what e e e good morning it's 9:00 a.m. um All City representative please good morning good morning mayor how are you Miss PR good thank you you have a lot of guests this morning well we before we get started I know we have a lot of uh guests here and I want to welcome everyone here and uh H lot of Y all uh for your Great accomp accomplishments and uh bringing U Nority to our community so uh again uh I know we get to give you proclamations and certificates but it's uh it's really an honor to have you all come here as uh we do our job and uh and it really puts a lot of uh Smiles on our eyes and I see some pretty little cheerleaders over there huh yes I see the Bose I don't you know you can barely just see the Bose above the seat so um again everybody welcome and uh M Prime we do have a quum yes sir good morning this is a meeting of the El Paso city council for Tuesday April 26 2022 present inside council chambers are mayor liser mayor proam Shortline representative molinard representative salido representative Rodriguez representative Rivera representative anelo and joining us virtually this morning are representatives ernandez and representative Lara it is now 9:01 a.m. will everyone please silence your electronic devices so as not to disturb the meeting and rise for the invocation delivered by police chaplain Joe Mara and good morning to each and every one of you if you would like to pray with us this morning I would ask that we bow our heads together as we go to the Lord Heavenly Father we thank you for the gift that you've given us today we ask that your will would be done throughout these proceedings we ask that you bless our CI city leaders with discernment as they strive to minister to the residents of El Paso we ask that you give them wisdom to also understand the heart of the issues and in providing solutions to them we ask that you keep your hand on them and their families we ask that you also would bless our First Responders our teachers all of our city and county employees and their families all those who work together to make El Paso not only safer but a better community finally we ask that you would bless all of the residents of El Paso and our surrounding region let peace reside upon every individual and family for those that need healing let there be healing for those that are lonely let them find friendship those that are grieving let them find comfort for all the needs in this city we bring them before you and ask that you bring not only a physical and a present hope but an eternal hope as well thank you again for life and strength today and we ask that your will would be done in his name we pray amen thank you thank you sir I me you have a blessed day thank you that the Pledge of Allegiance yes mayor for the Pledge of Allegiance we have the Texas Bandits Allstars tiny cadetes to lead us in the pledge this morning we have Genevie Perez Rebecca salido Isabella Diaz Mia Leon Hazel Sanchez Hima hakz America PLO Andrea Garcia Mia Martinez Freda CA Isabella Campos Mia Perez Melanie Cruz Valentina Vios Hima Soria Aria Cordova HMA Rodriguez and Adrian Rodriguez go ready one 2 to the flag of the United States of America and to [Applause] the one nation under God indivisible [Applause] Miss come give you all the certificate for doing such a wonderful wonderful [Applause] job is am thank you [Music] very s Aria Cordova do we need does anyone need their Proclamation does Emily re Adrian [Music] Rodriguez thank you all [Applause] again embarass we um thank you again um that was very beautiful and um you know I always uh talk about that U the future of our country the future of our city is so is the youth and as I look around this room today I can tell you that um the future of El Paso is very bright you know as I see the chap and basketball team and everyone else that's here that U the cheerleaders that uh I always say the youth is our future and um so I do include you all I do include myself in the youth by the way just in case you guys were wondering wait I heard someone laughing there miss PR but uh no it's uh it's um I'm very thankful and you know there there's a lot of things every day in life that uh we worry about and a lot of things in life that uh that we're thankful for and you know our freedom and the ability to to have a city council meeting and do the things we do every day so um I know that uh We've uh had some hard times through Co and I know that um we've worked really hard as a city to make sure that we can have a meeting like we are having today and I I want to thank really the citizens of El Paso for really following the rules because a lot of them were not mandates there were things that really was going to help our community be able to be safe and uh as we stand here today I hope you all feel safe and and that uh you know that your elected officials have U done the best thing we could every day day in and day out to make sure that everybody was safe to make sure that uh we um today would come that we would have her immunity and you know her immunity was originally 75% and then her immunity was 80% we're at 81% as a community and that's from the ages 5 to you know whatever it is but um um so it's uh it's really an honor to be here and and to stand in front of you and really host the youth and the future of our community now I do want to have a moment of silence for um really peace on Earth and peace in the United States and peace across the world as we all know that uh we need to have peace we need to make sure that everybody has the freedom to be able to do the things we do today and um one of the things I also want to mention and and mayor protm I know that um 6 years ago today you you your you lost your father your father that meant a lot to you so we're going to put him in our silent prayers and in our prayers every day and so uh please uh include uh M Pro's dad Dr Schwarz Bine that uh did a lot of great things for our community and also again peace on Earth and peace in the US and may God bless America so with that let's have a moment of silence thank you with that Miss PR yes sir that brings us to the mayor's proclamations the first Proclamation this morning is child abuse prevention mon good morning everyone today's Proclamation for the city Al Paso Texas whereas there were 4,79 cases completed investigations and 1,739 confirmed victims of child abuse and neglect in El Paso area in the fiscal year 2021 and whereas there were 1,644 youth served by dfps prevention programs in the El Paso area in fiscal year 2021 and whereas child abuse and neglect can be reduced by making sure each family has the support they need to raise their children in a safe nurturing and healthy environment and by informing families about Community Resources and services available that could help prevent a family crisis or help them overcome one and whereas preventing child abuse and neglect is a community responsibility and finding Solutions is contingent upon involvement among people throughout the community and whereas our community has taken a proactive approach in the prevention of child abuse with the formation of the Coalition of prevention of child abuse that is comprised of over 70 agencies organizations schools daycare centers and businesses that are actively involved in preventing child abuse through education and advocacy now therefore be proclaimed by the mayor and councel of the city of El Paso that the month of a April shall be known as Child Abuse Prevention month and that April 8th 2022 shall also be known as gold blue day signed by The Honorable mayor Oscar liser this date [Applause] thank you thank you good morning mayor council good morning um we want to thank you for your support to April Child Abuse Prevention month uh representative Rena thank you for joining us on April 8th uh for our go Blue um which is our our kickoff to April Child Abuse Prevention month and thank you for always being there for us um we April is Child Abuse Prevention month but it is a topic that needs to remain high on the list and we as a community need to come together and um protect our little ones our youth from abuse or neglect and we can do this by reporting abuse neglect we can do this by uh being there for a parent or a caretaker you know in those times of um crisis or or stress um and of course make it um keep people aware of child abuse and what they can do to prevent um again we we want to thank you for for your support and um you know for for always being there this is not the first time we're here and we just uh you know need to need to continue to thank you thank you for all you come up and and you know talk about this this issue thank you thank you for being here thank you for what you all do I'll get that we'll get the proclamation afterwards thank you I'll answer the phone for you it's for me thank you hello M PR the next Proclamation isul Bailey recognition day thank you mayor thank you ma'am where as Bailey came to the AL Pasa region in 2001 expecting to not stay too long and at 29 years old old he became touched by the beauty of the region in the International Airport which meant that he could travel to his concert destinations and whereas while practicing his cello in the studio in Anthony Texas he was overheard by an El Paso art supporter Carol KS Johnson who encouraged him to apply for the job of artistic director of Al Paso PR mus in whereas through his hard work and determination was eventually hired to lead the chamber music organization in 2002 and his first concert was with nberg comp Competition winner Wan Pratt at the First Baptist Church and whereas for the last 20 years he has spearheaded collaborations throughout the community including working alongside the El Paso Symphony Orchestra the El Paso Museum of Art the El Paso Holocaust Museum libraries hospitals senior centers the Alzheimer's Association of West Texas the Kelly Center for Hunger relief and many more and whereas educational Outreach and Community engagement has become the priority of El Paso PR PR mus where zul Works to make music accessible to all where thousands of students each year benefit from the programming made free of charge to the community Through Z's leadership and love for Al Paso now therefore be it proclaimed by the mayor and Council of the city of Al Paso that April 26th 2022 shall be known as zul Bailey recognition day congratulations thank you I'm deeply honored by this and humbled by it um we've let music speak for itself to help heal as well as to educate and bring everyone together so and a big thank you to you all for honoring me in this in Al Pasa PR musica for this I'd like to serenate you with a beautiful way to start the day on My Cello this is Bach Cello Suite number one Prelude do you want me to play along with you or anything maybe saying or anything yeah well you know I did uh I I've listened to Mr Bailey's play many of times and it's most incredible music you could ever hear here and I told him that when I was young I played the cello and all I made was really ugly sounds with it so I didn't realize how beautiful of Music could come from one and what a wonderful job you do and recognition not only to yourself your family but our community you do an incredible job and like I said I I can play now I probably forgot how to do Twinkle Twinkle Little Star but U thank you for being here and and again it's the most beautiful music you could ever hear so thank you for treating us [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] bra thank you again that was beautiful do you guys agree with me Miss p and the final Proclamation this morning is Texas Bandits Allstar tiny cadetes day thank you and this is a very exciting morning to be able to Showcase all of our talent here in op Paso from cheerleaders to musicians to basketball players so thank you all for being here whereas the city 20 whereas the year 2022 marks the 25th year anniversary for Texas Bandits Allstar from when it was first established in 1997 in its hometown of El Paso Texas marking a historical quarter of a century in cheerleading Athletics accomplishments and whereas Texas Bandits Allstar has become a local iconic brand in the cheerleading World celebrating over two decades of All-Star Cheerleading and graduating thousands of athletes from its program and whereas the current 22 2022 class of Texas Bandits Allstars tiny Cadets made up of 22 4 to six year olds made an unprecedented history in the program by practicing over 150 hours with the dedication hard work and discipline from their coaches Stephanie Rodriguez Jose Adan Rodriguez Isaiah Velasquez Iris Rog Alyssa erera Daniela quiz I Isaac Caron and Christopher stello and whereas in season 2022 Texas Bandits allar tiny cets competed in Frisco Texas San Antonio Texas Houston Texas and El Paso Texas Texas Bandits made history and made their home city of El Paso Texas Proud by accomplishing a perfect season of 5-0 beating out dozens of worthy teams from across the country now therefore be it proclaimed by the mayor and councel of the city of El Paso that April 26th 2022 shall be known as Texas Bandits All-Star tiny Cadets day also today in honor of the Texas Bandits tiny Cadets we are lighting the star in their honor so congratulations on winning a perfect season of 5 and0 may you continue reaching for the stars as El Paso's future is bright because of young athletes like you congratulations again tines Cadets thank you m PR yes the next item is a recognition by the mayor for underage drinking initiative contest good morning good morning Council I'm Cynthia humz I work for the police Department as the supervisor for Central Regional commands par unit otherwise known as Community Services today we are recognizing the winners of our underage drinking initiative prevention contest this contest was started by Central citizens Advisory Board back in 2001 in response to a horrific drunk driving crash that took the lives of five teenagers in February of 2000 the board wanted to develop an initiative to empower and educate youth on the consequences of underage drinking by giving our teenag a platform to influence each other positively through their own prevention campaign this has usually been done through a poster contest but this year we decided to modernize the campaign by having a video contest through social media we reached 29.6 th000 accounts and 3,18 accounts engage with our content indicating a successful campaign thanks to the awesome videos submitted by our local students we would like to thank the social media account fitfam for assisting Us in spreading the word to teenagers in the area as well as border for sponsoring the great prizes local high school students were tasked with sending in short videos to show how they have fun without alcohol we posted 50 videos on our epdu ADI Instagram account and the top nine videos with the most likes along with PD's favorite one students when I call your name please come to the front to accept your prize and remain there to take a picture with officers and Council thank you Cindy Ghana Parkland High School Ninth Place [Applause] kitzia Castaneda Parkland High School eighth [Applause] place Anna Marzia young women's steam research and Preparatory Academy Seventh Place Natalia Ooa father ymo High School sixth place Jose G Silva Health Magnet High School fifth place hirro Baka Jr Parkland High School fourth place Jaden Ruiz Mission Early College High School third [Applause] place Aaron Zamora Burgess Early College second place Tyler Wells Eastwood High School first place and last but not least Joshua Martinez Irvin High School PD favorite if you'd like to view any of their videos they are on our epd doad Instagram account picture we'll go we'll thank you we'll step down take a picture and congratulations to every one of youall thank you for setting a great example I know we're like the glass [Music] take can you turn on thank you Mel folks can we get everybody to squeeze in as if we we like each other okay everybody look over here this is bedro say hi Pedro everybody look over here hold hold the pose hold the pose good good thank you [Applause] all we have three more items me members of Council if I could get you to sit back up there we have um three more items and then we're going to take photographs of everybody I apologize for the record Laura Cruz aosa and just so everybody else who's on the proclamations if y'all could stick around we'll take photographs right now I'll get I'll walk you through the process should do you want me to do it now um do you want me to do all three of them if you want to move if you make a motion to move 2021 and 22 before consent agenda so moved there's a motion and a second to move items 20 through 22 before the consent agenda all in favor I anyone opposed motion passes we now go to item number 20 and this is discussion and action to congratulate and commend chapen High School's boys basketball team for being the first team in school's history to make the sweet 16 and for having made it that far two times in a row and to request the city clerk to submit an executed copy of this resolution to the head coach of the chapen High School boys basketball team Rodney Lewis and The chapen High School administration office Miss PR could you read the resolution for us yes ma'am let me bring it up I have it up if you want me to read it you have it I have it yeah you can read the next one I'll read this one great okay whereas the chapen high school's boy basketball boys basketball team made it to the region uh W 5A basketball tournament for the second straight season in 2022 and whereas the chap and H huskys controlled the action from start to finish during their playoff game against Paulo dorto High School in Amarillo Texas winning their second playoff game in school history with the first playoff win having been in 2010 whereas the chapen boys basketball team made it to the regional semi-finals the sweet 16 as undefeated District Champions and were also undefeated against all El Paso teams during the season and whereas the 2022 chapen basketball team was the first ever chapen boys basketball team to get more than 30 wins during the season and whereas head coach Rodney Lewis was voted the district one District 15a co-coach of the Year this season Junior player KJ Lewis was selected as Most Valuable Player for for the district senior player Martin Eddie was selected as defensive player of the year for the district atwan Holmes was selected as first team all district for the 1 fo5 a Manuel Flores and Diego Vena selected as second Team all district Bryson Goldsmith was selected as third Team all district and players Jaden Lavar and Payton Parker were selected as honorable mention for the same district and whereas on March 4th 2022 after falling to Timber viw High School in region one semi-finals of the Class 5A Texas Schools basketball state playoffs the triumphant chapen huskys basketball season ended with with a 31 to5 record Under head coach Rodney Lewis and now therefore be it resolved that the city council of the city of El Paso one commends and congratulates the chapen High School boys basketball team for being the first team in school's history to make it to the Sweet 16 and for having gotten there two times in a row two recognizes the many achievements of the coaches and players of the chape and Huskies three recognizes the fans of the chape and huskies and the people of El Paso for their dedication and support and four respectfully request that the city clerk submit an executed copy of this resolution to the head coach of the chapen High School boys basketball team Ronney Lewis and the chapen high school administrative office congratulations thank you um I'm not much for talking so I'm going to let um my three captains um um address you guys just want to say as a head coach thank you very much thank you great job coach don't be scared no I'm fine um just just want to say thank you guys for the uh for the um the recognition and it was honor me being here um so thank you guys and thank you mayor thank you councel what's your name sir uh my fles thank you congratulations thank you for representing El Paso in the Northeast so well we're really proud of yall um my name is Antoine I want to thank y'all for giving us a recognition um yeah I'm not used to this this is big I want to thank coach for uh pushing us and getting us through this season to make it this far two times in a year uh two times in a row so thank you I'm KJ I just want to thank you'all for the support in this honor um it means a lot I know the whole program is you know honored for this so thank youall again thank you and I just want to tell you that we didn't give you this recognition we acknowledged the the recognition that you accomplished so you guys did it here as a team and we all know that basketball is a team sport and uh when you play as a team you win and when you're coached and you have a good coach that teaches you the fundamentals of sportsmanship and also on the values of uh sportsmanship and the ability to believe in yourselves and to win this is what happened so coach congratulations and again this recognition was earned by every one of y'all and we just want to make sure we acknowledge the great job you did thank you and congratulations is there a motion motion to approve second there's a motion made by representative anelo seconded by representative Salo to approve the resolution on that motion call for the vote I'm not logged in you just want to take mayor proam I representative Hernandez yes representative Lara okay thank you and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously the next item the next item is item 22 this is discussion in action to recognize the El Paso County juvenile probation department and their efforts for the 2022 global view service day Miss Prime my my agenda is not loading at this time would you read the resolution yes ma'am the resolution reads whereas today's youth leadership is our hope for the uncertain future the principles of community service they learned today will be their values for tomorrow's challenges in our community whereas a Juvenile Justice Center along with Community Partners is to provide an opportunity of enrichment to juveniles through Community Service Learning local youth will be participating in the global youth service day throughout April and hosting a celebration on Saturday April 30th 2022 where this Year's gysd project consists of gathering Community stakeholders and community members to speak out against violence in the county and City areas of Al Paso Texas while emphasizing the importance of empathy and unity where this year's 2022 gysd project theme is violence breaking the cycle in healing and whereas young people will have the opportunity to express themselves through their art as well as the use of critical thinking by sharing inspiring and creating solutions to prevent hate CRI crimes and violence with activities including innovation technology art and creativity where the Juvenile Justice Center has also partnered alongside ascar Park to pay tribute to the 23 victims at the County's healing Garden donating personalized art created by our youth participants reminding the community that we are El Paso strong and whereas these Community participants are made up of you young juveniles from the Juvenile Justice Center working hand inhand with with fellow community members and various Community leaders such as County and city leaders official motivators officers art teachers nonprofit organizations and whereas a Juvenile Justice Center staff and participants hasc Park project VA and security nextg along with other numerous local community businesses organizations and supporters from the community are honored to provide the involvement and management in this significant heartwarming peace Focus event Global youth service day and whereas on April 30th 2022 Global youth service day is the largest youth service and Civic action event in the world and the only one that celebrates and builds the capacity of all youth ages 5 to 25 to help our communities and democracy Thrive by working together for the common good and now therefore be it resolved by the city council of city of Al Paso is proud to support the AL Paso County Juvenile Probation Department as it provides opportunities for our City's Youth and builds a better future for the city of Al Paso thank you Miss PR I think there's someone here to speak today or some people morning mayor council thank you very much morning thank you for this opportunity my name is H Olivas uh from behalf of the juven probation department we want to thank you for U giving us this um awesome opportunity and letting you know a little bit about our program so we're celebrating 17 years already of global youth service day the kids it's a way of giving back to the community we believe in the whole uh Community Service uh giving back to the community so this year our kids from the juven probation department have gathered uh together and they came out with the theme of uh breaking the cycle of violence and healings so the kids are going to be working on a lotus flower at the ascar the park and the kids at the uh Juvenile Justice Center are doing their research uh relating to violence hate hate crime um racism bullying and they're also coming up with Solutions so we're proud um to say that the juvenal probation department has given us this opportunity and also the kids um insights um giving Solutions bringing solutions to this type of uh uh Pro uh problems here in the community so thank you thank you for um once again for giving us this opportunity and sharing about this program let me introduce our chief uh uh Medina she just started um fresh new this year with us Rosie Medina and I have my colleagues Mr Israel Tena and Elizabeth Cervantes thank you very much thank you all for being here good morning mayor council uh my name is Rosie Medina and as Mr Olivas indicated I'm the new Chief juvenile probation officer there at the department I'm not new to El Paso I've been employed there at the department for 18 years so it's an honor to serve in this capacity um and thank you so much for recognizing the hard work that the youth as well as the staff in our organization provide we do focus on Rehabilitation and restorative justice and really focus a lot on also restoring our victims back to being whole uh so this year's Global youth service day and breaking the cycle of violence is very important to us because we are seeing an increase in violent crime amongst the youth population so reaching out to them educating them and looking to them for Solutions is part of our goal so thank you very much thank you [Applause] Alex go ahead sir move to approve second there's a motion made by representative molinar seconded by representative anelo to approve the resolution on that motion call for the vote representative on this yes representative Lisa hi thank you and the voting session and the motion passes [Applause] unanimously item number 22 is discussion and action to recognize the challenges that members of the transgender Community face every day around the world and support creating an environment in which any Resident can live without stigma and have the opport to flourish do you want me to read the resolution Miss prer would you like to you want me to okay whereas in March 31st 2022 is international transgender day of visibility in country states and local governments around the world first taking place in 2009 the occasion provides a fitting opportunity to recognize the outstanding contributions of transgender people in El Paso and everywhere and whereas President Joe Biden said last year when he became the first American President to designate the trans trans gender day of visibility with the White House Proclamation this designation recognizes the generations of struggle activism and courage that have brought our country closer to full equality for transgender and gender non-binary people that has given countless transgender individuals The Bravery to live openly and authentically shaping an increasingly accepting World in which peers at school teammates and coaches on the playing field colleagues at work and allies in every corner of society are standing in support and solidarity with trans with the transgender community and whereas discriminatory and sorry discriminatory attitudes towards the transgender Community especially against black indigenous and other women of color Foster High rates of violence homelessness and economic instability it is essential to develop policies that support the transgender Community develop public education to dispel misinformation and stigmas myths and to increase understanding of humanizing transgender people and whereas affirmation of their gender identity and freedom of expression is is vital to how children teens and adults are respected in their communities and ensures a positive quality of life and whereas the city council of the city of El Paso recognizes the importance of the act of correctly identifying an individual's gender and whereas the city of El Paso will take Serious steps towards recognizing an individual's correct gender and will eliminate the act of misgendering individuals by their staff and at their facilities and whereas these policies include the same safeguards from discrimination that all Americans seek in employment housing Healthcare Ed education our justice system and the use of public facilities and whereas the city of Al Paso will continue to promote and advocate for safe spaces within our facilities that welcome all transgender residents seeking help and services and whereas laws that Target Physicians and medical care providers to keep them from serving transgender children and teens or that seek to restrict the freedom of transgender individuals are anti ethical to El Paso the city of Al Paso's values and whereas transgender individuals have always been part of the fabric that that make El Paso beautiful and through visibility and acceptance that we continue to support the values of our community are increasingly visible part of the fabric that makes El Paso what it is and now therefore be it resolved by the city council of the city of El Paso recognizes the challenges that members of the transgender Community face every day around the world and supports creating an environment in which any Resident can live without stigma and have the opportunity to flourish approved this 26th day of April 2022 [Applause] and I believe we also have public comment hello good morning my name is Andy disaro and I use she her pronouns I am the volunteer coordinator and the youth services coordinator for the borderline rainbow Center and I would like to say thank you for not only acknowledging the uh struggles of the transgender Community but also acknowledging the transgender community as uh as the community struggles on a daily basis with hate and oppression of our of not only our rights but our uh right to exist um our transgender youth are on a constant uh t uh targets of attack um by not only the state but uh the country uh we have to we have to work together to do as much as we can to support not just uh our transgender youth but our transgender Community the um the right to be able to um not only exist but the right um the right for respect the right to um have access to life-saving health care the right to uh education the right to participate in education the right to Simply exist and live without a threat to our rights or our life and so thank you again for this resolution and thank you for acknowledging the community thank you Andy thank [Applause] you I I'll move to approve thank would you like to speak I just please do okay thank you um I want to Advocate on behalf of trans people in our community because violence against trans people are ultimate highs in our state which brings me great shame to know that these policies are being made by people who are supposed to quote unquote represent me from trans youth being attacked by our governor to trans migrants dying at migrant detention centers in Texas violence against trans people especially against black and Indigenous trans people is undeniably prevalent in our state this issue hits personally to me because one of my best friends is a transom of color her name is Jamie and she couldn't be here today because she gets she couldn't get time off from work but she did give me permission to share her experiences with you I grew up with Jamie in the Lower Valley Community of Al Paso and since I've always known her she's always inspired me to be authentically myself to set boundaries when others disrespect me and to never compromise myself to make other people comfortable and it breaks my heart when she shares with me her experiences with anti-trans violence like misgendering or plain bigotry because I could not even begin to imagine how frustrating and terrifying it is to exist in a state where your physical safety is not respected nor prioritized she still experiences bigotry and transphobia in public public and even at her remote job and often times believes that progress acceptance her guaranteed safety and social change is not happening quickly enough it scares her very much and it also scares me that my friend doesn't feel safe in her own community so I ask you all today to support this resolution because doing so will hopefully model to other community members and leaders to stand in authentic solidarity with our trans neighbors friends family and Community thank you thank you with that we have a motion in a second yes mayor there is a motion and a second to approve the resolution motion May by representative anelo seconded by representative molinar on that motion call for the vote representative ernandez yes representative Lia I thank you and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously at this time if Council would like to take a brief pause to take pictures if I if I can um Laura Cruz aosa with the um communications director just a real quick question as to how this is going to work um the organizations that are here for recognitions if I can get the transgender Community as well as those individuals who were part of the juvenile probation folks if you could go out into the lobby here um in the anti chamber we're going to take photos with the council members there first in the meantime I I would like to ask the bandits the young Bandits as well as a chapen team if you could meet me outside we're going to organize you all because you're a much larger crowd so with that I'll ask the council member to go into the lobby entrance and bedro will lead you through that process as well as the transgender and the juvenile foration fol before we go outside uh I know that uh the bandits would like to present something to the council if you would please and we'll start forming outside now but if youall want to come up please oh yes and the Child Abuse Prevention I'm sorry I I in unintentionally skipped over y'all if we can also uh take your photograph in the lobby Council since you're exiting the building may we have a motion to Res this than so much a motion and a second to recess the city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed the meeting is in recess at 9:51 a.m. e e e e e e e can you turn thank you Council can we get back to the Das please here did okay we have cor Council if you return to the deas we can continue with a meeting please mayor protm representative anelo if you can return to the de we can resume the meeting please we do have a COR Miss PR we can get started may we have a motion to rec there's a motion and a second to reconvene the regular city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed the meeting is back in session at 10:07 a.m. mayor would you like to go to the consent agenda please 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 appr approved Council May however reconsider any item at any time during the meeting mayor Pro yes um propos revisions for the April 26 meeting 2022 as of April 26 at 8:41 a.m. page four item three delete per airport page four item four delete per Airport page four item five delete per airport page four item six delete per airport page nine item 27 move item before item 23 per representative Salo page 10 item 28 delete per community and human development page 15 item 35 postpone two weeks per Police Department page 15 item 36 postponed two weeks per planning and inspections page 16 item 42 move item be taken at 10 A.M per economic and International Development and Page 17 item 44 revise per representative Rivera Council revision is to the district number it should be District 8 not seven yes ma'am um Council are there any other revisions at this time go ahead I'd like to request to move item 46 to the Forefront of the agenda please well I think you need to be real careful moving that item as there's people signed up to speak and there being the last item on the agenda I think you would uh they would not have the opportunity because they're planning on coming at the end so I think we got to be real careful if we had done it yesterday it would have been a little different but I think that we will take some people out that will not have the opportunity to to speak okay well then I'll remove my motion thank okay um are there no other revisions council at this time okay um that's what we have Mr Prime thank you sir a second second thank you mayor we do have public comment on item I on the on item eight of the agenda of the consent agenda this is a resolution authorizing the city manager or doign need to submit a Grant application for the city of Al Paso project identified as West Texas anti-gang program FY 2023 we have Mr Jose Bara that signed up to speak on this item yeah go please good morning Mr Bara you'll have three minutes sir sure good morning morning pleasure to seeing you again sir likewise uh it's a couple of things that I saw while I was reviewing there is the one is uh uh there's some new regulation that came up yesterday about the uavs may want to have somebody look into that uh they become a you uh for Grant nobody can request uh uavs but something that you may want to ask about that and the other one is uh you got names there that gave me that made me think about conflict of interest and you cannot use grants to to pay employment or to pay salaries of somebody who's already is already working for the city now they had to give the opportunity for everybody to compete for the jobs and you got and uh you got helicopters you got planes I mean it's but you are not listing in the you are not listing in the in the project summary and the project statement you don't say anything that why is the you don't say anything why is a helicopters and a and a plane that's uh going to be required so for me this is a potential this it's a red flag so me want may want you to reconsider that postpone it have somebody look into it is um if not you can you can approve it but I I will have somebody look into this because it's like it doesn't look right it's uh you read you read the project summary the project statement and you got planes one plane and then you got a helicopter and you're talking about a lot of you know a couple of million dollars I don't know about that you know it's uh I understand if you you know you useing for uh for vehicles uh for uh armor or for one of the Subban trucks it's just fine but for helicopter I mean I don't see the reason and putting names on it you got three names on it and the put the positions I don't know it's uh I review I got the chance to review grants before I'm kind of rusted about it uh like I say I just I just went through this last night and that was the reason that I I went through your agenda today and po comments I will let you know and so you can actually understand what happened and the other part is um something H think take a look take a look of how the how sometime the grants are requested sometime I look into it but I don't say it that much well I appreciate for your for your time you know just think about it than thank you sir that Miss P we do have a motion in a second there was a motion made by mayor proam schine seconded by repres representativa to approve the consent agenda as revised on that motion call for the vote representative ernandez Mrs pran can you verify um if there's a motion to bring um which item to the Forefront by representative Rodriguez no she withdrew that that motion oh okay I'm sorry I miss I I missed that but anyway so yes thank you representative Lia bye thank you and the voting session the motion passes unanimously we now move to page number 11 I'm sorry page 16 item 42 this is discussion and action on a resolution that the city manager be authorized to sign a chapter 380 economic development program agreement between the city of Al Paso and Ms Plaza Properties V LP a Texas limited partnership and Crest tunnel LLC a Texas limited liability company move to approve second it's a motion in a second yes it can there we go thank you Elizabeth Triggs economic and International Development so the item before you is um a resolution authorizing the city manager to sign a chapter 380 Economic Development agreement that will result in the Redevelopment of the historic and iconic Crest building in downtown El Paso um so a little bit about the project and some of the benefits that it'll bring um originally completed in 1937 the crest building was a really important um part of daily activity in downtown El Paso it operated for much of the 20th century as a Five and Dime Store by the crest company um and it did so until 1980 it was later um taken over by another company which following its bankruptcy resulted in the shuttering of the building in 1992 and it sat um vacant directly across from San hito Plaza um for the last three decades um so we have a really unique opportunity today to work with the private sector to bring that building back online um and really Revitalize the area um around our our historic core um so I think under the proposed renovation plan some of the the interesting things to point out is that the building will become home to a new food Hall located on the first floor the hall will feature local food and beverage options and shopping experiences which I think serve to really liven the area and also offer offer the opportunity for small businesses just starting out um to have a location um right at the center of downtown in addition the basement will include a days ball and full service Salon that will be open to the public also uniquely um The Plaza Hotel uh which is located right across the way because it was a historic building it was very difficult to put in a spa in that area so we have the opportunity here to leverage that investment by providing an amenity and close proximity to that hotel um which only serves to to better Market that hotel um to visitors so these amenities are all things that would really increase activity in and around downtown's historic core um while also offering the opportunity to increase the use of surrounding facilities including the street car and the two nearby uh recently restored hotels a little bit more about the project itself um so the property owner has committed to a minimum $8.4 million investment it's about 300 um um $300 per square foot um which we know historic preservation is very very expensive but it's something um again that I think city council has shown time and again is important to our community um and something we're willing to invest in at the end of the project we'll have a total of 45,000 Square ft of retail entertainment restaurant um spa services and meeting space available um for visitors um employers and residents of the El Paso area um in addition I I think before I get into more of the details of the agreement what's really important to highlight here and I I referenced it a moment ago is that historic preservation and Rehabilitation is really Central to our downtown revitalization strategy um over the last 10 years the city council um has worked with the private sector um on a number of different agreements and I think what I want to highlight is that of the 28 completed or active projects incentivized over the last 10 years um five historic Renovations have been completed um and that represents a nearly 180 million $88 million investment in our downtown area um those Renovations include the Redevelopment of The Plaza Hotel which is located right next to the crest building the Paso L Hotel the Basset Tower the Martin building and the Stanton house um with the addition of Prest that brings that number to Six historic Renovations and the total investment to $26 million so just a huge huge investment in our historic buildings that really make El Paso unique um and I the last thing to add here which I think is important because this ties to to another strategy of ours in in Economic Development these five projects have resulted in the addition of four active hotels and more than 600 guest rooms um added to our downtown area which nearly doubles the inventory within a couple of years um that's huge and important when we're looking to bring visitors to the El Paso area and looking to attract convention opportunities um having the crest building uh redeveloped um and revitalized in the manner that that is being proposed by the property owner is is just an excellent opportunity to add more amenities that visitors to our El Paso area can can use um so going back into the project this is the project location we're all very familiar with it it's located at 2:11 North Mesa um it has two main entrances one off of Mesa um and one off of Mills Avenue directly across from San jinto Plaza it takes up the better block or the better um portion of an entire city block so again a huge opportunity to revitalize a critical block at the core of our downtown area um these images show the the current condition of the building um again I i' just like to highlight that there are two prominent entrances one at Mesa Street and one at Mills Avenue and bringing this building back online will just increase that activity in those areas with people coming and going from the building with respect to the incentive so this project is really made possible through a combination of um the developers investment and Equity um the opportunity to secure Federal uh historic tax credits in the future one thing that I they failed to mention earlier is that um part of this agreement ensures that um the property owner Works towards having this property listed on the national Reg register of historic places once it's complete um so that that's important um and then in addition um the third component to this is really the local Financial incentive commitment um and investment in the project um the city is proposing uh 2.04 n million incentive over the span of 20 years it's primarily comprised of a 100% property tax rebate over the 20-year period and 100% sales and use tax rebate over a 10-year period um so again that that's a that's an investment by the city um over a 20-year period the county has also recently approved a term sheet and is working toward um the execution of a chapter 381 agreement in which they'll contribute um 90% property tax rebate over 10 years um in an amount not to exceed approximately $415,000 when we talk about Community benefit I I've talked a lot about the qualitative benefit of just increasing the activity in the area um the the economic benefit of having another historic building um redeveloped and and and rehabilitated um but there is also new tax revenue opportunity um not only for the city but for all taxing entities um in the county so um one thing I'll highlight here in addition to to the the benefit that the other um taxing entities will receive through our investment in this project is that the city um will also um receive new tax revenue as a result of the project during the 20-year term um and this primarily comes in the form of the the sales tax revenue that is generated um both on the half penny for Sun Metro so supporting public transit but then also once the 10-year rebate period ends um on the sales tax that comes to the city uh through the other half penny and so finally I'll I'll just wrap up um this this uh slide summarizes a number of the um project benefits again um highlighting that we're really investing in our Historic downtown core um a project that is in close proximity to to a number of City Investments that that we can see doing well and thriving um it provides new amenities to downtown and it assists in um bringing a wide variety of activities um not only for visitors but also for residents and employees of downtown and so with that I'm happy to take any questions mayor mayor go ahead uh represent short mine thank you very much um thank you so much uh Miss Triggs for for this uh wonderful presentation um and thank you again to uh to the group as well um for investing in El Paso and continuing to invest in our downtown um you know if we we look back at at this this is not not just something that just happened out of the blue out of someone's Goodwill this is a continuation of the momentum and progress that the city has seen over the last 15 years and certainly really over the last five to seven years um you know when I first came into office the only down you know there was a three downtown hotels Double Tree Garder doto if you want to count that and the uh I guess the holiday end that's right there off of the interstate um we have seen since that time the Hotel Indigo open up the aoft hotel with the Basset Tower which is another um historic preservation project the uh Plaza Hotel the pasoon Norte hotel brand new marot Courtyard hotel we now have 10 hotels that are along the Uptown downtown street car Corridor um and this kind of destination is one that complements so much of what we're already doing with our strategic plan and what we're doing in executing with our vision Heritage tourism as long as as well as Eco tourism is a major Focus focus of our City's strategic plan we are um putting those words into action today by supporting this project um you know and you're 100% right again when we started this project when we started looking at getting that clawing back that state tax for um Convention Center hotels it was something that we talked about doing but the results are there you know we have our Flagship Marriott uh autograph Paso Norte hotel we have beautiful Plaza Hotel um probably one of tro uh most um exciting of designs um and have we seen conventions happen well we all been dealing with a pandemic over the last few years but we have the a the Texas AIA convention coming with over 3,000 Architects and planners in October of this year that are literally utilizing all of our downtown as a campus for their convention all the hotels will be used as well as other spaces San Hino Plaza the street car as well um we also in 2024 during a presidential year are going to have the Texas democratic convention with over 10,000 people there so all of these Investments that we have made in our community from the public and private sector are paying true dividends and we're seeing the results here today I do have one question though for the uh for the the the investors that are right here um one thing that I have heard a lot about I don't know if they want to come up just for a second good morning sir good good morning how are you all good how are you doing good another exciting day for El Paso for you mind not introducing yourself sorry uh my name is William Kell I'm with Franklin Mountain Investments Mr Kell this is uh another exciting day not just for our present and our future but for pas of El Paso coming alive as well so thank you for you um and your group um for making sure that this happened Mr Foster as well well one thing that we have heard about with the crest um from folks that are just a little bit older than me um are when they used to go to the crest when they were kids and with their families and one thing they talk about was the drugstore and the counters and that kind of atmosphere can you just let the the council and the public know a little bit about some of your thoughts about how you're going to activate um one of the most unique um architectural buildings we have in Al Paso sure um we've um hired some of the best firms around the country country to help us Envision and and reimagine uh the crest uh but yet keep it historically uh accurate as best as we can uh we're we're using a company called Revel out of Atlanta Georgia and they specialize in designing food halls all across the country uh not just food halls but City clubs food halls uh high-end um uh sort of venues entertainment venues um they're really creative they're full of great ideas it's been wonderful working with them um and they've helped Inspire us and on a lot of different things we're also working with um Cooper Cary an inter International Architecture Firm out of Atlanta Georgia as well they're they're the uh Architects that worked on The Plaza Hotel uh and they do wonderful work and so we're working with both of those firms and uh with respect to the soda fountain which is really what I think you were asking about uh uh Paul is very excited about keeping the soda fountain uh everybody in town talks about the soda fountain and the memories that they have from that and so we're we're going to do our best uh to uh bring back the character and the the liveliness that went along with the soda fountain sort of fun the fun element that went along with that uh there's some wonderful historic pictures of it on the Windows of the crest right now uh there are some challenges it's a it's a uh everything has to be approved by the state historic commission and the way it was designed and configured and so on and so forth in the past doesn't really work with today's standards and so some things have to change but the basic idea and and the concept of the soda fountain will be there and I think everybody will love it I think it'll be a lot of fun yeah yeah and I think you know the the kind of concept y'all are talking about I think is one that's going to be really great and very much well received one of the things that I love about going to downtown right now and seeing it is that there's all different kinds of generations of folks that are there you have people that are having dinner you know outside at at Anson 11 you have kids kids and teenagers that are riding around San jino Plaza um on the scooters um a food haul like this that I think will have a variety of price points a variety of of options is something that is so on point with what we see here and the fact of taking the old with the new I think is something that we've already seen around our our San jinto Plaza we see it literally with San jinto Plaza as well keeping the laros um by Lis men is in the in the middle but also having a more contemporary Plaza still seeing through the plaza Roots so just want want to say um thank you again um to you to Mr Foster to your entire team for um continuing to vest in El Paso and uh what a great great day this is for our past president and future thank uh thank you uh representative Schwartz fine and mayor Lisa and everybody on on Council thank you all very much for your support on this project uh Paul Mr Foster is uh out of town today and couldn't be here uh but he's very much aware of everything that's going on here today and is very appreciative of your your support for what we believe is going to be a wonderful project as well thank you and and I think it's important you know we talk about downtown but I think it's important that investments in downtown really helps the whole community and it helps the whole city and as you see the city continue to grow you know in every district and in every area that uh you know you have a focal point which is downtown and and it's really important to continue to develop but it really helps develop the whole city and it energizes our whole community and that's I think that something that's important as we continue to invest in our city uh we couldn't agree more with you and and we uh uh we love the energy that downtown has not just for entertainment uh in the evenings and whatnot but but the business energy that's beginning to develop uh where you have the largest concentration of professionals throughout the city and collaboration and Synergy and Imagination and ideas taking place all the time in the in the on the streets at the restaurants in all the little nooks and crannies of downtown so we're super excited about all of that yes sir thank you for that thank you all representative rundes followed by represent Salo thank you mayor um I share a lot of the sentiments as mayor proam Schwarz fine thank you for that recap um similarly to to what you had mentioned your time in Council um I spent almost every summer in downtown um when I was young when my mother worked in downtown she worked in downtown for over 25 years and so every summer we had an opportunity to to visit all of the shopping centers and historic buildings and the crest building was one of them um that that I had a great admiration for and so I really what I just want to mention today Mr Kell and and to the Franklin uh management Investment Group um is to thank you for uh your uh belief and for your commitment to downtown Al Paso and the City of Al Paso and for the philanthropy and the investment that Mr Foster has made for our community I cann't be prouder to support this item today um it is critical that the city supports these Economic Development agreements because but for that uh investment that you all are making in the crest building we would not be able to achieve a lot of those sales taxes and and taxes property taxes so thank you and and we welcome that in the future um and and please consider uh more collaboration with the city of El Paso um when you look at Future projects thank you Mr kale for being here today thank you very much thank you representative nundes and uh you didn't see anybody thank you for your comments thank you representative Salo thank you mayor uh I just wanted to say that this project is going to be a great addition to downtown uh as well as my colleagues I shared a lot of memories in in the crest building I used to we used to go get on the bus and the Highlight was McDonald's Crest and then the pl so truly love it really brings me a lot of memory so I'm going to be happy to go support it and uh you know you're probably going to bring a lot of memories back to me so that's going to be great and um more importantly as a small business business owner and in a person from op Paso I think it's important for the public sector and and I want to thank Mr Foster for those Investments that he's doing it in our community um and you know to have that vision and to execute it you know with their own dollars and so I think that that's great um it also adds uh jobs and it it stimulates us econom our economics so I just wanted to say thank you so much for the investment and I am excited waiting for this to come to life thank you thank you r representative Rodriguez followed by representative mulad thank you I too am very excited um as you all might be shocked to know that I have a deep admiration for historic preservation and architecture so this is beyond exciting for me thank you all for your investment you know you have my support any type of historic preservation um project you have my support 100% um I want to share that growing up my great-grandmother actually when she was growing up she used to live in htis and there was no air conditioning where she lived so she would cross the bridge every day every morning and she would hang out at the crest building all day long at the stores um to to be able to enjoy the air conditioner because there wasn't anywhere she used to live so that was just a little story I wanted to share with you on these are the types of memories that you all are bringing back to life so thank you once again thank you representative Rodriguez representative molard thank you very much mayor and M Trigg thank you very much for great presentation everything you do for us and to uh the people from uh Mr Paul Foster's group thank you very much uh we're going down memory lane this morning and I would be remissed if I didn't remember my mother my the late Anita molinar and so there was times where the crest just that word that's all you had to say that meant you got dressed up you went on the bus and you went downtown or you they' say but even if went to the Placita you went downtown to the CEST to eat that cheeseburger to get the cider fries get unlimited ketchup whatever and you would be followed by an ice cream sundae or ice cream soda or something like that it was a joy an absolute adventure and of course you know I was the one that had to carry the bags of whatever my mom bought so but it was it was fun so the word c is synonymous with El Paso uh it's just like I said going down memory lane and it's all positive so we thank everyone for their hard work and dedication making this happen I will support it thank you thank you uh representative um Rea thank you mayor I think I think it's pretty well has already been well said by my colleagues here because there are a lot of memories there I just hope you bring back the baskets with the uh big old Butterfingers and polar bear ice and chocolate candy that were Within Reach of a child so those are great uh I I to want to thank you all for your investment and in in not only downtown the whole Paso area that you can uh that that you are present and so uh I just want to Echo what was said earlier please keep investing in our community to make it a better one and a greater one thank you thank you and with that I I do want to mention that um I sold ladyes shoes across the street at Baker shoes for many years and uh a lot of yall probably don't remember that and uh we would walk across the street and have you know dollar breakfast almost every day and uh and sit there and and eat the MCC tacos so it uh I'm looking forward to um hopefully you'll keep that in there and um we'll be able to go from here over there but uh you know I think there isn't anybody in Al Paso or any family that you could talk to that do have memories of you know the iconic building the things that happened in downtown so it's always important to preserve your history and um you know as they were talking about it um I remembered going out over there and and um we would get a flour tortilla beans a hot dog and mustard so that was the breakfast every morning we had so um it um so again it um it brings a lot of memories but I think not just the counsil to the whole community and I think you could spend the rest of the day talking to just anybody you want to talk to and they'll have memories of El Paso downtown so when again when we invest in our community we invest in downtown we invest in Olive Al Paso and we invest and widen the memories that will you know live on forever so thank you for that M Trigg that's all I have so have a motion in a second yes mayor the motion was made by mayor protim schine seconded by representative anelo to approve on that motion call for the vote representative Hernandez you're on mute yes thank you representative Lara I thank you and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously you have a motion to reset forve second there's a motion in a second to re recess the city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed and the meeting is in recess at 1039 a.m. for a press conference if I could get all of council to go up to the main room please thank you they spe that's what I feel no that's it yeah just just helping set up okay okay I think we're ready Miss Elizabeth m is hot yes yes good morning um my name is Elizabeth Triggs and I have the honor of being the economic and international development director for the city of El Paso thank you all for being here we're very very excited to announce um a new public private partnership um that will result in the Redevelopment and Rehabilitation of the crest building um an iconic and historic building located at the center of our Historic downtown um today city council took action to approve a chapter 380 Economic Development agreement um and to contribute and invest in the project a little uh less than $2.1 million um primarily in the form of property tax rebates and sales and use tax rebates over a 20-year period um this is really a true partnership uh the property own owner in Franklin Mountain Investments has committed to a minimum $18.4 million investment in the project um so we're very very excited uh we're excited to continue working with the property owner as well as the county to bring this into fruition um the county recently I think you all know approved a term sheet um to also contribute to the project in the form of a property tax rebate um of about four $415,000 so with that um I'm happy to turn it over to Mayor Oscar liser um to talk a little bit more about the project again before before I I talk about the investment the crest building and all the memories I do want to thank U Elizabeth trig Mr Gonzalez you know Economic Development you know you have to have a vision for the future and I think that uh and when you want to work for the city of El Paso and you want to move the city forward it's really important and I want to thank you and your team Mr Gonzalez and your team because it's it's important that we recognize that people that move this forward we we got the opportunity to raise our hand and say I but it really there was a lot of hard work long before we did this the investment make sure that it was the right thing for our community so it wasn't as simple as you see today that we we get to talk about the great things the memories that we see in a building like the crest building and and the in the Investments and and U you know Mr Foster Mr uh Kell that uh they have the vision but they also want to work with the city so there's a lot of work goes on before it even gets to here I would say m Tri how many months did you work on this month months very a lot sir how many months did you work on this years years so that's what I'm saying so you you get to see the end of a lot of hard work and a lot of vision that moves forward into items like this but you know I was talking about the memories and everybody here at Council whether it was themselves or their grandmother their mother you know memories of downtown memories of the crest building I think we could go talk to thousands hundreds of thousands of Al pasoans and they all have a similar story or a story about downtown a story about when they were young and um fortunately I guess mine was uh my story it wasn't from my grandmother or anything else but it uh you know I work in downtown El Paso selling ladyes shoes at Baker shoes back in 1978 and being able to walk across the street and have breakfast every morning and Miss hir did correct me and and I want to stand corrected that uh I would have a a uh it was a burrito every morning and the burrito was a flower tortilla with folas with um a hot dog with cheese and a lot of mustard and uh and I can guarantee you there's thousands of people that remember having that and uh you know the mccor tacos which are were very well known within our community so we look forward to to continuing to build the tradition but again one of the things that I mentioned and I'll continue to mention investments in downtown El Paso are investments in El Paso and it really helps the whole community and as we talk about whether it's hotels coming up in El Paso there's hotels all over the community to be able to support what's going on in downtown El Paso we don't want to lose our history we don't want to lose the things that really have made help Pas what it is today so uh I'm very thankful that for your vision I'm thankful that uh we'll continue to live the memories that are in a lot of Al pasoans and the memories that will continue you know a lot of things we can pass the memories along but I think by reopening the crest building and recreating we'll be able to have our own memories and our kids and our grandkids will have their own memories in downtown El Paso and and in that building so again thank you for the investment in our community cuz I think it's important that it's it's downtown but it's really our whole community that prospers from it and it gives us the ability as you see the economy continue to grow it grows all over El Paso so thank you again and I'm very um thankful that uh for the people that have the vision to move forward and um and it's a great opportunity for the city to partner you know we talk about public uh private Public Partnerships and this is if you look up this would be probably one of the most perfect examples of what a public part uh private partnership would be so again um I want to thank the city and Mr Gonzalez and M trig and again our partner again we talk about Partners you know the county the county has to be a part of this the county has to you know continue to grow with the city and I know by the great leadership of uh the County judge and the County Commissioners and Mr Scout thank thank you for joining us up here that uh they also vote on continuing to keep the memories and continue to invest in El Paso so as uh we've always said and and we said it as as the the County judge and I continue to talk about many things within our community that working together and working United and working with one Bo will get a lot more accomplished than not doing that and I think this is another perfect example of that being true today so thank you all for your Investments your partnership and uh look and for wanting to see our community grow and look forward to continuing to work with everyone thank you and God bless everyone and I'd like to invite County uh judge Sano to speak next thank you mayor and uh I think one of the things that we being recognized just amazing what a what a great day but a great day to prove how collaboration really makes so much sense uh uh William and Kell and Yolanda and your team uh City Representatives our commissioners I've got commissioner stout here today as well the media that does a great job of of getting people to know what's happening uh but there's you know this is part of a puzzle that I think is more complex and that that people might not think about you know when we try to get people to come here and businesses to come to El Paso they talk about our people and how great our people are and you know how they the the work ethic and everything else that makes El Paso you know we're very proud of what they do uh but sometimes we don't understand why how do we keep this going forward and and by being able to connect our Young Generation with our generations and everything that happened and all the memories you know my two sisters worked at Crest my dad worked 45 years at the popular uh we all have these great memories but we have these memories that we need to pass on to other Generations so that we can continue to be recognized as this family oriented Community uh there's also another piece that's very important and that is that we talk about region uh Regional and we talk about the community uh we're very blessed that by us doing this and having these kinds of opportunities and and places to go as we also connect with places from Alpine to Marfa to all over you know around us that would love to come here including hes including Chihuahua and so this this uh site that sort of brings us together the the hotels are bringing us together uh but this is a very special one special because I heard all the memories from all the representatives of how important it is for us to connect once again so uh I'm very proud Commissioners voted uh to support this I'm very proud that Commissioners have supported Economic Development and I can tell you it'll go a long ways for us also we're trying to do some things out of in the rural areas uh and we need to connect with the entire County so once again a great day for El Paso a great day to show our collaboration and and I thank uh the city to always consider us as one of their Partners thank you very much and now I'd like to ask Mr William Kell the Chief Operating Officer of Franklin Mountain Investments to come and speak a little bit more about the project and the vision thank you Elizabeth my name is William Kell Chief Operating Officer Franklin Mountain Investments which is Mr Paul Foster's company and he was not able to be here today he is out of town uh but he is the grand Visionary behind uh this project as well as some of the other projects that have occurred downtown and I personally am very appreciative to to him and of him for all that he's done for the city of El Paso and I think a lot of people feel the same way uh this uh this particular project was uh uh something that we started several years ago with uh the thinking about what what else needed to be downtown and then acquiring the crest building out of bankruptcy um and that was a an excellent move to save that building because I'm not sure what its Destiny would have been uh otherwise it was in terrible terrible shape and uh we've done a little bit of cleaning up on the inside but uh the real work is about uh to begin uh there are many Crest buildings around the country there used to be I think hundreds uh there's less than that now some have been torn down uh many of them are beautiful works of architecture uh the crest company had an internal architect Edward seart was was his name who was well known for uh doing some very iconic architecture at their Crest doors but the El Paso Crest door is one of the nicest ones one of the best ones it's got wonderful architecture a fusion of uh Mayan and Mish architecture along with some other U uh elements including art Deco elements and if you really go and look at the building and study the architecture and begin to look at all the details um you you start to get amazed at how much uh how much is going on there um and so we hope to to refresh that bring it back to life um and then on the uh most of our work is going to be on the interior the exterior is going to remain pretty much the way you you see it now except it'll be cleaned up and freshened up and anything that's dilapidated will be replaced and and and repaired um but um the interior is is going to be totally new and just absolutely stunning and beautiful uh on all all three levels and uh it's going to be exciting we'll uh we'll release more details about that as we get a little further along in the project including renderings and uh things of that of that nature it's a little bit early right now we don't we don't have a lot of of that to uh to show you at this point in time um and maybe we can bring the the weeny burritos back to the to the to the to the rest restaurant there we are bringing back the soda fountain that a lot of people uh remember it's a very iconic thing that everybody seems to talk about um it's uh it might be a little bit different than the original one uh but it we are planning on bringing that back and and I think that'll be a lot of fun the whole venue I think will be a lot of fun it's it's intended to be fun that was the vision that Paul and his wife Alejandra and his daughter Cassie uh really had in mind when they were thinking about this project they wanted it to be fun and exciting and something that we don't have in El Paso um food halls as as I think many of you know have become very popular all around the world and and more recently around the country and we don't really have one um here we have food courts uh but the food Hall is a little bit different um and so this is going to be really fun and exciting I think it will uh bring even more people downtown um uh after hours for for fun and entertainment but even during the daytime it helps with as as a couple of the speakers here have not it it helps with uh tourism and economic development because it it attracts people to the city it gives them a reason to stay an extra day in one of our hotels uh and spend time looking around and just have a little bit little bit more fun and take home some great memories and tell people that they know about what a fun time they had in El Paso and then those people come and so on and so forth so you get a Snowball Effect uh that really um uh picks up speed and and and is really super fabulous um I want to mention that uh we really very much appreciate the uh support of the city and the county um and all of the teams involved in that Elizabeth Triggs team in particular who we worked with very closely uh to these these projects putting these uh projects together is not a simple thing there's there's a lot of complexities uh it's actually quite a bit of work and it's very difficult uh and a lot of obstacles to overcome uh but we uh all of us worked together as teams to overcome all those obstacles and and get to where we are today and still there remains a lot a lot to be done uh the building will be listed in the National Historic in in the National register of historic places that paperwork has already been submitted and the uh preliminary approvals have already uh been received we're just waiting for the final final approval and that'll give us the ability to then uh apply for federal and state historic tax credits these these historic renovations take a village as they say uh to to get done U because they're complicated and costly and so you need as many parts and pieces and help and support as you can along the way to make these projects come come to fruition um I'd like to introduce Yolanda hin she is our uh general counsel for the company and she was uh intimately involved in uh helping put together the documents for this document so you'll end if you'd like to make a couple of comments pleas thank you William um hello everybody I think I think it's good afternoon I first want to start by saying that I'm just honored to be able to work with uh Mr Foster Cassie and Alejandra and to be alongside William to carry out the vision that the Foster family has for El Paso um I think you all been downtown and you've seen the energy and the changes that are happening downtown the Renaissance is real it's just beginning there's a lot to go but we have done an amazing thing and thanks to people like Mr Foster I specifically want to thank Mr Gonzalez and Miss Triggs because I call them all the time let's be honest I text them all the time and they always respond they have really been a team with us to be able to bring this project The Plaza Hotel all the projects that we've worked on forward um the real work begins now we've had two years of a lot of uh things happening but now we get down to business and we start making this Vision come true I think you'll all be proud of what you see I think the mayor County Judge all the council members and the Commissioners thank you for your continued commitment in this wonderful Community we're only getting better in El Paso and I hope to see you all downtown at the many activities we now have and will continue to have thank you and then finally I'd just like to ask our city manager uh Tommy Gonzalez to come up and and wrap up for us thank you Elizabeth this Crest development initiative is yet one more example and emblematic of the council's commitment to Historic preservation this is one of six projects that has had the private sector invest over $200 million the city has invested over 75 million so obviously it takes the private sector willing to invest but the public sector not only the city but the county has to participate in order to make these kinds of projects occur we did take advantage of some State rebates that were available through what we did with the Plaza Hotel and the and the pasel Del Norte and again the private sector stepped up it was over $50 million in incentive that we were able to get from the state that's a great way of leveraging not only local incentives but State incentives so obviously the state delegation was very instrumental in making that happen the council the working with the city and working with the county and these private sector entities are what make these things happen these kinds of projects occur for the community we have other projects we're working on uh that we are uh discussing with some with the people that are in this room and some with others we have the Texas Tower the doota hotel that's still on on the uh on the map for future work for the city council we also have uh the Union Depot facility that the council uh the mayor that this community is probably going to support in terms of making renovations to that so again the council's very committed to these historic preservation projects um they they show that commitment through their votes and through their strong financial uh incentives that again make these projects happen so thank you all for all coming today Elizabeth I'll turn it back over to [Applause] you and thank you all again for being here we're happy all of us to stay around for one-on ones if you have any questions to follow up so thank [Applause] you e e e e Council if you can return to the deis we can resume with the meeting there's a motion to reconvene is there a sec thank you there's a motion and a second to reconvene the regular city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed the meeting is back in session at 1109 a.m. and we're on page number 9 to item number 2 7 Miss PR can I ask you a question uh who signed up to speak on item 26 I mean 46 on item 46 we have three people signed up to speak which is Mr picket Miss Caron and I have a letter to read into the record by Miss okay I see both Mr picket Miss Kion here and then you have the letter so if representative Rodriguez would like to make her motion again can we um can we move forward with item 24 since the children's just hold on one second please if you don't mind after we've moved up a lot of items so if you would like to do that after item 24 24 the council can take action on it um yeah yeah I'd like to move up item 46 after 24 only because um it's an item that you know we've been working on for a really long time and I know that people that that were that have signed up to speak are here um so just add of respect for them so we don't have to be here till the end of the meeting I'd like to move item 46 to after it item 24 that's a motion there's a motion and a second to move item number 46 after item 24 all in favor yes anyone opposed and the motion passes mayor the next item is number 27 this was moved before item 23 and this is a budget update and a presentation by the El Paso Central Appraisal District good May and Council um it if you'll please bring up the presentation for the Central Appraisal District my name is Nicole Cody I'm the director of management and budget and today we'll have U Miss Dina Kilgore and David Stone are here to present on um property valuations as requested by Council thank you thank you good morning mayor and Council thank you for having us uh this is a busy time for us trying to get you guys your preliminary role so you can start working on your budget so we won't take up too much of your time um Miss uh coat had a couple of questions that she wanted us to address with the council again my name is Diana Kilgore I am the executive director of the El Paso Central Appraisal District here in El Paso Texas is David Stone he is the assistant uh Chief Appraiser for the appraisal district here in El Paso County so let's start with what is mass appraisal um we have sent out a gazillion notices uh we'll be sending out some more uh totally probably about 430,000 notices are going to be going out this year about a little bit more than last year we're doing a total appraisal and why are we reappraising because the market is changing we reappraised last year we'll reappraise this year and probably again next year Market is going up and as the market goes up by state law property tax code we must follow the market we must be at 100% of market value we're not allowed to incrementally raise values uh we're not allowed to ignore values we do not do fee appraisals we do Mass appraisal what Mass appraisal is is we are appraising or valuing a group of properties a universe of properties using models statistics um using us common standards uh of methodology to come up with an average foreign area we will look at all of that information we will analyze it we will test it and we will come up with average values for specific areas and qualities of houses quantities of houses different types of houses We Gather all of that data again every year um and when we do we're going to review it and test it just like we would anything else now what is an advantage of mass appraisal if we were to do individual fee appraisals on every single residential house here in El Paso County there's about 230,000 of those let's say on the cheap end it was $300 it's more than that now for an appraisal it would cost close to $70 million and would take decades so stay state legislators and uh throughout not just Texas but throughout the country and different states have adopted Mass appraisal Mass appraisal is part of the uniform standards of professional appraisal practices that we must follow so we are allowed to look at Mass appraisal and adjust values accordingly depending on uh what we see in area now that's why it's very important for people to protest because we will not know that they have avocado appliances in Chad carpet we will not know that they have found damage because we're looking at their neighborhood as a whole so that's why it's very important and why we want people to protest now there's some disadvantages of mass appraisal property owners are not required to provide sales or income information state of Texas is a non-disclosure State Property Owners do not have to tell us Texans are really funny they do not want to tell anybody anything about their private business so we do not get sales information we're not part of the multiple listing service that Realtors have um so trying to get that individual information it's during the protest season that we we see that so people say well how can you repa if you don't get that information we do a lot of due diligence we look at Deeds we look at promisory notes we talk to Financial institutes we talk to Brokers mortgage companies Realtors to find out what's going on in the market of real estate here in El Paso County now not only that but media media has been very active why because the market has been very active we've been able to see homes selling overnight bidding wars going on people paying a lot more than what the appraisals come in at so we have been very good with our our ear to the Grind uh ear to the ground to make sure we hear what's going on and to research all of that information we've got an annual tax calendar it's a little misleading because it starts with January and it talks about the appraisal pH phase of appraisal districts our phase of appraisal actually begins during the protest season when we're Gathering data from the property owners as they come in and they submit their individual information our field work begins in July and August when we're out there picking up new permits picking up new construction doing rechecks on property looking at new subdivision checking agriculture what was agriculture may not be May been sold to a developer all of that has to be done so that actually starts several months before your January 1 date then of course we send out the notices in April and that starts our protest season our protest season goes from April May June July and probably into August this year now that does not mean that's the only time to protest that's the only time to timely file a protest any other time of the year a property owner can file what they call a late protest but it's very restrictive on who qualifies for that so this is the time for property owners and at this point I'm going to remind everybody May 16th is the deadline to file a timely protest or 30 days from the date of your notice so if you don't receive a notice till the end of this month you have 30 days which will take you past to May 16th and that's fine say you missed your deadline up until the time the appraisal review board that's a board of citizens made up just like just like you guys um they're made up of citizens appointed by the local administrative judge to sit on quasi judicial hearings to hear taxpayer versus the appraisal district the chairman of that board can allow for a protest up until the point of July 20th when they have to turn the records back over to the appraisal district there has to be cause so what would constitute good cause to be able to say I didn't file on the 16th when it was due being in the hospital a death in the family something that created an issue beyond your control luckily we don't have that issue here but say a tornado hurricanes things like that so that does happen and then they have the assessment phase which is when you guys come in and actually start having your rate hearings your tax rate hearings and start talking to the public about what your rate should be and setting your rates then the bills go out in October and that's our collection time not ours but the Consolidated tax office again let me remind everybody out there the appraisal district has nothing to do with taxes we set the values we apply exemptions we we have a set of maps that are used throughout the county by all different types of of government entities and individuals the only thing we do not do in this whole process is set the rates send the bills and collect the taxes so let's go in and look at the city of Val houseo numbers this year it's a little hard to read uh on this but overall your estimated numbers now your preliminary role will go out the end of this month the end of this week actually and that will give you your preliminary numbers then we have all the hearings and then you'll get your certified final values on uh the 25th of July now I say final values it'll be final values up to that date but that number continues to change as as further protests are being heard because only 95% of the protest will be heard by that date so as protests are heard or as people file for exemptions that they're entitled to that number will continue to go down all year long because people can file for exemptions in the middle of the year they can file for late exemptions I didn't file for my Homestead last year can I still file yes you can you can file for 2 years back so that will change your role right now we're talking about a taxable value for 2022 of about $46 billion add almost 12 billion on top of that that's actually your assessed values but you've got about 12 billion in exemptions that are being applied uh here in the city of Al Paso those are your homesteads your overse 65 you're disabled you're disabled veterans that qualify so those exemptions are applied we've got some numbers now talking about taxable values I'm going to turn it over to David Stone and let him go over the numbers with you how are youing they do it okay all right uh Council um these are some graphs showing the increase in various property categories um from comparing 2021 to 2022 these are the final 2021 values as of right now but as Diana said these numbers constantly change especially due to lawsuits um as you can see overall the city's 2021 values about $ 39.5 billion we're going up to $46 billion this year that's overall as far as residential property for 2021 you at $23 billion we're going up to $27 billion so that's a $4 billion increase just in residential property for commercial property um we're going from just under 8 billion up to 9 billion now another aspect of this graph that's kind of hard to pick out is we're comparing new construction um we're going up uh over $6 billion in total value but the new construction only accounted for half a billion of that so all most of this increase is coming from appreciation on existing properties it's not coming from new development or new construction as you can see on all all three of these categories the new construction is actually pretty minuscule compared to the overall value uh on the next slide we're showing these are the percentage increases overall we're looking at about a 16.33% increase of that 1.29% was new construction on Residential Properties we're looking at a 17.28% increase about 1.07% of that is new construction on Commercial properties we're looking at a 14.74% increase and about one in a half% of that is new construction some additional um category values um we've got multif family which includes apartments and duplexes triplexes quad plexes um they're increasing almost a billion dollars this year and 10 million of that was new construction um business personal property um is going up about 100 U million but these business personal property values are not really finalized for 2022 because the property owner ERS had until April 16th to file their Renditions on their business personal property so we'll still we're still processing those so the business pro personal property values are are in flux and all other um property categories is going up about $200 million with about $113 million of that is new construction the percentages on these um multif family um are going up 41.3 5% um the new construction was less than half a perc the business personal property has gone up 6% so far about half a percent of that is new construction and all other properties went up about 5.73% and 3.42% of that was new construction this next uh um slide is a map of the what we call the Market areas of El Paso County um relevant to the city um A and B are on the West Side uh C is the Northeast D is Central and E and F are the east side if you look at the next slide this this side is showing what the level of appraisal was before we reappraised for 22 so these are based on the January 1st 2021 values and compared to all the sales that we picked up in the year of 2021 after the January 1st date so as you can see on the west side we were at 77% of market value in the Northeast we were at 85% of market value in the central area we are at 69% of market value value and on the east side we were at 79% of market value so as you can see we are well below market value we had a large increase last year and we need another large increase this year to remain at market value um some people say well why do you care if we're at market value well number one it's required by state law but probably even more importantly is the school districts we get a Ed by the com Controllers Office of the State of Texas every two years if we're not at at least 95% of market value the school districts can get penalized on any state aid that they receive so it's very important for us to be at 100 as close to 100% as we can get so that the the school districts can be assured of receiving the maximum amount of state aid to which they're entitled okay David brought up some good points that I would like to remind the board on um we are mandated by state law to be at market value as of January 1 we need to be within 95% to be what they call confidence level if appraisal district is not at that point then a study is done and we're put in a grace period which then again we have to meet Market the following year we have to me it every year if we do not bring it back up then the state starts penalizing school districts by changing their funding formulas so it's very very important to the school districts and taxing entities that we be at uh market value okay another thing I'd like to remind everybody is when we talk about protesting and filing a protest and we're talking about the the deadlines and and what to bring in let me remind everybody that single family homesteaded properties it is your homestead it is your your primary residence cannot go up more than 10% in the number in which the tax rate is applied to the market value of that property can go up as high as the market is but the property owner is only going to pay 10% higher than what they paid the year before and that was set by state state legislation that is only on homesteaded property so we try to remind everybody if that your home then that you can Homestead that file your homestead don't pay somebody to file it for you if you can't come to the office give us a call we'll work with you our Farms are online and we can do that for you when we're talking about the market as everybody knows supply and demand there is a nice strong healthy demand for homes there's a very low supply of homes here we're less than a months worth I think at one point this past year uh we were less than a day's worth of supply of homes here in El Paso County so with that Demand Being uh very healthy and very high and Supply being low why is supply low well there's not a lot of materials so trying to build a home Workforce trying to have the workforce to build the homes so there's a lot of factors that we've had to look into so let's look at the deadline or the protest we want to tell everybody there's many ways in which you can file a protest uh when we sent the notices there is information there is a a protest there a notice of protest that you can fill out out and mail in you can bring it in and we'll help you fill it out we're not going to tell you what value it should be because you have your own ideas but you can f you can bring it in will help you fill it out you can now do a digital uh notice of protest you have a a QR code on your notice and in the instructions you can scan that with your phone or your handheld device and then it will pop up and some of the for some of the little uh areas will be filled in with the information and then you just fill in the other boxes hit send and it's digitally filed there's also called an e file there is instructions in your notice of value that tells you how to file an e file the only thing that's required by state law is a formal hearing with the appraisal review board again those are citizenry made up and appointed by made up of the county um the only restriction is no delinquent taxes and you had to be here for 2 years oh and you can't be related to anybody on the appraisal district um so uh the judge local administrative judge appoints those folks that is your formal Hearing in formally you can come in once you get your appointment letter any time to talk to an appraiser up until your formal date an e file is considered your informal hearing you do not come in to see an appraiser it was set up for people to be able to go on the E file look at the evidence we'll give them an offer if you don't like the offer then just don't sign But be sure and be there for your formal hearing so there are some multiple ways in which you can file a protest and which you can come in there's also other remedies once you come in and you file your protest you disagree with the appraiser you go to the appraiser review board you disagree with appraisal review board you can then also have arbitration or you can go to district court and both of those cost and arbitrators are appointed by the the uh com controller's office to look at the evidence and come up with what they feel like is the correct value if you go through arbitration that is what you end up with we don't want anybody have to do that we don't want anybody have to pay money so come and talk to us bring us in your information if there's something wrong with your your properties we're not going to know about it again Mass appraisal uh we do go out we look at permits we look at sales activity um some areas of the county will be boots on the ground and we will look at every single property we divide the county up I want you to tell you there's over 430 ,000 Parcels there's over a th000 square miles and I have the same number of staff that I've had for decades so we use a lot of electronic means to help us to look at all the properties there is part of the the statutes and the tax code that we must look at every property at least once every 3 years and take a measurement of that property so it's a lot of work to do but again we miss things we're human uh we make mistakes I know everybody thinks we're we're you know these wonderful people who never make mistake um I would like to say we are but we're not and so we want people to come in and tell us now there's some new legislation that's coming up for vote on May 7th that I wanted to bring up to the to the uh council members so that you can remind your constituents to vote one of them has to do with upping the amount of a homestead that is granted by a school district on a piece property this is your regular Homestead this isn't the over 65 or disabled right now anybody who owns their home lives in it uh gets a $25,000 value reduction off of the value and then the tax rate is applied to that in this legislation they're looking at raising it to 40,000 okay so the notices that people got were not showing that 40,000 they're only showing the 25 but if that 40,000 is passed by the voters on on May 7th then of course that will be what the bill will be based off of there's also another constitutional election having to do with pressing tax freezes to reflect the reduction in the school district's maintenance and operation now that is that's their rate and that is for people who are over 65 and have that exemption or who are disabled and have that exemption so that being said I think we're pretty much at the end I believe we answered all the questions that uh Miss Nicole coat sent us that we needed to address does council have any questions for myself or Mr Stone yeah we have a couple council members signed up I do have question you talk about a 10% Homestead so your taxes do not go up more than 10% that particular year but they'll continue to go up 10% a year till you meet do you meet the market oh the market I just want to make sure that that people understand that the 10% is only for this year and then next year could be another additional 10% if you don't reach the appraised value or the the value that you have set on their home correct we set a market value and then we set an appraise value market value is whatever the market is and if it continues to go up you know 15 16% you will go up 10% every year if that market value Stables or starts to come down then your assessed value the value that they apply the tax rate to will meet that market so one year you may only have a a 5% increase because you're getting closer to that that market and then at some point you'll be equal with I just want to make sure that people knew that just cuz you get 10% this year didn't mean you're not going to get next year correct thank you mayor and also you're say said you didn't set the taxes correct can you explain that a little bit um the appraisal district does not set the tax rates the different taxing entities set the tax rate the schools the cities uh the County Community College hospitals your your special services district and how they set that rate is what they do not what we do but it is based on what expenses the city has or What expenses the county has what services does the community need that the schools or the city or counties need to meet and so that's what they look at during that assessment time period when when the cities and the counties and the other districts are looking at What expenses do they have and what Revenue are they going to need to meet those uh expenses the tax rate is set based on as the values go up the tax rate should come down to generate the same amount of Revenue is the year before and then you apply the new construction well as you notice on the number that David Stone was talking about we had a very small amount of new construction this year which is which is rarely rare we are hoping to see more uh more uptick in the permits so um I do not envy the taxing entities this year on when they get into the rate hearings appraisal district has nothing to do with that do you have and I know we the City sheriff said quite often the percentage of the dollar that's split between all tax and entities no sir we do not have that okay since we don't have anything to do with the tax rates we don't we don't keep that information okay thank you with that mayor proam followed by representative Salo representative Retta thank you mayor um and thank you for all the hard work you do on behalf of our community um are you able to bring up the slide that shows the different Market areas by any chance um I'm not controlling it somebody else is oh there we go um so how how are these oh that's that's the how how are these Market areas decided they're decided by school districts basically they came from the MLS um divisions of El Paso at the time we originally created them the multiple listing service had divided the city up into these areas and we just used the same boundaries that they were using and for outside of the city liit we basically go by School District when when was when was that that that map um originally probably back in 2008 or something like that 2008 or the 80s or something yes how would that be how would that be updated or are you guys looking at updating that the the map since we look at neighborhoods um more than Market areas we we'll look at each neighborhood um so it it it really doesn't affect it's a way of us being able to tell you what's going on in a certain part of town but that's not how we appra we do appraise by the neighborhoods in everywhere throughout the county so um but it is a way for us to be able to give you some idea has it ever been updated before um no not since we've had it okay because I'm just looking at it seems it seems like some of them kind of Bunch Bunch groups and parts of our city together that are that are not really again it doesn't have anything to with it doesn't have anything to do with the way we appraised because we appraise every part of the County uhhuh every year and we look at sales in every part of the county and every part of the district so um it's not how we appraise but it is a way for us to be able to give people they wanted to get a data of what we saw in different parts of of the city and that was the only way we could do that can you go to the next Slide by any chance oops sorry so this is this is the 21 values so D actually has a lower valuation but it still went up overall e no what that's showing is that appraised values in the EF region we at 79% of what the sales were so if we compare every property that sold the appraised value divided by the sales price it's 79% the median what these numbers show is the Medan of all the sales in that area so the median what what we call appraised appraisal ratio was 79% so that says that for every dollar that the property sold for we were only appraising it at 79% so like d for example actually has a lower the lowest appraisal ratio yeah that that was the the lowest the lowest ratio and and this is based on numbers after all of the hearings um so when we go by the January 1 numbers the numbers in January 1 of 2021 were based on after the hearings before we started making adjustments in 2022 we needed to look at where we ended up at the end of the year after the protests um after the bills had gone out after more exemptions had been applied to see where we are to where we needed to be to be closer to that 95% of of market value or 100 % of market value for this year 2022 and then maybe you can help the public because you know we have all heard about you know don't raise my taxes property property valuations are through the roof and we tried to tell folks that the city of El Paso number one is only 26% of your overall tax dollar and then number two the city is not on the cad board or does not control the central players old District board so just for edification um purposes can you um just list Who currently sits on the uh Passa Central apprais District board Appraisal District Boards of directors are made up of appointees by the taxing entities within their County so our Board of d uh directors has 10 uh nine people on the board of directors they're made up of two representatives from the city two representatives from El Paso ISD a representative from the county a representative from the Upper Valley uh entities two representatives from the Lower Valley entities and a representative from a sled ISD and do you know who those people are sure okay um let me see caught me off off Bas uh commissioner David Stout is on our board for the county uh for the city we have Miss Jackie York and Mr Tanny Berg for El Paso ISD we have uh Mr Freddy uh Kal aalos and um who's the new one oh and Dr o um for the Upper Valley we just have a a new one U Miss Cynthia Ramirez for the Lower Valley we have U Walter Miller and Ed Mina okay yeah um you know I think it's again we're we're entering into you know our budget season and obviously other entities are as well so even though there's you know this this separation it's still what the work that yall are doing directly impacts um our residents our constituents as well so I think it's important to get this information um here as well so um I do appreciate youall coming here today um answering these questions and um what you do for our community thank you thank you thank you mayor proam hey where did um you made a comment earlier and then just kind of so we understand you said that Texas is a non-disclosure state so you're not disclosing any sales price but you're using comparative sales price to get to the 100% where are you getting that information okay Texas is a non-disclosure state which means the Border Realtors does not give us sales information the property owners do not give us sales information we do send out questionnaires and hope that we get responses from buyers and sellers so where do we get that from multiple sources uh we talk to uh Property Owners when they have a a sale or when they purchase a property to get their information most of that information comes in at the time of protests because they will they will give us their sales contract or they will give us an appraisal that will have comparable sales in there um we do a lot of research through deeds and promiser notes U we have different Publications that we go to red fin is one um co-star there's quite a few different Publications that we go to to look at sales now just because we get the sales we have to verify those sales we have to find out are they Market transactions were they sold but between family members uh and we all know selling between family members can either give you a really low value or a really high value depending on how that family member thinks about you so we have to review those we have to look at foreclosures um so there's a lot of data that we have to go through so there's multiple sources there's not just one source what percentage of homes do you get that that you set your value based on how many people disclose that information to you what percentage of the total number of homes that are TA I couldn't tell you that because it's all part of a process it's not only sales but it's the cost we look at the cost to build the home and the amenities of that home uh when it's businesses we look more at the income because we don't hardly ever no my question is what percentage of homes and sales price do you get based on the price value aice a price number of homes so if you have for 400,000 homes you're appraised how many I know Mr Stone already has the answer he's trying to say it go ahead I'll I'll stop we we have about 6,000 sales and there are about 33,000 um deed transactions during the year so we're probably getting maybe like 20% that's a lot less than 20% we normally get anywhere from 5 to 10% when we send out questionnaires and and we get the sales information yeah I was going to say if you're getting 33 and 6,000 39,000 and you got 400,000 homes well it's 6,000 out of the 33,000 okay so you're it's very small percentage I mean it's so what percent is that Mr Stone you're catching us s less than 5% yes when we when we do get information from folks um uh it's it's volunteer that come in and bring it in when we send out questionnaires for a while there we were getting about 18% okay 18% of the 33 not of the 400,000 homes correct correct so out of the 400,000 homes you value oh it'd be well there's actually only about 230,000 homes 430 includes all properties not just residential includes commercial agricultural business personal property and undeveloped land yeah we get about 2 and a half that's I said 2.4 so was close and only have finger so I came close good so sales return is very minimal uh getting sales information because Texas is a non-disclosure U and and in the tax code a property owner cannot call us and ask for a listing of all of our sales the only time we're allowed by tax code to give out that information is once a property owner has filed a protest then we can only we're only allowed to give them the sales that were utilized in putting together the tables where we valued their prop properties from and sometimes it's hard to find in your area because of the amount you received I've seen that okay so that's when we look at similarities and maybe have to use other sales from other areas and then make adjustments okay and all of this is done under the standard appraisal practices um using cost market and income approaches to Value just like a fee appraiser would do uh but again fee appraiser has more access to data than Mass appraisers thank you for that information yes sir represent thank you mayor and uh thank you so much for the presentation and thank you for the hard work you all do for our community um so I have a couple of questions if you can just for the Public's benefit explain what the mass appraisal process is okay again Mass appraisal is appraising properties in a universe so instead of looking at an individual uh property we're looking at a grouping of properties we take data from whatever data we have whether it's from an individual sale or multiple sales or from the cost what it cost to build a new subdivision what it what did it cost that developer to build that house then we come up with what we call statistical models so we've taken all of that data I always kind of refer to it as putting it into uh one of those bingo balls and putting all that data in there and mixing all that data up and then when the data comes out we're able to take that data and apply it on an average basis say a price per square foot uh to the home so if we're looking at a neighborhood say Logan Heights we're looking at all the data from Logan Heights we're trying to to determine what the homes are selling they're based on the information that we have now say Logan Heights did not have any data we would go to a very similar Neighborhood use that data and then see do we need to adjust it for location we would not take uh information from parts of chapparel Park say where you've got homes that are 300,000 and apply it to an area that had Homes at 150,000 so that's something that we have to look at okay and as you does that help U representative absolutely um but as you say you group them are you grouping them like if you don't have sufficient homes in an area are you grouping them based on your map no no that map was just something that we used to be able to to show the council the differences within the city limits of what what was changing no we do not use that map when we're grouping them we're grouping them by the category of the house is this a house that's around, 1500 to 18800 Square ft neighborhood excuse me is it um central heating or does it have evaporative cooling what are the amenities to the house does it have pool does it have a garage does it have a carport and so we classify those properties and then we look at them to make sure uh the improvements are the same no matter where when you build a house it's basically the same cost to build what changes it is where that property is located and that's where we make our adjustments where is that land located but a 1500 foot house is going to be basically built the same cost in one subdivision as another one side of town east side versus West Side what changes it is the location the amenities are you near hospitals are you near schools and that's what we have to look at but basically we look at categorizing categorizing a home a house single family residence based on what it's made up of okay does that make sense yeah absolutely um and then I just have one last question and it's more of a percentage question again um how many how how many disclose from all the homes you mentioned that some don't disclose what's the percentage that does disclose usually like amount less than a percent when we send out questionnaires to buyers and sellers um we'll get um about about one to 2% response back it's very low and the funny thing is many times we'll get one from buyer and a seller and it'll be totally different numbers because the seller uh considers certain amounts not part of the sale where a buyer will consider everything they paid as part of the sale so uh sometimes there's some differences there wow and so there what's a determination if you which one do you choose the buyers or the sellers well we have to be equal and uniform so we'll look at what we're using with everybody else okay well thank you for answering all my questions I'm looking forward to having you in my community meeting um we are excited ' already been in representative Rivera's community meeting uh we have you and representative Hernandez coming up we're very excited about it thank you representative molar uh at his breakfast meeting yeah the community is you know has a lot of concerns and we we know that you will walk them through the process and that's exactly what needs to happen so we I appreciate all your hard work thank you yes thank you and we are open have been open this entire time uh we did only Clos for a couple of weeks when Co hit uh we're there to help the Public Public does not have to pay somebody to do that we there to help them whether it's filing for exemptions trying to find a map or or not understanding the proc uh protest process we'll be happy to welcome through it um I have representative Rea followed by representative molinar but you talked about you said if we don't know whether you have XYZ inside your home so but so that could give you a Le less value on your home but once that is updated then the value will go back up it could um now right now we're finding that a lot of homes that are in disarray are selling just as much as homes that have everything so we'd have to look at the market but on a a average Market yes if something was wrong we would be able to discount it so you took out permit to do a lot of work and you hadn't done the work yet you're having to totally replace your plumbing or your electrical then we would be able based on the information the property owner brings in the estimates and the pictures pictures say a thousand words that is such such a good expression because we need to see that but then the following year we've got to take into consideration you've had a permit for a year it's been done if it hasn't you'll need to notify us again in final protest yes sir thank you for that representative um Rea thank you thank you mayor um and thank you for the presentation again um May protim you brought up a multiple listing and I didn't catch the the other one but I didn't know what it was for and I don't recall you mentioning it the day they we were at the community meeting what is that for ma'am multiple listing service when you're a realtor and you become a member of the board of realtors you normally become a member of the multiple listing uh organization there and Realtors then have access to all of the listings and all of the sales that are going on within the county um Appraisal District does not have access to that um we have been trying to get access to that but we've not been allowed to have access to that we've offered to pay to be members um but we're still in negotiations with them we're still trying to get that information but Realtors will have that information appraisal districts do not the state contollers office will be able to get that information it's amazing how somebody will tell tell the state something that they won't tell the county and yet the state is the one that does the property value study that Mr Stone talked about where they do a ratio study uh and they do a stratification of values within counties to see if we meet that 95% confidence level and they'll have sales information that was given to them that was not given to appraisal districts so multiple listing services part of the Border Realtors uh that Realtors and fee appraisers uh can sign up and pay for and have access to okay thank you and the other question I was going to ask but it was it had already been asked is regarding the formula for the homestead but you already answered that again now is there a difference between square footage between the city and the county and if so they're all the same what what is it what is the cost well you mean you're talking about square footage of a home yeah yeah right square footage of a home is different with each home even a track home may be a little bit different and we measure from the outside we don't go inside if it is a new Improvement that we're working on and we knock on the door nobody's there and it's new then we will possibly look in the windows uh if it is a new Improvement we can't tell that somebody's living in there the reason being is there's a lot of lofs that we don't want to put a twostory as a total twostory when it's not but Square footages are different you've got houses in the county that have is have you know uh four or 5,000 square feet the same as with certain areas of the city and you have properties in the county that have 800 square fet so it's all different and so we all look at it we don't classify a house that has 800 square feet the same as we classify a house that has 4,000 square F feet it's all the different characteristics of that piece of property that we look at okay I hope that answered your question represent there I sure did thank you because I I thought they might have been a difference between the the city and the county and square footage but um Everybody the same in the county of El Paso everybody okay and that's the way it works for the the legislative yes right yes we have to be equal there again we divide everybody depending on what their characteristics are but uh everyone is is given the same opportunities okay thank you thank you mayor thank you sir Mr Gonzalez you have that number okay thank you um representative um molor thank you mayor uh miss kilgord Mr Stone thank you very much for coming out here I know you're very busy during this year or this season this time right now I'd like to thank you for U coming out here but also mentioning that uh the special election that is being held on um Saturday May 7th so not to confuse voters during the month of May there will be two separate elections the uh special election on Saturday May 7th then of course the Primary runoff election on Tuesday May the 24th and so what you're talking about is the two Constitutional Amendments proposition one and proposition two and there both will be tax savings to the homeowners correct correct representative all right but I would encourage everyone to come out and exercise your right to vote do your research ask questions but please if you can go out there and vote and of course early voting for right now for the May 7th election is ongoing so please I encourage you to vote you're only doing your a disservice to yourself if you don't vote you know the 25,000 increase to 40,000 helps you as the homeowner thank you correct and and if I may say U council members and mayor is I've been in this business for a long time I've been over 40 years and most of the chief appraisers that I deal with in state of Texas have had just as much experience if not a little bit more and this is the first time we've ever seen a market like this uh we had covid covid hit and then we started seeing home selling um overnight we started seeing huge Market changes in the home values even when we had our our increases in values back in 200 six 78 was not like this even when we lost values based on the foreclosures with the rits was not like this this is something very unusual uh for communities and for appraisal districts so that being said uh throughout the state we're going to be watching this uh we're going to be watching legislation to see what they do and you'll be seeing reappraisals to follow the market whether up down or static we're going to follow it because if the market takes a drastic turn or even a slide turn we want to to make sure the citizens get that uh decrease immediately and not wait so when people ask us well you only have to reappraise every 3 years well yes within every 3 years we have to look at every single property they give us a three-year time period but every year we have to be at market value and with market doing what it is unprecedented unheard of we will be following it very closely not only to help the U taxpayers property owners but the taxing entities thank you representative Sao thank you mayor I just actually have another question um when you mentioned and they protest their their properties how long is that Pro like that for the process well they have to file their protest timely which is May 16th or 30 days from the date on their notice depending on whichever is the later date once we receive that then we will send them an appointment letter as to when their time is for their formal hearing um say they filed on uh May 16th and they got a letter saying they're scheduled for June 4th anytime between that they can come in and see a appraiser informally oneon-one we can sit down and talk show everybody our information or they can just show up May 4th for their formal I mean June 4th for their formal hearing we will be having hearings 95% of all the protests filed are supposed to be heard by July 25th so that we can turn an appraisal role over to the taxing entities as a tax role and they can start using that now we'll be sending monthly updates to all of the financial folks and all of the taxing entities so they'll see what's happening every month but so the protest time could go um you know could go months but there is a deadline for us to try and get 95% of that done July 25th and so if the taxpayer um they Prevail and they lower their their amount um do they if they want to protest again can they the next year or how does that they can protest every year if they want to even if their value doesn't go up the following year and they say you know just ases a matter principal or I want to see what's going on yes they can protest every year by by May May 15th is the normal date but since it's on a Sunday it's May 16th yes you can protest every year and a lot of people will we tell everybody look at your notice we have a great website with a lot of information on there epcad.org go to the property search check your property than happen glitches happen check your property that's our responsibility as Property Owners to make sure everything is correct and I promise the last question just cuz it's it's great I know this is going to be the last question uh so what is the average appraised value for the city and the county what question we don't have those numbers right now we're presently calculating them to go out on Friday yeah oh okay thank you uh your your your mayor um and your city manager and your financials will get that information and they'll be able to see what the average home value is in the city of limits and then of course we'll have it for the count of your uh Tax Assessor Collector uh Miss pus will get it for all of the taxing entities in El Paso so so thank you so much for answering all the questions and all your hard work thank you and I figure you'll have more when we come visit you I hope so good thank you um we're still not done oh I think um let me make sure yeah we're not done yet um I did get the the dollar breakout from U Mr Gonzalez and thank you for that the school district is 43% City's 29% the county UMC is 23% and EPCC is 5% the round a dollar so that's the breakout and with that I have representative um Ed nandes no i gotand z Rodriguez thank you mayor um thank you m Mrs Kilgore for being here today um I was just curious about um the the number of lawsuits because I know there was a concern when the bill first passed at the state regarding how uh you know folks can recoup those taxes after you know the the tax rate has been set um so I think we're like two years or maybe a year and a half into that to those new proposed changes and so I'm just curious if that's impacted your ability to provide those preliminary figures that you see like a huge uh variance uh from from what you all predicted and then what you all had to redact and and property values and what are the challenges moving forward and and upcoming tax year um with with those lawsuits well basically right now we have about three billion um three and a half billion dollars uh of value under lawsuit and youall have a rooll of what 49 billion so it's a small percentage uh that is under lawsuit property owners are allowed to file they go before the appraisal review board have a hearing if they disagree or even if the tax agent or the attorney wants to earn some more money uh they can file a lawsuit we've got a about um just under 1,400 lawsuits um accounts and years is about 2,000 if you add up multiple years of of these lawsuits it is something that we work on constantly yearly um but it is a small percentage so it did not come into effect uh representative hernandz with with the valuation process okay great great and then um you may have mentioned this and I just want to reconfirm there were um large taxing uh property owners that you all come with to an agreement you know before you go into lawsuits and settlements is that still something that um you adopted this year and if have you seen any challenges with with getting any of those businesses to commit to to a to a number to that value to their respective business um no ma'am we've been very lucky the new owners of the refinery have worked with us uh every year and Amazon is working with us uh to come up with numbers that we can agree on so that we can uh what we call finalize them and and sign off on them so there won't be any lawsuits so we have been very lucky predict yes yeah you predict that that will be the same case for this year yes ma'am that will be okay well that that in itself is is definitely um something worth uh commending you and your your team on uh because you know these these changes do have drastic impacts to to tax and entities but overall I just wanted to to thank you for your commitment to our community to the work that you're doing and and implementing uh the the state's tax code and I know that's not uh an easy job so so I just wanted to thank you for your public service and your team's public service and thank you for being here thank you representative Hernandez thank you uh representative Rodriguez and then I think we're done in again and and I Echo everyone's thoughts thank you for for being here and taking both your time thank you may Rodz yes thank you again for being here I know you all are here on an annual basis so I appreciate you being here once again um my I only have a quick con or question I should say mayor if you could or Mr Gonzalez forward me that same information of the tax break uh tax breakdown please yes yes ma'am yeah that is all thank you um I think she was referencing the reports that we get for the budgeting process yes uh we we'll forward all of those documents yes thank you is that it thank you again and I know uh your your business just about to begin thank you for having us uh we always want to come and educate the public and um educating the Public Works through um city council members and and County Commissioners and so we appreciate H you having us and I know your bus season it's only 12 months out of the year so that's not too bad that's about right yes sir thank you thank you take care yes mayor it is it is now noon so we may move to call to the public thank you the AL Paso city council is a local government body charged with serving all of the citizens of this city and the meetings must be focused on the meeting at charge the City Council meetings are public meetings under the Texas open meetings ACT public comment is an accommodation and not a requirement of city council all persons in 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 attack 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 topic that's been brought forward be posted on a future agenda this afternoon we have six members of the public that signed up to speak the first person is Miss W Sheek she will be followed by Renee Coral Paula Wright Ron KOMU Ephraim Salo and Jose Gaston Bara M Che and Miss cheek's topic will be right or wrong save America no ma'am I haven't started the the timer yet good afternoon missk I will not start I will now start God bless you everyone I hope you missed me as much as I did because I couldn't come I had my car sticker not delivered in February when my thing run out I called them up and they said they were overwhelmed with the work and it's on the way and I said what I going to do if I drive the car and I get a ticket he said well just tell him we're working on it and hope you don't get a ticket and I could not drive to the bus station because I didn't want to take a chance to get a fine but the reason I'm coming today this is my last time I mentioned the gross I have contacted the governor's office for two years I never got a answer to my registered letter I never got the answer to the phone calls when I call the secretary what's going on but if the Texas governor does not accept the replica cross that can be a monument for peace for World Peace not as a memory from 911 then please get it as a nation Monument for World Peace up at the mountain don't be surprised when I tell that it can be done and have the cross as a memory for all our soldiers that lost in Iraq and Afghanistan because of 9111 and this is a 9111 cross this is the fifth cross I paid over $110,000 I spent a whole year of my salary of the income tax of the army pay and my Social Security on this project so this is not a I don't want to say it I have been denied since 206 because it's a gross okay and uh please work as happy civilians you don't have to do it at the cost of the city I already have a widow as a friend who paid for the transportation to get across to Austin Mr Mayor I try to get a hold of you I try to get a hold of you few of few in phone I never got it please contact me thank you thank you the next speaker is Rene Coral followed by Paula Wright Ron koim Salo I cannot my left ear I never fixed so if I don't want to hear nothing I use my left ears and if I want to hand some thank you m thank you m healing age Mr Coral's topic is increase in loose dogs in El Paso and animal services concerns good afternoon Mr gal you have three minutes sir good afternoon sir good afternoon thank you so I'm here today to please plead with our city council members and our mayor to look at the amount of loose dogs that have risen in our city the amount of loose dogs is getting out of control and it poses is a grave safety threat to our community to our children and to the traffic by increases in dog bites dog attacks have been seen in the news have been reported s the the uh El Paso animal shelter has been ineffective for about two to three years and a lot of it was due to covid but it's still being effective they're all at full capacity we need more Animal Control Officers qualified Animal Control Officers to look at the situation backyard breeding is also on the rise we need Animal Control Officers to enforce current laws we need more free and lowcost spay and neuter programs this is the city of op Paso and it's looking it it it's looking bad when you see these dogs on the street and again this causes a huge safety concerns for the for for children it's just last week there was a report on on the news of a a a man that was severely mauled by dog by loose dogs that are on the street um my ask is this please please don't put this in the backr look at what's happening with the amount with the increase in amount of loose dogs take a look at the animal shelter it's always at full capacity and what's worse is that more and more of the responsibility is being placed in the public when the public when a Good Samaritan finds a loose dog on the street they call 311 and then what happens is that these the city of the El Paso animal shelter puts the the responsibility on the dog on the on the person that found the dog to keep the dog to go to a cumbers website fill out all the information and I know that the public has a responsibility but the city does also and we just cannot rely just on the public to keep these dogs for an extended amount of time sometimes these people have dogs of their own and they cannot keep them so the only other alternative is to let that dog loose back out on the street where again it causes grave danger to the public to our children and to traffic so please my ask is this look into this because it is getting out of control it is already out of control questions thank you sir thank you for your time thank you for your time the next speaker is Paula Wright followed by Ron Kom Ephraim sedo and Jose barga this right's topic is Animal Services good afternoon ma'am you have 3 minutes hi good afternoon everybody afternoon I am also here because of 311 and animal services um currently the same people come and talk to you folks on a regular basis and I felt the need that I need to start showing up to um since I've moved here in 2019 I've done TNR I've picked up stray dogs I've picked up lost dogs kittens cats everything else um so people like me need to get more involved and voice w going on um there are many of us with concerns and I hope people start showing up more more and more people um I've personally had more than I can count telephone conversations with both 311 and animal services where they were unwilling to help they threw it back on me they said to look for the owners post on Lost and Found sites contact rescues and they would give me a list of the rescues which I already had and to take it to my own home and worst of all I was told put the dogs back on the streets and in one case it was two puppies and where I live they can't find their way back home and the the chances are they were probably dumped anyway I can't take a ton of animals into my home because I have them myself I can't risk bringing parva is temper into my home for my own animals um so it was very tough for quite a long time trying to get help from both 311 and anal Services um the whole situation became very alarming to me when I was walking my own dogs and was coming across loose and Strays all the time I have two examples here this is my niece who was mauled by a stray dog loose on the streets it was horrendous this is my mother's dog my mother who's 84 does TNR a stray dog got her dog $5,000 to put her back together um so I watch where I walk my dogs because I cannot have them stray dogs coming up to me and getting me or my dogs um we need to work as a community with animal services to get everything under control because right now it's horrendous dogs are everywhere cats are everywhere puppies are everywhere shelters are overwhelmed and I realize that the rescues are overwhelmed us Fosters are overwhelmed and we're going broke trying to take care of all these animals thank you for your time thank you for your time the next speaker is Ron KOMU he will be followed by Ephraim Salo Jose Bara Mr K's topic is Animal Services good afternoon afterno Mr KO you have three minutes good afternoon ma'am good afternoon councel um I gave this to the young lady over here to give you all a copy of it this was the paa version of what we just I had told you would happen a year ago about rescu is becoming overwhelmed I I hope you read it I I I'm back trying to get some kind of a conversation open between all of us and hopefully put on the agenda we need to do something about our facility our facility is inadequate it's inadequate because of all the stray dogs stray cats and the lack of control by animal services for the last two years you cannot leave unaltered unvaccinated Strays on the street and not expect to have more everybody in rescue has Mamas and puppies and we're not even into the season yet our shelter is over full the shelter is too small it was built a long time ago we need to put this on the agenda to discuss getting a newer facility it needs to be larger we need to figure out what we're going to do as far as getting more vets involved but you're not going to get it in that facility if you just graduated from school as a vet would you want to work at El Paso Animal Services I mean I'd love to help and I couldn't that that it's it's the place is inadequate and I I can't say that and emphasize it enough and it's our fault we allowed Strays unaltered unvaccinated Strays to run the streets of El Paso please put this on the agenda let's discuss the options let's do something about the problem I believe we have a direct a new director who is willing to do the job but we need to give him the tools to succeed that needs to happen with all of us working together we can't sit back and ignore the problem anymore for two years we allowed allowed the shelter to lie about whether they were taking dogs in if you guys look that Nathan winegrad Peta of all people New Jersey animal Observer they're major people on no kill they have condemned El Paso they have condemned the Austin Pets Alive we need to ban Paul AOW we need to ban Ramone Herrera we need to ban Austin Pets Alive best friends and mty's fund there are a danger to our community to our Strays it's time folks it's time let's get together let's go forward and fix this problem please thank you the next speaker is Ephraim sedo he will be followed by Jose barga thank you good afternoon I hope you had a good afternoon sir I hope I hope you had a wonderful weekend the first thing that I want to tell you you probably don't understand me I'm going to tell you why because uh one time I was at a and uh one of my Troopers he had a flashbacks he was asking for uh his medicines and I was passing by by he was throwing a lot of ebls so he El me and uh knock out my uh four Apper tooth and uh the security guards since they know me I'm a little popular over the so they slaming in the ground and uh when he woke up he asked me did I eat you sir I said no you didn't hear me he by you bleeding but you didn't hear me about my lip that there Ison I'm bleeding I said no I hit you I said well okay you hear me but uh it wasn't your intention to hit me because I suffer a lot more than you did when I came from Vietnam so the uh the uh guards asked me uh Mr LEL you want us to take him to jail I no no no no let him go let him go go and take the doctor to yil don't take him I'm like that and the person like that that's the reason I'm telling you but they are working on fixing my teeth because the general doesn't have time for me cuz I'm real busy to fix my feet now I've been he a lot of uh problems I don't have no dogs I don't have no dogs I knew some people had five dogs and I ask him why do you have all those dogs they didn't say nothing I mean I'm here to clean Al pas of Texas the capital of the world and it's going to be the cleanest city in the world it's going to be on on me and you guys politicians help me that's okay and I going to need you but you help me you are very welcome now uh Miss kilo I've been knowing her for more than 30 years that's a lie that's a lie that when you protest they help you they don't help you she has told me that uh that uhis thank you Mr Sal you've reached the three minutes and now it's going to be a lot better I'll see you I'll see you next time because I didn't talk about my you we'll see you in two weeks you have a good day we're going to fix Al Paso the capital of the world the next speaker is Mr barga Mr Bar's topic is photographing moments during the mighty moer triathlon good afternoon Mr Bara you have three minutes I haven't have C yet and everybody's cof okay I'm sorry I'm pretty serious about this okay uh good afternoon my name is Jose VGA um there are times that I actually I get really motivated and I go to the city and I take photos and that's how I cope with everything that I went through through my service uh when I was going through the I was going through the taking photos uh I don't think that uh walking with this the way that I look may seem suspicious uh I think i' been I've been like this Mr molinar has seen me since like I would say like four years ago when I was in yes at the police station well when I was in nor Luna and federa yeah somebody took a photo of me I take photos nothing wrong with that but then I start seeing faces of really strong faces I didn't pay attention ke kept taking the photos and move on they I move I go I go west and then I see a guy with a cowboy hat and almost naked I mean and it's and I can guarantee you that was a police officer but it's up to you for you to investigate that and I had a sign the only only thing that I got concerned is because you got a 12 years old girl that was participating that's a shame kept going and Alabama Federal that was nothing B volunteers and I can guarantee you they were officer because they were white it seemed like they work at night they didn't they you know they were no military because the sun they didn't have Sun you know they were white at I give you a hint the the car the only car that I I saw right there was Charlie 18048 was a police officer there I took some photos and then I moved on I went I went South then everything started going S as everything started going really really really bad I feel like I was in Afghanistan it's I don't know and I got a camera I got a camera and everything went through and uh and the the you know I can't explain what I was going through and I take photos and the way that it is it was a white car coming through it was a motorcycle we did two persons and I'm like okay hold on a second this is Sur Real this is this is people with bicycles and then the vehicles cominging through didn't do anything kept going then it's a guy that say team Bara and then this guy start moving forward when're I'm going down and then let probably like when I'm going down he's standing like this and then it's a police officer just going down I mean I'm going to start wearing a vest I'm sorry you know it's like I fear the way that they start acting I'm sorry thank you Mr thank you thank you mayor that concludes call to the public this afternoon thank you m PR the next item on the agenda is item number 23 and this is discussion in action to direct the city manager to develop a fiscal year 2023 budget that includes a decrease in the overall property tax rate to minimize the financial impact on taxpayers and continue to execute the city's covid-19 economic recovery plan this item was placed by representatives salido ernandez and rera repres salido thank you mayor um I want to thank the representative Rivera and representative Hernandez for co-sponsoring this very important item for our community I place this item on the agenda in order to direct the city manager to prepare a budget for the upcoming fiscal year that is based on a decrease in the overall tax rate to reduce the financial impact on taxpayers and continue to execute our covid-19 economic recovery plan while the city has nothing to do with the process of conducting those appraisals we understand the impact that increasing property value can have on the next year's tax bill and we want to do what we can to help those bills be more affordable for the citizens of El Paso for the last two fiscal years the city council has passed a flat tax rate with no increase last year the city council unanimously approved an expansion of an exemption for the seniors and the disabled Community which provide additional tax savings and much needed tax relief to our 52,000 seniors and disabled homesteads for this upcoming fiscal year we want to we want to look at going even further and lower the tax rate I believe my colleagues input and suggestions we can accomplish this so today is just a start of this process but I hope that I can have the support of the rest of my colleagues to accomplish this goal as we move through the budget season and eventually adopt a tax rate in August is that a motion make motion motion to approve second representative um Riva followed by representative Velo thank you mayor um and I'd like to thank the representative C for placing this item on the agenda very well said and very well put I decided to co-sponsor this this this item because I've I've also heard many concerns from my community my constituents and I've been paying attention to the concerns of those homeowners over the last two weeks uh or last week or about two about increasing their their property appraisals and uh believe that we as a council should provide them with some property tax relief as we continue to recover from the co covid-19 pandemic while the property appraisals are not determined by the mayor and councel we have the ability to provide property tax relief with our upcoming City budget for the last two years we as a council have voted not to to increase the tax rate uh and have continued to have success in in our everyday business so uh we also were uh voted on on a couple of of exemptions expansions which were made early last year I Believe by representative fernandis as well so I thank uh I thinkk represent s again and uh look forward to working with you on on hopefully getting the taxes and more relief for our senior citizens thank you mayor thank you sir representative anelo followed by representative Ed nandes thank you mayor um you know I I absolutely support this item i' I've said publicly many times with the the presentation that we just had and and understanding mean I think it was A7 billion increases in property value it is needed I am a little concerned that it's a little premature since we don't actually have the numbers um as we heard from the cad we don't know what the protests are going to be um we don't have the final number so I'll support this um but just under the direction that city manager that you um give us a comparison budget as well so we understand um kind of all aspects of what that's looking at and that that's also looking at you know multiple reduction numbers too because I know that with this item is uh there is not a numerical uh amount of reduction that should be there so I would like to see multiple reductions as well as full just so we have a a complete comparison and understanding and and I know that you already sent an email but I'm kind of letting us know what that final uh presentation looks like on Friday uh when the cad has it and I know that your staff is really good at keeping us up to date um with protests and as those numbers change uh so again I'm going to support this but I I do think we need the full information and we need a full comparison um with that those reductions um when you present them to us yes ma'am and we've had a system already that we put in place that Miss Cody will be sending that to council henceforth and again that one was very preliminary so uh that would really kind of confuse the issues but we will send those in the future as soon as we get them through Miss Cody in our she's our managing director over Finance uh and purchasing thank you for that and um also I think when M Kilgore was talking the final appra value of the homes will be on July 25th so we will have the you know the protest will go on even after that but the the value that the city will have to work with will be on July 25th representative nandz thank you um for your leadership on this uh representative C though um there's a there's a lot of reasons why we we can expect that there can be a reduction in the tax rate uh some examples are um the large number of vacancies we have so we should be able to achieve uh several operational savings not only for the tax rate but for some other efforts um we've seen uh great Economic Development uh agreements a lot of uh really uh promising sales tax revenues um and so all of this is really attributed to uh the Strategic plan and and the leadership of Mr Gonzalez and Mr Cortina and helping uh the the city become more sustainable um and see a lot of more stimulation with economic development I was really excited at our last uh foak meeting where we talked about some new uh budget amendments um and some new ideas uh such as the post debt issuance policy um we have now looking at consideration of of amending the the uh the budget which is um our our budget where we where we have savings uh where we can redirect some of that to our pension fund so that we can account for some of those um acrs that we we need to address um so there's a lot of a lot of ways that we can spend down some of the funds but most importantly I'm going to be a huge advocate to making sure that we we reserve some of those funds to the to our rainy day fund which is our our overall reserves with our general fund so there's a lot of momentum with a lot of the discussions we've had with policies um and I'm really excited to see that come to fruition but keeping that in mind um we do have this high valuations that we need to address not only on the residential side but on the commercial side so although it could be considered premature we are very much in the budget process so we need to set that tone set that stage today for our city manager and for our CFO to know that there is a strong desire from this body uh to achieve some savings and give those back to not only our general fund but to our taxpayers who are definitely going to uh feel a lot of pressure points so I just have one question um for Mr cortinez if he's available or Mrs Cody um when for one just to kind of put in perspective looking at our tax rate um a sa one Savings of a penny what is that account for in terms of dollar value so if we were to reduce it by one penny just as an example um what would the overall savings be to the average homeowner Nicole Cody the um Nicole Cody managing director of budget and purchasing hi representative Hernandez so I think you asked a kind of a two-part question so the first part of the question was uh what would be the savings or what is one penny equal So based on the FY 2022 since we don't have the certified values yet it's about $3.6 million and so you asked what would be the savings of reducing that 3.6 for a homeowner and so that I would have to get if back to you actually thank you for that I think Mr Gonzalez might have a off the top off the C kind of response to that because I've asked you this question before Tommy Mr Gonzalez is it about go ahead no okay so so if you just look at like a $100,000 home it's it would be $35 $36 for the whole year if you just if you just do that the reason Miss Cody couldn't answer is because the average home today I think is 147 or 150 something like that so she'd have to do some mental gymnastics I would too to answer that question off top of our head but but yeah if you use like $100,000 house it' be $36 for the whole year okay so that can kind of give you um for members of council a littleit perspective when we're we're looking at just the city's portion of of the of the tax rate um but you know any savings certainly is is going to help El Paso taxpayers um specifically uh resident residential persons with disabilities and our most vulnerable senior citizens so um again I just wanted to thank representative C for your leadership on this I think that we have a lot of work to do this budget season I appreciate the work Mr Gonzalez that that your team has brought forward with some of these policies that are going to be considered for adoption and I hope Council uh you know moves forward with this item along with the other budget policies thank you thank you on this and if $36 is one penny per 100 and average home is$ 150 then it'd be $54 so um that's just the quick math there um and also um uh we have um representative may protim but one question I want to ask that when you asked for Mr Gonzalez I just want to make sure we clarify for him that uh roll back the rate are you looking to roll back the rate to last year's taxes so it didn't go up or somewhere in between there or all of the above I'm directing to look at options okay that's what I'm saying we're all of the above thank you and with that mayor poam thank you mayor um and again thank you represent Salo um for putting this item up um and your leadership on this I think it's something that we're all hearing about and we're all um seeing happen in firsthand uh with our community and these concerns relating to property valuations and how it corresponds with our our tax rate as well um just to sort of echo I think what representative saledo just mentioned as well as representative anelo um I think it's important to provide the council with different options when we're talking about this this year's budget um you know perhaps looking at a a no new Revenue rate um in addition to sort of what what the the lower um price could be the lower tax rate could be compared to last year and others I think it's just important that the council's as informed and engaged as possible knowing what these um what the possibilities are of lowering the tax rate and what the impact would be um on our services and on our overall bud budget and departments as well so I think the more information we have um in a way where we can understand what what that is going to look like how that's going to impact different departments uh and Services I think is really important um as well as giving those options of what those different rates are um to that as well I think that we have done an incredible job of increasing our reserves as well um again I think city manager when you first started we were at how many days of operation expens is n nine days nine days and where where are we looking at currently right now um the the item that went to foak would take us to 82 days and 82 days and the goal standard is 90 days and and really um for like AAA Bond rated cities they're at 120 130 days but the the gold standard is 90 days and and why is that that that's so important it lowers your interest rate and the the bond sales and know a lot of folks concerned about the debt and so it lowers your interest rate basis points several basis points and by doing so you can save millions in the course of a 20 or 30y year uh Bond um package that you have to pay over a 20e period or it's longer so you say that's where you save the money you can even look at refinancing if necessary we've done lots of refinancing that we brought back to council and I think when you have that opportunity when we've had that opportunity we've done that multiple times as a matter of fact we've saved over $20 million by doing that with the ballpark itself and so we have that's just one example but yeah when you have a lower interest rate you do have the ability to look at uh refinancing and so that is another option you're exactly right I mean I think the council's very well versed on not only the budgeting process but also the bonds because you're ask you're asking very good questions so you're are very familiar with it so lowering the interest rate is is a huge benefit to an organization the size of El Paso and you want to be able to do that and quite frankly having nine days I said this several times publicly I was shocked that the bond rating hadn't been hadn't been reduced that hadn't been downgraded I was I was absolutely shocked uh the last city that that I had the the privilege to manage and Lead um had 129 days when I left it and so that's one of the priorities that we've had as an organization because it gives you the ability as a council to make those decisions to transform the community like it has been transformed with the decisions that you've made so just places you in the driver's seat when you do have additional debt to be able to be able to look at people in the eye and say that you're saving money uh when you when you give giving them what they need and what they've asked for as a community yeah and I think that that's I think that's a really important important point to look at here is I think we we need to look and be aggressive at lowering the tax rate but also making sure too that we're also increasing those funds those Reserve operational funds that we can increase our improve our bond rating as well which helps overall with our debt and with that impact on rars as well I just would like to say too that you know um looking at um in terms of where some of those funding funding opportunities are from as well um we've talked about it before looking at other sort of sources as well um you know we have a lot of needs in this community and I think with this uh upcoming budget session being as aggressive and creative as possible I think is going to be important as well thank you mtim yes sir um and those are those are great questions that the mayor potim just put uh asked you sir and and just for Public's knowledge we're not cting back on any services and and anything at all right no I think that the the way I read the the item the way I read the item that y'all posted and it it got co-sponsored it said that not to Impact Services and also understood what you all said about coming up with various options we'll do that me we've done that I believe every year and Council has options to consider different um things on their agenda relative to the budget so we'll do that again this year uh this is this is clear we we understand the assignment and we'll we'll come back with with uh options and thank you so much for that I just want to make sure that the public knew and understood that yes sir and that they also understand that this Council and this your staff as well and the mayor we're all listening to you we're all listening to them we're all doing the best we can and to continue in order to continue our pass to move forward absolutely and and council's made some very aggressive steps at the previous council meeting by increasing the pay for the lowest level employees and being able to be more aggressive there for the hiring to get those Services back up to a to an acceptable percentage I know we want them at 100% we showed you where of the all the quality of life departments there's five or six that are 100% we still lack about four I believe that are like in the 50 to 60% % range and so we need to be more agile and more aggressive we've listened to the council like you've talked about and again it's all part of the overall strategy and it's not only having to do on the one side on on compensation for our Workforce but also looking at the strategy for economic development like a lot of you have said so it's it's all a big masterful puzzle that you all get the privilege of making these tough decisions on but it's really changed our community it look our community is is getting better and better every day and it's because of these kinds of decisions I think that as part of the overall economic recovery plan uh this makes sense and we'll we'll work on it and and see what we can bring back to council to all of you to to consider uh thank you so much sir again thank you to your staff as well M Cody and Mr ginas and thank you representative saso you know and I think and you've been very well aware and done a great job of making sure the public safety is our number one priority in our community and making sure that um all the equipment and everything is uh you know the best equipment possible out there as if anyone ever dials 911 we want to make sure we get there absolutely and uh it's been huge priority since you've gotten here and it's been a huge priority for this Council and power councils and I know we'll continue to do that so we won't and you know when we talk about Services those are our main services and and I think the co uh money that we receive from the federal government and and the um Federal money that we have received for from um the bring back America I think that funding has really been so we can make sure we can have a budget that's U acceptable for our community and that uh our community does not have you know the burden of all these expenses moving forward that's an excellent point mayor because that does help Shore up a lot of the expenses that we've had throughout this last two plus years yes sir and thank you for that yes sir representative C thank you mayor I just wanted to thank the council and all the good comments that I'm hearing that we all want to provide uh this tax relief for the the taxpayers and I think this is just an important first step I I really do appreciate mayor for those comments and providing some options um and looking forward for us to continue to work on options um as we're continuing this budget process and assuring that we approve things before um and make sure that it impacts the taxpayer in in in a favorable way so thank you for those those suggestions mayor I appreciate it and thank you to this Council and the supporting and looking forward to working with everybody on this and thank you to Tommy and all his staff and all the work we're going to we're going to start doing so thank you yes ma'am thank you so we'll build back El Paso is that we have a motion in a second yes mayor we also have public comment on this item we have Sandra vas Sandra vas followed by Gabriela wo good afternoon you'll have three minutes good afternoon everyone like they said my name is Sandra Vias and I am speaking on behalf of the El Paso Apartment Association I am here to speak in favor of the reduction in property tax rate uh we do understand you know especially with the presentation from CAD earlier that um the city kept that initially the tax rates was the tax rate was raised to kind of make up for the appraisal values not being where they should be now that the appr appraisal values have gone up we do believe that the reduction in property tax rate should go down to help relief some of the extra costs that are going to be showing up really in the end at the renters um monthly rents and what they have to pay to stay in their Apartments um we do support lowering the tax rates for all passo but we do want to make sure that you don't forget about the over 200 people living in the rental units in the city this is roughly about a thir of the population um the speakers that we saw especially with CAD did address homeowners and the increase in the homestead exemption we obviously you know we own homes as well so we support all of that um but we we want to make sure that people in rental communities are considered as well um the average valuation as you saw in the cad presentation is about 41% for um increase for 41% for an apartment community the state laws that protect homeowners from higher taxes due to these sharp increase in valuations um don't do the same thing for property rental communities for property even rental homes and so um we want to make sure that um this is something that is looked on looked on because renters many times and a lot of communities are the most vulnerable and so we want to make sure that this is something that's looked at this is particularly true for junior military members who do not buy homes but rent instead um last year the Department of Defense added a reenlistment rate as one of the Brack meters and so if you go on and look simple Facebook search you can see a lot of the military spouses disapproval discontent with Community apartment living um we want to make sure that the affordability that they have when they are told that you have to go to Fort Bliss that they are confident that they're going to have somewhere of value of quality to live in and so really that's that's what we wanted to kind of bring forward to everyone make sure that we don't forget about the renters and the the major part of our population that is um going to be affected if we don't provide the property tax rate relief thank you thank you for your time and I think you see this item will will be all across the board so yes and we appreciate the support from most of you all we're we're happy to see that and we hope that it you know continues thank you the next speaker is Gabriela wolf good afternoon ma'am you have three minutes hello good afternoon well it's my first time coming here in front of youcome I'm kind of nervous but uh I just want to go to the point okay uh yeah we have um some properties as well and we belong to the apartment association but we have um individuals homes and our um tenants are asking why the the rent have to go up and we just break it even so every single time is is it's not making it so when the people from the AP Paso Central aisal District say is I say because there's a lot of people coming and a lot of people is buying houses that is why uh the property taxes went up but uh this is just taking advantage of it why a lot of people coming from another CI is from another state is coming and buying properties here but what is going to happen the next year are you going to lower the taxes so as you know we all know it's five entities the is high in the High um tax rate one of them yes Independent School District all of them so we having a lot of problems they didn't want to have class they didn't have classes on 2020 or 21 even though they increase her taxes big time and now they increasing 20% again I mean it's killing us actually it's killing us and uh yes they want to uh decre increase the homestead to 25,000 to 45,000 but it doesn't help at all why because they already increased the property okay and according to the percentage um if they increase the property it's going to go up the the the tax rate no it's going to decrease it so my point uh I would like the city of El Paso and also the El Paso County if possible to reduce uh to stop the over budgeting as um mayor leser say we have the BBA U build back America Funds we can use those to reduce or pay the what we have right now why we going to put more stuff on the de that we already have against to reduce that so it doesn't help us to the to the residents at all and um I think I was as I tell you I'm very nervous I just trying to go to the point but next time I bring all the all the a presentation to you and uh maybe people with common sense and with own properties we know about it okay thank you so much thank you and I'm just going to go over this one one more time and I think it's important to show that the city of El Paso gets 29 cents for every dollar the school district gets 43 cents for every dollar Community College gets 5 cents for every dollar and the county and MC get 23 cents for every dollar and thank you again for for providing that for us Michigan and with that Miss Pine we have a motion in a second yes mayor the motion was made by representative Salo seconded by mayor protim Schwarz to approve item number 23 on that motion call for the vote representative ernandez yes representative Liara hi in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously the next item is number 24 and this is a presentation and update from the El Paso children's hospital and um thank you for being here and thank you all for your patience I know that uh you all have a lot of things to do but I know it's very important for you all to to discuss and very proud of the 10year existence of the hospital that's meant a lot to our community so I thank you for wanting to share that with us and again I thank you for being here in your patience thank you so much may liser we appreciate it thank you former County Judge welcome you Ruben um good afternoon everybody it's good to see you all my name is Cindy Stout I'm president and CEO for El Paso um Children's Hospital I have been in my position now for just over four and a half years and my purpose today is to share with you all what is transition in terms of children's healthare here in the region I know that's important to you all because you all look at it from the perspective of what are we doing to make sure that we have a healthy generation that's coming up next right so I want to share with you all some of the components that we have been working on as a hospital and what it's doing to change the landscape of Health Care here within the community um I do want to share with you all I am an El pasoan I grew up here my father was in the military and so it's very important to me whose children have also grown up here to make sure that we have worldclass health care for children and that our children do not have to leave El Paso for care okay the mission of El Paso Children's Hospital is to provide compassionate coordinated family- centered care really what we continue to focus on is ensuring excellent patient outcomes and that we have access for our physicians to Pediatric research and education our hospital really continues to grow and I'm going to share that um with you in just a moment but the vision that we have is really to enhance the lives of children in our area making sure that they are healthy and that they are well that they continue to grow up here within the region and are able to um serve our community just as you do and just as I do as you all will recall um the hospital had an interesting beginning um February 2012 is when the hospital first opened its doors but that was after 25 years of advocacy from Community pediatricians to build a specialty Children's Hospital a Children's Specialty Hospital is extremely different than having an adult hospital that has a pediatric Wing we are one of seven not for-profit children's hospitals in the state of Texas I actually have the privilege of being chairman right now for the Children's Hospital Association of Texas and it affords us a good opportunity to talk about what we're doing here within our region we are separately licensed we are not for profit and so that presents in itself different challenges that we have to continue to overcome as a hospital some of the Milestones that you'll see here we have um taken care of over 150,000 unique pediatric patients you'll see in these numbers here the types of visits and procedures that have been um taken care of here at the hospital as well as the outpatient visits it is important for us to mention that we do partner with University Medical Center of El Paso and we do have a large collaboration with Texas Tech University Physicians as we are a pipeline for graduate medical education right here in the region at Inception before our Hospital open we had about 600 children on average that would leave El pasle for care they would go to Phoenix to San Antonio to Dallas to Austin and to Houston um we are too big a community to allow that to happen our children deserve the highest level of care I am proud to share with you that since the hospital is open we've been able to decrease the number of children who would leave our community for Care by almost 85% now that is what a true Children's Specialty Hospital does you will see that these are some of the key programs that are maturing throughout the hospital and I'll bring you up to speed on a couple of those shortly we also have multiple sub Specialists here at the hospital that are able to take care of these patients that require complex level of care and so really what we're doing is we're closing the Gap so that no child should have to leave El Paso for care El Paso Children's Hospital is the only private not for-profit children's hospital within this region we have about 122 beds we are not a governmental entity and I think sometimes the general public doesn't quite understand that um I think that there's this conception that we may have access to the taxpayers dollars we don't we are set up as a not for-profit hospital so what does that mean that means that we have to operate the hospital from a strong financial position in order to grow programs we also have an El Paso Children's Hospital Foundation that helps us um to be able to provide some of this great technology for our physicians to do what they do best we are governed by by Texas law for nonprofit corporations and um we are the safety net though of the community and so we do have contracts with University Medical Center where we do provide Indigent care to the children the Pediatric population of this region these are some of the accreditations that we have at the hospital I think the one thing I want you to take away from here is that we are highly focused on quality of care and we take that very seriously as stated in our mission statement our team now consists of over 350 credentialed providers these are Specialists taking care of children solely we have over 700 employees now and over 350 registered nurses really what has happened is that over the last several years as our hospitals continued to grow is that we have a need for additional capacity and so we're going through the growing pains that is the hospital continues to mature we need additional space for in since we need more impatient beds we need a larger emergency department and we have many more services that are coming on board in which we need that capacity so we're actively working with our uh board of directors as well as with UMC to make sure that we have access to some of those Services these are Emergency Services what's very different that I want to call out here for you all is that we are partners with the level one Trauma Center so when the children come through the door of University Medical Center as the only level one trauma program in the region after they are stabilized there they come over to care to receive Care at El Paso children's hospital so many of those children end up in our Pediatric Intensive Care Unit right now we have 10 private rooms and we have a three Bay FastTrack that is not meeting right now the needs of really what we need to do so we do have a plan in place to where we would like to continue to grow that out next this will paint the picture a little bit about General Pediatrics and what we have at the the hospital we do have onsite pediatric hospitalist coverage that's um from a contractual relationship that we have Texas Tech and we're really proud of that because I think what it does is that there's a physician there on site to take care of the patients and that's a GameChanger you want to make sure that the children and the nurses and the rest of the staff have access to a physician readily that they're available for us um we're really proud of all of the different um support that we've received from the community in particular there's a phenomenal Family Resource Center that was sponsored by the Junior League of El Paso and that really helps us to set up for these children when they're here at our hospital for long periods of time they have access to computers to books and other types of things in order for them to continue their education our Southwest University pediatric blood and Cancer Center um this provides inpatient and outpatient services so we have an infusion center that's located within the hospital as well as in patient beds the one one thing that I want you to take away from this is that we are affiliates with Cog children's oncology group we are the only one within the region this allows our children to have access to clinical trials that you would see such as at St Jude's and MD Anderson that allows us to keep our children right here at home if we did not have these types of programs and this affiliation our children would be leaving El Paso for care and think about that burden that comes upon the family members um who are having to move outside to get a level of care for their children quality of life is really important for us so there are a number of partners that we um that we have relationships with within the community as you can see on that slide the Woody and Gail hunt family Pediatric Intensive Care Unit we do have on site 247 pediatric intensivist cover coverage in fact we have grown so much that we have two groups that are now on site 24/7 at the hospital hospital we have 22 beds in this particular unit and this is the unit when covid-19 started that we housed our our children and we had to do a lot of training with the team members with our physicians but I'll tell you the outcomes that we've had in taking care of these patients have been phenomenal we also have up there uh Among the Stars wall of Heroes this allows us to honor our children who have been pediatric organ donors as you know we're connected with the trauma program and often times we will have children that are severely ill whether it's through car accidents or other types of catastrophic events that um maybe a child does not um survive and so the families make that uh very difficult decision to donate their organs and we're very appreciative because it gives other people opportunities for further life the Laura and Pat Gordon level four neonatal Intensive Care Unit we have on site 247 our neonatologists our respiratory therapists and our nurses this is the highest level that a hospital can achieve in Texas so we take care of the smallest of babies that come to us it is not unlike us to have children that are born at even 22 23 weeks gestation out of a normal 40 we gestational cycle we oftentimes will have the smallest of babies that um are even smaller than the length of my hand and so our teams take care of these children and we've had some pH phenomenal outcomes and I'm very proud of what the teams do our Critical Care transport team transports patients as far out as a 350 mile radius we use ground transport we use Air transport the thing that's very different is that this transport team is on site at the hospital so we're able to dispatch them within a moment's notice to go out to the rural areas or other areas that may need a higher level of care and so we have a highly trained team and often times we may have a physician or nurse practitioner that even goes out with the teams depending upon the severity and the uh the case mix with the patient we are truly a hospital just for kids I have to tell you all that I grew up in the adult healthc care Arena and I worked at a hospital that had a pediatric unit I thought I truly understood what Pediatrics meant but until you step into the doors and you truly see a specialized Children's Hospital you don't understand understand the difference and it's been really interesting because it has been this cultural shift for people to understand what this brings you think about like a Texas Children's Hospital the value that that brings to that particular region within Houston well El Paso Children's Hospital is doing that same thing as we continue to grow we also have technology that is exclusively for kids kids come in um they're in different phases of their de developmental growth and so we have to be able to get accurate measures start IVs and do other types of treatment measures that are required for these children so we have technology that is exclusively for them one of the things I'm very proud of is that in the level four NICU we have Nick view cameras that allows the parents the opportunity to see their babies 247 so if they have to leave to go home they're able to log on to their phones or their computer and they can see the children this has been very instrumental because being a military um city we know that often times uh one of the spouses may be deployed out and this affords them the opportunity to see the baby as well we have MRI goggles that are specially made for children so that they stay still so that we can get the right slices for the Imaging we have what is called image gently Alliance that affords us an opportunity to make sure that we have processes in place to where children get the smallest dosage of radiation possible again a protection for them and lastly I want to call your all's attention to the biofire we have had two biofi at our hospital for a significant period of time initially when the covid pandemic started we were the only Hospital in the region that had biofire access we were able to run the covid-19 tests consequently since then because there was such a high demand other hospitals have received those types of equipment however that really gave us a good jump start and taking care of the children our outpatient services really continue to grow I'm not going to cover through a lot of that I want to touch based though on the cardiac MRI we are the only ones the only Hospital in the region adult or children that have a physician that is specialty trained to read cardiac MRIs so consequently adults come to us and children come to us specifically for cardiac MRIs so I'm really proud of the Imaging Services team now I tell people we're doing the fun things now because we are much more level set related to our operations and doing well from a financial perspective now it's time for us to continue to grow our services these next clinics that I'm going to cover with you all are specialty clinics that have not been seen here in the region before and are really allowing to bring multiple Specialists together so that they can come up with a treatment plan for children the cranial and facial Clinic is the only one of its kind within this region we are approved the by the American CFT pallet and cranial facial Association we also have here locally one of nine fellowships internationally here at El Paso children's hospital and that's telling you that we've got this number of Specialists that are here that are now starting to impart their knowledge and those individuals are going back out into other areas of quite frankly the world that are learning um to implement these types of programs Dr David Yates is our medical director and then Dr David Jimenez interesting enough um Dr David Jimenez came to us he was the physician that developed over 25 years ago the endoscopic cranio sinosis procedure I'm going to share with you what that's like this last year we held our first cleft Symposium in which we had over 60 doctors that came from all over the United States to learn what our team is doing here locally so again I want to share with you all that that level of care that we're providing is at a very high level at this point I do want to share with you all before I turn to the next slides that there are some slides that may be a little bit graphic but I think it's important for you all to understand the complexity of patients on this particular slide this is something that Dr henz does for us so when a baby's born most of you all who have had children you know that you've got the sutures when you go to your pediatrician's office they're looking for those soft spots right on the top of their heads um that's to make sure that the sutures or the bones do not fuse together many times it can happen where there is Fusion of those bones well Dr hen has created the procedure like I mentioned over 25 years ago and he's able to create a couple of very very small incisions go in and open up those sutures that takes place ultimately up to about um one year of life just shy of that now on the opposite side you get a patient that comes through and they're over one year old and they come through and they have to have have a full what we call a cranial Vault a full opening of the um of the brain in order to correct the bones that have fused together that's where Dr Yates and Dr HZ worked together um now what we're seeing is we have children that are coming from all over the world to El Paso Children's Hospital for this level of care our bracho plexus Clinic is now the only multi-p specialty program of its kind in the southwest babies can be born with nerve injuries within their shoulder area or later on in life a child may have an issue related to trauma to where their nerves are limiting the ability to move their arms so this group of physicians in conjunction with Texas Tech is working very closely together and have been able to service many children within our region if you look on the left side baby a before you can see where her arm is in a downward position that's the highest level that the child could move her arm after the surgery the patient is still casted and you can see that it's actually up but it affords that baby to have a full quality of life and is able to move her arm completely our scoliosis clinic is one in which we're very proud of as well we're getting into more complex surgeries related to the spine we're very proud of Dr um John heiderman being with us trained over at uh Texas Children's Hospital has relocated back to El Paso and then our spinabifida Clinic is one in which this group of physicians Dr Latif Dr Jimenez Dr heidman are working closely together as what you'll see here is that when a baby is born often times there are portions of the spine that may not have necessarily closed over so if you look at baby a before you'll see that that's essentially what the baby had and that's part of the the sack within the spinal column that is protruding the team was able to take care of that we're losing a quorum thank you mayor Pro can you go yes ma'am and then you can see baby be the before and the after again these are levels of services that we have not had within the community before I want to share with you all on the car's clinic this is our child abuse Protection Team it is a very sensitive issue when we have children that come through that may have neglect or abuse issues we have a team that is highly trained um last year the state made the decision to remove all of the state grant funding for this particular program we felt that it was so important for this community to have it that we've taken that on um and have been able to sustain that through the hospital I want to tell you a little bit though about how important this is this last year alone our car's clinic saw a 30% increase in patient volume from the prior year we've seen a lot more cases related to the the the barriers the things that families have to go through related to covid-19 and so consequently we are here and ready to to serve um this last year Alone um in 2020 we served 432 patients and now we've up to 588 in fiscal year 21 our outpatient rehab services and Empower program is really important we opened this just recently it is on Lee Travino just south of the freeway this is a program that affords children the opportunity to have access to PT OT and speech therapy in addition to outpatient diabetes educ education through the Zachary bowling um Center however the last component the Empower program is really important we've worked very closely and we um have received a very um generous Grant from the paso del NY Health Foundation to start to address obesity within children and children who are at risk for diabetes within the community and so the Empower program does specifically that we have educational affiliations in other words students rotate through our Hospital from many organizations or many academic centers these are not all of them just some of them we do have contracted Services I want you to understand that uh Texas Tech is a very strong partner for us about 80% of our medical staff is contracted through um the services that we have in existence with Texas Tech we are also a site where we have residents that are rotating through we have about 44 residents on average that are rotating through El Paso children's hospital at any one given time so we do support that and um we do provide funding for residents El Paso strong um we all know back a few years ago the city was faced with a large challenge related to the August third event um the two children that required the high level of care came to El Paso children's hospital and the team really stepped up and did what they needed to do again um that connection to the trauma center and us taking care of those children was um absolutely necessary during that time our children's vaccinations we were the first to step up and to start vaccinating our 5 to 11 year old population um we're really proud of that um we've also you know learned a lot through the vaccination process and we're very thankful that the city um so many other organizations have stepped up to vaccinate the full general population today you can see that for adults alone at our children's hospital we've given over 4,000 dosages um and our staff is 100% vaccinated because um we feel that it's important to provide that protection for the teams we are very appreciative being a not for-profit organization we do rely a lot on donations and Community love over the last several years has been phenomenal um everything to individuals bringing food to other types of assistance um we appreciate it from the public immensely we do have our pel children's hospital Foundation this is our main source for Capital I do want to make sure that everybody understands every penny that's donated stays right here in El Paso the other component is is no dollars donated are used towards operations we run operations on our own through the hospital the money that comes through the foundation is used to provide big pieces of equipment and other items that are Physicians that are very specialized require for example in neurosurgery alone upwards of $3 million was required in order for us to implement that here within the community but we felt it was important enough for us to make that full commitment and then lastly as the mayor said um we are at our 10 years of Wonder we're very proud that the hospital is now going in the right direction we're looking at many growth opportunities to close the gap the 15% of what we see most children leaving El Pas for care focuses on complex cardiac and complex neurosciences so we're working very closely to try to close that Gap and then lastly I want to share with you all um some of these children that may be from families that come from your particular areas on the left side is Andrea you can see her standing in front of the missions Andrea was a patient that was starting to lose her eyesight her family did not know what was going on they'd been to see different Physicians um we were very fortunate that that we had our cranial facial team here on site when they came to us they were able to help her and now she's on the road to recovery and she's doing what she wants to do she wants to be a miachi singer just like her mom up on the top you can see Freddy he was a track runner at El Paso high school and Freddy one day was hot summer night um his friends had a gun ended up accidentally shooting him and he consequently went into the level one trauma and came over to us and with with us with with us excuse me almost two months in our Pediatric Intensive Care Unit with the help of all of the Physicians and all the staff members he was healthy and able to return to doing what he does best at El Paso High just below him is our beautiful little Ben Ben was born at our level four niku just over a pound and he's doing phenomenally well and a very handsome young boy at this point and then lastly over on the right side you all may recognize Kayla Gomez she is one of our upand cominging stars in the boxing program within the community Kayla trusts us to help her with her seizures and so having a specialty hospital is allowing us to keep our kids right here at home so I thank you all for the opportunity to share with you all what direction we're going on and some of the programs that are in place because I know that's important for the general public to be aware of as well thank you and thank you for your presentation and of course hard work and you know it's always been a one of my Charities that I really enjoy giving back to and I know you mentioned nicku with the 50 cameras which was one of our donations my wife and I donated last year to make sure that uh you know you went over it for you know not only local doctors could look at their patients but also the military um families could see their their kids and and um so we're very honored to have been able to donate and buy those 50 camer that gave us that opportunity for our community and uh the hospital always contined to be one of our you know choice of of Charities because of what it gives back to the community thank you Mar liser we couldn't do what we do without support of individuals such as yourself so thank you very much thank you repr n uh thank you so much M St I really impressed how quickly you went through 40 slides it was very impressive try to keep the timeing up I was like trying to follow and then I'm like she just went two more slides ahead of me um you know this is kind of a a double-edged sword right like it's not great to hear that the 10 emergency beds that you'll have are are becoming not enough or that you've had a 30% increase in your cares program um but it's really amazing to know that y'all are there for the people in this community when they need it um I I really want to thank you for this presentation it was a lot of information it's a lot of information that people don't know about the children's hospital or our Medical Center until they need those services and I know everybody here knows that that I've had an experience with childrens I think that's something that I always try to talk about that I don't ever hear the people they're talking about is um the level of professional and personal care that we got from the doctors that you mentioned right taking extra time out of their day you know to to be with families to make them understand what is going on is invaluable right and you couldn't even write a slide about it I hear it from people all the time that come through your hospital and so I want to thank you for everything you do and and that comes from leadership right that comes from you that comes from your executive team allowing doctors um and the nurses there to to have the space to do that and so thank you for everything and thank you for the presentation thank you for sharing that I think it's important for our team to hear those things so I'll take that back thank you thank you representative Rodriguez thank you mayor this presentation was very informative but it was also very touching um I'm very appreciative of the fact that we have that level of service and Care here in Al Paso um God forbid I have four children that I would ever have to use you you all but you know if again God forbid I do I'm glad that we have that level of of expertise here in El Paso and so I just want to thank you for your presentation but more importantly I want to thank you for everything that you're doing in our community um you know I know in the past I've heard of family members that had to take their children to Leck San Antonio Phoenix you know and it's great to hear that that travel is not necessary anymore so I want to commend you and I want to thank you and I hope to see you all continue to grow um not because we have sick children but because we we want to be that be able to provide that level of care here in Al Paso so thank you so much for everything that you're doing thank you representative Rodriguez appreciate that thank you and with that again we want to thank you and and I'll I'll share a little quick story that uh I had a daughter that was born a 2 lb 7 o 40 years ago and it was very tough and the doctors had to spend a lot of time in the room and try to save her to make sure sure she was okay so that to have and I can't have any more little ones but to have that type of care here locally and then my daughter had one that was in a coma for for um for um over a week and they didn't think she'd survive and they were looking at options of transporting to the Children's Hospital in Philadelphia and you know thank God both of them are fine thank God both of them have great healthy lives but to have that available like representative Rodriguez just said is so important and know that it's there because I can tell you we didn't know it was available we didn't have it available till 40 years ago so to to have that it's really important so thank you again thank you so much I appreciate the opportunity to be here M pran I think we got a city council meeting to do yes sir we turn to page 17 to item number 46 and this is to discussion and action on a resolution adopting a districting plan which establishes new Council representative district boundaries based on the 2020 US Census Data to become effective immediately and dissolving the districting commission bye Mr ve I know you're waving at us good afternoon mayor and Council um Karina braas Galo with economic and International Development today is hopefully the last time I'll will be in front of you regarding uh the 2020 ensus and resulting redistricting effort as a reminder for everyone this started last April um with the establishment of the districting commission we received our census results in August and then proceeded to have several commission meetings public meetings across the city um a a very robust public Outreach and uh Outreach through social media websites um traditional media to get everyone involved came before you at the beginning of this month have had several meetings to review and edit the maps and last night or yesterday afternoon city council did make a final map selection the anticipated action today would be to adopt a districting plan establishing the new District boundaries for the council representative districts based on the 2020 census data and that this resolution will also dissolve the districting commission as they've completed their duties per City Charter um the selected District plan from today's meeting will be attached as an exhibit to the resolution certified copy of that uh along with the background data will be sent to the county elections office and they handle all of our filing with the state these boundaries will be those used in the November 8th election open it for you all thank you and I know I'm going to go ahead and take I think there's three public comments and then we'll we'll continue with uh with this so m p if can take yes mayor the first speaker on item 46 is Joe picket followed by Sylvia K good afternoon sir you'll have three minutes good afternoon I'm glad you held out um I'm not here to talk for or against a map I'm here about the process I wasn't planning on speaking today at all but the comments that were made by some of the city council members about the information that I provided to the mediate Outlet who invited me to come on their show and they uh expressed that they want somebody from the city um City refused the offer but I went instead uh anyway the interviewer uh asked me to be there because of my past experience in the state legislature serving on redistricting how contentious how difficult it can be it's not a simple process I've also been invited to be a witness in a federal court in San Antonio before a panel of federal judges under oath to talk about the the process that uh we used in Texas but when I heard the statements that um El Paso was no worse offer behind anyone else is not correct uh San Antonio was mentioned well San Antonio indeed has not adopted a map and they're not going to do one probably until June but that sounds like they're behind El Paso but El Paso is holding an election this November San Antonio doesn't hold theirs until May of 2023 so they will have adopted one 10 months in advance of their election as will Dallas will adopt one 10 months before Fort Worth gets some extra Bounty points they adopted theirs last month so they will have a whole year uh before their elections El Paso if you adopt this plan today will be 12 days out from the required residency of six months and almost all the cities in Texas have a six-month requirement Fort Worth likes to do theirs in days it's 180 days now now the other three cities Austin Houston El Paso do have their elections in November Houston is scheduled to have a new plan in place this September and again that sounds very late but Houston is not having it this November 8th they're having it November 7th of 20123 again a full year before their election not the 12 days out from The Residency requirement that El Paso is looking it so if you narrow it down and take a bite out of that apple to Apple and you use Austin Austin is like El Pas and that they're staggered districts um Austin is like El Paso and that it's in November and also like Austin thousands of elass ones woke up this morning had coffee or breakfast in a particular district and will have dinner or go to bed in a completely new District Austin's map is also under review it's being uh challenged in court Austin adopted their map October of last year over a year and two months so if you take the six big cities El Paso is completely dead last in presenting maps to the public and allowing people the opportunity to run for office doesn't affect me I have no comment on the map that you're going to adopt thank you for your time thank you Mr picket the next speaker is Sylvia Caron good afternoon Miss Kon you'll have three minutes good afternoon I got educated good afternoon Miss Kon did you get educated um siia with the Mission Valley civic association uh when we started these uh hearings with Commissioners uh with bralia um Karina running the show yeah it was scheduled for July of 2022 and we started to complain about how come it's so late so but I want to let you know that um I'm pleased with the map the way they it came out uh if this is the one you're going to to vote on when we started back in October I had a meeting in November and I invited uh all of the neighborhood associations in the Mission Valley there's 12 neighborhood associations and two Civic associations which is one of mine I invited uh Mr vales from the League of Women Voters to give us a presentation on what the concept of is on redistricting and what it's all entangles he gave us a a big education the League of Women Voters has educated me personally and other people on what the rules and regulations and the law is about redistricting even if you w like what's going to finish it is the law when I had a meeting with Mr Valdez and did the presentation with them um we got a a sensus of of the feeling of all the people in the meeting and I asked them do we want to get through with one District at least one or two instead of the three that we had and everybody the majority said yes we want our district of our own and that's when I move forward and come to every meeting insisting and talking to all the Commissioners that were on the on the floor um asking them to please consider the Mission Valley under one District as much as possible uh we might have maybe the three three districts but the majority of uh the district that we're interested in uh will be one and with Mr Riva representing us and I'm a happy camper there because uh we've got precincts and of course Miss Hernandez I work with her all the time I go to her meetings and so that we're doing very very well I thank you all and I hope you do pass this thing I don't want to have to come back please and uh but I will if you all don't finish up the the show today but I do thank you God bless you all and if you pass it today I'm going to have a beer on you guys I want to graduate this afternoon at 6 o'clock for the citizens Police Academy you thank you bye thank you for your thank you we the next letter was received by Veronica Ando to be read into the record and it reads dear mayor and city council Representatives please accept my public comment below to be read to the record during today's city council meeting to be held on April 26 2022 I am submitting this via email because a normal way of submitting public comment do not seem to allow for attachments the attached Graphics show valuable information that I would like to share with you ahead of today's vote for a new City District map I mentioned during a city redistrict meeting and would like to reiterate that recent CDC and US Census Bureau data shows the rates of asthma heart disease and poverty are highest in central Al Paso the data also shows that the highest percent of people with disabilities live in the same area this data shows there are different communities of interest in central El Paso and West El Paso the proposed map 7B proposes that some Central neighborhoods such as sunet Heights and eleso high will be included in the same district as West pel But Central neighborhoods could effectively address the health and income disparities in their Community if they had their own District creating a map that responds to community needs in central does not mean creating a central district at the expense of other areas while the constraints are complex International boundary State boundary mountains military base and they must there must be a compromise I ask for altruism in your effort to create an equitable map this means identifying need and basing decisions on where there is need I think this data highlights the need for a central district the form maps are attached and links to the data are available below for your review thank you Veronica and Caro and I did forward those the link to council the next letter was received by Craig Peters and it reads dear May Mr Mayor liser and City Council Members my name is Craig Peters and as a resident of central El Paso I do report the redistricting map 7B that was revised during Monday city council work session on April 25th 2022 comparing previous maps to 7B revised I do think it is the most logical and fair map that helps keep neighborhoods historic districts and neighborhood associations intact as much as possible the map helps preserve and keep together the historic character fabric common interest and issues that each neighborhood Andor District deals with furthermore keeping outside interest from impacting District Voice vote and funding I would like to thank all who served with the redistricting process listening to Residents concerns time in taking everyone's comments into consideration sincerely Craig Peters that concludes com public comment mayor move to approve thank you Mr BR a motion a second to approve we do have a comment from representative ernandez followed by representative lisara followed by representa Rodriguez represent nandes thank you mayor um so I just wanted to first start off by thanking again the um districting Commissioners for all of their hard work over the past six months um as well as to Mrs Kio who uh I appointed to that position in District 3 also a member of the uh women League of Voters and then um to to thank Adina for all of your hard work I I have seen you um over the past six months uh and your dedication to to El Paso I really want to thank you and for all your help with the data folks as well um it's it's really um invaluable the the work that you did in this process so thank you for that um so although it's not uh the map is not what I had hoped for um I really was hoping for a fair process I also believe in the Democratic process so I will uh support uh whatever the majority of council agrees to um so just as a reminder um to to folks who are curious about the next steps um I as mentioned in the past you our office has a plan of action to to reach out to you to meet with you to to host you at Future Community meetings and so I look forward to um adopting some of the new uh residents in our district it's going to be one of the largest districts as proposing this map um but also I I hope to have a commitment from my colleagues to to have a easy transition from one District to another so we can work on on some of those projects that um have you know a lot of these Community projects that we don't have a lot of fundamental knowledge of we will rely on on the other representatives to help us transition those needs and and concerns of of the residents so um I know uh city council will do what's uh in the best interest of residents I just wanted to again thank everybody for for their process in this and for their commitment and and fair Maps um but I won't be supporting the map here today um as I stated in the past I just didn't agree uh with with the way uh council members pick and chose precincts without um you know agreeing to to hear the concerns of the public over the past six months um but again majority will will rule in this case U but thank you all for for your service to to the city thank you representative nandz representative Lara thank you mayor thank you uh thank you representative Hernandez for your comments and I want to thank all my colleagues for all their comments as well during this process and of course Karina thank you to you and all your staff for your very very hard work throughout this six-month process I also want to thank my redistricting commissioner Cynthia Ria once again and to all the people that have worked so tirelessly on this process I just have a question a quick question Karina um I'm wondering if you could uh pull up the map for me real quickly absolutely um could you just see I'm curious about Precinct 60 um what would happen if we moved it to District Two would we be over the the deviation um yeah as currently proposed Precinct 660 is in District 2 oh it is in District District too yes ma'am oh okay all right okay thank you Karina so then just to be clear then the deviation would be 9.86 which is the current deviation of this map okay so Precinct 60 on this map is in District 2 correct yes to be clear thank you Karina okay thank you thank you mayor thank you ma'am and with that we have representa vriz thank you Ena so I mean this process has been long very long 6 months and I think it's time you know I'm very proud of this Council that we were able to really take into consideration the maps that were proposed by by the Commissioners um we took into consideration comments that were made by the public and we I think we were able to kind of mesh everything together as best as we could and came up with this map so with that said um do you are you all prepared to in any way shape fashion to announce um to all the precincts who their new District representative will be um I can discuss I would defer to but we can discuss it with our Communications office I mean this would presumably go out on some sort of news blast um we'll keep the maps up online so that folks can pull up their address you know you can type it in it's searchable um and look at your Precinct and then we can work with the county elections office to make sure that that's all publicized okay so these Maps become effective immediately upon Council immediately upon approval okay it'll take us probably a couple hours to file the paperwork and get everything filed State comproller Etc but yes these go back into effect today okay that is all thank you you know and the good thing about this is if someone does not realize that the their district has changed and they go to vote in the old District you can do that now you can vote anywhere during election day so any District any election polling area you're allowed to go vote in so so that um that will not allow or hurt anybody from going to vote if they're not aware that they've been changed correct thank you and with that we have mayor proam thank you mayor um certainly not an an easy process um I want to thank Karina and City staff for your hard work I want to thank the Commissioners as well as my appointee Chris via um as well um this is a question more for City management um more than anything else um I do think that with these um with these Maps being in place um I think it's really important to go above and beyond in terms of Outreach uh to the community um not just through social media but also traditional media um whether that's newspaper but also I think it'd be really important um similar to what we did with our um vaccine roll out um and others to make sure that we do um a a a info mailer that can be sent to different districts doesn't need to be um a large flyer 5x7 something that has is bilingual um points easily to a phone number or a splash page or a website that people can look up their address to find out what district they're in um I think it's really important to to follow up with something like that um that people can get in the mail so they know that hey your District might have changed here's a here's a place where you can look at weapons here your city council representative will be in the future um so I don't know if there's if we need to make a motion on that or bring up a the City attorney on that and to make to ensure that everything is uh aligned with it legally and she has concurred that it is so um those suggestions you're making I believe we can do all those things okay I mean I wouldn't I wouldn't you know say it needs to be registered voters or anything like that I just think all entire Community is what the City attorney advised and she can speak for herself but I think that's what I recall the conversation was about because our marketing uh director Laura Cruz a Costa had talked about getting the information out no different than a bond election things of that nature our strategic communications director I think you yes sir thank you yes sir um well thank you again thank you sir and with that we have represent molar followed by representative Shido and then representative um anelo and then representative SGA thank you thank you very much mayor and um it's been a long process and to the commission and Commissioners a heartfelt thank you to all your work your long hours your hours of researching the meetings the community meetings the driving back and forth the possible sleepless nights and things like that and uh to you Karina we owe you a debt of gratitude to the other person that was behind that when he I think is you're calling him Marino or something Maro okay well him and uh everyone else on the IT staff you did a good job great job we appreciate everything you've done for us uh we have we're grateful um to my commissioner from District 4 Gilbert espara we thank you very much to Colonel Burns both representatives from the May or from the mayor's appointee but also both from District 4 and um thank you very much appreciate it thank you sir uh representative sou thank you mayor uh I just wanted to thank the community the committee for all their hard work and especially my appointe which is my predecessor Dr no um I made it a point not to contact him whatsoever as this process happened so I wanted to ensure that it was a fair uh process as it it uh exceeded it its time but I I did I um understanding the the whole dynamic of the process I I wish that that one part were the city council members could have drawn their own map in the sense just to submit and hear and be able to place the voices of our community as we were having meetings you know we might have missed some people like we learned um at our public meeting there's a lot of people that showed up had different concerns had different suggestions and it was just a lot of information trying to balance and so it was quite I know it was a challenge so if there's one thing I could say I just wish we had more time and I know we don't and I know I don't want to hinder you know anybody to be able to move somewhere and so that I think that that it's a it's where we're at right now and so I wouldn't want to delay the process which I think would be the best and I know probably everybody doesn't feel this way um but just wanted to share those the those thoughts thank you thank you repres represent oh representative anelo followed by represent Thea Then followed by represent uh thank you mayor um yeah I want to thank the council as well for really taking these map seriously I know that I came out with a lot of issues um in protecting the Northeast you know I reent over the um the chair's report last night um and it does talk a lot about how the committee uh was aware that we were going to make changes that this would not be a final iteration that they were giving to us and so um something that I do want to say is I I there's been a lot of talk about how you know we completely disregarded the committee I don't think that's true at all um I think they did the hardest part of the job and that's starting up M right and and really if how long it took us in in two days imagine if we were starting from from scratch it would have really been a disaster um so I I want to thank everybody on the commission um my appointee as well who's the chair uh Karina you and Mariano for really sitting with us for a great time um but I have a simple question that I know the answer to but I'm getting the question a lot so I just want to uh say it on the record when do these Maps take effect if if they approved right today uh when will the new districts take effect so uh as I stated earlier the new districts take effect immediately so as soon as this is done again it there's a process of filing paperwork and that kind of thing but uh as soon as the motion is made at city council these are the new Council District boundaries okay great well thank you so much I I really appreciate everyone's work on this um also Russell I know he's been quietly kind of hovering over us and pacing back and forth some days so thank you for everything I think that take effect if I'm not mistaken as soon as Miss kadon has her first beer yes I KN [Laughter] that all right um representative LGA thank you mayor liser Karina I I do have one more question on uh could you tell me what would happen if pre 68 went into District 2 What would the deviation be so Precinct 62 um 68 68 I was I clicked on the right one okay Precinct 68 has a population of no not 60 of um 1,661 if I moved that out that would take our deviation over 10% I can get an exact count if you give me a few minutes but that would um require additional changes elsewhere in the map okay all right thank you Karina of course you want to wait for that or you want to move to the next Karina did you want us to make that okay it would take us up 10% correct Karina correct okay no we can move on okay representative um Letta followed by representative add on this thank you thank you mayor thank you again uh all the colleagues have said it and thank you so much Miss Kina and your STA and your staff as well as a commission the committee that was uh selected by each of us to to comprise this or or come up with maps themselves I personally want to thank my appointee dannyan chundo who had a busy schedule and took took on the task himself and understood that at the end it could be uh tweaked altered or or accepted or or denied uh I too want to Echo what representative anelo said there was no disrespect for our our committee at all or or me the members that we had appointed I think we listened to the constituents in hand the many neighborhood associations uh talk on the street uh and I think that this again this body made that tough tough cuts and tough choice and we came out ahead thank you so much thank you representa represent nandes hi Kina I forgot to ask earlier um could you uh for for the Public's knowledge um advise on the like an the map that's adopted if the public has a concern what is their recourse absolutely so two options uh number one anytime you have any issue I guess with any decision made by city council it' be to file a lawsuit against the city for the maps and then if the particular concern with the map is a violation of the Voting Rights Act um it would be to file a complaint with the Department of Justice thank you no other questions thank you thank you and that's all the questions I do want to thank you for your hard work and I know you you worked a lot of times on your you know additional time away from the city and your staff so that was really important Mr Gonzalez for providing the proper Staffing to be able to do this so I think that's really important and uh of course always Colonel Weston you're always there for us and and helping us whatever we need so thank you for that and you know all the Commissioners and I Know It uh it took a lot of time there's no doubt that uh it took a lot of time and we want to thank you for your hard work your consideration and really for accepting because this is probably one of the hardest longest um you know lasting boards that you know you're not allowed to participate in anything else that that's part of the city when you become part of the the redistricting commission so all the Commissioners um I want to thank you all for for your time uh I know um that uh every one of you all devoted and dedicated and did a lot of research to make sure that um that you came up with what you felt was the proper map the proper um redist rting and as you can see it took all the in the five months there was a lot of discussion there and where what should go where should go no different than what happened here I do want to thank them uh for their Maps I think their Maps were very well well thought of and very well planned and um I think again that was with a lot of your guidance screen and thank you for that and um and and I and again um I um I want to thank the public I think we had a lot of public input and we had a lot of people from the public that went to the meetings and also came to city council and spend their time with us to give us their opinion and how they felt about this so this shows the importance of what redistricting and for the long term as we all know this process will not be changed again for another 10 years so for 10 years this is what the city and our contians will will see as the districts so again I want to thank everyone and uh with that that I have representative s thank thank you mayor um I forgot to say thank you so much Karina because you did a lot of the work I I know I said Thank you to a lot of people but I just want to say thank you again and I do have to still ask um if we needed more time would we be on time with the deadlines or so and I'll if this I think I'll cover this but um Carla can correct me if I'm wrong but we're trying to get this map approved there's not another regular council meeting um before The Residency deadline goes into place in on May 8th it's best practice to have a map adopted before then um so I would recommend adopting a map today to stay on track uh without running in a foul of any of the various elections requirements Texas elections code Etc um I suppose it would have to be a larger discussion if we wanted to continue editing and uh take more time on the process but today should be the day unfortunately thank you for um answering my question represent soda Kina thank you oh sorry mayor thank you Karina I have one more question can you just sorry can you hear me Karina yes yes okay sorry can you tell me what the map would look like if we move 68 prec 68 and 41 into District 2 and then Precinct 74 into District 8 I really quick representa this is a conversation that we had yesterday um like looking at 42 also you know something that I said yesterday is we had the Five Points Business Association contact this Council three times asking for 41 to be in District 2 so Five Points would be together um we're not doing that because it's not possible and so now looking at like 42 and 62 um you know it's just 68 68 sorry I'm just saying it's aect I'm asking Karina I'm sorry I wasn't able to be at the meeting yesterday yeah that's okay um so those the precinct 68 and 41 have about an equal population um to Precinct 74 so I don't think it would affect the deviation too much if you'd like to we can run that yeah could you run that I'm just concerned about the people off of Alabama on mallan correct okay 74 sort ofas under persing in here so we're gonna split up a neighborhood yeah I mean this is Mayor I believe representative has a floor yes thank you yes representative anelo if you don't mind thank you for your patience okay give me one second I don't know if maranao was on call for today so give me one moment to see if we can get him thank you Senator nundes while we're waiting can we see the baby oh her screen is frozen there you go yes you can hold on where's the big guy show us a big guy there you go ham say yay handsome oh he's crying I'm not sure which one of us he was looking at that's the baby that's the baby's first council meeting huh yeah that's what I'm saying mayor I know I'm not quite sure which one he was looking at I he was looking at but he started quick there he is he's already boxing look at her he's even got the P he be the next mayor man in the future in the future he looks just like his dad yeah he does he doesn't he doesn't like the camera though the camera sorry the precincts are not as cute as the baby I just needed to double check okay 68 and 41 okay I'm running the numbers and then 74 to District 8 so kind of an even swap there can you just zoom in on the the wer Tramway area just so we can see those few blocks of homes is that possible see or so that I can see I think is wer yeah yeah this precin yeah because they're just isolated from the rest of the district right by the mountain right yeah and Precinct 68 has about 1,600 people um if I end up representing them I'd be happy to yes that's fine but I just want to give them every opportunity to be able to be connected with the neighbors in the same district yeah Council please no side conversations yeah I'm waiting for Mar to come back with the accounts but I think that might not the affect the overall deviation because it does not change our highest and our our largest and our smallest District but oh I don't know Marano I know you're on do you want do you want to share your screen when you get a chance okay okay you let me bring up the spreadsheet 81 yeah okay still 9.86 correct okay I'd like to make a motion to make this change second it what was the uh deviation it it's the same deviation it does not make District 2 or District 8 either the largest or the change anything devation is exactly the same yeah is that the and that would be kind of the new the new alignment between District 2 and District 8 it's a fairly similar to what it looks like currently yeah I think it just makes for a better map makes it more cohesive Alabama melen K melen area that doesn't chop off the ends of all those blocks east of Alabama so you are you still calculating no no the calculations are done yeah I mean again um first of all I'm pretty sure I live in Precinct 74 um the conversation that we had had before and and I would be very sad to lose uh the precinct that you just put in but it was using a natural divider as Alabama what we've done by taking 74 out is completely so we've done uh I started off by saying that the Five Points uh neighborhood and Business Association has addressed the council and the commission about uh trying to reite all of Five Points points uh and we've just divided it more so 74 is the southeast portion of Five Points we've just completely removed that neighborhood from the rest of their neighbors um and so uh talking about communities of interest uh again I'm pretty sure that I live in 74 as well 733 yeah it's right there but I mean again like these are my neighbors right we're dealing right now with like a Trowbridge pro project that runs through this neighborhood and so talking about communities of interest um I just I really hope this doesn't pass and all of the work that we've done uh yesterday and we had this specific conversation over and over about that Precinct and and decided as a council that that wasn't the best decision we'll take a vote after that we have a motion in a second yes mayor there motion was made by representative lisara seconded by representative salido to move precincts 41 and 68 to District 2 and Precinct 74 to District 8 on that motion call for the vote Representative ernandez no representative lisara hi in the voting session and the motion fails 6 to2 Representatives salara voting I the remainder of council voting nay the motion does fail all right m p we do have a motion in a second to adopt the map can we take that yes mayor there is a motion made by representative anelo seconded by representative Rodriguez and this is to adopt the map 7B as revised on April 25th 2022 to establish the new Council representative district boundaries and dissolving the districting commission on that motion call for the vote Representative ernandez no representative Lara I in the voting session and the motion passes 523 with Representatives anelo molinar Rodriguez rera Lara voting I representative short fine ernandez Salo voting n the motion does pass thank you and again thank you for all the hard work and with that we now return to page number nine item number 25 good afternoon members of council Senor did you want to go to item 25 no I think we we're are would like to take a what time is it right now it's it's currently 207 would you like 20 minute recess 20 minute 23 minute recess so to come back at 2:30 okay there's a motion in a second to recess the city council meeting all in favor I anyone opposed all right we'll return it the motion carries and the the meeting will recing at 2:30 p.m. you e e for e yes mayor there's a motion in a second to reconvene the city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed the meeting is back in session at 2:35 p.m. we're on page number nine item number 25 this is a presentation update and discussion on the city's intersection safety Improvement program good afternoon members of council San Rodrigo city engineer just a brief introduction on this program you know one of the strategies on the Strategic plan on 2.4 is to improve motar safety traffic Management Solutions so what you'll hear today in this particular action is is one that was funded through $2 million on the fiscal Year's 22 budget that includes this intersection Improvement as well as you'll hear later uh in recommendation for the award to bring in this strategy under division zero on item 46 this is all being done in conjunction with other initiatives such as the street design manual that you'll be considering under item 38 and we're also working on the complete streets that's making a way through uh uh City Planning commissions as well um with that I'm going to turn over the presentation to Richard for a brief introduction Richard thank you Sam um this is Richard Bristol from streets of Maintenance uh this is our intersection safety Improvement program this is a new initiative that we started in the present fiscal year and it's a new approach uh that we're using to analyze Traffic Safety inside our intersections and what we were able to do was partner up through an existing uh agreement between the city in UTP we were able to partner up with the UTP engineering school and we were able to have them do a lot of data plotting of all the accidents that have taken place within our intersections over the last 5 years now what we're going to do we're going to share with you our process that we followed where we get the information from and we have two data sets that we're going to share with you along with some um improvements for two of the locations that we've identified in the presentation now one of the data sets will quantify the worst accidents in the city just based on volume the second one one will assign it'll use the uh the Tex dot um model to pretty much show us the cost impact of accidents in the intersections over uh this period of five years of data accident plotting within our intersection so we're going to give you the worst intersections by quantity and the worst ones by the cost estimate utilizing the tech shot formulas and then we're going to discuss some improvements and with that because of Dr ch is on a short schedule I'm going to hand this over to Hannah Williams Allen who will begin the presentation and hand it to him I think you're on mute Hannah I was sounding really good too we'll try this again good afternoon Hannah Williams Allen with streets and maintenance as previously mentioned by Mr Bristol this is a joint update presentation on the intersection safety Improvement program and this is an effort between the city of El Paso and utap and this item aligns with all of the Strategic plan goals and just a brief um recap um this uh program started from the evolution of the quarterly fatality analysis cross functional team um back in 2021 city council did approve approve funding provision zero and from those efforts the interu safety Improvement program was born with the champion um of Representative anelo the current investment in traffic safety is is shown on the slide um for the interest of time and to keep Dr Chu I'm going to um kind of Breeze through these but please feel free to to ask questions at the end um and the important thing about this is to state that we did receive funding via the highway safety Improvement program from teot in 2020 um for the L Treno median enhancements um from treywood to Montwood uh for our vision zero umbrella we do have the five E engineering education evaluation enforcement and equity and these are just a few of the current initiatives that align with our vision zero the project scope was already um briefed by Mr Bristol and so um I will not go into DET detail on this um and so now I will introduce the program team um we do have our departmental management as well as um Cid's assistants uh we did have a GIS analyst Mr William M the program U excuse me the bicycle program coordinator Alfredo Austin um Mr seio Rees traffic engineer Mr Jan Shing Yang a city the city traffic engineer as well as myself and now I will hand the presentation over to Dr Chu so that he can go into the specifics of the uh efforts good afternoon mayor and Council representative my name is Kelvin Chu I'm a professor in the department of civil engineering at Utch uh my expertise is in transportation um and you our team consists of three student of mine uh from the left to the right on the photograph is uh Diego mza Diego is here with me um and then we have Lisa Hernandez and Ara aligi and Lisa is a master student uh Diego and ARA they are undergraduate senior student they're graduating next next paragraph please next slide please so we are tasked by the the uh City engineering team to perform the following task uh first we review the existing two and practices and then we collect data and process the data and having the data processed we continue with the analysis of the accident or crashes and from after that uh we uh identify the top 20 highrisk intersection and also work with the city engineering Partners to develop Improvement plan to improve the safety so let me uh spend some time to go over each of this um when we review the existing to and practices we learned that text has a safe highway safety Improvement program in that there are many useful information which we use we have collected and used in the later part of the project so uh in the data collection and processing uh task we have received a lot of data from the city engineering team and that include the the list of city and techto maintain rots the safety calculation methods um crash data over the years five almost 5 years and also the city has maintained coition diagram uh engine in Improvement drawing at the different intersections over the years the signal timing plan and so on and so forth so based on the data collection collected initially we we found that there were 95,000 accident or crashes in the city from jary of 2016 to October in 2021 so um we need to filter out the data so we went ahead to filter out the the accidents outside the city limits on textto highways um not uh at the intersections and we ended up with 35,000 crashes that we can analyze to develop our our model and uh we need to clean up the root names to make them consistent and so that we can uh I every crashes and every intersections were accounted for so we spend a bit of time on that so after we we sorted out the root names we we counted the number of crashes and develop a frequency table and from that we identify the top 20 intersections uh so uh I will have the next view slide to explain the following task can I have the next slide please okay so the the most intuitive way to rank the intersection is by just counting the number of crashes or accidents so this slides show the initial tables that we have come up with by just counting the number of collisions uh you can see the rank from on the table you can see the rank from the highest number of crashes total 140 to the number 20 uh locations with 54 crashes and the different columns U list the number of fatal crashes serious seriously injured or crashes with minor injury and many of them are unknown outcome and they are also we also list the district district names some of the intersections have two District names because they're at a boundary between two City districts so on the left is a Google map that show the locations of all these intersections and super impos The District in the different colors and as you can notice the most of the intersections that happen between I 10 and Montana in the east side um but this is not the the standard way of listing or ranking the intersection by accidents in the in the in in transportation or traffic engineering industry uh the standard way is to use the cost impact of all the crashes um intersection by intersection so the way we do the cost is um texto has a standard cost of calculating the impact of the AC crashes or accidents at intersections um of course uh we all know that a fat crash is has more economic impact then um crashes with minor injury um so uh the techto actually uh use a value of 3.7 million for every fatal crash or or crashes that result in seriously injur outcome and half a million for crashes with minor injury or possible injury so U before we use the tax St value we actually compare with another set of dat crash crash value from the national Safety Council and we decided to use the taxt value because uh we are we feel that it is closer to what uh the the the the drivers or or the victims experience in in the Texas and it will it's more natural if we use textop recommended values if we had to work with textop to to obtain the safe safety Improvement funds for for our project so we went ahead to use the cost we rank the intersections and we obtain the following uh the slide so this this SL re list the the new uh top 20 intersections Rank by the total cost impact uh you can see from the second last column on the right uh the worst intersection has cost impact of almost 20 million down to the number 20 about 30 million over five four four years and 10 months so now uh the different color means different things let me explain uh when we look at the top 20 intersection we' also found out that the city has already have Improvement plans in place for the number one number six and number 11 so uh and then we select the top 10 out of these three intersections and we ended up with the 10 10 intersection in the green color and those red colors um we for this phase of the project we focus more on the 10 intersections highlighted in green and the red colors will be considered in the next phase next slide this so this is to compare the two two different ways of ranking the intersections uh the the first uh this is show the rank by the cost and compared with the blue color which is the rank by then just the number of total collisions of course the the the ranks are different but pretty much the the top intersection they all about all most of them are in the top 20 with a few difference minor differences next slide please so uh after rank pick uh identify the top 20 intersections we went ahead to develop the Improvement plan for the top 10 intersections uh the way we develop the improvement process is we work with the city to look at the to analyze the Collision pattern of collision we call it Collision diagram analysis I'll explain later on in the next slide and we also look at the city uh drawings the signal timing plan we also make a a virtual site visit through Google and more importantly we actually went down to the field to look at the traffic to identify the problem with our own eyes next slide please okay so uh in the crash diagram analysis we we went back to the the database maintained by Tex do U this is the database of all the police reports of all the accidents in the city so for every accidents at a particular intersection we we look at if every crashes the police narrative and the the recorded contributing factors and the pattern of the crashes and we draw the the arrow indicated in the U bottom of the slides here so for every every crash we draw the arrows and we count the number of arrows to try to identify a common pattern and from them it can identify the cause lightly CA causes or contributing factors uh as you can see the most common types of crashes are rare end left turn and right angle and the the rare end contributing factors are speeding drivers in attention and derating for the left turn mostly contributed by drivers fail to Y right of way means when they make a left turn uh speeding or in not paying attention and the right angle crashes are caused by disregard traffic signal means running red light speeding and driver in attention now all these Factor um uh are common to the driver's Behavior and the uh the way to make Improvement is to make a Citywide program on driver's education to try to alter the behavior to educated on the Reas and consequences of um causing a crash or involved in a crash however uh in engineering design we can also do things to improve the safety of the intersection by drawing the driver's attention to the intersection ahead so next slide please so so I handing back over to Hana who will explain uh the solutions counter measures thank you Dr Chum so this slide um is just an example of some sample countermeasure um that countermeasures that the department will be implementing um so we refer to this as our sample counter measure toolkit and um these are different implementations that will be used in addition to the federal highways Administration proven safety counter measures in tier one we have improvements like tree trimming installing signs refreshing pavement markings um and installing back plates um we are looking into the possibility of installing rumble strips as you approach intersections um due to the increased number of driver in attention um being the cause of these accidents um we we're also looking into standardizing the crosswalks replacing extend replacing and extending cross arms as well as realigning and adding signal heads um it's important to note that these tier one improvements um are planned to be implemented City wide um as needed and as as we see fit especially based off of um our current service requests that we receive um for tier two we do have the implementation of speed feedback signs as well as flashing warning signs and even restricting turning movements and for tier three we have the lane reduction or Road diets uh curve extensions as you can see um the picture from the AL Paso deuses project uh roundabouts which we all know have been installed all throughout the city as well well as complete streets which is currently being worked on the policy is currently being worked on and so at this time um we are going to present two uh intersections in which we have joint proposed improvements uh this first intersection is ranked number five and it is in District 8 um and it is Campbell and Montana the existing conditions um you have Campbell running northbound one way and Montana runs two-way East and Westbound the contributing factors for the collisions to the left include speeding and attention as well as disregarding the traffic signal and the Collision summary from 2016 to October 20121 showed that 81% of those collisions were right ankle collisions so for our proposed improvements we are going to for first look at Campbell Street northbound as you can see on the left there are two signal heads um and we have our proposal on the right and so our first recommendation is to replace the mous arm with the longer arm which will allow us to install an additional signal head and we will also add back plates which make the signal heads more visible as well as adding in Lane assignment signs and so these improvements are proposed at all approaches at this intersection and these all fall under tier one a tier 2 Improvement for this intersection is on Montana eastbound um as you can see existing there is not um a speed limit sign and so proposed is to install a speed feedback sign and This falls under tier two and the last set of improvements for this intersection is some tier one improvements which include repainting all pavement like excuse me repainting all pavement markings at the intersection as well as a tier three Improvement which is to install KX engines and so at this time I will hand it over to Mr seil Rees to review the next intersection thank you Hannah uh good good afternoon mayor and Council for the record my name is Sergio Rees traffic engineer for the streets and maintenance department this uh analyzing this intersection is the uh location at red and wrestler there are existing conditions as you could see the the the Collision diagram shows uh the record for sixe record of collisions and the quantities per per year and as you could see that the according to the Collision summary the the 81% of the of of all the 118 Collis happen half of them happen for rear end collisions and also left turn uh uh right angle collisions the contributing factors for for this uh were basically speeding and uh driver in attention this intersection is rank number three in uh in our list for 20 intersections and is located on district one next please thank you so the the improvements the proposed improvements for this intersection uh we have the tier one tier two and three and tier three the tier one improvements um has to do with the refreshing or Rehabilitation of of uh payment markings like driving lanes and crosswalks uh uh also the installation of uh race markers which are an enhancement to to the payment markings especially at nighttime the other Improvement is the back plates which uh basically are offer a great deal of safety especially at nighttime and the glare for the sun um another Improvement important Improvement is the the installation of flashing yellow left arrows and signs these measures will suggest uh drivers to slow down and stay alert when making a left turn and yield to the uncoming traffic the um another Improvement is the installation of uh Islands uh this ones would be at raate they would they would not be raised and they are made out of the striping and and um raise payment markets uh this uh that was uh tier two now during the a few years ago in the in the 2019 uh through the uh resurfacing program uh we had a project to make enhancments on the on the bicycle Lanes at this intersection so we so we installed a green infrastructure which is a a it's a payment marking and a thermoplastic material that enhances and retro it is retr reflective to uh to drivers and they are alerted that there there is a bicycle traffic in the area next slide thank you this uh this is an improvement for for tier three which is a more robust Improvement which requires removal of removal and installation of and modifications to the geometric um uh geometric improvements to the street this is uh an improvement that uh that basically is increasing the the number of feet from an existing 230 ft uh storage for the lefts and we would increase it to 345 ft this uh that requires the modifications removal of the curve and install the payment and new payment markings and uh this Improvement basically will help in improve safety especially for the rear end positions I just pass before we pass off just want to make mention that that is actually in District eight at this point thank you sir thank you thank you sir and I'll pass it to H thank you um thank you Mr Reyes and thank you representative Schartz fine for um reminding us that the the boundaries have changed so that's something that the team will have to go back and revise for um today's meeting it's it's been 30 minutes it's been 30 minutes but you know it's never too early to to start well we appre appreciate the reminder we do um and just to you know kind of wrap up the slide I mean the presentation um this slide is just to kind of further explain the next steps so we do have a milestone forthcoming next month which is the final report and in that final report um there will be counter measures um that's you know tiers 1 through three for all of those 10 intersections um and we will have the conceptual renderings preliminary cost estimates as well as a finalized benefit cost analysis and um we also have the opportunity to continue um a future partnership with UTP um to work with the students there so that way they can get some applicable experience with how we utilize traffic engineering um in a day-to-day life and subject to any questions that will conclude our presentation and also Hannah if I could add two more points one the money that was put in our budget for this program um as well as for the vision zero there is a little bit of that money left over which we will be using for immediate procurement and actions and corrective actions that we're taking on the top 10 intersections we're trying and get as much as we can done with the money that's allotted but we were also going to utilize the opportunity to also search for federal and state granting opportunities with this information as well something I wanted to add and if I may mayor protm I would like to recognize uh Hannah she's she's got a new last name and that's because she got married and unfortunately her last day is today and she's moving with her husband to Houston we're taking her to lunch tomorrow and uh I was giving her a hard time about I didn't you know we you know are getting married obviously is getting her to move to Houston we're very happy for but we're going to miss her um and she's going to miss this organization and we're going to say a proper goodbye to her tomorrow but she has been an amazing uh team player and has been a great um presenter on a very tedious very technically oriented presentation that she always has to give but she always does it extremely well and I know she's worked probably with every every one of your your y''s offices and again has done a tremendous job and and again with her Communications skill so uh Hannah we really appreciate your exceptional work for us and we're going to miss you thank you sir I really appreciate that it's been an honor to to work and to serve here in the city of El Paso my hometown and um thank you for all of the opportunities that I have been afforded yay yay yay congratulations real life clapping Emoji we like clapping thank you thank you you're not taking the chicos are you we uh left it up to her she hasn't sent us the request to wet restaurant she wants to go to but I'm sure she's very familiar with the great places to eat here in El Paso we'll find out today where she wants to go okay best of luck Hannah best of luck thank you thank you good luck Hannah you will be missed thank you for all your hard work especially with me you know what I'm talking about thank you thank you we will We you will be missed um we have a representative vanello thank you uh thank you Hannah I think thank you for staying on um to see this through I I really appreciate it you've done great work um and I want to thank Dr Chu and the team at UTEP for um kind of collaborating with us and all of the the really valuable data um that they shared and they were able to come up with so um I know Hannah we had a briefing last week and some of the stuff I'm going to reiterate but I also just want to uh Rec clarify some things um from either you or Richard so you said that y'all have the funding for the top 10 streets um that were identified in slide 13 correct we have funding in our budget that was set up to pay for the vision zero award and for this contract as well as some of the improvements so we do not have all the funding for all the improvements um what we'll know is how much they cost when our staffs are here um and the UTEP group are done completing the pro the uh the deliverable on the 17th which will have our cost estimates for all of the improvements and that's why I wanted to reiterate that we're going to utilize the money that we've been allocated for this project to purchase these items these safety features that would be part of the tier one tier 2 and tier three system but we're also at the same time going to be pursuing granting opportunities as well to either the no or the federal state and local government whichever one we can find to also help us supplement our our effort to improve these intersections okay that makes so much sense because I was this weekend like I don't know how Richard is going to make two like use $2 million to fix all these streets um I was like I I know you can make a dollar stretch but that seemed crazy to me um but I do want to kind of focus on I know we talked about the projects one and six that are on asterisk um and if you could uh remind me a little bit of what you told me on my briefing about those projects projects and I think they're the LA laint place and Montana at Pedas those projects are already in an active Improvement that will improve the intersection so we're going to stay out of the way until they are completed at which time we will come back and make any modification that we believe we need to make right now we need to stay away so they can complete the project so okay so there are improvements underway at these okay you I appreciate that clarification um and so I guess I just want to say uh to city manager and to council you know I I proposed this last year because we were having um a lot of accidents in the same location uh none of those locations have come up on this top 20 list and and that's not surprising um what was surprising I think was uh one of the I can't find the slide right now but one of the projects that Hannah mentioned was red and wrestler and like actually how many accidents that there were I think there were like 137 um and I was you know I would have never imagined that one intersection was having that many sorry it was 118 um and so just because the the streets that I put up didn't make it on this list I think that this study in general has shown us um a large need in our community that we hadn't even talked about yet um but with that said I also know that the streets that I put up are still having those issues so while there are 20 we have in front of us 20 streets that are concern we know that there are many more right and and when you're having multiple accidents whether it's 18 18 or 20 um it should be a concern of ours and so I'm I really interesting in hearing you know moving forward with these top 10 um seeing what uh Richard and the team bring back to us but I'm also really interested in continuing this conversation past those top 10 streets right I mean I know we only put $2 million in the budget from last year uh but I think this is a conversation we need to be having annually when we're looking at our budget um because again like I would have never imagined that there were I mean I've driven that inter section I know that it was going to be problematic but 118 accidents on one intersection I mean even uh you know number well number 18 is also Red Road apparently there's just like a lot of lot of issues on Red Road um but even there just being 43 accidents is a problem you know and the ones that I mentioned Trowbridge where I know of five this year just those five are a problem and so I think until you know Vision zero is called Vision zero for a reason right until we are able to um get to a place where we've really uh addressed intersections all of the intersections that have multiple accidents I don't think that we've um completed this project or done our job um but I'm really grateful to everyone who have put in the time to get us at the starting point and to even help me as a council member understand the need across our city with this um because like I said I I put this item up and I've I've come out of it with an entirely different understanding of what the issues in our city are uh and I'm I just want to reiterate that I'm I'm eager to continue to address these throughout the years till we get to a point that our our city is safer so thank you all so much yeah if I can add um representative nello yesterday we had a meeting with the federal DOT representative that came to town and one of the his questions to us was what are you guys what's the city doing towards traffic safety and fatalities for pedestrian bicyclist and motorist and we talked about the the presentations that we're going to be presenting today the dot through through the bill that was approved the the infrastructure bill that was approved are going to be releasing $1 billion grant opportunities over the next 5 years to Target specific programs like this so the data and the background that we're doing with this effort along with vision zero is really going to set up set us up nicely to pursue those funding categories U those of you that are part of the no you know that Ardo CVO and and his efforts at the state level uh are looking to implement and and really carry this message that we're pursuing here today uh from at a regional level as well where we anticipate uh State funding coming through the no as well uh and being able to pursue funds through that Avenue as well to really push this list down as you stated to continue down the list until until we get to zero okay thank you so much Sam thank you mayor proam thank you again and um great presentation you know these these kind of projects are really the sort of um meat and potatoes of what we need to be focusing on um which is keeping our community safe and Roads um one of the things that two thoughts that I have right now um one relates to um the overall streets and we're focusing on these intersections and making sure that they're safe but also I would think that some of these streets also just in terms of their overall um the overall condition of the streets they're probably also looking at the need to be resurfaced or other sort of work on them and so I'm just wondering as we move forward with this process that we're you know that we're also looking at um they we're also looking at a way um to comprehensively fix and update these streets whether it's the resurfacing or whatever have you as well I think it's important to focus on the safety of the intersections it's clear that there's a need as well but I also think too in terms of what residents are looking for they want to see their streets fixed period especially our our heavily traveled arterials as well so I don't know um if we can talk about that um the second comment that I have um first of all I like I like seeing the different tiers the tier one two and three in terms of what options are there um based upon best practices in municipalities um one thing that we hear about from time and again from residents is a perceived fading of the lanes that it's hard to see in different intersections where the lanes go out um that they get repainted and 6 months later they're covered in dust or they just fade away or whatever um which seems to be a minor thing compared to sort of the expansive uh approach that yall are taking which I think is absolutely necessary and long overdue but I'm wondering if you can also talk about um maybe on a a larger level what is it that we're doing with our our striping and why is it that some people think that it's possibly fading or not and the process for maintenance of our our street restriping as well on our our heavily used um arterials mayor Pro before they answer let me just give a a general sweeping statement real quick about just a reminder to council that uh Sam Rodriguez has presented to you in the past that we need approximately $44 million a year in order to maintain the streets that we have and that the number has been woefully inadequate over decades and now the council has pay as you go dollar set aside you have a fee that we' put in place that goes to residential streets and so we've got all these different Avenues of approach so to speak that attack this problem but it's still very low it's like a $10 million $12 million number as opposed to the $44 million number now we're getting better at that we've added more dollars and and then there's also been some Bond packages that y'all have approved where we have more Street projects and then we also have the 209 the 2022 bond package to be considered by the public which that number is growing and growing every day but things like what was presented today Vision zero whether it's no funding whether it's pay as you go dollars whether it's fees that are in place or whether it's Bond elections or whether it's just adding more dollars to the budget those are all the different ways that you can do that but it's it just costs more money and we have caught up a lot with a lot of the things that weren't done but as you can see as you know as you've heard as you've stated we do need to do more and yes uh mayor protim the the funding for all of these things to be done in a way that should be done uh at a higher level we're not quite there yet but we're making progress and we've gotten better at it but I'll let staff respond but I did just want to remind Council kind of the the the the big budget discussion we've had in the past about the total cost of maintaining the streets and what that is and it's significant and that's not even getting into reconstructing streets which is a lot more expensive I I I'll tackle the first question I'll pass a little richer on the striping but with regards to the streets that are in the program um they're actively funded you know this data is going to really support us addressing these uh intersections and the same way that we go through to upgrade all the Ada Rams when we go through through resurfacing we we make sure all the sidewalks are updated to Ada standards you know we're going to use this data to cross reference and and is if we're targeting or if we're addressing one of these intersections that we know needs improvements it really makes sense that we're there and addressing the intersections as part of those those projects as we move forward um especially when we do reconstruction and resurfacing that's that's got to be key for that and and we'll make sure that we incorporate that into it uh just like we do any other code requirements uh Richard on the striping yeah uh represent squ SP you are correct one of the things that happens with these thermoplastic markings is they tend to get breake dust on them they'll get asphalt dust on them and they can get dirty and they can get hard to see after a while and and that is a problem that we have sometimes after it rains they they show up a lot better but that's not our excuse I just want to let you know even if we've just striped something within a matter of months it it it's possible to see that just because of how dirty they can get but you already have taken an action to help us substantially in the direction of striping and that's that within the last budget there was an allocation for us to purchase a thermoplastic striping unit and what we did was we got creative our our group Andre Rico and his team over in traffic uh infrastructure were able to come up with an opportunity to purchase not one but two thermoplastic trailers um with the money that was out allocated to us and with those two thermoplastic trailers we now have two additional tools to utilize for Lane lines and markings Citywide now we don't have full Crews for all of them but let me tell you what will work to our advantage primarily we're using our thermoplastic traffing machine which is a very complex uh piece of equipment and it it breaks a lot it it falls and disrepair far too often and we spend a lot of money on it so we had to find a smarter way of getting around uh of getting this task done when when Andre found the trailered units we realized we're we're giving up all the problems that we had with the chassis and the drivetrains so we purchased those and we're in the process of getting them a tag and titled so we can get them out on the street but we're anticipating that will significantly improve our ability to to cover more areas throughout the city now we're still using the primary uh thermoplastic striping machine because it is our best tool but when that is down we've had times in the past where it broke down we and we lost it for a month during striping season the last thing we can do during striping season is lose the ability to stripe so now we have two additional units that we'll be putting on the street in addition to that unit so that has put us in an opportunity to very much limit our downtime due to equipment issues and it's also put us an opportunity to work more than one striping program more than one striping team at the same time so these are tools that you've given us in our budget already that are helping us and the only thing I would add to that we also have a third option we utilize which is contracts like Sam mentioned in our resurfacing uh contracts and in our reconstruction contracts um we do contract this workout as well sometimes when we fall behind and we need a little help catching up we like we are doing it right now uh we will contract with one of the local firms and have a help us catch up on the west side on Westwind and Red Road a lot of stripping was done over the weekend by a contractor that we utilize for this purpose so those are basically the the the the three primary tools we have is our equipment our employees are the equipment that you've helped us acquire in the last year as opposed to using third party contracts and do we have an idea roughly speaking how what the sort of um cycle is for getting a street like Red Road for example you're you're absolutely right I was I was there I saw it it got restriped over the weekend mazeltov congratulations everyone who helped a hand to making that restriping happing um but when would be the next time roughly speaking that Red Road would be restriped again sir the the material you usually will last about two years and if we're lucky we'll be able to stretch it a little bit longer um but right now we're looking at very likely a 2-year period and we're hoping that material will last a little bit longer but we're going to be watching it closely and if it gets faded out we have tools to get on it faster now okay so essentially we we'll be watching it closely but we're hoping to get at least two years out of material and so just to wrap up again back to that sort of second point that that Sam brought brought up we we do have our list of I guess top 20 or top 10 most traveled arterials we're update we you know in our part of our our 22 budget we've updated our PCI study as well um I do think with um what we're hearing from constituents the feedback we got from the capital Improvement survey as well I really think we need to be looking at some of those heavily trafficked arterials into looking at a resurfacing or other improvements I just think it would be a shame to go and and do these intersection improvements and have people and residents question well you went and did that on wrestler and red but what about the area between Westwind and wrestler on Red Road as well why didn't you all resurface that or fix it up so I just think that's something we should think about too is look at the intersection but also look holistically at some of our most traveled arterials um perhaps as part of our bond package for 22 if it goes through mayor that's it thank you representative Mard thank you very much mayor uh Miss Hannah congratulations on your marriage thank you very much for you've done for us in the city of El Paso the citizens we owe you a debt of gratitude so appreciate that very much Mr Bristol and your team thank you very much for this presentation the partnership with the University of Texas at El Paso great job on that uh we will go to slide 1616 I know on tier three you mentioned roundabouts I can tell you um there are a few roundabouts in District 4 and uh the feedback that I've always gotten that I'm not saying they don't work but the the citizens just do not feel comfortable driving in them operating them you know there's still some feedback negative feedback on that the other thing I would like to add is that in any type of U traffic management there's three e e is an Edward of course right now we're talking about engineering the other two being education and the third one being enforcement so I don't see anything about necessarily education and I don't see anything about enforcement I think taking all three of them in components together uh the results and the reduction of fatalities would be a lot better um the education component for the citizens and yes I know we probably all took a driver's head course back in the day but um you know I know ARP does certain work for senior drivers and everything else like that but we do need an education component on this I do believe and I would um you know entertain a motion to have some type of an education component added to this I don't know if anyone would like to second that represent melar I think that's a great point and and one in which I think that we shortened this presentation to just the vision zero concept but we've made um different uh presentations on marketing compliance uh education programs that we have as as well as just a an onslaught of all the different programs we have to attack safety we can bring that back so we can be more comprehensive perhaps I can add go ahead go ahead Sam yeah if I can add um represent this this is uh specific to the intersection safety Improvement you know item 46 you will be considering division zero program that's going to be really the umbrella of all these programs to include programs like ntmp the quy fatality analysis A lot of the traffic um uh division that PD has with the education videos that they have all that's going to fall under the vision zero and the strategy that will include the safety programs will come out of that contract that you'll be considering later today as well so again this is specific to intersection safety improvements do not disagree with you the education piece is very key uh and that's something that will come through with the the Public Partnerships that are going to be built through the vision zero initiative under the contract that you be consider under item 46 and we'll be happy to bring back a full comprehensive presentation later as well on all the programs as the city manager stated as well so desired as as yall saw Sam was very um ready to talk about that slide talk about the things because I think that's a great Point Mr Mullen not you bring up the other thing I would talk about is that eight years ago we didn't have a traffic division for Police Department it wouldn't stood back up because of the numbers now we have that back up to the enforcement to your point sir so that could be added also to this slide into the more comprehensive report that we can come back and present okay and thank you uh both city manager and Mr Rodriguez appreciate that I'll withdraw that motion right now and we look forward to something more comprehensive in the future but thank you appreciate that very much thankk you R bernandez thank you mayor um just uh wanted to bid uh Mrs Williams farewell and and thank you for her Public Service um and for her um the person who will take over her role I I just wanted to um to welcome whoever that person is but also to to show my support not only to Vision zero but to our the efforts with other stakeholders like the complete streets Coalition um something that I know members of council feel very strongly about um but I'm very proud um of the work that and the partnership that you all have with um UTP and other stakeholders and and so we can't do more for traffic improvements we this is really uh the fundamentals of of a lot of the concerns of our community um we don't talk about it enough uh but know that it is a very important to to city council to see that we have safe streets um that we are buying for and trying to to ensure that no pedestrian or uh persons are are killed in vehicular traffic accidents but um so this work is going to save lives and so I thank you for your service again Mrs Williams and and we look forward to working with uh your successor thank you representative I appreciate that it's been an honor think that's it m p that brings us to item number 26 on the agenda and this is a presentation on community health so this you might be on mute uh Mario no he's right here he's coming up well there he is you're on mute Mario very good sir good afternoon mayor and Council good afternoon chief he is one that show us how skinny he's gotten you can't tell when we can't tell how skinny you got when you're I think he's gotten muscular mayor both of you thank you so today's presentation's on uh Community Health and the transformation we've seen since the onset of uh covid-19 I want to start off by recapping a presentation that Miss Angela MOA presented in August of 2021 and that was focusing on how have continued to deliver those exceptional Services whether it be our immunizations our Pediatric Dental our TB or Wick or even our hi prevention and services and how covid-19 changed our approach and how we're no longer just focused on an individual Illness but we're focused on the overall well-being of our community and that focuses on a collaboration and partnership so something I'm trying to convey or that we're planning on conveying in this presentation is the alignment of Public Health with OEM and the fire department the value it added to the community and the how the the alignment coupled with the CFT that was created early on is what allowed us to focus on the response and now the long-term recovery from the pandemic as you've probably seen in recent studies being published about public health around the nation pretty much around the globe there's four main areas that that was highlighted during this pandemic for most public health departments and that was Staffing funding political influence and information technology and and so what we did with early on in that alignment what we did with the support that we gave as an organization is what we didn't fall victim to those same four items this slide right here this is showing us how our demographics was one of the main reasons the virus had such an impact on our community when we look at this slide we can see that Spike we saw in the late fall of 2020 and how it coupled with high hospitalizations and numerous fatalities it was that Spike that we saw that had us focus on our successful vaccination campaign and how we did that roll out and it was everything we did from the that early year 2020 we our uh influenza campaign how we used that as our platform to test our new system that we we upd we upgraded for registration for vaccines that was allow us to try it before the vaccines were even available so it was a lot had its own difficulties but it was a lot more seamless for us that we'd had an opportunity to try already here this is a the next couple of sides are going to show how our vaccination efforts affected the spread of the virus and so while we did still see a spike you know with the omnicron virus it was our her immunity and the fact that we were able to get so many people vaccinated that kept this Spike from over inating our hospitals and causing large fatalities this slide right here is speaks again to Our Success we've had with in our coordinated push for vaccines and how we were one of the first to reach her immunity looking at this slide and how I discussed a little bit earlier on on how vaccinations possibly affected our hospitalization rates here's where you can see how our vaccinations were able to keep those hospitalizations down so these are some of the results we have for our community so whether it was our EP strong website we got our future radio award from the center of digital government or the Rockefeller foundation and CDC recognized as one of the best in the nation for vaccine rollout it was that commitment that the alignment and that CFT team provided the organization as I talked about that that alignment and we've brought it up several times but it really is key and how that and the creation of that CFT allowed us to be successful in what we did our regional leadership on threats risks and Hazards and so we we took advantage of what we had set up way before the pandemic our communities of Excellence partners and all the partners that we do work with within the city or the office of emergency management and so we set up I mean at the onset they were they were very frequent to weekly to monthly meetings we still continue to meet to make sure that we're all addressing it in the same directions that includes our our school districts hospitals other government entities work very closely with the county throughout this pandemic and the response and our NGS we we continue to as we did from the onset is use data to drive our decision making and that was critical into a lot of the success we saw and again those Community Partnerships and our community Excellence Partners really was what made it successful looking at the results for the community on another slide here you know we see that we we did get best practice on incron integrated and synchronized response between Health fire and Emergency Management that was recognized early on in the pandemic I think it was the summer of 2020 we were called to present to the vice president and several people from from h HS and it was they were wanting to know how we were doing it how were we able to get the data how were we able to start setting up our dashboard and get things moving so quickly and it was that uh integration that we did we also received a lot of recognition for our megasite covid testings while it had its fair share of problems we used our our toolbox that we have here within the city and we used lean6 sigma and all the resources we have so it wasn't just Public Health fire department it was all 6,000 plus employees working towards a common goal some of the Strategic the the next few slides are going to cover our strategic opportunities and these are these are opportunities that we we started working on during the pandemic we've really taken advantage of them and it's also what we want to focus on going forward for public health our mobile Integrated Health programs so that's our mih teams we were we were you all supported and we staffed six mobile Integrated Health teams that they housed within the fire department it's paramedics and EMTs they're assigned to units and they they are the ones who were out in the Forefront so they were the ones that were that are going out and doing they conduct home testing home vaccinations they're po they're focusing on our high-risk populations going into the the centers for the for the elderly our assisted living facilities and Facilities like that they're critical first link to Emergen care from emergent care to social services so when we look at that MH mih team and how we set it up it's it's a three- tier system and so tier one was focusing on health screenings education and vaccinations so that's what we've been doing tier two is we're going to start to look at we've already been running all the data we and we're starting to kick off into this area but it's looking at our 911 high frequency CER reductions and so what that is is we have a lot of people in our community who lack of of having health care they're using the 911 system as their basic day-to-day needs so these are individuals who called 911 more than four times a month and so there's thousands of them this is where the mih team is going to go and help them connect them to the Social Services or or mental health services anything they might need to assist that effort and tier three is to reduce that 30-day high-risk hospitalization readmission so there's a strong push from from the federal level throughout the hospital system that insurances are not wanting to pay if somebody's readmitted into a hospital within 30 days from something they got released from and so what that is is they want to make sure that patients are receiving the quality care that that they get that that they said they were getting and that they're not returning so that we're following up with after care making sure they have their medications that they get their rehab in so that they're not put right back into the system again for lack of service investment in infrastructure as we've talked about before we've invested heavily in in the Department of Public Health from our new laboratory which is uh allowed us to expand our services diabetes hepatitis C testing is now done inhouse and we're also able to integrate our diabetes testing into a clinical setting so that new facility on Railroad has both the laboratory and uh a clinic and with the arpa presentation coming up in the next couple of weeks that's part of the proposed phase one for dph relocation as well so looking at those care the clinics we bought through Caris funding those were bought originally and they were covid-19 response clinics what we're trying what we're doing at this point is we're transitioning them into Community clinics and so that that being said is not specific to co you can go for testing you can still go for vacc vaccinations for Co but now we want to offer all of our vaccinations there we want to expand our services to make it more user friendly for our community and we also want to with that proposal coming up we also want to talk about the presence of leaving a presence having a clinic remain in the MCA area so we don't take any services from those who already have it at the El Paso Drive location Community needs assessment and Community Health Improvement plan so I'm talking about what we're changing for the future but we really need to stop and go back and do a refresh we know that there's there's been other community needs assessments performed but we want to capture what it looks like post pandemic so that's actually going to be kicked off here in the next couple of months we'll be meeting with certain with uh numerous stakeholders from all over the community to make sure that we're capturing what our community needs in Public Health Community Partnerships we've talked a lot about this I talked about our communities of Excellence but it's how we how we go forward and how we continue to provide the services to our community we want to make sure that we maintain that that that strong connection with emergent healthare Network the pass of the nor the health Foundation all the universities and school districts and hospitals alike our Health Data sharing that was one of the main areas that I talked about with that was proven Across the Nation across the globe where they didn't have the strength in their information technology systems so we did early on is we we we put our data teams together from City it to fire it and and we we were able to set up that dashboard and so all that data is created we utilize multiple systems to make sure we can put out in real time when we look at the data exchange or and data management that's huge the public health information Exchange in our community is one of the best in the Nations when we had covid hit us not all the hospitals were signed up onto that program and so Gathering data to report out on a daily weekly basis was very difficult and timec consuming you'd have to call the hospitals most communities are still operating like that today we were lucky to get all of our Hospital systems on board our our Department of Public Health all of our vaccination sites and Clinics and so that's what allowed us to track those daily numbers and to make sure we had up-to-date information for not only you but our community at large looking at our mental health initiatives AR uh we want to focus on 911 Communications and public health as well so we we're our our plan is to embed mental health professionals at the 911 Center we're also looking at moving the suicide Crisis Line the 988 number into the center as well and what this is going to do is this is going to allow us to better serve the community by having those subject matter experts in the call center to handle the calls from the onset this way we can determine what are the best resources to send whether it's PD's CIT team whether it's one of the Mi teams or whether it's emergence healthc care or even a 911 ambulance that responds et3 program that's a huge program it includes mental health component for Medicaid Part B patients to be transported to ehn facilities what does that mean historically most cities in Texas in the country can only transport patients on emergency basis to an ER system we've signed up into the et3 program we're one of the we're one of the ones piloting out the program and so what that allows us to do is it partners with like ehn and so now when we have those patients that that need that need eer ENT care but it's not of a medical nature it's more of the the mental health nature we can transport them directly there where previously we had to transport them to a hospital they did their mandatory stay there before they can get transferred to the proper facility so this is cutting out that time lag and it's making sure our community can get the services they need in a more timely fashion this slide right here is on our on our financial stability and uh our staffing investment and so when we look at this you know I want to highlight that we brought in 71 additional positions to Public Health this is this is since the onset of the pandemic this is through Gant funding other positions we funded but these are 71 new positions not including the 323 we brought on through cares for our covid response so this doesn't include our Co operators that's that's the investment in the Pro in the program that 17.7 million in new grant funding that's since the onset of co9 that's additional dollars on top of their budget these are dollars that we're going to invest into the community and so once we get that needs assessment completed and we start going forward from there we'll be able to invest in the proper directions those four new buildings those were brought with car's fundings I talked about it earlier how we're going to be transitioning those covid clinics into Community allpurpose clinics and the arpa funding is what's what we talked about also as well that's going to be coming back so we can do complete the move for Public Health Department oops so to wrap it up what we what we saw no sorry we saw what Co did to our community and we know that it was caused by our demographics and so we want to change what how we are doing it we want to make a positive change in our health by focusing by focusing on the health and well-being of our community we want to have that more sustainable healthy Community we want to increase accessibility to vaccinations and preventive services we want to make sure we keep that integrated approach to dis disease and injury prevention all that while being response ready and resilient for any disaster or emergency that comes our way that concludes my presentation if you have any questions thank you Chief uh no I think uh it's um very evident to see that uh all these things that we do is to protect our community and protect our citizens and you know even when Co back in 2020 first started that there was some things that were happening that needed the change and how we were able to adapt and how we were able to work with UMC and the county and and and continue to to get best practice within ourselves and even look somewhere else and recognized by the Rockefeller foundation for the great work that was done but this presentation really shows how we were able to adapt to probably some of the worst situations that you could have ever imagined to be the worst city in the Nation to be where we're at today where we saw this morning the chambers uh was full I don't I didn't see the fire department here making sure we were within compliance but uh no it uh it had a lot to do with the great work you all had done that we had the capabilities of doing that and honoring these young cheerleaders the basketball team and all other organizations that were here because of this presentation this really capped what we've been doing but one of the things I do want to tell people that we should not let our guard down at any time that you know make sure we understand our surroundings continue to sanitize your hands wear your mask when you feel necessary and we'll continue to see these type of numbers and these type of results so with that I want to thank you your staff and and the great leadership Mr Gonzalez again I know I thank you every week but uh I think it's important that we do because this has been very important and uh we have taken the health of Our Community First and it shows so thank you anyone else represented Ono hi Chief thank you so much um sorry I was like writing a note and I didn't want to stop so I didn't forget my thought um I'm really excited to see the the mental health in the 911 I was going to submit it again this year as a budget request but looks like I don't have to so I really appreciate you um I know that that didn't have anything to do with me I know there's a lot of partners that are working on that that process and so um I just I appreciate it I appreciate the work and the collaboration youall are doing um you know a lot of these things uh they they take trusting other people to come into the system that you have and that you you know so well um and even that is just it's a big win right it's really hard to to trust people to allow them and redo an entire system that you do so thank you for that uh I am excited to hear that you guys have an arpa presentation coming up I want to thank you for giving this presentation I know you and I had a conversation about arpa funding and kind of understanding where the health department is so I I'm glad that this is kind of a a first step uh to that and I I know I'll have a lot more questions once we get there this gave me a lot of information um one question I do have is I don't know if you have off of the top of your presentation head um notes whatever uh what the total uh expenditures for the health department uh including and not including uh covid relief were relief is the right correct word I do not that's okay if you'll get those to me um I can just roll them into questions uh with the other presentation I think again I just I want to appreciate you for for being willing to give a presentation on both this and arpa um this is a lot of information for me to to have already gone over but to know that there are going to going to be follow-up information I have a lot of questions ready for you so thank you so much Chief I appreciate it thank you may mayor if I may uh just to add to what the chief talked about I wanted to reiterate how the reason why that partnership works so well that that you mentioned you know we did a lot of work in 2018 we brought all the agencies together on the communes of Excellence initiative however is one thing to bring folks together it's another thing to kind of act out a lot of those those Partnerships and what I mean by that is we ended up giving $2 million of car's funding to UMC directly and nobody asked us I think I think you were you were either here or on the tail end of that uh I I think you may may have been on the tail end of that but if you remember uh we also had a follow-up meeting with them on some additional requests that they had but that 2 million we gave came without them even requesting it and I know that was something that Mario and Robert cortinez and I and and and the colonel here Carrie we all kind of talked through that and we also consulted with the city attorney and that was just a very um I think uh the right thing to do because it was a community need and it was something that really kind of uh demonstrated the type of partnership that we had with Jacobs and thron and UMC and the type of work that was done so that that that's a a personification of of kind of what he presented to you today and it was a community initiative it wasn't just us uh but we did bring all the partners together and we did also fund and the council uh was aware of that so those are the kinds of things that were able to get done in order to achieve these kind of results thank you sir representative ernandes you're on mute there you go back on mute sorry it's I have a a strong delay um Mr uh Chief dioo thank you for that presentation um I may have missed it but regarding the community needs ass assessment which is something I'm I've advocated for I'm very happy that um it's moving forward is there a is there um a timeline as to when um that assessment will be completed so we're looking at kicking it off here really soon I anticipate it being completed by fall of this year and so we've got a rather quick turnaround time but we're just wanting to make sure that there's a lot of people there's over 40 stakeholders involved we want to make sure it fits everyone's calendar so we can get the full support and input from everybody and you're engaging with the uh third party yes yes ma'am okay thank you for that uh recap it's it's almost um like it almost feels like it was just yesterday but um I'm very proud of the response from the city of El Paso and under your leadership joso and thank you for your service to our community thank you and with that thank you Chief and um thank you for being here thank you that brings us to item number 29 on the agenda and this is the introduction of an ordinance second there's a motion made by representative Riva seconded by representative Sano to approve item 29 on that motion call for the vote representative Hernandez yes thank you in in the voting session the motion passes unanimously Representatives shortz Anda not present I think you should kep called to the public and it new we Tak I thought it was boba time there for a minute the next item is number 30 and this is discussion and action on the award of solicitation 2022 d007 R Collection services for delinquent fines and fees Municipal Court to delado aosta Spencer lme Berger and PES LP second a motion in a second I'm sorry good afternoon this is Norma Jimenez with puras and strategy sourcing department and we would like to delete this item what the one item 30 staff is asking delete 30 motion to delete delete there's a motion made by representative salido seconded by representative anelo to delete the item than you on that MO call for the vote if you're in teams will you please make sure your microphone is on mute so to reduce any background noise please and there's no appointments here if you're in teams please mute we have aot mic representative ernandez I think he was get a gallon of milk some Albert representative herandez this is to delete representative ernandez I'm not sure if you can hear us this is a vote on item 30 to delete I can hear you now um sorry if you were if you were speaking earlier I did not hear you but the answer is yes thank you and the voting session the motion passes unanimously representative lisara not present the next item is number 31 and this is discussion and action on the award of solicitation 20220 337 fire station 19 building renovations to D dantex general contractor's Inc there's a motion made by representative Riva seconded by representative molinar to approve item 31 on that motion call for the vote representative Hernandez yes thank you and the voting session the motion passes unanimously representative Lara not present the next item is number 32 and this is discussion and action on the award of task order number 4 V-1 Leo canciller pool improvements for solicitation 2021-22 company LLC move there a motion made by mayor potim schine seconded by representative Anella to approve on that motion call for the vote voting session is open representative manelo thank you representative Hernandez yes thank you and the voting session the motion passes unanimously representative Lara not present the next item is number 33 this is discussion and action on the award of solicitation this is for the entire uh 2022 resurfacing plan Richard Bristol streets of Maintenance this is a an award to supplement what is not presently funded for the 2022 because we're already working on an active contract presently that that you've done a change order to so this will get us the remainder of the streets that we need to get done in the present assignment the present fiscal year and the change orders for the 8 million 7.9 no you approved a change order at city council a couple weeks ago with 3.3 million that's the other contract that we've been working on this year for the other part of the streets that were part of the 22 Street list that we're working on okay that's where I got this complete that list okay that's where I got confused because I knew we had taken that action thank you Richard yes ma'am with that we have a motion in a second yes mayor the voting session is open representative at Andes yes thank you and the voting session the motion passes unanimously representative Lara not present the next item is number 34 and this is a public hearing on an ordinance authorizing the issuance of City AL Paso Texas Municipal drainage utility system revenue refunding bonds series 2022a good afternoon mayor city council uran CFO for Al Paso water I believe uh we have already brief all the city council Representatives on this item so this is for the drainage utility and we're asking for your approval for uh authorizing us uh for the ordinance to do a $25.33 million not to exceed that amount for our line of credit that we have with Bank of America that the city council approved back in June 2018 and is for a five year contract so with this is strictly for CIP projects this line of credit that that uh that we have to repay is for uh CIP projects only and with this I'll turn it over to Maria orina from htop Securities do the presentation hold on one second M protm oh I was just going to make a motion to approve is there a second second second Motion in a second public do we have public comment yes may do public comment the first speaker is Miss Sharon bonart she will be followed by Richard bonard and it will need the Elmo please yes please okay this is new to me okay so there okay are we ready time okay uh yesterday I watched the presentation by Mr Baloo what piqued my interest was the proposed sale of storm water revenue bonds and the interrelated Northeast land transfer now to make a good decision about selling bonds and incurring more debt Council needs to have the whole story why approve why approve two $25 million in additional storm water debt from Bond sales while there is concurrent $14 million of unnecessary spending of the storm water utility in the Northeast land deal substituting borrowed dollars for Revenue dollars is incontable it is unnecessary spending because Covenant K which you all were familiar with is simply does not apply there was no third party as determined by our City attorney this is to repay already spent the money it is unnecessary spending goes if this unnecessary spending goes unchecked it's the citizens of El Paso who will pay the price think about the recent damage from flooding which occurred last August think about how much it cost to repair think about the expensive infrastructure that needed to be built to prevent future flooding bottom line our needs for storm water infrastructure and flood protection are greater than the income and borrowing capacity of the storm water utility for years to come there simply is no room to waste any funding hence if the PSB wants council's approval to sell more revenue bonds today the PSB should agree to stop the unnecessary spending of $14 million to get council's approval thank you thank you next speaker the next speaker is Richard bonart I don't see him here telephone he's by phone okay is he on phone yes he's in the internet good afternoon Dr bonart if you press star six you can unmute your telephone this this is to Richard bonard star six please to unmute your telephone I'm not sure if he's on if he's in the queue Mr bonart if you're in the qar 6 please to unmute your telephone I don't believe he's in the Q mayor I don't see him coming forward thank you and with that we have a motion in a second can we take the vote please yes mayor there was a motion made by rep mayor proam schwarzite seconded by representative Salo to approve item number 34 on that motion call for the vote representative ernandez yes thank you and the voting session the motion passes with six affirmative votes representative Rodriguez voting nay representative Lara not present the motion passes thank you the next item is number 35 I'm sorry 35 and 36 were postponed for two weeks that brings us to item number 37 and this is a public hearing on an Ordnance granting special permit to allow for a crematorium at 1755 Sosa Road move to approve there's a motion made by representative Rodriguez seconded by representative molard to approve on that motion call for the vote Representative ernandez no and the voting session and the motion passes with five affirmative votes representatives anelo and ernandez voting nay representative Liara not present and the remainder of council voting I the motion passes the next item is number 38 and this is a public hearing on an ordance amending various sections of title 19 to adopt the El Paso Street design manual to update reference references to the design standards for construction to the street design manual M approve there's a motion made by representative mayor protim Schwarz second by representative anelo to approve item 38 on that motion call for the vote representative Hernandez yes thank you you in the voting session the motion passes unanimously representative Lara not present the next item is number 39 this is a public hearing on an ordinance amending the 2025 proposed thorough Fair system as incorporated into plan Al Paso there's a motion made by mayor potim shortz spine seconded by representative anelo to approve item 39 on that motion call for the vote I just have a point of clarification Miss pran um for staff does this um does this Hing your button please sir I pressed my button it's not working again there you go there can you see it there you go no Shi okay now that I've pressed the button thank you mayor um I just have a question for staff and by staff I mean Wen Rodriguez um does this delete all the roads that would have been proposed within the 1100 Acres of the lost dog tourist 12 area yes repent uh those those Thor fars are deleted from this uh Amendment to the major thare plan so this action here today would delete those proposed extensions thank you again Mr Rodriguez and all the work that you do for our city thank you represent for M appreciate that thank you with that we have a motion in a second yes mayor there is a vote Motion in a second to approve item 39 the voting session is open representative Hernandez yes thank you and the voting session the motion passes unanimously representative Lara not present the next item is number 40 and this is a public hearing on an ordinance amending ordinance 01469 merging the membership of the Foster grandparent program advisory Council and the retired and Senior volunteer program advisory Council into the americ cor senior advisory Council motion approve second there's a motion made by representative molar seconded by representative salido to approve item 40 on that motion call for the vote representative ernandez yes thank you and the voting session the motion passes unanimously representative Liara not present the next item is number 41 and this is discussion and action that the city manager be authorized to sign a Professional Services agreement for the project known as feasibility study for the multi-purpose performing arts and entertainment center to M Arthur gansler and Associates Inc move to approve second representative Rodriguez thank you thank you Sam are you on the call yes representative okay so I have a question about the architect gendler um I was looking at them and on their website I mean it doesn't even let me go to their website says there's an error um I'm trying to see what kind of work they've done in the past in regards to historical preservation and incorporating existing buildings and I couldn't find anything certainly um Danielle you can augment my response if you don't mind um but the team that has submitted includes local Architects um that have local knowledge of our architecture um as well as Gensler is a worldwide company that have done as part of their SQ their statements and qualifications that they submitted included experience on historic Rehabilitation and incorporation and entertainment districts around the world um and made them the most qualified U that we're representing presenting to you as a recommendation anything else that you can think of danela highight the experience no Sam that that is accurate representative we could provide um additional precedent studies if you would like but they they do have ample experience in exactly what Sam said um development of historic preservation and and uh the creation of entertainment districts incorporating historic architecture okay but do you have any preceden that I could look up like right now off the top of your head give me a minute I'll tell you okay thank you representative this is Jerry Deo you can access the Gensler website just by typing in Gensler not M Arthur M Arthur is your official name thank you representative so one of their projects is in Nashville Tennessee they did the fifth and Broadway historic Entertainment District um that was an entire Redevelopment of a historic district uh into an entertainment um destination District okay so that was included in their soq so I got I got in their I got into their website and now I can't see that project we'd be happy to share theq with you a representative I can send it over can we can we share it on the the Microsoft team screen that example of the Nashville district certainly Daniel if you want me to pull it up Sir der if you have it available go ahead can you see it Jerry I think I found it yes I just noticed that so I I'll get out let me blow it up a little bit so you can see um the text a little bit better so you can see that this was recently completed project in 2021 um it's mixed use it's a public and private partnership it's also for music and entertainment and it did Revitalize you could see an area that's considered part of the historic district in Nashville Tennessee okay and so sorry I'm just barely looking at the website also um is there anything else that they've done in terms of multi-purpose centers yes Daniela there are other projects in theq that indicate multi-purpose centers no there's um yes and I could walk you through maybe a few of them but they did have I think the most comprehensive collection of um work that has been completed that includes not just um entertainment but sports venues uh mixed use and really taking a look or I should say great consideration for the urban context and Community Building or placemaking in all of their projects which is one of the reasons um they were the highest scored out of the offers that submitted um in soq and so I'm going through them you know um fairly quickly so you can you know get an idea of the different kinds of renovation projects um as well as um as Sam mentioned earlier they do have local Architects on their team um that are going to focus specifically on the feasibility of adaptive reuse of the historic potentially historic structures within the site um and so they're going to be looking very closely at um just what the best way of incorporating those structures into the project will be to again give a very um successful project that tells uh a very unique and local um story about El Paso's culture and firm that's working on our project where are they at Gensler it this uh this particular office is dallis the local firm that's looking at the historic preservation component is countrymen in get country men and Co they from Paso is that what you're saying yeah yes ma'am they're local yes exactly and so and um they have actually done pretty extensive adaptive reuse uh specifically downtown and they're uh very knowledgeable about not just our local culture um but the architectural history and Heritage um and also the the kind of sense of yeah that was the hot mic I think oh um excuse me yes though so the the the local Architects do have I think a very vast knowledge of again our architectural and historic Heritage as it applies to downtown and how it connect city council meeting the urban context I think that's Mr bonart okay so Daniela um have has the office from G from Dallas already been told passo or not yet so actually that office has has worked on other projects in El Paso so they are very familiar with our city they're very familiar with our unique not only weather conditions um but the geographical um uniqueness of our downtown uptown area and how that is connected to the border and so we feel very confident that they bring a lot of knowledge and experience to the table not just from a project standpoint but also from their extensive experience in previous projects here in Al Paso okay and are any of the those projects City projects or are they all private this would be the first contract that we would have with gor as an architect but they have I do remember seeing their name actually on the westart tower um of course this is a this is a very big Architecture Firm and they they have different uh business units that address different types of projects such as office space they have obviously the commercial side and then they have the folks that work on entertainment and and uh these type of facilities that that are being contracted today okay we can do the presentation uh representative if You' like to see how we address the scope based on the direction that we received on November 8th help thank you certainly uh if it can bring up the presentation the bring it up Sam I have it ready I'll bring it right up great okay so let me walk you through um kind of the timeline for the RFQ and if at any point anyone has any questions please feel free to stop me so the request for the RFQ came as a result of the November 9th Council directive in which Council directed staff to um hire Consultants uh or a consultant team such as Architects Urban designers or Engineers to include um a and as part of a larger feasibility study economic impact analysis programming operations uh project concept partnership opportunities public part public private partnership specifications as well as a financial model including Capital cost and operating cost and all of these as part of the feasibility study were to also look at uh incorporating the preservation of historic buildings and how to preserve historic character as well as the recommendations for safeguarding damaged buildings um after or following the November 9th Council directive the RFQ was officially issued on January 14th and it covered not just the items um listed uh but specifically for the site that you see on the right side in February 8th once the solicitation closed we received 10 submitt all offers did have as part of their team um local professionals the highest scored um consultant is the gunler team so they are the lead but their team is also comprised of several other Consultants including CSL Legends Countryman and Co Walter P Moore mikar Ryder L buckel Limited in the next few slides I'm going to walk you through a very detailed uh scope of work that they are proposing for the project to begin this is an overview of the process and approach for the project you'll see that they're taking the three major components which is the market and economic assessment the site and program Urban Design master plan as well as the architectural structural and historic assessment as three concurrent activities that will be developed over the duration of the project spread out among five work sessions and four major phases including um pre-design schematic design design development and final design uh the following slides we'll go through each of these deliverables um the first one being the market and economic assessment which is the larger umbrella of all the deliverables and it really speaks to the identified deliverables in the council directive that are the economic impact analysis the financial model and public private partnership specifications this is where the team is going to look at confirming um the project goals and objectives they're going to look at previous pertinent studies as well as provide the city with detailed case studies of other recently built Arenas um that have uh similar project goals this will help us look at operation models uh project costs and really best practices and Lessons Learned in addition to this you're going to give us an assessment of the local market conditions both for short-term and long-term Market potential they're going to conduct interviews with promoters for various events including sporting events uh concerts trade shows family shows Etc this is going to help the team then uh bring forward recommendations for what some of that program could look like uh part of that will include what a seating capacity and what that could be configured to look like um the kind of supporting programming that needs to go in such as the merchandise concessions restrooms but also outside of the immediate footprint which might be Hospitality area storage and parking um along with the recommendations they're going to develop detailed Financial projections and they're going to give us estimates on what the fiscal impacts of these recommendations can be they're going to develop various funding models for the city to consider and all of this will be wrapped up into a summary report that will contain all of the research analysis projections and recommendations all of this will tie into um a a regional market that the project could fit into and all of that to say that um they're going to really bring all of those components into the reimagining of a one-use facility into a multi-use site development that looks at incorporating not only the existing environment but also the use of indoor and outdoor spaces so they could really showcase and celebrate El Paso's culture local conditions and sense of place looking more closely at the five work sessions that I mentioned earlier this is where the G team is going to work very closely with the city to uh look at the economic findings um the analysis is of not only the potential program but where along the site they can be placed what the venue requirements will look like um what the district development can look like which will be crucial to developing an economic and branding strategy they're going to look at the feasibility of the buildings um and how they tie into the open space options um Community engagement is going to be a very large part of the work sessions and some key Logistics that include traffic and Transit plan as well as infrastructure framework the next item in the scope is going to be zoning building code and accessibility compliance this is to directly address the programming operations um safeguarding damage buildings and really overall Code Compliance and coordination not just with uh City departments but also local utilities then we have historic preservation and adaptive reuse that is going to directly address the incorporation of the buildings within the site of potential adaptive reuse and trying to preserve the historic character and this is where the team is really going to leverage their cultural and historical knowledge um to help the project develop uh a brand and uh a sense of identity for the project they're going to work collaboratively to really find feasible Solutions again for the Adaptive reuse of the existing um buildings there's the cost estimate component that will address the capital cost and operating costs as well as partnership opportunities and there will be three cost estimates that will be delivered at three major Milestones these are schema design phase design development and the final design phase and last uh but very importantly is the community engagement strategy the team is proposing a combination of both hybrid meetings and a really robust online presence so that um in a series of four phases um there will be stakeholder interviews and steering committee work sessions that will take place in a hybrid environment uh but there will be ongoing Community member surveys and sessions and presentations to the community so that we're always not only getting their feedback but validating some of the proposed recommendations from the team and last I'll review very quickly the project schedule and the cost this is um the proposed schedule and so if approved and um the team would commence in May that means that within seven and a half months then the project would come to completion with the first phase being wrapped up in mid June the schematic design phase which follows would be wrapped up in mid August followed by the design development which would be completed in early December and the final design phase which would include um the formal final presentation cost estimates and all the final document submissions would be in mid January of 2023 here you see the cost of services have been broken down into large um deliverables or main deliverable areas and so for all of the services we're looking at 755,000 60661 um with additional expenses of$ 43,000 for a total cost of $798,000 8,661 thank you for that Rodriguez are you U um just looking at the last um slide here Daniela expenses of 43,000 what is that for so those expenses cover the travel um as well as the community engagement portion that's going to include those hybrid meetings um and um the kind of materials that they're going to bring forward for that as well okay and the hybrid meetings um they're going to be online and in person right or just correct okay okay all right that is all thank you thank you represent lriz representative nello followed by mayor proam thanks um thanks anel so I'm familiar with gendler uh I think it's great that they want to do a project in El Paso um however I'm not going to support this um my big concern is the words adaptive reuse uh I wish that we had looked at an architectural company uh that has a conservation Arch which I know there are very few in this country um but I think that that would have been more beneficial to I think what myself and some other Representatives have talked about in historic preservation uh I also just I don't support building an arena and so I don't uh see spending money to understand how many seats it needs uh or how you could adaptively reuse buildings that I think should be um preserved and protected so I will not be supporting this today thank you thank you representative Velo representative May poam George followed by represent Mard thank you thank you Sam and Danielle and the rest of the team there um this is exciting day um really quick so the funding source for this would be coming from the 2012 quality life Bond projects that is correct I'm May Pro 10 the funding will be a project uh funding as this will go to drive um potentially the the full development of the project so I I can speak for the 70 72% of all pass owns who approved this project back in 2012 that I'm very excited to see us spending money um from this Bond project for this project not on lawyers but on design a design firm and Architects that are willing to get this project done we get a sense of what it costs in today's dollars and we can move forward with a design that hopefully can be uh beneficial to multiple sides and perspectives of this project um I think when we talk about historic preservation adaptive reuse we can look at projects like the Union Depot or train station which is a great example of adaptive reuse would would Mr Casada you're our Chief Architect for for City yes she is she is our chief okay so she's our Chief Architect would you consider the Union Depot building to be an example of adaptive reuse absolutely sir not only does it you know currently serve its original purpose but it also houses the Texas Tech School of Architecture which was not what a function that was originally meant for the design of the building but it fits there beautifully and it's also an example of a project that's also historic preservation as well keeping the uh uh Burnham design train station intact correct correct great so I'm looking forward to supporting this project to coming up with uh a great contemporary design that can incorporate a space for meeting that can um complement our Convention Center campus um that can hopefully um incorporate some of the existing structures there paying attention to the history and culture and identity of our community and of downtown as well um and it seems that Gensler is exactly the kind of firm that we had envisioned back in 2015 and probably since 2012 when this was first brought up to voters and approved uh Gensler is a firm that's existed since 1965 in over 50 locations in 1 two 3 4 four different continents um with over 5,500 employees on I'm sure that with their expertise that they have numerous examples many of which you haven't shown that can do the kind of project here incorporating a multi-purpose Center space incorporating historic preservation and adaptive reuse with existing structures into something that can really Elevate all the success that we're seeing and progress and momentum we're seeing in our downtown and our community again in 2015 when this project was being discussed and um looking at a possible design designed firm for the multi-purpose Center way back when we had five less hotels in our downtown than we do today the Cino Royale Hotel was a shell of itself The Plaza Hotel was completely in cobwebs en closed for decades my Courtyard was I think a closed down drive-thru Bank um the aoft hotel the uh Basset Tower which is again one of one of Henry tro um Art Deco Jewels was shuttered as well um and so we're seeing a very different downtown that this project is going to incorporate with a lot of momentum both from the public and private sector um and it seemed that this is really the appropriate time to continue to work with those negotiations um with some folks that are in the opposition and also to continue to move forward with this project with a great firm um for a great future on our community as well and so I'm very excited excited about this I'm very excited to be spending um the money from the 2012 Bond on the kind of project that we originally voted for not for an army of lawyers but for an army of Engineers uh designers that can go and create something and not try to to bring it down and so I'm really excited about supporting this this is a great day we'll be able to find these costs in 2022 we'll be able to figure out what it would cost so we can go aggressively after those public and private Partnerships and get this project done and continue the momentum in Al Paso thank you there may PO with that M PR can we take a vote he took us name off okay yes sir there is a motion made by mayor protm shpine seconded by representative Salo to approve item number 41 on that motion call for the vote voting session is open representative ernandez yes thank you in the voting session the motion passes with five affirmative votes Representatives anelo mol voting nay represent Lara not present the remainder of council voting I the motion passes that brings us to item number 43 and this is discussion and action on a resolution that the city manager be authorized to sign a Consulting Services agreement between the city of Al Paso and the Better Business Bureau of Al Paso motion approve second motion made by representative anelo seconded by representative Salo to approve on that motion call for the vote representative ernandes yes thank you and the voting session the motion passes unanimously representative lisara not present the next item is number 44 and this is discussion and action on the approval of an Eastman agreement between the AL Paso Electric Company and the City of Al Paso to provide electrical services to the addition of the West site library located at 125 belvadere Street there's a motion made by representative anelo seconded by representative Rea to approve item 44 on that motion call for the vote representative ernandes yes thank you in the voting session the motion passes unanimously representative leara not present the final item is number 45 this is discussion and action that the city manager or design be authorized to sign an agreement for Professional Services between the city of Al Paso and Alta planning and Design Inc for a project known as Vision zero action plan Consulting Services motion to approve there's a motion May representative Riva seconded by representative salido to approve item number 45 on that motion call for the vote voting session is open representative Sal thank you representative hernandz yes I got some thank you and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously that brings us to the end of the agenda second there's the motion and a second to adjourn all in favor I anyone opposed and the city council meeting for Tuesday August 26 2022 is adjourned at 4:29 p.m.