[Music] here hey what good see you brother [Music] already your vacation for the rest of the year your was for example e good morning mayor yes it is good morning everyone it's 9:00 am if we could please rise for the pledge allegiance and our honored guest Miss Han will you lead us in it please I know there's two of them but yes IED Al to the flag of the United States of America to the rep for it stands one nation God indivisible liy and justice for all and this morning the invocation will be delivered by El Pasa police chaplain Joe marada morning there is if you'd like to join me in bringing the invocation this morning let us take a moment and bow our heads together as we ask for divine favor Lord we are here on behalf of the residents of the city of El Paso you know the decisions that are made here affect the lives the livelihood of multitude udes of people families and communities and our surrounding communities and neighbors we're asking for wisdom today in the decision-making process on all matters that are before this governing body grant our elected and appointed officials wisdom and guidance in this process to serve and assist the greatest number of people with limited resources many of our educational systems are back in school or about to be in school and we just also ask for your guidance and your protection upon all of our students teachers sta sta at every grade level let them teach let them learn and let them all grow and importantly we also ask that you bless and keep all of our First Responders and all of our members of our military communities and their families keep and protect them as they keep and protect us we ask in your name amen amen good morning good morning everyone and um as I was sitting they're listening I think it's um it's a great point that U all our children are back in school and I think it's really important that uh we look at uh and follow the school zones and be careful uh I say this a lot of times and I'll continue to say it that U the future of our community is always the youth and it's important to make sure that we support them and take care of them and um thank you for those words cuz it's so true right now as school starts that uh our kids are back in school getting an education and we need to make sure we uh obey the laws and and follow the the school zone so I um I ask everyone to to be careful obey the zones and um I'm uh thankful that uh we have this opportunity to meet today and we have some great special guests today and uh some we always do our proclamations are always amazing and and uh I want to thank Council always for for coming up with them but um I want to today I want to take a moment of silence uh for I think it's important that uh we keep our um our thoughts and our actions civil and that uh we Act in the right Manner and that we all pray for peace on Earth so I'd like to have a moment of silence and and as I and I never really have anything written I always like to look around and see and as I see our military here it uh it really makes me think that uh you all work hard to make sure you secure our borders you work hard to to make sure that our are the United States and and we have the ability to be up here and become elected officials so I want to thank you all for being here thank you for serving but again thank you for giving us an opportunity someday hopefully have peace on Earth good morning this is a meeting of the El Paso city council for Tuesday August 13 2024 mayor is Le Lisa is present and presiding in council chambers along with mayor protim Kennedy representative ACO representative Hernandez alternate mayor Pro Molin representative Rivera representative Canales is joining virtual virtually good morning sir good morning and representative Salo is running a few minutes late it is 9:04 a.m. thank you and again I i' I'd like to have a moment of silence please thank you may God bless America and may God bless El Paso thank you thank you mayor thank you we'll start with hey that brings us to the mayor's proclamations for those of you receiving a proclamation your group will have up to six minutes collectively to speak at the podium the first Proclamation is national black business month PR are you able to hear me okay yes sir good morning good morning welcome everybody I'm sorry that I couldn't be there in person this morning good morning sir and I'll read the proclamation Proclamation city of Al pas whereas national black business F founded in 2004 invites us to recognize blackowned businesses across the country highlight their importance to communities and the national econ and whereas the city of Al Paso recognized valuable contributions made by black entrepreneurs and business owners to our local community and local economy in promoting Economic Development job creation and Community empowerment encouraging economic self-sufficiency and inspiring future Generations of entrepreneurs and whereas throughout history and despite being systematically isolated from capital investment development resources and digital visability black businesses have persevered and thrived despite facing systemic racism redlining and even extreme violence such as the felsa massacre of 1921 and whereas the city of Al Paso recognizes gives honor to those who have paved the way with the current increase of entrepreneurs in El Paso County such as as John and Mary Woods who were born into slavery and who after the Civil War married and became El Pas El pasco's first black entrepreneurs who built an network of flourishing businesss and whereas El Paso can value the impact and influence of black businesses by supporting initiatives such as Al Paso blackpages.com a 3 platform for Al Paso's black business owners Al Paso black business Network black Al Paso voice and various local initiatives that promote business diversity and celebrate Milestones successes and progress of black businesses and entrepreneurs and whereas black entrepreneurs business owners bring unique perspectives talents and innovative ideas which the fabric of our city it is crucial to provide them with resources opportunities and recognition necessary for continued success and whereas this year as black businesses continue to recover from the economic losses caused by the pandemic it is crucial to recognize support and celebrate national black business fund now therefore be it proclaimed by the mayor and Council of the city of El Paso that the month of August shall be known as black business month signed by our honorable mayor o thank you very much sir it was really hard to hear and you broke up a little bit so I'm going to have representative read it uh so just for the people in here have the opportunity to hear it because you did break up a little bit so thank you for that no no thank you go ahead represent Retta thank you mayor Proclamation City Paso Texas we're asked national black business month founded in 2004 invites us to recognize blackowned businesses across the country and highlight their importance to communities in the National economy and whereas the city of Paso recognizes the valuable contributions made by black entrepreneurs and business owners to our local community and local economy in promoting Economic Development job creation and Community empowerment encouraging economy economic self-sufficiency and inspiring future generations of entrepreneurs and whereas throughout history and despite being systematically isolated from investment Capital development resources and digital visibility black businesses have persevered and thrived where and whereas the city of Pastor recognizes and gives honors to those who have paved the way for the current increase of entrepreneurs in El Paso County such as John and Mary Woods who after the Civil War married and became El Paso's first black entrepreneurs who built a network of flourishing businesses and whereas El Paso can value the impact and influence of black businesses by supporting initiatives such as El pasol blackpages.com a free platform for El Paso black business owners El Paso black business Network black El Paso voice and various local initiatives that promote business diversity and celebrate the Milestones successes and progress of black businesses and entrepreneurs and whereas black entrepreneurs and business owners bring unique perspectives talents and innovative ideas that enrich the fabric of our of our city and it's crucial to provide them with the resources opportunities and recognition necessary for their continued success and we're asked this year as black businesses continue to recover from economic losses caused by the pandemic it's Cru crucial to recognize support and celebrate national black business month now therefore it be proclaimed by the mayor and City Council of the city of Al Paso that the month of August shall be known as national black business month signed by honorable mayor Oscar liser good morning good morning pleasure to seeing you again thank you thank you um my name is Monica Tucker I'm the uh founder of Black Op pasel voice and uh director for the El Paso black business Network and um our goal of course is to identify and assist with resources other blackowned businesses in um El Paso uh recently we had our Awards and recognition uh ceremony in which we um honored blackowned businesses and others in the community to include the city of El Paso and um others who uh assisted with us for our uh juneth event which also recognized izes um our Economic Development and our participation with that in the city um you um it was mentioned and thank you again for this Proclamation City uh to the council um and it was mentioned about John and Mary woods and um they were entrepreneurs here in the late 1800s and this whole area downtown it was uh blackowned businesses and um even I had no idea um that I had a relative living here during that time um and their house is still in in the area so we just want to bring awareness to um our contributions to the community and to thank others like the El Paso Hispanic chamber of commerce who assist us with resources as well um some of those who we honored um are here with us today and I'd like for them to be able to share um their experiences as well thank you hello good morning good morning my name is Alexis Thon and I'm jenzel n uh and we are the owners of different breed performance training uh we've been going uh since 2020 uh in the middle of the pandemic so um this means a lot to us just uh the acknowledgement but we want to thank you guys as well uh for giving us a a a spot to be able to um train athletes that's basically what we do anywhere from three years old all the way up to professional uh actually I got to give a shout out to Joe picket because he actually uh helps us a whole lot um but I want to uh say thank you guys uh for everything you guys do as well thank you thank you and um thank you again and um like we mentioned to others we like for the city of El Paso and the county of El Paso to help us to um encourage other blackowned businesses to um identify so that we know that we're here and so that we can also support one another most of us are um here because of the military I've been here since 96 and brought my business with me and still in business so and of course I'm still here after retirement so we enjoy El Paso and we enjoy um having our businesses here as well thank you and I want to congratulate you all it's uh it's important to support each other just like you said and also support local so thank you and congratulations you want to come up uh thought they were waiting again good morning mayor morning bu than you for the record representative Fedor joined the meeting at 9:06 a.m. that brings us to the next Proclamation and that is National immunization awareness month thank you Mr Mayor thank you sir good morning it's an honor to read this Proclamation this morning I'll give you a minute to walk up there you go good morning morning welcome well whereas giving everyone the the recommended immunizations is the best way to protect them from serious diseases and currently the United States has the safest most effective vaccine Supply in the history and whereas vaccine preventable diseases still circulate in the United States around the world so continued vaccination is necessary to protect everyone from potential outbreaks even when diseases are rare in the US they can be brought in into the country putting unvaccinated individuals at risk and whereas most people vaccinated resulting in high vaccine coverage rates in the United States and where people are unvaccinated outbreaks of disease like whipping cough and measles do return whereas it is important to vaccinate on time according to immunization scheduled to provide the best protection early in life and when individuals are vulnerable and before they are likely to be exposed to disease whereas this year the national imization awareness month will be celebrated by immuniz El Paso and will uh simultanously promote immunization advancing quality in the use of vaccines universal access to vaccine vaccinations services in August of 2024 whereas the month of August 2024 has been declared National immunization awareness month to help Ensure that everyone is protected against vac uh vaccine preventable diseases to encourage everyone to make uh vaccine vaccine a priority by taking talking to a family friends and protecting themselves with vaccines and encouraging businesses government agencies communitybased organizations Service Groups and to spread immunization messages throughout the community now therefore this would have helped now therefore be a Proclaim claimed by the mayor council the city V Paso the month of August 2024 shall be known as national ination awareness month thank you good morning good morning mayor and city council my name is Christina Rada I'm the Outreach director for immunized Al Paso I just want to say a few words very quickly um first of all thank you for this Accolade we are truly appreciative of it we want you to know that we just celebrated 29 years our anniversary in July and we are so very proud and excited to have been a part of our community for so long our vaccinations effort to protect vaccine uh people against vaccine preventable diseases for diseases such as polio hepatitis whooping cough and many others now we are preparing for flu season as it is around the corner next month and we will be prepared to immunize adults and children against the flu we do have three clinics locations in El Paso to cover Central Al Paso East Al Paso and downtown El Paso we also have mobile clinics in our rural areas where we are able to vaccinate those who have problems getting to our clinics whether it's Transportation or others and more importantly we also immunize our older patients with the flu vaccine so we do it at their home so they are not able to come to our clinics making it much easier for them thank you thank you I want to share a quick story with with you um when I was 35 years old I um are you going to speak I'm sorry I'll let you go first no so when I was 35 years old I was playing in um C league basketball game broke my ankle ended up in the hospital and then I got my foot set the whole thing went home a few days later I ended up with chickenpox and I'm 35 years old and so it was a little bit brutal so I called my dad and I said Dad I said you know I said they had a vaccine for that what's the deal and he goes you know I had nine of you all he says to be honest with you he I don't know who had what so I ended up with the chickenpox and it was rough it was pretty brutal at the age of 35 so I do uh recommend you know people to to get their vaccines thank you Mr Maria for sharing that story we do have records now so we can share that with you that yeah well no I unfor you know I did I'd come from Mexico and that's where all my vaccines should have been done but I'm glad you keep records know so since at the age of 35 I should be on there good morning everyone my name is Henry Brutus I'm the executive director for proaction imun ni Al Paso um I really and you know that story really helps I want to commend Council for in the city of Al Paso honestly for keeping up our vaccination rates um we live in an age of cynicism where even vaccines are questioned now um even though it's backed up by science that vaccines save lives a lot of people we're seeing in different pockets of our country are not getting vaccinated and even in Al Paso we're seeing the exemption rates which are children being Exempted from getting vaccines um but luckily we're still over 90% we one of the highest vaccinated cities counties in the country um vaccines if you think about it not only protect us so if I get vaccinated I'm protected but also if enough of us are vaccinated we protect the entire community so that we don't get these outbreaks that Mrs just mentioned so again I commend you and I encourage um everyone to to get your vaccines get your children vaccinated your your parents your grandparents um because they're more likely to to face um direct consequences if they're not whereas you know if we're young and vibrant we we can maybe overcome it but so again thank you um we have one of our board members here I don't know if he wants to say a few words thank you Henry good morning mayor I also ended up having the chicken pox but it wasn't the chicken pox let me let me correct my story it was German Measles oh measles on so if you have records make sure they're correct well as a board member of Amo Paso my name is Manny baros and I'm so uh grateful thankful for city council to recognize the valuable services rendered by imun op Paso these people help keep op Paso healthy and I want to recognize the people stand up that that are in the front lines every day offering the services thank you so so much for help keep uh keeping our Paso safe thank you so much thank you and I've been vaccinated so you can come on up e every and the next Proclamation is desert Defender day representative nundes good morning ma'am good morning mayor good morning welcome to City Hall it is an honor for me to read this Proclamation into the record and the proclamation reads proclamation of the city of Al Paso whereas the city of Al Paso is proud to recognize and celebrate the outstanding dedication service and contributions of the United States Air Force Security Force Center desert Defender ground combat Readiness Training Center operating at foras Texas and whereas the security forces Center uh Readiness training center and all the acronyms I come with it uh compromise comprised of active duty Air National Guard and Air Force Reserves personnel and a total Force Association play a critical role in the defense and security of our nation by providing specialized training and support to Air Force Security Forces worldwide ensuring that they are prepared to meet the demands of National Security and global missions and Ras the men and women of afsf C DD gcrt C demonstrate exceptional professionalism commitment and bravy embodying the highest standards of excellence and integrity in their service to the United States and Ras their presence at Fort Bliss strengthens the bond between the military and the El Paso Community fostering a spirit of cooperation mutual respect and support and Ras the city of El Paso acknowledges and appreciates the sacrifices made by the members of the United States Air Force Security Forces Center desert Defender ground combat Readiness training center and their families who endure the challenges of military life with resilience and unwavering patriotism and now therefore be it proclaimed by the mayor and Council of the city of El Paso that today August 13th 2024 shall be known as desert defend day signed by our honorable mayor Oscar liser congratulations and thank you for your service good morning and welcome good morning thank you for having us uh I'm Lieutenant colel Scott hazeldon I'm the commander of the desert Defender Readiness training center and accompanying me are uh my senior enlisted leader chief Master Sergeant Brad chova my director of training operations Mr Carlos Fernandez a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel with 22 years of service and also a native of El Paso and representatives the men and women of my unit that deliver this uh critical training for us so on behalf of desert Defender I'd just like to say that we're deeply honored to receive this Proclamation from the city of El Paso our mission is to provide the top tier ground combat training and uh support for security forces deploying around the globe to some of the most dangerous places our nation's uh our nation needs us uh uh we are truly humbled to be recognized uh by such a supportive and patriotic Community as it is here in El Paso uh I'd like to thank you uh specifically Mr Mayor thank you very much and uh specifically also you councilwoman Cassandra Hernandez for supporting us here as the largest Air Force Mission Station at for Bliss we take great pride in our unique role the collaborative spirit that exists between our branches of service specifically the Air Force and the army this recognition not only acknowledges our hard work and dedication but also highlights the strong bond we share with the El Paso Community and our fellow service members at Fort Bliss we're proud to call this city our home and are grateful for the unwavering support we receive thank you for this esteemed honor and for standing with us as we continue to serve our great nation your recognition inspires us to maintain our high standards and continue our Vital work with renewed Vigor and dedication thank you very much thank you sir and we're very honored HED for you to call Al Paso your home thank you are we uh pictures yes sir R thank you sir hey thank you for your service if we could get everyone to take a big step back for me please thank you so much and then sir can I get you to scoot just a little bit this way for me perfect can I get you right the perfect at the end can I get you to look to this end instead please and could you all kind of angle to the side and then scoot it perfect all right ready one two three yes one two three one two three any other ones thank you thank you app and for the record representative Salo join the meeting at 9:25 a.m. that brings us to the next Proclamation and that is Southwest Transplant Alliance 50th anniversary good morning Proclamation city of El Paso Texas whereas for 50 years Southwest Transplant Alliance has been a key El Paso neighbor fulfilling the gifts of organ and tissue donation and is one of the high largest federally funded organ or recognized organ procurement organizations and whereas sta saves and heals lives through donation cares for donors while supporting their families and raises awareness about the need and impact of donation whereas there are more than 100,000 people in the United States 10,000 Texans and hundreds of Al pasoans waiting for a life-saving organ transplant with another person added to the weight list every 9 Minutes the impact of donation is incredible just one donor can save up to eight lives and improve the lives of 75 others and whereas thanks to the support of the op Paso Community Southwest Transplant Alliance will continue to save and heal lives in op Paso through educ education Innovation and compassion for the next 50 years and Beyond and whereas we extend special recognition to Southwest Transplant Alliance for their five de Decades of work saving and healing op P lives through organ donation now therefore be a proclaimed by the mayor and Council of the city of op Paso that August 13th 2024 shall be known as Southwest Transplant Alliance 50th Anniversary signed the honorable mayor for the city of El Paso Oscar liser good morning and welcome good morning thank you for that my name is Gina Medina I am one of the Oregon recovery coordinators here in Al Paso I'm here with my team uh we have Ricardo Hala we have Jose Castro and Joshua on behalf of Southwest Transplant Alliance we are thankful to the city of Al Paso for allowing us to serve the community our mission continues to save lives through organ and tissue donation 86% of Al pasoans are registered organ and tissue donors a true Testament to our culture of Love selflessness and sense of community we hope to continue to bring renewed life to those in need of life-saving gifts here in Al Paso I just want to thank every single one of you for having us here uh my name is Ricardo Hala I'm the hospital services supervisor for Southwest Transplant Alliance uh thank you once again uh also I want to thank my local team right uh we wouldn't be able to be doing these type of numbers without them uh thank you thank you for our local team they have they are the clear example of being a catalyst for donation as well always creating a culture of Joy thank you my name is j caser I'm the tissue supervisor here in El Paso and out of these uh 50 years that uh sea has been here I've been doing tissue recovery for since 97 so we want to thank the community here for being a tissue I don't know if people are familiar with tissue tissue consists of corneas skin ligaments tendons arteries veins and the heart for valves so we enhance lives and we also save lives as tissue recovery so I want to thank everybody here thank you thank you thank [Applause] you this way app you there we go [Applause] and the final Proclamation is Stephanie hondi May proam [Applause] yes J yes Jen you have to come up too um hi hi um you were a little busy last time I saw you I was was on Fight Night whereas Stephanie Han started her boxing career at the tender age of 10 years old and whereas Stephanie Han is one of boxing's fastest rising Fighters she is undefeated in eight professional boxing fights and is ranked second by the world boxing association's women's lightweight rankings Stephanie has her sight set on becoming a world champion boxer just like her sister Jennifer Han and how how did that and whereas Stephanie Han has fought 40 amateur fights and won the Golden Gloves Nationals and pal Nationals she made Team USA and proudly represented the team in Puerto Rico and Poland just to name a few and whereas on July 27th 2024 Stephanie Han won the wva Intercontinental americaas Championship which was held at the El Paso County Coliseum and whereas Stephanie Han is an El Paso Police Department Officer and an instructor at the El Paso Police Department training academy and whereas Stephanie hans's tenure with the El Paso Police Department began in 2016 and she's been an instructor at the Department's Training Academy since 2021 now therefore be it proclaimed by the mayor and Council of the city of El Paso that August 13th 2024 shall be known as Stephanie Hyundai and it's signed by The Honorable mayor Oscar ler before before we um we you speak U M Cruz Costa ma'am we're going to use three of your six minutes sorry okay it's okay the El Paso Police Department landed a special recruit some time ago that is making a difference in her community while being a standout athlete meet Stephanie Han by day she's an El Paso police officer training others to be officers at the police academy the rest of her time she's a professional boxer I grew up in a martial arts school my dad um he started all his kids Master Han um at a very young age I started martial lights at 3 years old and I've competed in Karate teeko in high school I wrestled at Urban High School um I did boxing kickboxing so I've always competed my whole life Hana is one of boxing's fastest rising Fighters she's 9 and0 with a recent win against Miranda Rees at the County Coliseum it was eight rounds went the distance but I came came out Victorious I'm currently the WBA International Champion and I've worked very hard for it so I'm very proud of myself H stepped away from boxing for 10 years during that time she got married had two children and became a police officer these past couple years I've been 100% to the sport of boxing so I go to work that's my day job and then after I go to work I go train I'm very committed I don't miss training it's a lot of sacrifice but right now I know it's worth it I'm almost worthy of that title shot the world title shot so I'm going to keep going until I make that that dream a reality currently an instructor at the Academy Han balances her passion for boxing and love of being an officer for me it is time management it is it is hard putting in the work I work a full-time job but still it's not an excuse you to be a champion you have to put in the hard work you have to put in the dedication you have to be committed to it so I work my day job and then after I'm done at work I go home feed my kids and I take my kids to train with me in Los cruus and my son he actually does boxing too so it's nice that he actually gets workout and then I go train with my family if I have to afterwards and then I come home and repeat day after day same thing it's um a lot of discipline and thank goodness my dad he raised us with a lot of discipline and a martial art school so for me it's just extra work but it's fine I'm able to do it in a role model position she has a message for young children if you guys want to become a police officer it is the absolute best job in the world if you guys don't want to a same thing same routine every single day being a patrol officer you're going to get excitement you're going to get action it's truly awesome dealing with your community one by one with that Citizen and actually making a true difference um being a professional boxer it is a hard a lot of hard work a lot of dedication but you guys are capable there's so much talent in El Paso um start young stay committed stay disciplined and anything is possible as long as you put in the work Hana is now looking to become a world champion and she's well on her way I'm proud to represent Al Paso I'm proud to be a police officer I'm proud that I come from the city so when they see me they want to take a picture I take a selfie because I know that um they're proud of me and I'm proud to represent the city congratulations and um I had uh the honor of uh going to my first boxing match ever and um it was very exciting and um I got to meet you originally obviously when you were a dignitary police officer did a great job and decided to go in back to boxing so we lost you on the team but uh you did a great job and you're missed on the dignitary team but uh it was great to to watch you for the first time but uh if you could do them a little earlier I didn't get home till after midnight but other than that was okay um I want to say thank you thank you for this day of recognition um I appreciate all of you guys here a lot of you guys came to my fight Brian Kennedy molar Oscar liser it truly means the world that I have the support of the community um of my department I know that Chief Sila is here I also have Academy supervisors Lieutenant White and Sergeant gagos it truly means a lot that you guys support me on my journey and right here we have Luis Travino he made the boxing event happen he does so much for the boxing Community here in El Paso and my family my family my brothers my sisters my dad they're all here and I truly would not be able to do this without their support they are my training partners and my biggest cheerleaders and I am blessed to have them so thank you again I I do want to be a world champion I know that I'm capable and I'm not going to stop until I make that a reality and I hope you guys continue watching me on my journey so thank you thank you representative Kennedy um I do want to make notice oh you have more time Jen go ahead sorry oh go ahead don't get mad at me good morning Mr Kennedy good morning um Oscar liser mayor Mr Mayor I'm so happy to be here with you guys and all the distinguished um Council thank you for supporting Stephanie thank you for recognizing her accomplishments she is an amazing woman I mean she's not only beautiful talented intelligent strong she has desire and everybody talks a big game but nobody puts in action Stephanie is the pure example of action and she's going to represent us well always I mean you already said it in the video she's she's a mother of two special needs daughter she is a police officer she teaches at the Academy she is the best role model for Al Paso and she's a community leader so I'm so proud of her I'm her big sister and I know she's going to do big things not just in this community but for boxing for her family for this whole community so thank you for acknowledging her she appreciates it and it's very well deserved deserved thank you thank you real quick uh good morning thank you for having me here my name is Luis Travino and I'm going to make an announcement right now November the 23rd Stephanie Han will be defending her title right here in El Paso Texas at the El Paso County Coliseum November the 23rd she'll be defending the title The WBA title thank you very much thank you um representative Kennedy um I want to make special note that Master Han is with us today um and so if we could give a round of applause uh and and the entire family um I've known him since I was over at the Coliseum and working amateur boxing with Jennifer you know and some other people that are some are no longer with us but I've watched you grow up Stephanie from being the little sister to now being bigger sister the bigger sister uh and I I will tell you that it is just it's an impressive family and the fact that you have all continued to recognize El Paso and to perform here in El Paso is a treasure and I want to thank Master Han and the police department and everybody else because this is this is the likes of which we have not seen so thank you represent though can we take a picture all together with my te yes okay not wait we got I'm sorry you're going to bring what my dad my yeah absolutely yes ma'am there's a microphone over here right over here I'm sure my dad is bashful he only likes to talk when he's yelling at us so I think he just wants to take a picture with us all right we still have a couple more council members that want to um congratulate you one second please representative Alo thank you mayor I just want to say thank you so much for for all the hard work you do for our community I'm was born and raised in the Northeast um so I grew up watching you all inspiration I was always admire you all's discipline the passion and just seeing you all in the stage and fighting was just like made me really proud so I am very very proud to see both of you here and getting this recognition it's important uh for the you know the little girls and and everybody to look at and and and you you all were just very very inspiring your whole family and uh just I think we could all agree that you could be our spokesperson to recruit and we definitely need more recruitment right so uh just want to thank you for for giving and serving our community as a police officer and you know training them and so just I'm just very proud of you all thank you thank you thank you represent molor thank you very much may I think one word sums up everything that is here today all of you before you it's family to master Han thank you very much for leading the way for your discipline and showing the leadership for your all your family and what you can accomplish through hard work and dedication so that goes a long way to Stephanie you are my sister representative Reta your he's your brother as well uh we worn the badge you wear it now be proud and you make us all proud from District 4 thank thank you very much thank you guys thank you what um I'm going to sum it all up real quickly first of all um you um you have really represented Al Paso well but uh when I saw right on the bottom said that you're a boxer police officer and the number one a mom says it all thank you and congratulations thank you mayor [Applause] but if I do I can take a vacation right the hospital of course this one here as well absolutely I tripped on the steps going up I don't know if you saw that I did not I'm like I'm just going to prevent her from falling she doesn't want me to take time off that's what it is I don't want her that I hope it didn't catch that it did all right you looks great wow can we guys can we get you at the very end to come over to this side for me please thank you so much all right ready one two three are we all doing the pose all right let's do it ready one two three okay we have 57 more all right ready one two three one two three ready one two [Music] three think that's it that's it thank [Applause] you that's thank you all again hey how are you M PR yes sir Council per The Rules of Order no use of personal cellular devices nor personal communication should take place on the day nor while participating virtually while the meeting is in session once you obtain the floor from the mayor you will have up to 10 minutes for debate you may speak twice per item please speak into the microphone and refrain from side conversations at the day as well the meeting is in session for those joining us virtually please mute your microphones to reduce any background noise that brings us to the consent agenda all matters listed under the consent agenda will be considered by city council to be routined 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 potim page three item three Revis per airport and that revision is to strike out the word assign and replace with sign page three item four delete per Environmental Services page 12 item 32 move to the Forefront of the regular agenda per mayor liser page 15 item 42 Revis per purchasing and strategic sourcing and that revision is to strike out under total contract time strike out one year and replace with three years and Council I'd like to on page three item one I'd like to strike out the minutes of the work session of July 29th 2024 until I can clarify one of the Motions there second second and mayor we do have public comment yes from Miss Turner on item number eight item eight is a resolution to authorize a city manager or designate to sign an advanced funding agreement between the city of Al Paso and the state of Texas through the Department of Transportation for Highway Safety program Improvement project on Pedra street from is age 202 Gateway East Boulevard good morning mayor councel good morning M Turner it's not that I'm against this it's just that uh my street which has become a alternate route for uh interstate traffic is not getting anything uh handicap access to the sidewalks are poor uh we have people driving in the center lane which is a turn lane we have people who are speeding uh we have tractor trailers cutting through and these are just neighborhoods so we have tractor trailers cutting through I have talked to streets but I know they have a process that they have to go through and they can't do something overnight but I am just here since so many of this is in my district uh I'm just here to say don't forget us we have a lot of traffic uh they've come out they've seen it they've seen people speeding racing uh there's one ramp on the sidewalk next to chase that is too short and too high and I've already seen one individual in a wheelchair almost fall face first into the ground these items need to be addressed and need especially these uh access to the sidewalks cuz last time I counted there were about 13 individuals using scooters and and wheelchairs in my neighborhood area thank you and Miss Turner also has a question on item 18 and this is a notation of of campaign contributions received by a candidate you know and I did talked to Miss Turner on this this morning and Miss Turner is correct uh we do not have the name of the candidate receiving the donation and that's what thought she was very concerned with go ahead M Turner uh my concern was I don't know what the office is the individual is for right and I'd like I think everybody would like to know what that is yes thank you thank you mayor I will make sure to make yeah add that as part of of the items going forward Miss Chavez is running for T fil in application and with that we have a motion in a second yes yes sir I'm looking on on the website Miss Chavez has not she is going to run for district one however she has not filed an application yet for a place on the ballot so there is a motion made by mayor protim Kennedy seconded by alternate mayor Pro Molin to approve the consent agenda as revised on that motion call for the vote representative salido I thank you we'll get it to assist you representative Canales I'm sorry sir we didn't hear you I thank you thank you and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously that brings us to page 12 item number 32 that was moved to the Forefront and item 32 is discussion and action on a resolution to appoint a member to the AL Paso water utilities Public Service Board of Trustees in the area of expertise of environmental or health as recommended by the AL Pasa water utilities Public Service Board selection committee Mr Mayor I'd like to make a motion to nominate the um Dr Hector okara please second second Motion in a second to nominate Dr okara Miss Prime are there any other motions no okay there is a motion made by representative Federal seconded by alternate mayor protim Molin and this is to nominate Dr Hector okara to serve on the public water Public Service Board of Trustees on that motion yes ma'am uh I'm sorry representative uh ernandes hi um is Dr Cora herea um please come forward um anytime we're making appointments I ask the same questions to to our um folks that were getting ready to appoint um have you reviewed the requirements um the requirements to serve on the board and do you um meet all of those requirements are there any um others that you would like to mention Renee that required for this board I don't know what they are so my assumption is that you review them and that that you meet those qualifications yes ma'am residency is there residency requirement as well are you a resident of the city of El Paso's jurisdiction for El Paso water yes ma'am okay so you meet everything yes ma'am great okay well thank you thank you have a good one thank you representative none this that Miss PR uh Miss Turner also signed up to speak on this item mayor Miss Turner be a busy day mayor I signed up to speak on this thing because we appoint people for all these areas that you pick out or you decided but there's nobody up there representing you know the Regular People there's nobody representing uh those living on a fixed income um just so you understand I disconnected my swamp cooler so I didn't have a swamp cooler during the summer and I still don't cuz I can't afford the water I can't afford the water even paying the minimum is expensive you know I've got like a $60 $70 water bill a lot of that comes from all these extra fees that are really taxes that gets thrown onto it and shouldn't be there but it's an ungodly amount of money and I'm in better shape than a lot of people and if I'm having issues they're having big issues and if you live in an apartment you're water gets turned off they will evict you so I want you all to start putting somebody on this board who will actually look out for those of us who are on fixed income or low income not those you know pulling in 50 60 70 100,000 150,000 a year who may be a lawyer you know living on a place pension plus this sorry guys popped off my head uh you know city manager lawyer whatever there's a lot of little people in this town and they're carrying a heck of a burden and at some point you all are going to have to start paying attention to it thank you thank you m Turner and with that M PR yes sir there is a motion and a second to approve the resolution on that motion call for the vote representative Canales I thank you and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously thank you congratulations sir I'm sure you'll be a great addition to what's a great board already so thank Youk you that Miss Prim it is 10:00 a.m. yes sir is there a motion to recess in order to convene the mass transit Department board meeting there's a motion in a second to recess the regular city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed and the meeting is in recess at 10:00 a.m. by the way Dr OK that's the good news the bad news says you need to be there at 7:45 tomorrow okay thank you very much yes sir good good morning this is a meeting of the El Paso mass transit Department board for Tuesday August 13 2024 it is 10:01 a.m. present and presiding is board chair liser also present in council chambers are board members Kennedy ACO ernandez molinar salido Fierro and Rivera joining us video conference is board member Canales we don't have any members of the public signed up to speak Mr Mayor so all matters listed under the consent agenda will be considered by mass transit Department board to be routined and will be enacted by one motion unless separate discussion is requested by board members prior to the vote members of the audience may ask questions regarding items on the consent agenda when the vote has been taken If an item has not been called out for separate discussion the item has been approved the mass transit Department board May however reconsider any item at any time during the meeting motion approved motion made by board member Fiero seconded by board member molinard to approve the consent agenda voting session is open and this is items one and three Mr chairman all thank you Mr Canales I thank you sir and the item the consent agenda has been approved unanimously I know before we go to the next item I do want to introduce uh one of my staff members from our office that comes down every Tuesday to say hi to everybody Melissa where are you Melissa Moody hi Melissa hi she she works very hard she's teaching everyone there some great habits so thank you Melissa item number four is public hearing on the proposed budget for the mass transit Department of the city of Al Paso Sun Metro filed by the city manager with the city clerk on July 15 2024 which begins on September 1st 2024 and on August 31st 2025 we do not have anybody signed up to speak but this is the time is there anybody any public comment the the public hearing opens at 10:03 a.m. is there a motion to close there's no is there a motion to close the public hearing close is there a motion approve no motion to close to hear close close second there is a motion made by board member Riva seconded by board member Fierro and this is to close the public hearing at 10:04 a.m. voting session is open Mr chairman I Mr Canales yes thank you and the item has been approved unanimously with Mr Pio not present for the vote item five is discussion and action to issue purchase order for solicitation 2024 d516 amer's part equipment and service to Atco fire Services Incorporated we have a motion made by Mr Rivera seconded by Mrs alido and this is to approve item five voting session is open Mr Kennedy hi Mr chairman hi thank you Mr Canales yes thank you and the item has been approved unanimously with Mr Fiero not pressing for the vote oh my God and last item is item number six and this is discussion and action to issue purchase order for solicitation 202 24-0 541 trapes license and maintenance to trapes software Group Incorporated yes ma'am board member ad nandes thank you mayor um for item number six I I'd like I have a question for the department head um related to Logistics operations um who is this vendor have we used them in the past what is the plan for transitioning from the current if it's a new one I'm assuming sen you and can you just give me background on what your plans are Jerry Deo Deputy transit officer sun Metro we currently use trapes in our routing and so this is just a renewal of a contract that we currently have in place how long we have we had this provider off the top of my head it's been many years I don't know whether I I don't know the exact will you all introduce yourselves please Anthony deiser director for Sun Metro I don't know how long we've had this one exactly for a fixed route but it's been at least over 5 years for this one okay so there's a difference between the trappes we had on pair Transit and fix rout but this one excuse me this uh software it is a software that we use for tracking the buses we also use it for uh dispatch we use it for communication also and we also use it in uh planning okay so we use it for multiple purposes this and it's also been a decrease the contract from last time it was a 5year and we reduce it to a threeyear so it's not not as long as it was so we have more control on the the length of time um in case anything goes arai is the decrease directly attributed to the number of years or is the decrease for separate Services no just yeah strictly the number of a number of years okay um so I found that the contracts that are five years um just potentially have more problems because you don't know what's going to happen with the company uh with the leadership of the companies and and how they change and the software changes over extended periods of time right so I think that doing um software contracts for that amount of time uh tends to be problematic that I found since I've been in this position so I think three years is better and then software upgrades and they do all sorts of changes so um thank you for clarifying that this is for fix route because the I was going to have questions about the par transit services so thank you no no further questions yes ma'am thank you ma'am with that is there a motion to approve motion approve there Motion in a second we have a motion made by board member salido seconded by board member Rea and this is to approve item number six voting session is open Mr Canales yes thank you and the item has been approved unanimously is there a motion to adjourn motion made by board member Rea seconded by board member molinard all those in favor anyone opposed and the mass transit Department board meeting for August the 13th is adjourned at 10:09 a.m. thank you there's a motion in a second to reconvene the regular city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed and the regular city council meeting is back in session at 10:09 a.m. we're on page number 11 item number 28 and this is discussion and action that the city council declares that the expenditure of district 6 discretionary funds in an amount not to exceed $5,500 to purchase two radar-based data collectors to be utilized by the AL Paso Police Department serves a municipal purpose of increasing Public Safety operation efficiency this item was placed by representative F uh motion to approve second had a motion in a second there's a motion made by representative Fiero second it by representative Riva to approve item 28 on that motion call for the vote oh I'm going to stop the voting session Council Miss Turner signed up to speak on this item again good morning mayor council it's not that I'm against this expenditure but you just did a budget session this is an item that should be in the budget why aren't you putting items that should be funded in the budget and the budget this is my question it will always be my question if it's important enough to spend taxpayer money on it's important enough to put it in the budget I mean I am I the only one that thinks that way I'm not against District the district 6 request you know I'd like to have some out on my street but the fact is these are items that should be in the budget it's your responsibility as members of council and the mayor and our city manager to make sure that the items that the city needs is in the budget and not being funded out of your quote discretionary fund just my position on that thank you m Turner we have a motion in a second yes sir the voting session is open Council representative Canales yes thank you and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously that brings us to item number 29 and this is discussion and action to approve a resolution that allocates the use of an amount not to exceed $3,500 for the 2024 annual Texas Municipal League conference in Houston Texas is an allowable expense because tml is an organization that Advocates educates and represents government entities in the entire State and this item was placed by representative Rea representative Rea yes sir I just like to ask the council approve this uh training for tml second make a motion to [Music] approve motion a second M the motion was made by representative seconded by representative Fiero and Miss Turner also signed up to speak on this item again thank you I signed up to speak on this one yes ma'am and 30 and the problem that I saw was Mr Rivera is not going to exceed $3,500 and Mr molar has a $2,500 for the same trip to the same place for the same event uh inquiring minds have to ask why yeah but it says not to exceed doesn't mean he's going to spend 3500 just says not to exceed well representative Rivera's budget is $1,000 higher than representes bolars again both of them say not to exceed so it doesn't mean they're going to spend that amount of money well again you can see my question and quite frankly I look at this as a taxpayer funded vacation yes ma'am and uh I find it unac unacceptable uh we you all go down you go out to all these meetings and we can't even put budget items on the budget so I don't know what you're doing down there other than taking time off at our expense but I think we need to put an end to this if you all need training the mayor can arrange for somebody to come in and train counsel all at once without spending our tax dollars to send you all out someplace thank you thank you Mr Turner we have Motion in a second I think we have two of them yes so there's a motion made by representative DEA seconded by representative Federal to approve item 29 on that motion call for the vote representative Gales yes thank you and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously item 30 is discussion and action to authorize the expenditure of District 4 discretionary funds in an amount not to exceed $2,500 for the District 4 office to attend and participate at the 2024 Texas Municipal leag conference in Houston Texas as it serves a municipal purpose of increasing expertise and adeptness in performing the duties of a public official this item was placed by representative mol motion to approve second a motion in a second Miss Turner do you have additional comment on this item no thank you there is a motion made by alternate mayor protim seconded by representative F to approve item 30 on that motion call for the vote representative Federal thank you representative Gales yes thank you and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously that brings us to item 31 discussion in action on the transfer of $ 52,1 16587 from The District 1 discretionary account to the district one general fund on August 13th 2024 this item was placed by mayor protim Kennedy mayor protim I would like to make one correction there is no district one general fund it just goes to the general fund is that correct thank you and I have a motion to approve second a motion in a second and we do have public comment on this item yes ma'am we have Susan Martinez Miss Martinez star six please to unmute your telephone Susan Martinez star six please to unmute your telephone Miss Martinez you're on mute start 6 please good morning you have three minutes can you hear me yes ma'am yes is it my turn yes it is you have three minutes okay I just want to say that um I understand that these funds are allocated to each district in the amount of $10,000 um I guess every year and uh some of the districts have according to what I understand from the represent representative's office uh funding in the hundreds of thousands of dollars in our case in District Juan there's $53,000 plus uh $10,000 more for this year so that's a total of $63,000 you've been listening to people who have concerns and issues for their neighborhoods and I really think that this process needs to be uh more transparent I think that um in the cases where there's plot holes or there's sidewalks that are kind of messed up or there's a lot of traffic or whatever there needs to be some sort of transparency from the city representative to let their constituents know how much money is in those funds so that you don't have to necessarily go through the whole budget process to get something done you can actually get a hold of your city representative and do what you need to do in our case we identified a whole bunch of issues with Coach Jack Coral's par that I sent yesterday and I really think that if the money has been allocated and that's how the city runs then that money should be used for that District um and I I don't understand why City Representatives don't become more transparent about that and then one individual will be able to say nope I don't need that money I'm going to send it back to the general fund when it's only because they were not transparent enough to disclose that information to their constituents and I will tell you that as a member of the neighborhood association I will encourage all of them to make sure that their City representative discloses how much money is in their General and their discretionary funds so that that money can be SP I think there was an article there was a a a concern about air conditioners somebody could have probably taken care of that with discretionary funds um and and that wouldn't have to be a budget issue uh there's Pond holes all over creation I know you say Transportation has to do it but there's things that can be done to benefit neighborhoods using those funds and for somebody to go say I'm going to dump that $53,000 it could go for the benefit of their District back into the general fund which is had has a budget in the billions of dollars that $53,000 is penis it would be better spent on the neighborhood that it was designed for the area that it was designed for so thank you very much for listening to me and I want to thank the blood donor people I want to thank all the people that do those organ donor things the Air Force guys and the Hans do we live in a great city thank you Miss martinz you've reached the three minutes thank ma'am thank you the next speaker is former city representative Peter Schwarz good morning sir star six to unmute your telephone good morning you have three minutes you're back on mute sir go ahead sir you have three minutes howy y'all can you hear me yes sir good morning okay thank you uh good morning mayor uh good morning mayor and Council um it's another wonderful uh warm day here in August in El Paso Texas um just calling to here to speak out about item 31 I'm here speaking here as a personal citizen on behalf of some of my former District residents uh many of which have reached out to me personally to express their concern about the nature um of this proposed action by the soon to be former city representative district one um at or near a lame duck session uh they're concerned out about speaking out about uh this item and disapproval of it to say they were in shock by this item to return funds that were to be used for district one is an understatement the discretionary funds are put in place here to help district one residents these funds have been passed down uh from my predecessor when I came in in 2015 and probably even before that um and their belief is that these fund should be used to help district one residents Parks programs and initiatives I'm not sure exactly what the budgetary impact of sending 52,000 into the general fund out of the budget of nearly $1.3 billion will truly do um ultimately I think it's up to the council here as whole to let these funds be used for the residents of district one who aren't here working with a future district one representative who wants the job and the hard work it takes to represent the district thank you again for all the work that you do Ser in our community the final speaker is former representative and Morgan Lily Miss Lily star six please to unmute your telephone miss an Morgan Lily if you're in the queue star six please good morning Miss Lily if you're in the queue star six please I don't see her phone number in the que and I don't see any of the phone members unmuting their microphones mayor and Miss Turner would also like to speak on this item come on up Miss Turner again good morning mayor of council ever since I started coming to council one of the things that I have always deposed has been discretionary funds I saw that those taxpayer dollars is nothing more than a private slush fund for Council Members now we can't spend money on anything that is not your responsibility to do okay we just can't throw a party for minut it has to have a public purpose if it has a public purpose it belongs in the budget if you have maintenance problems you done all of a sudden at the last minute something broke yes every now and then but you know what if you do preventative maintenance things last longer if you check on stuff you can plan ahead for maintenance and I'm quite sure we always will always have money for maintenance because we always have money for other things the fact of the matter is I know a lot of these people want the discretionary funds because they want to come and access that money uh in an effort to I don't know relationships between the council members and constituents you know hey he got us this party so we can vote for him well she got us this party cuz now we can vote for him here's the deal I have never changed my position on this and I won't ever change my position on this I view discretionary funds as simply a slush fund for members of council thank you thank you Mr Turner mayor PM I find it fascinating to be lectured by a former city rep who left three and a half years of the money unspent when the day I took office who also expended money outside of his district for the trolley and said it was for the benefit of his district because he was looking for the city as a whole these are not funds collected from district one where we have 58 parks and 10 Trails Miss Martinez called me yesterday with a concern about a park and by the end of the day Pablo had reached out and already addressed the issue with her on what the issues were with her park and we're working it under the process that I deemed to be appropriate I think that it is my opinion is it's most appropriate to have a $10,000 discretionary fund and I've used it for the community groups in my district to go to the convention that was downtown I will say that I have watched expenditures and I have a list of my predecessors expenditures all the way past the election date in the lame duck period all the way to the end including a $25,000 expenditure for a park with no plan on how to implement it I think those are budget items they should be run through the budget and I don't think there's any time that's too early or too late to show good fiscal responsibility I still do have $10,000 in discretionary funds to use for those items that I think are emergencies in my district but we don't have kingdoms and we don't have foms and we don't just have one part of the city we have the city as a whole I did have somebody yesterday say well I agree with that but since you found this money you should spend it on my Park and I said well if I found a bank bag laying on the street I wouldn't say I didn't steal it but since I found it I'm going to spend it on a park and I asked the question I said what if I decided to spend all the money on the park Park that my grandson who is in a wheelchair wanted to go play at and she go well that wouldn't be right it should be the park that has the most needs and I said and that's why we route it through the parks department because they do an assessment on what the needs are and Pablo is already talking to the people to the to Miss Martinez about her park so what I'm saying is I'm comfortable that I still have a discretionary fund and I I'm just saying that I feel it is appropriate that I put the rest of this money back into the general f fund will it have a huge impact no but you know the travel of 100 miles starts with the first step and I want to take that first step and I would ask that the council support me on this action thank you m PR yes mayor there's a motion made by mayor protim Kennedy seconded by representative Salo and this is to transfer $ 52,1 16587 from The District 1 discretionary account to the city's general fund on that motion call for the vote I didn't I don't have that I don't see the phone number that she listed I don't see the Miss Lily if you're in the Q star six please and Morgan Lily if you're in the queue star six will unmute your telephone thank you ma'am we'll take the vote thank you though yes ma'am on that motion call for the vote representative Canales yes thank you and the voting session and that motion passes 5 to1 Representatives Kennedy ASO Fierro Rivera Canales voting I representative ernandes abstaining alternate mayor proo not voting nay and representative salido not present that brings us to the first reading of ordinances on page 12 these are items 33 to 38 is there a motion on the uction of ordinances second there's a motion made by representative P seconded by alternate mayor po mol to approve the first reading of ordinances items 33 to 38 on that motion call for the vote representative Gales yes thank you and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously representative salido not present that brings us to item number 39 and item 39 is a public hearing on an ordinance leing FY 2024 2025 taxes the public hearing is open at 10:29 a.m. we have Miss Turner that sign up to speak on this item this is the ordinance living the taxes I'm surprised I'm the only one here good morning again Mr turn good morning again what I wanted to say about the tax rate is when you look go on I go on social media everybody's yelling at you cut the taxes cut the taxes so I've asked well what do you want to cut say cut the fat okay what's the fat just cut the taxes I said what do you want to cut police and fire Public Safety that's over 50% do you want me to cut Public Safety do you want me to do you want them to cut uh Parks recck centers streets what do you want them to cut there's a lot of noise out there they want you to cut taxes but they won't tell you what they want you to cut I think that's disingenuous if you want your city council to cut taxes you should have the decency and the Integrity to say I think this should be cut participate in the budget sessions partici participate with your government through the year our government only works when people are involved now the people like that in front of me probably don't want 500 people in here talking because well I'm hungry I need to go bathroom I need to do this I need to do that you know I don't want to be here for 12 hours but that's how our government works and I've been in a few 12 hour meetings they're no fun for anybody but any citizen who's complaining about the tax rate please tell the nine people in front of me what it is that you want to cut because there's not a single one of them sitting in front of me or virtually that are mind readers they can't see it you have to provide input don't these buzzword cut the fat lower taxes have zero meeting and I know I have two candidates for mayor here you folks please don't tell me that let's not we can't can't do no just ju just speaking uh I can't believe stuff like that you know I see all this stuff cut cut cut but nobody Cuts everybody raises so if you want to cut taxes please tell the non people that represent you what it is you want to cut thank you thank you Miss Turner and I think it's important you know as we talk about the tax rate just like M Turner was saying we didn't cut Public Safety we didn't cut quality of life amenities we didn't cut a lot of things but uh we were able to roll back taxes to come up with this rate and that's something that's really important it wasn't something that just came real easy we were able to also pay off the the uh Plaza theater $34 million and then continue to buy police cars continue to buy uh Public Safety vehicles on a onetime funding which is Cash instead of financing them for 25 years so and did not touch the fund balance and that's something that's really really important you know I remember when I took office in 2013 and maybe you can help me Mr cortinez I think the fund balance was it's either seven or nine days which is one week away from bankrupting a city is that correct it was nine days mayor nine days okay thank you but uh so that's one week and two days away from bankrupting the city thank you for that so now we uh what's the fund balance today sir 81 currently at 81 million 81 days so big difference 81 days sir and we didn't touch a fund balance didn't cut the fund balance and continue to to do the the what's supposed to be and still number one priority as elected officials is Public Safety and and we were able to continue to enhance and do that and roll out the public safety U Bond there's a 2019 $440 million Public Safety Bond that's being rolled out we just opened up a 80 million do part of a public uh public um funding for a incredible children's Museum that was on the bond for 19.2 million City spent roughly 40 45 million including the art piece so still able to roll back and come up with this great rate so congratulations to Colonel Weston and the whole team and with that I'm does this a public hearing is there anyone else that would like to speak on the ordinance leving the taxes see no one coming forward is there a motion to close a public hearing at 10:35 second there is a motion made by representative Rea seconded by alternate mayor Pro to close the public hearing at 10:35 a.m. on that motion call for the vote representative Canales yes thank you and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously representative salido not present item 40 is a public hearing on the proposed budget as amended for the city of Al Paso filed by the city manager with a city clerk on July 15 2024 which begins on September 1st 2024 and ends on August 31st 2025 the public hearing is now open at 10:35 a.m. Miss Turner signed up to speak on this item okay Miss Turner is not going to speak is there anyone else this is a public hearing anyone else that would like to speak on the proposed budget seeing no one coming forward is there a motion to close the public hearing at 10:36 a.m. second there's a motion made by representative Riva seconded by alterate mayor Pro molar to close the public hearing at 10:36 and the adoption will take place on August 20th 24 on that motion call for the vote representative Gales yes thank you and the voting session and that motion passes unanimous iously this brings us to item 41 and this is discussion and action on a resolution authorizing the city manager to sign an agreement for Professional Services between the city of Al Paso and mnk Architects Inc a Texas for-profit Corporation for a project known as architect and Engineering Services for the AL Paso Police Department Northeast Regional Command Center renovation project good morning may Council my name is D Garcia from C and I'm presenting today the uh solicitation can I have the it may we have the presentation for item 41 please once again this is solicitation for architectural services for the northeast regional Command Center our contract value is at next SL our contract value is at $858,000 and this is part of the 2019 Public Safety bond this contract includes comprehensive architectural and Engineering Services for the renovation of the El Paso Police Department Northeast Regional Command Center located at 9600 Dire Street their services under the solicitation which include but not limited to facilities inspection surveys planning design Ada and compliance and overall the renovation of me request for qualifications advertised on March 7th 11 firms did submit a proposal through evaluations of the sq's MK was identified as the highest ranked offer and we negotiated with that contract amount of $858,000 any questions representative molar thank you mayor protown uh do we have a timeline on this a timeline for the design duration sir or the timeline start date to completion date so for the design I would say it's eight months depending on the um um the amount that we're going to renovate or the actual scope because right now it's still in development we did assessments so I would say eight months for design another I would say eight months for procurement so we're looking at probably three years for three or four years for from design to cradle the grve from design to construction here okay and I'm not sure if you're the right person to ask I do see Chief s Silva um when this construction everything start does start the Personnel from the northeast regional command where would they where would operations be and that's what we're assessing right now so that's one of the things that we did discuss since they still have to have operations um at this Command Center we're looking either the the option of keeping them in-house and working around the renovations since they have to still operate or looking at closer facilities around that you know Command Center will this in any way impact both the library and municipal court at this time I don't think those were part of the options as far as the municip municipal court or the library that adjacent to the command center in other words for example if they're working on the HVAC system and they have to shut it down does it impact Municipal Court do impact the library I would say our intent is not to impact them sir all right thank you yes that's all I have thank you sir that's it Mr PR there a motion motion motion to approve there's a motion made by alternate mayor protim molinar second by mayor protim Kennedy to approve item 41 on that motion call for the one vote representative Canales yes thank you and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously that brings us to item 42 and this is discussion and action on the award of solicitation 20230 683 R transport medical billing and collection to DigiTech computer this contract will allow the fire department to manage the billing and collection Services of EMS and ambulance related transport second there's a motion made by representative fedal seconded by alternate mayor Pro Molin to approve item 42 on that motion call for the vote representative Canales yes thank you and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously that brings us to item 43 and this is discussion and action on the request that the managing director of purchasing and strategic sourcing be authorized to issue purchase orders for solicit itation 20245 one8 Digi app website to Gibson group touch City Limited the sole service provider this contract will provide continued maintenance services and support software support software support to maintain the functionality of dig. org website there is a motion made by representative salido seconded by alternate mayor protim molinard to approve item 43 on that motion call for the vote I think we have Miss Turner on 43 Miss Turner you are correct sir Miss Turner somebody's phones go ahead Mr Turner item 43 $19,200 I remember when we put the digital wall up I remember everybody was happy everybody patted their back on it it was a great thing for the city of El Paso and our history and here today if you read the contract variants you have to ask yourself why are we even bothering to spend this money because in the contract variance we will remove impl implementation costs related to website development upgrades to the existing digital wall and its components in other words we're just going to let it sit there and go to dust electronically so why bother spending this money if you're not going to maintain it please mayor council explain to me if you are not going to maintain it why are you spending money on it thank you Mr Turner um I think I have um R Canales thank you mayor I see Mr F approaching the podium there he may be able to uh speak on what I was going to say thank you representative good morning mayor and Council for the record Ben managing director of quality of life thank you Miss Turner uh consistently for keeping your eye on everything that we do uh the digital wall recently went hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of up upgrades uh it was down for a number of months we're happy that it has reopened the contract that you're getting is for the maintenance that's required for the new phase of this uh this Venture uh but we do not need to have a repeat of services that we have needed in the past with these new upgrades um and so I'm open to any questions about that the digital wall has served uh has received 55 million touches since it opened in 2015 we anticipate 55 million more more over the next 9 years uh 10 years of lasting of this next phase of the project thank you and Miss Turner to um your point uh proposition 2 in 2012 quality of life Bond uh we had set up about $48 million for digital wall the Mexican American uh Cultural Center repair of the libraries the um Children's Museum and um at this point uh I did get an update uh just recently and we set up $48 million that the voters approved and so far we're at $106 million spent and still not finished with those projects so that's where you see stuff like this coming forward my concern mayor was the fact in contract variance it says components so something breaks you're not going to maintain it that's how it reads absolutely and again I would just say that those components are now covered by Our IT department uh with equipment that we can procure ourselves rather than having to have the organization or the company out of New Zealand do that for us that's called maintenance and operation sir thank you and with that we do have Motion in a second yes mayor the motion was made by representative Salo second by alternate mayor protim molard to approve item 43 on that motion call for the vote representative Alis yes thank you in the voting session and that motion passes unanimously we now move to item 44 and this is discussion and action on the award of solicitation 2024-25 pel nor and Westtown pel nor and Northern Pass frona and rockberry school flasher and Hawkins and wh vires there's a motion made by alternate mayor Pro molinar second it by representative salido to approve item 44 on that motion call for the vote representative Canales yes thank you in the voting session and that motion passes unanimously representative Fon not present item number 45 is a public hearing of an ordinance granting to Value advertising LLC a non-exclusive franchise for waste containers on sidewalks and other city property there is public comment from Miss Turner keep these out of residential areas nobody wants garbage cans put in front of their house I mean they're all up and down Mesa and guess what it doesn't look good and here's the other thing there's one of those cans up by the Women's Club right next to fire hydrant uh that will interfere with fire department accessing that hydrant and more often than not these things are sitting in a way of individuals like myself who are either using a wheelchair or scooter blocking access to the cut to get off the side sidewalk uh best thing you can do is in this program but I know you won't do it uh it makes our neighborhoods look ugly uh they don't bother to empty them uh their little uh boards for people to come by and spray paint uh they serve no useful function and they interfere with citizens who are disabled and emergency emergency Personnel who have to to things like fire hydrant these things have to come to an end thank you representative nandes followed by representa cons I consistently vote against these because of exactly what Lisa Turner said and over the weekend I found several trash bins overflowing um several trash trash bins with um faded you know advertisements on them um several trash BRS where the lids were off and all over and I I really do think that they are hurting our community aesthetically and so how much are we how much is the value for each of these contracts because you have to do them by like placement right yeah yes so current Nicholas with Environmental Services So currently we have six vendors that have this franchise fee this one is just a renewal for for them uh each each vendor has a 150 uh cans per their contract and I believe we receive I believe it's $5 per can um 900 monthly uh for for each one that's placed out in the the the right away yeah um there it's not it's it's it's hurting the image of the city and it's it's a big problem who is doing followup with maintenance on them followup on maintenance is the responsibility of the the franchisee but we do have our code officers that go out there and do um inspections when we do uh get calls about them that way uh they're making sure they're emptying them on a weekly basis as they required for their franchise so our our Solid Waste and Recycling code officers go out there and and check them when we get informed of them and also while they're doing driving around and inspecting properties and doing other Environmental Services duties if they do see any issues with them they'll they'll get in contact with our our point of contact and they'll get with the franchisees okay um I'm not supporting this today I don't think the city is doing enough to hold these franchises accountable um Co and inspectors you know they already have a myriad of things to do they should not be um making sure that a private entity capitalizing on private public rideways um and they're hurting our image and I I do not like them I have voted against these for years and that's why and I I really want to see some results and making sure that they are being held accountable to keep it clean with their trash bins it makes no sense it's contrary to their intention and have them pick them up weekly um they're they're overflowing it's it's it's super trashy I don't like it and I hope that we can reform that program thank you thank you representative nundes and uh you know you said there's there's six vendors maximum 150 each yes and and we so that's 900 bin yes and if they're full it shows that there's a need yes and uh if we didn't have those in the city would need to put trash can out along the city and uh but I think it's important that they do get emptied if uh if they're full and not emptied there's a need but the need to be emptied to continue to provide that service to the community no doubt represent thank you mayor I I guess off the top of your head do you know how many times code enforcement has gone out because they've been overfill filled or they haven't been picked up um typically we we get calls to our 226,000 number and we automatically call the vendors and they usually go out there and and pick them up and and get them emptied out as soon soon as we give them a call I I don't know the number of times our code officers have have gone out there uh per inspection I I could get that number for you yeah I I mean I I just think that if they're paying us $5 per month right for each of the can so that's $60 a year per can um the the fact that they're not keeping up some of their like they're part of the deal right where I I see where they're getting money off of advertising on a lot of these but I think that they also have to keep up with making sure that they're cleaning up their trash and if they're just doing it because they're making a lot of money off of the advertising I feel that they're not being good in in terms of their deal with the city and so I I feel that yeah we should provide accountability from the city side but at the same time if they were being a good contractor be being good vendors really at this point then the accountability would wouldn't have to come through right and I feel that that at the same time that I the public should know that code enforcement is already really strapped with a lot of what they're doing and they're not being sent out unless we get a call 311 by a citizen or citizens are calling our offices and saying take care of these trash can and I feel that that's a lot of added work that they should just be doing on their own right and and I feel that I'm I'm not sure if there's anybody here that had that owns any of the trash cans here to see if they could provide a testimonial on how they provide accountability and making sure the trash is picked up but I'm assuming they're not here right no sir okay thank you so much representative Alo just based on the concerns and comments I I'll address this with staff I think there's a way we can proactively spot check while code enforcement's going out with some of their additional duties so that we're not just waiting for a phone call when someone and a vendors not complying per contract so we'll have that discussion to take a more proactive approach and and yeah and and and I thank you for that um Colonel Weston I think that we're making if all 900 are out we're making $54,000 on this a year it's not a ton of money for the way that it is making our streets look across the city so just thinking about that it's like okay cool you want to advertise and you want to pay a $60 per bin but if you're not going to make it look nice then why are we doing this and and I just want to clarify it's not a PD code that's going and doing the inspections it's Solid Waste and Recycling I have 14 code officers that are take part of this that help uh maintain recycling trash throughout the city but at the same time they're not going to go out there unless you get a call from them right it's not that they're well no they're they're they're constantly driving around the city doing inspections on recycling bands and trash cans so if they do see something they do report it and we get it back to us okay thank you thank you representative Salo followed by representative thank you mayor um and thank you so much for for being here um couple of questions how much revenue does this provide us good morning Forest Clancy deputy director for Environmental Services uh currently it provides about it's actually $2,000 a year for the permit and then it's $2 per C per month it comes up to about $330,000 in annual revenue on the monthly bill on the courtly billing and in total I know that you mentioned it was uh six so it' be a little bit under $50,000 current currently not all vendors have 150 cans per their permitted um um ordinance uh some of them just have U one of them I believe has 60 and another one has like 15 but there is six vendors that the other four do have all 150 cans okay okay um you need yeah I have the breakdown if you guys need it oh okay if you could just share with me so our biggest vendor has 148 cans second biggest would be 128 and then goes down to 105 86 85 and 35 respectively and yeah okay perfect and and I think this one in particular this one's just expiring we are renewing it's a renew yes and I think on on these I think it you know I heard a lot of the concerns from my my my um colleagues and I think it lends itself for an opportunity I think also Colonel Weston as mentioned certain things things here where I know we're we are right now renewing this one but I think what I would like to see if we could have um a letter of expectation meaning like a where they're telling us that they you know do their own maintenance and how often when do they go out and kind of just really have a plan that they can hold themselves accountable to and we will also hold them accountable but I think that we want to make sure that they're going to be great vendors right we want to make sure that they're making our streets look beautiful so I don't know if this is this pressed for like a a timeline can we just postpone so that we can have that conversation with what expectations we want from these vendors to deliver to the city of Al Paso yeah when's the the expiration date each they're all going to have a a varying expiration date but they all have franchise agreements so what we can do is we can edit in for new contracts to put these kind of terms on for the future franchise agreements that says you know what kind of collection schedule you guys would like and we can have the discussions with counil I think that's a great great point and I think with this one I mean if we could just move it for the next meeting and already start off with the president on this first one so that way we could really set a standard for the rest as they're expiring and we're renewing and we all can chime in and on what what it is that we want to see there so I would probably just motion to I don't know i' Rec I'd recommend uh not postponing it I mean operationally we can put the you know I've heard the feedback I'll put the emphasis on it we can put the the expectations I think the expectations are in place I just think we have to button it up just based on some of the concerns that I'm hearing here and we can do that much more proactively as a staff I don't think there's a need for us to postpone this for us to come to the same conclusion and we'll do that my recommendation would be to keep it on the the agenda and for the vote okay and for clarification um we've received less than 10 calls in the past year for them requesting for emptying of the bins for our customer service department you yeah no know but yeah that that definitely answers are my questions and um I think you mentioned not postpone but to hold them accountable of how we wanted to roll out you said that we would go look at the franchise the the terms are already in the agreement so what we have to do is just have to do a better job making sure we're holding the franchises accountable for for doing the job properly and I'll I'll address that with staff and those terms those terms already exist about what the expectations are and what we're supposed to do so if we're seeing that some of these that aren't being done properly then it's incumbent upon me to make sure that staff is is holding them accountable thank you Colonel and I I guess on to that point real quick and I don't know if I'm out of time but um on the franchise what it specifically does it say about like what we expect for their maintenance or proactive maintenance or it's in the ordinance as posted as backup so it's section five so during the life of the franchise that they will maintain repair replace the waste containers as necessary shall keep them reasonably clean and neat and attractive appearance and free of voors and then it goes on to State what essentially the process is if there's issues that we identify notify them um if it's not cured within 7 days that notice the city can order the removal of the waste container and then it goes in through again the processes that's in section five of the ordinance as posted as backup so we have the process in place I think to col Weston's point we just need to uh maybe improve our process as far as the enforcement ensuring that they're meeting the standards per the agreement that's that's perfect yeah I just wanted to make sure it is there just moving forward how we are going to hold them accountable right thank you thank you mayor if I may we will recommend to update the template that is currently being used to reflect the language of the code yes ma'am and I think that important and put on there that uh certain violations or a number of violations will uh will will end up terminating their contract and I think we need to be harsh enough on that it seems to be a huge concern that uh when we do redo the template that we write what we feel is adequate enough and if not complied by then they um the permit will be terminated and they'll have to get their cans off the street representative better thank you mayor you put you you said what I wanted to say the only thing is I want if if code enforcement has to go out there on their own when they have a lot of other issues to take care of for the city uh I find that these vendors are are are taking advantage of the city in itself not only for the $5 that they pay but that they feel that they won't act unless they get called I like what you're saying Colonel about this but I like for you put it back on them because I don't care how many V how many AG codes how many Code Enforcement Officers you have there's their their responsibility is a city first me the medians and and all that stuff comes first before the the uh vendor puts out his trash can and as and as you getting 14 calls only they come to the city Representatives calls first and then we have to send a CR and then you know you guys have to go down there whatever it is you have to do when in fact if it's my business and I'm looking to do business with a city I'll be checking once or twice a week I mean once or twice a uh a day uh per week to make sure that my my trashs are kept need and everything else and the trash isn't around them isn't in the isn't in the center medians where they normally end up or you know other people have to pick it up that's that's not right I don't care how how cheap it is is if they want that raise the cost on the on the contract or whatever it is you have to do but they have to meet a certain number of days that they have to go out on their own to pick up and check on on their own bin since that's far as that's concerned uh I can I can honestly tell you I've seen that and for once I agree with Miss Turner on on her saying that her street is dirty I've seen that as well and those trash bins are overflowing so I mean I'm having a hard time that to to decide on whether I'll say yes today to be honest with you unless you come back to me and you say you know this has been implemented this has been implemented to to satisfy Council as a whole as you're hearing us uh over over and over again because I don't know a couple months back I read an article where apparently a voter I mean a visitor for the city was saying that the city of op Pas was a dirty City and that that I take take that personally because you find the spots that are and so I I wish we could change our image on that uh I've even said you travel from the into the city from the West to the east or east to the west and all along the med uh Interstate median you're going to find trash you know that's just the way it is and and with these trash bins along the way they help but like the mayor said when you see them overflowing and then you go by once twice three times and they're still at that State that's the company's obligation to take care of that bin not the city of El Paso the city of El Paso just monitors it but if you're going to sit back and say well my code enforcement guys will do it no that doesn't fly with me it's a business owner that has to take care of it thank you mayor thank you and maybe we should site them if that's the case I agree thank you for that representative um f followed by representative Canales followed by representative salido thank you Mr Mayor um you know first and foremost this is a great exercise on how to make our community better how to make it more appealing having said that I have to disagree with some my colleagues up here I think that some of these vendors are doing an excellent job there's one in the corner across street from Montwood High School on corner of Bob Mitchell in front of a church and Montwood and I'll tell you that that's full all the time but the vendor comes two or three times a week it's full all the time because as mayor touched Bas on that trash needs to go someplace and if it wasn't in there it'd be in the churches or over the fence in the bushes at the church or they throw it on the fence or in the parking lot so I think that we can't paint all these vendors with one brush that they're not doing their job or they're not following up or they don't care about what their product looks like like I think maybe there might be a bad apple in the bunch but for the most part the ones I've seen they're doing the job that we um um agreed with or we hired them for and I think we can we need to continue to support him and Colonel that's a great idea about about F fine-tuning the the contract but it's not let's be careful not painting everybody the same brush thank you thank you and and that's why I think we need to have a contract that kind of spells out what the city expects and then make sure we inspect what we expect and move forward with it but uh you're right uh if they're doing the right things it won't be an issue you know so but if they're not we can put them into compliance to make sure that uh we um they go they continue to go and empty their cans because you're right there's there's a huge need or they wouldn't be full yeah I think we just have to put emphasis I mean I looked at just looked at the the contract that Robert pulled up and I I think we've got all the needs addressed I think this is this is really a function of us having to do as you're saying and I I totally agree we have to make sure that the compliance piece is really buttoned up and I'm not saying that uh that our folks aren't doing a good job with that but obviously I think we can tweak that I think that the visual image of our city really is important it it lends itself to Economic Development and people being proud of where they live so I think it's it's important that we do that I don't think we have to do anything in terms terms of the contractual language to get that done yes sir thank you for that uh mayor if I could add uh Mr Weston is correct despite the the language in the code it does give additional authority to e uh to ESD can you speak up please it does give the the director of Environmental Services the discretion to notify each of these uh franchises within 24 hours that their waste container is out of compliance and then if they don't follow that it gives them the authority to take action themselves yes ma'am agree representative Canales thank you mayor can you hear me okay yes sir yeah I wanted to uh similarly urge uh caution on on this vote this isn't a referendum on the the uh effectiveness of this program altoe we're deciding on franchise agreement with one particular event or one particular franchisee um and I haven't heard any specific concerns raised about this particular franchisee venue um they're just one of six that are operating within the city um and and I want to note as well that uh these do work very effectively in in many of the neighborhoods in my district and in fact we've received requests from uh neighborhood association and and other uh individuals within the district for the placement of these in areas where they were seeing uh large amounts of of trash being left on the street and in in many cases that has the the placement of these trash cans has solve those problems um you know at no cost to the city I know the maximum deployed amount is is 900 currently uh and yes that's only bringing in $50,000 of Revenue but it's also allowing us to avoid a huge uh Capital cost and and uh operations cost of of servicing 900 trash cans that otherwise the city would have to be paying to empty on a regular basis and so um yes I understand there there are aesthetic concerns and and I know um it was maybe approximately a year ago the council discussed updating the the aesthetic requirements of of these waste uh waste receptacles but I I think we want to be careful to to say that we don't like how these look and so they should all be removed that's going to leave a a large uh hole in our in our trash services that we have around the city um and you know we have these these franchises performing a lot of uh operations that we would have to take on ourselves um and so I would just urge caution and voting against this one particular franchise agre because of you know specific concerns about some specific locations Aesthetics um I I plan to support this today I have not heard any specific complaints about uh venue this particular value I'm sorry this particular uh franchisee thank you thank you sir representative um Salo thank you mayor um I'll just wait for I'm sorry I had a a well not necessarily a question more of a comment I just do want to thank you cuz I know that you're using your staff to do these these you know checkups and whatnot but it's it makes me feel very good that you mentioned that there is they can hold them accountable um Carla um mentioned that you can hold them accountable if they're not performing um and then they'll allow us and gives us time to really have a a workshop even bringing them the vendors as well to hear their concerns and maybe however they're rolling out and all of us to collaboratively come up with something that works for everybody yeah and I think that you know I'm really glad also that Miss Turner came up and talked about the Ada accessibility I think that should be another check so there's a lot there's a lot of things I think we can do throughout our normal operations without having to wait for a complaint to come in certainly these are going to happen I mean it's it's imperfect and sometimes these things may fill up quickly and we'll deal with those as they come along but I think the the procedures that we put in place are really important um and I think that if we put some emphasis on that and do a couple of these additions checks to include Ada accessibility at Curb cuts and those kinds of things I think those are some additional things we need to pay a little bit more attention to perhaps yeah thank you so much for that that comment and and I'm looking forward to to working on that thank you thank you thank you and I think this was a great dialogue to kind of fine-tune a process that kind of lacks lacked a little of fine-tuning so I think Council great dialogue and and Colonel and the department I think that uh you know like we said earlier if we didn't have them we'd have to supply that and then we it uh it'd be on the back of the local taxpayers so it's it's a good service but it just needs to be fine-tuned thank you for that and with that we have a motion in a second yes mayor the motion was made by alternate mayor Pro molar second by representative salido and this is to approve item 45 on that motion call for the vote represent CH Canales yes thank you and the voting session and that motion passes 6 to2 Representatives Kennedy molinar salido Fiero Rivera Canales voting I Representatives AO ernandez voting a the motion carries that brings us to item 46 and this is a public hearing of an ordinance changing the zoning of several Parcels at Joe Battle Boulevard and north of pelicano drive from R3 residential and RF Ranch and farm to C4 commercial and from RF Ranch and farm to C2 commercial and from RF Ranch and farm to AO apartment office and imposing conditions motion approved second second Motion in a second there is a motion made by representative F second by representative Riva to approve item 46 on that motion call for the vote representative Canales yes thank you and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously item number 47 is an ordinance amending title 12 chapter 12.56 parking meters to remove the applicability of proceeds from 2025 until 204 2 for the Central Traffic district and the South El Paso District there's a motion made yeah we have representative celo has a question please thank you mayor Nicole do can you give me a little uh background on this a little bit or I don't know if you have a presentation I I don't have a presentation so this is the item I'm getting weirdy you got it all right thank you Nicole Cody managing director so I don't have a presentation on this item but this is is part of the action that we're asking Council to take the Plaza theater Debt Service was paid off on July 2nd and so the parking meter Revenue was dedicated for that debt service and so now that that debt service has been completely paid off we need to amend this ordinance to allow the parking meter Revenue to now come to the general fund thank you I I do remember the The Briefing thank you no problem thank you thank you with that we have a motion in a second yes sir the motion was made by mayor protim Kennedy seconded by representative Federal and this is to approve item 47 on that motion call for the vote representative Canalis yes thank you in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously representative molinar not present we now move to item 48 and this is a public hearing of aordance ordering a special election to be held in the city of Al Paso Texas to determine whether to revoke the city's authority to issue bonds for the multi-purpose performing arts and entertainment facility voted at the city's November 6 2012 election making Provisions for the conduct of the election and resolving other matters incident and related to such election approve second have a motion and a second yes mayor we do have public comment uh we do have uh three members of the public to speak correct yes sir all right we have four we have Miss Turner I don't want to shock you all but I'm actually in favor of something so uh yeah I'm in favor of you doing this U you know downtown you're trying to put the size of New York City on a cracker you can't get to downtown you want to have the is widening of I 10 you want to put those decks up I know know where all that traffic's going to go but uh if you built that Arena you nobody could get to it and that's the biggest thing when you all try to do something like this you forget what is the most accessible place for everybody in the city to go to not where it's advantageous for somebody but for the entire population uh nobody I'm not I'm not going to bother coming down from the west side I doubt anybody from the East side's going to come uh plus you got something you're doing in the Northeast thank God I'd like to see the Northeast grow myself even though I live on the West Side uh I see no you for and I won't get into what was the quote 2012 election because there were issues with how it the citizen input went how things were tabulated and such uh but the fact is please don't build it thank you thank you Mr Turner the next speaker is Martha Morris Martha Morris Betty Garcia Betty Garcia we have uh Max Crosman in the queue Mr grman star six please to unmute your telephone good afternoon you have three minutes good afternoon sir good morning can you hear me yes sir good good afternoon good afternoon mayor city council thank you very much I want to Prelude my comment uh by congratulating this city council Colonel Weston Robert cortinez for achieving two years in a row of no new revenue and uh not issuing debt for two consecutive fiscal years as well as all your other achievements firing Tommy cancelling trz2 and tur 10 auditing gas cards P cards 380 agreements this city council led by this mayor Brian Ken and other members of city council has taken this city in a new and very positive direction and putting the Downtown Arena question uh back to the voters is part of this positive governance finally we can get past the myth that the voters supported building a multi-purpose arena in our downtown the word downtown was emitted from the ballot even though it appeared on the ballot ordinance it was concealed from the voters the 2016 RFQ called for a 15,000 seat basketball arena when No Such Thing appeared on the ballot which had no mention of sports no mention of um its intended function the council was prepared to use eminent domain to deprive people of private property to build this thing and to demolish a dozen buildings that are historical that can never be replaced another myth that is debunked here is that my litigation which took 6.5 years cost the taxpayers money when in fact fact JP and I and all my other supporters save the taxpayers the half a billion dollars that the last uh Council was prepared to spend uh and that was affirmed by the recent uh study the Consultants that to build what was intended to be built would have cost over half a billion dollars not $180 million the mayor uh Brian Kennedy and others have been very articulate and clear about how the voters were deceived and that is the correct term I'm still amazed that there is still one member of city council who continues to push these myths that somehow the litigation cost the taxpayers money when the taxpayers saved half a billion dollars and that somehow there's a contract at the voters that is being violated today on the contrary this city council with item 48 is affirming our Liberty is returning this vter this question to the voters the voters now know exactly what it is that was going to be built and exactly what proposed to be built and I'll have the opportunity to move forward with this project or to cancel it there's going to be a 12,500 seat private Arena that's how you do it get government out of the business of entertainment and put it in the private sector Bravo please support item 48 thank you very much God bless you mayor that concludes public comment on this item thank you ma'am and I think it's important that uh when we talked about propos to that uh it was for $228 million without even talking about the arena I think I kind of brought it up that uh it was $40 million That was supposed to be spent on five different projects whether it was the Children's Museum which again beautiful incredible but it did cost the taxpayers more than double what was on the on the the ballot so we didn't quite spec it out properly then we had the Mexican American cultural center and U the libraries and we had the digital wall which we just had that conversation with and uh things said we were going to and the zoo on there and things that we're going to spend money on and it set for $40 million um the last running total I have that we have spent and I think this is an important number so far we've spent $106 million on those projects almost um two and a half times but we told the voters to please vote on it and this would be our agreement between us and the and the taxpayers and uh I think Mr Gman you know I'm not sure where his numbers are coming from but I know that it can't be built for $180 million so you know whether it's three4 $500 million it's still not what we told the taxpayers should be so we're going to go back and give them that opportunity to look at and see if they want it brought forward again and if they do uh come up with a realistic number of what that will cost and what the real impact will be on the budget what real impact will be on every taxpayer whether it's somebody with fixed income or somebody that uh does not have a fixed income will be responsible for any additional expenses as they have as we've been doing it so uh I think it's important for transparency purposes to allow the taxpayers to look at real numbers numbers that uh uh were not fabricated and not realistic back in 2012 and numbers that are current and numbers that like I said it's we've seen from 40 million we told them it cost to it'll be I think close to$ 1110 $120 million of something we told them it cost $40 million so it's important to be transparent and give the taxpayer who is the one responsible for paying for it not just a few people but when we talk about projects like this we don't say well it's just going to be for the few it's for everybody it's for anybody that pays taxes and that's important they have the ability to say hey I can afford it or I can't afford it I'm going to fix income it really going to put a big burden on me I don't want it so let's go out and there shouldn't be anybody saying you know what we don't want the taxpayers to decide they already decided they decided on something that was very fictitious so uh I um I look forward to allowing the taxpayers to Really voice their opinion on something that's realistic thank you representative randz followed by representative was there a presentation from management or no okay uh if we could pull up the if we could pull up the ordinance um because I just have a question why there's two propositions proposition a but it's got different language on page one compared to page two um and the first proposition says shall the authority of the city council of the city of El Paso Texas to issue the remaining 120 million of G granted by the museum cultural performing arts and Library facilities proposition of the bond election held within the city on November 6 20202 for the purpose of providing funds for acquiring constructing equipping multi-purpose performing arts and entertainment facility be located in downtown Al Paso be revoked and then further down it says the city of op Paso proposition a again to cancel the city's authority to issue the remaining 128 128 million bill million in G for the multi-purpose arts and entertainment facility be located in downtown El Paso which was approved by the voters in the city's November 6 2012 election resulting in the revocation of the bonds is there a reason why there's two languages listed uh we do have Bond Council up here good morning Paul Bren with Norton R sbart Bond counsil of the city uh the first is the legally required proposition the second is what's going to show on the ballot they they should not mirror not NE necessarily the ballot is supposed to be a summary of The Proposition and U to convey the meaning behind The Proposition and so is this um what how is the first part of the language going to be used is it just on the ordinance or are we going to use that on any other um language for any educational purposes uh it's in the ordinance it's just only going to be in the ordinance the city of course can put together information materials that summarize the proposition as well as the ballot language okay may I ask you additional questions um so as it also shows the ordinance shows kind of a history of what took place um with a multi-purpose Center and it specifies in the beginning that um the voters of El Paso um authorized to issue $22 million when there is a voter approved project is that considered a contract between the city of op Paso and the voters there's a legal concept considered the contract with the voters and so what goes before the voters in a prior election is viewed as a contract with the voters okay so it is a contract with the voters if we ask the voters to reverse their vote is that a violation of their contract or is it just you give them that is the revocation of the prior agreement if you want to take the metaphor forward the what we're asking is to revoke our authority to issue the debt but to cancel the project but the initial um language is to allow for the city to issue out to issue out the debt right um to construct the multi-purpose Center so does it cancel the project completely or it just cancels the city's ability to issue the debt it cancels the ability well it revokes the Authority for the city to issue the remaining unissued bonds there's a specific statute that allows for this County election so the first election authorized the city council to issue bonds for the various projects as discussed there's a portion that has not been issued yet and this election would re if it was if it passes would revoke that Authority okay that's all the questions I have related to the bond um Mr cortinez let's let's do a breakdown of all the expenses we've done so far um we had 180 correct um what has the money been used for including litigation relocation cost including consultants and um also are all of the studies that we have done can you give a simple breakdown of what's been spent what we have in the bank and what is remaining to issue I don't have the specifics but for the ordinance there's still 128 million pending to be issued for this particular project currently there's about 34 million still in proceeds that we've issued in the past that we still have on hand the funds that we have issued prior to or already issued have been used for property acquisition Le legal expenses related to the acquisition of those properties various consultant agreements that we've had in place approved by the city council um and I believe that's it and I believe there may have been some architectural expenses as well early on in the project City attorney nean do you know what the um legal expenses were as part of this project approximately like 2.4 million okay so for the public so we could better understand what this council is asking um at this time which I'm completely opposed to um betraying the op Paso voters who have given us the authority and trust but since we've been stuck in litigation and spent approximately $2.4 million um now there is an effort to in the project because it it's been um stagnant not the fault of El Paso taxpayers the fault at Bad actors in this community who don't want to see our community progress quite frankly that's that's what they're asking not to invest in our communities and when you don't invest in your city then it's incredibly difficult to ask businesses to come to your city and invest to ask our small businesses to grow because we're not giving them the opportunities that it demands we were given $180 million the you said about $18 million was spent of that $18 million we've spent on economic development studies it's 18 million that we've spent approximately 18 million how much. million roughly how much do we have in a bank approxim 34 million okay so we have about 34 million in the bank that we've already issued out okay we've already issued out and we're paying that back right now in our debt service correct 17 point we'll call it $18 million have already been spent and of that $18 million this is what the city of El Paso did with your money we spent 2.4 million in legal fees we purchase deteriorated dilapidated buildings in downtown that need emergency funds to rehabilitate we paid for uh a great study by one of the best worldwi worldwide renowned Architects and design firms gendler who found a way to save every single one of those buildings and still build a multi-purpose Center on that footprint with a promise not to um evict the remaining two individuals who can stay and Revitalize that entire footprint we paid for three or four uh economic impact studies we paid for numerous attorneys um and all of the time they spent for Real Estate acquisition and to help relocate individuals who all have testified that they were placed in better conditions and were very grateful and now you have buildings in downtown that are continuing to deteriorate deteriorate through neglect and all we got in return was like an announcement of some barbecue joint this city deserves and demands more the city has given city council a mandate and we have a contract with the voters it is disrespectful we are losing credibility it is going to be incredibly difficult for Al Passa voters to trust in future governments and you're making a decision with the lame duck Council this November you will have six vacancies on this Council making decisions that are more personal and politically motivated as opposed to wanting to improve the city and what you're hearing from some members of the community and council is that they're doing this to save you taxpayer dollars but that is a disguise because when you invest in a community it is it is proven through empirical data and through evidence that when you invest in a community the community uplifts and a community grows and economic development is spurred through that and what does it bring it helps bring small businesses to our core to our city it helps Revitalize and improve our downtown we have seen unprecedented investments into hotels because downtown developers believed in this Administration and our leadership to make sure that we were building a state-of-the-art world renowned and a worldclass facility that op Pason deserve this council with this decision will be known for the missed opportunities that we have left this community without it is a very sad day and I repeat this over and over again El El Paso city council please respect the will of the voters give us time to present a plan to them you're presenting nothing to them so we have to sell hope we're selling a vision here and you are misleading them by claiming that you're going to save them money when we know that the revenues from Economic Development will rise it will help with communities and downtown it will bring small businesses the services and goods and supply chain that they need and this is an economic development vision they are misleading you to believe that they're going to save you money when we know that our sales tax revenues and our hot tax revenues will outperform and will help reduce the burden that we have on El Paso taxpayer residential payers if I can shift El Paso residential burden to the business and Commercial side I'm going we're going to be able to save you taxes this is a complete sham I want the public to know that they're lying to you they're misleading you we have a contract with the voters and there are personal and political um opportunities here that are being U disguised as a savings to you and they're not they're hurting our community this is a missed opportunity this is why we don't have opportunities economic opportunities don't passo because of these very type of decisions pay attention elections have consequences thank you thank you I do want to just clarify one thing and and thank you for your comments but you're assuming that everybody running for reelection up on the Das will get beat even guys with without an opponent will get beat so that would be that's we would have six different people if somebody that don't have an opponent gets beat and everyone else running for public office sitting up here at the dis would end up getting beat and I don't see that happening so thank you representative Salo thank you mayor um I did want to um I guess echo or or agree with mayor on the point that you mentioned that the initial wh so in 2012 you know the the estimate was just Incorrect and I I agree with you I absolutely agree it wasn't allocated for no operation and maintenance the number was unrealistic and I understand that I did actually did vote for that initiative in 2012 and I think with this item that's before us the thing the reason I I just can't support it or haven't been supporting it is the lack that the the communication in regards to getting the voice of the community um before this item rolled out and I think I was very vocal last time where the community just wanted to be a part of this conversation before it was before us and on a ballot um so just wanted to just reiterate my points and of where I S it's more of the the community the community doesn't feel that they were heard before it it's in front of us right now so for those reasons I will not be able to support it we're missing the voice of the community before it came out thank you thank you Sor I don't have my microphone on you couldn't hear me representative Canalis followed by representative oo thank you mayor the B of my questions were already answered by Mr bradden thank you for joining us again Mr BR um I just want to be clear uh you know I I placed this item on the agenda originally uh the the precursor to decide about a project that's proposed in my just um I I am and I'll say for the record uh I am not running for office currently uh I will remain on the council next year uh you regardless of of how any of the other elections go um and so I had no political motivation placing this uh on the agenda uh I simply did what I think was right um and and I also want to clarify about the the contract with voters I do think that uh and and Mr Braden clarified that uh the the authority to issue bonds that's approved by the voters that does constitute a contract with the voters but I don't think uh asking the voters uh if they would like to uh withdraw from that contract that happens unilaterally would be violating a contract with voters um this is not an action that that the city is taking unilaterally that is an option that was available to the city council we could have decided to unilaterally make the decision um to to not issue these bonds and that that's a legal option that we had we are not doing that um instead I placed an item asking that we go back to the voters to get a fresh opinion from the voters now 12 years on and I I think that is a responsible thing to do when the the project has changed so materially uh in the last 12 years the cost has uh grown very very significantly I think it makes sense to uh have a fresh a fresh test from the voters to see if this is something that they still want um Mr Mr Braden uh sorry I lost the view of the room I don't know if he is uh around the podium he's at the podium sir what was your question s okay thank you uh oh go ahead Mr Bren are you uh are you comfortable with the the language that is there in Fond ordinance and the language that is proposed for the ballot uh yes I am I think the ballot language is a good summary and and you know we worked collectively to make it clear so the voters will understand what they're voting on and it it contains the statutory required phrase but it also I think makes clear what this election is about so I think it's a good summary of The Proposition thank you and then the the ordinance language uh complies with what's required of us in the local government yes the ORD complies with statutory stat all right uh mayor uh question do we have a a motion on the table already I didn't hear yes there was a motion made by mayor protm Kennedy seconded by representative to approve okay that's all of my comments thank you thank you thank you sir representa followed by representative Salo Mr Bren sorry I thank you mayor yes sir um I I had I guess I'm I'm trying to get the finances of this um completely understood by by all the numbers that have been thrown out so one one question that I had was we can't use any of the bond money that's already been bonded to um do a voter education campaign right that is correct but then what allowed us to pay pay $2.4 million in legal fees from this Bond money is there statute that allows for that or Bonds were previously issued uh and as part of acquiring the land and doing other things associated with the pre-existing project there were expenses incurred so those are capitalized to the project and you use Bond proceeds to do that that's not unusual for any type of bond Finance project but it's probably unusual to get into legal expenses on that right that's not always something that happens um well for Land Act I think most if it had to do with land Acquisitions and things associated with that I mean they were appropriately accounted for as capital capital expenditures and so that okay is Not Unusual and then um let's say the voters say to build it and there's um new people that are on Council that decide to let's say make a motion and say we're going to build it in Durango that is possible right I'm sorry so what was the question um if this pass is and if if it fails let's say that the voters say uh we are asking the council to build it and with new people coming in next year and they decide that they want to build this in Durango that is something that is possible right so if this election does not pass and therefore the authority is not revoked city council will still have the authority to issue those bonds and you're correct that a you know a subsequent council could make a decision as to its location within downtown pass but dang do not prohibit it sorry dang does not prohibit it it's not prohibited by any bond ordinance or any legal decision at this point right no okay um okay and then I I think that's all I have for you and and then for mayor if I could answer uh one specific question some of the legal expenses regarding the litigation were not attributed to the project they were paid out of the general fund okay okay and that might be the answer that will make me understand all this meth because I think that what you were saying Mr ctin 2.4 and legal fees 17.8 million in property acquisition consultants and Architectural studies um and then you set 34 million on hand that kind of added up to about 125 126 million and so that that was my question on here cuz the amount that is on the bond language and the ordinance it is um 128 million so I was trying to completely understand how we got from the 180 to the 128 and not 126 so it's $180 million for the project we've issued 51.5 million total actual spent to date is 17.4 roughly I'm rounding 17,370 41 so total issued but not spent so the remaining proceeds on hand is 34.2 million okay so that least to the remaining 128. 45 that's in the or ordinance before you all okay so okay that that is making more sense okay thank you so much you're welcome and Miss nean is correct about the legal expenses so legal expenses that were covered by the cost of the project covered by the project were those related to the acquisition of those properties the litigation expenses related to the legal cost related to the litigation were covered by the J fund and it's SP obviously multiple years since it did going for quite a while and and and I guess just one more um how much do you think we could recover out of the 17.4 million that's already been spent it'll depend upon the the purchase of those properties as we've brief you all in executive session the city is currently trying to dispose of those properties it will all depend upon whatever those properties end up selling for but it's a good percentage that maybe we could get back or you don't know we'll we'll see we'll have to wait and see okay thank you thank you representative cido thank you mayor um to Mr C as uh yeah I'm just trying to follow the money here as well um so I have a couple of questions uh and I know that you said you didn't have all the totals if so if you can just kind of total everything up sure I do have the totals in front you do you do have yes ma'am so what was the numbers again I'm sorry the total project was 180 million million and then the total that we've issued 51 m544 364 okay we've spent to date $1 17,370 401 total issued but not spent so the remaining on hand 34,7 3,962 so if you take the 180 back out the 51 the 17 and 34 that leaves 128 milon 455 636 which is reflected in the ordinance okay and so just so that I better understand the 34 million that you just talked about um if if I and I don't know how this um will Veil for or against but if this is not the authority to revoke to issue the bonds you mentioned 34 million were already issued what happens to that those funds there'll be a future action needed from the city council to dease those bonds It could only be used towards the project or to actually defease which is pay the debt related to the cost or issuance of those bonds okay and does that take away that we pay interest on that or it would go to the fees the debt service related to the money that we ISS issu for that project so we'll be paying debt issued on this correct even if we take the proceeds yes ma'am we put it back towards paying out the amount that we've issued for the project okay and then up to this point I know that you gave me a bunch of numbers what is the total the grand total that we have spent that so this is as of last week 17,370 4127 okay so uh if this whole thing goes away then we we will still be paying we already are currently paying interest on this number we're paying Debt Service on the 51 milon 544 that we issued so the 17 plus the 34 million is like debt that the taxpayers are paying okay that we're paying Debt Service on for the NPC project okay and then of course if there is no project then there's no return on this investment that we just did right okay thank you so when you do sell the property you will will have to pay off the debt of the 17.4 million yes sir perfect thank you representative uh molad thank you very much mayor um you've heard me say this before the time that we were lied to and I say we the citizens of Al Paso was early on even before the actual voting in 2012 uh we can point the finger at a former city manager and I'll take the hit on that one but a group of people who came together and disguised this and saying this was going to be the best thing for the city of El Paso and all this other stuff so if they had done their homework correctly uh those amounts that they issued for the quality of life Bonds were invalid Incorrect and not standing any Merit at all and so we see projects that have not been done on time cost overruns yes who could have uh predicted a litigation who could have predicted a covid pandemic but this is the time to we need to move forward and give the opportunity for the voters for the city of Paso to come back to life and say we need to do better thank you thank you thank you sir representative nandes um I Mr W I just have some like quick questions for you does is there anything that prohibits the city of El Paso to move forward right now with a public private partnership RFP to determine what we can do and work with a private entity to move forward with the multi-purpose Center and work in tandem there's nothing that prohibits a public private discussion on something in the future I will say that uh you know based on council's decision with this particular money that may be or may not be in play but there's nothing that would prohibit a discussion about what what could be done in the future okay so thank thank you for that and then and that's something I I really want the public to understand is that what you're hearing is all noise it's all rhetoric you know the city right now can move forward with an RFP we could see what kind of appetite there is to enter into a public private partnership did you know that the Children's Museum lanu is a public private partnership that we worked with a uh Community Foundation using Bond proceeds to build now one of the best worldclass children's museum that I'm very proud of to have been part of a very insignificant small part but those are the type of agreements that have proven to the city that not only can we bring philanthropy dollars but that we could have private operators run a facility and do it more effectively and um at lower cost and and when a public entity operates it you know we're always limited with resources because we don't want to raise taxes um for these type of facilities so the city hasn't done a public private partnership number one the city has not looked at any vacant properties in downtown that are not city-owned so the city council what they did is that they they voted for uh and I voted against a self-imposed restriction to only look at City properties and so when there was a conversation about the union um Depot being one of the sites um there was a lot of opposition because the location limited our ability to scale and make it bigger and there was traffic concerns and so Council was ready to find another facility then and then they pivoted because the public didn't like it and so instead of listening to the public and going back to the drawing board they're saying fine we'll just revocate the bond and now the voters are being penalized because we're not being engaged we're not being engaged and these are the critical votes and the consequences of not having an Engaged community so know the facts we've self-imposed and we restricted our ability to look at all properties in the downtown area we have not done a request for proposals and have not done a call out to see what kind of agreements we can do to get those funds today so now they're asking you to cancel the project but what's the alternative well the alternative is Council get to work you know there's not a political environment here unfortunately but we do have that contract with the voters as as we can so then let the 2025 Administration do the job if this Council doesn't want to do it and don't let a a city council that's already on their way out make this decision when we have been waiting for 12 years to get the multi-purpose Center that we wanted and it's it's so unfortunate that the city council is not even preparing an alternative plan for you to consider so when you go to the ballots know that the city council hasn't done their due diligence we haven't prepared an alternative plan to you because of the pettiness that we have seen and revoking um our ability to re rehash the conversation about the location and it's it's all a consequence of lack of Engagement and so I ask that you get informed and we do a robust educational campaign so that they understand what's been spent what what has already been obligated um the things that we have not done the the remaining balance and making sure that Al passons really understand the consequences of their vote and if they vote against this it's because we did not do a good job at educating them about what the alternative plans are because they're this Council isn't isn't showing an appetite or willingness to provide that alternative plan so if there's no alternative plan it makes sense that the voters will be like well they can't figure it out let's just cut the cord and and let's not spend the money but we have immense opportunities with the right leadership this January we I truly believe that we can get there we can't predict elections which is why making these tough decisions with the lame duck Council it's not appropriate you have to let a a leadership that's going to be here for a longer period of time make those decisions um so again asking Council don't violate the trust with the voters we will lose credibility with OP Passa voters we have not done our due diligence we have not looked at other sites we have not done a call for rfps we have not given the voters a plan and that is why they are going to go into this election uninformed because Council has not done their due diligence thank you now um Miss Nan when is the lame duck process are we in the middle of lame duck I keep hearing this I mean whether we're talking about city manager recruiting or we're talking about this I keep hearing we're in lame duck I'm either misinformed or are we or we are not in lame duck I want to know no sir we're not in the lame duck session are you sure according to the Charter the lame duck session begins on Election Day and finalizes on the day that the new council is warning which is usually the first so when is election day so I could I want to make sure I know when I'm in lame duck November 5th sir that's November 5th of lame duck all so November 5th Council you know you're lame duck no anyone up for election anyone up for election will be lame duck so at this point we still have an obligation to the community to do our job would that be correct or are we lame duck no sir you're not lame duck okay thank you for that and also the lame duck session only applies for the appointment right and the voters have had the opportunity and they voted for 15,000 basically uh seed arena with luxury boxes that will cost three four $500 million again I think represent mullar kind of said they were lied to I keep saying misled which is the same thing different definition but I believe that uh we keep saying that the voters don't have opportunity the voters don't have an opportunity I think this is exactly what we're doing here today we're giving the voters an opportunity to voice their opinion based on the information the right information the information they should have had back in 2012 and then it might have been a different U outcome or it might have been the same outcome we don't know but they didn't have the proper information they were told they could uh build for $228,000 I mean $228 million they could build a children's museum that was built and I agree it is gorgeous just beautiful but the city participation from 19.2 million is over 40 million now so and then we got the public sector to invest and make it what it is today an $80 million facility but we still had to double our investment if you talk about doubling your investment and then getting the public sector to invest you still talking and asking $360 million which I'm not quite sure that uh when we did the ribbon cutting they talked about how tough it was us to be able to get the money that was that was received so I um I think that we we keep saying that the voters did don't have an opportunity the voters don't have a choice this is exactly what we're doing we're giving the voters a choice we're giving the voters the opportunity to voice their opinion and give us their opinion on whether they want it or not now that they have the facts let's ask them what they want and if they do want it then we need to move forward and you're right the next Council will have that opportunity because after the election it will be what's called lame duck at that point uh representative mullinar and then you this will be your last time and we'll call the question thank you very much mayor um I'm not really too concerned about the lame duck period what I'm concerned about more is the our authority to take action on items our authority to bring items onto the agenda our authority to make decisions uh even during the L lame duck period what Miss nean just stated we're still going to have City Council meetings we're still going to vote we're still going to take action now there's going to be certain things that we will not be able to do but for the most part we'll will we will be able to continue business so let's not get hung up on what we can and cannot do the authority rest with us here on the de as City elected officials the mayor and so that's what we need to do we need to move forward thank you thank you than you and I I was busy the day I took office and I'll be continue to be busy till the day I leave office I'll continue to represent 100% of our constitutions every day day in and day out and um I will continue to work hard and I'm here every day and I'll continue to be here every day uh represent Canales thank you mayor thank you sir um I just wanted to clarify one more thing um again in the last year or so the council has gone through a very significant process to put together a package for a proposal that ended up being uh the the proposal to build a Hybrid venu next to the Union Depot um again that was first presented uh in front of the council and the public and in February and it was considered again in March and it was considered again in April and this Council chose to to take no action on that item and then after that we went through May and June and July and August um and there were no proposals from any members of council that were put forward to consider an RFP for a public private partnership or any other uh alternative there was simply no action taken on the proposal that that had come all the way back from from February um and so uh you know I I I took the initiative to to and put put the work in needed to make this proposal to the council in September uh it it was passed by a majority of the council and um that's why we're moving forward with this today on our agenda so uh I I just want to clarify you know when when it said that the council didn't make any effort to put forward an RFP uh that that was never something that was proposed by by any member of the council for us to consider uh on a on a council agenda so um I I plan to support this today I think uh you know obviously I put this on the agenda in first place so I I think it's the right decision to ask the public how they want to proceed thank you thank you m FR yes mayor the motion was made by mayor protim Kennedy seconded by representative Riva and this is to approve item 48 and adopt the ordinance calling the special election on that motion call for the vote representative Canales yes thank you and the voting session and the motion passes 5 to3 Representatives Kennedy molinar Fiero Rivera Canales voting I Representatives ASO Hernandez Sal vo the motion does carry that brings us to the final item and this is item 49 discussion and action that the city council approv let's do a call to the public though first uh I know that we we have a couple people from call to the public and it is 1203 by the way good afternoon Rudy thank you mayor we'll now move to call to the public the El Paso city council is a local government body charged with serving all of the citizens and the meetings must be focused on the meeting at charge the city council meetings are public meetings under the Texas open meetings ACT public comment is an accommodation and not a requirement of city council all persons in attendance are expected to display Civility and decorum that is respectful to other persons without the use of insulting profane threatening or abusive language public comment will not be used for personal attacks against a person or group's character or Integrity which are not pertinent to City business nor May any member of the public uses for 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 be posted on a future agenda this afternoon we have eight members of the public that signed up to speak the first person is Elizabeth Crawford Miss Crawford's topic is Psalm 2 and government leaders good afternoon Miss Crawford star 6 please to unmute your microphone thank you good afternoon thank you in light of our nation and chaos and in light of the crazy rhetoric spewing from both sides of the political aisle Democrat and Republican in light of a world exploding with conflict and also inlight of the fact that Alesso on August 25th is hosting a concert a heavy metal concert that openly mocks the Lamb of God I would like to read Psalm 2 probably written by King David of Israel Psalm 2 why do the Heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take C P together against the Lord and against his anointed saying let us break their bands of ther and Cast Away their cords from us he that sits in the heaven shall laugh the Lord shall have them in derision then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and Vex them in his gorgeous pleasure yet have I set my king upon my Holy Hill of Zion I will declare the decree the Lord has said unto me thou art my son this day have I begotten thee ask of me and I shall give Thee the Heathen for thy inheritance in the uttermost parts of the Earth for thy possession Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron Thou shalt Dash them in pieces like a Po's vessel be wise now therefore oh you Kings be instructed you judges of the earth serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish from the way when his wrath is candle but a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him God's holy word Psalm 2 thank you so much have a good afternoon thank you thank you the next speaker is Ron KOMO Mr komo's topic is exercising constitutional right to the rescue 1983 Animal Services good afternoon sir you'll have three minutes good afternoon ma' let's try this again good morning screwed it up last meeting that's what I did when I supervised these are the points we talked about you agree to it we have a hot mic please make sure you're on mute if you're inam and then you wrote out really quickly and then it' just be like we still have a hot mic please make sure you're on mute if you're in teams go ahead Mr [Music] K here because we're starting to see more and more of them in different of the city and and guys Captain race beers also told me that right now one of their biggest concerns is that these loose dogs could keep backing up and attack any local residents or even children I reached out to the Paso Animal Services Department H to learn more information they said that they will soon give us an update on this case that was Channel 7 they discussed the problem with a gentleman from Texas Parks from Wildlife a gentleman who was trained in animal behavior he says we have a problem we have a stray problem we have a problem with people being able to be attacked kids women children whatever we know this we've discussed this I have a certificate for dealing with aggressive dogs I dealt with the shelter for a year and a half and as as the first volunteer that was allowed to deal with behavioral dogs Paula pow wanted to send behavioral dogs to my house for me to take care of because of my abilities of dealing with these Strays I think that kind of gives me a good idea of how to handle the problem what to do with the problem I don't think we have anybody else that's actually worked a little over a year with a certified trainer to learn behavioral problems and how to read them and what to do with them I think that puts me a step ahead of what we've been dealing with we're putting people in danger it is now a matter of public record that a gentleman from the state of Texas has said this it is all now now a matter of public record that I am of basically an expert in this and I have warned you all for four years we need to we need to stop putting our community at risk managed intake is illegal we know this now why are we still doing it can anybody answer that question I mean we're we're breaking the law nobody cares I I I don't get it guys you know you still have I'm sorry sir you still have a minute if you'd like to we had to hide the mic for a minute yeah I was just watching that um it was actually in your office somebody said to me one day you ask questions that you already know the answers to well yeah I do and I do it for a reason when I talk to somebody and I know the answer and I ask them the question and they lie to me I know they're a liar and you know we have an awful lot of misinformation shall we say coming from the shelter the reason why I quit the ASAP committee was is I couldn't get straight answers we couldn't discuss what was really wrong and what we really needed to do to fix it we weren't allowed to so I mean it was just a headbanging thing you know I I tried I failed I don't fail much I try not to anyways um I don't know I don't know guys I don't know I I'm just bewildered that we've allowed this to go on for so long you know we had a public safety person thank you what happened to him the next speaker is Matthew Guzman Matthew Guzman's topic is residen of Sunset Heights are increasingly being met with hostility from our neighborhood association a complete lack of transparency from current president when bylaws were requested good afternoon sir you have three minutes good afternoon uh good afternoon um uh first let me thank the council for providing a platform uh for us residents to make our voices heard um that's really what's at the heart of the issues I I'm presenting today uh and second let me apologize in advance uh for taking up your time with something as trivial as neighborhood association politics I know you guys have bigger fish to fry but unfortunately um the climate within Sunset Heights historic district has been growing uh increasingly hostile of late uh we're at a point where residents of the neighborhood have given up um completely on attending our association's meetings because they've been consistently met with hostility um from existing members as well as the leadership of the association uh as recent as last week the official Facebook page of the Sunset Heights neighborhood Improvement Association use their platform to call residents Liars and to disparage local business owners um when we tried to voice our opinions and concerns we've been called uh guests in a neighborhood where we've chosen to live and invest our time and money um on our homes now we've been told we are a part of the oligarchy um still trying to figure that one out um and that our opinions hold less weight than those of people born into the neighborhood um and anytime we we've tried to have our voices heard uh they've been consistently stifled um and mainly by our president president um Sito Negron I'm sure many of you know him um at the beginning of June we requested bylaws uh from Mr Negron and we're told he did not have a copy of them it's now mid August and we've had to go through the city's channels in order to uh obtain them we've also seen no Financial reports from the association um and there's just a total lack of transparency from the leadership uh the association has also made uh public statements on behalf of the neighborhood um that do not reflect the diversity of voices in the community um as an example a vot a vote was taken in July on the neighborhood's official stance on the i1 widening and deck Park projects without notice and without the ability for residents to vote by proxy and both of those are not in compliance with the bylaws um it seems that the only opinions that make it out of our community are those uh that are in alignment with Sito uh which coincidentally always seem to align with his boss uh commissioner Stout stances um which brings me to my final Point um that I feel our neighborhood association should be a nonpartisan Forum where all residents can feel welcome and feel heard uh and instead it seems to have been hijacked and it's it's currently being used to advance uh political agendas um and I felt compelled to go on record and to share this with the council because I feel it's important that you guys know what's taking place within our community especially at a time when the public needs to hear from every voice on these issues that we're all going to be voting on in the near future um that's all I've got thank you guys for your time thank you the next speaker is Daniel Rubio Mr Rubio's topic is Sunset Heights neighborhood Improvement Association he will be followed by Stefan piger letisia Marie Holtz and Lisa Turner thank good afternoon sir you have three minutes good afternoon sir hi guys good afternoon uh my family and I moved to Sunset Heights about three and a half years ago one of the biggest attractions we had moving downtown was and is the possibility of the deck Park Plaza my family and I are in huge favor of the deck Park and the widening of I 10 in recent months I have learned that there is a neighborhood association for Sunset Heights upon attending two meetings I have learned that the neighborhood has taken a stance against the I 10 project and most do not seem to be in favor of the deck Park uh by votes that are not extended to all residents uh the previous meeting I was at they held another vote where somebody who's not even a resident of Sunset Heights was allowed to vote I'm here today to talk about the leadership of the neighborhood association the current president of the association has been at the helm for 6 years he has provided a hosle negative environment from online form of harassment slander and just being an online troll the association and its leadership has done a great job of making you families feel unwelcome and have made it clear on multiple occasions that we are guests to Sunset Heights all this ties in with the remarks at their meetings the majority of what the president siton States uh has uh the majority of what he States I have read or heard verbatim from County Commissioner David Stout learning that the president of the association Works directly under commissioner Stout is very concerning every stance that the association takes always seems to line up with commissioner Stout's words I have request uh from the president and the city bylaws which we have been waiting 2 and 1 half months to receive another concern is that of uh wanting to take away uh the parking minimum in our neighborhood so that is another stance that the association has taken in favor of of removing the minimum parking we live downtown parking is already very difficult as it is to eliminate that and have just free parking for anybody in general whether you're a resident president or not makes it that much more difficult um for us to just be in and around our house um really that's all I have guys thank you thank you sir Mr poer is not not here so we'll move on to letisia Marie Holtz Miss Holt's topic is lack of representation around new younger families and the concerns for our children's safety with a push for more low-income housing and the removal of parking minimums good afternoon you good afternoon M hi there thank you for your time um I would just like to Echo my peers messages on lack of representation under current leadership the Sunset Heights Association has been pushing for additional low-income housing and eliminating parking minimums um it's apparent at least to me that we already have a surplus of low-income housing in the form of neglected houses that justify grossly low rents uh we have discovered that many of these landlords live out of town and they're completely unaware of the dealings taking place on their properties it's a situation that's led to many of the concerns I share with several new families in Sunset Heights as we worry for the safety of our children there have been reports of prostitution of drug dealings in near nearby houses um there's a notable number of homeless people entering these houses uh strange Vehicles pulling up to them at all hours of the night so our house personally has been robbed of tools and bicycles at these same hours and I I don't think that's a coincidence um aside from feeling safe in our own homes at night we should also be able to walk safely to Parks like Mundy park the car park guso I'm sure by now you've heard accounts of children nearly being kidnapped in these areas um of domestic disturbances surrounding these Parks including a recent uh stabbing at Mundy Park parking is also of great concern as both uh my husband and I's vehicles have been broken into ransacked and robbed of tools and personal items uh removing limitations on who can park where and when would only worsen the situation and increase the great difficulty we already face in parking at our neighborhood parks or even directly in front of our own house from what I see not a single person that makes up the current leadership of this Association has young children of their own so I have to wonder how they can relate to these concerns um there's been an argument that the low rents enabled their families around 50 years ago to live in the neighborhood and while that message is heartfelt I don't see how it supports or Works towards increasing the Safety and Security of our children living in the neighborhood today I think they deserve better and as worried parents I think we deserve to be represented thank you ma'am thank you the next speaker is Miss Turner Miss Turner's topic is burden of military leadership good afternoon M good afternoon Miss Turner good afternoon mayor of council several meetings ago a citizen came up here and seriously insulted our city manager and his service now I thought it was on purpose and I held my tongue because Colonel Weston you know how as old n's can be we fall apart and next thing you know it's one stream of incini is after the other it's taking me a while to calm down you should understand something if you've never worn the uniform that you don't know the responsibilities that are placed upon us I'm just a private but I have an air defense Battalion to take care of I have to take care of the search radar I have to take care of the ifs at times I had two which doubled my workload of course I was deployed at the time when the Burl Berlin Wall was up I don't do my job the death toll is 5 6 7 8 n figures depending on payload and Target that's the responsibility of M military will put on a private as a squad leader I may have 14 15 people I'm responsible for at work and off work if I have to put somebody in combat to die you're laughing representative Fier it's not a damn funny subject I'm not well I'm sitting out here watching it it's not worth the time disrespect mayor I don't see Miss she in the audience so that concludes call to the public this afternoon thank you ma'am we'll go Toes that concludes call to the public yes sir we'll now return to the regular agenda to item 49 please ma'am thank you item 49 is discussion and action that the city council approve the propo proposed Communications plan and budget for the special election to revoke the remaining Bond Authority for the multi-purpose performing arts and entertainment facility on November 5th 2024 I'm short if you didn't know Laura Cruz Costa communications director for the city of Al Paso okay so just a quick overview in terms of the direction that was given to the count to staff regarding the last council meeting the summary action um yall had voted to allow for nine Community meetings one in each district one hybrid and also be able to provide you all with the cost analysis on uh various items the Outreach would commence about once the election is called which would be today and to be completed no later than one week before the first ballot and the mail are sent out that gives us a window of August 13th through September the 13th and the communication should include a timeline of events from 2012 to the present time with a list of all the expenditures that were provided the original estimate that I gave you all last time is about 367,000 and the recommendation that I have for you all given on the narrow window of one month to allow for this Outreach would be a dedicated website press release social media uh traditional media along with digital digital ads and City TV as well as yc5 reaching out to the neighborhood associations in addition to the nine Council meetings and we would ask for you all to also share the information via your newsletters and be able to provide a newsletter the areas that are noted in um yellow are to be done uh with some funding Associated so the recommendation um that I have for you all today is to be able to provide um social media ads Community meetings as well the mailers and local digital ads as well as any unknown incidentals for a total cost of $148,000 given the month and that is the end of the presentation thank you mayor sir thanks for doing everything you've been doing in the last month alone on top of the rest the year but um I I had a few questions on this so you're thinking it's 367,000 plus another 148,000 or is the 148 part of the 367 the 148 is is what I'm proposing for y'all oh so you're saying slide four is 367 but you're saying let's just do 148 correct okay and I think one of the things that um we intended when we put this item was for sure the the community meetings taking place during those dates that you said through September I believe 13th August 13th through the September 13th yeah and and so I I think the intent of the rest of the stuff would that would only be during this one month only as well that is my understanding of the action we all took yeah cuz I think that I I think it was Main like at least this is what I thought the intent was when we put this on where we wanted to have the community meetings so people had the ability to attend within the month before they got the the ballot but then I don't think that that prohibited from doing more Outreach via TV or social media or anything like that so I apologize for not clarifying that enough okay and and so that cuz I I don't see why um some of these ads like you want to do social media ads uh you want to do mailers I I think it's important to do that up till election day right where if you send a mailer out right now there's not a lot of people that are necessarily completely paying attention to them so maybe a mailer is good at the end like it's the like the first week of September for for one and then another mailer like closer to early voting or something like that so I I think that that would be more helpful where all of this um Communications plan which looks great from the website to press releases to um Council newsletters mailers that continue up until the day of the election and then having the meetings go from August 13th to September 13th as was stated okay and then um so I don't know if that if that um helps or my colleagues agree that we should do the community meetings this first month and then more Outreach via all these different platforms for for the rest of the election and then um I think with Community meetings we could um I I know my office is happy to help to get people there right because I I'll just make it like one of my regular Community meetings and we could coordinate that but one thing that I I've said in the last few weeks is that I think it's it's a good idea to start coordinating with our offices CU a lot of us have lists with our constituents so we could make sure to give them calls I know a lot of my staff time goes toward making calls when we're getting close to a community meeting like we're having one tomorrow so my staff called on Friday we we had some reminder calls yesterday and it really helps for a more engaged Community once we do that so um I'm here to offer that I don't want to speak for the rest of my colleagues but um just throwing that idea out as well and then um in terms of timeline and I know that I might have just thrown a wrench into your your thoughts on on meta mailers and all that but what what do you think would be a timeline on these ads with ads start August 13th and then run through September 13th or when were you thinking about that so if I'm understanding you um then the recommendation would probably be to space this out um start with the community meetings and then space out the remainder of the advertising that I wouldn't change anything I would still leave it as is but space it out so that we um continue to make sure that the community is completely educated in in terms of the effort I think the timing the timing is isn't an issue I mean I think we can we can do that it's probably better to go that route if you give us the flexibility to do it more towards the election and and I agree I mean it's very I think doing the community meetings and then pushing out the content I would like to scale the content down to what's being proposed I think it's kind of realistic from what we can accommodate from a budget standpoint um but I but I don't think it's an issue um move moving a lot of these different initiatives as we get closer to the election yeah I I and and I think that that would be good I guess let's like a website could start whenever right um to get a good website up in a week or two whatever you're thinking and then um the rest starting after September 13 when all the inperson community meetings have taken place but I I do still think that doing only one mailer is not ad vantageous to reaching as many voters as we can so maybe adding another mailer would be a good idea at some point like you could send one um right before early voting starts where people are going to get the information and understand what they're going to be voting on in our experience at least um I've participated in at least four different Bond efforts and we've only done one mailer and the turnout has been successful for our efforts in terms of education so I wouldn't recommend mend it the council May disagree and you all may choose to give additional funding associated with it but I have not seen um any need for a second ma mailer at this point in time okay um I I just think that the nature of this is is so big that getting as much information to voters as possible is good and then they're also going to be um engaged in a presidential race which gets a ton more you know um and especially in such a polarizing time that we're living so I I would still recommend the second one but I I understand where you're coming from also um and and this budget is being allocated from where did it's coming from contingency funds contingency funds okay so then it's going to be um $2.2 million for the election for city council and then another 140 so maybe like 2.35 or something like that 2.34 total spent on the election that's about right that's about right yeah that's about right okay and then um we got an email from Brenda Deanda Swan kind of explaining the ads and how it's not that expensive and it was kind of fascinating to see actually like I don't know kind of nerdy about all of those things um so is that email being taken into account on doing stuff on TV or or cuz I don't see it here and I know that that just I got that last night I don't recommend it um be for a couple of different reasons the primary reasons that I don't recommend it is because this is intended to be an educational campaign you run the risk of Leaning into a persuasive campaign that I don't recommend that we run into okay you don't want you're in the yeah and that that makes total sense and so I I see exactly why you're doing that and I might have a few more questions but let me just look through this but I'll stop for now thank you for your answers thank you sir representative uh Hernandez followed by representative Salo hi Mr CA um thank you for the presentation thank you for putting this together um in support of that I just wanted to get a sense of well number one the cost where is this funding coming from going to come from will will the pull the funding from contingency funds to be to do this okay um and then related to this new the community meetings are you working with Council yes or you're doing your own I'll be working with each of y'all in order to coordinate at least one council member has already given me a date it's being proposed on September 11th representative DEA has already um given me a date for his next Community meetings I'll be coordinating that effort okay great and you said all of them will conclude by the first all of your Outreach will conclude by September 13th So based on the conversation um that we just had right now the direction that I'm understanding is that you all want to be able to have a a more robust timeline so the community meetings being proposed would be from August 13th through September the 13th and then continuing on in terms of all of the what I'm proposing whether it be the social media um the mailers and the digital ads as well as any other any any unknown costs associated with this would continue on until early voting because once early voting starts then I have to stop my advertising sure that's fair and just uh so long as we can get messaging to those um first set of ballots sure and and that's my only priority um in terms of in the past for Bond elections I have seen where you've come to council and executive and shared all of the where we're at in the election the details of the language can we are you going to repeat that can we see what's going to be messaged I will share with y'all um the messaging but the messaging must be uh reviewed and approved by the bond Council because I don't want to step out of bounds okay interested I just would like to see the courtesy of that information before it sent out thank you thank you ma'am representative cila thank you mayor um thank you so much Laura um and thank you for all your hard work I mean I know it took a lot and but you guys always rise to the occasion here but very important to inform the community so they're very grateful that they're going to be able to have more information um at their disposal for them to be able to feel very comfortable making that vote that's before them um so I have a couple of questions for you I know you mentioned um we you mentioned you were talking about um the strategy I guess of how you're going to deploy this um different districts communicate differently remember I was kind of sharing with you for District 5 um we they have um mailboxes and so U where you go all Community mail box so for them I think it's a little different on how you communicate sometimes cuz there's I'm a I'm I'm usually forget to go get my mail at times because it's not in front of me so by the time you get the messaging it might be already the election or or whatnot so just communicating effectively probably I don't know if it would be like I don't know some other ways uh digitally I think for my district just to share some suggestions as you're crafting I I don't know for other districts how it's how it is but for District 5 yeah you know mail early yes it might work but but uh yeah so just to give you an idea there right that's part of the reason that I'm proposing also the um the social media components as well in order to make sure that we're getting the word out we can do within social media it allows you to angle it um by ZIP code as well as by gender by um income it it does give you that luxury in that respect okay okay that's great that is great to hear that you're looking at all different ways to do it I think we were talking about the mailers you mentioned I think Dr SEO mentioned two mailers uh the first one I guess where were you thinking of doing that one or I'm proposing only one mailer okay um and the recommendation based on the conversation that we're having today would likely be that we set it out a little bit closer to the timeline when right before the early voting starts um and so probably depending on how I need to reverse do a calendar reverse and I need to look at the calender more closely and be able to work with the vendor to figure out the timeline because the timeline is impacted by how quickly I can get the mailers out it usually takes about anywhere from 2 to 3 weeks to get a mailer out to the actual mailbox very true I think it's a deadline you have to submit and then it work it backwards I think one of important thing that we we we want to I guess not forget is I think certain people uh vote in the mail and so that mailer needs to be whatever timeline that is because then those people will not have information and I think from what I gather and I I'm not a voter expert or anything like that or or constituent or whoever is voting or um I know that there's they some are not in they could be deployed correct where they could vote wherever they're at sure so yeah so just kind of I think it's important that first mailer to be able for them to see that information because they are still constituents of of El Paso got it um and I and I think the last part of course this kind of all estimated cost about 148,000 as of right now correct correct as it's moving and and strategy is changing as far as how you're deploying the the educational message for this um is also metrics included in this yes all of this um will capture metrics our website has metrics capabilities our um the Facebook and Instagram ads have metrics associated with this the local digital ads they all provide metrics in that respect and and will we have some somebody I can provide those for you yeah well somebody well will we have somebody that kind of you know when you're Gathering data right the data is as good as you could understand or what what it's you know what the message is saying to you right um will you be doing crafting that to to explain like what what came out of it like usually it's called like the data voice meaning what you kind of saw or not just giving me the raw data yeah sure I can provide um an analysis and translation of the data there you go yes so I I just didn't know if that's something I know that you have a not a lot of I how much staff you have allocated for this so um but if if you are doing that or we could hire somebody to do that however that would fit or work best for you um because I know that you got a lot on your plate so just the best but but I did want to get that that data voice back um so that we're spending this dollar right but we can also hear and have a story to understand from the from the people in the community so that's that's kind of just some suggestions um as you're crafting this and I want to thank you though for putting so much uh robust information for us that we did request for for the community to to be able to be informed and and thank you for your hard work of course representative um phoh thank you Mr Mayor U you know the representative cila brought up a good point uh with a very limited budget that you're working with and and you're really spreading out doing real well thank you but is there a way to analyze or capture the data um of what you're doing all of the information that we provide it can be as I mentioned to you all the um social media ads do provide the data provided for us so we can capture that easily the uh local digital ads the vendors do provide that data for us so we're easily able to provide that information for you the mailers of course um will be able to give you the total numbers in terms of what was issued out and what was returned and then of course the community meetings will be able to get in signning sheets from the community related to um those conversations that we have and is there a platform to capture what's H what's local media is running on their stations yes I do have actually I do have um a contract already with an a vendor called TV eyes that captures all of the data associated with um the viewership as well as the cost associated with it okay and and you'll be able to share that information thank you thank you sir represent followed by represento okay so is that have more questions sorry go for um what does this mailor look like is it going to be a 6x9 a brochure an 8 and 1 half by 11 what size would it be it would likely I have um spec out at this point in time an 8 by 11 okay and so at this point I don't know what it'll what the final will look like in terms of the amount of information that a bond Council will allow for me to put on there so it may get smaller okay and then um one of the directives from the last time that from the last item that we had was including a timeline of events from 2012 to the present and then a list of all expenditures for the bond series that have been sold but not fully utilized so is that something that we're going to be able to get through or you haven't had conversations with B so if you'll notice on slide um three I do have that data point in there and so I will include the timeline from 2012 to I'm probably going to go back to 26 20 2006 I think um I'll go back several years back in terms of the history I've already started that process um but of course that is going to take a little bit of time so we'll put that all that together and of course um Mr cortinez has already provided for you all with a list of some of the funds associated with that and it's something that we've been tracking um in coordination with legal as well as with um the com controller s okay yeah and and I think that those amounts um I was trying to kind of make sense of them live in the previous item that's what I was asking Mr cortinez about where it could get a little confusing for the math to kind of add up and and I'm hoping that you can take that into consideration as you're as you're planning all of this and then I'm assuming um that the message will be kind of consistent whatever is on the mailer is kind of the same thing that's going to be in the PowerPoint presentation that's going to be shown to the community and then um if there's an ad on one of the meta sites then you're going to have a link to the website that'll kind of flush it all out that's exactly what we we've done before in the past with all of our bond um efforts as well as Charter efforts and um we coordinate all of those pieces brandom and connect them all together okay so I think that that makes sense to me I do want to make a motion to approve the proposed Communications plan and budget for the special election to revoke the remaining Bond Authority for the multi-purpose performing arts and entertainment facility on November 5th 2024 and to also include um an an analysis a translation of data that will show us outcomes of this effort and then have the community meetings hosted between between August 13th and September 13th and have the Outreach through other mediums commence after those Community meetings have taken place so post September 13th and to make sure that the timeline is included in the communication um as stated that we'll also list all the expenditures of bond series that have take that have been sold but not fully utilized in um all communication materials moving forward second he's not done yet I'm kidding thank you uh we have one thing I think it's important in um then represent though but uh that uh will you be checking with legal to make sure that the message it's is within and I know with Bond Council and and everyone to make sure that the message is the right message and to make sure that the citizens are not misled in any way but actually they know exact and I know this is what you're proposing is to go out in the Outreach but the Outreach needs to make sure that they have the right message so they can make a decision based on the right knowledge and the right information to be able to say yes or no correct yes sir I will be working with the city attorney's office as well as Bond counsel for the final language on any and all pieces that we put out perfect thank you for that thank you sir and I knew the answer but thank you repr thank you mayor that was one of my questions so thank you for asking it and answering it already um yeah that was one of my questions um I well it was the marketing material but yeah so you're saying they're they're we're going to that's going to be presented to us in executive or when is that happen so I would likely as with um I have in the past uh the materials that I'll produce I will um likely share with you all as I do with the emails for example I send you all emails almost on a daily if not every other day kind of basis um so I will bounce it off first with the city attorney's office provide it and share with you all and then y'all can give me any feedback any and all changes will be finalized with the city attorney's office and with the bond Council okay and then to make sure that we get you what you need I know that he read in the in the motion in regards to the metrics um if you're going to take a look if if you are not able to you know have to craft all that to hire somebody do you need that direction or no um it's something that we already do um as it is because there are several for example we do several adver a lot of advertising for the health department the ad advertising for the health department is Grant funded so we are required to provide data for that information to maintain that Grant so it's not something unusual that we do okay and then I guess more like in specific like uh of the information that I'm kind of looking for and I it'll take a lot of time I think where I don't want to that's why I want to make sure that you are properly um if you need to hire or not hire what not but like when I'm gathering data like to to really understand certain components of things um I can share those with you on email if you like just to uh because as we're spending these dollars I just want to make sure that we're getting the max for for the community because they it's our it's their tax dollar so this can also help each representative to understand because it's like demographic it's telling us it could also bring something else make us aware of something within our districts that there there's a need we want to be able to capture that as this is an investment the taxpayers are doing and so just I'm just trying to make sure that everything's covered right so all the data that we have provided it does break it down in terms of demographics it can break it down to economic impact it can break it down to um the engagement in in general it it breaks it down into different formats okay I'll just share I just want to make sure that we we include everything you need know because everything's so fast and I don't want to burden you as well so I'll send you an email with with what I'm I'm talking about just so you get better Clarity okay thank you so much of course representative furo and thank you ma'am representative Salo are you suggesting that we add that as onto the motion as Amendment in case um Miss Cruz needs it we can ju just to have that budget available or or a budget available yes sir well you're giving me I mean give me a little bit of latitude or flexibility we're giving you an estimated amount of money and I'll figure out operationally how to meet all of your policy requirements okay okay yes sir thank you so we have a motion and a second M always use more money yes and representative ASO may I ask you to restate the motion iel though can read it she got it I didn't I didn't write it word for word um okay I I will try to do my best so um I move to approve the proposed Communications plan and budget for the special election to revoke the remaining Bond Authority for the multi-purpose performing arts and entertainment facility on November 5th 2024 and include um an analysis of the outcomes of this education campaign uh translation of data and then host Community meetings between August 13th and September 13th and then other Outreach through other mediums including social media and mailers after those meetings have taken place and the communication for the the communic for the for all of this including PowerPoints mailers social media websites should include a timeline of events from 2012 to the present and a list of all expenditures for bond series that have been sold but not fully utilized and you feel okay with not including part if if needed a little bit more budget for the city manager no we given you an estimate if I have to add something to be able to identify that I can't imagine it's going to be too much money for us to be able to do it so I don't think I need I don't think I need uh amount certain You' you already seen the the amount we paired down from the original request and I think I can try to do it within that budget okay so end it there problem with that you can replay it after the meeting yes sir prior to taking the calling for the vote we do have public comment on this item all right we still have representative mullinar thank you mayor um Miss Laur Cruzer COA you've been with the city very long time yes sir you've been the Strategic communications director a long time do you feel uh in no disrespect to Dr o but is this motion too overreaching or too burdensome for I don't believe so no sir it's not something that we um it's something that we do on a annual basis if anything I don't know I just kind of feel like it's like telling you what to do in other words we give you Direction but correct not hey too much Direction so I'm not City manager I'm not sure if you have any thoughts on that no I mean I'm comfortable that I don't think you you I mean I really don't think you have to go into that level of specificity but I want to make sure that we're delivering what what you as a a body um are wanting us to deliver we planned on going through very specifically what that timeline looked like anyway okay and once again our bound council is available for what do you want thank you thank you that's all I have we're besties now mhm yeah if you want to ask about the BR yeah go ahead ma'am clity yeah go ahead you're more than welcome The Clarity on on the motion I'm sorry I know it was really long um but read the um I'm just trying to make sure I I I understood the yeah read it again I'm sorry go ahead oh my God they're challenging you sir I should have I should have just written it all out um I'm saying you're going to have to play it back Mr Prim yes okay so first time was better by the way um three times is a charm I guess okay so I move to approve the proposed Communications plan and budget for the special election to revoke the remaining Bond Authority for the multi-purpose performing arts and entertainment facility on November 5th 2024 and include an analysis of outcomes of this education campaign to include a translation of the data collected and host Community meetings between August 13th and September mber 13th and have Outreach for um through other medium mediums including social media occur after the community meetings have taken place um as well as the the mail that will be prepared and in the communication to include a timeline of events from 2012 to the present and a list of all expenditures for bond series that have been sold but not fully utilized thank you that yeah now I could looking for the the metrics part of it um I I think just to give them I guess the opportunity if if the metrics or the data what we're requesting to give to be able to hire if they are not able to um be able to to provide all the data in the story that we need and and I think that Mr Wesson said that he was good to to figure that out on his own so I think having analysis translation of data and outcomes kind of gets that together and then they'll figure out if they need to get more money and and truth be told I mean we're going to bring forward to you all so you can see after we do the vetting with Bond Council what that campaign is going to look like and I know that Council wants to make sure we cover everything but I know that this motion is exactly what uh she is proposing to do and basically you're just because I know represent molar asked that but your motion is what she would do cuz I've watched it and I've worked with her for eight years now and this is exactly what she does it's not uhre anything different it's not anything you know that we're reaching out for her to do something that she would not normally do I know that you guys want to make sure you put your motion forward but I don't see anything different that she wouldn't do every day exactly it's basically just to say to hire if need it is all I would want to just either way CU what I'm trying to make sure that the the hours are spent wisely and if that's very encumbersome to be able to have the latitude to hire that's all so just too higher in that motion that part to add to higher if needed can we add a friendly Amendment oh your motion to include her you're still reading the motion okay you're all right okay this is the last time I'm reading it and and I and and I and and I think the the intent is for all of us to be on the same page it's not to overreach and I I hope you don't take it that way literally so we could cuz this is such a unprecedented moment that I think we all need to make sure that we have the the plan moving forward and it's completely stated so um I'll state it again I move again I move that the city council approve the proposed Communications plan and budget for the special election to revoke the remaining Bond Authority for the multi-purpose performing arts and entertainment facility on November 5th 2024 and to include an analysis of the data with outcomes um a translation of data and hire um outside Consulting if needed for this analysis and have the community meetings take place between August 13th and September 13th and for any other Outreach through other mediums such as social media to be conducted after the imperson community meetings have taken place and for the communication to include a timeline of events from 2012 to the present and a list of all expenditures for bond series that have been sold but not fully utilized um for the public to understand what they are voting on and the friendly Amendment it's already been and I and I included the friendly am okay so we're good and PS do your job to the best of your ability as you know how to do thank you sir thank you green can it be blue and yellow for the city colors you know I don't you know I like yellow but I don't yellow doesn't like me like I said I know you guys want to put an make sure everything's covered but I know that's knowing Miss Laur Cruz Costa this is exactly what she would do to make sure that we do full reach out and make sure that we're accountable for everything we do so thank you and with that M PR yes sir we have public we're not going to read it again go ahead we have public comment from Ellen sna and Miss Turner good afternoon Miss Turner good afternoon mayor of counsel we're doing this simply because the 2012 election was fraudulent we had Community meetings then people filled out cards and the thing is corpses filled out cards four-year-olds filled out cards people on their death bed filled out cards and what the city failed to tell us that 40% of the people specifically said they did not want any professional sports teams or Arenas supported by taxpayers downtown we had an individual out of the city manager's office say well if fraud existed it's immaterial uh and all these cars that people filled out had your logo on them and the city attorney's offic at that time said it's not a crime if it was tampered with so so I if that's true then I think we need an ordinance to make sure that it is a crime to tamper with your documents and the thing is how are people going to trust you cuz they got this in 2012 they thought that Council was dealing with them honestly and they were not that's an obstacle you'll have to overcome plus the opposition is going to spend five to 10 times as much opposing what you're you're trying to do in an effort to save this again I I recognize the fact that youall don't have to issue the bonds okay if you don't have to issue the bonds I think the incident is uh dead but to be sure you have to have a vote I'm not sure of the legality because I'm not Bond counsel and I'm not your lawyer even though I would love to play one every Tuesday but the thing is is I heard Miss Cassandra talk about I me Miss Hernandez talk about Economic Development all that stuff let me put it to you this way if you got money you don't put it into an arena with 4,000 people because all it's going to all you going to do is create jobs for the for high schools and high school dropouts our education level in this city is that of a high school graduate the most effective use of our dollar is to make sure that it is not that that nearly half our population is more than a high school graduate but right now our city is dumb I'm sorry when you're nearly 50% of your city has a high school diploma or less this money should not be going to an arena we don't need to subsidize billionaires we need you to put your money where it will impact the greatest and that's in education in our community followed up by roads the best thing for business is to have roads that aren't full of potholes let's be honest the less time people spend on the road the more money they make it costs less to get your product to its destination so you pay less out of your product but remember you know when you do these things people aren't really going to uh past behaviors of council have shrouded anything you do in a community meeting or any data you bring out of it we were live to in 2012 we had a fraudin election in my eyes it's it's M Turner you reached three minutes now' thank you m Turner you all have a good day that's about the last one on the agenda right thank you m Turner hey and uh Miss Neeman I know that it's really important and there's some requirements that you need to follow and city manager when we're talking about uh reaching out to the community and this was a very lengthy um motion but I'm not quite sure if it covers all the requirements of the law and we need to make sure that uh with your professionalism and your leadership with you and uh Colonel Weston that uh we do cover every aspect of what's needed and we make sure that we follow everything of the law and and and stay within the guidance to make sure that we do do the right thing absolutely sir thank you thank you very much and thank you for for that M PR yes mayor so there was a motion made there is a motion made by representative AO and read into the record second it by Representatives Salo on item 49 on that motion call for the vote representative Canales yes thank you and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously there's a motion and a second to adjourn the city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed and the regular city council meeting for Tuesday August 13th 2024 is adjourned at 1:2 p.m. thank you Council that