for e Adrian are you going to want to run still yeah e V I spe spe Dan are you ready ma'am good morning this is the meeting of the El EXC this is the meeting of the El Paso city council for Tuesday November 7 2023 it is is 9:03 a.m. present in presiding is Mayor liser also present in council chambers is Mayor protm anelo representative Hernandez alternate mayor Pro Molin representative salido and representative Canales representative Kennedy and Fiero are running late and representative Riva is joining us virtual but I don't see them representative Riva are you there so we'll mark him is running late and then we'll keep thank you ma'am and now if everyone please silence their electronic devices so it is not to disturb the meeting and rise for the invocation delivered by El Paso Rabbi El Paso Police Rabbi Levi Greenberg good morning sir Master of the Universe look favorably upon the honorable mayor The Honorable members of this Council and upon all of us gathered here this morning and bestow upon us all the joy of life good health and prosperity bless these people who have been chosen to make laws and decisions for the inhabitants of our city with wisdom and understanding and their Noble pursuit of justice and equality we live in turbulent times times of war and strife which although may be happening across the globe impact our conscience here as well a time when the land of Israel is called upon to defend its borders and protect its citizens and all of its inhabitants the current annual cycle of Bible study the Jewish world is currently learning the chapters about the life of Abraham the patriarch of the Jewish Nation who was promised by God that his descendants would receive the Holy Land as an eternal inheritance the sages explain that the Bible begins with the story of creation because the day would come when people would accuse the Jewish nation of stealing the holy land from others therefore the Bible sets down the premise that God is the Creator and master of the world and he alone chose to gift the holy land to the Jewish Nation almighty God help us be aware that although we may be physically distant from the battlefields we are all called upon to participate in the spiritual battle against evil by doing more acts of goodness and kindness our positive actions here in Al Paso will make a difference because every act of kindness generates a powerful light that banishes much darkness and will certainly eradicate this despicable Darkness we all abore as myones declared one positive Good Deed spoken word and even thought can tip the scales and bring Salvation to the entire world may we Merit very soon the Fulfillment of the biblical prophecy no Nation shall lift its sword against nation and they shall not know war no more may our Borderland region serve as a beacon of light strength and moral courage as we do our part in preparing the world for an era of Global Peace and Tranquility for all may this occur speedily in our times and let us say Amen thank you theedge uned States America and to the for IT stand indivisible andice for thank you and um good morning everyone and um just a little reminder today is um election day and the polls are open till 7 um p.m. today and in Texas now you can vote at any poll you don't have to vote at your Precinct that you normally would would vote at if uh it's open to vote anywhere and I do urge everyone to exercise your your right and um make sure that uh you vote with that Diana thank you the first Proclamation is Alzheimer's disease Awareness Month who's got that one go ahead sir Proclamation city of El Paso Texas whereas Alzheimer's disease is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain and the disease is not a normal part of aging and there is currently no cure and whereas currently there are more than 6 million Americans living with Alzheimer's 400,000 of those here in Texas and there are over 1 million unpaid caregivers here in Texas providing over 1.7 billion hours of care each year and whereas the Alzheimer's Association is leading the voluntary Health Organization uh in care and support and the largest nonprofit fun of Alzheimer's research and whereas the city of Al Paso acknowledges the mission of the Alzheimer's Association to eradicate the disease through the advancement of research to provide care and support for all affected and to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health now therefore be it proclaimed by the mayor and Council of the city of El Paso that November 11th 2023 shall be known as Alzheimer's disease Awareness Day signed by our honorable mayor Oscar liser so you guys like to come up come on up please thank you all for being here and you know this U it's a it's a bad disease that um you know right now it's U there's no cure for and I lost my dad about and Jacob uh who's standing right there took care of my dad for many years and my Dad loved him he'd take him to Rudies so he he loved to go eat barbecue and Jacob would call and say hey can I put him in my car and I'm going to go take him so he loved that but uh you know he lost his battle and then my sister at the age of 65 so it's you know it doesn't mean you have to be old also lost her battle with Alzheimer's so uh this is something that uh we do need to be aware of and and continue to to have public awareness uh you guys like to speak Paul Ferris with the Alzheimer's Association thank you all for for having us and honoring us today um you know Paso was just ranked 10th in the country for those living with Alzheimer's disease so you know it's here uh it's not going anywhere and through your support we'll be able to continue to fight the disease we do have our our walk this this Saturday I'm going to turn it over to our event chair Jacob bogs to say a few words on that thank you thank you sure and good morning hello everybody Jacob bogs uh executive chair for the walk this year and we'll be having it at the zoo on Saturday so you can go online and register alz.org alz.org and uh feel free to start a team or just register and feel please make a donation if you can but come out to the walk it's it'll be at 9 o'clock uh gates open at 8:00 so please come and enjoy yourself thank you [Music] no thank you I appreciate it the next Proclamation is Municipal Court week repr Salo thank you mayor good morning if you all want to come up to the podium Proclamation City V Paso Texas whereas municipal courts play a significant role in preserving Public Safety providing community outreach teen courts and promoting quality of life in Texas and whereas more people come in contact with municipal courts than all other Texas Courts combined in public impression of the Texas judicial system is largely dependent upon the public experience in municipal courts and whereas the city of Al Paso has hosted Municipal Court week since 2012 and whereas state law authorizes a municipal and to either appoint or elect a municipal judge for a term of of office and El Paso Municipal Courts are state courts and judges are members of the state judicial and whereas the procedures for the city of op Paso Municipal Courts operations are set forth in Texas code of criminal procedures and other laws of the State of Texas whereas the city of op Paso is committed to the notion that our legal system is based on principle that independent Fair incompetent judicial will interpret the apply the laws of the Govern us and the judges and courts Personnel should comply with the laws and act the manner that promotes public confidence in the Integrity impartially of judicial and whereas op Paso Municipal judges are not policy makers for the city of op Paso but are bound by the law and Cannons of judicial conduct and are required to make independent and governing bodies of the city of council City officials and employees and whereas the city council recognizes that the Constitution and laws of the State of Texas contain procedural safeguards and criminal cases for all all defendant including indigen defendants and support the city of op Paso Municipal Courts in complying with such legal requirements now therefore be proclaimed by the city the mayor and City Council of the of El Paso that the way the week of November 6th through November 10th 2023 shall be known as Municipal Court week signed by The Honorable mayor Oscar liser good morning good morning good morning mayor council and Leadership um my name is Annabel cases I'm the assistant director for Municipal Court thank you for the proclamation and recognizing Municipal Court um I'd like to begin um by acknowledging this group behind me which represents our Municipal Court Team all of those also our bond stations and the rest of the Court team that is encompassed by judges Bays U multiple people that make up the Municipal Court team their contribut contributions are indispensable to Our Success we proudly serve as the initial point of contact to the legal system for most people it's it's through our Collective efforts that we make a difference we are truly honored by this Proclamation a municipal court week is recognized through the state of Texas from uh November the 6th through the 10th thank you thank you I have a a few that would like to say a few good news um and introduce themselves good morning everyone I'm Sophia Garza I am the senior juvenile case manager at the municipal Court I oversee juvenile case management and also the team Court um myself and one other case manager uh I just wanted to announce that we were awarded from the Texas bar Foundation a grant uh that will help not only grow the program but also put out more um awareness for our youth thank you thank you thank you very much Diana the next Proclamation is border Network for human rights pro thank you mayor Proclamation the city of Al Paso Texas whereas the Border Network for Human Rights was founded in 1998 and is one of the leading human rights advocacy and immigration reform organizations located at the US Mexico border and whereas b& hr's general purpose is to facilitate the education the organizing and the participation of marginalized border communities to defend and promote human and civil rights and whereas B&R assists the border of communities to work in creating political economic and social conditions where every human being's dignity and rights are equal and whereas B&R utilizes the principles and articles contained within the universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the Constitution of the United States particularly the Bill of Rights Amendments 1 4 5 6 and 14 as a tool along with human needs and the experiences of impacted immigrant in Border communities and whereas B&R has hosted 10 hugs notot walls events reuniting over 3,000 families and demonstrated the strength and resiliency of the Immigrant Community showcasing the urgency of a comprehensive immigration reform and whereas the Border Network for human rights will celebrate its 25th anniversary on November 18th and whereas the city of Al Paso commends and congratulates B&R for their continued advocacy and resiliency to help marginalized communities in our city now therefore be it proclaimed by the mayor and the Council of the city of El Paso that November 18th 2023 shall be known as border Network for Human Rights Day signed by The Honorable mayor Oscar liser congratulations good morning graci my name is Fernando Garcia the executive director and founder of the Border Network for human rights so good morning good morning um it's been 25 years um and it's been a journey working within border immigrant communities uh there's a list of things that border network has done but I think I would like to mention that we wouldn't be here if it's not by the organizers of Border Network who had train train more than 700 leaders in our community throughout those 25 years uh right now border network is integrated by close to 1,000 families that that's the structure of the Border Network that allows to launch all of the campaigns so I want to thank you all major Council um for this uh recognition for this Proclamation because this is important for us to recognize that there's a community fighting for their rights not only the Border netor members but everybody in El Paso so thank you I appreciate it thank you thank you the next Proclamation is El Paso Global entrepreneur ship week repres nandes good morning good morning man proclamation in city of El Paso whereas our city is home to a diverse and Vibrant Community of entrepreneurs who contribute to the fabric of our society creating jobs inspiring Innovation and fostering a culture of resilience and creativity and whereas the spirit of Entrepreneurship is a foundational pillar for social vitality and a force driving economic growth in ation and Community Development in the city of El Paso Texas and Ras during the week of November 13th through the November 19th under the collaborative Banner of El Paso business strong our city seeks to inspire mentor and engage with building and establish OPP entrepreneurs alike fostering an ecosystem abundant with opportunity and Innovation and whereas we urge all op pasoans businesses agencies institutions and organizations to actively engage in events and initiatives that champion entrepreneurship and lot the innovators and Visionaries who enrich our community and bolster our local economy and whereas this week-long celebration will unite our community leaders businesses and organizations to promote the values and virtues of Entrepreneurship now therefore being proclaimed by the mayor and Council of the city of El Paso that November 13th through November 19th shall be known as El Paso Global entrepreneurship week signed by honorable mayor Oscar liser congratulations thank you man I'm Nancy Lowry with the medical center of the America's Foundation um thank you mayor liser city council city manager Carrie Weston and the economic and International Development Department for your support of small businesses and specifically for your support of global entrepreneurship week 2023 small businesses are the backbone of our community they generate 4 4% of US economic activity and account for half of all jobs and more than half of all Private Sales in the US by creating new jobs and opportunities they drive growth and Innovation they are the economic engines of our communities Global entrepreneurship week celebrates the importance of entrepreneurs in our community and communities throughout the globe it's celebrated in over 200 countries uh geew is a time to celebrate Spotlight on entrepreneurs expose new people to the calling of Entrepreneurship and support existing innovators and small business owners it also serves an important function as a vehicle for entrepreneur support organizations we like to call ourselves esos to collaborate and engage with each other this year local esos have joined together to offer over 17 events for entrepreneurs whether they are formulating an idea or have an established business events are being hosted by the sbdc the SBA UTP the El Paso chamber The Innovation Hub Pioneers 21 the league of business The Innovation Center Fab Lab Kaufman Foundation 1 Million Cups and others City and international uh development City economic inter and International Development Department has led the effort to make sure that the word gets out and arranging to have a page on EP business strong listing all of our events events so thank you again to the city for their support as we celebrate and honor and recognize entrepreneurship and I have here a flyer with the list of events if anyone wants them and I think someone else would like to say a word thank you thank you n good morning everyone hi my name is Sandra Morales and I am happy to stand here today to witness the proclamation of the AL Paso Global entrepreneurship week as an active entrepreneur myself I appreciate initiatives that benefit local entrepreneurs and and small business owners as a creative it excites me very much as I already saw the many ways this collaboration can actually grow as a founder of the ladies of Business Club General director of The League of business producer of an entrepreneurial podcast editor of the real entrepreneurs magazine I understand the importance of creating purposeful alliances like this one in Pro of local growth and progress thank you very much for your support thank you good morning everyone I'm Laura Butler executive director of pioneers 21 just want to share that this week this uh Year's Global entrepreneurship week week uh theme is bring your business idea to life and I want to ensure that if you are an entrepreneur already I want to ensure that everyone invites an entrepreneur that has an idea and hasn't brought their idea to life that they bring an entrepreneur with them to one of these events thank you and I can't wait to see everybody uh next week at all of our events Rudy you got anything to say no okay thank you for the record representative Kennedy joined us at 9:21 a.m. thank the next Proclamation is Winterfest 2023 presented by sherley gate canes Proclamation city of El Paso Texas whereas the cherla gate Lights parade and Winterfest celebration is one of the city of El Paso's most beloved Signature Events and whereas San hinto Plaza will once again be covered with more than 400,000 mini lights oversized decorations and a 55 foot holiday tree and whereas the season includes winter themed attractions and familyfriendly programs in and around downtown with a featured outdoor ice skating rink holiday trees and displays plus visitors can take a stroll along the bedek P de las lues to see festive holiday decor and whereas Winterfest sponsored by Sher gate has become a tradition in our community and the city of El Paso and various Partners strive to make the season bigger and better for Al pasoans and visitors from around the region to enjoy and whereas the Ann the annual Lights Parade draws out nearly 50,000 people to witness the spectacular opening day event and reflect on the magic of the season and whereas last year more than 360,000 people attended Winterfest throughout the season in order to appreciate the holiday spirit in a free healthy and safe environment for family fun and festivities and whereas the quality of life for all El pasoans is improved with the celebration of our cultural and historical Heritage via the holiday fiestas and countless programming events on the street car at public libraries museums and the zoo and whereas the celebration provides Decades of fun-filled memories of taking selfies while skating on the ice enjoying hot cocoa while strolling in San jasinto Plaza or taking photos with Santa Claus on his sleigh and whereas the El Paso Community and more than 160 local businesses such as Sher legate this year's title sponsor come together to support the annual Winterfest and its Mission every year now therefore be it proclaimed by the mayor and Council of the city of Al Paso that November 18th 2023 through January 1st 2024 shall be known as Winterfest 2023 presented by Shirley gate signed by our honorable mayor Oscar liser thank you he before you get started uh good morning mayor and Council hold on one second I got a question for you you talked about the hot cocoa it tastes a little different than most Cocos what's what's in it uh well of course iita sir good morning mayor and Council Ben F uh managing director for the record we are excited uh about the opportunity to begin Winterfest season once again uh as you know this has evolved from from a very modest light display a number of years ago to what is now the largest holiday experience in the southwest that kind of growth is not possible without uh support from our partners throughout the community and especially financial support uh from Partners like cherla gate that support has helped us grow the event over the years to serve almost half a million people uh throughout the festive season uh it also leads to an at $8.9 million impact in the downtown core during the holiday season supporting countless local jobs and most importantly as representative Gala said uh creating cherished holiday memories for El Paso families and visitors uh so I would like to bring to the podium to say a few words our title sponsor uh from Sher legate Sam legate thank you Ben good morning good morning Council honorable mayor uh it's our pleasure uh Jim Shar and I to collaborate with the city to bring this fabulous growing as he said every year event uh Jim and I have sponsored the parade of lights for the last five years it's been very very a moving event just to see all the people and families of El Paso come together and particularly in this this holiday season which seems to be a holiday season with a lot of world Strife it's so nice that here in also we have a place we can all come together with our families uh share something share each other share each other's family share the joy of the holiday season so uh Jim and I Jim Shar and I want to particularly thank you and our Law Firm sherley gate uh for the honor to get to collaborate with the city on this so thank you very much for what you guys do for our city thank you and thank you for being a partner not in this but a lot of other things we thank you for that you're welome thank you thank you Diana the next Proclamation is for Veterans Day and it will be followed by a Taps performance by Fernanda Gomez Luna and Andrew Freeman good morning Proclamation city of El Paso Texas whereas November 11th has long held a cherished place in the heart of every American who recognizes the sacrifice sacrifices made by our military from the inauguration of the treasured holiday in 1918 known originally as Armistice Day Day of Peace after World War I President Wilson declared November 11th to be a day of reflection whereas president NIS inh Hower on October the 8th 1953 issued the first veteran State Proclamation encompassing all military conflicts and acknowledging every military member who has served and officially recognizing November 11th as Veterans Day he wrote quote let us Som solemnly remember the sacrifices of all those who fought so valiantly on the seas in the air and on foreign Shores to preserve our heritage of Freedom end quote and whereas we recognize the sacrifice of the men and women of El Paso who have served in defense of this nation and loved ones who stand beside them memorializing the heroes who gave the ultimate sacrifice and all those who have not returned home whereas the opazo Texas Flags Across America also known as Old Glory Memorial is dedicated to enriching public respect and appreciation for the United States flag and instilling Patriot patriotism since June 14th 2003 will conduct the 31st Northeast Veterans Day Parade on Friday November the 10th 2023 and invites the entire city of El Paso to this event whereas the Northeast Veterans Day Parade honors and celebrates America's Veterans for their patriotism love of their country and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good raises awareness of those who have served and salutes members of our military currently serving and whereas the city of op Paso has among its citizens volunteers and employees individuals who have served in the United States armed forces we are reminded of Our obligation to them to serve our veterans as they have gallantly served us and As We Gather here today let us not forget that freedom is never free and our nation and our community is ever more indebted for their courageous service now therefore be a proclaimed by the mayor and Council of the city of op Paso that November 11th 2023 shall be known as veteran Wednesday signed the honorable Oscar liser mayor for the city of El Paso I think it's um important that we November 11th is Veterans Day but in El Paso we thank and respect our veterans every day and we thank you all for your service thank you mayor good morning mayor and Council we come from Northeast uh if darl M were here here say east side is the best side but we we want to let everybody know uh we come from Northeast and we're going to have a parade in Northeast veterans parade on 10 November this coming Friday uh from the hundo pass uh to the flag site memorial Old Glory Memorial uh located right off of Diana in 54 we welcome all to to attend uh we uh we're honored to have a city representative Paul Albright who's going to be our Grand Marshal this year so we want y'all to come out and and help celebrate him as he uh as he represent our veteran community on that day uh we also we also uh fortunate to have veteran of the Year Donna Warz who's part of our flags Across America she's going to be she's going to be honored as well in terms of representing Flags Across America on that day so we welcome you mayor and the council and everybody in the city of V so to attend our parade on this coming Friday at 10:00 from hundo pass to the flag site thank you thank you good morning mayor and uh Council good morning everyone in the house uh we just wanted to uh after the parade we'll be having a uh ceremony down at the flags Across America and we would greatly appreciate your attendance uh I be I would be remissed if by didn't just tell you that everywhere I go across the USA I'm a retired commanda major I did 32 years in the military honorably and on active duty I can tell you everywhere I go and even when I post on Facebook people are amazed with the support that we get from the AL Paso Community we love what we get here that's why I stay I'm I'm originally from Florida I could be back on a sunny Beach well really I feel like I am because I'm in Northeast and I got a pool so I just want to say thank you we really appreciate it and please come down to the parade and also come out to the ceremony afterwards by the way I'll be one of the guest speakers yall ready to [Applause] play everyone stand please [Music] thank you Mr Mayor would you like to recess the meeting for pictures or should I continue with the consent agenda let's um recess for pictures can I have a motion to recess please recess second all those in favor all those opposed and in the city council meeting for November 7th is on recess at 9:36 a.m. if I could get all of the folks who were part of the proclamations if you could join me out in the lobby area I'd also like to get the trumpet trumpeters if you could join us as well um all the folks out in the lobby please e e e PR e so spe do have a motion to return motion to rec we we actually no motion to go into Mass we don't need a motion we'll just go ahead and start and then afterwards good morning this is a meeting of the El Paso mass transit Department board on Tuesday November 7th 2023 it is 10: a.m. present and presiding is board chair liser also present and council chambers are board members Kennedy anelo Hernandez molinar salido and Canales board members Fierro and Riva are running late we do have one member of the public signed up to speak if we can take that now please Mr strumer is he coming okay he's coming and his topic is route 74 on mountwood and George theer bus stop needs shelter sir you have three minutes topic uh if I'm allowed on asking for a shuttle for Sunland Park Drive South underneath I 10 I am asking the mass transit board to consider a project Amistad shuttle experimentally for the area from Sunland Park South under I 10 to the business section doctor's offices and businesses at the $150 each way some of the businesses there are literally starving and dying the furniture City uh at Sunan Park Plaza is now going out of business my fiance don't think all PE poor people use bus it's not true some of us bring some good dollars my fiance came from es candido we went to sunon mall uh we bought a pair of wedding rings she wanted to spend so much more but because of handicap bone spurs a walking stick to balance she couldn't do it it's a loss of dollars she's 70 years old I have a provider four years she's a 58-year-old resident here a business owner and homeowner and a taxpayer she has diabetes she needs an eye exam she's getting it right now at 959 Sunland Park Drive at a Dr gpa's office but there is absolutely no bus service for that area former client's daughter who lives in the far west side has mercifully taken Maria to Dr goa's office this morning this shuttle would save heavily the $90 fee for each disabled person that the lift costs the city instead of subsidizing we would actually be helping business in that area it'd be like like a car dealership not having access for the customers to the sales floor car dealership would starve and fizzle out but we need access it's power it's not a small issue it is a type of subtle discrimination thank you for hearing me out thank you very much thank you sir all matters listed under the consent agenda will be considered by mass transit Department board to be routine and will be enacted by one motion unless separate discussion is requested by board 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 has not been called out for separate discussion the item has been approved the mass transit Department board May however reconsider any item at any time during the meeting do we have a motion to approve the consent agenda approve motion made by board member ernandez seconded by board member mayor I had requ there's nothing here yes sir go ahead uh mayor on for item two do we need to list specifically the absent mass transit board members for their excused absence do you want me to add go ahead and make that motion sir to add to so we include will will is that okay with you board member nandez to revise the consent agenda as revised to include I accept rep the excusal of represent of board member Rea yes the voting session is open thank Ted Benders at the meeting now board member board member Kennedy and the mayor and I mean board chair and the also board member Fiero can I get a and the item has been approved unanimously and that that is the consent agenda for items for items one through four two it did already and this was to include I failed to mention the revision for item uh deletion of items five and six I accept item item five is discussion and action on Sun Metro Rising updated presentation and plan and there is a presentation by the department head Anthony deiser good morning sir good morning mayor City Representatives Anthony deiser director Sun Metro today's Sun Metro Rising presentation for discussion and action is being presented months in advance of the recommended implementation of the timeline this is due to the FTA requirement of Public Announcement and more importantly um to finish the curb cups and sidewalk repairs that are be required to implement this the purpose of Sun Metro Rising is a comprehensive study to optimize the fixed route system to streamline the routes and shorten frequencies between stops this guidance that was given to Nelson nigar the company that was contracted to do this study is to have no increases in the Human Resources requirements the buses and the finance also to stabilize the platform for future growth and to take in account all riders in the public that use public transportation to include our Ada Community to present the study to to present the study today the Sun Metro Rising study is Nelson nigar the company who conducted the comprehensive study um James gamas in particular James good morning mayor and City Representatives my name is James Gomez I'm the project manager of Sun Metro Rising I'm principal at Nelson igard Consulting Associates uh great to see you all this morning all right so we're going to begin today's presentation by providing a recap on Project goals in the overall timeline followed by a summary of some of the strengths and challenges of the Sun Metro system and then we'll get into more details regarding the proposed recommendations for the first phase of Sun Metro Rising right can you please Advance there we go all right so Sun Metro Rising kicked off in January of last year and at that time we met with key members of the Sun Metro team and we identified several project goals the first of which was to take a comprehensive look at the entire system both as it has been operating over the most recent couple of years but also going back into time to see what some of the ridership trends and also just the way that the city has been evolving over that time period we took an in-depth look at at all different routes and bus stops um and and covered the entire city throughout this project we have also engaged both Riders as well as Community stakeholders bus operators and other key members of Sun Metro Staff and one of the the core goals of this study is to optimize service in the short term but also create a foundation for future and sustainable growth trouble advancing the slides okay thank you should be this one this way they left it upstairs Okay click the mouse okay thank you all right so here's a look at the overall project timeline which again kicked off in January of 2022 the first phase of the study was the comprehensive evaluation of the ridership conditions the overall system design we conducted a writer survey both on buses as well as street cars we learned a lot about the Riders and I'll get to some of those Rider characteristics in just a moment the first deliverable of the project was the state of the system report that's a a very in-depth document that describes uh the way that cetro is doing today we also conducted did a peerreview looking at both comparable cities as well as aspirational transit systems to identify uh ways that cetro can could look to uh Advance its its services and policies in the future um and then um we also conducted an very comprehensive uh community outreach at all the different Transit centers and uh I'll also recap some of that feedback in just a moment so to focus on some of the key strengths of the system I think we should start with Brio with recently the fourth Brio line was implemented Brio Montana and this network of very frequent um fast routes provides a good backbone to the overall system um we've seen that Riders have been gravitating towards uh the Brio Services um over the past several years um realizing what the many advantages that it offers over regular local routes uh they provides good connectivity throughout the city uh on major corridors and also connects to the different Transit centers uh the transit centers in El Paso stand out as some of the best across the country they provide operators with uh safe places to make connections and they also provide bus drivers with a place to take comfortable uh breaks in between runs um also in this slide we show what the ridership has been looking like for the system over the past uh four years and we break this down by weekday Saturday and Sunday levels of service each one of those um days or levels of service uh there are are a different number of routes being operated and as a result um we also have different levels of ridership um when when the pandemic hit every single system in the country saw uh sharp declines but we have seen healthy recovery here in in El Paso and on all different levels of service from weekday Saturday um Sunday service was suspended for about a year and a half and that was since reinstated last year and we've also seen uh considerable increases there despite the fact that that's uh that service has not been fully restored next I'd like to talk about some of the the key opportunities that Sun Metro has uh the first of which is to operate the local routes more frequently the Brio routes operate 15 minutes on weekdays 20 minutes on weekends and we've seen the success that that they have and how much Riders uh use those services and and enjoy them we would like to take the same approach to many of the local routes by bringing some of those 90-minute frequencies down to every hour and every 45 minute frequencies down to every half hour this will allow people to make better connections and you get to where they need to go in a in a quicker way also across the entire system many of the routes in fairly early at night and and this um creates challenges for for uh employees who work later shifts so extending Services Beyond 9:00 p.m particularly on weekdays and Saturdays uh when we conducted the writer survey we found that many of the writers do work in fact after 9:00 p.m. and also work on Sundays so filling some of those gaps is important only about 20% of the Sun Metro routes operate on Sunday the the map on the right side of the screen shows what the overall Network looks like in Gray and then in red those are the Sunday routes so uh reactivating many of the Sunday routes can help provide access particularly to to jobs um church and other uh activities on Sundays and and some not not many but a few of the routes across the city have been um redesigned and and and morphed in a way that they don't operate quite as direct as as some of the the other routes uh a couple examples on this screen um so this study provides an opportunity to restructure some of those routes and and streamline them and make them uh more convenient for both existing Riders as well as potential future Riders I mentioned earlier that we conducted a writer survey and we heard from um many writers across the entire city and uh we found some some really interesting U characteristics about them um there are a lot of seniors that use uh the bus today um there's High higher percentage of seniors that use Sun Metro than there are living within the city we also found that there's a lot of of young um students who are riding the bus U many come from sad is daily um many of the the most common trip types are going U of course to to work in school but also people are using transit to to get to shopping medical and other destinations um and many of your Riders are are very frequent users they use the service the system either five six even seven days a week and and as I mentioned earlier we do have a significant about onethird of your writers work either late night or on Sundays when we went out to the community uh back in January of this year we had pop-up meetings at every one of the transit centers uh the consultant team was accompanied by the Sun Metro Outreach team um we talked to to to countless writers we shared with them details about the project some of the things that we learned but mostly we were there to listen we were there to listen to what they thought about some the proposed route changes and also just other uh things that they'd like to see improved across the city what we heard from writers is that they they love the Brio service they had great things to say about how that service gets them where they need to go in a quick way easy to understand convenient they'd also like to see more Sunday service they were happy that it had been restored on some routes but they like to see more routes uh turned on on Sunday there was an an overall positive uh feedback from from the community about the the route changes but we also got some good suggestions and as a result we went and made some some tweaks um the Brio routes provide really great shelters writers asked if there could be more of these larger shelters installed on other major corridors on regular local routes we took this feedback and we went uh back to the drawing board we made some adjustments to our recommendations and and I'm happy to share those with you now so first I want to start off with the existing route Network and again just touch on some of those challenges there there are some routes that are indirect which means people have to travel out of their way to get to where they need to go uh some routes have long one-way Loops which again means people have to um travel out of Direction aside from the Brio routes and Route 59 most of the routes in the city are are not very frequent and in some cases um routes operate on narrow residential streets um so we'd like to also see if there are um better um places to operate those buses but still serve as many writers as possible so this proposed rout Network and I'm going to flip between the two images again so here's existing um and the proposed Network looks to preserve service on all of the primary cordor throughout the city it would also look to serve the vast majority of riders but more importantly provide that more frequent service today Sun Metra as a whole provides accessible uh affordable and very wellc connected service but it's the frequency that's that's lacking so by streamlining the the entire network we're able to improve the frequencies across the entire city saving people time allowing them to make better connections shorter time shorter weights at bus stops but also shorter weights at the transit centers as they may be transferring between two routes we're looking to fill in some of the gaps where bus service just is not very productive and and cost effective and look to fill that Gap with microtransit which is very similar to uh the lift on demand service and then this is only a a reset of the system this is just the foundation so from this network this system could then be further enhanced with more frequent service later service across the entire city so we're in many ways we're beginning with a clean slate that builds upon the very expansive Brio Network and supports that with better connections okay um here's a look at the entire system at at a a look at the the frequency so the lighter colors on the map indicate today where there is not frequent service hourly or worse and then the darker oranges and reds indicate where there's more frequent service um primarily on the Brio corridors but but other major uh streets as well there are 53 routes today and it takes 100 buses to run all of those routes the average frequency across the entire Sun Metro system is 50 58 minutes so by making the proposed changes we would get the average frequency down from 58 minutes to 45 minutes and also reduce the number of routes from 53 to 40 that would be accomplished not by just simply eliminating routes altogether but consolidating some routes um extending routes to other locations trying to preserve as much coverage as possible but also trying to do the best with the limited resources that the city has as Anthony mentioned earlier we're looking to do this during the first phase with the same number of resources meaning buses operators and and hours and and we we feel that this would make uh very significant and positive changes for the community u in addition to looking at at Sun Metro as as as a whole and on corridors we also have to take a much closer look at the actual bus stops you every Rider is a pedestrian they have to access a bus stop from their home they have to use bus stops to get to where they're um to returning from home and we looked at um every single bus stop in the in across the city to see which of those would have more frequent service about the same level of service or if they would be um discontinued so there are about 20,000 Riders per weekday here in El Paso that those numbers drop off on on weekends um but we found that with the proposed changes more than 90% about 93% or 19,00 writers would have more frequent service at one of the stops that they access about 6% of current Riders would have no major change in frequency and then less than 1% about 150 Riders um these they would these stops would be eliminated so they would have to walk to another um active stop uh over the past several months the the Sun Metro planning team went out to every one of those stops proposed to be deactivated and I should first note that of those 600 plus stops the vast majority of those more than about 500 have one or fewer Riders per day many of those stops have no ridership per day but staff went ahead um regardless and visited each one of these stops um walked the corridors from those proposed deactivated stops to uh the the the nearest stop that would remain active to see what the accessibility conditions would look like to ensure that they can be that Riders who use those stops could can still get to an active bus stop what they found is that um along those Pathways there are some improvements that need to be made including um some sidewalk repair um as well as the installation of accessible ramps at some of the intersections this is is a job that that Sun Metro takes very seriously and would look to complete um the the most high priority locations over over the next year before any of the route changes um are implemented and here's a look at that breakdown by District there's approximately 27 priorities uh locations that would be improved um in the coming months prior prior to route changes so going back to the the proposed changes um what I share with you today was is really focused on the near-term the first one to two years and and that includes a complete redesign of the network to support the the Brio system which has had tremendous success and um save people Time by providing more frequent service and also restoring Sunday service uh across the entire city so adding more reactivating more routes and and this being one of the the primary um things that we heard from writers that they'd like to see beyond that that one to two year time frame the the middle phases of the this 10-year uh plan would be to further extend the hours of service both morning but mostly late night on Brio uh Brio being your your uh premium service that serves so many riders it it should run later um in the evening that's the case in in most cities that have similar um high-capacity transit services um and then also just update the frequ upgrade the frequencies on on other local routes as well um take have a goal to get all of your routes down to 30 minutes over time and in places where fixed route doesn't work well because it's just not cost effective because the densities are too low or the streets are too narrow um we recommend piloting microtransit similar to The Lift Service examples on the right side of the screen a smaller vehicle this has worked well in places like Dallas and Austin and other cities across the country uh Phoenix um to help fill in some of those gaps still provide access but do so in in a way that's um not a large bus and then beyond 5 years the proposed changes will be to continue to build out the the system with with more frequent routes earlier and later service to improve access uh to employment so here's a look graphically at what that the plan looks like over the next 10 years or so um the different icons on the top indicate the the different changes the first is to redesign the network the next is to expand Sunday then it's to take Brio up a notch with later service earlier service after that providing more frequent service on the local routes and then the last couple of phases focus on later night service and earlier morning service in in the short term there are no uh additional vehicles that would be needed for the first three phases after that there would need to be more more buses purchased and the overall number of hours would increase um but as was as it was mentioned earlier by Anthony the first phases look at at just a uh relatively same number of resources in addition to these route changes although that makes up the the bulk of the recommendations there are several other supporting recommendations that are included in our final report uh that includes conducting a a Citywide bus stop inventory and also an establishing an action plan today um Sun Metro ear marks a certain dollar amount to install new shelters and make accessibil upgrades um but those are are done um where there's the highest ridership or where they may be may be requests but having a a very detailed action plan will help get the city um one uh help establish a goal as to when the city might be able to get to 100% ADA compliance um but also assist staff in in executing or implementing some of these bus stop improvements over time um beyond that our report also includes a speed and reliability toolkit so this looks to uh take some of the the the same uh characteristics of of the the Brio Network and and apply those elsewhere in the city but but also look at some some new ways uh to just accelerate buses both Brio and local routes um things such as um Q jumps which are are our head starts for buses at at busy intersections or bus lanes were appropriate um the report also identifies places where there can be smaller hubs not full Transit centers but smaller facilities to support connections um for both Riders and for drivers and then in the long term um there's also a need to replace the fleet as as Vehicles Age and and also look to combine uh the the Sun Metro system and and look at ways to provide that first mile connection um via thing ways such as um bike networks uh bike Lanes um and other pedestrian pathways um just a couple of examples of what those speed reliability Investments could look like again um Q jumps which are are um Head Start starts for buses to get around traffic busy intersections um and then different treatments for bus stops that would provide more ride of way um such as the bul bout shown on the right side of the screen where you extend the the curb line to provide more space for for amenities um for writers uh finally just a summary of of all the recommendations that we discussed today the first of which and and most important is to redesign the Sy redesign the route Network simplify it make optimize it make it more convenient more frequent for the vast majority of riders continue to to build out and maximize Brio service by running it later restore Sunday service in full uh as drivers become available invest in more frequent service which which means more buses over time and then look at microtransit as a potential solution in places where fix Dr buses um don't don't uh make sense and then continue upgrading bus stops across the entire city um thank you very much for your time I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have yes mayor protm followed by representative ad nandes then representative Canales thanks y'all so I spent a lot of the weekend well first I want to say I I'm really appreciative of the data on weekends and nights I think that our service has not been working well even pre pandemic when it came to the evenings and week weekends um but I spent a lot of the weekend going over these Maps um and I still have a lot of heartburn about District 2 and I'd like to go over some specifics because I went through every District um and it and a lot of the routes that you're taking out make sense but there's a lot of large gaps in District 2 so if you could pull up the map on that I'm on the the uh map that you all send and I want to talk about the area over by Moreno Elementary School which is on the um western part of the district and and so you all are removing stops um because you say that there's a stop 5 minutes away can you tell me if I'm at the Moreno Elementary School um which has an average of about 10 weekly Riders 10 daily Riders where the five minute stop is I do not have that exact bus stop location the intersection um can you pull it up please because from what I'm seeing it's on Pedas and so I'm not sure that you all have ever walked that corner of Alabama which is extremely dangerous um I can show you the accident reports on it and so I'm not sure how we're taking away and and this entire area honestly if you add up all of the weekly writers ships which you're saying are under five they're about 45 and you're asking people to cross one of the busiest intersections and then filling then you're leaving an entire large gap and so what you're not showing me is the accuracy of where the 5 minute stop that's replacing those are and so I would ask that you pull that up and show that for me because it's not it's not pointed out here um we do not have that map included in this presentation right now I apologize can it pull it up I believe it was in the email can we pause my time mayor while they do that we're sending it over to them right now now and for the record board member Rea joined the meeting at 10:20 a.m. via teams we're in the process of getting that email so we can bring I appreciate it thank you I can jump to the the second area that I have some issue with if unless you want to just wait for the map to be up go ahead and go to the next item well I mean it's the same issue I just want to pull another area of the map up um but going up to the Northeast portion um you're essentially taking out any bus routes in District 2 West of 54 and so again excuse me you're saying that the ridership is one to two but when you add up that ridership it's about 30 to 40 people and and you're saying well some of them are five you know the current bus stop that we have is five minutes to the next bus stop but you don't account for how far the edge of the district is to the bus stop that exists and so I don't think the data is accurate um I think again I've gone through every District that you put up here I think it's very reasonable the areas that you've created with the new stops but you're leaving an entire area of the district with no access to public transportation here or having to cross 54 and I have a lot of concerns about that so when the map is up we can pull that up um my last issue and this one maybe well I'm just going to say is that we've currently we have a route that goes up Pedas which I think we've talked about I'm okay I understand that the Pedas to copia quter is easily accessible my only concern is that that Pedas bus goes onto William Bowmont the location for bus stops that I'm seeing are on the corner of Alabama and Fred Wilson and you can't access Bowmont from that corner and so just want to be making sure that we're not removing that access to Bowmont I don't know if you've looked at that directly Anthony if if you if you're all keeping that access or or if most of the ridership to Bowmont is through the lift cuz I'm seeing about average seven I don't really understand how to read the data but it's about seven to eight people average that a day and so just want to make sure that we're we're making Bowmont accessible to the Riders of El Paso yeah it was but start off with some of the yep just answer answer just one um start off with with the second piece I think you're referring to the magnetic uh Hercules area um which has a couple of stops that that do have activity so the the sorry the map on the screen shows the proposed routes as well as uh the current stops those shown in in yellow and orange and red would be eliminated and you're referring to the ones that are have eight and three boardings um and then as you mentioned you add up all the other ones in yellow too it it does result in in a greater number of of people who are using um one thing I'll note about Hercules and and um Alabama this is an area that has has had service both added and removed a couple of of times over the years um ridership has um fluctuated over that that time um but that is an area that that we did explore um extending creating one more route that would from the uh the Northgate Transit Center to serve this area um and and then operate um along dire one of our our our tasks early on was to try and create a cost neutral uh plan for this first phase so using the same number of buses and and this is this is one of those examples of where um we we made the tough decision of trying to look to it's just optimized and serve the highest number of of writers possible um but that's not to say that we we weren't taking a very close close look at this in this um Corridor as a way to maybe continue to preserve service sure and I guess two issues is you've you have an average of daily 50 people in this area using the bus service that now and you're saying the nearest Stop is 5 minutes but again your data is assuming that from one stop to where they go to the new stop is their travel and if you look at where this this bus route service is someone could be all the way on Stone Edge which was former District 4 and now have to walk 20 minutes to a bus stop and not one person average of 40 people a day that's your data and so I just because and if you if Council looks at that me map it essentially means from Fred Wilson up there is no access to public transportation on the east side or the west side of 54 I don't know why I keep confusing that y'all um and I just to me that's it's it's just not fair to those residents and that the people who are clearly using public transportation there right and so when we had them look at the the data the data is who's currently riding now and and off the dat we have and so what we're asking or telling the counselors from the data we have now obviously once we get closer and that's why it's going to take a year to do the the curb Cuts we have to go back and look at the data again and adjust and so there's flexibility in what we're doing what the data we have now and there's flexibility in how we can change it and add a few routes here or add a few routes there based upon the data when we get closer we have to adjust again and so that's why I said this is the Baseline to um set the routes from Sun Metro and have flexibility to change as the city changes to streamline the whole thing right now maximize what it is so as the city grows or different areas need a a new route we have set the Baseline because right now what we do is every five or 6 months we say hey here's just a little area that needs another route so we we Loop one in we Loop one in but we've never looked at the whole thing comprehensively to say here's where we stand right now this is the best way to optimize the whole thing let's set a baseline on what where we're at now and where the ridership is now so we have it set so then we can go move forward with how many buses we need how many routes we need where we need them throughout the city we've never done it comprehensively and so sooner or later in my opinion sooner or later we have to set the Baseline so we can move from a known point cuz like like I had explained to you before the whole thing is intertwined how many buses do we need in the entire city how many buses do we have to turn in right now we have basically an alibi from the FTA saying you can have so many buses based upon the routes you have after 2025 we're going to have to start turning buses in and so that's based on the FTA regulation and it's based upon how many routes we have so we we're going to be forced to set a baseline whether we whether we do some Metro rising or whether we hold what we got um that's based upon how many drivers we have how many routes we have how much area we we cover so it's basically what I'm saying it's it's coming I understand that but I don't understand why the Baseline is removing access for an entire area of people when there are so many adjustments that have been made um and I understand that this is it we can talk about that in a second what by next statement but can we address the Bowmont issue are we going to have access onto Bowmont or not through the study Bowmont would continue to have access but that Pedas route is being cut there would be still all day service going going into Bowmont um from from the north gate um we did look to adjust the the Alabama the copia the pedos and the dier routes um there were four five if you count that the the dire Brio all operating within that mile and a half stretch so we look to just streamline those um but the base would still have access uh Bowmont Hospital would still have access okay and I and I we talked about that I understand streamlining those I don't disagree that that was uh a good decision it just on the map doesn't show bont having direct access so I just want to um be clear that that's important and then can we address the issue um at the South West corner by um the Moreno Elementary School where when you remove all of those proposed locations where is this 5 minute bus stop that people can access yes so for for every single stop we calculated what the the walk distance was for about a quarter of a mile um so the the nearest stops um are are going to be located here on on copia um you have to remind me the intersection of the the actual Elementary School okay so that's just my issue I mean Alabama is an impossible Street to cross especially if you're accessing an elementary school and again you have an average of 50 riders in this area and so I again I I just think that um there was not the research in actual accessibility um for a lot of these areas especially when you're talking about an elementary school and so I kind of want to understand Anthony you had mentioned that um you know this is a working document what is the action that we're taking today we're accepting this document but it's a working document yeah so what I'm it is a working document so this is again this is just a baseline for where we're at to start the initial curb cuts for where where we think and sidewalks for where we're where we think we're going to go with this and so again the ideology is um once we get this approved then we the next step is to get the contractor to get all those curb cuts and sidewalks done and so any adjustments that the council thinks that we need we can go back in and say okay for instance I don't think this this Elementary School is covered okay we have flexibility in that we'll obviously make the changes I don't think I think William bman is covered but if you say show me the details and in William bont being covered because obviously that's near and dear to my heart um show me that that is covered I can say okay we we can cover that and so we're trying to get the frequency from 60 Minutes down to 45 minutes overall in the city but one little deviation here deviation there isn't going to affect the the overall overall uh scheme of maneuver um even though every route change kind of affects the whole thing because one bus change could affect the connection to the other pieces and I and I do also want to say I'm really appreciative of the curb Cuts I know that that was my issue before right and that's why I'm saying oh now I understand removing the petas I think that if we're addressing curb cuts and shelters it really makes this this plan a lot better I just I have concern about approving something that I have little very serious issues about and so um I'm going to sit think about this or the rest of my colleagues asked their questions on how I feel comfortable addressing that um I did have one additional question um and I think that you all discussed this last time you presented the plan um Council had been or had approved a plan to use smaller vehicles in neighborhoods are we scrapping that all together what is happening with that plan no so we're still applying for Grants to do microtransit and we also have a plan to in place to buy uh four or five of the smaller vehicles and so um we still want to run a pilot on that and the pilot was in District 5 according to this plan um and so we have to start that that somewhere but no running um microtan is more expensive than run run and fix route so it it's not not something that you run through the whole city because it's it's not um financially viable and it's for areas that that have very low ridership and where the population is sparse that uses um public transportation and so you have to be careful of of where you implement that at so so again we we need to run a pilot program on that and and see where it's most viable if it's not financially viable why are we why was it a recommendation we use it use it in neighborhoods where not that many people use mass transit and and and the population's kind of spread out so maybe you can explain it it better so so there are different neighborhoods with in the city that have historically had bus service um but it's been very low ridership and the Pebble Hills neighborhood is one um where buses can Traverse some of those those neighborhood collector streets um but it's always going to be relatively low man low low ridership because it's it's lower density there there's still a need for for Transit service and and microtransit we don't recommend having it compete with bus service but the city of El Paso has taken a approach of providing Transit coverage throughout mostly the entire city so if you're going to continue to look to serve areas like that we recommend microtransit rather than a fixed rout because it provides more flexibility it can serve more people they don't have to walk as long distances it is a pretty vast area so it it doesn't work everywhere it works in pockets and mostly single family residential areas do you see how I can make the argument against this for the Northeast portion right cuz I'm looking at the Pebble Hills area and and I don't know that this it doesn't exist but you have no data on ridership on it but you're taking out the only transportation of very large area where people do use Transportation but you're telling me in an area where you have no ridership you're going to spend more money to do a a a system that is cost prohibitive it's it's there is ridership there it's low it's not okay but it's not low in the Northeast section where you're removing all Transportation um I'm going to stop there and I'll I'll I'll come back after I hear the rest of my colleagues you promise no representative nundus Mr CS thank you for your time and the presentation um a lot of work went into this uh just a couple questions um also related to The District 3 map I think you're in District Two at this time um I wanted to bring to your attention a removal and for your reconsideration at s of Vista Mall um that is a major hub for especially during the holidays and you what what I see in anybody who shops at at that shopping center there you will see dozens of of folks who have several bags um trying to cut across El Vista and then the movie theater and then get to the transit center um that's on on sunmount um the aruro bides transfer center and then then if that location is removed then what happens is they have to walk uphill up to VI count which with several bags um that would would be um I think would be a a you the opposite reaction which is you know I can't take as many you know we want to encourage shopping at the end of the day we want to encourage shopping and transportation shouldn't prohibit their ability to shop at at this major shopping Hub and so I would ask for that reconsideration I do recognize um that there is l than 5 minutes uh commute but when you're dealing with uh the high incline um I mean it's very difficult to to track up um Hawkins up to V count so that's one area that I'd like a reconsideration I I agree that the efficiency here um removing some of these big uh buses out of neighborhoods works specifically along Mimosa I have received several complaints from residents mon I have received multiple complaints because there are these big vehicles and there's nobody inside of them I think the mic microtransit um idea would be preferred in those little circular routes um I am concerned though that if we don't increase the frequency at the stops that have been retained um that it could have a negative impact to to those eliminations so I I just want to reaffirm and try to understand if we're removing these green bubbles Which is less than a 5 minute walk to the next destination will the current stops increase in frequency in the first case the cesta mall um there will be roughly the same level of service at the transit center uh one potential solution because the the mall I'm showing the ridership here on the screen right now it's less than two Riders per day a lot of them do walk from from the transit center or or from um discount um one potential solution would be to run a holiday shuttle from the transit center there are a lot of people who walk and they carry baskets from the Walmart Super Center and we used to the mall used to provide that like it was a little it was a little trolley and they would go back to The Fountains and and so I don't know what happened there but that seemed to have been a very eloquent respons that might be more C effective than running a bus throughout the year and then you mentioned the the Lakeside area where we did hear uh complaints about buses rumbling houses cuz these are 30ft streets cars parked on both sides um so we do think that would be a welcome change based on what we heard in that area um but the track between you see along Alam so I know the Brio has a frequency of stops when we look at montre which is just um about a mile North in still south of the freeway in the hea Heights and D nor area right here yep so that's my concern is if we don't increase the frequency of stops along Phoenix Giles um Hunter then we're going to have a situation where it's it does it it's not beneficial for them um so they'd have to walk up up to 5 to 10 minutes or whatever how long it takes and then wait a longer period of time so I'm just I'm just trying to understand if there's an increase of frequency sure so for from Osa the first street that you mentioned today the bus service in there is every 90 minutes um that'll be reduced down to to every 60 with a new route that just connects to both the the Alam Brio as well as the Community College as for for mon the the uh people who access those stops shown in green right here would would have to walk to either um calina or um walk over to the West um both of those routes would have more frequent service than today okay no that's all positive news and and that's what we want to encourage is how do you um maximize and optimize the routes while achieving economies of scale so that we can increase uh our routes and frequency because I you know I understand the 50 folks would be impacted um which is why I've asked for a robust educational campaign um and then to help determine if some of those 150 maybe qualify for a lift or I really don't understand what qualifies you for a lift but if you're on a on a walker or a cane I I would imagine that a lot of commuter who would be impacted would be eligible for the lift potentially yeah potentially yeah okay we we'll move on from that but um the the final the final um question I have is I I didn't see any cost um Associated for savings um is there is did your um group provide that no the the initial um changes would be cost neutral in terms of of ours um so we're not looking to to to save costs overall um but just do more with the limited resources that are operated uh one of the slides earlier showed that there are 100 buses that that run today and it would be about about the same the city really needs about 120 to to Really provide the level of service that we're recommending in those later phases um so again just doing more with the limited resources is what we're trying to accomplish with this first phase so it's cost neutral but it would it would inre frequency because that's what I'm trying to to determine here well initially it would improve frequency with the same level of cost by just realigning the routes okay but over time we're also recommending to add even more service more hours more vehicles but at least for the interim we are able to get that average frequency down from every 58 minutes down to every 45 okay just by making the route changes and and some of those really tough decisions but that's in line with what um Anthony said earlier there's still room for adjustment for now this this allows staff to move forward and start to make some of the accessibility improvements to take these next steps and because this study also began January of last year there's an opportunity to revisit some of the writers ship numbers to make a couple of modifications such as areas um out like in District 2 um and other places sounds good sure so the the flex what this does initially it requires less buses it requires a few less drivers and it doesn't cost any more money okay and so that's the flexibility that and the guidance that I gave them so that when we revisit when we get closer first we make all the curb Cuts so it's accessible to everybody doesn't cost any more and it costs actually it requires a few less resources so that when we bring it back right when we get closer and we say here's where we're at here's here's we're we're ready to go and and and whatever concerns there are and you say hey what about the school what about Willi Bowmont for example then we say okay let's make an adjustment and then we still have the flexibility in how many buses we have or how many drivers we have so we can make make those initial adjustments because there's still wiggle room with what we have without increasing any of the resources that we particularly need right now so like for example new development so if there's a new development with new development comes but also looking forward into the future saying hey I have X amount of buses but I have to turn so many in based upon the FTA regulation and and their life cycle so I'm trying to adjust that as we move along move it into the future as we continue to purchase buses and look into the sun metr rising plan so I'm doing multiple things as I'm trying to lay a baseline with this sun met Horizon as we move forward and look into to the Future understood and then um there was a portion on Montana that we were removing stops is it is is it the I I was confused I'm like well there's a Brio on Montana is it just Sunglow lock so it's the section of Sunglow and Boeing and and both of those stretches uh they have low rers ship the the Brio doesn't serve that it's the streets that run parel to Montana that you're going to be eliminating but you're not going to be limiting stops on the Brio not on the Brio no this would only be Route 50 um and and one of it on one side it is Sunglow the other side it's Boeing so that's the street that's parallel okay um and then the sun bus stops I mean the excuse me the bus stop inventory will that include shelters the bus stop inventory is is something that's that's recommended to take place in in coming years are you recommending that shelters be added to that inventory list oh absolutely yes and and staff already has a great um understanding of where all the shelters are at where they need to be this would just formalize the process great if only we can like map that out as well like we did here we can map out the after you get your the shelters and the buses yes we do I know you need your inventory first um so if we can translate that to to GIS system because we do have some uh Riders who are allergic to the sun believe it or not and they have they carry um umbrellas and they look specifically for shelters um for their transportation needs again thank you Mr gamas for your time we appreciate all of the knowledge and data that you provided to our community and my hope is that we can improve our transit system uh with this with your recommendations in mind thank you thank you thank you representative nandes repres thank you mayor um yeah as you've said we we currently have uh about 100 buses running at Peak what uh percentage of our bus fleet does that represent how many buses do we have in reserve I guess is the uh the the other way to ask that question so at Peak we have about 100 buses and any given time we have to have 20% of buses uh in maintenance or or accounted for that are are broken that that were repairing currently we have 158 buses but again at the end of 2025 we'll only be able to have the current 100 and 20% more and then then we have to turn all the rest in okay plus we will have replacement needs coming up between now and the kind of mid midterm uh Outlook of this plan yeah and so so we'll have the replacement needs and so coming up we'll have um two we just replaced uh our 04 there were 16 that we just replaced replaced them with 10 but we had 16 so we had to turn in all 16 because U by the summer um by FTA regulations we had to turn those in because of the life cycle of the the fuel tanks but coming the next cycle that we have to turn in is our 2008 which there's 32 the next ones coming up will be the 2010s which there's nine and then we'll have some breathing room and those will be the fours so there's a process that that we have to turn them in so it's it's a cycle that's coming so I hope that anwers your question it does yeah so but currently currently we're at 158 we'll soon be limited to 120 yes and running on uh adjusted looking at it was 98 on Peak I think yes okay um I've said it before here and I say it to everybody I am a big proponent of uh signal prioritization or Q jumps uh do we have an idea of uh well I guess I'll ask it this way first aside from potentially restriping and and signage um do we have the infrastructure that we need in order to uh Implement Q jumps or would it be a large Capital cost it would require some new infrastructure at at some intersections um at its signal heads because it's it's a unique one for for the buses um and we've also identified all the locations where that would where that's being recommended across the city uh just as a starting point and would that primarily be along the Brio lines it's other a few other corridors as well but but yes primarily along the Brios um and um the other examples of the speed and reliability improvements we're also identifying where those um where we're recommending those spot improvements okay SM I good morning um Ellen SMI Chief chanit and field operations officer at our next city council meeting there's 's actually going to be a presentation from Richard Bristol concerning the priority signalization and so he'll get into um his long-term projects that's being funded by Mo grant funding and it will address some of those major intersections um but as James said right now it is on um much of the Brio corridors but we are missing some of the signals but that again Richard will give you a much more detailed presentation at the next meeting excellent thank you yeah I think if uh the one of the major goals of this is reduction of of Headway times you know times in between in between buses on on each route uh that's a way that we can improve it very quickly um by by removing a lot of the time that buses are stopped at a red light um and so just to let you all know like that for me I think will be a priority here going forward it's good to hear that we'll be hearing more about it in in two weeks um again thank you for for meeting uh with me I think with all or most of us in in advance of this presentation um again I think they're going to be some small areas in all of our districts that we'll want to look at addressing with microtransit or um you know some some small tweaks or adjustments to what you've presented here today but on the whole this is a really good uh comprehensive plan that gets us to reduce headways and better service for again 99% of of our Riders um and I I think there are small ways that we can help uh make things easier on the remaining one or two% of folks who will be impacted we'll have to travel a little bit further um but hopefully won't be impacted in a in a large way so thank you all for really for the for the hard work and I think uh this will lead us to better Transit thank you thank you represent I think that it's also to important to remember that it should be Equitable impact across communities and that is where my concern is um so my question is if this if this is passed today are will you have the authority to remove these stops without Council approval or do you need to come back to council staff will come back to Council next next year next calendar year okay then I'm comfortable with that I mean I do think this is important I think you've done a lot of the work that I asked last time I do think that there are some gaps in multiple districts I think we all have some issues with um but I think if that conversation is going to be con continued I I'm comfortable making a motion to approve this today thank you second thank you and we do have a motion made by board member anelo seconded by board member salido I believe we have public comment oh yes Miss Lisa Turner wanted to speak on this item good morning mayor Tim Council uh I asked to speak on this simply because I didn't like the things that I heard I heard uh what is first off let me ask this question what is this five minute thing to go from one stop to another is this just walking or is this a driving thing it it's walking man walking and now I'm sure that you all took in effect the terrain around here in 5 minutes walk in 110° heat maybe can kill kill somebody my age or someone younger uh what I I heard will cost neutral explain to me how you can increase the frequency of the runs which will increase your maintenance cost which will increase fuel cost which will shorten the life of the buses so explain to me how it's cost neutral cuz I I don't see how that's going to work uh you there's no you can't come up here and say it's not going to cost you anything it is simply if you are going to increase the frequency that and the distances these buses drive you are going to cause an increase in your costs the lifespan of the buses will be shortened you'll use more fuel you'll spend more time in maintenance uh parts cost will grow up I mean blow up I would ask that you send staff back and come back with something that's realistic and not leave out something like what it's going to cost the other thing is is representative nello made a good point about the balmont area you'll be leaving a lot of military personnel without access access to public transportation you'll be leaving a lot of people who will access the VA without public transportation and I just really just cannot stand here and agree with such a a motion uh but again let me go back to this increased frequenc frequency means increased costs you can't get around it you can't lie your way out of it uh so staff needs to have brought that before you so you could actually have something you could actually consider not the major Financial part of it left out you got the pretty bow in a box but you don't know what's in the box you don't know how much it's going to cost you and that they should have brought back to you before you even consider this thank you thank you Mr Turner I have a motion made by board member Alexandra anelo seconded by board member is salido to approve item number five on that motion call for the vote Mr Retta I in the voting session the motion passes 8 to 8 to Z with chair ler absent for the vote that brings us to item number six discussion and action on the request that the managing director of purchasing strategic sourcing be authorized to notify Toler Manufacturing Company Incorporated that the city is terminating contract number 2020-9 A8 prefabricated bus shelters for convenience pursuant to part four move to approve second second did we vote on that item okay so six and seven was deleted we deleted item six and seven I know sorry we haven't done the consent deleted with the consent agenda I'm so sorry okay we're on item eight item 8 is discussion and action to amend the FY 2024 mass transit budget resolution schedule 8 Capital program to reflect changes in an infrastructure Grant and the purchase of fixed route Rolling Stock replacement and authorize the city manager or his design need to establish the funding source and make any necessary budget transfers for the execution of this program Mr deer six and seven were deleted May mayor I'm sorry I didn't realize you were back no go ahead you're fine sorry apiz I just wanted to to ask how much the grant was for and congratulate you the for which one the grant number eight um it says that you are there are changes in the grant so what are the changes so before I congratulate anyone it might not be good so in our Capital program we assumed that we were going to receive reive uh low no emission vehicle Grant Phase 2 and it allocated $3 million of matching funds to that Grant we were unsuccessful in getting that Grant so at this action we are asking for reallocating those funds that were applied to that Grant and purchasing additional buses our Capital plan included in 2024 buying 10 new 35t buses we are we have found out from the supplier that the buses will not be available until the first quarter of 2025 so we are requesting that we reallocate that money that was 2 be before the grant match to purchase an additional 10 buses so we'll purchase a total of 20 all of which will arrive on 2025 keep allowing us to keep our vehicle replacement program intact on track well I apologize for my preemptive congratulations but are these will these be the low admissions buses or no there will be the these will be CG buses so they are considered low emission okay thank you do we have a motion second and we do have a motion by board member anelo seconded by board member molinar voting session is open Mr chair yes board member Riva hi and the item has been approved unanimously I'd like to um before we conclude I do want to acknowledge the the um class from America's high school that's here social studies class that's here looking at our um at the government at work and I want to welcome you all to city council chambers thank you for being here do we have a motion to adour the the B Transit Department board meeting move second we have a motion made by Representatives by board member salido seconded by board member anelo to adjourn the November 7th 20123 mass transit Department board meeting at 11:09 a.m. all those in favor all those oppos and the meeting has been adjourned thank you do we have a motion to I guess you all are the government class from America's high school thank you yeah do we have a motion to reconvene the regular city council meeting for November 7th motion to reconvene all those in favor all those opposed and the meeting is back in session at 11:09 a.m. now we can go to consent agenda mayor I make a motion to approve the consent agenda with the following revisions page three item 6 delete per airport page 11 sorry page 11 item 26 move to the Forefront per representative Kennedy page 21 item 44 delete per capital Improvement Department second and we also Mr Mayor we have item 21 Miss Lisa Turner with has a couple of questions yes ma'am M Turner what was that repres okay Mr Turner good morning mayor council item 21 uh did you know that this company has had to pay an $1 million in fines for misbranded drugs in other words they sold drugs to people who were not supposed to receive them uh the doj nailed them to the wall and I'm just curious why we are doing business with a company that sells drugs to people or organizations that aren't allowed to have them now where did I get this information from the American Veterinary my eyes are bad the American Veterinary Medical Association and the Department of Justice that's where I got it they plad guilty to misbranding Veterinary drugs so I'm going to be quite honest with you it was an over 200% increase over the pre previous contract of course has to help pay for their $1 million in fines uh I don't think that's our responsibility I think Contracting and our financial officer should have caught this should have paid attention to this and I would ask you to delete this and go out for another contract I'm also worried when you talk about misbranding drugs did that have any any impact on the lives of our animals at the zoo or within the shelter I mean did we get what we paid for if you paid for 50 milligrams of drug X did you get a drug that drug x with 50 milligrams in it or did you get something else because so I have a lot of questions I don't know where to go I don't know what you all should do but I know one thing you should not do and that is vote on this until such time as you get a clear legal opinion from our uh City attorney on what you should or should not do because if you do go forward with this you are actually doing business with a drug dealer because that's what you are you sell drugs to people who are not supposed to have them you're dealing in drugs thank you mayor I would like to amend my motion yes ma'am um so page nine item 21 postpone two weeks per representa vanello there a second on second that I would second that all right there's a second so all matters listed under the consent agenda will be approved with one vote and will be considered by city council to be routine and will be enacted by one motion unless separate discussion is requested by city council member members prior to the vote members of the audience may ask questions regarding items on the consent agenda when the vote has been taken If an item has not been called out for separate discussion the item has been approved Council May however be considered at any time any item during the meeting and this is items 1 through 25 with item six to be deleted item four to be deleted as well in item 20 1 to to be postponed 2 weeks item 26 to the Forefront it is the first item on the regular agenda already I know I reminded representative Kennedy that so it's item six um 44 item six yes item 44 to be deleted and item 21 to be postponed two weeks yes ma'am and the motion was made by mayor Pro manelo seconded by representative Riva M could you repeat those numbers one more time please I'm sorry I apologize that's okay page three item six to be deleted page 21 item 44 also to be deleted and page nine item 21 to be postponed two weeks thank you you're welcome and voting session is open one second please representative U Al thank you mayor uh we have folks from Animal Services here I just want to ask uh question about item 21 do we I'll let you come up sorry I can't imagine this would be an issue but I just want to make sure in postponing this two weeks do we have any issue in terms of uh availability of uh needed medic Capal Animal Services director for the record uh there would be no issues postponing two weeks okay um current contract is still active we won't have a gap correct we still have medications that we are using okay thank you that's all Chief also is were you aware of um any item that um M Turner was talking about were you aware of that no I was not okay so if we can research it through and kind of let us know we'd appreciate it thank you mayor yes sir go ahead sir oh yes I I would like to be brief on that as well sir I don't know if the rest of council was brief but uh I un recall getting briefed on this issue yes sir we'll get everybody everybody will be briefed yes sir sir yes sir yeah yes sir we will make sure that all Representatives um as and the mayor will also receive individual briefings on this item yes maam thank you for that thank you polling session is open representative Riva the item for 21 is up not the consent agenda May okay I understand it would to be the consent consent agenda it was it's part of the consent agenda we were showing it consent agenda goes through item 25 no I know but it I just don't want to be voting on item 21 I just want clarification because that's what's on my screen let me do it again okay it's just that we brought up the item When Miss Turner spoke there you go voting session is open so you can so she removed item 21 is the the other two remain the same yes thank you mayor thank you sir and the voting session is open representative salido hi representative Riva I and the item has been approved unanimously moving on to the first item on the regular agenda item 26 and that is discussion and action on directing City attorney to bring a proposed amendment to The Rules of Order back to to council relating to requests to appear by video conference at City Council meetings in adherence to Robert's Rules of Order in executive session Mr Mayor would you like to take item 27 as well together since they're related or keep them separate that'd be up to rtion Kennedy you want to take it I think they're the same they're related issues but I don't think they should be taken together okay all right rep K I knew you want to turn your light on so go ahead and speak sir yeah yeah thank you um [Laughter] I know that we had we there there had been some discussion about the process for um emergency um appearance electronically and by video and I think that there's more parts to this issue than just the process for us to make that decision because I think there's some other legs and some other tentacles to this where it's the number of people that we allow to bring it in to a meeting the number of um people that are allowed in any one meeting number of meetings in a row on video conference um I I think there is a wide range of things that need to be looked at with this and I mean the City attorney and her staff works with this kind of thing on a real regular basis and I think it's best that we ask them to come back and I would look to the council and say I mean there have been some discussions I've heard about we do have a problem if we have too many people that are on video conference with a a quorum potential Quorum um what's the process for doing it I know that we talked at one point every week a certain area or certain council member was the first person up and if they didn't utilize that then that was open but I would like to look at that and the other one is um a clarification from the city attorney Robert's Rules of orders it says it's for the entire meeting which would include part of executive session and I just would like a clarification from the council to from I'm to say Council I mean City attorney on um use of Robert's Rules of orders during that meeting also and we may have to discuss that somewhere other than right here um can I can I address the question mayor Ma so as to the second item on on the agenda in regards to Robert SCH of order you're correct that the same process in regards to the order of speaking and the time should be followed in in executive session but if the council directs us we could add additional language that would provide that for the council and for the public to understand what the decorum and the rules are in executive session it's everything except for voting clearly which only happens in in Open Session but we can certainly add that language which is a small Divergence from the Roberts rules of orders right correct correct correct and then I would imagine that that the council and mayor you would be comfortable with giving the the members of council the same amount of time to speak in executive session that that is currently afforded to them in Open Session which is currently the 10 minutes until everybody else speaks and then they're allowed to speak a second time is that what you would like to do yes ma'am okay thank you and and with the with the video conference I mean I I want to make sure that we have some parameters um we all at one point or another really need to be able to video conference into a meeting but um I want to make sure that it it's not open for um either abuse or uh one where it kind of goes off the rails where we're having a hard part getting Quorum and things like that so I'd like to have this City attorney kind of sit down and take a look at what rules we're going to need to put into place so for purposes of of feedback from the Council as you all know and and representative Kennedy is correct we limit it to two people appearing virtually the issue becomes when you have more people you have just under a you have a quorum or six people present in in person if one person gets up and you're at five you lose Quorum so what we wouldn't recommend is to allow more people to attend virtually if you already have the two slots taken it would be up to council to decide if you wanted ow a third person to appear virtually in the event of an emergency but then that would leave uh six people in person and then sometimes other things happen where a person is already going to be absent anyway and they're not appearing virtually so you run into those types of issues what what I would be uh what I would recommend is that we come back with some proposals I know Miss PR would probably have some feedback in regards to how to manage that process and then who has the final say in deciding when a member of council is announcing past the deadline of the posting that they won't be able to be present at the meeting and if that is considered an opportunity to appear virtually and and who is that bed through if it's done through the mayor's office or if it's done directly through the city uh clerk's office and they have the final say as to whether they do appear virtually or not okay but I would I would make the motion that we um direct the City attorney to come back with proposals on this guided by the will of the council repres pH thank you Mr Mayor um Miss nean I also don't we already have a standing policy on who can request or who um whose turn it is to be able to appear virtually that's that's correct and I would um Christen ham Hilton K is here and so is our city clerk and they can explain to you the specifics but you're correct that we do have a a rotation already available for the council yeah I think this item is more for in case of an emergency or sickness unfortunately for somebody that cannot be here how we can have some type of ability to do something like that but also some kind of guidance on how we're going to do it so we don't end up without a quorum and cannot have a meeting M Hamilton good morning car for the record good morning members of council Kristen Hamilton car for the record yes uh representative F there is a currently a resolution in place that does address um and it does require that members notify the city clerk's office no uh later than the Wednesday prior to the meeting so that it is posted on the agenda and it also discusses that uh members of council there's a time frame on the resolution that's in place uh that members of council cannot Reserve more than 3 months in advance so that it gives everybody an opportunity so that somebody isn't saying I'm going to be virtual for the next one year so nobody else can do it um so it it is kind of in place to allow members of council the flexibility to be virtual when they're when they're traveling it does provide notice to the public um so if it with this change it would eliminate that ability to provide notice to the public if on the agenda under Toma um with a 72 hours advance notice if there's an emergency I have one more question for Miss nean Miss nean would it be possible to to do a training on um uh executive session in regards to what the rules are what the the mayor maybe even give us a um um a one sheeter on on whether the mayor you know what the rules are for and and you may have already done it I may have forgotten or I wasn't paying attention when you did it but I would I would request that we have the opportunity to have some sort of training we can certainly do do a training either at a council meeting or individually for the members of council um I know Miss Miss Prime has a a Robert tools of order training as well that she's provided in the past but we can certainly do that yes sir okay that's uh into my questions I have 9 minutes left thank you Mr May eight and a half but um I think that also we need to take into consideration that prior to co we did not have virtual attendance at all whatsoever this is something that was brought on through Co which we have moved forward in our community representative Canales thank you mayor I think my questions were largely answered um again the uh the procedures and the the inperson Quorum I think is all established in the resolution so we can discuss that in the next time item thanks do we have a second on the motion second we have a motion and a second so we do have a motion made by representative Kennedy and that is to direct the City attorney to come back with a proposal and seconded by representative Canales voting session is open oh Miss Lisa Turner has signed up for item 26 as well you have 3 minutes man and I knew that Miss Turner again good morning mayor counsel let me say this if you are experiencing an emergency and you can't make it here you're not going to be able to attend a meeting virtually uh Common Sense uh now I can see an exception if you had just given birth and you're at home taking care of your child I can understand that but I don't I don't see any other emergency that can keep you out being here I expect to see all of your smiling faces here every time you have a meeting this is where you're supposed to be you ran for this office this is where you're expected to be now let me talk about executive session you have zero security when you all are in executive session and you've got two members coming in virtually we don't have we don't have virtual attendance on Executive session for that reason okay let me ask you a question is that going to happen in the future well that's what we have now and we'll continue to do you cannot do that because you cannot you have no security well that's what I'm saying so we don't do that we agree with you my concern is simply this is this is where you belong during meetings if you have an emergency outside of a child birth this is where you belong if you can't make it because of the emergency you're not going to be able to attend a meeting because of the emergency because if you're attending the meeting then it really wasn't an emergency to begin with this be honest here this is where you belong at City Council meetings this is where your citizens expect to see you and we need to do away with this CO's over there's no pandemic nobody's locked down this is where you need to be period thank you thank you m Turner representative Kennedy I'm sorry represent mayor Pro yeah mayor I just I wanted to to address something that you had said is this is actually something we had the option to do prior to coid we just didn't have the infrastructure for it um I do think it is important I I remember my husband was in a coma I was here every week for budget and Council meetings um it was something that we explored then because we did have the option we just didn't have the technology setup and I I do think um I agree with Miss Turner I think that if you've just had a baby um I would hope that you would take time to not work but I know that some of us do want to work all of the time and so I do think that there are emergencies in which this is warranted and I I think it is an important thing um I know I myself uh a few weeks ago uh had been exposed to multiple people who had tested positive for coid I kept testing negative but I sat in the corner over there by myself with a mask just to make sure everyone was safe because we didn't have the change to this policy in which last minute I could do virtual but I had a lot of important things on the agenda and so um I kind of risked exposing a lot of people to coid because I could not work so um I think this is important I appreciate a lot of the comments um and so I'm going to be supportive of this thank you thank you um Kenny you have another yeah I was just going to say that that was the particular issue I was going to say if somebody test positive on a Sunday or was having contact I would prefer if it was available that they be able to attend Co STP the flu yeah there's some you know and I do appreciate that representative Vanella went over and infected representative Canal's area rather than mine so right thank you with that we have a motion in a second yes we do have a motion made by representative uh Kennedy seconded by representative Canales and that is to approve representative Riva V and the item has been approved moving on to item 27 who didn't vote oh no you didn't you you didn't add them on there okay item 27 is discussion and action to direct the city manager and City attorney to prepare an amendment to the resolution adopted July 5th 2023 entitled process for City Council Members to attend City Council meetings by video conference resolution to establish a process for a member of council to request on short notice to appear by video conference at a posted meeting in cases of unforeseen circumstances such as sad uh sudden illness personal family emergencies or other urgent matters in accordance with Texas open meetings Act representative Canales thank you mayor yeah this is uh substantially similar to the previous item on July 25th 2023 uh the council adopted both the uh allow allowance and the rule of order Rules of Order uh to allow for the the virtual attendance uh but then also pass a separate resolution to uh lay out the the rules of of that attendance uh by video conference and so uh this is just the corresponding change to the resolution um and I did in the uh backup clarify that this is not intended to increase the number of council members who may appear by video conference that's currently fixed at two in the resolution and would remain at two so this would be only in the case that one of those two uh video conference slots is available uh that a member of council could uh request to appear uh by video conference at short notice um and again it would remain as as a first come first serve uh basis now um uh I think this specifically uh I I left off any specific Direction uh that this would be done via uh notation on the additions to the agenda or the uh the revisions I do think that might be an elegant solution to this um and I wanted to clarify as well that uh the Texas open meetings act has allowed for this uh appearance on short notice for this entire time um our own rules via this adopted resolution uh limited The Limited the the or I guess established the the deadline at the 72h hour prior uh posting deadline but that's not required by the open meetings act um and so in adopting this today we would be providing notice to the public that there may be attendance on short notice in case of emergency um and I'll close by saying uh there I think there are many uh many emergencies or uh short notice reasons that a member of council may need to uh appear by video conference um you know that that day when representative anelo uh moved over here to avoid any potential uh any potential infection of the rest of the council uh she was able to do that because I myself was uh at home I unfortunately had to miss that meeting uh because uh my wife and other family members had coid um I was very directly exposed to them I was perfectly healthy and would have been able to participate in the meeting if I was able to attend virtually uh but it would have been very irresponsible for me to be here in the chambers and so uh I think this is a perfect way to remedy that situation uh we all want to be able to be here in person but for the Times where we still want to work we don't want to miss Council meetings uh but we simply can't be here again for health reasons or other uh emergency reasons like a you know perhaps a a sick child in the household who uh needs care can't be at school um I think th those are perfectly good reasons for someone to be able to attend virtually so that's the reason for this change thank you mayor thank you sir Mr Mayor we also have Lisa Turner for public comment we have uh representative Kennedy first yeah I was going to my my concern is I mean I don't want to direct the city manager to take a look at the resolution because I think it's outs the purview of his expertise I would I mean I think it's more appropriately directed towards the City attorney I don't want to limit what we do with this and I think that 26 is wide enough that it encompasses whatever is in 27 to be moved forward so I I mean it I don't want to pass an item saying bring us back proposals and then do what have another agenda item that muddies the water so I would I mean I don't see a reason to do the second one a point of information uh as I understand the first item only directed A change in the Rules of Order um and there's a second accompanying resolution olution so this would amend the resolution not the Rules of Order I disagree I think it was wide enough on the first item that it was wide enough to have the process too which we discussed which you talked about we all right pardon me can we ask M Dean will first item give you that flexibility to do that yes sir it's broad enough to give us that we receive feedback on what council is looking to do thank you thank you with that M Turner mayor I have my hand up I'm sorry go ahead sir uh thank you mayor uh will this also change uh I know Mr pran had a process in place where uh it would go down districts if they decided to if they were in line for the next uh go around to to re request a video conference is that going to do it with this or is the second choice going to be open or if that makes sense I'm trying to find out if she's going to change that or not like is if I was up next and she I wouldn't want to use it then it come becomes open to another representative that might need it good morning again representative Rivera this is Kristen Ken from the city attorney's office the uh resolution that previously during coid included like an order of members of council who would be the first come first served um member in order has been overwritten and there is no longer that stipulation so um currently it is straight first come first served each meeting week since June of 2023 thank you so so that is no longer in place already thank you ma'am anything else fora no that would be answer thank you sir representative far will be your the mayor I was just going to ask um Miss nean if we were able to to just remove it from the from the policy but obviously or or the resolution but obviously it already has been I I don't understand why we need needed it and especially after coid and and representative Canalis is if we have one slot available if somebody needs it virtually I think that's more than enough I think that's what she said though I think that's what m Hamilton just said no no I was I was agreeing with her sir mayor yeah I would never disagree with her for the record thank you thank you sir this will be your final time representative analis thank you I move to approve pardon me there's a motion in a second we do have Miss Turner who wanted to speak on this item I'll try to call her then something happened again my reservations on this you've taken uh you've turned this into a perk so you don't have to show up to work uh it's no longer a necessity this is a perk for you all now and it's uh disrespectful quite frankly now I can understand if you've got Co that's fine but if you're staying home because you've got kids that are sick uh I have to ask you a question are you paying attention to your kids or you to pay attention to the meeting as a as a parent and grandparent I would be paying attention to my kids not to Mee him that's just me uh this is a perk I don't appreciate it I don't like it as a citizen I expect you to be here I can understand having this in place for an Emer an emergency such as miss anello's being tested for Co that's fine just giving birth to a child that's fine but all this other stuff I look at this wall with all these Mayors on there before we had this and just have to wonder how in the world did they able were able to conduct meetings without being able to have a conference it's important for you to be here because this is where you have the ability to interact with the citizens in this city if you're sitting at home and you don't like what's going on you'll just walk out of the room and when it the voice has changed you'll come back in and you didn't hear anything you weren't listening here you kind of have to listen you have to listen to what we say when we come up here and speak whether you want to hear it or not I don't like this this is a perk you should do away with it it should be only in extreme emergencies but you turned it into a perk like a holiday you've given yourself a holiday where yeah I don't have to go in I can sit around here at home you know maybe water the plants scratch my head paint and do something else around the house instead of give my full attention to the meeting like when you're sitting here looking at everybody this is important your presence is important the fact that you're not here because well you don't want you want that day off is an insult to everyone who voted for you and to those who are citizens of the city thank you thank you Miss Turner Diana for clarification representative Canales your motion is to direct the city manager and the City attorney to prepare an amendment to the resolution that will establish a process to request on short notice to appear by video conference at a posted meeting in case of an emergency correct as it's posted verbatim okay unforeseen circumstances such as sudden illness personal family emergencies and other urgent matters in accordance with Texas open meetings Act and the motion but was made by representative Canales seconded by representative ernandez the voting session is open representative anelo representative Riva hi and the item has been approved with Representatives Kennedy molinar and Fierro voting n item 28 that is discussion and action no discussion on plan of action from noise ordinance cross functional team to include goals data received from police and time frames to be presented to City Council in 30 days and we do have one member of the public signed up to speak Mr Mayor represent Canales you want to this your item sir no represent I'm sorry go ahead first thank you Mr Mayor thank you representative Canalis for co-sponsoring this you know um I wanted to please what's his name last name go ahead which is the his last name Steve's last Mr Franco yeah Al Alvarado Franco he he wasn't talking to you talking Mr Franco in the back yes he talking to Mr Franco behind but Mr alado already up yes please go ahead always sh a name tank um Mr alar thank you very much and and not to put you on the spot this is really a request for information um I think that the cross functional team uh proved its importance during the short-term rental debate or conversation and you what result it was a year-long study I I want to just ensure that we are following that same process that we've invested so much money in uh hiring a consultant that we allow that person uh or that company to do their their job and and so that that just wanted a little bit of clarification from from you and it can be 30 days from now it can be next meeting whenever you're able to compile it all but some of the questions that that I I'd like answered is what is the ultimate goal um um it we I know that we have a cross functional team and already put together involved I want to make sure that we have um not only constituents who who are uh deeply passionate and and affected by it but also we have stakeholders I want to ensure that we have the the Restaurant Association um the the realtors that that those members are that that are on the front lines have their opportunity to have their voices heard and and to somehow um shape this resolution when it when it comes back to council for um hopefully it's approval at that time I I also want to encourage you to share the data um with us on Council as far as what the police department has compiled as far as complaints um as far as uh issues they've had with with bars you know these are all issues that I think are going to be important for us to make our decision but I want to make sure that they're they're shared with us in the beginning so that we understand what um what the best practices are being looked at and what the ultimate goal is going to be um mayor that's um I just wanted to ask for that and I know that representative Canalis asked to coign it to go ahead sir thank you r f thank you mayor yes I think uh again this isn't posted for Action today so we're not uh directing you to come back with anything specific but I I do think we just want to uh get a little bit of an interim update it's been approximately six months since we approved the the contract for the consultant um and so we're just looking to see any preliminary information that uh either your team or the cross functional team or the consultant has developed in those six months um and then uh representative Fiero mentioned a few of the stakeholders I want to add to that list the the neighborhood associations um I think it's very important to make sure that the consultant is engaging with uh with those folks as well either through the individual associations uh or through the neighborhood Coalition or preferably both um to get feedback from residents as well as some of the uh other industry stakeholders and and the the folks that re Fiero mentioned um so again I know this says 30 days we we can't give you Direction on that because it's not really fraction but uh I can just uh ask ask you uh to hopefully uh come back to us in a reasonable amount of time with with some sort of interim update thank you certainly uh good morning mayor members of the council Steve Alvarado code enforcement director sorry about that earlier U error um no no we're going to come clean he did mess up your name I was covering fall I get called a lot of so but uh once again yes uh to to respond to your questions we are including inclusive of numerous members of the public uh gar greater AP pasel realtors association Texas Restaurant Association downtown Management District also Kern Avenue neighborhood association are members of our transformation team the transformation team is equivalent to a cross functional team uh rhi is a consultant that we have hired to work with um they completed phase one phase one was inclusive of of them flying out here the weekend of October 28th through the 30th on October 28th we did have a assessment daytime assessment of these neighborhoods Cincinnati downtown Management District we also went to zagosa and we had a nighttime assessment uh we were here till 3: in the morning on October 28th just basically getting an overview of what occurs in these areas um then we had meetings callout meetings on Monday October 30th there's a total of three meetings for phase one uh transformation team meeting was held at 10:00 a.m. great turnout great input um you know we're not always going to agree which is great it gives us greater Insight of different perspectives by all means um we also had the uh business owners venue owners operators uh meeting that was held at 4:00 that was with rhi directly uh City no City staff was inclusive they wanted a one-on-one with them as as well and we had a department head meeting that was also had held that day uh great turnout great input phase one was completed that weekend phase two they will be back here January 8th through the 10th will be a listening session with the transformation team venue operators and Public Safety um they also have a a women's uh networking meeting that evening as well that they plan to do and we could send an email to invite everybody as well moving forward we are looking at having Community meetings in each of your districts uh that'll occur probably the end of January first week of February so you'll get an invite a couple weeks before letting us know what your availability to for those meetings as well so it's kind of where we're at right now uh the whole process will take about 8 to 10 months we're looking to come with you with options at the end of this assessment it's total of four phases phase two we're currently in phase three will occur probably mid-February maybe March and then they'll come back at the end of probably May or June with their options to present to everybody at that time so it's kind of an update of what we have right now um any questions you may have for me I'm happy to answer F I just want to thank Mr Franco uh for the great information and the followup thank you Mr Franco appreciate that thank you thank you sir thank you Mr Alvarado appreciate your time thank you do there a um any motion or we do have a member the public sign up to speak thank you go ahead Mr Albert Albert rera Mr Riva you have three minutes how you doing good morning sir I'm here to give you some insight about my complaint against hush hush and the noise that they're doing number one the police department is underfunded with decimal meters I call them all the time and they show up without a meter to do what they're supposed to do code enforcement don't do their job they come and they take pictures outside the the bar and they take off sometimes they go to the back and they do the meters and sometimes they don't this bar is getting way out of hand on the sound that they're producing they've told the police department the bar the owners have told the police that they have an extended permit for sound they do not have an extended permit for sound the court enforcement has told me that only there's only one bar in town that has it the other thing if you guys are going to do your your Assessment program and your studies why don't you make sure you do a studies with the bar without a roof I don't know how you going to monitor that they're using I live 3T next to that bar and I hear that sound way over 70 decimal and they've been giving tickets and they've been giving other tickets for over capacity this bar is out of control we need to be using the bicycle police officers at night so they can deter drinking in the cars speeding and fighting in the parking lots we just had a big fight this past weekend at the at the at the later later bar somebody got really hurt real bad the fire department had to be called out because there were over capacities this bar is out of control your studies are useless and I can't wait eight or nine or 10 months for my sanity to get where it's supposed to be I need something immediate we don't have enough Code Enforcement Officers to be out at night when the noise is from when the noise is at 10:30 to 2 till 1:30 in the morning we don't have any police officers out there to to do what they need to do to help keep the neighborhood safe I need some results I'm tired of coming here complaining to you people about something you all want to do your studies your studies aren't helping my mental state of mind and it's coming to a head this issue with this bar I I don't know what you're going to do this bar needs to put a roof on their bar if they want to use a 70 decimal as their limit they need a roof on the bar they don't have a roof thank you Mr three minutes are up okay thank you sir for being here there is no action on this item next item is item number 29 and that is a man management update on development of multif family affordable rental housing good morning good morning sir erra muerz assistant director with the Department of Community human development very pleased to be with you all this morning if it can bring up the presentation please item 29 good morning we have a hot mic please mute yourself good morning members of city council and mayor Eran muerz assistant director with the Department of Community human development I here to present you today a management update in our efforts associated with multif family affordable housing I think this is something very very exciting because this is a plan that represents a unprecedented local investment in our community in terms of the affordable housing units and production what we're seeking to do in the future and most importantly how we're seeking to address the affordable housing challenges in our community next slide maybe should just there we go so we always want to give you a quick update in terms of what we do with community and human development um we wanted to get you right up to speed in terms of the portfolio of services that we offer to the community obviously we have and you guys have seen this uh recently the adoption of climate and sustainability I think it makes perfect sense in terms of the work that we do for uh mitigation and adaptation for climate but also um overseeing Civic empowerment that is our volunteerism efforts Equity access we talked about those things um after that we have Human Services right with the uh uh task of overseeing our homelessness efforts I think this is something that's very important particularly as we transition out of the pandemic to look at the work that we've done in terms of ensuring that folks stay out of homelessness and finally the reason that I'm here I never have development which is overseeing our affordable housing efforts very very important that we give you this update because we're very excited to essentially let you all know that from our position we know that homelessness is a housing problem from our position we know that investing in stable and affordable housing along with Support Services of course is critical to the solution to ending homelessness and of course we understand and we coordinate very well with our sister departments how high cost and low wages can push families into homeless business uh that only places then a higher trength in our support systems of course you can read There Our uh motto if you will I'm not going to read it but uh if you want to take a look at it I think it's something that really captures what we do very well with Community Development so basically to give you a little bit of background we released a notice of funding availability about uh of 2023 where we've asked developers to come back to us with affordable housing uh deals within our C limits but one of the things we learned from this Council and obviously from executive leadership is to make sure that we are actually pushing them to maximize the purchasing power of those dollars meaning to make sure that they're actually not just utilizing our funds or HUD funds which is cdvg home but also ensuring that they're leveraging their funds with their private investment so a deal that is perhaps maybe $10 million could maybe be a deal that it's $20 million and really increase the um uh production of affordable housing units and Rehab those affordable housing units in our community so we follow that model we pushed that model that was a model actually that was also recognized by our F at HUD um also a model that was uh a recommended by consultants in that you don't just do a deal with federal funds anymore you seek other leveraging of funds you make sure that there's also private money to make sure that you increase the affordable housing units so we were very pleased that we put out $19.2 million of our funds and what we got back from the developers was a total investment of $50 million so we're talking about in essence an investment that will produce 258 affordable housing units that's huge that's never happened in our community in terms of a deal this size normally speaking we put deals like this we put deals associated with federal funds and then the developers only use those funds to produce these affordable housing units this is something that it's a best model it's a best practice quite frankly it's a model also that uh if you look at the inflationary markets that we're seeing it's only relevant to address this issue one of the things I wanted to spend time to uh talking to you folks about this is of course looking at some of the data right so we utilize a comp comprehensive housing market analysis that analysis tells us that we basically went from 8.7 in vacancies to 3.5 during the first quarter of 2016 to the first quarter of 2021 that tells us that we have a lot less available units for our low mot income population that means that it's a lot more challenging to reside within City Limits if you are with a very limited in income so we took this data we digested this data and we realized that of course a reduction in bacancy rates means fewer affordable housing units it means increased competition among tenants right more tenants right uh higher rental costs and then ultimately um limiting the access to affordable housing units uh from our uh limited income clients so this deal is exactly addressing that we know that uh HUD is estimating an additional 2,300 additional rental units over that threeyear forecast period so we need to start to get to work right now we need to start make sure that these steals are flowing to increase that production we just wanted to share with you the seven projects to be funded and I think one of the things I would highlight is the difference in between the Hut funding as opposed to the total development cost so if you look at the $19.2 million th those are the funding sources that we uh uh put out right cdvg home and very excited very happy to see that these projects these developers are stepping up in a significant way to basically invest close to $50 million to a community and I mean that ratio is speaks for itself we're very excited about that uh one of the things that we are uh looking at is adopting this model for future deals ensuring that we're releasing These funds in a way that folks don't just rely on City funds bathroom funds that is from the FED to build affordable housing or Community with that I will take any questions y'all may have represent furo followed by represent Canales thank you Mr Mayor first and foremost I want to thank you and Miss f for your uh um your um briefing it was very informative but I really want to congratulate you and and your team and the whole group for thinking outside the box and and bringing more affordable housing to our community um it it's thinking like that that's going to make us really really um accessible and affordable for for uh people in that market so thank you thank you for your your support thank you now we have mer protm then represent Canalis oh the switch I don't know thanks Abraham really excited about this um how are we working on a project like this with organizations like the Housing Finance Corporation we're certainly in a position where we're increasing communication with those folks um one of the things that we're doing is obviously connecting more with their leadership and basically structuring uh recurr meetings so we know the Avenue that they're coming from we know the deals that they're pursuing and most importantly they're also a partner and and we are always welcoming more Partnerships on on future notice of funding avability so just so you all know this deal was put out right but we're you thinking about the next cycle we're already thinking about the next set of funds and that's something that we're always aligning with uh those individuals as well so we're looking to increase that partnership communication for sure sure and I know we've met with them um we've talked in length about how at other cities these programs are much more successful because the city and the Finance Corporation are working together um I would love to see that happening I think that we are just limited ourselves when we're not working in Partnership if we both have the same goal we should be combining those efforts and so I I know that we have all met with the Housing Finance Corporation before I thank you for that and just encouraging you to continue building that relationship in the future thank you ma'am represent Canales thank you mayor um yeah thank you for the update uh and for your work and miss farini's work and all of your team's work um on on this very important investment in these uh affordable housing units for for the city um you know as I've said before on a couple of different items that have come before us in recent weeks this isn't just about providing shelter um it's about strengthening the entire Community promoting Equity um and making sure that we improve the quality of life for everybody um and helping the most vulnerable El pasoans uh lifts everybody up so as we heard in the presentation it's it's about a $19.2 million uh investment of our home funds and our cdbg uh funds through the revolving Loan program uh revolving Loan Fund program um 258 affordable units is huge uh as you said it's like a a really unprecedented investment for us um again I just want to emphasize affordable housing it provides stability for families um it it's it's not just a matter of compassion although that's really important but it's an economic driver too um people are not able to access the workforce if they don't have stable housing you know they're not able to uh have employment if they don't have a place to stay um it attracts businesses to the area around this investment because it creates a stable customer base um you know it's difficult to patronize businesses in an area if you don't have a place to stay um and so I I think uh any work that we do uh to benefit the community uh is rooted in this because of the stability that people need in order to essentially participate in society um and and having access to housing is what gives people that stability so thank you uh it's really important work uh I know we've been having conversations recently about um other ways that we can uh promote the construction either uh directly by the city or by the private sector uh of more affordable units this is an awesome first step and I hope that we can continue uh because as much as uh we need to celebrate 258 units you know HUD has a as you showed in the presentation the need is is much higher uh in the next two years we're going to need more than 2,000 units to meet the demand and so uh we we're already in a shortage situation and we need to continue to develop affordable options for people in order to get ourselves out of that shortage so thank you for the hard work and uh I'm here for you for to whatever I can do to help the work uh continue to advance thanks thank you representative um ernandes good morning everyone or afternoon already um afternoon yeah I'm really excited about this opportunity um I think it's going to make significant impact to El pasoans all across the city just a couple of years ago the city of El Paso was recognized by as an All-American City because of our focus on helping affordable housing in our community and so we can't forget where we're at and the progress that we have today um I am a product and I know other members of council are the product of affordable housing when you give children and families the same opportunity to every other family then there is a direct impact not only to the economy but our social responsibility to care for others um and so this is going to be um really impactful but as representative canala said we got to move the needle I would challenge you all and I know you have really great ideas to find really eloquent responses like you presented today on increasing that number because too many families unfortunately cannot afford their the rent um and big families are living in apartments and so um many thanks and congratulations to to all of the um folks who would who would get this benefit uh and we are counting on on those developers to provide um really nice Rehabilitation uh in communities for all of our families I do have a question related to compliance um we have in the past we have looked at Ami levels or is there a benchmark or is there a requirement to serve the lowest income families with this or is it going to be the state standards which is I don't believe is enough well one of the things we do is we when we start executing agreements before execution I should say we start negotiating agreements we look at their scope of work we look at the clientele that they want to serve and one of the things we've always done and and and um it's been heavily supported by this council is to push to serve the folks that are in most need right so the lowest Amis the the folks that are struggling to stay out of homelessness right so we do try to work incentives out with our developers to say look if you're going to uh um serve this very vulnerable population can we connect you with other services you know can we connect you with folks that offer perhaps you know deliveri of meals uh perhaps job training and so those things so that's that's always uh uh looked at when the developers and the city worked out the scope of work and then in terms of compliance I mean that's one of the teams that I'm probably the most proud of that I oversee is compliance because these folks uh do monitorings audits I should say on a very recurrent basis they go out there they seek information they ultimately want to make sure that a they're offering affordable rates so you know they're not offering Market rates they're offering affordable rates and and then also that they're sticking to the services that they're providing in terms of job training in terms of you know uh uh food Security in terms of all the other things so we certainly have pushed for that and we'll continue to do that uh to make sure that we serve the folks that are most need first um folks that have no other options other than perhaps going to a shelter um thank you for that and and I just wanted to be clear on the on these agreements um after this vote um will it stipulate the percentages of the Mi Ami per okay and and do we have the framework is there a category was 30% to 80% or is it vary between each it varies one of the things we also look at is how many units right because if you look at the portfolio this is why this deal is on President huge this deal is huge is that uh you know you have players that are doing maybe less than 30 units then you have folks like you know the Housing Authority are doing more so it it it it's it's basically uh going in as but we do have those standards and we'll make sure we apply them for these and I'm not suggesting that you put so many lowincome families and one development we we see through empirical evidence that it's more beneficial to put families along with market-based rental units and so I'm not saying that they should all be but there should be a you know a a focus and a Target to Target those families and so I I haven't seen the the agreements I would just like uh for the the developer today to to keep that in mind that there are a lot of struggling families and so the more that you can Target um in your development the the better but you know having that Diversified uh level of incomes between families I think is critical but again I know this is a lot of work over the years and so I'm really proud uh that we are now being presented this recommendation and and good work to the team and Mrs ferini for your leadership thank you thank you represent n thanks okay now I have my actual questions y um similar to representative Hernandez I'm looking at I think they upwards a uh well I'll just say wanting to understand a little bit more about the contracts that are going out um you know interested in how they are different the Opportunity Center for homeless versus the Housing Opportunity management um so if we get briefings on that but I I genuinely just wanted to say congratulations I know this has been years of conversation years in the making um it's the beginning of I think something that is going to be really great for this community and kick off a lot more affordable units and areas that are much in need and so um I really just wanted to commend the work that you all have done on this thank you do we need a motion this item is not posted for action there's no motion on no action on this just presentation I want to thank you all for you know I think representative F will kind of summed it all up that uh thinking outside the box and you know as representative uh andand is talking about that uh we can continue to look and see how we can improve even though we're doing a great job how do we do a better job and how we continue to serve our community and uh I you know Miss Frey and Abraham and your team yall are doing a really really good job of you know again like said thinking outside the box but also looking to see how we can continue to move the needles so thank you all if I may add mayor one thing my boss just asked me to mention no go ahead so all of these deals come with affordability periods meaning that they're locked in for a significant number of years depending on the size of the deal of course ensuring that developers and whoever is managing that property that they offer these affordability rat so I just wanted to say that because I think that's I think that's very very important thank you all gr can we go to call to the public please there's no call to the there's nobody signed up to speak on this item but we do have call to the public you want to go to call to the public Now it's chter 12 VTO the El Paso city council is the local government body charged with serving all the citizens of the city and meetings must be focused on the meeting at charge the City Council meetings are public comment 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 ability and the Quorum that is respectful to other persons without the use of insulting profane threatening or abusive language public comment will not be used for personal attacks against the person or group's character or Integrity which are not pertinent to City business nor May any member of the public use this forum for political statements or campaigning please note that during the call to the public the city council may not deliberate or decide any subject that is not on the agenda again this is for public comment only and there will not be any interaction from members of the city council thank you and we have 26 people who signed up to speak the first three people are Miss Elizabeth Crawford are you on the call Star 6 to unmute yourself please and her topic is Tennessee Washington DC Rescuers Miss Crawford you have 3 minutes yes can you hear me yes we can hear you thank you thank you thank you so much good afternoon um I want to start with a quote from um the Bible that the Lord Jesus spoke for what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul um I would like to speak about um The Pink House that opened in 2022 in Las Cruses New Mexico um it was an abortion Mill in Jackson Mississippi um it was the one on the Supreme Court case that overturned Row versus Wade they closed in Mississippi and opened in Las crues um El Paso as we know no longer legally performs surgical abortions however as we know many of the um people from Texas many of the young ladies are going up to New Mexico and I would assume that many many referrals are being made um to New Mexico from here and very probably to the pink h um when I served in the midwest I got to serve in Jackson for a while um it was one of the most awesome places to serve on the sidewalk there were beautiful families who used to bring their their kids their own kids their adopted kids onto the sidewalk there's a young lady Anna boy that I met she was 12 years old and at her age had saved over 10 babies um she she go would go on missions trips to Ukraine and um just a a beautiful family um and and they practiced what they preach they provided help for those babies that were saved for those families some of those um people that I met in the midwest um did a rescue an old-fashioned type rescue in Tennessee where they non-violently again I emphasize non-violently entered a medical facility um and they were singing hymns and praying um and they were arrested knowing they were going to be arrested they did it why would these people do something like this they knew that life is a from God within this group there's a lady Eva elel who's an elderly lady Survivor of Yugoslavian death camp Coleman boy emergency room surgeon has 12 kids nine of their own three adopted cck Gallagher former police officer in Las Vegas who ended up giving up his career when he decided that he could not arrest um those who were protesting abortion but stood stood with them and he lost basically everything um why would these people do that they know that God is the author of Life The Creator they're facing a possibility of 11 years in in prison um th those within the group who know Christ we understand that the Lord Jesus is worth it um the Apostle Paul wrote that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings for those of us who know Christ it's an honor um to to be to to car his name and to stand for life um thank you so much hope you have a very good day thank you the next person is Patricia Osman Miss Osman if you can please come up to the podium you have three minutes ma'am thank you mayor and city council members for your time I come before you today because on July 6th 2019 I was assaulted that included a sexual act which was 4 days after I reported to El Paso py a local prostitute who advertised sex Services locally online and through social media I reported this all to El Paso PD and the cases subsequently went was sent to Al Paso District Attorney's office which I will discuss the outcome of those charges at a future council meeting at this time I want to focus on the local lack of city of alac of regulation on sexually oriented businesses that are currently only regulated through the county as a form of checks and balances I am asking that our city council and government discuss and add to Future agenda enacting city regulations on sexually orientated businesses and sex workers so they must be obtain so they must obtain licensing background checks and pay fees through the city in order to operate and be regulated by our city not merely through the county the particular prostitute I reported was an is still affiliated with a local BDSM Group which sells their services locally and recruits both sex workers and clients out of local bars within the city limits most would consider their activity sexual assault prostitution the activity that is being allowed by this unregulated group has widespread effects on the safety of the citizens of El Paso in the form of sexual assaults rapes murders drug crimes and tax crimes to name a few our daughters nieces mothers grandmothers and others are all potential victims as I was due to the activity of this existing in our community as we are aware prostitutes have killed clients in recent years there have been arrest of city employees using paid sex workers this is a known fact in our community this group and their activities being advertised in public as they advertise booking BDSM sessions at their dungeon and with their pro professional dominance these sexual assault prostitutes work out of unregistered unregistered and unregulated locations any sexual service offered for a price is prostitution according to the Texas Penal Code I ask that our city of El Paso Representatives research this group and their activities and enact municiple codes in on a city level to enhance the regulation of the sexual orientated businesses and activity groups like this who are performing in local bars not licensed as sexual oriented businesses so as to further toward this criminal activity I can as a matter of fact state that there are sex workers and prostitutes SE selling sex Services locally as they are advertised online currently I make this request of our city council and mayor in order to help prevent more victims in our community I believe everyone of you care for the citizens of our community of our city and want to ensure our safety by creating stiffer reg thank you miss hosman your 3 minutes minutes are up next person is haime Barcelo and his topic is local local war heroes you have three minutes sir I can't ma'am go ahead please mayor liser city council I am Hae Barcelo with me are members of Community Action the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the legacy of Valor these organizations are known for many things including building the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and helping to establish the monument to the men of Company E Veterans Day is this Saturday so it's a good time to initiate a project to remember our Legacy of military service in a manner consistent with a tribute to the men of Company E we want to join City Council in developing a way to remember that Legacy there are many heroes from El Paso but the four I'll introduced received the highest honor for valerin combat the Medal of Honor a short summary is being distributed with additional information about each of these Sylvester Santana erera earned the Medal of Honor for gallantry in battle during World War II in France his unit was pinned down by German machine guns era Advanced toward the enemy and lost both legs and continued to engage the enemy until his unit could destroy the German guns erera died in Glendale Arizona at age 90 Victor Yugo Espinosa received the Medal of Honor for gallantry in battle during the Korean War he was born El Paso where he enlisted while engaged in combat his unit came under heavy enemy fire Espinosa launched a one-man Counterattack armed only with his rifle and some hand grenades he continued his attack inflicting heavy losses on the enemy and securing his units fighting positions he continued his military career retired returned to El Paso and is buried at Fort Bliss National Cemetery Ambrosio guen received the Medal of Honor postumus for gallantry in battle during the Korean War at 18 years of age joined the Marine Corp was deed to uh deployed to Korea where his position was attacked by an emperically Superior Force he directed his platoon's defensive actions and was wounded he continued the battle eventually repelling the larger Force he died on the Battlefield and is buried at Fort Bliss National Cemetery Jesus Santiago Duran received the Medal of Honor for actions in battle during the Vietnam war Duran joined the army in 1968 and deployed to Vietnam during combat operations his unit was under attack he used a machine gun to launch a successful counter assault to defend his unit after leaving military service he settled down in Riverside California where he died at age 28 we ask you to invite us to explore ways to honor honor and memorialize local war heroes as we did with the men of Company E a possible location for a fitting tribute is near the Mexican American Cultural Center because of its historical cultural and local F Focus maybe we change the name of Cleveland Square to Plaza eroes we think it's important to share our Legacy of honorable military service with Al Paso and the rest of the country and we are eager to continue this conversation my contact information is provided on the summary so that your designate may contact me thank you for your time are there any questions thank you sir the next 23 speakers Mr Mayor they're all in support for Palestine the next person is lus coral Miss Coral if you can please come up to the podium you have three minutes hello members of city council I speaking today as a member of the local community Viva Palestina Al Paso Texas and as a member of the El Paso Community to call upon our city council members to issue a statement in support of a seized fire and an end to the occupation of Palestine along with my testimony I provide a letter to our council members written by Viva Palestina and endorsed by over 300 community members of El Paso this is a crisis Israel has declared a genocidal war on Palestinians in Gaza Israeli officials are openly planning to open the gates of hell on Gaza referring to the over 2 million Palestinians trapped inside as human animals Israel has shut down electricity to Gaza hospitals cannot not save lives and doctors and healthcare workers are working tirelessly despite many of them confronting the corpses of their own family members their limited remaining access to Internet is fully destroyed and people have no measures to communicate with the outside world Israel has made its intentions clear its politicians have stated this is a war on the civilians of Palestine Israel has openly stated an intention to commit Mass atrocities and genocide prime minister Netanyahu is saying that the Israeli response will rever reverberate for Generations all of this is supported and funding and Armament by the R Us government it has never been more urgent that our city officials call upon President Biden and Congress to demand a permanent ceasefire and demand that humanitarian assistance be allowed into the Gaza Strip Israel's apari system is a violation of public international law international human rights and a crime against humanity under international criminal law Israel has repeatedly defied human rights laws for decades prior to the current genocidal attacks on Gaza attacks which are now bleeding into the West Bank there is only one way to end the violence and that is to address the root cause of everything happening over 75 years of Israeli military occupation and aarthi and an end to us complicity in the systematic oppression we the people of El Paso Texas call upon you our city officials to demand our Congress call for an immediate ceasefire and subsequent end to the occupation of Palestine our tax dollars directly support Israel's military as they conduct the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people before the world's very eyes we call upon our city officials to demand Congress for an immediate ceasefire and immediate end to the occupation demand Congress for immediate allowance of humanitarian Aid and demand our nation's leaders to hul all pressure on gods to flee to Egypt as this will only repeat the continuous displacement Palestinians have endured since their forc explosion in 1948 thank you thank you your three minutes are up next person next person is summer [Applause] masur if I may ask that you hold on your applause so that people can hear their names when we call them up to the podium please ma'am you have three minutes I'm speaking today as a member of the local organization Viva Palestina as a member of the AL Paso Community and as a Palestinian to call upon our city council me members to issue a statement in support of a ceasefire and an end to the occupation of of Palestine I also ask that mayor Oscar liser formally end the sister city relationship that he signed on to with hadera Israel mayor liser you have made symbolic and tangible gestures of approval and endorsement of Israel's illegal apar hiide system and occupation of Palestine in 2015 as part of a push by the borderplex alliance you signed a sister city agreement with the mayor of hadera Israel this sister city relationship is founded on the pursuit of economic partnership a partnership whose success inherently relies on the apar heide system in which Israel operates to hold a sister city relationship with hadera Israel is to offer tacit acceptance and support of the unjust and unequal system of apart hiide that discriminates and es Palestinians Israel's aparte system has enacted violence upon Palestinians for decades limiting their movement their civil liberties and every facet of daily life the oppression includes violations of Palestinians rights to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness over 10,000 Palestinians have been killed in the last month with the full support and assistance of the US government weapons of mass destruction supplied by the United States are shipped on mass to Israel to continue this genocide in our demand for this city of El Paso to sever their connection with the sister city of hadera Israel we want to highlight the significant potential for reinvesting the annual 8 and A5 million dollars that El Paso allocates to Israel within our own local community reinvesting These funds can make substantial improvements within our city by having the opportunity to increase Community Resources and projects instead of channeling Millions to Israel for Weaponry while economic Partnerships have potential benefit it is vital they align with the values that El pasoans uphold including causing harm to indigenous populations the current sister city relationship with hadera Israel stands in opposition to these values by supporting a paride practices conducted by Israel it is our moral responsibility to abandon the sister city relationship between El Paso and Israel we call upon our city officials to demand Congress call for an immediate ceasefire and an immediate end to the occupation of Al of Palestine demand Congress call for the immediate allowance of humanitarian Aid to the Gaza Strip both North and South demand that our nation Nations leaders halt all pressure on Palestinians to flee to Egypt as this will only continue their forc displacement and we call for our local officials to end the sister city relationship with hadera Israel as I repeat to hold the sister city relationship is to offer tacit acceptance and support of an apar hide system mayor liser you have the power to end this relationship and send a symbolic message to Israel that El Paso does not support or IND endorse violent apar hiide systems thank you next next member is SAR sto ma'am if you can please come up to the podium you have three minutes if I may remind everyone this is public comment only there will not be any any interaction from members of the council misso you have three minutes okay uh my name is s tala i she her pronouns and I live in the 79902 zip code area so I'm here also to urge city council to not only call for an immediate ceasefire in Palestine but to call for the end of the occupation of Palestine I am not in agreement with my tax dollars being used to fund the genocide of the Palestinian people so just to keep it short again I urge city council to demand um for an immediate ceasefire demand the immediate entry of humanitarian Aid to Gaza I'm asking the mayor to release a statement in support a new statement I'm sorry in support of a ceasefire and to immediately dissolve our sister City relationship with hadera Israel I really urge you all to like do the right thing um we're all complicit in this all of our taxpayer dollars are being used to fund uh the US funded um genocide and I'm just not in agreement with it and I hope that you all do the right thing thank you thank you next next person is bajat masud you have three minutes sir thank you my name is bat massud thank you for allowing us to speak here thank you to the overwhelming police presence at this event we all remember the terrifying violence that occurred on August 3rd 2019 we all remember the horrors that occur as a result of people being dehumanized that is something the Palestinian people have known all too well for over 75 years we're calling on the city to break its sister city relationship with Israel we're calling on the city to view what is happening in Gaza for what it is a genocide we are calling on all of you to step outside of the barriers of your political system and view what is happening with a lens of humanity demand a ceasefire it really is a simple request one you would instantly understand and agree with if you were the one whose family was being bombed to death or your water supply was cut off we have a tendency in this country aided by the media to view what is happening between Israel and Palestine as a conflict but in reality this is a genocide Israel claims the reason they bomb Gaza indiscriminately is due to the fact that they they hide Hamas in strategic locations this isn't true and Israel has rejected the un's ability to search these hospitals because they know it's not true however even if it were in what universe is it acceptable collateral to bomb a hospital let alone three if you as City Council Members view what Israel is doing as acceptable I sincerely question your ability to make sound decisions on behalf of your city we are PR we are beyond the pale and our nation is already responsible for bankrolling the mass murder of children El Paso as a city of immigrants a city that sits on Stolen land has the ability to turn against the bloody oppression we see our federal government cause we need to end our sister city relationship with hadera Israel this goes without question we need a ceasefire if you as city council members do not want to go home tonight knowing you're complicit in genocide do what is right because the world will hold you all accountable for this one day and you will wonder why your children and grandchildren scorn you for accepting genocide over Humanity if you don't thank you next p next person is yamid rera Velasquez and I'm going to remind everybody everyone no personal attacks to any group or person please my name is you have three minutes my name is j Velasquez I'm echoing what the others have said before me on May 20th 2015 you Oscar liser signed an agreement with hadera's mayor declaring hadera Israel a city to a sister city to El Paso why what relationship what connection is there between the two cities why do you establish connections with Israel instead of focusing on making Crossing easier for those in our true sister city of Waris I'd remind you that according to the 2022 elas census 82.9% of el pasoans are Hispanic or Latino we as a people all come from cultures and ethnic groups that are functionally extinct but we can see that we can pretend that history is ancient that it's so old that it's irrelevant but as we can see it's clear as day that the terror of sedal colonialism is a liive funded by our tax money felicitated by our government approved by this Council If this relationship with hadera is allowed to continue we cannot allow this implicit approval of the bombings from the IDF to continue the sister relationship was established on the basis of investment the agreement would enable Israeli investors to come to El Paso and vice versa it has been eight years since then if there is money being made then the citizens of El Paso certainly don't see it or feel it with this in mind if this relationship is about money why shouldn't you leverage it against the Hostile campaign against Palestine why are we not saying no more investors until the bombing of hospitals schools and supposed safe spots declared by the IDF seiz we are obligated to do our part to stop this atrocity of these massacres of which 70% are women and children a statement calling for the ceasefire is the very least you as the council can do a severing of the connection between haa and in Paso is is your moral obligation on Saturday there were 9,488 deaths including 3,900 children 2,59 women in addition of 2,200 missing people and 24,1 158 injured in addition to the targeting of 105 Health institutions and the withdrawal of 16 hospitals from service Israel's kokar committed nearly a thousand massacres against the people in the Gaza Strip this cannot stand this must seize and all of you every single one of you have the power to help the movement to make it so by either making a statement declaring for a ceasefire or severing the connection between hadera and El Paso thank you next person is Morgan Jo J followed by Stewart schz sorry if I massacred your last name hello I'm here in support of uh Viva Palestina as well I wanted to bring attention to the sister city relationship of of El Paso with uh hadera Israel uh I wanted to remind our city Representatives why we should care and that we should can affect change at a local level by severing this tie I think it's very important and I think you can see with the outcome here today that there are many of your constituents who believe this and we do not want our taxpayers do our are taxpaying dollars being used to support genocide um as these crimes of human Humanity continue without open condemnation we should remember that it is not our foreign policy which determines our right or wrong but history which condemns those who stand who stand aside in the face of such evil atrocities Israel does not mince words when uh speaking its intentions with the Palestinian people referring to them as beasts inhuman or fundamentally evil in their existence mind you this is a population that of 2022 was compromised 45% of children under the age of 18 this dehumanization rhetoric is not unfamiliar in the face of genocide as we've seen in World War II in a situation where an occupancy faces an entire population is militarized by law and whose political leaders openly advocate for the eradication of a popul ation subsumed Bel beneath its control there are no sides to be taken um it is because of that that I urge our city officials and representatives to stand on the side against genocide and to sever the sister city relationship with hadera Israel to call for a ceasefire and to call for an end to the occupation thank you thank you the next next person is Stewart schz followed by ranim caroi Mr schz you have three minutes good afternoon mayor and Council on October 6th a 2year long ceasefire was in place between Hamas and Israel that ceasefire was broken by Hamas the following day when terrorists swept across the border from Gaza and massacred 1,400 Israeli civilians in an unprovoked attack that targeted innocent seniors children and infants and took over 230 hostages including a 9-month-old child since the massacre Hamas supporters and other anti-semitic actors have threatened and targeted Jewish and Israeli individuals and institutions worldwide the ADL reports that anti-semitic incidents have increased by 388 per just in the last month in November 2022 the city council this city council adopted the international Holocaust remembrance Alliance IH working definition of anti-semitism this action followed similar action by the Texas legislature as well as over 1,000 International organizations governing bodies like yourself NOS universities athletic clubs and corporations we are better as a community for acknowledging that bigotry and hatred directed at any group of people have no place in El Paso healthy debate about the situation in the Middle East is certainly appropriate however the line should never be crossed where debate is replaced with expressions of hatred for a peoplehood for who we are our history and how we worship as President Biden noted in his October 20 Oval Office address to the nation we must reject all forms of hate whether against Muslim Jews or anyone else the time is now for city council to again reaffirm its stance against anti-Semitism and islamophobia in any form and condemn in no uncertain terms all acts of otherism within our community El Paso is better than that thank you next person is ranim KBOI followed by Celeste Mar guess you have 3 minutes ma'am good afternoon city council mayor and city council um my name is Renee I'm a district 7 represent uh resident I hope the district 7 representative is here is absent for a good reason uh I'm here to Echo the same sentiment that we need to sever our ties with hadera Israel um as far as I've been listening there have been no personal attacks just calling out facts that people have signed them in the past according to a news conference held by Health Ministry in Gaza 10,000 2022 Palestinians have been killed including over 4,000 children 25,000 total Palestinians have also been wounded since October 7th in the West Bank at least 152 Palestinians have been killed 41 children and one woman according to the United Nations nearly 1.5 million people are now internally displaced in Gaza out of a population of 2.3 million 1.5 million out of 2.3 million at least 11 Palestinian households comprising of 95 people including 356 children have been displaced in the occupied West Bank due to Israeli settler violence and access restrictions according to Al jaer the southern part of Gaza is turning into a large concentration camp with Israeli ordering people to move from the north to the South it Still Remains difficult to those in the north of Gaza to evacuate the Israeli stated the Israel army sted had carried out4 450 air strikes on Gaza since last night according to the Palestinian Health Ministry 200 Palestinians were killed in the overnight air strikes with many buried under Rebel we again call on you in no hatred towards anyone or any personal group that we need to sever ties with hadera Israel this is unacceptable and does not align with our values in El Paso we ask our city officials to demand Congress to call on an immediate safire an immediate end to the occupation in Palestine demand Congress to City to call on Congress Congress for the immediate allowance of humanitarian Aid to Gaza 20 20 trucks are not enough 100 trucks are not enough when they used to receive over 500 per day we demand that our na Nation leaders halt all pressure on gazin to flee to Egypt as this will only repeat the continuous displacement Palestinians have endured since their forced expulsion 1948 we call on you mayor and every city council member including for the ones that are absent for our city officials to end El Paso sister city relationship with hadera Israel officiated in 20 2015 by mayor Oscar liser this is unacceptable it cannot continue and we call on you to end your participation in this ongoing genocide thank you next person is Celeste Marquez followed by nzen ro rui Miss Marquez are you present she will be followed by nasen RI and Marla Cohen ma'am you have three minutes good morning good afternoon mayor and Council and Salam thank you for taking the time to listen to us my name is Jenna sales Marquez I am a third generation Al pasoan I am here today to hold myself accountable to speaking up for my Palestinian brothers and sisters and speaking out against depression as a Muslim I am commanded to call to en join in what is right and forbid what is wrong I understand the small role I play in calling the people to consciousness of the atrocities funded by our government but it is my duty to share my knowledge and increase accessibility to it speaking out against oppression is an obligation upon every Muslim to the extent of his her ability as the prophet Muhammad sallam said whoever of you sees an evil let him change it with his hand and if he's not not able then let him change it with his tongue and if he's not able then let him change it with his heart and that is the weakest of Faith excuse me Israel's soldiers invade Palestinian towns and Villages abduct men women and children beat them and control their lives and movement daily nearly every week Israel forces demolish Palestinian homes destroy their crops confiscate pal Palestinian land and they kill the Palestinians while Israeli deaths are reported by Us Media Palestinian deaths which occur far more often are usually ignored much emphasis is placed on I'm waiting for a text to pass rocket attacks from Gaza while reports rarely mention that these attacks are in the response to Israeli violence learn more at if Americans knew .org since October 7th the Palestinian Health Ministry counts at least 10,22 people in Gaza have since been killed including 4,14 of those are children we are all witnesses to the atrocities committed by the Israeli occupation forces and funded by our tax dollars no more we demand a ceasefire and we demand an end to this occupation and genocide now free Palestine next person with the remainder of my 20 seconds I'd like to take those and say a silent prayer in the name of Allah for our deceased brothers and sisters I encourage you to watch the one that I quoted if Americans knew if Americans knew to educate yourselves please thank you so much for your next next person next person is nazine ruha you have three minutes ma'am more importantly as a human being I come here to implore you all to stand on the right side of History to demand and ask you all to release a statement calling in support of a ceasefire growing up I have seen the many ways in which latent propaganda and racist lies are used to manufacture consent for decade decades long wars in the Middle East and which have led to Historic levels of hate crimes and similarly this blame propaganda and racist lies about Palestinians and Muslims in the media lies which the Israeli media failed to confirm and and yet which our very own president took it upon himself to fuel its spread but was in fact disproven all to manufactur consent for Israelis decimation of the people of GDA half of whom are CH have been subject to to ethnic cleansing since 1948 to random acts of illegal Collective punishment and who this very second have no water fuel medicine and electricity if we are to think about our life what we find acceptable and or what we would be and or what we would compromise for our health and our health of our loved ones what would that be the answer is nothing we would compromise nothing we want we seek and we get the best we are privileged to serve as well as to receive the care that we do even on our worst days even during a global pandemic what we had was infinitely better than the cruel and inhumane way that the people of gar be exterminated they have nothing all Source of Life survival has been illegally cut and blocked by the aparan genocidal regime of Israel there is white phosphorus currently raining down on Palestinian civilians a chem a chemical weapon prohibited by International humanitarian law as it as it burns straight through the Flesh and everything and it only stops when it hits the bone amnest Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch human right watch have been unequivalently condemned this and United Nations has designated as illegal yet the world doesn't even pause to think about the basic Humanity of Palestinians and what is happening as right now with hospitals out of anesthesia supplies water power and everything sterile surgeries are being performed in the dark without anesthesia on the filthy floor of an already overflowing Hospital filled to the brim with trauma victims not in an operating room according to Dr kasan one of the many doctors who have been working tiously for weeks receiving large number of patients including children who who Israel has seriously injured with indiscriminate Bombs over one onethird of gaza's hospitals are now completely non-operational because they were directly attacked or have been completely have completely run out of fuel and equipment we shouldn't be here to deliberate deliberate as to whether or not we should stop the bombardment people are justifying and explaining why it is okay to bomb hospitals ambulances kill pregnant women to cut out electricity food all sorts of life these sorts of events these kinds of behavior and rhetoric continue to lead to the murder of innocent civilians these are these are all immeasurable degrees Beyond genocide and America and Israel are sole contributors this is a violation of every international law this is a complete violation of the Geneva Convention it is an obligation upon everybody of governance to speak up thank you ma'am your three minutes are up thank you next person is Marla Cohen followed by Desiree Miller and Emma Haggin Miss Coen you have three minutes thank you mayor and thank you city council it is a privilege to be speaking to you today as a child growing up in Denver Colorado I greatly benefited from the sister cities exchanges that we had throughout the world these were cultural and educational exchanges that allowed us to learn about cultures people religions food music from around the world when I moved to El Paso this past may I was excited to learn that El Paso's sister city is hadera I am proud as my new role as executive director of the Jewish Federation of El Paso and Las Cruses to be working with Cadera as our sister city this is a large the two cities um excuse me the two cities celebrate one thing in common which is the largest salinization plants in their region this is not an accident but an intentional sharing of intellectual and scientific knowledge between the two countries these desalinization plants allow for here in El Paso between El Paso water and Fort Bliss to retrieve 27.5 million gallons of water previously unavailable to us in the future Jewish Federation of Al pasan Las Cruses will be launching a new initiative to address issues impacting our sister cities of El Paso Las Cruses in Mexico and in Israel we can all learn from each other as we address water agriculture immigration border democracy and other important issues to all of us Israel is fighting to defend its borders after a brutal attack by Hamas on October 7th Viva Palestinian blaming Israel for this genocide is respectfully a bit Mis leading Hamas is using Palestinians as human Shields to protect Hamas and we should all be demonstrating our outrage that Palestinians are being used to defend Hamas respectfully we are grateful to you mayor ler and the city council for signing the international Holocaust remembrance alliance definition of anti-semitism last year five times Palestinians have been offered a two-state solution with Israel and five times Palestinian leadership has rejected it prior to this war with Israel Hamas prior to this war Israel had been providing Gaza with electricity food water and life- sustaining support Kamas is to blame for this genocide Kamas must be held accountable thank you next person is Desiree Miller Miss Miller you have three minutes thank you hi my name is desire Miller I am a resident of District 2 um and I'm here today to Echo what has been said by previous speakers before me um and ask council members to question your place in history in in acting in support and being complicit in the genocide of Palestinians um thousands of people have died many of which have been children and there is no possible justification for this um to Echo our demands very clearly we are asking that the city write a statement of support for and do everything in your power to demand an immediate ceasefire and subsequent end to the occupation of Palestine um call for allowing humanitarian assistance into Gaza and end the sister city relationship with hyera Israel and de incentivize any economic Partnerships with Israel thank you next person is Emma Hagins Miss Hagins you have three minutes ma'am hello and good afternoon city council my name is Emma hains and I was born and raised here in Al Paso today I ask that everyone listening put aside any politics or partisanship and call on their Humanity to listen with an open heart ears as I've navigated my way through life I've become painfully aware of the dangers and horrors of the real world and in turn I've come to view El Paso as a sort of Beacon of Hope within the intense and oftentimes Bleak political climate of this day and age I've come to know El Paso as home and find comfort and community in its people in my people people who carry love and culture from all over the world Al Paso is a beautifully diverse Melting Pot and for that I have been proud to call it my home growing up here in Paso has taught me just how integral the values of Freedom progress and equality are to the success and strength of a community with that imagine my utter shock and disappointment when I learned that the government of El Paso Texas my home the same home that I share with so many Latino black indigenous people of color people with strong values and character willingly entered into a sister city agreement with hadera Israel in 2015 hadera of course AC participates in the long-standing oppressive hyper-militarized apartheid regime vital to The Establishment and expansion of Israel a settler colonial state the same Israel that has been enacting a systematic and calculated campaign of textbook genocide and ethnic cleansing over the past 75 years the escalation in military aggression against innocent Palestinians Palestinian civilians has escalated Beyond nightmarish levels recently and we need to stand in solidarity with our Palestinian brothers and sisters to show that Al pasoan stand against this genocide and not alongside Israel we cannot in good faith continue to claim to be a community that values the tenants of Freedom progress or equality while simultaneously standing an allyship with a city like hadera whose values are so evidently and drastically misaligned with those of Our Own in order to act in line with our strong P principles it is imperative that I'll Paso leverages this opportunity to condemn the actions of Israel by severing ties with hia and calling for an immediate ceasefire and a permanent ceasefire we not only as Al pasoans but as members of the human race are morally obligated to take a unified stance for a ceasefire and condemn Israel's inhumane actions we as a community must unite now more than ever than to reinforce our values by fighting for a free Palestine and calling for an immediate cease fire and ending any and all diplomatic ties to Israel and this is the first step in the right direction thank you thank you next person is Salma AA star six to unmute your microphone and you have three minutes can you hear me missa there you go hello can you hear me yes we can hear you now you have you have three minutes hello city council members for the past 31 days Israel has committed to the ethnic climing of Palestinians in Gaza and in the West Bank regardless of what happened in October 7th it is now clear that Israel has zero concern for hostages and instead has focused on eliminating Palestinians from Gaza in order to expand their occupation let us be clear Israel has also committed crimes against Jewish people and Israel has also committed crimes against their own citizens who have been protesting against the massacre in Gaza Israel has v violated the so-called rules of war and has committed severe humanitarian crimes such as using white phosphorus the excuse that some ciling casualties is unavoidable in order to Target one second in order to Target Hamas no waight when more than 10,000 Palestinians have been brutally Mur with 4,000 being children this is clear as as daylight it is a genocide that our tax dollars are funding I urge our city council to advocate for a ceasefire I call upon you to use your influence to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza at this point Palestinians no longer have any access to water food or electricity this is in of itself a crime committed by Israel let's remember Gaza is not a state nor a country it is a 25 mile territory under Israeli control it is their respons to allow Palestinians access to basic human Necessities the loss of life and suffering is devastating and it is our moral duty to speak up and use our voices to pressure for a CE fire reconsider the sister city relationship with hadera in light of the genocide occurring in vaza I strongly recommend that our city reevaluates a sister city relationship with Hada Israel while fostering cultural exchanges is valuable it is also essential that our Partnerships align with our commitment to peace and humanitarian values Israel is a criminal s Colonial militant state with blood on their hands let us recognize that Hada Israel was created via the ESN cleansing and removal of Palestinians in alakada we should not hold these types of relationships with ap parite States let's also recognize that the creation of Hada Israel also uh contributes to climate change because it is indigenous people Palestinians who actually protect the land so it is a wrong assumption to believe that the land of Israel is a good thing for climate change and for the world as a whole we need to advocate for a free Palestine as a concerned member of this community I believe that we have a responsibility to stand for peace justice and human rights you as city council can use your voice to stand up against this AP parte regime and potentially motivate other cities around Texas to stand their ground and therefore make the voices of constituents be heard you as the city council members have a responsibility to our Palestinian Community here in El Paso to show them that you stand with Palestine and against genocide thank you missa your three minutes are up next person is Javier next person is Javier Miranda followed by Jose Miguel Reyes Mr Miranda you have three minutes afternoon mayor council first of all I commend uh the young folks that are here speaking uh as a retired uh recently retired educator I I commend you folks uh war crimes consisting of the disproportionate killing of innocent children and the indiscriminate bombing of schools refugee camps places of worship hospitals and residential dwellings have com U have been committed by Israel's military zionists in the keset and Benjamin netanyahu's Administration have further exacerbated an aparti system which has been implemented since 1948 it is important to condemn the atrocities and murders perpetrated by the terrorist organization of Hamas in October 7th which resulted in the loss of 1,400 lives however the subsequent Collective punishment incurred by two million Palestines half of whom are innocent children already deprived of basic human rights and have essentially been raised in a concentration camp is a crime against humanity and needs to be stopped the dropping of 20,000 tons of bombs on Gaza more than one and a half times uh dropped on roshima has erased entire entire family Bloodlines we are obligated to join the global call for peace and end this genocide those of us who are critical of Israel and the IDF can erroneously be uh accused of anti-Semitism but the annihilation of God's children compels acts of conscience El pasoans are not ignorant of such injustices for our own past reveals systemic oppression circumstances in Palestine mirror those of our cities in terms of the militarization of our border displacement of generational communities segregation of our people the coldblooded execution of innocent youth at our border as well as the Draconian separation of children from their families we cannot in good conscience continue to remain silent unfortunately our dysfunctional federal government refuses to collectively call for a ceasefire choosing to quell votes for peace at the United Nations while providing billions of dollars and weaponry to continue Israel's genocidal Onslaught it is up to us to join our Global Community to wield influence respect for Humanity cannot be reigned in by legislators who are bankroll by corporations that profit from our misery therefore I urge our Municipal representatives to refuse to be indifferent to the genocide taking place in Gaza and to renounce the violence plaguing both our Jewish and Palestinian brothers and sisters I Ask of our elected represent pres atives to issue a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire and to commence peace negotiations which include the framework for an equitable two-state solution should the genocide continued our municipal government must immediately undertake nonviolent actions of boycotting sanctioning and divesting from Israeli Commodities and financial transactions it will be through the polling uh through the Ping macroeconomic level three minutes are up thank you next person is Jose Miguel Reyes star six to unmute yourself Mr Reyes can you hear us go ahead three three minutes sir I sure you're unmuted but we can't hear you star six there's Tech technical difficulties the next person is s Sarena du please come up to the podium you have three minutes ma'am I'm already crying right now so here we go um everybody's said it all people ask what would you do during the Holocaust what would you do during the genocide of Native Americans what would you do during slave y y'all are doing it right now everybody here if you're not going to even speak for the voices of what we see we're here to let you know we are on social media and every time we go on our phones we are witnessing the same pictures of what unfortunately the Jews are repeating in this situation but I do want to say that this isn't a religious war that they want to make it there are Jewish voices for peace that you can look up they're all over the country I saw them on this Statue of Liberty yesterday on like all over the place people are doing so many things right now to stop this in any way that they can I've never really spoken in a place like this but I do believe that we're all here for a reason I'm a massage therapist a traditional Islamic practitioner um I help people who can either afford services for their health um but most of my clients are people of jobs that are traumatic so military um I see people in the police I see people who work inside the children encampments these people are traumatized we are all traumatized knowing what's going on I cannot be silent knowing that somebody who just left inside of the children encampments that are secretly silenced on Fort Bliss she had to leave because of witnessing just too many pregnant N9 and 10 yearolds in cages um it's unacceptable and I can't see the difference I really can't um Palestine hes any baby any child any young person any woman any family do you guys remember that we are all related to Adam we are all people of the earth we're all related and we're all one family if you are distracted by the borders and the Nations that have been created this is evil and this is the work of Shayan this is the work of the devil wake up we're all related it doesn't matter what religion you are it doesn't matter where you come from at least at your dinner tables please speak about what we see we see piles of babies we see bombs that go down on concentration camps filled of just children and they line them up from the newborns to the teenagers we see the mass Graves and we see history repeating itself so I would like to take the the rest of this time to say any prayer of any religion for all people who die all over the world we are never going to stand for this and we are all going to keep doing this and we'll be back and back and back to see what you guys have been doing to work on this okay you already know our demands thank you thank you next person next person is Sahari Ortiz star six to unmute your phone and you have three minutes Miss Ortiz can you hear us star 6 to unmute your phone you have three minutes ma'am yes we can hear you all right uh thank you Council for just giving me this opportunity to uh come before you I'm sorry I couldn't be there in person um so I stand here before you to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and to end the occupation in Palestine for Al jazer the help the hell Ministry of Gaza and the Palestinian red crosses of today there's 10,328 people who have been murdered including in 4,23 237 children there had been at least 25,000 andur which includes 8,067 children more than 2,600 Palestinians are missing in the rubble and among these are 1300 children 1.5 million people are now displaced internally out of the 2.3 million people at least 89 un staff have been killed which the UN staff uh the UN organization itself says that this has been the highest ever death to of the organization the uh one of the hospitals will run out of field in less than 48 hours um and as a future physician this means that life saving equipment incubators icus all will shut down so this just means that this is a death sentence to any patient there who needs this to survive um Israel has bombed multiple hospitals including the only cancer hospital in Gaza and a pediatric cancer unit the UN reports that there's only enough food for five days which is 120 hours so just keep that in mind um bombing medical facilities bombing hospitals bombing staff um journalists You Know This Is War crime and the Gen Geneva Convention have that was ratified in 1945 and the 196 countries who have ratified this have you know ensured that this is a war crime and Israel itself has ratified this convention and Israel itself is committed these war crimes so again this is not a war that is a PR this is not a war only targeting Hamas this is a war that is targeting Palestinians and its intent of their removal through ethnic cleansing um so call it for what it is this is a genocide so humanitarian PO is not enough we need to demand ceasefire we need humanitarian eight to answer Goda and I understand you might say that you might not have you know um you do not represent Council but as City officials you can make a dance known to Congress it is an obligation to stand against genocide not only as elected officials but as human beings so I I implore you and I beg you to demand this ceasefire and stand against this genocide and I just want to say that our privilege should weigh heavy on us today thank you thank you the next speaker is does clay followed by Mari Mario Olin Miss clay you have three minutes ma'am thank you uh before I begin I want to State how grateful I am to be standing here today I want to acknowledge the privilege I have to sorry to be able to speak here and know all of my family's whereabouts um I have the privilege today to go home after this meeting and cook myself self lunch and just simply exist for the rest of the day but that is a privilege that has not been afforded to Palestinian people and that's a topic I'd like to discuss I'm calling on the council to take a stance not only as individuals but as a collective to demand a cease fire and an end of the occupation of Palestine today marks exactly one month since the world has began to pay attention to the crimes that Israel is committing against the Palestinians within Gaza and now the West Bank over the course of this month I have seen tragic and graphic images of deceased men women and especially children I've seen people just search for hours to find a body part of a loved one just to have some sort of peace of mind I cannot begin to describe the pain that exists in my heart and my body when I see children and parents crying over their loved ones while continuing to hold their strength for their Community I have seen people such as ban PLA and Matas who are press within Gaza documenting what they believe are going on with documenting what they believe are going to be their last days alive I wake up every morning just to check their accounts to make sure that they have survived the night all that Palestinians have been asking us is for us to Bear witness to this tragedy and we are bearing witness we are bearing witness to a genocide that is continuously wiping out generations of family more specifically 45 generations of families this is no longer a complex conflict but rather a humanitarian crisis that involves all the people on Deck while I completely understand that this Council does not have congressional power it does possess power and influence over its own Community by expressing our solidarity with the Palestinians we are expressing that we do not condone this ongoing genocide and stand against any and all forms of Oppression I know that many people here and many people in El Paso might believe that we might not be able to make a huge differ by taking a stance as a city but I have seen with my very own eyes over the past 21 years of my life that that is not true I have seen this community come together in the face of tragedy and become what is known as a pass of strong and our actions I have seen the city turn actions of hate into love and solidarity with one another and our actions did not go unseen by the public eye as we were broadcast this all over the United States we became known for our Paso strong because it's exactly who we are as a community we as a community can show that strength and love towards our Palestinian brothers and sisters as we continue to help them fight for their freedom thank you thank you next speaker Mario Olin followed by former city representative Peters shpine Miguel es scoto and Haley Pala Fox Marlo Marlo or was GNA correct it appreciate it right K you have three minutes thank you K my name is Marlo I'm a district 6 constituent in these dark times I come here today to request two actions from our city council one to end the Twin City relationships with kadera Israel and second to call upon an immediate cease fire in 2015 our city joined with the borderplex alliance signed a Twin City agreement with kadera in the aparti state of Israel and means to build Bridges and communities across the world although I agree that as a border City hyper militarized as it may be as a cultural Hub and a community that convictions are aligned with humanitarian Aid we should build Bridges internationally I condone and we should all condone having relations with settler States that bomb borders that bomb Bridges preventing humanitarian Aid going to communities that they keep hostage Israel has provided gas food water and necessary resources to gasa much like a guard provides to its prisoners barely keeping them alive with half the population starving and the rest barely surviving we're a community that receives and welcomes migrants from all over the world we hold a unique perspective to the reasons people leave their homes searching for a better life and opportunity in our country we understand and have heard of the journeys many Asylum Seekers and refugees carry over devastating stories so we also understand that we should advocate for solutions that stop the displacement and the uprooting of people from their homelands with this it's important to call upon an immediate ceasefire Hamas is a consequence of Israel because as history knows so well respect existence or expect resistance respect existence or expect resistance we should not align ourselves morally economically nor politically with war criminals I repeat we demand our city council to end Twin City relationships with alera and AAR that Israel and to urge our Congress to call on an immediate ceasefire libert Victoria Gloria thank [Applause] you next person Peter [Applause] Schwarz Mr shpine three minutes thank you uh Council mayor good afternoon um to all the speakers and others here um thank you for joining us as well um um again I'm a first generation American my parents chose El Paso to start their family proudly Born and Raised on the border um my dad's side we have dozens of cousins probably like a lot of your families a lot of families here in Al Paso have cousins on top of cousins my mother's side um I have about two cousins because her family except for her oldest brother and sister out of 10 brothers and sisters everybody was uh killed in the Holocaust murdered by the Nazi regime I'm here to speak on behalf of sister C National as a national chairman sister cities is the oldest and largest citizen diplomacy nonprofit founded by President Eisenhower in 1956 in the middle of the Cold War he had a very simple premise that a time where countries may not talk to each other it was important for Grassroots diplomacy City to City citizen to city mayor to mayor for exchanges relating to humanitarian concerns art and culture technology for people to learn about each other through mutual respect and understanding one city and one community in a time and by those bonds of understanding you'd be able to be be able to create Global peace and prosperity now we don't necessarily tell local chapters what to do what cities they should become sister cities with but we do have a couple of sort of policy and guidance and one of them is specifically relating to times of conflict and crisis just a year and a half ago sister cities put out a press release encouraging us sister cities not to suspend and not to terminate their sister city relationships with Russia cities we all know that there's a war going on in Ukraine and Russia right now but at that time it was important not to punish the citizens of Russia whether in St Petersburg or Moscow who may not agree with their governments who may not agree with their leaders but still want to have that relationships because they understand that it's important that people talk to each other and communicate to each other so I would encourage you again to not look at suspending this relationship just a few weeks ago there were similar um spirited voices that declared that they wanted San Antonio to to and their sister city agreement with Tel Aviv lastly we have a really beautiful and opportunity with hadera Israel the largest dis alation plant there occurs and their mayor um near Ben Kim is actually a descendant of Moroccan Jews his family fled after 1948 where all Jews in Middle Eastern countries were expelled um after the creation of the state of Israel the reality is that Israelis are being held hostage by Hamas Palestinians are being held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip three minutes are up and the peace process is being held by Kamas as well thank [Applause] [Music] you next person next person is Miguel escoto followed by Haley palifox sir you have three minutes my name is Miguel escoto I'm a lifelong El pasoan and current resident of District 2 I'm here to speak out against the brutal violence that the United States and Israel is unleashing on Palestine my main message city council is that we as El pasin hold a deep responsibility to act in this moment when we are witnessing a genocide unfold before our own eyes that includes um as Palestinian organizers here have demanded the end of the sister city relationship with um hadera Israel why because these are not normal circumstances there is an extreme amount of violence and Us ending that relationship sends a message it sends our message that we are not supporting this the story of this issue should not begin on October 7th of 20123 it should begin in 1947 in the historical event of the nakba the mass dispossession of Palestinians from their Homeland during this time the Israeli Zionist military forces expelled at least 750,000 Palestinians from their homes attacked major Palestinian cities and destroyed around 530 Villages around 15,000 Palestinians were killed in this series of mass atrocities in the 1940s and this disposition of land this occupation the violence has not ended since that day in the last month Israel and the United States have killed around 10,000 Palestinians 4,000 of them children much of this has been documented and witnessed by our own eyes we have seen our tax dollars be used to bomb hospitals ambulances bakeries and refugee camps this is not a war this is asymmetrical Slaughter I plead city council that you take action we demand a resolution for a ceas fire and increased humanitarian Aid and collaborate with Palestinian organizations here today uh to coordinate your plan of action which can include ending the sister city relationship with hadera Israel as a military City here in El Paso with deep connections to the military and to defense contractors like Lockheed Martin Corporation who are currently giving Jets and missiles to Israel to kill Palestinians it is on our shoulders ERS cuz it is our own City institutions like UTEP and the El Paso Chamber of Commerce that have their hands dirty that have blood on their hands and are complicit in war crimes you cannot remain silent if we remain silent as a city as a city then we are complicit in war crimes as well please take action thank you thank you the next person and the last speaker is Haley Pala Fox Miss palifox if you can please come up to the podium you have three minutes thank you city council my name is Haley I'm a resident of district one I'm an El Paso native and for what it's worth I voted for Brian Kennedy um all the other members of via Palestina have pretty much summed up like our main points which of course are demanding Congress having the city demand from Congress and an immediate ceasefire and an end to the occupation of Palestine demanding Congress call for the immediate allowance of humanitarian Aid into Gaza demanding that the nation's leaders halt the pressure put on Egypt to receive fleeing Gins additionally ending El Paso's sister city relationship with hadera Israel considering that it's built that it was built on the ruins of the Palestinian Village of Arab Al fukara which I hope I'm pronouncing correctly this Village was forcibly depopulated during the nakba in the 1940s um and we as El pasoans do not want to continue a relationship with a city that was founded right during a genocide furthermore we want um the city to reinvest the over $8 million in our tax money that we give to Israel every single year we could be spending it on housing school um jobs roads anything here in El Paso but instead it's being sent to Israel to further continue the crime and Aid in the crime of genocide that is occurring over there furthermore when I was a child I would read stories about people who were able to do the right thing during difficult times and even if they stood alone even if they didn't have that many people supporting them and in other parts of the country like Washington DC New York there have been people turning out in the thousands in the tens of thousands to call for an end to the genocide in Israel and American support for the genocide in Israel um we don't have that here in El Paso we are smaller than New York we're smaller than DC we can't we don't have tens of thousands of people coming out we don't have 500 Jewish people descendants of Holocaust Survivors and rabbis getting themselves arrested in the Congressional Office Buildings to say that this genocide will not happen in their name the least we can do is get is are these demands that are the other speakers listed out the least we can do is listen to the voices of the Palestinians who live here in El Paso the least we can do is form a small group and come and talk to the city council and the least we can do is listen when the speakers ask you all to abide by these demands that we have and that's the end of my time thank you thank you ma'am Mr Mr Jose Miguel Reyes is star six to unmute yourself and if I may remind everyone please keep the Quorum public comment is an accommodation and not a requirement of city council Mr Rees are you on the line can you hear me you have three minutes sir yes we can hear you awesome good afternoon my name is Jose Miguel Rees a resident of district 7 and I'm calling today in solidarity with the people of Palestine whose lives have been encroached on by the S settler Colonial project that today we know of as Israel I insist that our elected City representatives and mayor call a resolution to demand immediate ceasefire of Israel's continued indiscriminate bombardment of innocent civilians living in the Gaza Strip as of today the amounted total of deaths as a consequence of Israel's bombardment has summed up to over 10,000 half of gaza's population of 2 million are children not speaking out against Israel's continued ground Invasion and ethnic cleansing of Northern Gaza is furthering further enabling the cycle of violence call for an immediate entry of humanitarian Aid into Gaza Israel has blocked all access of essential resources N es uh currently there are hospitals in Gaza that are running out of fuel and essential supplies where surgeries are now being performed without anesthesia we have a duty as citizens of this Earth to help those in need and that's by uh that starts with demanding a ceasefire and call to Aid uh in this humanitarian crisis lastly sever ties with the city of hadera Israel we have a moral responsibility as a city that values democracy to not associate with an aparti State one that treats a population of different ethnic and religious background as second class citizens controlling where they can and can't go and one that enables the genocide that's occurring right this moment as we speak we as a moral people have an obligation to call it out for what it is it isn't just my interpretation of the situation it is one made by uh un official Craig mocher uh who has since stepped down over the un's un's lack of action to help Palestine and stop Israel uh thank you so much Mr Mayor the next item is item 30 not sure what you want to do I would like to take item 30 and then break for lunch okay item 30 is discussion and action on a cash assistance program for low or moderate income families that have experienced a negative impact due to the pandemic good afternoon members of council Robert cortinez so this item is a follow-up to the October 10th city council action um that ask us to identify a funding source uh 500,000 also create a process to select an organization to support families that are at or below um the adjusted median income and you can read here what the actual action item was back on October the 10th and so this is again a followup to that action item we had we' come back in 30 days and uh it's been about 4 weeks now so we did look at we did look at a couple of different sources of funding I'll go through those here in just a minute um one of the items we did look at though and the cini is here she's going to present a couple of slides as well was looking at the eligibility of utilizing the arpa funding that we did receive particularly the state and local portion that we did receive and so this would be knowledgeable use we identified just a quick scan about 26 different cities or counties that are used arpa to do a cash assistance type program however as you can read here what would be required if we were to use arpa for a cash assistance program which is how it's described within the final rule or the guidance on how we can utilize arpa funding and so again there would have to be some form of negative impact that would be identified as a result of the pandemic uh whether it's lower moderate income unemplyment food security a couple of different things that could be identified however that would have to be a part of the process um also it has to be reasonably proportional and so with that it's really vague within the final rule of the arpa guidance that we received but basically he said you can utilize what the federal government provided as far as assistance as an amount and so the $500 that was discussed I don't think would be an issue if the council decided to go that route and then finally it's got to be proportional R relation to the impact that was um received by that individual and so again the guidance is pretty vague on that however we feel that the $500 that was discussed would not be an issue as far as eligibility if the arpa was to be dedicated or allocated towards this particular program so again we did look at a couple of different sources we looked at the economic development funding that the city currently has um although there is available funding currently the way that or what was discussed at the October 10th council meeting was that particular program would not fall within the impact fund or within the Ted policy which has been approved by city council we looked at the cdbg funding um unfortunately the fy2 notice of funding availability won't go out until January of next year and this particular group that was mentioned at the October 10th meeting would be eligible to apply to submit a proposal for uh that particular program and then finally as I mentioned looking at the American Rescue plan act in which there was $12 million that was approved by city council towards Community Development um particularly related to the community recovery and so a couple of different items that were addressed and that presentation back in May which I sent to you all back on U again that October meeting so you've seen that presentation but particularly related to housing homelessness um household stability and food stability so we feel that um that would be probably the best use if there would to be a reallocation of that funding that was approved back in May of last year and so with that I'm going to turn it over to miss niini who will get into a little bit more detail about the recommendation thank you Robert uh Nico farini climate and sustainability officer for the record um so as Robert was mentioning our ultimate recommendation is going to be to reallocate funds from the existing arpa allocation for Community recovery and also as he mentioned the reason Community recovery is because the direction from the city council in that uh particular pot allocated to community and human development was targeted at addressing the most vulnerable in our community and I think that we all recognize that there is a tremendous need across this entire city this entire region frankly um in a lot of different areas I want to remind the council that we have been doing a community needs assessment for going on three years now and so when we take a look at how what community recovery means to us what vulnerability means to us as an organization and as a uh a group of servant leaders in this community we are looking at the data that we've gathered over the last three years in the most recent Community needs assessment um we saw a very similar uh outcome in terms of the areas of need things like food security resident empowerment mental health and addressing homelessness as you all heard um my assistant director Abraham gues talk about earlier you know we're investing in multi family housing we're investing in human services that address the needs of those at risk of homelessness but actual homelessness is also an extraordinary priority in this community so those are the things that you all directed us to look at when we created the Community recovery uh pot of arpa funds uh our recommendation at this point for this particular item for the cash assistance program would be to issue a notice of funding availability which would address the process component of the council direction from the meeting two weeks ago so that we would solicit a nonprofit organization that could provide any service in alignment with the results of the most recent Community needs assessment as I've just described it with the metrics and standard as required by law and by arpa regulation that goes back a little bit to the slide and I'm happy to go back and talk a little more about arpa regulation in terms of these types of programs but we would want to make sure that that notice of funding availability was very very clear with the applicants with the subrecipient applicants about what the rules would be what kind of documentation we would be requiring so that again not only are we issuing assistance through our subrecipients to this community in need but we are also protecting the Investments of the city of El Paso and ultimately of the taxpayers at the end of the day however what I can tell you out of the community needs assessment for the last three years and just the experience that we've had on the ground with all of our nonprofit service organizations is that the priority in our community right now is folks that are at risk of eviction or at risk of homelessness and so we recommend issuing that notice of funding availability with that specific component very very clearly stated this is something that is very similar to what we've seen done in other communities uh where these types of programs have been done in Austin for example that caveat was embedded within that program and so that is our ultimate recommendation is to reallocate funds from Community recovery and ultimately push out a notice of funding availability which I think I have a timeline here yep we would incorporate those arpa requirements into our existing notice of funding availab availability process right what does that mean that is our entitlement that goes out cdbg in January what we would do is use that same vehicle that same well understood transparent mechanism that our nonprofits have used for some time and we would simply add a section under the arpa requirements we would release that in January of 2024 close applications and commence our internal review process in February of 2024 the internal review process is extremely important in terms of the direction you all gave us two weeks ago or or a month ago um because we have subject matter experts and a technical advisory panel that reviews that independently of City staff and so there is a very very clear process um that takes a look at what the outcomes of those programs are and ultimately makes recommendations for award uh which would happen in March and April of 2024 and ultimately that is our recommendation and I'm happy to take any questions that you all might have at this time mayor proam thank you Nicole um this was the exact intent of my item two weeks ago I believe that arpa funding and especially the source is the intention of this program um we have set these dollars aside specifically to address these needs and so I wanted to thank you for this presentation um and I will make a motion to approve thank you m'am second representative Kennedy yeah I I just have a a couple of questions I noticed that the scope changed from the initial item which was risk of eviction preventing homelessness and the new one today says negative impact due to the pandemic how are you going to measure negative impact due to the pandemic on this program so a couple of things that's a really great question and there're two the answer is that they are two separate things um assessing a negative impact from the pandemic is part of the arpa regulation and it is something that not would be measured in terms of the award but rather would be documented as a function of the the Federal Regulation the federal mandate and so we've been doing that already um since you know cares era arpa all all of those programs and so there's very specific documentation that you can provide as a household that articulates that you were negatively impacted by the pandemic however if I can go back I don't know um I if it can bring the presentation back up I'll show you here in the regulation here we go recipients May presume that low and moderate income households as defined in the final rule as well as households uh that experienced unemployment food insecurity or housing insecurity didn't in fact experience a negative economic impact due to the pandemic and so there's just that Federal regulatory structure it's a compliance piece but when we do the notice of funding availability we won't be measuring that piece of it we'll be asking questions like how many op pasoans will you be serving how will you be serving them will there be case management attached to that um what is the ultimate Community benefit more broadly um and so those are the kinds of things that we measure in our existing noo process and that's why we're suggesting to use the existing process because it's something that our sub recipients are already very familiar with no doubt if you're pulling a half a million dollars out there's going to be some program that you're going to have to peel back on right yes sir I mean you aren't printing money down there are you I am no I'm kidding I shouldn't kid on the record I think everyone just freaked out when I did that I know they're going wow that's how they balance the no we're not we're not printing money but what I can tell you is this sir yes we we absolutely will have to reallocate um we had in uh Community recover uh $12 million that was allocated initially uh we have committed all but $3 million of that and when I say committed I mean contractually obligated we cannot we can no longer peel it back without breach um or terminating those agreements the remaining dollars that are left have been allocated to community resilience Center and that's what this will be coming out of do you know how many families would be affected by reducing the half a million dollars from another program I don't have those numbers what I can tell you is that a half a million dollars on one of our traditional programs serves about 170 Al Paso families and how many families will be served with this new program I have heard a couple of different numbers um the original proposal that I saw said 75 families I think at the last council meeting uh 80 was discussed but I think we're talking at somewhere between 70 and 80 families is my understanding so about half of what we'll have to peel back from the other program correct sir I mean I I understand and I think poverty is a huge issue in this town but I think that serving less families and looking at a pilot program is about like trying to put out a roaring fire with a shot glass of water and and I do think that you've done a good job working the programs that we currently have in place and that's why I won't be supporting this itemes sentive F thank you Mr Mayor um my question is so we're moving arpa funds in a half a million dollars it's along with with representative Kenny's questions but we're moving them from somewhere else am I to understand that these other organizations other groups have done have been working for a year maybe a year and a half two years to bring a budget to bring an idea that's something that we um gave them the idea that we were going to support or fund and now we're saying we're going to take some of that money away is that correct not exactly sir I want to be very fair and transparent with you I think if we were talking about the $9 million that we've contractually obligated the answer to your question would be yes but we are not we are talking about funds that have been set aside and discussed and encumbered based on an idea but they have not been contractually obligated no agency has at as of this time been working to create a budget for those funds they have been um pending the creation of the community resilience Center and we've not done that and so technically they are still available so I just again to be very fair and transparent no we're not taking away from an agency at this time okay but away from an idea yes thank you Mr Mayor thank you representative Canales thank you just to add one more layer of clarity here uh they are not eliminating the creation of the resilience Center correct it's a reduction of funds uh from am I correct in saying two million to 1.5 million in the allocation for the community resilience Center so I think it's highly unlikely that the community resilience Center can move forward I think it was probably already underfunded and this would make it so that we could not move forward with that we'd have to pair that with another project and there's some possibilities there that we can talk through um but I think that ultimately the reason we're recommending the noo is because we know that these are the areas of need in the community and as long as we are addressing those needs it is a valuable use of our community recovery funds and so if that means that the resilience Center does not come to fruition the way that we imagined it then that'll be the direction of the council to give us okay but purely it will likely not come to fruition but just purely from a kind of nuts and bolts perspective the the allocation for the community resilience Center was $2 million if I understand correctly it was actually $3 million it was 3 million so this is represents a reduction from 3 million to 2.5 million correct which may or may not mean that the resilience Center will have to change or correct okay that's right understood thank you thank you mayor thank you and let me kind of So based on your presentation based on everything you've told us would this be your recommendation to do or not okay thank you for your answer I think sir I I wanted sorry it's R I believe go ahead I was I was just trying to be thoughtful sir um I think you want to finish your thought ma' go ahead and I'll ask hold on we'll get you next sir I see your hand thank you it is this Di diverges from our initial recommendation sir yes our initial recommendation was to invest in a community resilience Center that could provide services that address all of the community needs that I mentioned earlier so our recommendation holds to continue to do that the recommendation to move forward with a notice of funding availability gives me a level of comfort that those dollars will still address those vulnerabilities if you're asking me would I recommend a direct award for a singular program the answer is no I would not recommend that that was my question so the answer is no sir thank you ma'am repres sentive mea uh thank you mayor um M on I I have a question on that uh as well is this going to be city city operated operations or are you just turning the are you controlling the F excuse me are you controlling the funds that are are being reallocated as a city controlling the funds that are being reallocated in the in the sense that we are controlling the funds in the way that we always control the funds that are passed through the municipality as an organization uh we are the grantee which means we are the ones held accountable by the federal government we are responsible when we create a subrecipient agreement we create a legal vehicle that allows us us to hold accountable whomever we've awarded the funds to but I always try to be very clear with the council and the public that ultimately if the subrecipient violates the regulation in some way the federal government does not hold the subrecipient accountable the federal government holds the city of El Paso accountable so in that way sir we continue to control the funds through our subrecipient agreements but we do not directly distribute the funds or control the program does that answer your question it it does but uh I still have to worry about the liability factor that you just mentioned correct uh as as we have experienced it before um uh how can how can we assure our constituents that the everything's to be taken care of properly and legally to where um the city the City the city's liability will be minimized I think what I can tell you is that the vehicles that we have in place that this community development team in collaboration and lock step with uh the city attorney's office we we understand how to place those controls into our legal agreements now how those controls are or those vehicles are utilized in the event of something going wrong really falls into the hands of the council but as far as assuring the public that this team understands how to put together an agreement that is solid and reflective of the Federal Regulation and can be implemented and enforced the answer is yes we can do that and we are confident in our ability to do that okay and again how many people is it going to serve from the you I I I think I heard you say 170 while you were operating it uh while the city was in operation of it and so how many families are going to be served by this now sure so let me make sure that I'm very very clear the question that I was answering was a similar type of program that we have operated through a subrecipient in the past is our rapid rehousing program a rapid rehousing program places a family into an apartment unit before they become homeless and pays their rent for a certain period of time it also offers case management so that as that family moves through uh month to month they are given access to other resources and just assistance you know handholding a little bit because that's what some folks need right in a program like that with $500,000 we would be able to serve 170 people or so and I say or so because the way rapid rehousing works is that after a period of five or six months if you are stabilized and through work with your case manager you were able to move on from the program we can move those funds on to someone else and so that is where you can serve between 170 and 300 people depending on how quickly folks move through the program which is why in our notice of funding availabilities and a lot of our uh requests to subrecipients we're asking for case management because that's extremely important it's and it becomes a a guard rail for that family um what I understand is that the cash assistance program with $500,000 would serve somewhere between 70 and 80 individuals okay so why do we choose to go in this new Direction instead of reallocating those funds to the programs that you already had working well I think that the that's why we're recommending a noo frankly and and I think I was answering the mayor's question um if you all were asking me to directly allocate funds to a specific program that did one thing I would be recommending against it what we are recommending today is the issuance of a notice of funding availability that will allow all of our agencies to compete and so a rapid rehousing program could come in and compete for these funds alongside the cash assistance program alongside uh you know Mental Health Care programs anything that is in alignment with our community needs assessment will be eligible to compete for these funds when that award process occurs we'll do what we always do which is come back to this Council we will share with you the results we will share with you the comparisons about whom can be served for how long and you all will ultimately make the decision we will make a recommendation but you all will ultimately make that decision and that's the recommendation we're making today is to put that in your hands once we have all of the information at hand okay and then that recommendation when it comes back to council can also be uh denied or or rejected in any way I believe I mean I would have to defer on ter in terms of process but I would say that what we typically do when we bring back a recommendation after a competitive process like this is that we ask you all to either approve our recommendation in its entirety um we might see one program we might see a couple of programs recommended we might not see a whole you know one program for half a million dollars I don't know what we're going to see but we'll come back and make that recommendation and then you all can choose to adopt that recommendation or not I would be I'm sure there would be a vehicle for it but I would be surprised to see you all say never mind don't don't do it at all but you could do that could do that okay all right thank you thank you mayor representative Salo thank you mayor um I know that the need is great and um and thank you so much for your your recommendations and um what you present it um I want to make sure I'm being a steart of the dollar and make sure it's corre reaching the most that we can in our community you mentioned that those funds were allocated for the community resilience what is that um what do that Intel the community resilience Center was imagined as a physical facility that could bring together all of the service providers that have that really took our community through coid 19 um you all saw me here at the podium many times with the El Paso helps collaborative uh folks like the opportunity center for the homeless Amistad the United Way others that really uh provided a direct service to the community but there is no physical place currently where that can be provided in in in one location so the imagining of the community resilience Center or Community resilience Hub was a single place where El pasoans could go in time of Crisis to access Services that's how it was imagined and that's what will likely not come to fruition with this decision and then with that program you would be serving 170 no we don't know how many folks that we would serve with that uh I mean I would I would venture to say that in that physical facility the potential to serve hundreds of El Paso ends is great because you bring together agencies that are funded from other sources and are Prov providing those services so each one of those agencies could serve hundreds of El Paso in I don't think it's a fair comparison though just to be again transparent and clear there's not really a fair comparison between a cash assistance program and a community resilience Center they're they're just not the same thing it's apples and oranges in terms of people served okay and I think earlier you mentioned something about 80 and then another number was shared that 1707 what was that um in regards sure so the 170 is about how many folks how many households we could serve serve through a traditional rapid rehousing program and we use the rapid rehousing program as an example because it's a similar type of monthly investment so when you all asking me for a comparison as as representative Kennedy did um that's a fair comparison a a cash assistance to a family of x amount or paying rent to a family for x amount on a monthly basis for a period of about a year you could do 170 people um in a rapid rehousing program and so with the community resilience and that allocated fund it will serve that 170 that you're talking about is that no ma'am very different things very different things and and to address those 170 people will we be addressing them will we be helping them right now as it currently stands we are assisting many people through our rapid rehousing programs that are funded through cdbg uh ESG and actually I think we have an arpa funded rapid rehousing program that is ending I think in March March or April it's going to run out of funds and so the timing of this release of funds could be very auspicious for some of those programs that are running out of those funds um but right now again I just I I let me see if I can be very very clear the funds were allocated to build out a community resilience Hub it was only an imagined project it was something that we wanted to come to fruition to bring access to those Services together it had not been planned out yet I don't know how many folks it would serve our service programs like rapid rehousing are funded but they will run out of funding eventually and they would in fact be eligible for this money if we release it okay so you're saying that half a million could go possibly to keep addressing these needs correct correct and I think the reason that we're recommending the noo and and again I'm I'm I'm trying really to unpack what gets to be a complicated issue with the Federal Regulation and the noos and all of those things but to be very very clear it's why we're recommending this competitive process because what it allows me to do is answer more directly the questions you're asking me so if I put out a half a million dollars and 10 agencies apply I'm going to look at what all of those agencies are telling me committing to me they can do for that half a million dollars right and so when I come back to the council I'm going to say with a half a million dollars I can do this this this or this and then we will make a recommendation and that's why we're we're recommending today to do that process okay with that then I um I will I'll take away my second just on how you've answered and kind of listen in a little more thank you thank you thank you ma'am representative Canales followed by mayor Pro oh representative Canal has already spoke so it's my turn so have you no yeah but then it goes in the order of people who have spoke no who said that no you're next sir go ahead we have new rules today thank you sorry I didn't decide uh thank you mayor um I think few of my things will make you restate things you said but I want I want them to be clear yes um this is so uh the the action that you're recommending that we take today uh this is not approving direct funding of the program as proposed one month ago this is in ating the the $500,000 into a notice of funding availability essentially saying uh to the public to nonprofits service providers this money is available yes um to support any kind of program including potentially a uh cash assistance program but also any other kind of program uh that is in alignment with the the findings of the community needs assessment correct yes okay so uh the action today would would not directly fund a cash assistance program no uh it makes that one uh it adds that to the menu of possible programs that could be uh proposed by one of our uh future subrecipients correct okay um and then um you talked a little bit about compliance uh any program that emerged out of this notice of funding availability and the selection process that happens uh at a later date as part of the the 2025 well sorry I guess it is the FY 2025 noo upcoming noo yes the upcoming no it will release in January of 2024 right and you're thinking fy2 because of the cdbg funds correct um whatever uh project was was ultimately selected uh with whatever subrecipient was eventually selected would have the same compliance structures that we have with any other subrecipient uh agreements or or you know the same level of of uh protection through a compliance structure that that we find in any other sub reian agreement of federal funds absolutely with one additional clarification is that that that award will be uh subject to the same requirements as all of our other arpa agreements yes because they're a little different than for example cdbg and that's partially why it's important that we do this as a separate noo and you may say well why not just allow them to apply for cdbg well we know that cdbg does not line up quite properly for this type of program and so what we're doing is creating an entirely new opportunity but we're opening it up and we're making sure it's subject to the same scrutiny as every nonprofit program that we oversee right okay and again so we have sub subrecipient agreements for programs like uh Workforce Development programs we have uh again our rapid rehousing program that is funded with arpa and there would be similar compliance structures to all of those other arpa funded programs absolutely okay um and then I I I don't like to overly focus on the I think it's a little bit of a a red herring that we discuss like how many how many people are impacted by One Thing versus another thing because they're totally different types of programs but the $170 $170 170 person yes number uh in the uh rapid rehousing program right that's not necessarily the same 170 people throughout the term of an entire year is what you were trying to explain right that somewhat of a revolving door of folks it would if we receiving receiving uh funds for a portion of time and then maybe graduating out of that program and being replaced by new people 170 is whom we could serve if no one graduated from the program understood okay so that's so it could be between 170 and 200 250 people depending on how quickly those families stabilize and oftentimes they don't often times they take the whole time and that's why we are conservative but 170 would be okay and that's why you gave the range 172 perhaps 300 because of correct people graduating out of those programs right and the current subrecipient or a different subrecipient would be eligible to propose uh continuation of or a new uh rapid rehousing program as part of this notice of funding availability yes because uh it is in alignment with the with the needs uh identified in the community needs hment yes okay I think that's all the clarification I need uh thank you very much I appreciate you for that sir thank you sir may proam thanks Nicole so I want to talk first a little bit about this resiliency Center that Council doesn't have much detail about yeah so you're saying first thing you said that you already don't have enough money for it that this is already underfunded correct that was your statement likely I mean we don't we don't have an estimate on that again it was a project that has not been fully you know flushed out to fruition in terms of like construction cost estimates we understand that inflation is going up and up we know that construction costs more there's been a lot of discussion about what a resilience Hub should and shouldn't do and so there's a l there's more questions than answers right now let's talk about what a resiliency Hub can and cannot do right because you talked about housing um you talked about mental health but you can't provide these Services because state law requirement for medication and for therapy have to be in isolated centers where people get their funding so this is essentially an information Hub it's basically an access point if you think about the presentations we've done with El Paso helps and you all are familiar with the internet portal where folks can access think of it as the physical manifestation of El Paso heals that was what it was in and I know that you've talked with the county so you know that at the Corbin somano Center that they're trying to build in District 2 What the residents have asked for is essentially this so instead of saying we don't have enough money for this and this is going to take from it even though we don't have a finalized budget you could actually be partnering with the county and saving a lot of money in continuing to do this it's possible I would I would love to understand exactly what the county is and we had many public meetings about it you're welcome to attend them and I'm sure uh Joel is a great partner and so I'm sure that he would be open to have those conversation with you but I do think it's a little disingenuous to say that this is going to defund a program that you don't have a budget for and you already said is underfunded U you also said really quickly you said that you wouldn't make this recommendation but you did make this recommendation you recommended during the budget that we would take double the amount of dollars from the general fund to do a cash assistance program so when we have asked to cut it in half is a pilot because that's a lot of money and use arpa funds and specifically a set fund of money that does address these kind of issues you're saying you don't recommend it so let me be clear about what I do not recommend uh when the mayor asked me I do not recommend a direct allocation of $500,000 to a program that has not gone through a competitive process sure but that wasn't his question when we well I was trying to be clear when I answered that that was I would not say no to do a notice of funding availability that's what we're recommending today that's absolutely what we're recommending today what and and I'm glad that you brought up the budget cycle because what we brought forward in the budget cycle is exactly what we're proposing to do with this money but his question to you was you recommend a cash assistance program and you said no no that's not what I said that is what you said but you this is your recommendation is the NOA so but I just want to be very clear that you have through your community needs assessment acknowledged that these programs are successful and could be helpful to our community you acknowledge that when you put it in the budget and requested a million dollars for a program like this I requested a million dollars in the budget process to fund programs that would not be eligible for federal money like cdbg and the cash assistance program was one example of what that could be but what we were recommending in the budget budget cycle was a notice of funding availability with general fund so that it did not have the federal restrictions like um having to be on a reimbursement basis um having to comply with certain federal restrictions in terms of how much and what kind of case management there was a number of things that made that um really difficult for a cash assistance program another example that we used during the budget process was the veteran homelessness program the veteran homelessness program that we operated Under The General Fund in past cycles and we're not doing going forward um is not appropriate for our other Federal funding sources so that was we were very clear during the budget process it was that was one example of what could be which is exactly what we're recommending today is a noo so again your answer was a little confusing I didn't say no it it very much sounded like you did and so I just wanted to clarify that this was your recommendation um or to go through the NOA that you have recognized through your assessment that this is a program that could be helpful because again it was a very different answer and I and I do will say that um the resiliency Center I which is the first I'm hearing a lot about it I do have a lot of concern about the amount of money to build something that I think Partners in this community are already trying to build but I think it is just in this conversation of potential to do have a savings and still do that work um because there are limits on the amount of services you can put into one area especially if they're state funded for mental health services correct it it is more about access to be clear okay thank you thank you mayor Pro no we have representes and then we have public comment we do have five people after that mayor I wasn't aware there was public commment I'm to you ma' or go you want to hear public comment first ma'am yes please okay thank you we have public common then repres nandes yes and we the first person is Delia Santos followed by Rosa Lan Reverend Pablo Mata eloisa de Aila and Lisa Turner Miss Santos has an interpreter so she will get me' you have six minutes she actually brought someone who will interpret for gracias hello s my name isia SOS I live in Montana Vista six years ago my husband suffered a stroke broke his body was paralyzed and he lost the ability to speak last year he had another stroke and he could not move his left side so now he's completely paralyzed and he also got epilepsy during that time I was studying to become a nurse sponsored by Project Ara I had to stop or suspend my classes so that I could take care of my husband but because of the classes I was able to take care of [Music] him together economically my world fell apart a friend told me about the upto together program okay I was blessed with $11,200 and $240 for the next five months I thank the county for their help I was able to pay for the leaks on my roof and I also was able to pay off some debts that we had at that time some friends from the community asked me to help me to take care of my husband so that I could work two days a week up together I know that many families benefited from the upto together program thank you for your attention today gracias graas next person is Rosa Luhan that was Rosa oh I'm sorry are we missing someone Reverend Pao Pablo Mata he could not make it ma'am he left he could not make it eloo de Aila is that you sir yes thank you good afternoon mayor liser City Representatives my name is eloo De Aila I'm a leader with episo and Border interface if we understand correctly City staff has identified arpa funds as a source for the direct cash assistance program if this is so we are very encouraged as arpa funds were intended for the economic recovery and resilience of El Paso we want to emphasize that that you would be funding something that works and not just an idea this funding is not robbing an existing organization a piso border of interface leaders have been advocating all year with city council to move forward on this proposal not because we subscribe to one ideology or another but because we have seen it work firsthand with the county this form of cash assistance is not guaranteed income it has a timeline but we have seen many families stay housed stay fed reduce debt and even go back to school because of these funds it gives people the dignity to determine their priorities as each family has its own struggles and economic pressures if the city ultimately chooses to work with up together they have a lot of experience to safeguard the use of public funds and to comply with all regulations no matter the funding source EPO and Border Interfaith has also volunteered our time in the past to help identify those in need working with communities and Schools parent lasance St Vincent depal Charities and others who can identify participants and let them know about the initiative we respect that the city will have its own process but we are happy to work with the city to with the city staff to share our experiences of course we understand the need is very great in El Paso border of interface and and episo has always advocated for a variety of ways for for people to get out of poverty including Workforce Development rental and property tax relief and utility relief so consider this initiative one among many ways that the city can use in a targeted effective way to get the people the help that they need to move ahead financially add this to Your Arsenal you have nothing to lose and you will help help those sir three minutes are up who needed the most thank you sir next speaker is Miss Lisa Turner and that's our last speaker sir thank you m' afternoon mayor council I'm just curious how we got from a direct cash program where did we turn off the road to basically basically doubling the bureaucracy with this so-called resilience Center which is what I see is just doing the we're just throwing money at something that already exists there is a serious problem in this town in its poverty uh to say that my city council has ignored it over the years it's an understatement just never has been important to you women in this City are undervalued and underpaid I'm just curious how many women that work for you would be eligible for such a program I wonder how many women that work for you rely on such things as Medicaid or SNAP benefits I just curious because I know you do not pay a fair wage you don't not pay you do not pay a living wage and the businesses in the city do not pay a fair wage it that's just as simple as it gets women are undervalued when it comes to their issues you turn a blind eye to them you find reasons and excuses to ignore uh and it to me it's really sickening I'm just curious this extra money we have can we use that to raise the Pay Here For Those at the bottom of the pay scale here which are most likely going to be your women because the stats I was looking at said 30% of the families in this town are led by a single mother 30% and the numbers from Workforce Solutions puts the poverty rate for females in this city at 22% I don't know how to correlate those numbers I haven't bothered to do it but I'm quite sure they're very close every time we do something like this understand we're subsidizing other business businesses payroll costs it's time for people to start paying their people a fair wage especially the women which they always undervalue thank you thank you Mr Turner thank you represent nundes I could just make one comment to that so in the past year and a half the city council has approved budgets that has increased our minimum wage by 26% 26.5% if you want to get a little bit more accurate so um the city has done quite a bit to increase the wages for all of our city employees including women over the last several years but particularly in the last year and a half city council has been very aggressive about increasing the pay for our city employees thank you sir UPS on this fin by representative Kennedy thank you I wanted to welcome um the the speakers and thank you for your public comment um I have a a question related to the recommendation for noo yes ma'am would it prohibit um the city's departments to apply as well cuz if we don't really have would City departments that provided a service in that space and the only one that we've worked with in that context before is maybe Public Health um but these are not bricks and mortar dollars um these would be the noo would be for services okay um unless the council directed otherwise um I I do want to take a quick opportunity here just to to clarify something I said earlier if if you don't mind I want to be clear that we are recommending positively the issuing of a notice of funding availability alongside the entitlement in January so that we can see what service providers in this community can offer to address the needs that have been so articulately conveyed today what I am recommending against in the question that I was asked earlier is a direct award I feel as though based on our experience and our subject matter expertise that a competitive process that is transparent and measurable gives the greatest opportunity to do the greatest good so I just thank you for allowing me to do that I understood that but um going back to my question about City departments you had mentioned similarly to the cdbg noos you know SE Community Development Department and parks department have applied in the past and so I've just wanted to make sure that the noo Direction had that um broad parameters uh since we're going to align it with with our other um Services um excuse me the the other processes with cdbg correct so I again to be clear with Community Development the resilience Center nonprofits um different departments be eligible to apply for friends correct as long as they fall under um as long as they fall under the opes of the arpa regulation right and we can prove that but for coid well it's not quite but for coid but that part of the regulation as well as um all of the other documentation requirements yes the answer is yes okay so because I want to talk about process about this noo yes um you're going to have a panel you're going to have a committee inous okay have you identified who the panel would be we've not yet identified the participants for we call them tarps uh technical advisory review panel so there's an initial um screen that's done by City staff by my team in community and human development just to make sure that all of the uh te's are crossed and the eyes are dotted did you submit everything that you needed to submit are you submitting for the minimum amount of money that we're allowing those kinds of things once they pass through that part of the process it goes to the technical advisory which are typically selected from nonprofit service providers in that space in in this sort of whether it's mental health homelessness housing in that bace that are not also competing for those funds we select from those groups and they score the applications and that's part of our what we base our recommendation onto you all so it's not in-house it's external parties and stakeholders It's a combination of both but yes yes okay and then um you you know today I I had the language has changed and so initially and I have met with uh border Interfaith and the biso on her efforts for um uplift I I don't understand you know why that has translated to to this but given the concerns from city council I think this might be the best way to move the needle forward to try to give a competitive process um to allow for all members of the community to to apply um and so I know that uh in Prior conversations there was a lot of you know like this is this is solid City staff are on board um so I apologize about that um miscommunications or conceptions um and especially because you all have spend your time here today and traveled into our community um but I I do agree that this would be um the the best way the best approach to ensure transparency and to allow for a competitive prce um but here's kind of the problem when you know members of council Bring It Forward it's not fully vetted and so you know to have staff on board to have the Departments to have our purchasing department to have our CFOs and have all the financials I think this this is going to be um the best approach moving forward of course given the current environment um and the concerns of council uh so so I'll support this today um and you know just would hope that we have a streamlined process in the future thank you thank you ma'am representative Kennedy and that'll be the last speaker we'll call the question after this man I love City Council meetings um when do we start our budget process my question not yours if you'd mind if I'd finish my question before you jump in thank you it's really a year round process our Office of Management of budget is doing analysis all year long formally around the January time frame is we start sending out information to the Departments I just this is an interesting switch of allocations where we had to fictitious or what did we say um imagined programs that were competing with each other and a discussion how 170 is not necessarily more than 80 and I just I mean I think that we have a plan in place and if we want to take a look at this waiting until we start a budget process looking forward on this might not be a bad idea to sit down and do this because we're pulling from a program that we have in existence and had approved and we're pulling money from it so I would be more comfortable waiting but that's one of the one of the multiple Reasons I'm not going to support this thank you can we take the item please so we do have a motion made by representative anelo I did not hear a second there you go second by representative ernandez and just to make sure this is the motion and correct me if I'm wrong it is to approve the staff's recommendation to reallocate funds from existing arpa Community recovery and issue a notice of a funding availability competitive process Sol visiting a nonprofit organization to assist those at risk of eviction and prevent homelessness yes ma'am the polling is open voting session is open representative Riva next Mr Mayor we have a tie with representative Kennedy representative molinar representative salcio and representative Rea Vin and Mr Mayor has voted nay the motion fails with that I'd like to take a 30 minute resar till 3:00 do can I get a motion to recess please recess we have people that Mr Mayor Robert is saying that there's people that need to fly out for item 55 and 56 would it be okay to I won't look very good passed out from Hunger but what item 55 and 56 related can you do it yourself Robert no I'm kidding you 65 and what 55 and 56 for the water for the revenue bonds let me see which one it is okay go ahead sir is that okay sir yeah go ahead it's um pretty easy it read them into the record together and item 55 is discussion and action regarding a public hearing related to the issuance of water supply apply revenue bonds by the mission Economic Development Corporation in one or more series and in one or more dates in number 56 reads discussion and action regarding a resolution approving the issuance of water supply revenues revenue bonds in an aggregate maximum stated principal amount of 150 million provided that the aggregate maximum stated principal amount of bonds to be issued on a tax exemp basis is $100,000 100 million approve second there's a motion in a second I believe we first need to close the public hearing there there is a public hearing first so yeah all right let's close the public hearing I don't have anyone signed up to speak for public hearing on item 55 who made the motion I move to close the public oh no we do it's Miss Lisa Turner sign to speak I I would have known that you would have known that yes ma'am Miss Turner by the way gentlemen cust is a great place to stay and spend the night thought I'd let you know that no hurry to leave and she signed up for both items signed up for both so we're taking them together so she can speak on them as one same question I'm going to ask the same question uh who is this Mission Economic Development Corporation who are you I can answer that now uh mayor and council members Le McCormack with Community Development associat I'm actually the municipal adviser for the mission Economic Development Corporation it is a Economic Development Corporation located in Mion Texas that has statutory powers to do tax exempt Bond financing around the state so long as we go to Every jurisdiction where that project is located and have a public hearing and have that city or county pass a resolution or ordinance approving the mission Economic Development Corporation issuing the bonds in their jurisdiction what's the impact on this City El Paso taxpayers there is no well for tax base uh once the project is built obviously there will be the property taxes on on that facility uh with regards to cost of the financing there is no economic burden on the city it won't affect the city's bonding capacity or its credit rating it is a conduit financing so it is private dollars into private project the only reason we are coming to the city today is because they want to qualify a portion of those bonds as tax exempt and under federal and state statutes you have to have the public hearing and have to have the resolution approved and again when you say that it's a for there'll be a tax it'll be it'll be paying taxes the the property will be paying taxes they'll be using tax exemp bonds to finance the property but once the property is is operational they will be paying taxes yes sir thank you for that yes sir thank you the next question is uh somebody has to pay is are we talking rate payers people who are using water so right now the company is basically taking brine water from the we'll be taking brain water from the King Hutchinson desalination plant cleaning that water up selling minerals from that water out to uh public and then selling the water back to the uh the the salination plant is my understanding and it'll pass the water so cleaning up the the water yeah so the brine water the basically the waste water from the desalination plant is being cleaned up and and basically um recycled I asked this question because I attended a p meeting that would be waste otherwise they' throw that and it'd be waste and it'd be so cleans it up gets it and becomes water that can be used yes I understand that and the reason I'm working this way is because in the last PSB meeting Mr Don got up in front of the PSP board and said that the to summarize what he says is our rates are not for basically the cost of running the business it is to enforce conservation in other words the high electric bills we have is not to pay for you know the operation of the water company and stuff like that it's to force us to conserve water and those of us who do conserve water are paying an ordinate amount of money when we shouldn't have to we're not paying for the you know the operation replacement and stuff we're paying extra on top of that which I find defensive we're all water payers thank you Mr Turner Diana so we do have a motion made by representative ernandez seconded by mayor protm anelo and that is to close you didn't who second represent mullar now second R thank you I did Sir I did yes sir thank you sir and that is to close the public hearing Miss Lisa Turner was the only public speaker correct voting session is open Mr R representative Riva hi thank you and the public hearing has been closed at 2:37 p.m. now is there a motion to approve item 56 the resolution yes sir I thought we were taking together but I'll make the motion do mayor didn't you call the paperwork I need to have two separate motions if that's okay okay well I'll make the motion to approve we a motion in a second yes there is representative re Rea seconded by representative Fiero to approve voting voting is open voting session is open okay representative I representative Riva I and the item has been approved unanimously with representative Hernandez not present for the vote is there a motion to recess until 310 are we Mr Mayor are we still recessing 3 p.m. 310 3:10 p.m. all those in favor all those opposed and the city council has been on it's on recess until 3:10 10 p.m. e onction you listen to what I and I would excuse me Miss nean you've been quiet today I so you've been quiet [Laughter] all right there's represent FAL do we have a motion to return do we have a second Brian do we have a second thank you and there is a motion to reconvene the city council meeting for November the 7th at 3:21 p.m. all those in favor all those opposed and Mr Mayor we are on the introductions and that would be item 3 1 through 35 if you would like to take them together yes yes absolutely these are the first hearings the introductions of first public hearings move to approve do I get a second second second and this uh and this is for items 31 to 35 motion to approve May by by mayor pron anelo seconded by representative Kennedy you can't walk off the D we lose our leave or we lose a quorum and then voting voting session is open representative rera R he can hear US Representative Riva okay well we'll go on representative ernandez would you like to vote on the introductions 31 to 35 i v yes Lor there you go thank you representative Reta would you like to vote on the introductions uh yes yes ma'am is that an I I thank you sir and the item has been approved this first reading right yes sir unanimously moving on to item 36 and item 36 is discussion and action to sign a contract 202 24-16 on call median maintenance with work Quest T ibh Industries Incorporated a private nonprofit corporation and the certifying uh party and Border TM Industries Incorporated doing business as exceed resources the Performing party and this is to provide specifi cleaning and maintenance services for certain properties managed by Environmental Services Department motion approve second there second 4 thank you and we have a motion to approve by representative F seconded by representative Riva okay yes sir but you got to one of these voting session is open yes ma'am hi I do have a question related to the scope of work of the services um it's gateways corridors intersections and Parkland uh for this a contract is just for median maintenance only medians only medians only okay and then just something to consider in the future cuz I know boat has passed here is every time I request a median there's a there's some areas that have shared Pathways that don't ever get done so I get the median cleaned but I don't get the pathway done and it it's a problem for constituents because I gota say I got to wait till another crew to come back out even though we're all there in the same time so if there's an opportunity to do those shared Pathways that are long meanss I would encourage it you're talking about the walking trails correct okay yeah sh Pathways walking trails so specifically the one on by count okay sounds good um and then uh so this is just uh a two-year contract is it all for all meetings City Citywide so this contract for that we're currently having it Nicolas for the record of Environmental Services is for the top 20 most traveled highways in the city um so we're trying to do this on a four cycle every year so we're just sending them to the top 20 most traveled medians and ESD will be working on the the remaining meetings as part of throughout the city okay I'm hoping that this works out and I've had a conversation with our procurement Department with Mrs Cody in the past about how can we put together a pilot program that would allow small landscape contractors to do business with the city for the first time M there are several landscaping companies and not having the services available is the number one complaint that I receive I get doors people people knocking on my doors saying hey what's going on with these medians so so I appreciate that you have this here but I do believe that we need to scale our frequency given the vacancies given the um Labor uh concerns so I just I really want to find a way to put together a pilot program that would work with firsttime landscape companies by working with with parent companies like exceeds who has experience doing that so that we can either subcontract all the work or have them as umbrella so that we can get them that credit for doing business with the city for the first time because as you know small businesses are not allowed to respond to rfps um because they don't have a track record of EX of doing work but if we were to have these small contracts District by District we can really make an impact and then stop with all the complaints and 311 complaints thank you represent Canales thank you mayor um so just to clarify here this is as you said for the top 20 most traveled arterials yes sir uh the other arterials collector streets we are we've taken those in house correct yes we'll be working with them through our ESD Cruise okay and we uh am I correct in saying that in either Late July early August we had the we had a hiring Fair specifically for this type of work and was it is it 40 40 workers that we hired we did have a hiring Fair um we're bringing them in slowly um yes we are starting to get people in there we're getting close to filling all the all the vacancies currently right now okay was that do do you know the number of vacancies that that was I believe there's 16 right now total for Solway service workers those are the the laborers on the crew I believe we have two uh equipment operators and one Solway service worker lead okay that's currently vacant though yes okay since that hiring fair in came July August it came down from 40 overall came down from 40 overall okay perfect thank you very much and the recruitments for of those roles representative um are continuous and they are working um very closely with HR to make sure that we get that those recruitments done um and then there is a certain level of um of um attrition and so they're not waiting for that they're just continuously rolling with the with the uh the the recruitments so that we don't get back into the situation hopefully we we'll be able to get hired up and and keep those levels where they need to be good thank you yeah it's good to know that we have uh crew available in house now where we didn't before so thank we're currently uh just for your information we're currently running five Crews uh on a ESD crew currently throughout the city I saw them recently in my district on Mesa Hills uh I appreciate it thank you thank you Diana we have a motion and second representative Retta has his hand up oh representa Retta you're muted sir thank you thank you very thank you thank you um sir uh how long how soon will this this this uh service begin once if it's approved good afternoon Paula Salas with purchasing and strategic sourcing this um contract will start as soon as we obtain the payment and performance bond from uh workquest so it will it will be November 18 November 18 oh that's great thank you thank you for that information but also how are you going to to uh do it equally across the city all districts for the 20 20 most travel well um it's not exactly equal throughout the entire city we're just doing the top 20 most travel um roadways uh on this contract like I mentioned we have our city Crews that are currently uh maintaining the the remainder of the the sites and we equally distribute the work through our ESD Crews okay so this will this won't be across the board so it'll be mainly the the 20 roads uh will you will you provide those 20 roads for for Council email I could provide them right now and I can provide them through email also okay please thank you so much thank you mayor um Mr abara if you would provide not only that list to all members of council but if you could also provide them with the proposed work plan and then that way Council if they if they see something there that they feel is a higher priority like you've done in the past they give they can provide that feedback to you within their District yeah okay thank you thank you Mr thank you thank you so we do have a motion and the voting session is open and that was made by representative F seconded by representative Riva representative Canales representative Riva I and the item has been approved unanimously moving on can we go to um item 46 please of course item 46 is an ordinance changing the zoning of lots well I'm going to give you the address of changing the zoning of 3410 3412 and 3418 Gateway East Boulevard from A3 apartment to C3 commercial Canal is there a motion or move to approve second a motion in a second we have a motion B made by representative Canales seconded by representative salido to approve voting session is open representative anelo representative Riva hi and the item has been approved unanimously and we had no public comment signed up thank you can we go back thank you Mr shasheen for being here all day thank you going back to item 37 and item 37 is discussion and action on the award of solicitation number 2024 0102 Sports officials and assigners rebid to three vendors and that is vendor number one is Isabel Grio vendor number two is Marcelino Velasquez doing business as El Paso umpires Association and vendor number three is Tommy e Hawkins doing business as peran Basin USSSA move to appr is there a second second and we have a motion to approve made by mayor Pro manelo seconded by representative molinar voting session is open representative Hernandez representative Retta hi and the item has been approved unanimously moving on to item 38 and we do have Miss Lisa Turner signed up to speak on that item and that is discussion and action on the award of solicitation number 2 23- 0137 vending machines to El Paso snacks company for an initial three-year term for an un for an estimated Revenue to be generated during the initial term of $370 to $62 the award also includes a 2-year option for an estimated of 144 700,000 Miss Turner here I haven't seen her I don't see her so we'll go um is there a motion is there a motion to approve move to approve second we have a motion made by representative Canales seconded by representative Fiero to approve voting session is open representative Riva hi thank you and the item has been approved unanimously item 39 is discussion and action on the award of solicitation 2023-24 horizontal construction improvements to Keystone GC LLC for an initial term of two years for a total estimated Award of $2 million good afternoon Crystal B with purchasing and strategic sourcing item 39 is linked to strategical number 7 enhance and sustain Al Paso's infrastructure Network the linkage to the Strategic plan is subsection 7.2 improve competitiveness through infrastructure improvements impacting the quality of life this is a competitive sealed proposal procurement for horizontal construction improvements there were 21 views online one proposal was received being from a local supplier no approaches for Reed for this requirement we are recommending a award as indicated to Keystone GC LC the highest ranked offer motion approv second motion motion to approve there's a motion made by representative Fiero seconded by representative Sido voting session is open representative Kennedy representative Rea I thank you and the item has been approved unanimously item 40 is discussion and action on the award of solicitation 2023-24 a total estimated Award of 1, 343 15970 and the purpose of the project is to REM remediate the subsidence condition that is occurring within the city of El Paso RightWay at 8624 ARA drive 8627 atola drive and Associated Street surface drainage improvements within the project limits there is a motion made by representative Riva to approve is there a second second there a second seconded by representative Canales voting session is open representative anelo representative Fierro and representative Rea hi and the item has been approved unanimously item 40 one is discussion and action to issue a purchase order to dumpsters devil LLC the sold authorized dealer and supplier for sales of machines parts and service in El Paso Texas for the dumpster compactor roller for Environmental Services Department for a one-time purchase for an estimated amount of $165,000 to approve second there's a motion made by representative molinar seconded by representative salido voting session is open representative Riva hi thank you and the item has been approved unanimously next item Mr Mayor would you like to consider 42 and 43 together there the emergency ordinances please item 42 is discussion and action on an emergency ordinance extending emergency ordinance 19333 authorizing the city manager to assign personnel and resources to assist in addressing the humanitarian and Public Safety crisis resulting from a Mass migration through El Paso item 43 is discussion and action on an emergency ordinance extending emergency ordinance 19485 due to a humanitarian security and economic crisis resulting from a mass migration through El Paso move to approve second second to approve by representative Canales mayor if I may real quickly this is Robert cortinez over here um just real quickly we did receive there was the last little bit of about 1.2 million of outstanding reimbursement that we're pending to get back we did actually receive that within the last couple of weeks so those were that was the money that um what do we call it intangibles or no it was the female money that we had spent but it was money that we got reimbursed for like Tommy's time and the chief's time and I forgot what we called it but anyway yeah that was something that was really good that uh we had actually weren't sure we're going to get that so that was so this is prior to them doing the advanced funding and so yes the city has now been reimbursed all of our cost oh soft money that's what it was it was soft cost I couldn't think of it thank you for that and we did have Miss Lisa Turner signed up to speak but she's I don't see her anywhere we can let philli speak for her if you wants no okay voting session is open represent Canal something oh thank you just one quick update uh Robert Mr cortinez this might be for you what is the the remaining balance of the advanced funds that we've received sorry to put you on the spot I believe it's about 23 or 24 million I don't have the exact figure it's around 24 million though okay so that's what we have left in our coffers we so that's money that expires at the end of December and so I mean obviously we don't anticipate spending that amount and so there may be some funds that we do return however we already getting another batch of advanced funding I think it's about $7 million that we're going to be receiving just to be able to to have some money Advan money when we go to the new year right and we have very low costs at the moment correct okay thank we've done a really good job of making sure we don't waste the money and we um we're good stewards really of the money and and that's the reason why you see a lot of other organizations are out of money and we still have quite a bit of money because of how we've treated it and and it's very important and it uh it's a tribute to the team that makees sure that uh we have money for the unknown and and that we continue to stay prepared so I thank you all for that it's a good problem to have uh having more money than you need yeah like I said there's been other organizations that have gotten a lot more money than we have in they out of money so there is no further public comment voting session is open representative Riva I mayor do you consent yes ma'am thank you and the item has been approved unanimously just for the record item 44 was deleted next item is 45 item 45 is an ordinance amending title 14 aircraft and airports chapter 14.20 airport vehicular traffic regulations Section 14.20 240c regulations to expand veterans parking privileges to Veterans with specialty plates in issued by the state of New Mexico and to establish a maximum of 5 days of complimentary parking for veterans in the short-term parking lot and complimentary parking with no time limit in the long-term parking move to approve second there is no well miss Turner signed up to speak but she's not present motion made by mayor proam anelo second by representative Salo voting session is open go ahead represent M thank you uh gentlemen do you know more or less how many people from the state of New Mexico use our short-term parking if you have any ballpark figure we we don't we know there's a few each day that we will'll ask if we can extend the benefits but we haven't been tracking it no sir okay all right thank you voting session is open representative Riva hi and the item has been approved unanimously next item 46 we took already Mr Mayor 47 and 48 are for the same property would you like to consider them together yes ma'am this is for north of simaran Canyon Drive and east of wrestler Drive 47 is an ordinance changing the zoning from C1 commercial to c3c commercial conditions and c4c Commercial conditions to r3a residential and imposing a condition 48 is an ordinance amending a condition placed on parcel one by ordinance number 15672 which changed the zoning of a 4.32 acre portion of track 1 V2 impost a condition and releasing all conditions placed on parcel 2 by ordinance number 1578 which changed the zoning of 194 acre portion of track 4G and which imposed the condition and again this is for north of Zimmer Drive Canyon Drive and east of wrestler Drive representative Kennedy second motion made by representative Kennedy seconded by representative molinard voting session is open representative Riva hi and the item has been approved unanimously thank you representative Kennedy items 49 and 50 are also for the same property Mr Mayor not sure if you would like to consider them together yes ma'am item 49 is an ordinance changing the zoning of lot 39 block 13 th SOS unit four amending plat from C2C commercial conditions to PR 2C planned residential 2 condition conditions and imposing conditions and item 50 is an ordinance releasing all conditions placed on property by ordinance number 16385 which changed the zoning of lot 39 block 13 and this is for south of East Brook Drive and east of reach beam Boulevard and we have no public comment representative U ass though thank you mayor I just have a quick question was there any opposition since we talked good afternoon mayor and council plan inspections based on the current proposal that there is no uh opposition the applicant did uh have some meetings with the community which resulted in the new design which again has no no opposition perfect just wanted to make sure motion approve second thank you r motion made by representative salido and seconded by representative Fierro to approve and again that's items 49 and 50 voting session is open representative Riva hi and the item has been approved unanimously same thing with items 51 and 52 sir they're for the same uh property would you like to consider them together Mr Mayor 51 and 52 are also for the same property can I yeah they're for district one go ahead second let me read them into the record item 41 is an ordinance changing the zoning from R3 AC residential conditions to see1 Commercial and imposing a condition and 52 is an ordinance releasing all conditions placed on property by ordinance number 15672 which changed the zoning of lot two block six and this is for 7451 simaron Park Drive and representative Kennedy made the motion seconded by I missed it Fierro thank you sir voting session is open representative Reta hi and there is no public comment and the item has been approved unanimously item 53 is an ordinance vacating a 026 acre portion of Virginia Street RightWay located within Alexander Edition there's no public comment on this item move to approve second we have a motion made by representative Canales seconded by representative molinar voting session is open representative Riva hi representative anelo thank you ma'am and the item has been approved unanimously items 55 and 56 have already been taken item 57 oh I'm sorry 54 and this is an ordinance authorizing the city manager to sign a lease and Concession agreement with Alin Productions LLC for the lease of of the facility located at San jasinto Plaza also known as the San jasinto Plaza Cafe cons consisting of 177 square feet for a three-year commencing on this date the anding three years from the rent commencement date at an annual rate of 5,400 motion made by mayor protm anelo seconded by representative Fierro voting session is open representative Riva hi thank you sir representative anelo thank thank you the item has been approved unanimously now 57 item 57 is discussion and action to authorize the city manager or his designate to establish the funding source and make any necessary budget transfer for the special election of 2023 and possible runoff election not to exceed 600,000 the estimates we received were 528,000 if there's a runoff and so what I advised budet office to do is to provide some flexibility in case there's additional cost so we just rounded it up to 600,000 so what is how much is the election roughly we figured between 150 and 190 it is $264,500 for the for the election the first number I'd heard was between less than 200 where' we get that high no sir we did get an estimate from the county and we it's because we're the only governmental enti how many polls do you have I mean how many voting polls do you have there's on Election Day there's 16 polls voting locations yes on Election Day and then for early voting there's four yeah that's what I'm saying that sounds like a lot for 16 voting polls because we're we're going to send enough but we're not sharing the cost with anybody and this will include also the publication of the notices okay well it seems like a lot of money but I guess if we set it up we don't have to use it obviously correct and since there's more candidates were providing flexibility again just in case there's a runoff and there's any additional cost that may come about from the overall election costs right yeah but 16 polls quite a bit of money anyway go ahead huh yeah but move to approve is there a second second and we have a motion made by mayor proam anelo seconded by representative Canales mayor can we can I ask one question can we can we get um when we get on the other side of it can we get a final number from them on what the cost actually was yeah absolutely okay thank you oh wait a minute had it in yes it was gone only two people voted yeah art and who else it's open again voting session is open representative Rea hi representative anelo thank you and the item has been approved unanimously last item is item number 58 and this is discussion and action to approve the resolution to amend FY 2023 adopted budget resolution by correcting the dates in item 68 move to approve second second and the item has been approved unanimously who voted for he mentioned on his way out I know we have three items on Executive session is there a second the city council of the city of El Paso May retire into executive session pursuant to section 3.5a of the El Paso City Charter and the Texas government code chapter 551 Sub sub chapter D to discuss any of the following item executive session item number one Holly Johnson versus city of El Paso matters 16-10 26- 7551 and that is consultation with attorney 551.071 executive session item number two discussion on contract of sale for 323 Chihuahua Street El Paso Texas matter HQ number 23- 859 under Section 551.071 consultation with attorney in item three discussion on potential Economic Development opportunities in northeast El Paso matter number 22-1 07- 2864 HQ number 23478 and that is under sections 551.074 deliberation regarding real property and SE section 55107 187 deliberation regarding Economic Development negotiations the city council has retired into executive session at 3:56 p.m. M I'll be I'll be logging off myself thank you sir thank you man what do you think as many items as possible together so we can go but even if we un e e e e e e e we have a motion to come out of executive session at 5:30 p.m. all those in favor all those opposed the first item is executive session item number one Holly Johnson versus city of Al Paso matter 16 1026 7551 motion made second and carried that the city attorney's office in consultation with the interim city manager be authorized to participate in mediation of Holly Khloe Johnson versus the city of Al Paso and matter number 16-10 26- 7551 cause number 2016 dcv 2097 and to take all steps necessary including the execution of any required documents in order to effectuate this Authority do we have a second second motion made by by mayor proam anelo seconded by representative molinar voting session is open it closed there representative Hernandez Representatives okay F okay and the item has been approved unanimously with representative Fiero not present for the vote item also representative B is not pressing for the vote okay sure yes because he didn't participate in executive session yes sir item number two is discussion and action on contract of sale for 323 Chihuahua Street El Paso Texas matter HQ 23859 no action item number three discussion on potential Economic Development opportunities in northeast El Paso matter number 22-17 2864 HQ 23478 no action no action is there a motion to adjourn F gets to his seat oh motion to adjourn all those in favor all those opposed in the the meeting for Tuesday November the 7th has been adjourned at 5:30