays some are lost some grew up on the street they have no other life now we've left them there for over three and a half years why is it why has it come to this where's our leadership can you hear those animals crying at night there's a young cat a little kitten a little puppy somewhere looking for its mom where is she she's on the street she's there they're wondering why aren't you kissing me and hugging me why aren't you licking me and cleaning me why aren't you feeding me mom's dead can you hear me crying at night they're out there you don't have to look hard to find them thank you and the final speaker is Lisa Turner Miss Turner's topic is disrespect of board member commission members good afternoon Miss Turner good afternoon good afternoon mayor of council I'm the mayor's appointee to the Women's Rights Commission and I take this position and responsibility seriously one of the things I'm trying to get through is paid maternity leave yes it is revolutionary for the State of Texas but everywhere everywhere else in the country it's not I want to point out to the that the Texas maternity mortality report noted that 90% 90% of all maternal deaths in 2019 were preventable preventable 90% of those women could be alive today but they're not if you're a black woman you're 5.85 times more likely to die in child birth than if you are a police officer on the streets it is dangerous to give birth whether you're black Hispanic white Native American Alaskan native you're at a minimum twice as likely to die than the police officer on the street I'm getting gaslighted from staff staff is also doing their best to mislead I don't know who's behind this but it's objectionable I object Schneider Electric offers 20 weeks of paid maternity leave Amazon warehouse jobs we just got Warehouse out there they'll pay up to $20 an hour they have 20 weeks paid maternity leave there are companies that have 52 weeks paid maternity leave we have squat the American Pyle ological associate psych yeah Psychological Association States it it's an urgent necessity for women to have paid maternity leave it cuts down on in interpersonal violence uh postpartum depression it cuts down on that it's a 51% decrease in hospital readmissions it will save the city money it will increase morale it will lower absente ISM and you will be in competition for other women who want to work here why would you want to work for the city when I can get $20 an hour at Amazon if and 20 weeks of paid maternity leave why would I want to come here it's an economic benefit not asking for a whole lot 4 weeks prenatal 12 weeks after after pay time off to take the the child to get their checkups prenatal and the year following birth it's not a whole lot of money thank you thank you m you owe it to the women mayor that concludes call to the public this afternoon thank you we got uh we'll go to item 39 yes sir and then 40 yes sir and then we'll take lunch recess thank you sir item 39 is discussion and action to approve an Amendment to the appropriation of $3 million for the implementation of high-speed internet throughout the city of Al Paso from the Corona virus state and local fiscal recovery funds represent F thank you Mr Mayor um I have questions in regards to this issue what I received yesterday didn't go into detail or answer the questions that I had uh specifically do you want me to ask him now okay specifically what's the difference between what you're recommending next now in what the original plan was main yeah good afternoon joal Martinez with the IT department uh the difference between what we originally recommended uh and what we're recommending now is the method of implementation of the services the services originally called for direct access to Internet at the household level uh through our findings and through Discovery and and looking at how this would be best accomplished uh we identified that it it'd be better suited if we provided the services through our digital a Paso Network because it also prevents an an opportunity it also presents an opportunity for us to provide that internet access to some of the facilities that we're um currently standing up uh throughout the the city so for example East Side Regional Command Center uh East Side sports complex so because we have the services going out there we're able to uh broadcast our Broadband uh Network so is this going to eliminate the opportunity for it going directly to the homes it will elimin it will will eliminate it through this specific fund however there are federal programs uh such as the uh the bead program which is uh an incentive program for anybody that qualifies for Wick or snap they today can qualify for these uh $30 a month incentives for them to uh I guess uh subscribe to internet through any service provider that's available in their area so there are federal funds uh that are available to to accommodate for this need as well yeah mayor I don't know I I don't um I I don't understand why we're not focusing more on the servicing the households where single parents um have children that that need to access the internet they're not having access to it um I I'd like to make a motion to postpone this um to the next meeting so that we can get more so I can get more information and again I didn't the information I received yesterday didn't answer any of my questions um this will allow us uh this will allow me a couple weeks to um be able to get my questions answered the ongoing cost is also a concern of us uh in order to fully Implement a project like this if we were to or use the uh the funds to allocate as we originally intended funding would not last beyond the one and a half and twoyear Mark and so we we but essentially at that point be presented with the same issue we have today okay I have a motion I I really thank representative Fiero for bringing that up um I think that this Council was told in May that we were going to go and address the connectivity issue at the home I think if we have decided that that's not the way it needs to be presented to me and I mentioned this yesterday and how this is benefiting the community I know we had a presentation in which you said the digital Al Paso footprint and I'm so proud of myself for finally getting that correct um would it be expanded but I have a lot of concern about the use of arpa funds from this staff and from this organization and we've had this conversation before I cannot tell by looking at this plan if we had to go into lockdown again tomorrow how the use of this arpa dollars would put us ahead from where we were in 2019 and we've seen this with resurfacing tennis courts I don't know how that benefited the community I have not seen an expansion of our health services our transportation our Educational Services with the use of arpa dollars to benefit this community and while I'm not saying your program doesn't do it there's nothing written down on here that shows me how we are making our community stronger since now that we're getting another two weeks hopefully I also want you to address how you've determined these locations and I've brought this up several times no one has ever pointed to the study done by UTP that showed the actual areas in this community that were lacking connectivity being the Lower Valley right it said East Side they're broken up into graph Central East West and I don't remember what the fourth one was but it was not Northeast when you look at the actual needs on the east side that's all south of it 10 in fact when you look at the maps it's extremely concerning to me that nobody at the city said where are we going to add connectivity let's go to the one place in the entire city that has one small dot right we looked at areas and I'm not going to say that the downtown suul ladio area and I'm not going to say that the triangle area do not need services but when you look at the amount of connectivity that exists in those areas I do not feel comfortable that we are looking to put arpa dollars in there do we need better connectivity in our city services yes but I absolutely concerned that we are once again using arpa dollars to offset maintenance in our own facilities these dollars were supposed to make us stronger as a community moving forward and I'm sorry that I'm directing this all at you I feel really bad but these dollars are supposed to make us stronger as a community and I have not once been able to see a use of arper dollars do that I've been happy to support Economic Development I think that's extremely important that will make us stronger moving forward with jobs but there are other needs and services that we have not addressed at all I was happy back in May when I saw that we were going to do that I'm not seeing this on paper with this program I'm not saying that what was presented in May is the best use of those dollars but I would also like for you to show me other programs that are used across the country to make sure that we addressing those connectivity issues so thank you representative f for that motion thank you mayor um before you on your second I'd like to reconsider that motion um I would prefer that you come back with us to us with a plan that includes a private public partnership to help help leverage those dollars to to be able to um access people at home be able to access it along with the Dig El Paso mayor that that would be my motion so what's your motion um for for St that's what I told delete the item bring it back I'll second your motion that'll be my motion all right so we we have a motion and a second to delete the item and bring it back sorry the motion was made to delete by representative F second by representative anelo somewhere like that to delete yes ma'am on that motion point of order uh what What's the timeline coming back it's not it's not just okay deleted yeah we're going to have we're going to have to evaluate the the timeline based on the conversation today that's why I thought it's best we delete it on that motion to delete call for the vote in the voting session the motion passes 7 to1 representative ernandez voting n the motion does carry that brings us to item 40 and this is discussion and action to authorize the mayor on behalf of the city of Al Paso to sign a resolution as part of the city council approve application to the office of the governor Texas Military preparedness commission for the defense economic adjustment assistance grant for construction of the McGregor range waterline booster station replacement move to appr Second there's a motion made by mayor protim anelo second it by representative P to approve item 40 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously salute that brings us to the end of the agenda there's a motion and a second to adjourn the city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed I and the regular city council meeting for Tuesday October 24th 2023 is adjourned at 12:41 p.m. thank you Council