e e com Miss pran I think it's 9:00 am good morning mayor I'm not sure what represent FAL is doing here but it is 9:00 a. thank you good morning this is a special meeting of the El Paso city council for Monday December 4th 2023 it is 901 am mayor liser is present and presiding inside council chambers along with representative Kennedy mayor po manelo alternate mayor Pro molinard and representative Fiero representative salido is running a few minutes late mayor we do have a quorum thank you um we will um start with the agenda review we don't have agenda review this morning mayor because this is a special meeting we're only having the special meeting all right I'll uh get rid of that thank you ma'am would you like to proceed with item number one or would you like to do the Pledge of Allegiance thank you so we'll start where you would like to start them item one may Council stand for the Pledge of Allegiance yes thank you mayor Mr Craig can you lead us please of the United States of America and to the repu for it stands one nation Gody and justice for all thank you ma'am now that we got everything straighten out uh we do have um election starting today early voting the early voting ended on Friday mayor the election is Saturday December 9th okay all right go ahead Miss thank you item number one on the agenda is discussion and action on a resolution authorizing the city manager to sign a chapter 380 economic development program agreement between the city of Al Paso and worldwide LLC in support of a project located north of Stan Robert Senor Avenue and west of US Highway 54 in El Paso Texas good morning good morning sir Elizabeth Triggs with economic and International Development items one and two are related um so as I go through this presentation you'll see that it it is for both items sorry I'm having trouble with the microphone there we go um so as I go through the presentation you'll see it is related to both items as well as several items that uh Council will be considering tomorrow again all are related to this uh project and to the chapter 380 agreement that council is considering uh today um so the project before you all is um a chapter 380 agreement with Worldwide LLC um behind this company is meta platform zinc this is the same company uh that owns and operates Facebook Twitter Instagram among others um so we're very excited about the several actions that we'll need from Council today um in particular there are six actions these actions are a critical First Step um and when I say first step there's been a lot of work behind this first step um there are more steps to take but these six actions make this project feasible um and facilitate the future construction and operation of a hyperscale data center by meta Platforms in northeast El Paso um we're very excited about this project and excited to share a bit more about the benefits for our community for the record representative ernandez arrived at 9:04 a.m. okay so once again council is being asked to take six actions one of those actions will occur today um and the remaining five actions will occur tomorrow um we have been leading up to this over the last um honestly over the last year and a half two years uh but several things have gone on council's agenda since early November that are very much related to this project um and to and to what we're asking you all to consider today um just for clarity today um the item first item is the chapter 380 agreement with Worldwide LLC for the development of a data center northeast El Paso um the second item is a public hearing on the contract of sale for clarity you won't be taking action on the contract of sale until tomorrow this is just the public hearing for that contract of sale and then tomorrow um you'll be considering the the sale um contract as well as the chapter 312 abatement agreement again with Worldwide LLC for the development of a data center in Northeast L Paso and some relating um items to related items to that which include a down zoning um of the property from M2 to C4 as well as a condition release um and a separate funding uh resolution for intersection improvements that will help provide access to the site okay so a little bit of background about what exactly is a hyperscale data center um we in El Paso have several data centers but they're they're much smaller um what we're talking about here today and and what is the subject of this agreement is a massive facility um I think the way that you you can think about it best is imagining a campus that covers um hundreds of acres and houses um vast amounts of data through servers the physical footprint is often the size of a large shopping mall um you can imagine what we're familiar with here in our community most recently is uh the TJ Maxx Distribution facility which is about 1.7 million square feet um so this facility at least to start is on the order of that size um that's huge you can see the TJX facility when you're flying into El Paso and so you'll see something similar um as this project is developed out in the future of course subject to the many more steps that have to be taken in order to to secure the project a little bit about the company itself so again the Agreements are with Worldwide LLC um but behind that LLC is meta platforms um this is really exciting um this company is one of the big five American information technology companies alongside um Google Microsoft and others so that this is huge uh they are in the top 40 Fortune 500 list in 2023 I think they ranked uh number 31 with 117 billion or so um in annual revenue again a huge a huge number um really critical to have this company's presence in our community and these actions that Council take make these make this project feasible um just to give you a a side of the number of people this company reaches through its various platforms which again include Facebook Instagram WhatsApp and others um the company most recently released a number that said about 3.96 billion people are using at least one of their core products on a monthly basis so huge reach globally um and the establishment of a data center here in El Paso to support um the company's platforms is massive for our community it really puts us on the map uh there's a lot of other benefits and I will go through those through the slide but I I want you to take away that this is this is a big company and it's really important that we have such a big name in our community um talking a little going a little bit more into detail about U meta's data center campuses in general currently it has 18 data center campuses worldwide a few of those are currently under construction um if El Paso is successful in securing meta here we would be the 19th um again worldwide so that's that's really saying something it's really putting El Paso on the map um in terms of what the data center campuses actually do they serve as the backbone for Meta Meta Services um they handle a vast number of user requests obviously involves immense data processing that I I can't even imagine um but what I think is really important as a takeaway is that they employ Advanced Technologies to do all of this obviously the servers themselves um you know require advanced technology but also the company has a very strong commitment um to Energy Efficiency understanding that these these data centers require a lot of electricity so you'll see state-of-the-art cooling systems the company also has a commitment to maintain net zero emissions um by fully offsetting 100% of their energy consumption with renewable energy sources so all of these things speak to the the company's character um and how they operate in the communities that they choose to locate for the record representative Canalis arrived at 907 and representative Rea at 909 so the intent of this slide is is to tell you a little bit about the existing data center campuses um worldwide but also on the right side of the slide you'll see some information about some of its largest US data centers um the the whole point here is just to give you a size an idea of the magnitude of these projects and how they transform communities and how they grow in communities over time um so those 18 campuses on average represent about 2 million 2.2 million square feet under roof per campus so that's that's again per campus um the agreement that you're considering um requires that the company invests a minimum of $800 million which which would result in about 800,000 Square F feet um of data center space under roof um but you can see on average their existing campuses are three times that size so there's there's a huge opportunity to scale here we're we're starting off with the minimum um which is still a large number but there you can see that there's a massive opportunity to scale over time um um those each of those data center campuses represents over a billion dollars in initial investment so this doesn't include the equipment refreshes that have to take place um periodically every four to seven years um to ensure that the service stay up to date and can continue processing the vast amount of data that's coming to them that we expect to grow over time especially as um you know things move with AI and those kinds of things um with respect to full-time employees on site on average um the data centers in in this company's portfolio um employ about 196 ftes so nearly 200 those are a combination of company employees as well as contractors um but you can see that's a large number and the reason why I highlight that is because in the agreement the commitment is a minimum of 50 FTE but you can see in reality the way these things operate as they scale that number increases pretty significantly and then on the right side um you can see three of the largest um companies data centers in the US um just I think a few points to highlight here first of all massive initial Investments again that does not include uh the equipment refreshes you can see that they've scaled very quickly over time um the oldest one being established in 2010 is now 4.6 million square feet in that community so huge much much larger than the minimum commitment today and I think we can expect um if we are successful in securing the company here to see the same thing in Los Lunas New Mexico for example the company's data center campus sits on about 750 Acres what the company is looking um to purchase from the city is over a th Acres so again you can see there's a there's a forethought here with the company um to establish themselves but then to have the opportunity to scale over time to be a much larger investment for a community and before I get into the details of um the project itself as well as the details of the agreements that you're considering today and tomorrow I just want to highlight a couple of economic benefits for El Paso um we talked a little bit about the minimum investment being $800 million however again you know a a 800,000 foot facility sitting on a th000 Acres takes up a very small part of that Thousand Acres so there's there's an idea that you can continue to scale over time which then yields millions in annual property tax revenue for local entities and that's a long-term um yield um for the community and it's for all local taxing entities not just the city um who is committing uh to being a partner in this project but for example for Isleta Independent School District um just a a huge opportunity I will say and you'll see it in the in the following slides that for example we expect this project with the 800 million doll investment to yield about 2.4 million um in new tax revenue to to the city after incentives annually over a 25e period so again millions in annual property tax revenue even after incentives um what that does what that means is an increased tax base for our community um we know that our residents carry a very heavy load um in terms of tax burden uh about 70% and so having a company like this come in uh to our community take some of that burden away from our residents um it also means that also means more resources for essential Services um the size of this project is massive but it's not putting a huge strain um on the things the services that that the city government provides um because it it is largely a capital investment um there are certainly job creation and income effects so certainly employment opportunities um over the long term operational employment opportunities in terms of technicians Engineers um a ER that you you can see on average at the data center campuses uh the company currently has nearly 200 FTE um so we can expect uh as the company scales here to see something similar um but but not to be discounted um are the construction jobs that are generated from a project of this size um an $800 million construction project is is huge about half of that we expect to go to construction the other half and Equipment um and that generates temporary construction jobs um for local residents here who work in the construction industry again if you think about the ability to scale we could see multiple phases of construction over time which really sustains those construction jobs over a longer term uh than you would typically see with just one um one project um that results in new tax revenue generation obviously the income generated from those jobs uh is then spent on goods and services supporting local businesses and generating additional tax revenue for forx taxing entities locally in terms of just the economic Ripple effects i' I've talked about it a little bit there is an opportunity here because of the increased data center demand um for local businesses to supply that demand um one connection that I'll make which will have to play out over time is we've recently had announcements that both Schneider and Eaton have chosen to expand in El Paso pretty significantly um the reason that both of those have chosen to expand is because they are they need to ramp up uh their supply for their web Giants um meta being one of those um and so while those um Goods may not be directly provided through our location here in El Paso there is the opportunity for that to happen in the future so you're just kind of building up that supply chain here which again means more opportunities for us in terms of new tax revenue uh job creation and so on and then um I mean not to be discounted by any means is again MAA meta is a huge huge name um in the in the it um sector um this really puts El Paso on the map it creates a broader ecosystem of technological initiatives there's opportunities as we've seen in other communities where this company chooses to locate for collaborations between local businesses with educational institutions and so on um to work together and and look at some of the Advanced Technologies and and the future opportunities that there might be um and then finally infrastructure improvements um you know the the area that the company is choosing to locate is undeveloped uh while there is excellent electric infrastructure in the area uh we know the road is substandard um Stan Roberts namely and so this really provides us the opportunity um to develop that infrastructure um water and wastewater uh infrastructure is being extended which then makes the land surrounding the property um more easily developable and we're we're going after um large projects that require large swats of land things like manufacturing projects that come with jobs I can tell you one of the first things that comes to mind is yes you have the land but how long will it take you to get the road in place how long will it take you to get the infrastructure that we need um to establish ourselves there and so that's always something that's difficult for us this project very much helps us Advance the shovel Readiness of the surrounding well over 3,000 Acres that are undeveloped um owned by the City and managed by the Water Utility so the following slides get into the project proposal itself um again the agreement is with Worldwide LLC we know meta is behind uh that name um and the company plans to construct one or more data Center buildings and accessory uses on 1,39 Acres of City owned land I'll have a map for you in the following slides these are just kind of the high points of the deal so that you can understand how it works um the investment magnitude is significant it's a minimum of 800 million in construction and personal equipment we we expect that to be split in half about 400 in construction 400 in personal equipment which equates to servers um please keep in mind that equipment is taxable um and so that does generate new tax revenue for all uh local taxing entities um the agreement leaves the option uh to the company to um to build additional phases with similar Investments um so that 800 million could become you know 1.2 billion and so on and so forth I mean it could increase um pretty substantially but again that is the option for the company to choose to do that and that's part of why that 10,000 acres is so critical because it offers the ability to scale in that way um if that's what's needed uh for the company to to work well in terms of economic impact um certainly I went through some of the benefits we'll go through hard numbers in uh following slides but we anticipate massive positive um impacts for our community um particularly related to the substantial Capital injection with respect to the proposal um to to offset the cost with establishing um an operation of this size in our community and to increase ELP pasa's competitiveness um we are asking Council to consider extending both the chapter 380 which you will vote on today and a chapter 312 agreement with the company to offset some of those costs I want to highlight here it's bolded um to increase El Paso's competitiveness again there there are only 18 data center campuses worldwide for this company there's a lot of communities across the world that would like to have um a facility like this and and we are in competition with those other communities um that has been a very honest discussion that we've had with the company from the start um and so we've really put our best foot forward while also ensuring that there is a massive net benefit even after incentives for the community um and so just In Sum um the way the the two agreements work is that about 80% of the city's portion of property tax revenue generated by the project over a 25-year period per phase um will be rebated or abated back to the company so the first 10 years of that 25e period is an abatement and the following 15 years is a rebate again in the amount of 80% so what that means is that 20% is still ained by the city and what that amounts to with one phase estimated to be $800 million in value is about $2.4 million annually so that's that's new revenue for the city that did not exist prior to this project once that uh incentive that 25y year period ends 100% of the revenue comes to the city which is a huge number um and so I ask you to keep that in mind as we go through also to please keep in mind that this just represents one phase um the company has uh indic at that that they would like the ability and the option um to do multiple phases um and again just a couple highlights the tax burden impact I the the purpose of these agreements is really to shift the tax burden away from residential taxpayers by encouraging commercial development and diversifying the tax base um I think this project very much does that just with an initial phase but with multiple phases even more so um and again a little bit about the phase development option that we have here job creation impact um the minimum um in the agreements is 50 full-time jobs um but we see in reality how the data center campuses operate once they're um more fully built out and we see that number increase pretty substantially so we can likely expect to see that here too although it's it's not a a requirement of the company um and then again I don't want to discount it because it's not written out in the agreement um but but just functionally um the sheer number of construction jobs uh that will come about because of the construction of this facility is something that's huge it means new income um new spending new tax revenue um plus supported households in the community so getting into the the project in a little bit more detail this is the site the company's looking at it's approximately 1,39 Acres um the land is uh city-owned and managed um the water utility originally acquired it many many decades ago um but transferred it to the city's inventory I believe in 2009 and it has always been intended for an economic development purpose um we just hadn't found the right partner until now um and we think that worldwide is is an excellent um an excellent user of of this piece of property the purchase price is about 8.5 million uh just under that 8.47 million or um 8,156 per acre um this is the market rate it is based on an appraisal that was done uh very recently um I want to highlight there are no discounts um this is a straight land sale and when the when the um the contract closes when we close on the land uh those dollars come to the city and then can be used um for other Capital assets um the reason why this property is is so significant and important to the company um again it's large it's under developed It's relatively flat it's contiguous all of that but also really importantly is that there is existing access to electric utility infrastructure um Newman is just um just to the west of the property and there's a large transmission line that runs both to the South and the north of the property um that you know ensures that uh that the electricity needs are met uh right off the bat that's also a huge cost um that the company doesn't have to undertake uh that it may have to do in another place where that infrastructure is not available um so I will just underscore this by once again saying um today what we're looking at is you know that phase one um development which could amount to 800,000 square feet um maybe a billion square feet um but I want you to look at this from the perspective of the opportunity to scale and expand over time um and just how that benefits our community so these are a couple again more deal points minimum $800 million investment half in construction half in equipment um again equates to approximately $800,000 square feet although that number is not specifically called out in the agreement um what we can expect to see just functionally because of the way data centers work is that the equipment is refreshed every three and a half to five years um so that $400 million investment initial investment and equipment is completely replaced every 3 and a half to 5 years in other words there's a replacement in the value of at least 400 million every 3 and a half to 5 years again not a requirement of the contract but just functionally this is how the data center business works and this is what has to be done in order to ensure that it can serve um its customers and so that all of that is um taxable which means new property taxes not only for the city and the county but also for all the other local taxing entities once again offsetting the tax burden to residents in terms of job creation uh the contract requires a minimum of 50 FTE uh working on site um however functionally the way it works we we know that we can expect to see a larger number as the company grows its operations here in El Paso and so I just want to underscore that over a 25e period And the reason why we use 25e period is because that's the length of the incentive period each phase represents about a $2.8 billion capital investment um when you consider those equipment refreshes so this is not a small project this is a massive project when you really understand how it will work over time and what it takes um to serve its customers with respect to party obligations the company itself is responsible for that minimum investment they're responsible for hiring and retaining those 50 FTE they're responsible for purchasing the property at market value from the city um in addition within five years of closing the compan is required to make a minimum investment of $5 million in infrastructure improvements so these are things that help get the property more shovel ready so that when a shovel is put in the ground to actually begin data center construction you already have the infrastructure uh surrounding it ready to go um the benefit there again is recall this property is very far north it's just south as the state line and so when you have those utility extensions and that surrounding infrastructure in place it makes a surrounding properties more developable which helps us again when we're going out and marketing the surrounding undeveloped properties to uh large employers like manufacturers um the city does have the option in the event that the company doesn't is not able um to expend those dollars within that 5year period to repurchase the land or to demand liquidated damages so there is there are repercussions if that investment is not made uh within that that promised time period for the city's part uh we will uh provide performance-based incentives as described on the following slid so again recall it's a 25-year incentive term per 800 million phase um at 80% abatement or rebate over that 25-year period um incentives are limited to a 35-year term so this is the total agreement term the reason why it was important to us to um try to consolid consolidate that agreement term as much as possible is because if the company wants to take the full value of the incentives then the company must develop quickly um if they take you know 15 years um before they decide to construct then their incentive period is cut short and I have another slide that will explain that in a little bit more detail so it's very much using a shot clock approach to incentivize encourage um scaling very very quickly um the city is also committed to cooperate in down zoning which I I think is um something that is very beneficial for the area um moving the property from what its current zoning is M2 to C4 um and including a condition release as a result of that down zoning um C4 very much fits in with the surrounding land uses and Zoning uh there is um some commercial zoning to the South um and then to the north we know the the chapperal uh Community is located there and then finally the city will reimburse the company um for the city's proportionate share of Stan Roberts improvements and one thing I failed to mention is that the company has committed to developing the full width of Stan Roberts um by code the company is only required to develop half of that width um the portion that immediately abuts their property in this case they will do the other portion but the city will reimburse them the reason why that's important is because it speeds up um those improvements the company can you know do it at the same time it's already doing its its own proportionate share of the road um also typically um they can do it you know it's cost savings for the city they can do it at um much less expensive rate um and so the city would reimburse I want to highlight here that that $7.5 million reimbursement comes from the Texas Economic Development Fund does not come from the general fund the Texas Economic Development Fund was established as a result of the El Paso Electric merger um it is the $80 million fund that sun Jupiter um funds over a 15-year period for the purpose of Economic Development to include infrastructure improvements that facilitate that Economic Development so this is a perfect way to use that fund um without impacting the taxpayers um and also you know improving our chances of economic development in the area in terms of the incentive proposal um I show you here the city as well as the counties um what the county is doing I want to highlight that the county is also work has been working very closely with us on this project um we've been working in tandem um and we've matched our terms uh to to Really ensure that we put our best foot forward and are the most competitive location um for you know for the future establishment of this company um so the city uh through the chapter 380 and chapter 312 um will Abate uh 80% of property tax revenue generated by the project over the first 10 years and rebate 80% of the property tax revenue generated by the the project over the next 15 years so a full 25-year term um what you're looking at when you work that out work the numbers out make assumptions is about $73 million um in property tax abatements or rebates over a 25e period um while that might sound like a lot I want you to Anchor it to what the company is doing in terms of investment um so including the county doing the same you're looking at a total local incentive over a 25e period of about 110 million but again an that to the investment the company's making functionally because of the equipment refreshes we know the company is investing probably something like 2.8 billion over a 25e period um so our $110 million incentive represents about 4% of that investment and so I really want to highlight that because I want it to be understood that the company is putting in a lot of dollars um um to this project and the city is too um but I just I want to Anchor just the size of of this project and the magnitude of it it's it's something unlike we've ever seen here in El Paso um talking a little bit more about the shot clock approach so again we have a 35-year agreement term um the company is required um to do phase one um they have the option to do multiple phases up to five phases there's nothing to say they couldn't do more phases if they'd like to um but the incentives are only available for those five phases and so uh because of that 35-year term um it pushes the company to develop and to scale more quickly um if they wait too long to develop for example phase five if they wait until you know year I think that's year 16 17 um then they cut themelves short on that 25-year incentive uh that they would otherwise be eligible for um so again it just it encourages speed um with respect to development um and then the following slides get into a little bit of detail about each of the um actions that council's taking so we talked about the chapter 380 and 312 and the terms of those two agreements um this is the contract of sale once again it's it's a typical real estate deal it's 1,39 acres of city-owned land that are being purchased by worldwide llc at market rate which is about $8.5 million those dollars are due to us at closing and then can be used for other Capital asset needs assets needs that the city might have um the closing is scheduled to occur honor before April 18th of 2024 so we still have some time before we see closing there are some options to extend that if necessary what I want to highlight here is that this closing is contingent um on a number of contingencies so for example um to make this project feasible to make it work um what the company needs it uses a large amount of electricity is a rate that makes sense and they are going through that process um with the the Public Utility Commission Now that process could take 12 months um it could take less time and so there are contingencies here um if those contingencies aren't met then it is um up to the company whether or not to wave those contingencies and move forward with closing or decide not to so I want to be very upfront and clear about that because some of those things are outside of the city's control but what council is doing today and tomorrow is doing everything it can within its control to make this project feasible one of those being um selling this property to the company um and then I mentioned before that uh there are some requirements within five years to make infrastructure improvements with respect to the reasoning and condition release two actions are being considered tomorrow the first is to down Zone the property from its current heavy manufacturing or M2 zoning classification to a less intense C4 commercial which is consistent with the data center facility as opposed to a a manufacturing facility um most of the activity is housed inside um although there are employees out there it's not a huge amount of traffic that's generated so um it I think it's a a good use um given the surrounding existing uses as well as zoning classifications namely the residential Community to the north um and then some of the commercial zoning to the South and with that down Zone uh the release of all conditions that were placed on the property previously when it was up Zone to M2 um I think what you'll see if you look at this company's data center is you see there is a lot of heavy landscaping there's a lot of security concern so you will see a buffer around the project um which again just is a less intense use um which I think uh you know matches the surrounding uses um the city plan commission did recommend unanimous approval um of both the down Zone and the release of all conditions on November 16th and we have not received a Communications in support or opposition of the request as of today um and then finally the last item you'll see on your agenda tomorrow is a resolution for uh funding for intersection improvements these are the improvements needed at us54 and Stan Roberts to facilitate access to the property I want to be clear that in the in the event that the traffic um analysis that the company will be undertaking shows that they must do the improvements that is their responsibility because of their traffic counts the company is responsible for this and we will come back to council with that update um but uh we don't anticipate that given the preliminary numbers that we have we don't anticipate that being the case um and so what we'd like to do is to set aside dollars at this moment in time to ensure we have those dollars for those improvements um again think about this not just tied to the project itself um which is important but also tied to the developability of the surrounding more than 3,000 Acres um just really getting that ready for additional Economic Development uses um this amount is is capped at 5 million once again the Texas Economic Development Fund is the funding source um and I'm happy to go over any questions you might have about that but I I just want to be clear that it is not the general fund it is the Texas Economic Development Fund um which is funded through our agreement our franchise agreement with Al Paso Electric as a result of the merger following slides talk a little bit about the project impact uh in numbers um this is your standard econ economic impact analysis um we were very conservative only looking at 50 FTE on site understanding that number May grow but we wanted to use what the contract requires um you can see because of the increased demand from the company because of the construction activity because of those new 50 jobs um you can see that an additional 130 jobs are created as a result of people spending their dollars and so on and so forth where you where you see a huge benefit is in the increase in the taxable sales um that the city has the ability to collect tax revenue on and again a large amount of this um well over two billion over 25e period really comes from the construction materials as well as equipment to a lesser degree but construction materials are really where this is huge as well as people spending their dollars locally with respect to the fiscal um benefit we we like to look at all of our local taxing entities because our residents pay um property tax taxes to each of these and you can see um even after incentives there's a net benefit to the city as well as the county and certainly a benefit to the other taxing entities um in huge numbers over a 25e period I want to highlight this is just for one phase so this is making the assumption that it is an $800 million investment with periodic equipment refreshes over the 25-year period um these numbers could grow exponentially uh depending on the number of phases that the company chooses to do um so this is sort of your Baseline minimum that we're looking at so even after incentives the city can expect um to still generate 60 million in new tax revenue um so that's about 2.4 million annually that we otherwise would not see and then this is the final slide I think um talking a little bit just summarizing the project impact I I went through these four benefits earlier I've gone through the numbers um I think the the ke takeaway here is this is a massive project in terms of capital investment so when you're just looking at the Hard numbers the tax revenue it generates is is really um huge for our community there are a lot of other huge benefits including job creation including putting us on the map as a hub for Innovation and the different opportunities that could come that way because um we are host to a company like meta here in El Paso um and then obviously the infrastructure improvements that we've talked about before that kind of create that ability to continue developing and continue being a competitive Community for other major Economic Development projects um in our area and so with that I'm happy to take any questions a reminder we need six actions from Council these are not the final step that get us to a place where a shovel is put in the ground but they take us very much closer to that um there's still a lot of things that have to be done including going through the Public Utility Commission to ensure that a rate um is secured that makes the project feasible as well as a number of other things um but again these six actions from council help get us a lot closer to that step um making us much more competitive to secure the company here um and today a reminder the only action that we're asking from you today is um that you consider the chapter 380 agreement the remaining action items will occur tomorrow with that I'm happy to take any questions thank you for your presentation it was very detailed and I know you've been working on this for very long time and we've had some um I know you talked about the county school districts also the borderx uh it's been a full um city um project to get this um moving and I know your team's been the lead team and done an incredible job of um getting it done and and I want to thank you for it it uh I know that uh I've had at least uh 282 briefings on this so I know you've been um very diligent in making sure that uh this project continues to um move forward and and um there was a lot of competition on it at sometime we felt that uh we may not get it so um it's a excellent job of U making sure that uh and if you look at this this is um a perfect example of when when you look at good leadership and good planning and I know Colonel Weston talks about when you plan a budget you don't do it for for today you do it for the next 5 years this is really we're looking at the future of our community for the next 25 35 years and not saying you know we're in office today we want to see it today we want to be able to to look at what we've done well this is we can see what we've done but we can also see our children our grandchildren continue to see the effects of a project like this and and that's really important and I've always uh been uh saying that uh a good leader plans for the future not just for today and and this is a perfect perfect example of that so again I want thank your team Colonel Weston you guys have done an incredible job Miss nean I know of you all have had a big part in this because there's been a lot of legal um looking at it and uh Mr T your team uh has gone over and above the to make sure you do the job that uh you you've you were hired to do and you've done it and um again I know the Border Plex is out here and I I want to thank them for also doing it and the county they're I know they're taking action on it as as we speak today so um um um I'm glad to see that the the future of our city is uh in good hands and that we look at something that it's not just for today but for the future I'd like for you to kind of explain to people what made us us who who are they sure I think it's important what companies who they represent and uh what we're bringing to the community I think that's really important absolutely um so so So Meta formerly known as Facebook um changed their name fairly recently to focus um on all of their different platforms and how they're interconnected with one another but um they're well known for being the owner and operator of Facebook um Instagram WhatsApp I think recently Oculus was um acquired or or created um which is the virtual reality technology platform um so they're in that space quite a bit um they are up there um um with other uh information technology companies including Google Microsoft Apple um and Amazon um and so I mean it's one of the big five uh which is huge to have them here and to have them establish a data center campus here um they are in the top 40 Fortune 500 companies um again just one of the um highest valued companies um in the US if not globally um they serve um almost 4 billion customer customers um monthly with their core platforms so they have a massive massive reach across the world um they have uh they are established again globally uh their headquarters are in California but they have workplaces across 80 cities worldwide uh 18 data center campuses it would be amazing to call El Paso you know one of those uh 19 um and so just a a huge company um I think I'll I'll just re re iterate that the the purpose of the data center is that it really is the backbone for all of the services the company provides so it's these data centers are critical um to the operation and to the success of of of the company thank you and that was really important the go that to to show what companies are coming in and the growth that we can see in them um you know we're we're using that land out there on Northeast that's been set up for manufacturing and auto manufactur everything else and and we know that um it's um autom manufacturing needs and requires either water which uh it's a lot more than the real grand required and um railroad or Transportation ease of moving and none of the two are there in that um in that area so this is a great use for property that will not require either one of those so again congratulations to you and your team for the hard work and again Colonel thank you again for your leadership representative nness were you first no I think you were first I don't think yes ma'am no you're first I'm I just had it on there yeah go ahead ma'am mayor good thank you so for that presentation um I have a couple questions and then I'll share some comments um regarding the Texas Economic Development Fund I just I I was I was trying to understand is there additional um steps that we have to take and then after potentially this approval what will be the balance in that fund um so let me do the calculation so I don't and and if you don't have it you're welcome to share with me later I can get no I mean I can give um estimates so that you at least have a a number and then I'll share out with Council the the solid numbers but I can give estimates so um currently in the fund there's a little bit over uh 16 million I think and um December 15th the next installment of 5.3 million is due so just over 21 million we do have some commitments they they're not expected to come in until later uh eaten manufacturing being one of those that was a commitment of about $2.4 million over um a period of 15 years um so we have a very healthy fund balance um and and that is why we can use we can set aside 12 A5 million from that fund for Stan Roberts improvements um as well as the the improvements to the intersection at Stan Roberts and us54 um the the requirements there are in terms of the uh improvements to the width of Stan Roberts the company is committed to making those improvements even though you know they're only responsible for half of that the northern um half of the the right of way they will do the southern half of the right of way our commitment is to reimburse the company for that expenditure once it's complete in the amount of 7 A5 million um not to exceed 7 and a. half million so it could come under uh which we hope to that I will say that that 7 and a half million is based on estimates as if the city did the work um which tends to be a little bit more expensive on the other on the other side the 5 million the funding resolution that we're asking you to consider tomorrow that is specifically for the intersection improvements at us54 and Stan Roberts um likely a traffic circle um just to make it flow a little bit better right now it's very challenging you know to get on to Stan Roberts from 54 so it makes it flow a bit better um the benefit there is of course um when we are working with other companies interested in locating it in El Paso uh we already have that intersection ready to go as well as a good portion of Stan Roberts completed there's still more of Stan Roberts to do but I I think at this point in time um this gets us to a to a good place um with respect to the funding resolution I know you asked what the next steps are we just want to make sure that we set the dollars aside in the Ted fund so the 5 million um we will likely hold until we are further along with the company before we expend the dollars but we we do want to have them set aside um and so we're we're working with um Robert and with IET and her team to ensure that Happ thank you you answer my question so like after the injection of five million this December um and then after the the rebate um I thought it would seven but you mentioned 12 so it's total TW well our portion is five for the roundabout intersection five for the intersection improvements 7 and a. half million for the actual RightWay improvements so it'll be 15 not including the roundabout um you mentioned uh an appraisal on the property can you tell me the exact time frame yes the appraisal was done in 2021 I believe when we first began talking with the company so it's still a recent appraisal um once again its market rate based on comps here in El Paso um you know part part of the thing to consider is that it's a very large swath of land that is undeveloped um it's on par with what we see in in other areas in the Northeast where the property there's not currently utilities on that site um there is not I think John is here I see John and I have a question for him but I just was curious if there's I'll let him answer the water Wastewater questions in terms of electric infrastructure there is substantial infrastructure already to the site um which is also what made it very attractive to the company I mean considering the amount of economic output and the investment you know I certainly um appreciate you know the what they're going to do in our community um just Sidetrack from that you know I'm a big proponent of any city land to be appraised currently um and so this makes it no different especially when you've seen the market adjusted in ways that it has recently um and so I will say this as I've said in the past that any appraisal for any property that's owned by the public um the taxpayer we need to go through current appraisals um but you know given the the the amount of Economic Opportunity here I I feel comfortable with what's being proposed today um as it relates to the jobs um on-site jobs this is a virtual data center it's in person are these virtual jobs Nationwide or these are going to be El pasoans benefiting from these jobs they're they're El pasoans uh residents of the region benefiting so we made sure um understanding remote work is is definitely a thing now we made sure that there's language in the contract that requires they be hired from the region so that includes El Paso as well as Los Cruses we see economic benefits from both um but there is language that requires that now if they work at the data center every day or if they work from home a few days a week we didn't we're not getting into that but the people that are employed for that site must be from the region okay thank you that's good to hear um I have a Mr beloo I'm I'm sorry to you're in the audience I wonder if you can help me answer some questions you mentioned that we didn't receive any complaints for uh to the CPC for the resoning glad to hear that I did get an inquiry related to water scarcity what kind of water Wastewater storm water infrastructure will be put there who's going to take on those cost um and uh pretty much I'm just trying to get some more information for the public okay so when it comes to Water and Wastewater in that area we have lines that run north and south on 54 uh Railroad in momes uh so we do need to extend across Stan Roberts to Loop that system in to supply of this now that was an impact fee line it was it was forecast in the impact fee system well before we started talking about this particular Economic Development opportunity uh so that is already already funded and that construction is already in place and the uh company will be uh paying for service just like any other company connecting up to the system now in terms of their uh water consumption I'll start with the waste water so in the waste water we are taking only the sanitary Wastewater there's no process there's no cooling waste water that gets discharge from the facility the facility is going to be air cooled uh so in many data centers uh across the world a lot of water that passes through once through cooling that's not going to happen here this is an air cooled system now we have they do have the ability to take water from us uh in the event that the high ambient temperatures mean that their air cooling is not not sufficient water can be added and then there's some water some minor processed water uses in the meantime are will they be what would be the rate um that they would pay is it a commercial one or is there specific it's nothing specific for them it's a normal rate that any customer commercial rate okay no concerns about water scarcity and the the consumption of this company no on your part we have it's going to be an 8 in meter but we have like 40 8 in meters in the system so it's not uh going to be of concern in terms of the water consumption in that particular area um and it's not my my district and Outlet represented molar we've heard in the past about um when you flush your toilet you can't there's not a lot of of water flow um in certain developments and so um I'm hoping that as part of this new development that we can address some of the water infrastructure concerns and I know that's dependent on a lot of the uh Wastewater or the impact fee mind you um so I I'm curious about when you connect to this property will will all of the the entire site be connected as well for potential future waste water and and storm water okay so let me address the your your first observation so yes there have been periods in the past where in a certain area uh the triangle bounded by 54 in railroad where uh we had low pressures we were in the the process of building the infrastructure of the elevated storage tanks but now as you drive let's say you're driving along 54 you see the two new elevated storage tanks the associated pumping stations and pipelines are there so that that pressure issue has has been resolved now for the future buildout there are additional uh meters that we would provide similar to to this case we're not going to be taking waste water other than sanitary waste water okay understood thank you I have no other questions for you Mr beloo I just wanted to share some final comments to um Mrs Triggs uh to Mr Varela with the economic Alliance um Economic Development Alliance um borderplex economic Alliance gez I'm like trying to figure out to call you um really really proud of the hard work um not only from your department Mrs Triggs but the collaborative effort between the county the city um and economic development corporations we do have a wonderful opportunity being here um nestled uh between 2.5 million 2.5 million population we're the epicenter of the Border Plex and the largest bational bilingual community and Workforce in the Western Hemisphere there is a reason why they are they are targeting our community and it's because we have the talent here we have the uh land the vastness of land and we have the people and so I'm I'm just really thrilled to have this opportunity to um adj add why is it that these companies are looking at our city it's because not only do we have the value but we have the talent and we all as a community um allow for these corporations and these collaborations between public private Partnerships and so it didn't happen by accident I know that there is a lot of work that goes behind it and so I'm just really proud of the hard work that you put into this and I look forward to approving everything tomorrow thanks what very quickly I just wanted Karina reminded me um we did have the property reappraised in April April of 2023 um and it came back very very similar to the 2021 appraisal but we're using the dollar amounts from the 2023 okay great that that address um I get I do get inquiries about why is it so low per acre per acre and so I wanted to address that with my constituents um but given the fact that there's absolutely no development it's vacant land there's no water um I understand why the the appraisal came back at that level thank you thank you thank you for that and I knew it had been re-approached and uh we had we you're not I had discussed that recently but I was going to allow her to finish so thank you for that represent molor followed by representative theel thank you mayor good morning everyone um it's always great to see something happening in the Northeast part of town I represent the district for the great people of Northeast but also all Paso and a whole and I'd like to say thank you very much to Elizabeth to miss Karina braz Gala thank you very much for the economic development and having the foresight the vision to have all of this come together and there's many thank yous our city manager our City attorney Mr car nean Mr Colonel Weston thank you um Mr John Bara and everyone else associated with the blex alliance it's just going to be a I don't even want to say game Cher because that's not the right word it's just going to be a huge vision for El Pas we always talk about property taxes being so high in the city of El Paso and why we compare ourselves to other cities in Texas and it's very discouraging but I think this really now is going to be the Catalyst for change for the city of El Paso and so many different ways not just in property taxes but Economic Development what people remember about El Paso when they come to visit what people see when they come to visit it's just going to be something very different and the fact that it's happening in Northeast op Paso it's even better uh literally it's going to change the landscape of the city of El Paso and Northeast op Paso and um I will be supporting this initiative wholeheartedly uh I'd like to thank I don't even know who the people are the company M uh for having the vision the desire to come to Al Paso and I look forward to doing everything well everything right for the community for the citizens of Al Paso so also move to approve second thank you sir representative P mayor I'll make a motion to approve thank you that was it yeah that was it do you want to Second representative Molina no I'm kidding um we have um two people signed up for call to the public I'd like to take that at this point Thank You mayor we do have Miss Alysa stimage followed by Lisa Turner good morning m'am you have three minutes good morning good morning mayor and good morning Council uh it's my understanding that I have three minutes I'm on the clock so I'll just kind of uh sum it up real quickly the first question was in the 380 agreement I didn't see where there's a feasibility study and the natural habitat that is in that area if it's going to be impacted and if so what is the remediation going to be um my second question was regarding um the ESG requirement goals the climate greenhouse gas reductions given the energy usage of the data center and that this entity um I didn't know initially but they're not headquartered here in Texas so I just wanted to make sure that the city of El Paso does not leave any money on the table with regards to um carbon credits and carbon offsets so my question is is it possibility that the 38 agreement whether if it's meta or any other future um company that wants to come to this beautiful community that we don't leave any money on the table with regards to uh climate and greenhouse gas reduction um and my third was regarding good faith in the community um companies like to come to areas that are attractive low taxes Etc um all of us live in the community and we have to be good stewards of the community and so I would like to propose and to be considered that there's monies uh donated um back to different charities here in the organization whether if it's Sacred Heart Church um there needs to be something to show from a good faith and that we're doing good um back to the community we don't want to increase the homelessness uh population here um I feel very safe here um in this community and I'm super excited about the economic development opportunity but um like everything there's pros and cons to to everything that we do U from a revenue perspective so just would like for you all to consider that and to make the necessary amendments and make those um responses made available to the public thank you thank you ma'am the next speaker is Miss Lisa Turner I don't see her mayor and Council what what I'd like to if we could before we go to the next speaker just have uh Miss Triggs address go ahead questions thank you thank you for that Karina brala economic and International Development as part of the right of entry on this property the company has already completed the environmental assessment for phase one there were no substantial findings or remediation needed on the site um they've also completed the Antiquities permit that's your survey for AR archaeological findings again no substantive um reporting there so they're in compliance with all of that in terms of the state um we don't anticipate any environmental impacts and then I think Elizabeth will speak a little bit to it but it is a net zero so there I don't believe there's a need for carbon offsets they'll be using entirely clean energy um but she can answer the rest of that so um I I want to be clear what is contractually required and what is not um the the company itself um has a commitment to net zero emissions um and they've demonstrated this through other data center campus operations um so what they do is they add to the local grid um the renewal necessary to offset their operations 100% that is the intent to do that here although it's not a contractual requirement um but it is a practice it is part of what the what the company has committed to doing um as an organization so I just want to highlight that and that's one of the the things that is forthcoming um and I think that is being worked on very carefully with El Paso Electric thank you ma' m Turner oh she's not here she was here a minute ago with that um concludes call to the public and we have a motion in a second yes mayor the motion was made by alternate mayor Pro molar seconded by representative Foo and this is to approve the resolution for the 380 economic development program agreement on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously uh congratulations and um I think it's important that to note that U all companies not just Madea has options and uh but you have to be able to believe in um what you're doing you got to believe in your project and you got to believe in the people and I want to thank him for not only investing in brick and mortar because brick and mortar is something but to invest in um in people is what we're investing in and that's something that's really important to continue to invest in people and invest in the future of a community and this is what we're doing today so again I'd like to thank the company for believing in El Paso and continuing to invest in our people in our community thank you for that thank you mayor item two is a public hearing of an ordinance authorizing the city manager to sign a contract of sale with Worldwide LLC a Delaware limited liability company for the sale of approximately 1,39 Acres of property situated in Section 3 block 80 Township 1 Texas and Pacific Railroad survey a track number 2 381 and section 4 block 80 Township 1 Texas and Pacific Railroad survey abstract number 9862 in the city of El Paso El Paso County the public hearing is open at 10:07 a.m. we have Mr John Justice that signed up to speak good morning Mr Justice you have three minutes good morning sir I think since you all agreed already out the uh the deal I'm wasting my time but anyway after researching costs problems potential revenue and Geographic limitations of data centers I just want to ask the Builder how much of the power generated by the new Newman power generator under construction is expected to be needed to power the hardware and cool the internal systems of the data center cooling systems usually consume 35% of the operating costs of a Data Center and just to give you an is an example an Enterprise data center which means that it's only sering serving a particular company operated in Houston has a and operates at tier three which is a reliability uh standard has about 50 to 70,000 square ft of uh refrig of of uh computers and servers they use 150 tons of refrigerated air systems to keep their computers at around 68° many of the latest data centers that are being put in in a quest to maintain their operating temperatures for increasing computer densities make them more efficient get more packed into the punch are transitioning from Air cooling to liquid cooling Data Systems that use water in our climate use evaporation so the water is gone it's not recycled Al passive is not blessed with an excess water supp Supply otherwise we wouldn't be turning sewer water into drinking water and if the proposed data center plans to use water we're short of I I think they need to just up their budget for refrigerated air or find another place that has water to spare thank you thank you sir this is a public hearing is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak on this item seeing none we need a motion to close the public hearing second no we need to close the public hearing first there's a motion made by mayor Pro manelo second it by alternate mayor protol and this is to close the public hearing at 10:10 a.m. on that motion call for the vote voting session is open thank you and the voting session and the motion passes you unanimously representative Federal not present mayor before we go on to item number three you are correct about the early voting for The District Two special election early voting ends tomorrow what's that the early voting ends tomorrow you are you are correct sir for the special I I hear you can you repeat that and I apologize for the confusion sir thank you mayor item number three is discussion and action on the appointment of two candidates to fill vacancies for substitute associate Municipal Court judges beginning from January 1st 2024 through December 31st 2027 the candidates are Courtney Bo and Melissa War good morning mayor council lead good morning uh anable C assistant director Municipal Court uh we have actually two of our candidates here um she already named them Mr boo and Miss War here if you like to have any questions so we've received an email about concerns on the process of these um and I will say that I was unaware that the process had changed um I don't remember there ever being uh decisions made by one council member previously um I'm sure you received that email as well and so I I don't know mayor if you would like like to address that now yeah I'd like to I'd like to address the process I think we all need to know the process because I think we had a conversation and you told me there was seven openings no um Lilia warl from the municipal director of Municipal Court what it was is we had four vacancies for associate judges and we have um one vacancy for court number four because the incumbent was appointed to a federal magistrate position uh and the process and then the other the other opening that's it and the problem is that um we still have openings available but yet we got applicants so if we didn't follow the process it kind of bothers me a little bit I think we got uh good candidates that that's not an issue of what we're talking about today but what I'm talking about what is U Miss Newman what is our process it seems like the process is not very clear and I guess the only way you can be brought up for put on the agenda is a city council member has to nominate you otherwise you and when did that change and why was that I mean I think we should have made aware of all the applicants and then allow us to nominate or agree on the nominations and it uh it seems like we missed the process some a little bit here so mayor I I've read the ordinance and and I'm aware of the of the letter that that mayor protemp is is uh referring to I don't believe that the process has changed sir uh I will defer to staff to explain to you what process that took place but we did confirm with them this morning that they followed um the ordinance as written but uh Miss warl is here and she will walk you through what she did in order to ensure that this was followed now so if the process not changed why was not all of Council made aware of the applicant so they could be nominated mayor I'm sorry I I'll defer to you thank mayor mayor they were everybody was informed I sent an an email on okay the recruitment was actually held from September the 14th to November the 5th because we had that many vacancies and then on November the 7th I sent the email letting every letting all mayor and Council know that the recruit yes that yes that the recruitment had ended and that now Council had 10 days to submit any names they wish for consideration to the city manager so I sent the initial email on no 7th to Mayor and Council all me all members and then on November the 9th I sent another reminder and then on the actual deadline day which was November 15th I sent another reminder telling them that that today was the deadline okay well I had some council members that were not aware of that email going out or receiving that email and I'm looking at the email it says may there's no language in this email that is saying that this is the change in the process it says you may do this when I was reading this email considering past processes I was unaware of the change and did not realize that it was necessary to do so and so I think the language in the email is a little bit confusing considering that there was a process change well I did copy the exact wording from the municipal code 2.44 again the language is May and so I it doesn't say you need to it says you may so if it needs to it should say you need to and may means you can or cannot but uh and I think that was the confusing on on the language and that's where I had a couple council members uh kind of complain about the process and were not clear that that had to be before anyone could be brought up forward the the process hasn't changed since I don't I don't even remember when when it was initially created but it hasn't changed uh we can review the process can been May yes it's always been me it's always been me always been me so you're not obligated to nominate you may May nominate you wish but you don't have and this is where my question is because previously and I apologize to the candidates behind you I think this is actually for the next item has disgusting um but I you know it's always said May so you're saying the process hasn't changed but previously even if a council member had nominated one person there was still conversation at the council I had never previous to this this council meeting seen a final candidate determined by a council member via email previously it was always discussed at Council and so that may language I think leaves that vague but you're now saying that you took one email from one council member to make a decision even though the ordinance says may and it can still be discussed here and so I don't know maybe the process didn't change maybe you're translating it differently my understanding is that it is different today than it has been over the last six years well in the past when we have had multiple candidates I have usually typically received an email from representative Molina or representative Riva stating that they wished all candidates to be considered and interviewed if possible in this instance there was only one representative that submitted one name no and In fairness to miss warl also I I will say that I think she made a very good effort to send multiple messages out to the council so I I mean I you know I I uh believe this is done in the same manner as it was done in the past and I know that multiple messages that had gone out and I was copied on every one of them so I think that the distinction um council is that in the past um other council members have requested that all of the candidates be interviewed the difference this time is that only one member of council request that there one person be brought forward so that's the distinction here today Kennedy represent Kennedy I know you had a concern on the process you're one of the ones that came to me I don't I don't have a concern with the candidates when I read something that says may res rather than shall or is required to be considered I'm concerned that if I were to send one name which I would have um I've declared my vote before we have the discussion from this deas that's my concern which was why you know the verbiage got a bunch of lawyers here the verbiage with May and shall or is required I think going forward Ward we may need to clear up because though it said you may nominate somebody I don't think it was definitive to say it is a requirement for an individual to be considered that they have a nomination from this body it said we may it doesn't say we have to and we can we can look at yeah I think we need to going forward do some clarification on that yes you know I my concern was just that was I don't like to declare votes before we get up here and that would have been a declaration I'd have had one name on my list which basically is oh guess what guess who he's voting for you know you've declared your vote ahead of time and I have a concern with that so I would say going forward if we could do some clarification on the process we can clarify that um just so we can be more clear and I think that's important that if it is required then it needs to be part of the body that it's required for it to move forward and that's not on there the the distinction however that I will make um that you have to read the entire ordinance in order to be able to effectuate it in and reading it the other way we wouldn't be able to take paragraph four into effect had we not received any um names for candidates and the fact that we received one that is why we're moving it Forward otherwise we wouldn't be able to give full effect to the entire ordinances is always been implemented so I think that it's a matter of of going back and and training the Council on what the process entails and what it looks like um and then a proposing if the council believes that we need to make a a change to explain that paragraph three requires that council do something you may or may not want to do it some people may not choose to want to nominate anybody right they don't like anybody um or others want to interview all of them that just didn't appear to happen at this this time around could couldn't we just remove the the portion of the process that requires a nomination from Council and just say whoever whoever the applicants are are brought to council this that could also be in the so that you would be able to interview all of the candidates that that uh applied and and I by the way one of the reasons I'm not even disclosing who my nominee would be is because it's not Germain to this part of the conversation so the nominees this has nothing to do with the quality of who we're selecting or anything please don't get distracted with that there was just a process issue to me it would be if if there's an application we should be able to interview all of them and make that decision so that's just my two cents thank you mayor um this time I make a motion to approve but also like to the two associate candidates the two associate candidates are here in case you wish for them to be announced in introduced yes but one moment please one moment so I'd like to hold on hold on let me get represent Canales and I'll get you to speak go ahead represent Canales thank you mayor I'm gonna earn the reputation I have with you I think and read something oh I said I'm gonna earn the reputation I have and I'm going to read something no go ahead I I I I want to say this in in defense of Miss World and the your team uh would you object to me reading the reminder email that you sent no okay so good morning respectful this is the email from Miss warl uh on the 15th of of November respectful reminder that today is the deadline for nominations to fill the part-time on call vacancies and court number four vacancy yesterday Mr Antonio Rodriguez elected to withdraw his name from consideration the only nominations that have been submitted were from representative molinar the remaining candidates names for the on call uh the on call part-time positions as well as Lauren Ferris is name for court number four and then this portion is offset from the rest with asterisks larger font bold and underlined if these are the only nominations a special session to interview the candidates would not be necessary the names could be placed on a regular city council agenda for approval and then there's a recap of the entire process below that including everybody's names that the applications were received who was deemed qualified um so the entire process is laid out in this email and then it does say say below City Representatives May recommend applicants names from this application pool for the far for part-time vacant positions and for the court number four vacancy you may submit a name or names of candidates to the city manager if you have any questions please contact me and I'll be happy to assist I think that very clearly lays out the process that we had to follow um I will say I I did not submit a name uh after I saw this email because I was satisfied with what had already been submitted um but I just wanted to say that in your defense I thought this was out outlined very clearly to us what process we had to go through in order to have a candidate in front of us at this meeting today thank you thank you thank you thank you and I don't think anyone's disagreeing with you after looking at we just want the language to say required that's it so we're we're not in any disagreement with that we just want to change the language just a little bit on that representative um you were next and I know you took yourself off so M followed by represent nandes all right thank you mayor uh good morning to everyone here today um also I'm looking at the email dated November 7th by Lily War I think everything just what representative Canal said I'm not going to read it it spelled everything out we need to do and I can recall in the early part of 2021 when I received an email from you and all of city council at that time received an certain email I asked questions I asked questions of you I believe I also asked questions of then Mr Tomas Gonzalez at that time when he was our city manager what is the process and I was trained I was schooled and so this is this is at least probably maybe the third or fourth time since early part of 2021 that we have gone through this so it's not like it's something new and yes I know we do have two new members of the uh city council here but we're coming on one year but um clearly it does State you did a fantastic job I'm going to say Miss war and you spelled out the process you told us what to do you sent us reminders and so I thank you very much for your work and everyone from Municipal Court on this as well and so yes the word may that's what it means may we have an option to do it if you choose not to do it you don't do it if I was the sole representative put somebody on the on the list okay I did my job okay and I'm proud of that so thank you thank you thank you sir representative nandz I I have a couple of questions I agree with both um Mr Canalis and Mr mullur I think the process is clear the the question I have is related to the benefits of and and salaries for the Municipal Court judges is there an can can you explain what the salary is and are the contracts consistent between all judges yes ma'am they're all they're all about 55,000 annually um they are entitled to health benefits but no pension benefits um that that is the only benefit that they're who the who sets the wages for the the judges city council city council during our during our budget resolution yes ma okay well I I will say right now I think those wages are significantly low what is their docket like um they hear about 200 cases per day 200 cases per day and we're paying them 55,000 a year yes okay that I mean we we I'm not to say that we don't get quality candidates but we want to compensate our judges to the amount of work and commisure it to the amount of work that they are providing for our community so I absolutely am in favor of increasing their wages and I would be happy to make a budgetary requests is there a reason why our judges do not get any benefits pension or retirement I think because they're elected except for the appointed judges the appointed judges which you all appoint their full-time and they do they are allowed pension benefits health benefits like a like a regular employee so an elected judge is not allowed to I'm I'm an elected person I but there's a reason why city council cannot get pension there's a specific reason why and it has to do with the state statute you can't have oversight be a board member and receive a benefit so we have folks who sit on the trust and then we have oversight on city council and then we receive the benefit of pension so you can't be all three per state statute what what is what is the reasoning why an an elected judge would not get the benefit honestly I I I don't know I I think we just need to standardize that appointed versus elected because I don't think that makes a difference and then judges don't have oversight of the trust so they should be able to receive that same benefit um if we're talking about how to reform the process then I would certainly like to have a conversation about the benefits as well um I do have questions for our candidates you said there's two here today yes for the associate positions okay and uh ma'am if you can come up and introduce or whoever is introduce yourself please good morning Courtney Buie I'm sor sorry repeat your name Courtney buoy Mr buoy um just simple question I asked all candidates this who come forward um have you read the description on what what is required and what makes you eligible for a municipal judge I have um specifically um the requirement to live in the city limits are you currently a resident of the city of El Paso yes yes I am um and would you like to uh introduce uh like a quick bio on why you're qualified for this position sure well I'm a practicing attorney and arbitrator in the state of Texas um I formerly lived here for two years while I served in the military from 2007 to 2009 after which I returned to Houston uh and started practicing law um and I just recently moved back here uh two and a half years ago and um uh I I I believe that uh this this state I'm sorry the city has been really good to me uh and it's I want to give back to this city um and I think that as an arbitrator I'm uniquely situated um to do this job uh it's much like a judge arbitrator does pretty much the same thing so thank you thank you for sharing that was there anything else you'd like to share with councel uh not unless you have a question no thank you um for the next candidate um would you like me to repeat my question yes please yes um good morning have you read the qualifications um and the requirements to to be appointed as a municipal judge yes I have yes and are you currently a resident of the city of El Paso yes I am yes okay would you like to share your background on what qualifies you for this role yes of course thank you I have been practicing for 19 years I'm licensed in three different states 18 of those 19 years was Service as a prosecutor I actually was a prosecutor here in El Paso from originally first time 2011 to 2019 under the Hae as sparza Administration I then relocated uh back up up to Washington state was a prosecutor there came back down uh was a prosecutor briefly in Hill Country uh my father's a combat veteran he had to have surgery multiple surgeries due to combat related injuries from Vietnam and Desert Storm and so I came back to Texas and I had the opportunity to come back to El Paso in June of 2022 I worked briefly as a dist assistant district attorney again under Ivon rosales's Administration and shortly after that I opened a law firm here with my former trial partner and close friend and so I'm invested here in El Paso it's a great community community and I have always come from a service oriented family we've emphasized service to our country service to the community in which we live and I see this position as a way to continue my service to our community here in El Paso thank you thank you for sharing that um representative M did you have a motion on the table or do we need a new one he did yeah okay okay thank you no other questions thank you and with that we have a motion in a second yes sir the motion was made by alternate mayor protim seconded by representative Fiero to approve the appointment of the candidates for item number three on that motion call for the vote and the voting session the motion passes unanimously mayor proem anelo not present that brings us to item number four and this is discussion and action on the appointment of Lauren Ferris to fill the vacancy for municipal court judge for court number four resulting from the appointment of Judge Enrique Olene to a federal magistrate position this appointee will serve until the next general election of November 2024 pursuant to Municipal Code section 2.44 point3 move to approve second Motion in a second yes sir we have Miss Lauren Ferris if you would like to yes your bring the babysitter I want to see the babysitter Santa Santa Ferris requesting judge Ferris how are you ma'am good morning mayor and city council you all have any questions for me I think you I believe most of you know me from before this um my name is Lauren Ferris for those that may not I you all do this is my previous court that I did um I I was the judge of court for previously so I am humbled and honored to be returning back to my court and look forward to serving our community again you were and you did a very good job ma'am thank you and with that there's no questions we have a motion in a second yes sir that was a motion made by representative Kennedy second oh there's the babysitter representative we have questions for the babysitter here here hold up your baby go ahead put on YouTube bonjour bonjour she no she's up go ahead ma'am the motion was made by representative Kennedy seconded by representative Gales to approve the appointment of Judge [Laughter] Paris seconded by representative Riva thank you thank you um that motion call for the vote and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously it always works when you bring the baby mayor protm anelo thank congratulations appreciate it good thank you have a we have a motion to uh um go to Executive session there's a motion in a second to retire to Executive session all in favor anyone opposed and the city council of city of Al Paso May retire to Executive session pursuing to section 3.5a of the El Paso City Charter and the Texas government code chapter 551 sub chapter D to discuss any of the following executive session item one in regards to aquous film forming foam products multi-district litigation mdl number 2 873 under 551.071 executive session item two complaint regarding elected City official matter number HQ number 1453 under 551.071 and 551.074 executive session item three claim of Carlos Gonzalez claim 263 under 551.071 executive session item four United States of America versus city of Al Paso Texas United road to Inc DBA Vehicle Management Solutions and Ro Robertson Enterprise Inc 323 cv- 000044 under 551.071 and executive session item five purchase exchange lease or value of real property located in downtown El Paso HQ number 23-1 1582 under 551.071 and 551.071 these matters are taken into executive session at 551.071 consultation with attorney 55107 to deliberation regarding real property and 551.074 Personnel matters it is is 10:35 a.m. e is there a motion to Comm out of executive session there's a motion in a second to Comm out of executive executive session all in favor anyone opposed the work the special meeting is back in session at 12:22 p.m. mayor Pro we're on ex1 no action thank you ex2 no action thank you EX3 motion made second and carried that the city attorney's office and consultation with the city manager be authorized to deny the claim of Carlos Gonzalez in claim number 263 and to take all steps necessary including execution of any required documents in order to effectuate this Authority second there's a motion made and read to the record by mayor potim manelo seconded by alternate mayor potim mol on EX3 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session the motion passes unanimously Representatives Kennedy Fierro rera not present EX4 no action thank you ex5 no action thank you is there a motion to adour so moved second there's a motion and a second to adjourn the special city council meeting all in favor I anyone opposed I and the special city council meeting for Monday December 4th 2023 is adjourned at 12:23 p.m. thank you Council