foreign foreign foreign it's 9 A.M yep we don't need a corn good morning mayor we're pending a quorum representative Rivera is running a few minutes late representative anello has requested to be excused representative Kennedy is virtual this morning we'll start with uh chaplain we'll start items that don't require corn yes sir now will everyone please sign in to electronic devices so as not to disturb the meeting and rise for the invocation delivered by El Paso Police senior chaplain David Mayfield may elisaire members of the council thank you once again for allowing me to come here and pray for you and for our city I invite those present to join in prayer in their own tradition as I will pray in mine Creator God author of all we ask that you bless the Gathering of this Council today guide us as we deliberate over plans the plans to improve and prosper the city and plans to address the problems that result from people living together bless each member of this Council and help them to govern with wisdom and compassion help them to do the hard job of working for everyone who has come to live in this city regardless of origin and finally Lord I pray that your mercy and Grace would flow to our city as we work toward the benefit of those who live and work and play here we ask all of this in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit and may God bless this Council the city of El Paso and the United States of America amen good morning this is a meeting of the El Paso city council for Tuesday September 26 2023 mayor Lisa is present in presiding inside council chambers along with representative Hernandez alternative representative Salcido representative Fierro and representative Canales representative Kennedy is joining us virtually this morning representative anello has requested to be excused and representative Rivera is running a few minutes late it is 903 am this morning to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance we have Veterans of Foreign Wars post commanders natividad Lopez Jr Robin Johnson Michelle Crittenden Ron slomke Billy Michaels Wayne Strickland Salvador Rodriguez Raul Resa Luis Navarro Robert Lawler Luis Valdivia and Ephraim Sims VFW present arms pledge allegiance to the plague of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands under God indivisible with liberty and justice as well VFW order Arts the churches for the record representative Rivera is also present in council chambers thank you started Lopez if you're in teams please make sure your microphones are on mute and maybe at least if I could say a few words also the veterans at Foreign Wars has been in existence for over 100 years I'm very proud of the fact that my father the late hilberto molinar began post 8919 which is in District Four northeast El Paso so I am a member of efw post 8919 it's a very proud moment to have these men and women here representing our country their sacrifice that they made and we're leading Us in the pledges of Allegiance today you know can we get a group picture hold that pose two three too hold it hold it [Applause] Mayors city council Representatives ladies and gentlemen thank you very much for allowing us to come and participate in your meeting this morning I believe they're indicating that you should have seats it is indeed an honor for us at the Veterans of Foreign Wars to participate in any way in government for many though the way that we gained admission to our organization is by fighting to defend our country in our institutions including government at all levels and so being able to participate now as Citizens is very special to us especially reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag under which we fought and our compatriots died the Veterans of Foreign Wars was as representative molinar mentioned founded over a hundred years ago is actually founded in 1899 it was founded here in Texas in 1921 and here in El Paso only five months after it was founded in Texas our first post was formed and so we've been active here in in El Paso since 1921 for over a hundred years and we continue to try to serve our communities as well as we can our mission is to serve our veterans their families and our communities every post and we have seven of them here in El Paso more than in most communities every post has requirements in order to continue as a chartered organization to not only do activities which honor our veterans and their families but also to serve the community and so we try to do that to continue our Legacy of service and so we hope that we are active participants and that we provide value as we continue in that Legacy thank you very much thank you very much foreign ER and I do want to thank you all for serving and protecting our community our country and all the veterans that are here today and all the veterans that represent our community at um you know because of you all we have an opportunity to become elected officials you've given us our freedom and we want to thank you for that and today as you know I believe that it's Veterans Day every day because we respect and salute and admire other veterans other people that really were willing to protect us so I want today to everyone have their own thoughts I'll have a moment of silence for those who gave it all for our community and those who are still in our community in our country that um I want you know a gratitude of thank you again for that thank you thank you and may God bless every one of you and every time you all come up and every time I speak to you all it gives me a fond memory of my father who is a World War II veteran so thank you may God bless everyone Miss Prine thank you mayor that brings us to the mayor's proclamations the first Proclamation this morning is disease intervention specialist day who has someone is that yours representative molinar good morning Proclamation city of El Paso Texas whereas the city of El Paso Department of Public Health HIV STD unit investigate diagnose and treat sexually transmitted infections STIs and whereas the city of El Paso Department of Public Health collaborates with local hospitals Physicians clinics Community Health Centers Fort Bliss doniana County New Mexico cidar Juarez Mexico and other organizations to promote a healthier safer community Through Community Education on STIs and whereas case investigation of STIs is essential to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and whereas the Department of Public Health joins the Centers for Disease Control and prevention and recognizing the importance of disease investigators and controlling the spread of STIs now therefore be a proclaimed by the mayor and Council of the city of El Paso that today shall be known as disease or excuse me October the 7th 2023 shall be known as disease intervention specialist day signed the honorable mayor's Oscar leasure [Applause] good morning good morning mayor leaser honorable council members my name is Luis and I'm one of the supervisors for the disease intervention team on behalf of our HIV STD unit I thank you today for this recognition and I would like to emphasize our ongoing commitment to this labor that has been entrusted to us we are humbled to bring hope to El Paso ones in their time of need by exhaustively conducting contact tracing so we may provide free testing to individuals who have been exposed to a sexually transmitted infection as well as refer those facing such an Affliction into the treatment they deserve finally we also educate and serve people living with HIV and AIDS such that they may take more empowered approach to their health and live more fulfilling lives we at the HIV STD unit are proud to lead the fight against the stigma associated with these conditions by championing the idea that sex is meant to be one of the more enjoyable aspects of life and by encouraging others to embrace their sexuality so they and their Partners can make more informed decisions in a more positive manner after all it is open and informed communication based on love and trust that serves as her greatest weapon against these diseases finally I would like to thank our amazing team standing behind me for their tireless dedication and endless display some compassion on the line of duty and without whose unrelenting effort none of these would be possible thank you all thank you will you all introduce yourselves please come up one at a time if you don't mind come on up to the microphone mm-hmm good morning everyone my name is Bernadette I'm STD surveillance for the county of El Paso thank you good morning Sarah Sarah assistant Health director prior dis thank you and I'm one of the supervisors for the unit good morning good morning yes thank you good morning my name is Sabina apauzola and I am a dis good morning hello good morning my name is Denise Murillo and I am one of the dis here good morning good morning my name is Heather and I'm a dis as well good morning good morning my name is Brenda Sosa and I'm a dis good morning good morning everyone my name is Jacob Ortega health program manager for the unit good morning and thank you all for being here have a great day [Applause] and if everyone will remain in Chambers this morning the council will have an opportunity to take photos with you once all the ceremonial items have been completed the next Proclamation is Buddy Walk for Down syndrome Awareness Month mayor thank you so much for allowing me to read this into the record whereas one in 700 babies born in the United States is born with Down syndrome and whereas El Paso County has the highest rate of down syndrome in the state of Texas whereas people with Down Syndrome are active participants in education occupy social and recreational circles in the community whereas the Down Syndrome Coalition for El Paso invites everyone to join on Saturday October 7th at at the 2023 buddy walked to celebrate promote acceptance and inclusion and raise funds for Down syndrome Coalition for El Paso EPCC scholarships for students with disabilities and the national Down syndrome society and whereas Down syndrome Coalition for El Paso Buddy Walk will take place on the EPCC by iridi campus participants and donors can take part in registration at epbuddywalk.org and whereas Buddy Walk will bring together individuals families and agencies to raise awareness now therefore be it proclaimed by the mayor and Council of the city of El Paso the month of October shall be known Buddy Walk for Down syndrome Awareness Month signed the honorable mayor Oscar leaser thank you good morning good morning mayor good morning councilman my name is Amelia Rao and I represent the Down Syndrome Coalition of El Paso and I'm here with our partners from the El Paso Community Foundation as well as El Paso Community College and again we are excited and enthusiastic for Saturday October 7th in which we will walk in solidarity with with family members and individuals with Down syndrome and other developmental disabilities for a better Society a more inclusive society and we appreciate your recognition for this work thank you thank you good morning mayor good morning Council individuals it's thank you so much for having us here today well I know many of you in a different working capacity one of my other most important jobs is being a mama and I have a 10 year old with Down Syndrome the Coalition has always been really dear to my heart so I especially thank you this morning for the recognition and the awareness of down syndrome thank you thank you morning mayor and morning councilman um I'm Adam Pierce I work with the El Paso Community Foundation and it has been a privilege to work with these individuals in these groups for the last year or so I know the Buddy Walk has been going on for 14 years in partnership with El Paso Community College and Jim Heidi and it is just fantastic to see the work that's been doing in the that's been done in the community and the collaboration of all these these groups coming together and putting on events like this and services for people with disabilities in our community thank you thank you [Applause] and the final Proclamation this morning is Tom Lee celebration month [Music] s you are not after that this one you want to do yours okay because yes sir all right welcome thank you Proclamation city of El Paso Texas whereas Tom Lee a native El pasoan chose to live and work in El Paso and whereas this year marks an extraordinary Milestone of The tomly Institute an El Paso nonprofit offering the community Tom Lee celebration with the theme launching the Tom Lee Trail app which is a season of Firsts first artist named Trail in Texas First Texas historical commission Heritage Trail in 12 years and first officially recognized trail of its kind in the United States a new state-of-the-art website enlivens the history of 12 communities through historical videos sound effects storytelling and the Art of Tom Lee an unsung Genius of his time whereas the Tom Lee Institute partners with other non-profit organizations and cultural entities in the community to provide fun and educational activities that highlight the quality of life in the region overall there will be 17 events held with El Paso being the capital of the Tom Lee Trail and whereas there are events scheduled at nine El Paso sites including the El Paso Museum of History at which Tom Lee's paintings are paired with a live performance of music from three decades tigua natives will dance and present about the significance of the War Bonnet with pasaron poraki at the international Museum of Art a chamber Ensemble plays original music composed by a Tom Lee fellow at UTEP these are only a few of the exciting events that enliven the history and culture of the region and whereas Tom Lee celebration offers a series of unique events centered in El Paso designed to attract tourists and Inspire El Paso citizens the Tomley Trail officially designated by the Texas legislature in 2017 has brought visitors worldwide to El Paso events in addition El Paso is the Hub of the bi-national trail in Texas New Mexico and the state of Chihuahua Mexico now therefore be it proclaimed by the mayor and Council of the city of El Paso that the month of October shall be known as Tom Lee celebration month signed by our honorable mayor Oscar Lisa good morning good morning um I'm Holly Cobb I'm the executive director of The tomly Institute and this is my wonderful staff that basically the three of us plus another half person put all of this together every year so we're small But Mighty we want to thank you for hosting us here today and allowing us to have the proclamation I don't know if you realize that Tom Lee's Art hung in the White House of both President Johnson and President Bush how many artists do you know who've hung in the two white houses well let alone one white house and he's a native El Paso and as was said in the proclamation his art of World War II art the price hung in the Pentagon in The Joint Chiefs of Staff office to remind them of the cost of War again an extraordinary accomplishment and The tomly Institute is dedicated to bring exciting events things like walking tours of downtown El Paso art maker camps for students and free curricula that are embedded in public schools including episd we are very very dedicated to helping people to come to love El Paso just as Tom Lee did he loved this region and portrayed it in many different ways this year we offered 10 walking tours of downtown attended by 50 to 60 people each event we ought to offered free events celebrating the history and culture of the Borderlands and you all have copies of the brochure which includes all of our listing of free events here in El Paso as well as around the state if you take a look at these events these events attract visitors from out of town actually out of the country even and so we're really celebrating El Paso bringing awareness to El Paso in a very positive way we do all of this by raising our own funds we're not on the tax rolls um you know being funded by citizens we do all this with our own funds partnering with City museums as well as local restaurants and hotels to bring them new audiences and the people who attend our tours and events often comment I thought El Paso had nothing to offer and I'm sure many of you have heard that too and nothing to do but now I realize what an amazing history we have and we love these events and we've learned to love and appreciate El Paso thank you for making the proclamation and supporting The tomly Institute thank you very much thank you thank you again Miss Prine can we go to item 16. yes mayor thank you item 16. is discussion and action to approve a resolution recognizing better known as cassandro for his illustrious 35 year career in Lucha Libre becoming one of the foremost exotico luchadores in the world and to comment Cassandra for sharing his life story which contributes to the vibrant culture shared by the sister cities of El Paso and ciudad Juarez and this is representative Hernandez's item please come to the to the podium well I read uh the resolution into the record um I I finally got a chance to watch the movie last night and I have to say I was just like really um really excited to to learn more about you and like like your name my name was selected um from a novella my mom loves novellas and that's how I got my name now you know um the resolution reads whereas the electrifying world of Lucha Libra carries a legacy dating back to 1863 transcending borders and cultures to become an iconic part of Mexican and Mexican-American Heritage and captivating fans worldwide and whereas affectionately known as cassandro El exotico grazed the world of Lucha Libre as one of its most celebrated figures and whereas much like the Border presence of Lucha Libre cassandro was also on the ropes of two Nations born on May 20th 1970 in El Paso Texas and often shuttled between El Paso and his family's Hometown siddar Juarez and whereas at the age of 15 Cassandra embarked on his wrestling Journey training Lucha Libre and Cedar Juarez he made his professional debut in 1988 under various rings personas including the masked Mr romano and Rosa salvaje ultimately embracing the iconic identity of cassandro and Raz cassandro's courageous path as an openly gay Luchador stands in a stands as a shining Testament to the resilience and the perseverance of a Trailblazer and whereas the extraordinary life and career of Cassandra has now been captured on the Silver Screen in the film so aptly named cassandro now therefore be it resolved by the city council of the city of El Paso that the city council recognizes Cassandra for his illustration illustrious 35-year and Lucha Libre becoming one of the foremost exotico luchadores in the world and Kamen cassandro for sharing his life story which contributes to the vibrant culture shared by the sister cities of El Paso and sadar Juarez and I'm very proud to make a motion to approve second Motion in a second and I know Cassandra you have a hard time speaking but representative just wanted to say that I'm very proud for you to be on the national stage I want to also say that I know that with all this you've gone through so much adversity and we thank you for just showing how resilient our our our people are and and thank you for that and thank you for everything you've done thank you and thank you for being here and I know for the opening Premiere that this we were able to award you with a star on the mountain and congratulations and thank you for being here and thank you for representing this great city of El Paso and with that yes thank you there's a motion made by representative Hernandez seconded by representative Salcido to approve the resolution on item 16. on that motion call for the vote representative Kennedy aye thank you and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously we want to approve the consent agenda did you want a recess for photos at this time mayor yeah we can do the work we can reset for photos second there's a motion in a second to recess a city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed the meeting is in recess at 9 29 a.m in order to take photos with this morning's honorees Miss Pine it looks like we have a quorum to have a motion to return close your reconvene second there's a motion and a second to reconvene the city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed the meeting is back in session at 9 46 A.M that brings us to the consent agenda all matters listed under the consent agenda will be considered by city council to be routine and will be enacted by one motion unless separate discussion is requested by council members prior to the vote members of the audience may ask questions regarding items on the consent agenda when the vote has been taken If an item has not been called out for separate discussion the item has been approved Council May however reconsider any item at any time during the meeting mayor protemolinar good morning this is the revisions of for September the 26 2023 at 8 30 in the morning page three item two request to excuse absent City Council Members representative Alexandra anello page six item 12 move to the regular agenda revised per representative Molina and that revision is on the district It should read district one not four page 12 item 26 moved to the Forefront of the regular gender after Council items for economic and International Development is there any other revisions instead of Hernandez for item item three moved to the regular agenda any other items mayor we do have public comment on the consent agenda items Miss Turner yes sir Miss Turner has would like to speak on item one and this is the minutes for the regular meeting of September 12 2023. good morning again Council it Disturbed me last meeting when representative Fernandez I learned confirmed by our City attorney was in the room during the discussion of ex5 it is the city's attorney's what is that I'm sorry I'm trying to find what item we're talking about ex5 it's on the minute sir this is in the minutes of from last the last meeting I understand that but uh we're talking about the consent agenda correct yes sir so that's why I'm wondering what item on the consent is this one item one it's the minutes this is where you approve which okay I'm sorry go ahead mister my concern is that I asked that question y'all look to our City attorney our City attorney confirmed that representative Hernandez was in there during the discussion of ex5 representative Hernandez is named in the complaint so my question is why was she present and since she was present and not knowing if the other individual was present I have to ask the question can you really approve what you did last meeting and not have to bring it back and go through the motions now one of the things that I also noticed is and I thought we had settled this when it came to cell phones uh I noticed representative Hernandez came out of the executive session phone in hand and talking explain to me why cell phones are allowed in executive session whether they're on or off because if somebody turns one on they can record what's going on in executive session there should be no cell phones whatsoever in that session if they want to get their cell phone then they need to go get it out of their office it should not be an executive session for security manners but that's off topic there thank you Miss Turner mayor do you yes you respond go ahead yes ma'am so in regards to the issue as to who is allowed in executive session those are issues that are vetted before council is briefed in regards to whether a member of counsel is allowed to remain that happens whenever an issue comes up regarding a member of council and that happened on ex5 at the last city council meeting in regards to the use of City cell phones Council has had a long-standing practice that the city clerk collects all members of council's phones prior to starting the meeting and they're kept in a box that she safeguards during the council meeting if representative Hernandez or any other member of council walked out with their cell phone that's because they're allowed to retrieve their cell phone from the box after the council adjourns an executive session and leaves the room I was calling to prepare child care for my children I didn't know if you were because it's meeting y'all didn't get out till six o'clock and and that's the time my children need to get picked up at five and so I have to coordinate so I do get my cell phone I walk out I come back in I don't record and I strictly just organize for my for my children because I'm a mother and I have to do that yeah when I you know as far as I knew you could have been ordering pizza because it was six o'clock and you wanted something to eat as soon as you got home because nobody got really lunch that day but my concern is that for the city that if the cell phone is in there it may cause an issue down the road when somebody tries to challenge your decisions so it would it not be safer if those cell phones were outside because I could see you came out you're talking I don't know what you're talking about like I said you could be ordering pizza it was late obvious thing to be doing since nobody had lunch so those are my concerns thank you Mr and I'm not picking on you Mr Hernandez and that issue is just I see something security wise for executive sessions and thank you for your your engagement thank you Mr Turner Miss Turner also signed up to speak on item 10 and this is a notation of the peak card transactions for mayor city council representatives and staff thank you Ms Turner with that we have a motion in a second to approve uh amended yes sir motion was made by mayor Pro temololinar seconded by representative Rivera to approve the consent agenda as revised on that motion call for the vote representative Kennedy aye thank you in the voting session and that motion passes unanimously that brings us to the regular agenda mayor would you like to take take the items that were moved from regular would you like to proceed with Council items first thank you pardon me I'm sorry would you like to take the items that were moved from the patient to regular thank you as as in order thank you sir item number three is a resolution to authorize the city manager or designee be authorized to sign the third amendment to leasing concession agreement for the development and operation of news gifts and Specialty retail concessions at the El Paso International Airport with parodies El Paso LLC motion to approve you have some questions um Mr Rodriguez thank you for bringing this item forward um I the only question that I was was more of a of a statement is any some of the products that they sell or some of the goods a lot of them um are not you know El Paso Centric and so we have a lot of great vendors local vendors that could sell and I know there's a shop with destination El Paso and it's a small one and they're very limited hours but when you go to the other concession stands you can't really find a lot of centric El Paso Centric items specifically streetcar items and so again I just want to reiterate over and over again that when you go to other airports and other communities you can buy streetcar memorabilia for El Paso but you can't buy it in our airport unless it's under very limited hours and so I don't know how the agreements work but if it's just a request or if we could just urge them to sell more El paso-centric items that would be great thanks thank you we have a motion in a second here so the motion was made by representative seconded by representative salsilo to approve item number three on that motion call for the vote representative Kennedy aye thank you and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously the next item that was moved to the regular agenda is item number 12. item 12 is the award of solicitation 2023-0310 Rio Grande to Country Club paved trail to Allen concrete LLC if I was just to correct the district is there a public comment yes sir all right can we take that yes sir we have Miss Sharon bonard signed up to speak and it will need the Almo please okay good morning mayor and Council my name is Sharon miles bonard I'm a member of open space advice report and I'm not speaking on behalf of the board today but as a participant in the open space advisory report um Back in the Day Council approved 390 thousand dollars for the Country Club to Rio Grande Trail in April five months ago the bids were open and everyone knows that the winning bid was for four hundred thousand dollars for this project two weeks ago staff came to city council and requested another additional five hundred thousand dollars for this project why that means that this project now has almost a million dollars it was originally as shown here for 390 thousand dollars what happened what was the why was the increase with this amount of money you could build double what was originally for this Trail what will be done with the overage on this if it's only four hundred thousand dollars what's going to happen with the other quarter a half a million dollars according to regulations that money has already been approved for this re this uh Trail for this prog project it can't be used for something else unless City councils goes in and changes their mind approves it for something else why isn't this money as osab said your advisors suggested that this money be put in the master Trail account and then dispersed accordingly next plug thank you my husband and I have been to many many Trail meetings and at no time have we heard anyone giving major support of this Trail even in just casual conversation no support for this Trail conversely your advisors on osab say things such as it's a sidewalk sidewalk to Nowhere there's no parking there's no connectivity it's of little value and my favorite is it's being funded at two and a half times the identified price for what it should be 900 million dollars why why the change why not put this money into the master Trail account thank you thank you the next speaker is Mr Rick bonard yes just to reiterate basically what was said is back in the day you guys approved and allocated with council's action three hundred and ninety thousand dollars for the project that was pretty much on Target because months later you got bids in and the winning bid like she stated was four hundred thousand dollars five months goes by and right now you're asked two weeks ago to sequester another five hundred thousand dollars why you only needed thirteen thousand so that locks up that money and that's that's ridiculous the other thing that I want to bring up and I'll point this out to you you were shown this slide two weeks ago and if you'll slide it over a little bit in the slide it says if you don't approve this quarter mile Trail which is a small fraction of this project that you're going to negatively impact 470 000 people that's two-thirds the population of El Paso the only way you could affect them with such a small project was if you blew up part of I-10 that's ridiculous that's not that's not normal and when you're presented with those kind of puffing facts you've got to question the the nature of it the second thing is and I'm not sure why the Elmo goes off but check this out this is actually the project location and you can see that long green strip at the top well this is only a continuation of that a very small fraction and then you have that long red section all those red sections they don't have permission to build yet so you're connecting to nothing the next connection from that is 17 miles away so why you need to spend four hundred thousand dollars to connect a quarter mile to Country Club when you can't even cross country club because there's no crosswalk there it's a ridiculous project we've asked you multiple times please do not do this there's better use for this money it's like you said in the paper we have limited resources we need to use them to the best advantage and this is not that so we're asking that you reject all bids at this point in time not because the bidders did something wrong that's not it it's because the project should have never been bid thank you thank you the only question I do want to answer which is not per dialogue but that when you say 470 000 visitors that's not unique visitors somebody may have been there 200 times over the year so that's that's what I'm saying but it's not unique visitors it's total amount of visitors you ever visited often that's what I'm saying so every time you go we count you one but often is like five times well I know about what I'm saying so you wanted to know why it's at 470 visitors it wasn't unique because I wouldn't be two-thirds of the population there'd be somebody may have been there 300 times in one year okay anyway that was just the answer to that I know and I'll give you that but sir you've got to understand that I do go there yes sir and I understand the utility and that's why when we come to you with projects we're the subject matter experts we're the ones that actually use they're gonna they're gonna answer you right they're right behind you and we're going to hopefully have a good answer for you thank you very much for being here good morning mayor and Council good morning veteran endless with the capital Improvement Department if it could please bring up the presentation for item number 12. okay thank you it um item number 12 is the construction Ward for the Rio Grande Trail North uh Trail the location is part of the Rio Grande River Park trail system located within district one total budget 689 000 3.68 so this goes to the question of the nine hundred thousand dollars that was stated um so when the projects were set up back in 2012 as you'll notice the funding source is from the quality of life um 151 000 was established in PeopleSoft that's our accounting software and so the 390 000 that was presented those were the times that we went either to osab or to boak because those were the estimated cost so if you look at that that's what we were estimating the cost to be so from the first Inception of this program without design without the inflation cost was 155. as you might remember last Council council did approve the transfer of 537 so we have the PeopleSoft account of 1 155 the 537 and that's where we get the 689 being that it was the voter approved quality of life we did work with various organizations to be the bicycle advisory Club the capital Improvement advisory the Community Development Community um sorry committee osab boak throughout the duration of this project dating back to 2018 if you'll remember we presented last Council that we went specifically to osab approximately eight times to discuss this uh this program oops I'm sorry so the scope of work is the construction of a paved trail from the existing Rio Grande Trail this is approximately 1625 linear feet this will provide amenities such as benches trash cans receptacles Petway stations so these are typical amenities that you do see on city trails and also in working in collaboration with ibwc as their part of their requirements this is a low bid procurement the property location so this is just a snapshot this is your 1600 linear feet if you notice it's a little bit darker Midway up that's your that's your termination point so right there that's where the river trail system uh terminates it ends along the riverbank so for Mobility purposes if you're utilizing this Eight Mile Trail it does start from Vinton road and it stops right here before Country Club so Able Body strollers they would be terminated in the middle of this location also if you'll notice based upon this picture it's within a residential area so some of those reported users are from this community and then having that connection to start at Country Club Road does allow them to continue as much I know I can't walk eight miles I'll get there one day but if they are that abled body to utilize this trail system um additionally if they require parking let's say they're not within this residential just a mile and a half away is your Mary Frances kiesling where we have built additional parking a Trailhead we're currently looking to work with ibwc to make that connection from that Trailhead to this River Park system and so we look at the procurement as I made mention this was a low bid procurement this advertised back in February and we had seven firms submit all of which were local suppliers so the construction Ward as made mentioned is the 400 and 3000 421 31 cents so the question becomes why did Mr Hernandez stand before city council asking for that budget transfer of 537 144 141. those were the remaining balances on Ellis and also Carolina and so it's been transferred over to this active project that we're ready to construct and so if you look at what the industry standard soft costs I'm not just funding the construction so during the construction aspect we have management inspection costs contract compliance material testing and then also there is a contingency that we award for all of our construction projects should we have unforeseen conditions and then also as you know we've been in a collaboration with ibwc so the request today is to have Rio Grande awarded if there are any questions I will take them at this time oops sorry yes yes thank you representative thank you mayor um I'm trying to picture I know you have a picture of the map on uh slide four but 1625 linear feet I'm not really sure in my head that I can picture what it is and I'm not going to ask you to describe it but to me it's like you know not very large or long I should say what is the width tens ten feet across width okay and the rest of the trail that's already established at that same width as well yes sir it's a continuation and what is the besides concrete is there any other composition to that is there like a mixed concrete yeah in other words is there any other substances added to the concrete to make it more durable more pliable or anything like that it your typical concrete okay and the rest of the trail that is also have trash receptacles pet West stations signage and things like that yes sir okay thank you yes yes thank you thank you mayor is there a motion there's Motion in a second thank you there's a motion made by representative Rivera seconded by representative Canales to approve item number 12. on that motion call for the vote representative Kennedy I thank you in the voting session and the motion passes 621 with representative Molina voting the remainder of council voting I thank you next item would be next item is number 14. this is discussion in action to authorize the expenditure of District 5 discretionary funds for the office of District 5 to attend and participate at the 2023 Texas Municipal League conference in Dallas Texas serves a municipal Purpose By enhancing education and government participation this is representative Salcido's item emotional proof there's a motion made by representative Salcido seconded by representative theater to approve item 14. on that motion call for the vote representative Kennedy aye thank you in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously item number 15 is discussion in action requesting that the mayor send a letter on behalf of the city of El Paso to the Texas historical Commission in support of the national register of historic places nomination of the proposed downtown El Paso historic district the boundaries of such as originally proposed by El Paso County on June 29 2020 this is representative canalis's item I'm Sarah Canales sorry [Music] thank you mayor um almost every city particularly those similar to us in size uh have a federally designated historic district in in their downtown and I think this is the case for a good reason uh National Historic registered District designation is a really important step for a downtown like ours in terms of preserving cultural heritage uh driving uh Economic Development that's that's historically sensitive and fostering pride in our community and in our downtown the designation helps to ensure the unique character of our downtown uh and and make sure that that is maintained for for future generations to enjoy and also has a big impact on on tourism uh when you visit a place uh you you want to visit their historic downtown um of course possibly the most important uh benefits here are the potential direct benefits to the private property owners within the proposed District um those private property owners will become eligible for federal Grant funds and federal historic tax credits that can help them with the cost of either maintaining or restoring and upgrading their buildings uh so trust me I understand the the complicated past of of this pending application uh for for the designation to this point a lot of the process has not been very straightforward this step is very straightforward for private property owners within the proposed District there's no downside um I I know there's been some confusion in the past about potential restrictions on their properties so I want to clear up that misconception uh the National Park Service administers the National Historic register so directly from the National Park Service website uh FAQ page for the the national register of historic places I want to read uh there's a question what are the restrictions rules regulations for historic property owners and the answer that the Park Service provides is under federal law the listing of a property in the National register places no restrictions on what a non-federal owner may do with their property up to and including destruction unless the property is involved in a project that receives federal assistance usually funding or licensing and permitting um and then similarly directly from the Texas historical commission's website they also have a national register FAQ page similar question how does National register listing affect my property rights what changes can I make to the building and their answer is as long as there is no federal money or permit involved the national register regulations do not regulate the actions of private owners owners do not need permission from the federal government to make alterations to listed properties and can treat or dispose of the property however they choose the national register regulations also do not prevent demolition or destruction of listed properties um so I think it's very clear uh this designation is about 90 ceremonial right it allows us to place historic district signing signage and things like that um and and the other important part of this is that it it does make available federal funds uh both in the form of uh federal grants or or historic tax credits uh to the private property owners within the district um of course properties within a National Historic register District are still subject to any applicable local historic regulations um and and the city of El Paso has had uh local historic preservation ordinance that was at best unclear about our local regulations and how they would apply here it has in the past been very clearly stated very publicly here in a city council meeting by our legal department that any restrictions described in our ordinance don't apply to the private property owners in this case um regardless that ordinance is being amended as we speak it's already gone to the the applicable committees who have advanced a recommendation to the council to to make a clarifying change to that ordinance and that will be coming before us in the next few weeks so with regard to this item I would be perfectly comfortable uh again this is this this item just requests that the mayor sent a letter and I would be perfectly happy if the mayor wanted to delay the sending of that letter until the city council approves that ordinance change just so that it's absolutely clear to all the property owners within the proposed boundaries of the district that there will be no restrictions on their properties and uh they can they can have faith that this won't affect them except in potentially a positive way if they want to take advantage of the federal funding opportunities um so I I urge my colleagues to support this item today uh I think it's a fairly simple step forward in this process and uh again because the the situation has changed with regard to the properties in the district from 2019 and 2020 when this was first being discussed I think now there's a clear path forward to this that doesn't impact the the private property owners within the district so what's your motion sir and I make a motion to approve second thank you sir and um do we have some uh call to the public yes mayor we do we have Miss Veronica Carvajal I saw her a little while ago I don't see her in the queue okay she did submit a statement and it reads dear mayor and Council my name is Veronica Carvajal and I live in the Manhattan Heights historic neighborhood in District 2. please vote to authorize mayor Lisa to send a letter on behalf of the city of El Paso to the Texas historical Commission in support of the national register of historic places nomination of the proposed downtown El Paso historic district the boundaries of such as originally proposed by El Paso County in June of 2020. many El pasoans have deep ties in our historic downtown for instance four generations of my family have worked in downtown El Paso beginning with my great grandfather in the early 1900s downtown and surrounding neighborhoods hold the history of the working class El pasoons who built this community their history deserves to be recognized protected and celebrated our downtown is Rich with buildings that tell by history of el pestilence including those of Mexican-American blank indigenous Jewish and Chinese ancestry who work hard to provide for their families and also fought for more just and Equitable City please do not allow this history to be erased and instead please support efforts to nominate our downtown to the National register of historic places thank you Veronica carbajal the next speaker is Joe gutenreth and he's right here coming up followed by Jose Rodriguez clay Baron good morning sir you have three minutes good morning sir good morning mayor council City staff Joe goodenreth of the downtown Management District thanks for bringing this item up councilman thanks for letting me vent a little bit to you recently as you mentioned it's been a kind of a challenge to get to this point and the idea of preservation and development as you are all aware is a kind of a contentious issue not to any fault of you all but that is a reality we're facing so what I'm here today is is simply to ask that either you place conditions on this letter or postpone approval of sending this letter until the city code can be amended officially so that it's a I think it's a gesture of Goodwill to the developers the property owners as you know right now where this issue stands at the state is a majority of downtown Property Owners oppose this so I like I said although it's no fault to of your own this kind of contentious issue we're facing I want to enlist you to help us kind of build some Goodwill amongst all the sides to bring people together to to facilitate historic preservation and ongoing investment in our community I think that would be a great gesture going forward and I hope you consider that thank you all thank you sir the next speaker is Jose Rodriguez clay Baron no ma'am um max Grossman submitted a statement it reads fair in city council as a career architectural historian and member of the board of directors of preservation Texas I urge you to vote Yes on agenda item 15 which would ask the mayor to write to the Texas historical Commission in support of adding downtown El Paso to the National register of historic places there are currently Six National register historic districts adjacent to downtown El Paso including Sunset Heights Magoffin and most recently the Segundo Barrio it is time to establish a national register District in the heart of our community in our downtown where scores of historic buildings are in dire need of attention we are one of the few major Texas cities that has not yet taken this step there are currently 26 individually listed properties in downtown including the four that have been restored by Paul Foster using Federal and or state tax credits the proposed historic district would increase that number to 191 buildings which would become eligible for tax credits that could pay up to 45 percent of the cost of renovating them without imposing regulation on their owners 12 of these properties are within the former Arena footprint in durangito which I spent more than six years litigating to save from destruction my effort will come to nothing if you sell those properties to investors who will demolish them the best protection against that is to support the County's nomination of downtown to the National register so that the resulting tax credits will attract private investors who want to restore them and put them back into productive use let me be clear without adding the duranguita properties to the National register investors will not want to invest their Capital to restore them and there will be no practical solution for the neighborhood registering them individually as Paul Foster did for the quest building could take more than a year whereas the County's plan could add them to the National register in as soon as two months there is absolutely no downside to the proposed plan which has a full support of the county that is and is not opposed to by the downtown Management District or any organization creating the proposed district will encourage Property Owners to restore scores of downtown buildings like the DeSoto hotel which could have received more than one million dollars in federal and state assistance supporting item 15 is the biggest no-brainer in the history of mankind please support representative Canales and vote yes thank you Max Grossman the next statement was submitted by Evan Thompson and it reads dear mayor Lisa and members of city council preservation Texas the only non-profit member supported Statewide historic preservation organization in Texas strongly supports listing the downtown El Paso historic district on the national register of historic places we have long believed that El Paso's historic architecture is one of our state's most valuable cultural resources not just because of what it teaches us about our pasta because of the economic development opportunities that it will create for our pestilence in the future historic districts are preservation investment zones the 191 properties that will be added to the National register will be eligible for Combined federal and state historic tax credits worth up to 45 percent of the cost of Rehabilitation of a listed building additionally property owners in the National register district will qualify for valuable federal income tax incentives tied to the voluntary donation of conservation easements historic districts in Texas and around Nation once rehabilitated have proven time and again to be economically resilient places that drive private investment draw Heritage tourists and grow their local tax base they make use of existing buildings constructed with valuable raw materials and traditional building skills that are otherwise unavailable or impossible to afford in today's modern economy we look forward to working with city leaders and Property Owners through our new West Texas regional office in El Paso to support the downtown El Paso historic district which will open in January your endorsement of the nomination is essential to the building on the growing momentum for El Paso's downtown Renaissance sincerely Evan Thompson executive director preservation Texas mayor that concludes public comment on this site thank you no we have representative field followed by representative thank you mayor mayor I had a question for for John um Joe Bill Johnson's middle name [Laughter] and I was trying not to butcher his last name since I butchered the first name Mr Jones how are you today um I'm curious if you would share that list of six recommendations or whatever you mentioned earlier if you get shared through to the mayor's office and they could or I'm sorry the city manager's office and he could share with us as a whole please when you spoke a few minutes ago you said there was six or seven items that that would make it uh people more comfortable with I think the main one today would be aligning the approval or conditioning the approval of this letter with the changes to the city code chapter 2020 or historic preservation that's primarily what I would ask for you today as far as building uh you know better relationships some more productive Cooperative relationship there's probably a list of 100 things I think we could all do to work together so um but so mainly it's aligning that that one item correct and that is on track uh like representative Canalis mentioned it is on track to come to you in the in the near future so we would have just ask for that alignment so I'll clarify that because I've been briefed on this and we have every intention of bringing that that ordinance back to the city council within the next month Neiman can you read the what that ordinance is I know you have it by memory um I can pull it up mayor I don't have it by memory but the ordinance is in our zoning ordinance and it's part of the historic regulations that are in place currently as it reads it requires that any property that is listed on the national or the state registry have to come into compliance with our local historic regulations so in the past that has been some of the opposition by the downtown Property Owners within the survey that their concern is that being listed on that register will automatically require them to come into compliance with our zoning ordinance regarding the historic regulations thank you for that ma'am representative thank you thank you representative John John don't leave sir Joe Gooden wrath I've been called worse I've been called worse I'm sorry I'm sitting next to the terrorist right here but anyways so so let me understand you right so the public can understand you right you are in support of this it's just a fact that we have to along with their with the other owners of the buildings but they'd rather have everything in one neat package yeah I think you know I'm representing the downtown Management District now all of these properties are within the DMD but I you know I can't speak for all of them um from our perspective it is clarifying that specific removing that specific item from local code does address one of the major concerns property owners have because I think we're all aware um incentives are important to Downtown Development in the current economic conditions we're in and this is an economic incentive I would just say on the on the other side of things we can't lose sight that we need to continue to do things to improve the the economic conditions downtown it's one thing to renovate a building it's another thing to have a tenant in that building who can run a successful business so that's above and beyond but that item that that the City attorney just mentioned is a major issue and I think it's only a fair weight that I agree with you to say that the whole package can come together and it would be unanimously supported on this thing but uh I I totally agree with what you're saying and I'll let my colleague know that that I you know I supported but I also want to I want to compete package to say that those rules are already in place all together when when we decide to list this place that's historical thank you mayor thank you representative more Leonard followed by representative Cornelius you're free to leave sir but you can stay thank you yes anyways good morning thank you mayor um I know you and I have had discussions on this item way before it came into uh this meeting agenda so representative Canales thank you very much for putting on the agenda I do support it I would ask that we that you humbly do make write that letter and send it through so thank you thank you represent Canales thank you Mary yeah I just wanted to clarify one more time as I mentioned in my comments uh this doesn't put a hard deadline on on when the mayor is requested to send this letter and I think it would be perfectly acceptable uh if if the council passed this item today that the mayor could just delay the sending of the letter until the the local ordinance has changed um is no no again uh the the item today is is uh just a request that the mayor send the letter and so if the mayor wanted to delay this ending of the letter until uh such time that we're able to see the the ordinance change and and pass that as a council I think that would be perfectly fine today's item is just the request to the mayor to send that without a timeline thank you sir representative agnundus and then we'll get to our state senator um representative Canales in in Council I too have the downtown Management District I'm happy to support if we can add or amend your language to say it's contingent upon the change of the code um but that that is I'm happy to make that motion too um I'm just I wanted to open it up for dialogue so to see if you were comfortable with that yeah I mean I think that's fine but again uh in in the way that I weared this I left uh broad latitude to the mayor to send this whenever he feels it's appropriate and so I think we're hearing I I don't want to put words in your mouth mayor I think we're hearing from the mayor that it would be okay to delay the letter is that no I think we do need the Newman stated we do need to clear clean the language up because it does create a lot of conflict on one says one thing and then it still has a lot of restrictions on it there's Miss Newman kind of stated yes there's two options here you can put the language in now that's contingent upon the change of the code or you postpone into the code and vote on them concurrently I think we can add the language in today I'm also I mean just personally I'm happy to take the mayor at his word that he will delay this ending of the letter but if if you're more comfortable with including the language that's perfectly fine as well then I would move to move to um add a friendly emotion letter uh to be sent would be contingent upon the change of the city code um I don't know the chapter number or this is that title 20 um I don't have the provision right off of my head but it's the the historic uh regulations the historic regulations in title 12. title 20. excuse me title 20. thank you and that's the motion foreign this is an amendment so it just needs a different a different second I'll second okay so with that yeah before we take a reaction to uh our great state senator Jose Rodriguez good morning mayor council apologize for being a little late here coming in in the middle of the discussion uh which I found to be very useful I'm here because uh uh just personally I'm a strong supporter of historic preservation but as a former state senator I looked into these issues there was a lot of information provided to us I passed I I noticed that you had the Tom Lee Trail item earlier I passed that bill to establish that trail throughout the state again because of my interesting historic preservation and Heritage tourism so what you have here really is an opportunity which we've had for quite some time I might add an opportunity to use historic preservation and designation of many places in El Paso as historic places to develop not only Heritage tourism but to use as a tremendous Economic Development tool and I think Joe will agree with me I think he just alluded to that that that's what happens when you renovate old buildings all homes that have historic value it increases the property values it attracts people from out of town to come in and view some of these wonderful structures that we have here in El Paso that really are unparalleled in the state of Texas anybody who comes here they would tell me you have some incredible buildings downtown and we've seen people like Senator I mean uh Foster and Gaddy with the uh with his uh Hotel uh do the renovations of all structures using tax credits well federal and state tax credits which would be available to all of the property owners if they wish to renovate their buildings and and take advantage of the tax credits that are offered up to 45 percent of the remodeling costs that's a tremendous assistance to any property owner and so I have seen as a member of preservation Texas I'm on the board it's a Statewide nonprofit organization we're opening up the west Texas regional office here in El Paso in January coming up we have a regional office in Central Texas I just came back from a a a summit on what they're doing there in all of the counties in Central Texas we have one in East Texas and and what we're going to be doing as a West Texas regional office is not only promoting historic preservation but offering assistance to Property Owners guidance on how to access the tax credits thank you sir yes sir so I hope that you vote to support this I think it's overdue thank you appreciate it thank you for bringing up the item thank you sir without Miss Neiman mayor before the council takes a vote we would like to brief you an executive session in regards to the city-owned property and how it might impact that property before you all vote I moved to return to Executive session there's a motion and a second to return to Executive session all in favor anyone opposed and the city council of the city of El Paso my return to Executive session pursuant to section 3.5 a the El Paso City Charter and the Texas government code chapter 551 sub chapter D to discuss item number 15 discussion and action requesting that the mayor send a letter on behalf of the city of El Paso to the Texas historical Commission in support of the national register of historic places nomination of the proposed downtown El Paso historic district the boundaries of such as originally proposed by El Paso County on June 29 2020 Hunter 551.071 consultation with attorney it is 10 37 A.M thank you thank you through a motion to return second there's a motion and a second to come out of executive session all in favor anyone opposed the meeting is back in session at 1204 PM I want to note for the record that representative Kennedy is also present in council chambers I think also for the record that he did attend executive session yes mayor thank you you've arrived at 1101 in excuse represent none this I don't know if you're you have your yes I do thank you um I have a motion an amendment on the on the floor now and I wanted to provide additional amendments to that so the the motion was to um if you can read it Mrs Prine I have the amendment was that to add the language that the letter will be contingent upon changes to the city code historic regulations contained in title 20. correct and then further to that sentence comma and to carve out the existing city-owned properties in Union in the union Plaza area and that was I'm that's going to be my entire Amendment okay together also second do you still support that Amendment thank you representative Rivero point of clarification so is this going to be a revised Amendment or a second amendment it's just it's just one Amendment one Amendment one Amendment yeah can you read the whole number the amendment would be to add to the language that the letter will be contingent upon changes to the city code historic regulations contained in Title 20 and to carve out existing city-owned properties in the union Plaza area you may have a second in a motion can we take the vote Yes sir there's a motion made by representative Hernandez seconded by represent representative Rivera to amend the language that the letter will be contingent upon changes to the city code historic regulations contained in Title 20 and to carve out existing city-owned properties in the union Plaza area on that motion call for the vote representative Kennedy thank you in the voting session the motion passed the six to one representative Canales voting a the remainder of council voting I can we take the motion yes sir there is a motion made by representative Canales seconded by representative Molina and this is to approve the item as revised on that motion call for the vote representative Kennedy thank you in the voting session and the motion passes 621 representative Canales vorine the remainder of council voting I the motion does carry may or may we go to call to the public now thank you the El Paso City council's local government body charged with serving all of the citizens of the city and the meetings must be focused on the meeting at charge the City Council meetings are public meetings under the Texas open meetings ACT public comment is an accommodation and not a requirement of city council all persons in attendants are expected to displace Civility and decorum that is respectful to other persons without the use of insulting profane threatening or abusive language public comment will not be used for personal attacks against a person or group's character or Integrity which are not pertinent to City business nor May any member of the public use this foreign for political statements or campaigning please note that during call to the public the city council may not deliberate or decide any subject that is not on the agenda however Council May propose that a topic brought forth being posted on a future agenda this afternoon we have three members of the public that signed up to speak the first person is Elizabeth Crawford her topic is National Abortion victims Remembrance Day she will be followed by Ron Cuomo and Sherry Medellin good morning you have three minutes good afternoon good afternoon thank you um this month we have honored the national day of remembrance for babies that have been slaughtered by abortion in our nation the statistic is that worldwide 73 million induced abortions take place each year many would argue that the number could very well be double that when we consider unreported abortions when we consider abortions that can at times even be caused by the morning after pill after the moment of conception at them from the moment of conception on life is a gift from God a holy God we as a nation are guilty before a holy God we have blood on our hands since 1973 as we know this has been happening legally I was born that year by God's grace 50 years ago my parents chose life in a high risk pregnancy but it's 50 years 50 years of legal abortion what do we do with guilt um our human nature is to try to justify it to try to excuse it that's human nature within Roman Catholicism there is a Doctrine referred to as Redemptive suffering where a person can through suffering pay off some of their sin debt the problem with all Human Solutions human religious Solutions even to eradicate guilt is that they don't work this month as we know is being celebrated within the Jewish Community Yom Kippur which is the holiest day the day of atonement God set the standard in the Hebrew scriptures Leviticus 17 repeated in Hebrews 9 22 without the shedding of blood there is no remission no forgiveness of sins God set that Holy standard of sacrifice the blood offering for forgiveness where is the sacrifice those sacrifices were pointing forward to the Lamb of God the Lord Jesus Christ there's only one sacrifice sufficient to pay for the sin of abortion or any other sin we're told in John 1 29 that John saw Jesus coming unto him and said Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world the Lamb of God the Lord Jesus Christ is the only one who can forgive the sin of abortion or any other sin that we've committed against the almighty God thank you so much hope you have a good day thank you all thank you thank you the next speaker is Ron Cuomo the topic is Animal Services advisory committee and Animal Services good afternoon sir you have three minutes good afternoon sir good afternoon I again I want to thank everybody for yesterday glad to see everybody actually showed up today um as you know I'm a member of a certain committee and I'd like to bring out a few facts that really bother me um I'm being told that we follow Robert's rules in our meetings but then again we don't really follow Robert's roles we follow what we want we follow the city's meetings rules but Darren again we follow the ones that we've decided to follow um we have an issue I'd like to read out of the ASAC manual each term we're talking about ASAC members each term is four years and expires with the term of the appointed City representative there's a two-year term maximum which is aligned with the city Representatives term as well Okay so we know that we have a couple of reps that have members that have exceeded their term limits we also have one rep that has failed to put a member back on the board and it's been vacant for several months and he does have people that are asked to join the committee one of the things I'd like to bring to light is for four months I've asked on the agenda item to have a conversation with what is the director doing about increasing adoptions and Rescue considering if you look at the first seven months of 2019 our live outcome was 12 663 Strays went out the front door in 2022 6038 in 23 7213. to me these are alarming numbers and part of the ASAP committee is to advise on ways to make things better I think we needed I think we deserved to have this conversation to find out what everybody thinks about making an increase in adoptions and rescues instead of staying with the way things are running obviously they're not working we're three years over covered right now you can't use that for an excuse forever you know it's time we need to get off our chairs and come up with a solution and as long as I'm being told that we can't ask questions and even though it's put on the agenda we still can't have a conversation on it we have a problem with our committee if we are going to help the shelter we need information and we need to communicate and we need to come up with solutions to the issues this is a major issue and needs to be corrected immediately thank you yes sir thank you the final speaker is Sherry medigi her topic is border crisis with migration good afternoon good afternoon the wisest words came from my father when I was young he said you don't work you don't eat calluses on my hands from having worked on the farm throughout the years my father taught us ethic discipline choose good don't cheat don't steal and don't lie with those same ethics I have raised my oldest son my youngest one being on the autism spectrum doesn't understand the things and I tell my son I want you to be better than me cetera et cetera et cetera having moved to this community six years ago we fled the violence from the MS-13 in Laredo Texas which has spread all the way to East Texas to save my children from that kind of Lifestyle I believe that we are all the same our blood is red you're the same as me I'm the same as you I am a firm believer in if you want to come into this country and you want to work Bienvenidos welcome however that is not the same for our Venezuelan Community I am a gig driver so I have driven the spark platform doordash Uber Etc et cetera et cetera the Venezuelans have been banned from the spark platform for committing fraud I'm going to give you a recent incident I drive also instacart where I go to local grocery stores and I shop and I deliver people's groceries Sunday afternoon the Montana Albertsons there's a group large group of Venezuelan men outside harassing the employees of the Albertsons they target the elderly Mexican who do not speak English preying on the empathy and compassion of your good kind not everybody but there is too many of them for comfort the your law enforcement which is the backbone of this community and I have held with high regard because they're out there without ceasing trying to protect this community from crime from drugs and Etc et cetera short-handed you see them out there trying to clean up the mess that's been created so I would ask that the city look particularly at the migration part and the Criminal part nobody has the right to harass and to commit a crime upon another person it doesn't matter where you're from there are videos out there and [Music] but when you call your roofing company it's a Mexican person up on top of your roof fixing your roof it's not a Venezuelan thank you so I do support you've reached for three minutes my I know my last comment is just that when you look at thank you you know leading this company or the the city particular thank you though thank you may we go to the next item mayor pardon me may we go to the next item please thank you item 17 is discussion and action on a resolution that the city council declares that expenditures of District 2 District 4 and district 6 discretionary funds for the use towards the construction and installation of a Trailhead sign at the NAT property serves a municipal purpose of enhancing El Paso's quality of life this item was placed by Representatives to approve item number 17 on that motion call for the vote representative Kennedy thank you and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously item 26 was moved to the Forefront of the agenda item 26 is discussion and action requesting city council support for the submission of the staff recommended Grant application to the FY 23 distressed area recompeed pilot program phase one for the Border Plex region Workforce recompee initiative motion approved no Motion in a second we do have public comments we have Miss Leila Melendez good afternoon mayor and Council Layla Melendez CEO of Workforce Solutions borderplex I'm excited to say that we are a co-applicant along with the city for this very competitive very large recompete application to the economic development Administration and we look forward to receiving it successfully and furthering our Workforce Development goals here for the community and this Fund in particular if we are granted it will support um job Seekers and businesses in the community that are typical Workforce funds don't support so it's a fantastic investment in this community and I'm looking forward and it's been a pleasure in working with the city staff and developing this application thank you thank you and you do an excellent job we thank you for that Diana Hastings afternoon good afternoon mayor Lisa an honorable members of the council my name is Diana Hastings I'm the executive director of the underserved communities Foundation or UCF the underserved communities Foundation is committed to reducing poverty by empowering the underserved UCF defines underserved communities not as areas in our City ZIP codes or census tracts but as individuals and families facing additional barriers preventing them from breaking the cycle of poverty UCF strongly believes that the key to economic development of underserved communities is significantly influenced by the intentional incorporation of diversity Equity inclusion belonging in accessibility policies and practices designed to offer Equitable opportunities for all I am here today to express my support for the city's Grant application for the 2023 Eda distressed area recompete pilot program phase one for the board of Plex region I commend the city of El Paso for actively pursuing Economic Development opportunities and for partnering with organizations such as the underserved communities Foundation to incorporate diversity Equity inclusion belonging in accessibility strategies to represent and include underserved communities in our region thank you for your time thank you ma'am mayor that concludes public comment on this item great we got a motion in a second yes sir the motion was made by representative Salcido seconded by representative Fierro to approve item 26. on that motion call for the vote representative Kennedy thank you and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously that brings us to the first reading of ordinances these are items 18 to 20. there's a motion made by representative Rivera seconded by representative Fierro to approve the first reading of ordinances items 18 to 20. on that motion call for the vote representative Kennedy thank you and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously that brings us to item number 21 this is discussion in action that the managing director of purchasing and strategic sourcing Department be authorized to issue purchase orders to sub-aquatics Inc DBA breathing air systems the sole distributor of the responder series air and light trailers for the fire department move to approved second second you have a motion in a second there's a motion made by representative Molina seconded by representative Hernandez to approve item 21. on that motion call for the vote representative Kennedy thank you and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously thank you item 22 is discussion in action to request that the managing director of purchasing a strategic sourcing be authorized to issue a purchase order to leadsman construction DBA traffic control Specialists sales and rentals second Motion in a second there's a motion made by representative Fierro Remember by representative Canales on that motion call for the vote representative Kennedy thank you in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously item number 23 is a public hearing on a northern submitting Title IX health and safety Solid Waste Management to delete the construction and demolition manifest requirement and to delete references to sit manifest good afternoon Nicholas yvettter with the environmental services this is to remove the CDN manifest from Title IX this was required when the city was going after flow control about a decade ago but it got voted down at the time we had not we have not been collecting the city of manifest for over 10 years and we still follow all the procedures through TCEQ on documentation of all solid waste that enters the greater El Paso landfill and the McCombs landfill and we do have public comment on this item we have Miss Lisa Turner thank you Miss Turner public comment has been taken motion made by representative Fierro seconded by mayor Pro temolina to approve item 23 on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously item 24 is a public hearing on an Ordnance vacating a 940 square foot public utility easement at 12077 Banner Crest Drive there's a motion made by representative Fierro seconded by representative Rivera to approve item 24 there is no public comment on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously item 25 is a public hearing on an ordinance authorizing the city manager to execute a quick claim deed conveying all right title and interest to Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center the parcel at 5173 Montview Court move to approved there's a motion made by alternate mayor Pro tem Molina seconded by representative Rivera to approve item 25. on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously that brings us to item 27 and this is discussion in action on a resolution that the City reviews and approves the issuance of the unlimited tax bonds series 2023 by Paseo De Lista Municipal Utility District Number Four with the acknowledgment that the issuance of such bonds does not constitute debt issuance by the city of El Paso there's a motion made by representative Hernandez 27 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously item 28 is discussion in action that the city manager or designee be authorized to sign an advanced funding agreement between the city of El Paso and the state of Texas through the department of transportation for the design construction of the transportation Alternative set-aside Program Grant improvements McRae shared use path from album to Montana phase two would you approve there's a motion made by representative Rivera seconded by representative cornelis to approve item 28. on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously is there a motion to return to Executive session I'd like to take a lunch break and then go into executive session so no we'll take uh 45 minutes that way I know it'll take us to that long to and then we'll be ready by 1 30 so it seems I wish does that mean does that mean we'll have to come back here do we can we return the executive session or do we need to come back here you can you can just make the motion to take lunch now and return to Executive Center 115 at 1 50. okay so let's do that exactly so there's a motion in a second that's why to recess the city council meeting at 12 30 and retiring to Executive session at 1 15 PM all in favor anyone opposed and the city council the city of Paso May will retirement to Executive session at 1 15 PM persa went to section 3.5 a of the El Paso City Charter in the Texas government code chapter 551 sub chapter d to discuss executive session item one complaint against elected official matter number HQ number 1453 under 551.071 consultation with attorney in 551.074 Personnel matters it is 12 31 PM Council will return to Executive session at 1 15 PM after a short recess foreign thank you do we have a motion to return I think we're still in executive session is it ready yes sir there's a motion and a second to come out of executive session all in favor anyone opposed the city council meeting is back in session at 3 48 pm we're on ex1 yep Canales oh um airport Tim emotion made second carry that the city council accepts the preliminary findings of the investigation directs the city manager to arrange for the conduct of further investigation with a brought in scope and that the attorney for the official be given the opportunity to provide further response this is a September the 26 2023. is there a second Miss Prime there's a motion made right into the record by mayor Pro temolinar seconded by representative Fierro pardon me sure do you have the motion or you want to read it again I do not have it sir you do no sir okay motion made seconded and carried that the city council accepts the preliminary findings of the investigation directs the city manager to arrange for the conduct of further investigation with a broaden scope and that the attorney for the official be given opportunity provide further response September the 26 2023 on that motion call for the vote mayor I made a request to speak oh I'm sorry go ahead ma'am before I voted I just wanted to share my comments I'm voting no specifically because I think the investigation is adequate um I don't believe in additional investigation is necessary um and so I just wanted to make sure that I justify my my vote today thanks thank you ma'am with that voting session is open representative Kennedy thank you in the voting session and the motion passes five to two with Representatives Hernandez Rivera Representatives Kennedy molinar Salcido Fierro and the motion does carry do we have a motion to adjourn there's a motion and a second to adjourn the regular city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed and the regular city council meeting for Tuesday September 26 2023 is adjourned at 3 50 pm thank you Council foreign