e e e e e e e e l e e e e good morning mayor we protm real close no what is we lost Quorum we will begin in a few minutes we lost our quum for a second well we lost Corum now yeah know but she left cuz you wouldn't come up she did so now we got to wait Miss Prime good morning good morning sir good morning this is a meeting of the AL Paso city council for Tuesday April 9th 202 four mayor liser is present and presiding in council chambers along with mayor protm Kennedy alternate mayor protm molinard representative salido and representative Riva it is 9:03 a.m. now will everyone please silence their electronic devices so as not to disturb the meeting and rise for the invocation delivered by El Paso Police chaplain Robert hhill Jr good morning to The Honorable mayor Mr oscara mayor protim council members department heads and Community leaders let's bow our heads for the invocation Heavenly Father we come to you in the humblest manner asking for your guidance wisdom and support as we begin the city council meeting we're here to disc discuss the topics that will benefit the citizens of our community help us to engage in meaningful discussions and guide us as we make appropriate decisions that are in the best interest of the citizens of El Paso Texas help us to grow together as a group as we nurture the bonds of the city open our eyes to spiritual Solutions and help us to continue to promote passo as a great city to live in this we ask in your name amen amen thank you sir thank Ana can you lead us in the pledge please thank you of the United States of America and to the one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you ma'am good morning everyone and um we have a full house and uh thank you all for being here and being interested in U what happens day in and day out in um our city government we have U some proclamations and um I um I'm glad to see that everyone's here I I do um want people to to think of a um happy moment in life uh it's always good to start our day with a with a smile and a good feeling in our heart so we're going to have a moment of silence for something happy something that warms your heart something that makes you feel good about not only being here with us but also about yourself and I think that's really important thank you thank you and may God bless El Paso may God bless America and may God bless you m pran thank you mayor and for the record representative ernandez join the meeting at 906 along with representative feral that brings us to the mayor's proclamations the first Proclamation is occupational therapy month got that good morning good morning Proclamation city of El Paso Texas whereas the American Occupational Therapy Association has declared the month of April to be National Occupational Therapy month and whereas the American Occupational Therapy Association is celebrating its 107th year and whereas the health and quality of life of the citizens of op Paso depend upon the effective use of Health Care Resources including the important Services of occup ational therapists and whereas the Rio Grande District of the Texas Occupational Therapy Association is dedicated to ensuring quality of care for clients empowering clients's self-sufficiency and participating in community events promote physical and mental health awareness and whereas the University of Texas at El Paso's Department of Occupational Therapy provides education and community- based learning experiences to students to prepare them to be competent occupation therapy practitioner ERS that serve the people of the El Paso region now therefore be it proclaimed by the mayor and Council of the city of El Paso that the month of April shall be known as occupational therapy month signed Oscar liser honorable mayor for the city of El Paso thank you sir is anyone here thank you oh come on upic sir you don't work alone huh no sir thank you thank you mayor liser and members of the council um thank you to miss mendosa for helping make this possible to faculty and students that are joining me today um I'm Bill Roberts I'm the clinical assistant professor and chair of the Department of occupational therapy at UTEP and we are really here to celebrate occupational therapy month and thank you for helping us celebrate that with this Proclamation uh we want to celebrate occupational therapy month and increase the awareness of Occupational Therapy in our community the UTP Department of Occupational Therapy has been in El Paso for about 30 years and providing occupational therapists that meet the unique needs of our community we have a new occupational therapy doctorate program at UTEP that started in 2022 so that we can continue to serve the needs of the people of El Paso I am joined today by faculty and students to celebrate occupational therapy month including Dr Anderson Hicks Dr Cecilia Fiero uh students Diana Cadena Desiree Gomez Miguel Duran and Joshua Gardner and the students will talk a little bit about occupational therapy in our community good morning good morning my name is Diana GNA and I am a firste occupational therapy student at the University of Texas at El Paso I'm sure some of you are still wondering what occupational therapy is occupational therapy empowers individuals to do the things they need and want to do for example as simp something as simple as brushing your teeth in the morning or participating in a city council meeting like we all here today we are here because it is Meaningful to us and everything we participate in throughout our lives means something uniquely to us getting deprived of doing the things we want to do by illness disorders traumatic events and many other changes impacts her well-being and quality of life and this is where occupational therapy can help individuals overcome the barriers and challenges to get individuals back to what they want to do or incorporate new occupations that will improve their life the uniqueness of occupational therapy and also my favorite part is a holistic approach in our practice we do not only look at the person's diagnosis we also look at their environment M their culture their Customs their family Dynamic their morals beliefs language their Hobbies or passions and everything that makes them unique because all of these factors as we know impact our daily lives we take their life story as a whole and help them adapt or modify what is around them and develop or recover skills to improve their quality of life lastly occupational therapy extends Beyond individual care occupational therapists work tirelessly to create Community Resources advocate for the marginalized populations and spread awareness about the importance of inclusion and accessibility by addressing systemic barriers and promoting social justice occupational therapists play a vital role in building a more Equitable and inclusive community thank you thank [Applause] you good morning good morning my name is desire Gomez and I'm a a first year grad student at the University of Al Paso Texas on behalf of the UTEP doctor Occupational Therapy Program we thank you for having us here today our program focuses on promoting Health wellbeing and participation in meaningful activities and occupations for all individuals to fac to facilitate what we focus on as a program we encourage Active Learning and provide opportunities for students to engage in in a diverse and authentic Community environment this program educates students on the importance of unity as we value and support and guide each individual towards Community engagement and Service Learning thank you thank [Applause] you good morning my name is dudan and I am a seconde occupational therapy student at the University of Texas El Paso and a proud member of the first doctoral class of occupational therapy at UTEP like my classmates have mentioned here at UTP we've had the opportunity to participate in various settings across Al Paso we have visited with the niku at local hospitals having the special chance to observe premature children in real time we have worked with local programs and organizations for children's with Down Syndrome such as the joyful dance program at UTB and every little blessing preschool in our community engagement courses we have partner with local and National pro programs such as h2f working with Fort Bliss to find ways to better serve our active military we've worked with GG's Playhouse where we've had the pleasure of cooking and practicing safe meal preparation with adults with Down syndrome and the philosophic systems Institute where we have created andran activities for mothers and childrens in a local house Community local housing community and we've also had the unique opportunity to work with patients across the border in our sister city of hes alongside the FAS Integra in all of these experiences we've been truly blessed to work with amazing people in our community in a variety of settings and age groups from premature children to to older adults and through all of these Sleepless study nights and these experiences we have been transforming day by day into the future occupational therapists of Tomorrow occupational therapists will be equipped to meet the specific needs of this beautiful Community I lastly wanted to thank the city of Al Paso and mayor Oscar liser for allowing us to speak on this amazing profession and of course I want to thank our UTB faculty and staff for their tireless effort and all that they do thank you thank you [Applause] sir good morning sir good morning uh members of the council and thank you for the opportunity to speak today my name is Joshua Gardner and I'm a seconde student at UTEP Occupational Therapy Program I want to talk to you today about OT and how beneficial it can be for me OT was a lifechanger OT is able to help people in all spects of in all aspects of their life uh in OT we don't look at the people just as how we can fix them as if they are broken uh we want to help them and be able to be able to do what the what they can do what they want need to do and what they want to do what makes them happy we look at the people as a in a whole picture uh we just not just what they what what's wrong with them I personally have had many uh different jobs growing up in a small town in Georgia I worked on farms I've Done Construction and I ended up joining the military as a truck driver and then as a nurse I was medically retired due to injuries during deployment and and due to those injuries I've had to see both physical and occupational therapy my mindset throughout all of these work experiences has changed and I have grown through my experiences and through my experiences in occupational therapy thinking back I would have never gone to OT when I was working construction I had no idea what it was and I did not uh see any use in it but now after receiving services and going through utep's OT program I see the huge benefit and the impact and it uh that it can have in a person's life because my life experiences and what I've learned in school I feel that I am well suited to advocate for the profession and can share how it can truly uh change a person's life thank you all for the opportunity to uh thank you for your time and the opportunity to be here today thank you thank you all for being here and congratulations on the profession you have picked thank you all M PR for the record uh representative ACO joined the meeting at 9:08 a.m. the next Proclamation is Sexual Assault Awareness monthes good morning thank you mayor good morning ma' the proclamation for the city of El Paso whereas sexual assault is a serious crime that affects millions of people every year regardless of age gender race ethnicity sexual orientation or socioeconomic background and whereas sexual assault can have devastating physical and emotional consequences for survivors and survivors often face stigma and shame when they come forward and whereas it is critical to raise awareness about sexual assault support survivors and prevent future assaults and whereas the center against sexual and Family Violence is dedicated to providing support and advocacy for survivors of sexual assaults promoting prevention education and working to create a safer community and whereas this year's theme I believe you emphasizes the importance of creating a supportive environment for survivors by believing them initially it validates their experience and encourages them to seek help and Ras the cfv encourages all residents of El Paso to educate themselves about sexual assault and its impact learn about bystandard intervention and how to prevent sexual violence show support for survivors by wearing tears the color associated with Sexual Assault Awareness and participating in Awareness events believe survivors when they come forward and whereas we encourage all a pasoans to join Advocates and communities across the country in taking action to prevent Sexual Violence by empowering individuals to engage in sexual assault prevention efforts and ensure the Next Generation Fosters attitudes that promote equality and respect and the Sexual Assault Awareness Month signed by honorable mayor Oscar liser thank congratulations thank you good morning good morning Mary good morning Representatives it's a pleasure to be here with you all um I'm Senator nadas Garcia I'm the executive director for the center and as we said our theme is I believe you and so a couple of things happen when we believe survivors in our community it supports healing it validates their experience and um helps them to begin the healing process feeling disbelief can often times incredibly often times create isolating and Tra re-traumatizing Behavior it also when we believe our survivors it increases reporting most sexual assaults go unreported if survivors are believed they will be met with support and without doubt they're more likely to come forward this allows investigations potential Justice and prevents future sexual assaults when survivors are believed um it breaks their silence we send the message that the sexual assault is not tolerated it reduces stigma and encourages others to speak up when we believe our survivors it empowers them it allows them to Take Back Control of their narrative and their life it shows them that they are not alone and they can rebuild a sense of safety and when we believe our survivors we hold um perpetrators accountable it creates a space of investigation and potential holding perpetrators accountable for their actions and it can also deter future assaults and promote Justice you know often times I think we think as a community that those are situations that happen other places right not in El Paso um unfortunately it does and so this past fiscal year we accompanied 341 individuals to the hospital reminding you that most of them do not report these are the individuals that felt able enough to go to the hospital and seek some sort of assistance in our non-residential program um we also assisted another 616 individual clients um for Individual Services so one of the things that we did as your local Rape Crisis Center that we took on that service back in 2015 uh we made a commitment not only to do the hospital accompaniment and provide services for these survivors but also to enhance the service for our community and so we included lodging and so this past fiscal year we also provided um uh emergency shelter for 616 individuals as well and so the importance of the month is obviously to create conversation um we have denim day coming up um April 24th um that we'd love for yall participate send pictures tag us on our social media you can follow us on our social media for additional events we'll have various lives for the community providing information and awareness and so again we're just honored to be here with you this morning and for work recognizing the month as a Sexual Assault Awareness Month thank you for your time thank you and if this morning's honores will please remain in Chambers city council will have an opportunity to take photos with you once all the ceremonial items have been completed the next Proclamation is National Public Safety telecommunicators week [Music] repres thank you mayor good morning everyone approximation from the city of Al Paso Texas whereas the city of Al Paso Texas recognizes the professionalism excellence and dedication of Public Safety telecommunicators who answer 911 calls daily and whereas Public Safety telecommunicators are the first First Responders providing the initial and most critical contact are Community has with emergency services and whereas Public Safety telecommunicators are essential to the safety of police officers firefighters and paramedics by monitoring their activity via radio providing them critical information and ensuring their safety and whereas Public Safety telecommunicators promote the Swift response of police officers firefighters and paramedics to protect life liberty and preservation of property and whereas the city of Al Paso Texas is committed to providing the highest level of emergency communication services to the citizens in our community and whereas each Public Safety telecommunicator exhibits kindness compassion and understanding to citizens seeking assistance whereas we honor the men and women whose tireless effort professional demeanor and concern keep our community and citizens safe now therefore it be proclaimed by the mayor and councel of the city of op Paso that the week of April 15th through April 19th 2024 shall be known as National Public Safety telecommunicators Week signed by The Honorable mayor Oscar liser I saw you looking back you wanted to make sure they came with you huh yes um thank you good morning and I'm very honored to be standing for you um I'm honored to be standing here to represent the remarkable telecommunicators who tirelessly work hard behind the scenes often unseen and unheard yet playing a pivotal role in ensuring the Safety and Security of our communities um this week is a time to honor and recognize the dedication resilience and unwavering commitment of those who serve as the first point of contact in times of Crisis they are the calm voices in the chaos the lifeline for those in distress and the unsung heroes of Emergency Response with their unwavering dedication telecommunicators fearlessly navigate challenging situations daily providing critical assistance and support to those in need they selflessly guide callers through medical emergencies fires accidents moments of Shear Panic offering reassurance and guidance until help arrives their work is demanding and often stressful yet they persevere with professionalism and compassion they are the silent Guardians who ensure that every call is answered every distress signal is heard and every emergency is responded to promptly and effectively but their impact extends far beyond the calls they answer they are the backbone of of our emergency response system their collaboration with law enforcement fire departments medical personnel and other agencies is a testament to the strength of their teamwork coordinating resources and dispatching assistance where it's most needed today as we honor teller communicators week let us express our gratitude for their service and reaffirm our commitment to supporting them let us recognize the importance of their work and daily sacrifices to keep our community safe I appreciate all telecommunicators dedication courage and unwavering commitment to serving others I am proud to be a part of this amazing team you are the true heroes and your contributions do not go unnoticed thank you thank you and thank you for um everything y all do and um I Know Chief is uh coming up cuz it's I mean if you stand and look behind you you have a great support cast but without you all they couldn't do their job and and the accuracy and the timing is so important as you were talking about and uh I thank you for being here to Chief good morning mayor and Council Chief killings Al Passa fire department I just wanted to come up and take a moment to express the Gratitude on behalf of the men and women of the El Paso Fire Department uh for our telecommunicators um as you heard the long hours of dedication uh that these men men and women uh provide to our community um I mean their actions directly save lives um they they answer not only 911 calls for our community but they also take care of our firefighters our police officers that are out there uh every day in the field uh and and they are the backbone of the 911 system and the emergency response system for this community and we wouldn't be able to do what we do without without them so um yes this is a great thing and I I really appreciate them and the hard work that they do so thank you Chief thank you all for the record representative Canales arrived at 9:20 25 a.m. the next Proclamation is Patty the day repres thank you mayor I have the honor of reading this proclamation of the legendary Patty Diaz who I've been listening to since I was a kid literally um and so I'll just get down and and read it whereas Patty Diaz has dedicated 30 remarkable years to radio broadcasting touching the lives of countless individuals in El Paso and Beyond with her un in dedication passion voice and whereas Patty began her illustrious career at Power 102 in 1992 eventually becoming the co-host of the Power 102 Morning Show with Patty DS and Mike D a program that has become a staple of morning radio in El Paso and whereas Patty has served with distinction as the vice president of programming for iHeart media El Paso demonstrating exceptional leadership and a Visionary approach to radio programming that has sign signicantly enriched our City's cultural landscape and whereas through her role as program director for Power 102 and 96.3 K Country she has used her platform to engage in community activities promote events for families and support local initiatives showcasing her commitment to the community and whereas Patty DS has been a pioneering force in radio using her voice to represent Inspire and Empower women while balancing professional achievements with with the responsibilities of being a devoted single mother serving as a role model for resilience Independence and strength and whereas in recognition of her three decades of service to the radio industry and her significant impact on the El Paso Community Patty Diaz has been rightly inducted into the Texas radio hall of fame an honor that reflects her outstanding contributions in the field broadcasting and her invaluable role in our community's life now therefore be a proclaimed by the mayor and Council of the city of El Paso that April 9th 2024 shall be known as Patty theas signed the honorable mayor Oscar liser very well said thank you very much this is Walter alvers the general manager and president of IH heart El Paso I've had the pleasure of working for Patty for the last 10 years and everything you said is absolutely correct she is uh incredibly dedicated not only to the job but to the listeners and just this whole community so thank you for making this recognition because she is very very welld deserving of it so thank you all and thank you [Applause] Patty good morning Council good morning mayor liser good morning um want to give a special thanks to Ernesto Garcia and representative oav for getting this on the agenda for today thank you so much um and for mayor ler obviously for signing off on it thank you so much um I deeply humbled and honored to stand before you today to celebrate 30 years of service to the city of El Paso V uh via the radio Airwaves I was born and raised here in El Paso and it's been a privilege to have had the opportunity to contribute to the betterment of our city with music with uh winning and contest with laughs important information and important conversations to be had it's my love for this city and our community that's been the driving force behind my commitment to service and as I reflect on the past 30 years I'm filled with a great sense of pride a sentiment that I my dad has for his eldest daughter and he is here today thank you Dad um the same feeling my son has as he has grown up watching his mom wake up at 4 o'clock in the morning and leave the house and still make it to all his games and contests and concerts and he is here today skipping school um it's okay I'm truly blessed to have had the opportunity to serve and be a part of this community a community that values compassion Unity and progress thank you thank you so much for this honor today I'm truly grateful for the recognition and I look forward to continuing to serve our community for many years to come I don't think it'll be 30 um but I'll be here as long as you'll have me so thank you so much thank you Patty and um congratulations I know I've known you for a long time you do a great job and U you know when you talk about 30 years you have to love what you do to be able to do it for 30 years and I've been blessed to love what I do but uh for you to have do good for 30 years and come up here and continue to love your job and your profession you're one of the best in that job so congratulations thank you may protim hi Patty we're just talking about K102 my dad worked there I know um having spent a minute or two in radio myself 30 years uh slogging through the trenches behind the scenes is incredible you've always been a beacon of professionalism in that industry and those that don't realize what it's like when you're doing a Morning Show um and and out at 4:00 to try and go in uh it's an experience unlike any other and and not only your longevity but your dedication to taking care of listeners and information as well as entertainment is to be lauded and it's just really great to see somebody that that comes up here that is from an industry I hung out at for a little bit and including at K 963 for a little bit with the Rio Trio but you I mean you've done a great job and and I just you know congratulations there's nobody more deserving than you thank you so much I appreciate it thank [Applause] you represent FOH thank you mayor it's my honor and privilege to read this uh Proclamation city of El Paso Texas whereas since the Inception in 1970 Earth Day is a day intended to rise awareness appreciation of the Earth's natural environment and whereas the global Community faces extraordinary challenges such as climate change food and water shortages and Global health issues whereas uh people in our community regardless of age race income or gender have moral right to a healthy sustainable environment and whereas a city V Paso Environmental Services Department annually hosts a celebration to promote sustainability and environmental change whereas the sustainable environment can be achieved on the community level through education Outreach efforts to help our communities and democracy Thrive by working together for a common goal whereas the city Vel Paso environment Services achieved on the community level through education Outreach efforts to our help our communities and democracy Thrive by working together for a common good whereas the city of El pasel Environmental Services will host its annual Earth Day celebration at 10:00 a.m. on April 20th 2024 the city of El pasel Municipal Services Center 7 7968 s Pablo drive and whereas we recognize command commend not condemn but commend the staff and and the city Environmental Services Department for their hard work dedication commitment to our community now therefore be it proclaimed by the mayor and City Council of El Paso that the month of April shall be known as Earth Day celebration month thank you so much oh I'm sorry sorry stop clapping stop CLA signed by honorable mayor Oscar liser yes morning uh Nicholas IAD with Environmental Services uh thank you for very much for this recognition you know I know a lot of folks throughout the city recognize Environmental Services just for trash collection and recycling collection but I have an amazing staff back here that does a great job organizing Outreach they um they meet with uh with many of our residents throughout the city education educating them on recycling um they provide the class to all the residents that need to get their blue bin as part of uh our program they do an amazing job setting all this up and we'd like to invite uh mayor and Council to come out to our earthday celebration like representative mentioned it'll be April 20th from 10: to 2: p.m. at our MC at 7968 s Paulo and we welcome everybody there'll be uh music uh wrestling will be there also our theme for the uh for the event is uh a planet versus plastic which is our our mascot is Mundo so that's the planet fighting against plastic and we have a couple gift bags to hand out to everybody just as a friendly reminder for our event coming up on April 20th thank you very much thank you yeah can you introduce yourself we without M PR yes mayor the next item is 22 item 22 is discussion and action to approve a resolution to recognize April 9th 2024 as El Paso commission for women Hall of Fame honor e day and their efforts in Civic leadership this item was submitted by representative f f thank you mayor Mr Lon M Lan when you're done hugging can you come to the podium please whereas the annual El Paso commission for women's um women Hall of Fame recognition will be held April 9th 2024 to honor the remarkable women who have made a significant contribution to our border Community whereas the El Paso Commission foren women recognizes their efforts in Civic leadership education military public relations Public Service science Health Care Sports Athletics and volunteerism whereas the El Paso commission for women propos uh its purpose to a positive course of action for achieving equal rights and responsibilities for women and to provide scholarship funds for deserving El Paso uh women and whereas the El Paso commission for women is committed to understanding and respecting the culture ethnic diversity of women in our community and to serve as a model for plurality and inclusiveness whereas the 2024 honores are Miss Wilburn uh Monica Tucker Kim Diaz Deanna uh Williams Oh my God help me with this one Lily one L Raheem Miss Raheem muua Gomez jeda Robert and I practiced that before I read it by the way uh jeda Roberts uh Campbell Bowen Miss uh Maggie Morales Moody and benab Robinson joined the uh 212 women that now form the El Paso commission for women Hall of Fame now therefore be proclaimed by the mayor honorable Oscar liser and the the Council of the city of Paso and honor shall be part of the El Paso commission for women uh that Tuesday April 9th 2024 shall be known as the El Paso commission for Women's Hall of Fame honory day thank you uh good morning motion Mary Lisa Commissioners good morning my name is Anna Harris how and I'm the chair for the El Paso commission for women and I have with me my vice chair who I stand hand on her shoulders Mrs Lily Lon we're here with some fantastic amazing and dedicated women of the community they were inducted into the El Paso Women's Hall of Fame on Saturday and the star was lit on the mountain to honor them I would like for them to come forth and introduce their themselves in the category that they was chosen in good morning good morning my name is Tano wilborne I'm sorry um I'm originally from Meridian Mississippi um I arrived here in El Paso because I served in the military and I have been here since um I have gone to school here I have taught students here and I have been a mentor to those who had a dream that didn't know how to reach that dream and I helped give them that push um um in 2020 during covid um I was able to open up my clinic and continue with my dream which is Meridian medical and Associates and what we do in our facility is we assist with providing scholarships for those who are in need and we serve the um under serve communities thank you thank you good morning morning I'm Dr Manuela Gomez I'm a philosophy professor at El Paso Community College for the last two decades I have dedicated myself to making sure that philosophy transcends that classroom into our community with a lot of philanthropic projects in 2022 I had the privilege of being a piper Professor for the entire state of Texas which is the highest recognition in higher education but now adding this recognition from the women in my community is incredibly inspiring and honoring we know that a lot of the labor from women goes not just unpaid but unrecognized so this is great and I'm very thankful for your support thank you congratulations thank you good morning everybody my name is Alicia dejon Davis I am a Texas silver hair legislator and I'm standing on the shoulder of the late jeta Roberts she paav the way for all of us at TL and I'm delighted for this recognition she served with a honor for 28 years and she was uh responsible for many of the resolutions that passed particularly the last one HB 54 which thanks to that our residents and nursing homes are able to get that $60 raised to 75 as the personal need allowances thank you so very much so kind of you congratulations my name is Diane William Willam I am a 30-year military army uh retired veteran I had the pleasure of joining the Army at the end of the women's Army Corps so I have had the honor of watching the military transition to a place where women can truly be all they can be uh upon retiring from the military I've been very active in the community Through the uh top ladies of Distinction Delta Sigma Theta sority the NAACP and the links Incorporated all of these organizations have one thing in common they are dedicated to serving our community and I have the privilege of being a part of them and raising over $90,000 in scholarships so that deserving young students in El Paso can continue their education and I am truly honored to be a member of this Elite group thank you thank you congratulations good morning everyone my name is ADBA Abdul Rahim and I'm an associate professor in the civil engineering department at the University of Texas El Paso women represent uh just little over 10% of the US construction Workforce and most of these women uh they leave their career early on just because of the lack of the mentorship that they need so at UTEP under the construction engineering and management program we are training uh these women not to have all the technical skills but also to survive and thrive in that very competitive uh Construction industry I'm glad to mention here that we have over 40% of our students they are woman which is way over the national average so go miners thank you for this recognition and I'm grateful and looking forward to serve this beautiful Community for many years to come than congratulations good morning good morning everyone my name is Monica Tucker I am the founder and publisher of Black Op Paso voice um and I'm honored to be here and receive this recognition I'm so used to um honoring others is kind of hard for me sometimes to accept honor myself but I'm very grateful um I'm a military spouse been here since 96 and I kind of started in Civic engagement during that time assisting other at the time Junior listed families um and also those who were um underserved those who had been treated pretty badly in the community to assist them and now um in addition to working with the black community and women and Junior enlisted military families um my focus is also to engage the community to be more involved politically and um I'm honored also to um partner this year with the city of El Paso for our uh 2024 juneth event so I thank you for that because um that was because of all of you so I'm very grateful and I look forward to continuing my service here in the community thank you congratulations good morning mayor and city council I'm Maggie Moran Moody I was here just a couple of weeks ago uh in recognition of world Down syndrome day um it's always wonderful to be here and especially today such a a humbling and a tremendous honor to be named part of the uh Hall of Fame for the many wonderful women that are here in our community and and moving things forward and making our community better every day um you know I'm not the speaker for the family usually it's Melissa who speaks to you all and I'm going to tell you she does much better job at it than I do um but I certainly work tirelessly because of Melissa to make things better for people who live with Down syndrome in our community as you know GG's Playhouse uh provides over 16 educational therapeutic and career development programs for people with Down Syndrome I had the honor and the privilege and the opportunity to be the the founder of the uh El Paso Playhouse I thank all of you for this recognition this morning you know you always have a standing invitation to come by GG's Playhouse and and uh share in the joy that we experience there every day thank you so much thank you congratulations before my vice chair comes and speaks I just want to thank you uh mayor Lisa for giving us this honor and allowing us to be here this morning so thank you no thank you for youall all being here and congratul ulations to everyone and we have our former city representative Lily leemon good morning mayor good morning thank you very much and representative Fierro thank you for working through this um Proclamation as you can tell there are many strong Dynamic women in our community we're just honored that we were able to recognize 10 of them there are many many more and I'm hoping that for next year you all will also take the opportunity to nominate we have many categories and we'll be back again next year thank you thank you Miss Lon thank you all mayor I'd like to make a motion to approve there is a motion made by representative Federal seconded by alternate mayor po Molina to approve the resolution on item 22 on that motion call for the vote representative FAL thank you and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously is there a motion to recess there's a motion in a second to recess a city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed and the meeting is in recess at 9:47 a.m. in order to take photos with this morning's honores Council if I could get everybody we're going to start with occupational therapy month followed by Sexual Assault Awareness Month National Public Safety telecommun telecommunicators Week Patty Diaz day Earth Day celebration month and the Women's Hall of Fame honores day so we're going to do those six in the lobby area so if I could first get occupational therapy month lined up please thank you e e if I could get the council members to join us out of the lobby the counc members out in the lobby please if I could get the council members to join us out in the lobby please out in the lobby area for the occupational therapy photograph e if I could get the council members to join us out in the lobby area the council members to join us out in the lobby area we're missing just a few more council members in the lobby area please a few more council members in the lobby area e e e e e National Public Safety commun uh telecommun week if I could get the telecommun communicators why can I not say that word telecommunicators out in the lobby area e e e e e e e e can we get Earth Day folks e last one the Women's Hall of Fame honores day if we could get e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e yeah we're still in Rec so we'll go to m Transit good morning this is a meeting of the El Paso mass transit board for Tuesday April 9 2024 it is 1010 a.m. present and presiding is board chair leer also presentent Chambers our board members ACO molinar Rivera and Canales we do have two members of the public signed up to speak Mr chair would you like to do that absolutely ma'am the first member is Britney Hernandez Miss Hernandez star six to unmute yourself her topic is offering a route specifically for students such as previously Route 70 and offering more flexible route options that would benefit students Miss Hernandez are you on the Queue she's not on the Queue Mr Mr chairman the next person is Steven strumer Mr stromer's topic is severe need of a bus shade since temperatures exceed 100 degrees on pelicano bus stop 74 Mr strumer you have three minutes good morning sir thank you good morning mass transit board I am asking for a shelter at picano at George Deer uh there is no shade whatsoever in fact it's illegal to use shade there um there was a car wash mixed gas station there with some signs and a kind of a uh aluminum or covered area you can't use it uh I was using it to go for a doctor's visit there is no way I'm going to stand out there June 15th so I waited in the doctor's office but one of the people that was waiting there was a homeowner coming back from work mayor liser it is like Saudi Arab Aria I ask you for help with this um it really is serious all it is s is a telephone pole and a uh bus bench and sir I wouldn't put My Own Worst Enemy out there I'm very serious when I say it I I used it guardedly June 15th that's when I saw you outside um I could have passed out sir I could have passed out it was that bad it's because of the warming effect from the um asphalt the asphalt is like a radiator and um I believe in you sir I voted for you and I know you maybe could move on this um I don't live there I try not to use that areas those areas is because of the heat Factor um and maybe you could help me out um it's uh uh we we could have all four of us could have passed out I'm quite serious and the air and and the bus had no air conditioning sir on both out and in I mentioned the bus AC to Sun Metro on that so uh it's the route 74 at pyano at deer and I know um you're on my I hope you're on my side um it is a it's a Calamity I I the only way I could go back to the office is my pastor took me uh so I'm asking for help um there is zero shade so um I believe in you sir I always will um this is this is not this is not a funny situation so any help you can give even if it was a teeny one it'd be appreciated thanks very much for hearing me thank you for being here sir thank you sir all matters listed under the consent agenda will be considered by the 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 also represent uh board members ernandez joined the meeting at 10:12 and board members salido and Fierro at 10:11 a.m. there's only one item on the consent agenda sir do you have a motion motion made by board member Rea seconded by board member Fierro voting session is open board member Fierro ASO thank you sir and the item has been approved unanimously the next item is a presentation and Mr chair we do have one member of the public signed up to speak and this is a briefing on the intent to provide a notice of termination for Mission Del Paso Route 84 interlocal agreement between the city of El Paso in El Paso County executed on October 20th 2014 and board member Kennedy just joined the meeting at 10:16 a.m. is there staff is there a presentation morning mayor city council there's a presentation that that we have um for you today it can you please pull up item number three for the mass transit Department board agenda so the presentation that we have for you today is about R Route 84 and um this Route 84 uh is what we the County contracted the Sun Metro to do um for them next slide here's what we're going to cover today Route 84 is goes uh Mission Del Paso um we're going to cover the summary and the service uh restructuring and then the recommendation slide please so what has happened is the county has partnered and um with the Incorporated cities around El Paso and they formed a LGC and this LGC what they do is um they're going to take over the mass transit for the county and right now currently they have a few routes that they run but the one we're particularly concerned about is Route 84 and this Route 84 the current contract expires on August 31st right and so what the county has done through this LGC is they've um proposed to have their own routes um and an additional route that covers the area of of Route 84 and so we're going to um not we're going to let this um current route expire in August um 31st of 2024 and the LGC plans on picking up a similar route to cover this area next slide here you can see the area that the the route currently covers that the LGC proposes to have a route to cover a similar area of this next slide so in general the route is um operated right now by um Sun Metro and it terminates at Mission Valley Transit Center the route is done nine times a day through the week and eight times on Saturday it averages about 100 Riders per day and um the the current um interlocal agreement um the the is approved by the mass transit board back in October of 2014 slide so the LGC board met back in February and they approved um to uh let this route expire so on the lgc's side they're prepared to let this um RI 84 expire and to pick up a new route um So within the contract you can let within the contract either side can give a notice to let this contract expire within 60 days otherwise within the contract it'll just keep renewing and so that's why we're bringing it here to the mass transit board to say we'd like it to expire within 60 days but it's just not on the Sun Metro side it's also on the LGC side because they're prepared to take that over in addition Tech out has notified that the county LGC that they have to pick up the pair of Transit piece and so they're prepared to pick up the pair of Transit piece and the fixed route piece which they're which they're already doing to exclude Route 84 which they're prepared to pick that piece up slide please and so our recommendation is uh to continue to coordinate with the LGC which we just met with them yesterday to confirm everything that I just told you right right now and to go ahead and let us issue the uh notice of termination on Route 84 as we continue to coordinate with the LGC to make sure there's seamless transition for the citizens between the county citizens of of AO County and the city citizens of a Paso and so I know there's some concern about having seamless transition especially for the pair Transit um community and so what we've agreed to do for the Transit Community is all the county all the county Riders the county is going to transport those individuals who qualify for rides to come into the City and take them into the City and then take them back out and all the Riders from the city city residents Sun Metro is going to take them from the city out to the county and then back into the city so there'll be no no transfers there so it'll be seamless to the to the um customers for the Ada community subject to your questions any questions uh representative um nandas please by represent molard good morning Mr teiser thank you for um that additional information you've addressed some of my concerns which is the seamless transition which I'm okay with I'm trying to better understand the current agreement with the county are are they compensating us or are we just pick are we just like you know collecting tolls and then that's the way that we pay for for that service no so so right now they annually they they compensate us annually so they they pay for the service okay so we calculate that and then we Bill them every year and there's a set price that we Bill them and then we go back and we look at to make sure that that set price was correct and then we adjust to that every year and then we we reconcile and and the the current map is just for um you're saying it's both both for regular routes and for PA Transit so the the current map is is Route 84 and then 3/4 of a mile around Route 84 is what's required to provide pair Transit service for and that's going to be provided now by the C's L that's going to be provided now by the county so this is a relatively new um government it's like it's from 2021 yes um are were we applying for any federal grants for this specific route or is there is there any potential budget impact as a result of dissolving this no so the Route 84 is the responsibility of the area of Route 84 is the responsibility of the county and so if they try to get grants or whatnot for that that'll be their responsibility they just paid us to do that um prior to that but you know we are getting or we're attempting to get other grants to help us with sun Metro's area of responsibility to include pair Transit micr trans Transit and and whatnot I saw that on the County's website that they are looking at more Regional Regional type of uh approach to mass transit has there been any conversation with Sun Metro and LGC on further collaborating so in the in the talks that we're having with them they would like to pursue um a regional um partnership in doing mass transit but it's still just in infant stage talks um but they would potentially in the future like to see one entity do mass transit for the entire County but that has to be worked out in the details and then brought back up through City management and then eventually brought back here but it's still in very infancy discussion stages yeah I believe it was also voter approved to divide that mass transit sales tax so I'm curious how that would look like some I didn't hear what he said to somebody's phone oh no that's okay turn off your phone just kid um I have heard about their Regional efforts for a long time and so now that they're taking over routes I'm I'm trying to understand is this the first of a larger discussion or is there something that they're asking for Sun Metro or the city of El Pasa to come prepare for I just I don't know what those conversations are looking at and I don't I don't even know if you are have if we have a seat at the table so they they um they did this LGC and so we have a seat at that table of the LGC they came and briefed the the the mass transit board once and we are not a voting member as of right now but but some of the other local um cities around El Paso are part of the LGC and that's the first step in what you what you're talking about and so but right now all their jurisdiction is just within the cities around El Paso that have joined that LGC and I think most of them have but sakuro is one that has has not and so but they're talking about joining it also right and so these are steps in moving in in that direction right and so like so so here's when you think about longterm here's the one thing that I'll just ask for you all to consider yes we all compete regionally for funding yes and so if this group becomes the regional group then that means there's going to be a direct impact to the Sun Metro budget and so to the extent that we can we need to coordinate so that we are not 100% in on competition rather that we're complimenting each other because that's I've already kind of seen that with the uh the the folks that do it from donana County to Las Cruses to El Paso um that there is a shared funding now because of these different Transit groups that are opening in so um just some just something to consider I wasn't sure if this was going to be a budgetary impact you're saying No it's it's just a service we're not providing anymore right and so right now the answer is no there's not a budgetary impact in the future based upon what the LGC I believe is moving in that direction um I believe they're going to try to go after those funds is the direct answer to your question and I believe that's why we need a seat at the board which we do have a seat on their board and I do believe we need to be voting members in the future and I know that the county has more than one seat because of the population um affected by th those people um by by population covered right and and as we move into those those uh talks um we'll see how many seats we get at the board if we become voting members but that's still that is very INF stage okay and so moving in that th those directions exploring the opportunities with no commitments made at this time understood things that I've asked staff to do also my my concern with this change is the continuity of service for the customer and and if a County resident comes into El Paso the expectation and it's a good expectation is that they'll have the appropriate Transportation back and they're going to get that from the county resources based on this um agreement change but I've asked staff to make sure that we back stop that but I'm going to be watching it very very carefully to make sure that um we don't have the usage of City resources now that we're using a that we have a change with this contract without proper compensation and reevaluating the you know the agreement if there should be some problems with it but um I believe that uh you know the the uh the agreements have been made we'll just have to watch and see operationally um from a customer service standpoint if that pans out properly represent Mard thank you represent nundes thank you mayor good morning uh just want to make sure what is your plan to educate the ridership for 84 Route 84 and the general public in that area both the city and the county so um we'll be using the the stand way of of doing it through social media and that but particularly for the the pair Transit um eligibility El eligible Riders we are going to contact them individually and give them a rundown of of how the their provider is going to be changing the date that they're going to be changing we're also as we work with the um LGC and First Transit the provider that they're going to give we're going to ask if we can give um all the um personal information to the next provider so they can have seamless um eligibility with the new provider because they're going what we're working through now so that they accept our process of having them become eligible and so they will have to do nothing except for say yes you can give my information over and then they will be contacted by the next provider after we do all the leg work provide them all the information and then they'll be contacted by that provider and then once that once that happens once the service changes is over we'll have a standard information so if they're confused and call the wrong provider on on either end whether they're city or county they'll on each end the customer service center will be prepared to say look them up and say oh you're calling the wrong side here's the information remember you you switched to another provider here's the person that you call let me contact you let me get you in contact with them and then transfer them over so they can have the the service seamlessly provided again for them for the day that they sign up for the for the have you had any feedback so far no no we haven't gone that far yet because I what I'm trying to do is put in a a short-term interlocal agreement prior to this happening so all the things that I talk about can be done and agreed upon prior to us implementing the service that's why I want to bring this to the mass transit board so we can get permission so I can move forward and solidify all the stuff before before we take action also last question will be in bilingual English and Spanish Spanish and English yes it will be all right thank you sir thank you sir M PR I me Diana sorry there's no action on this item next item is item number four and this is discussion and action on the request to sign agreement 202 2441 bus cleaning services with both work Quest forly known as tibh Industries Incorporated oh that's true Miss Turner Miss Turner had signed up to speak on item number three well um let's do the presentation first please the for the previous item that previous item I'm sorry go ahead Mr Turner sorry about that didn't see you back there sorry about that Mr Turner first question is can you get a guarantee that everything is worked out and will be seamless especially for those who use the par Transit before this contract is cancelled because I don't trust the county no but I've asked uh that's a great question I mean that's been my concern as well is to make sure that the customers not affected and so one of the one of the directives I given staff is we've got to be prepared to back stop that service and and so we're you know we'll be evaluating how it's executed and by agreement and if there's problems we'll bring that back but that's that's the plan right now they're going to take the service we'll be watching and we'll be prepared to back stop it if we need to now the majority of the people in the county of El Paso live in the city therefore the city should have excuse me the majority of votes on this so-called new Transit company that wants to take over everything I don't know if that's what you all want to do but I don't trust them if they they do go through with this and take over does that 05% special tax go back to my general fund or do they take that this agreement would not alter the the uh the tax so they wouldn't get that half the point now with this agreement that half syn tax they wouldn't get that it isn't Al it ises an alter all all this does is just Alters the transportation service but there's nothing else and so if we have to use City resources um under this agreement the expectation is there'll be compensation of the city resources but my concern is is what I just heard today is the county plans to take over Sun Metro from you no ma'am no there's a there's a larger discussion that's very very early in in the in discussions with the county on a different approach regionally to mass transit but there's nothing that we could really bring forward right now there's a lot of work that would have to be done to talk that through that's what Mr deiser was was mentioning but that's what I got from your presentation this is just they're laying the groundwork right now to take over city transportation so these are the questions I'm asking uh I want to know where that half cent tax is going uh if that would happen and if it's going to be a regional thing we're the majority of the population the city is so you have to have majority three minutes are up thank you thank you for your questions M Turner now going over to item number four it is a discussion and action to sign agreement 20 2441 bus cleaning services with both work Quest formerly known as tibh Industries Incorporated a private nonprofit corporation and the certifying party and Goodwill services the Performing party to provide interior bus cleaning services and this is for in the amount of 4871 1400 for the initial term in an estimated 1,100 9,984 motion approve second and we do have a motion made by board member Fiero seconded by board member Riva voting session is open board member Kennedy Mr chairman yes ma'am mine sound out right when I want to hit it thank you and the item has been approved unanimously next item is item number five it's the last item and this is discussion and action on a resolution to sign the documents related to the FY 2024 low no or no emission grant program and the grants for buses and bus facilities competitive program which offers funding in the amount of 3,597 th000 and requires a cash match of 2,33 motion approve second motion made by board member Fieros seconded by board member Rivera go ahead ma'am repres this I I just have a statement the only thing I want to to reiterate is part of our strategic planning session I know that technology is not there yet but to the extent that we can any new Fleet or any new uh services so that they could be electric um and uh so we're purchasing low or no emissions uh for buses and bus facilities could could you describe what that is so we'll be purchasing if we're successful in the grant we will be purchasing 32 buses 35t buses fueled by compressed natural gas are those the little ones or like the the bigger ones okay they're not the Brios so yeah no I mean so those will last how long uh 500,000 miles or 12 years 12 years and we can extend their life um Beyond 500,000 miles with transmission upgrades and engines yeah and I I just and and I know it's necessary cuz we have um some fleet that's that's ready to right now most of the buses that are slated for replacement have approximately 750,000 miles on them yeah that's that's way over so so I support this today I just want to keep reiterating that we need to look at electrifying Sun Metro in our buses and so as to the extent that technology has innovated enough and we have the battery storage and we have that infrastructure available I'll just continue to reiterate that we are pursuing a grant with the fhw UA for um on Route Chargers so that we can have the charging capability dispersed throughout the community and a grant opportunity announcement came out this morning for uh electric Fleet for um economic disadvantaged communities which we qualify for thank you for the update thank you with that Mr chair Miss Lisa Turner would like to comment on this item M Turner you have three minutes ma'am I know people like to Electrify buses but we live in a mountainous area so you have to look at it like this you're not even going to get half probably of the stated range um their lifespan they'll have to be off the road you'll need more to cover because you'll have buses sitting and charging they won't be able to complete a full day uh if you're going to do something stay with natural gas stay away from this electric right now because they're not durable they break down and their environmental impact has been greatly covered up cuz what do you do afterwards thank you thank you I think you'll see as the platform continues to grow and the infrastructure continues to grow then you'll see us being able to grow that type of the segment but right now it's uh we don't have have the infrastructure that's needed at this point so thank you go ahead man and we do have a motion as stated before by board member Fiero seconded by board member rera voting session is open V for open and the item has been approved unanimously that is the last item on the agenda is there a motion to adjourn move to adjourn second all those in favor I all those opposed and the mass transit board meeting of April the 9th 2024 is adjourned at 10:40 a.m. is there a motion to reconvene the regular city council meeting there's a motion in a second to reconvene the reg city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed the meeting is back in session at 10:40 a.m. 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 consider any item at any time during the meeting mayor proam Kennedy page three item four move to regular agenda per representative Oedo page four item six move to regular agenda per representative Canales Page 6 item 18 delete per representative Rivera page 13 item 38 delete per representative Kennedy move to approve there's a motion made by mayor protim Kennedy seconded by representative Retta to approve the consent agenda as revised on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously let start with item four man' yes sir item number four is a resolution that the city manager be authorized to sign amendment number one I'm sorry that was six item four is a resolution authorizing the mayor to sign an interlocal cooperation agreement between the Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas and the City of Al Paso to provide an establish and automated failure to appear system in the city of Al Paso this resolution is an amendment to add contract changes by the Department of Public Safety that were mandated in the 80th leg legislative session morning mayor leadership uh this actually I just wanted to start off um by saying that this is not a new contract it is an existing contract as of 2010 it did renew as of um March of 2023 and the reason that it is being brought to council it is due to the 80th legislative session that has mandated language that needs to be in this contract which one of them being it is indigency and the other is to add occupation the opportunity for occupational license and we do have a presentation if You' like me would you like to see that sir please I T will you please bring up the presentation for item four and this is strategic goal uh set the standard for State thank you do it okay thank you so much uh uh again uh goal two set the standard for a safe and secure City uh what is the Omni based filler to appear program um it is a a fill the filler to appear program is a Texas Department of Public Safety program that is an enforcement program that may deny a renewal of driver's license driver's license if an individual failed to appear um again that's if they failed to appear for a citation or failed to satisfy a judgment ordering the payment of fine this uh to be clear it is not a license suspension it is uh only it denies the renewal of the license if it a a hold is placed um again licenses are renewed every 8 years uh the Omni based program as I mentioned earlier um it has been uh in place already since 2010 and the last time that it uh renewed was as of March 2023 and the contract changes that you see here uh are was mandated by the 88th legislative session again that's for indigency to to include that in the contract as well as now um allowing an an opportunity for an occupational license so if a license is on hold and um they want would like to um again apply for an occupational license it provides it for two years and an additional two years which is a total of four the program benefits are it assists the court in enforcement case resolution and closure of cases and is an opportunity for individuals to resolve pending cases and and to remove the warrants the hold is place after 180 days of the warrant date and the um Court does not require full payment of the warrant to release a hold there is a statutory 10 $10 per case required um I look I would like to emphasize that the court is proactive at um prior to the hold the court attempts to reach and communicate at least 15 times to individuals and again available at any given time to provide options at every stage of the process historical data from 2016 to 2023 um we had a conversion of technology and uh right now uh uh this goes up to uh December of 2023 there's 57% open closed 42% and these are total number of cases uh the amounts as you see below are those closed and those that are open the cases that the cases the Texas Municipal Courts that are utilizing the municipal courts and the ones that you see here um I just want to mention they are comparable to us they're high volume courts there are more courts in other municipalities that utilize the program so what you see here are those that compare to the high volume that'll pass uh season this is from January to December of 2023 the averages uh for customer uh program data for the time of 2016 to 2023 are an average of two cases uh per person two cases um 600 averaging about $600 and if a ho needs to be removed and individual will need to pay $20 um again if an individual is unable to pay uh they may request indigency the court the court has already had that established so this today again for the contract we are adding Indy indigency to the contract as well um the warrant will be recalled immediately during that time and an individual can request an option to resolve the case printed on the citation in our website we do have the 180 payment plan at any any time we also have the driver safety course if an individual qualifies at any time uh again someone can pay the citation and full at any time the subm submission of proof uh paper violations prior to the arraignment and uh wave arra wave arraignment prior to the arraignment date and request and trial date um again request an IND indigency hearing at any time our options um available always and since we've received the citations uh we have our five Bond stations we have email we have phone texting payment plans um online uh live chat 7 days a week um8 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. uh video arraignment and in person and again we have the 180 D plan at any given time have any questions thank you yeah there's some couple lined up here but I I just want to one thing I do want to make clear and I think we remember we had call to the public maybe few months back and we had somebody come up and was very strongly talking about this item and um actually used some foul language and we did find out after that happened they were filming a movie and then they the next day they came and filmed the rest of the movie out on the foyer and outside in front so it was uh it was an actor acting out this thing so I just want to make sure people know that just in case they remember that uh and the found language it was used was all part of a movie and then the other thing I do want to know is I think it's important that to note that um we don't um no one gets a license suspended was that correct correct so what it is is at time of renewal then you will not be able to renew your license after you have these 10 attempts and 10 options to be able to take care of it as low as $10 payments and then again but no one will get their license suspended or taken away due to a citations on being paid they just have options they can exercise at that point correct and with the mandated language from the the legislature that actually is going to it is being we need to add that into the contract so the indigency will be part of the contract as well as the occupational license for the two years so even if they have a whole they can still apply for an occupational license for those two totaling those four years okay thank you for that uh representative U Federal followed by representative oav thank you mayor thank you very much for the presentation um you mentioned can you tell me what the average debt outstanding debt is of an individual is there do you have that data I don't have that available okay okay there's okay I thought maybe we discussed it during our our briefing the on in regards to the contract contct information is it available in English and Spanish the the contract yeah cont at the court yes yes is it available anywhere else besides on the court yes we do have actually Spanish and English on documentation Okay so if I'm in debt have outstanding uh citations it really is my fault for not reaching out and trying to make some sort of arrangement is is that a fair statement we have options available at any given time so if an individual calls and I do have an example even from yesterday of someone um with you know more than 20 uh pending um cases and our staff providing the options so at any given time offering indenes so they can come and resolve those cases with us so again it's just a little bit of time from the public reaching out to us so we can actually clarify what it is that we have available even before the hold comes into place now in regards to that that example 20 different citations or or violations they weren't all in one day correct it was already a period of time um and some reaching even 15 years so we do have some so it really is just me procrastinating not caring not wanting to pay my debt to the Community thank you mayor thank you thank you sir represent followed by represent Canales thank you for all the time you've spent with me on on this on this specifically and and I appreciate I appreciate you making time on on this I I think that I um have been reviewing this presentation and other things on this and and I think one of the biggest things that is really sticking out to me on this well 's a few things but um one is I I realize that this is not suspending licenses but you're not able to renew renew your license if it expires right and so I think that's inadvertently suspending it at at one point right cuz I think you're going to have a lot of people that once it's time for Renewal and it might be a coincidence like the example that I used with you is that my my license I need to renew it next January already so at that point if I fall under this and I don't um pay then at that point I have an invalid license and I think that what I've seen with this is that the research has really shown that people are still continuing to use their their licenses so I feel that more than offering a solution to this issue of trying to collect debt it's creating other problems I also see that this is really a way of generating fees for Omni Based Services instead of really collecting more Revenue we've had this at the city for 14 years and I think this program has really become at this point something that has been ingrained in the system with little return I I realize that it has collected some money but to me it's not significant in terms of how much money has been collected there's still thousands of people that are are owing this money so I don't think it's really incentivizing people to do it even if you're going to suspend the license or not allow them to renew whichever way you look at it that way I kind of see it the same way it's just one is going to have a longer Runway to get there and then I also see some of the the things that that the municipal court in general there's if inefficiencies that are coming out of this and I think as something when when I look at local government I I always try to look at it as how can we do processes policy systems to uh make it more efficient for people and at this point I think this is also um doing a lot of um confusion with the public there's notices there's calls there's mail that that gets sent out and then sometimes it's from Al Pasa Municipal Court sometimes it's from omnibase sometimes it's from a collection agency so I think as somebody that is um a member of the public that owes this money I I think there's also that confusion who do I pay it to right and so um with that I also see that um um we could be doing something a little bit different this program has been here for 14 years we could be providing better ways of even defining what indigency means like how how can somebody understand if they're going to be Indigent um how how can they access those resources uh make sure that there's going to be better Revenue um I I have been used for fines for fee waivers using more pre-child diversion things so i' I'd rather do something like that rather than continue this whole thing of not really seeing the results that are significant from this other than paying more fees to omnibase and then I think that we also need to just in general as I I kind of said you know Indigent def defining that really making better forms to clarify that for people maybe that in itself will will kind of get through all the confusion people are seeing and so that that's kind of where I stand on this I think that I know that this was renewed last year but I would like to make a motion to um not not accept these changes and opt out of the Omni based program and so effectively terminating the the contract okay I'm sorry thank you sir representative Canales no represent Canales followed by you everyone thank you thank you mayor um I want to start by expressing my my reservations as well with the omnibase uh FTA failure to appear program um I I acknowledge that these efforts to to revise certain aspects of the program are are good um but I'm still really concerned about the overall impact that the Omni based program has on on members of the community um first and foremost I I understand it serves as a a enforcement tool for the Municipal Court um but it also has really significant repercussions for people who uh have to interact with the court and uh people whose cases are are before the court um placing holds on on driver's license renewals um really disproportionately impacts those people who are already facing hardship um it can hinder their ability to fulfill their obligations to their families uh even to get get uh meaningful employment uh to be able to earn the money to pay the the fines and fees that they owe um I think that the data presented in the in the presentation shows a pretty staggering number of of cases um entered in El Paso alone it was 21824 cases entered with an average uh outstanding fine of $600 um that's a huge amount of cases stuck in the system where we have someone likely unable to pay um and we are taking away one of their tools to be able to to earn the money that they need to pay um I just think uh generally uh again the efforts here are good um I appreciate that the legislature recognize the need to make these kinds of changes um and so uh I I can support the changes but I think we need to continue to look at the effectiveness of omnibase as a tool and evaluate going forward whether or not we want to remain uh in within the program using the program um you know we've we've had this conversation for for several months now um I I understand that there's been an effort to evaluate the effectiveness um and I've not seen the results of that effort um and so I I do want to see that moving forward and and try to uh have more data from the program from El Paso uh so we can make the best decision about uh what will benefit our residents the most um you know I again I understand there's a some amount of personal responsibility and for people to pay the fines that they owe um but it is it can be tough to do so when someone who doesn't understand the system well is then further hamstrung by having their their driver's license taken away um that's all for now thank you mayor thank you sir representative Le nandes um the only thing I was going to mention is I I agree with both um Dr representative vavo and represent Canales that having family members who have holds and then seeing the incredible hardship that comes from having your license either on hold or suspended and then the employment implications of that um you know there's a lot of uh logistical and transportation related jobs that are impacted as it relates to these holds um but if not this what else right and so I don't think we're at that point so that we can transition at this time I think you know I agree with representative canala is we we have to support this today however our judges our Municipal judges can play a greater role and not understanding this World until recently because there's Advocates who've reached out to our office I have learned that even when we're appointing judges we could ask them these questions we can ask them to have a greater role in keeping folks out of the system if you will and asking them to do either community service or whatever program a municipal judge should have we see some Municipal judges who really understand their Authority and take ownership of their Court like the team courts and and other great programs that are derived but I think altogether the council needs to be educated your judges need to be educated and we all need to be willing to help these folks because omnibase is just going to be this arbitrary like very administrative process that you just can't they it just doesn't understand the realities of the human element and so asking our judges to play a greater role to keep folks Indigent folks in in an opportunity so that their employment is not impacted I think is going to to be a great alternative but it really takes this Council and and your leadership to to help Focus uh some of those judges in that direction and so I'm happy to work with those judges and share some of those best practices as well um going to support this today I just wanted to share that with you because there are there are great concerns about the process thank you thank you thank you representative molinard thank you very much mayor M Goos thank you very much for for your presentation Miss Mor thank you very much for all your work throughout the years many years thank you very much um just want to make sure that everyone understands that the driving a motor vehicle upon the public roadways of the State of Texas is a privilege it is not a right it is a privilege it's definitely not a right when you're out there on a public roadway it is Public Safety that should be coming up first you should be concentrated on your driving your vehicle needs to be maintained the tires the gas the battery your windshield wipers your headlights all that equipment needs to be maintained in a proper manner okay it all comes down to Public Safety I will be supporting this and I move to approve thank you sir representative um FOH followed by represent canis thank you mayor um will you pull up the slide please on the options that are available please sure I think it's nine thank thank you representative five nine with the 10 options yes sir I just want to see him again because I'm hearing different things and that looks like a lot of options well it's not up there is it slide nine oh there you go can can you just go through them one one more time quickly for yes definitely um and again this is before we try we reach out to to as soon as we receive citations we reach out to our individuals um and make sure that this information first of all it is on the citation uh uh that is available from day one so it starts from that day um but we do have our five locations again email phone texting I know what we have seen an increase is actually the live chat we do have someone there we have a warrants team that's there 247 365 we have online options video arrayment as well that's actually been really successful also on our website location and in person um we're there till 6:00 7: a.m. so U we do have multiple um UPS available even prior to the hold actually coming up so that's something that I do take away and I thank you for your time for meeting with us um we're going to take back the feedback that we got to improve the communication to our community we we understand we need to be a little bit more vocal and clarify what we have available prior to even that hold coming coming um upon thank you um you know I think our M Municipal judges do an outstanding job um I I've sat in munique court and and I've seen them give options make recommendations to me a lot of these these these issues that we're talking about are people who didn't even go to court am I correct so correct for to to criticize our imunity judges for not going above and beyond their their their jobs which I think they are by the way is is I think irresponsible because if I don't show up well how you know how are they going to they're not going to come to my house well like my my chief bia's might but they're not going to come to my house to to walk me through it and and so again I on my opinion is our Municipal judges are doing an outstanding job when people show up to court and when they show up to court they they can see the options that are available to them and how to to benefit them and and how they can get payment Etc but you know I I don't I was going to go into what amount would we be talking about that that isn't in hold if we didn't have a a tool like omnibase I can't even imagine what that number would be like thank you mayor thank you thank you thank you sir representative Canalis followed by I'm sorry it's representative Rea and then rep and then mayor Pro then represent thank you mayor thank you um first of all thank you for your presentation it's great uh having lived through this along with the representative molad we we understand what's at stake here and and it's gotten a lot better where uh you are presenting this both in English and Spanish so people can understand and the main part here and I and I believe that representative F was looking at my notes when I when he said it is is the fact that it is a responsibility of the driver behind the wheel of a car to to have everything that's necessary correct and is is does the city Paso is is the city op Paso the one that suspends the license no it's a state of Texas correct correct so we have nothing to do with license suspensions other than it's coming from the state of Texas so uh it's an education uh that should be done here and the fact is that if you get behind the wheel you know the responsibility behind you and people that uh assume that that it's okay not to pay your fee it only comes of concern it only becomes a concern when they're on the other side of an accident where somebody doesn't have insurance and somebody doesn't have a driver's license and they've been cited more than uh once multiple times and I I I sit here and I I can ask my colleague or represent will not and he'll test to this the chief everybody else we've had times where the same driver is cited maybe 15 20 times and he still doesn't pay and the city gives him the opportunity uh instead of going from to jail because of the outstanding warrants to pay one or two correct so that option is still out there and I'm I'm just want to make sure that you know that hasn't changed and I I agree with the representative F on that it's not I've seen judges be lenient on some and lower the bond to where they could afford it and not necessarily what's OPP posted by you know the the city of all pasel um I believe that the judges are are due are carrying their are doing their due diligence on that and I have to agree the the courts are also Bound by the state of Texas to how much the fine can be correct yes so I I appreciate what you're doing here uh I think your program is is outstanding and it's one that shouldn't be overlooked but supported thank you very much thank you mayor thank you thank you sir mayor protm yeah I just wanted to say that that I I appreciate that incy has been entered into this as an option and and recognizing it um the chance to get an occupational license has also been included because it keeps people earning uh my biggest concern well first is I'm not going to be posing hypothetical questions to potential judges Judicial philosophy is one thing but I'm not going to be running hypothetical cases in front of them because they can't answer it anyway um but I I think that that the definition of indigency the discovery of it and communication is is more difficult because so many times that category and that entire when you look at Indy you say well we sent out emails well you're presuming they have an email um you're presuming that they have cell phone I mean there are some presumptions made with that and I just want to make a note for you to take back that that anything we can do for better communication and explanation to those who are Indigent um sometimes it may mean that we have to take a little extra care to ensure the communication is is correct or that they understood it because I've run into a couple of cases where somebody that was Indigent got the same information but didn't have the same reference of knowledge to understand this is what you need to do so I just if you would take that back also um I mean there's concerns I agree there's nothing to replace it with somebody then that would that would be a concern but I would just say you know that is my biggest stopping point is is how we do a better job at at making sure people that say I don't have you know all the communication routes available which might limit some of their options and how to pay it also I think there are plenty of options I just you know if you'd take that back and and kind take a look at that I'd appreciate that thank you thank you and I think I agree with you may potim that not everybody has every option available to him and that's why there is 10 different options so I agree with you on that uh we have representative Canales followed that'll be his second time and then represent oel that'll be his second time thank you sir thank you mayor um yeah I wanted to clarify a couple of things um I know suspension of licenses is a fun is a state function um but on the on the base here we're talking about renewal of licenses this has nothing to do with suspension of driver's licenses correct correct yeah so omnibase is an opt-in program um those M individual municipalities enter into an agreement um to to use omnibase um multiple Texas cities have opted out of using omnibase uh City of Austin uh Harris County they opted out in 2020 uh city of Dallas spped it out in 2023 um there are multiple cities who are not participating in Omni base um and that gives us a good comparison when looking at revenue generated kind of as a proxy for whether or not people are paying uh whether or not Omni base is is contributing to people paying their outstanding fines um and the reality is it is not um I'm looking at a white paper from the Texas public policy Foundation um they did a pretty extensive comparison between cities that opted in and opted out um there's essentially no change in uh fines and fees collected in the cities us utilizing omnibase and not utilizing omnibase and so uh while on its face it may seem like omnibase is a means for uh essentially uh pressuring people to pay because they'll there's a consequence of having their license suspended um in in practice that's not what's happening people are not paying uh regardless hopefully uh making the change to to uh renew the license in cases of indigency uh will help here uh but that's not clear that's just being rolled out but if we're looking Apples to Apples cities with omnibase cities not utilizing omnibase um it has shown that the program is not effective at getting people to appear getting people to pay Their fines um I'm happy to share this with the council if if uh you know Miss PR actually I'd like to enter this into the record to be appended to the minutes um and that this being the it's a white paper from Texas public policy foundation on the road and back to work reforming driver's license regulations in Texas yes sir um I had another question this probably for Miss Neeman uh or miss pran the posting today um it's essentially just the amendment to the interlocal agreement correct um if it wasn't approved today the existing interlocal cooperation agreement would still be in effect and the omn based program would continue as it currently is is that is that the case um I guess simplified my question is this this action or the the posting language wouldn't allow the action to completely withdrawal from omnibase today correct right so the contract that we're in right now expires uh I I believe it's three years after we first signed it corre um but there would be issues with that contract because the state legislature specifically mandated the changes to include the Indy to include the uh the increased fee and so we would still have issues with our current contract if we didn't pass this today yeah of course I my question was more about there there was a there was a motion made to instead of approving this to withdraw from the agreement entirely does the posting language today allow that so yeah that that wouldn't be possible because the contract's still in in place as of today we wouldn't be able to cancel the contract without following the procedures that are laid out in that original contract with DPS okay yeah I just wanted to make it clear again I I think I've made it exceptionally clear that I have uh you know strong objections to on the base as a program um my lack of seconding that motion was not it had nothing to do with how I feel about the program uh supporting it or not uh I don't think it's possible based on what's written in the in the posting language today and what's in the original contract but I do think that we need to continue to look at uh whether whether or not we choose to reup that contract when it expires May thank you go ahead procedurally we would need to receive a motion from Council to terminate the current agreement right right now we have a motion to approve right but in answering representative canalysis questions um the motion it's not something that we would recommend to not adopt the Amendments because we have to comply with state law the other the only other alternative is for Council to direct us to move forward with terminating the contract is that would that be allowable based on today's posting language you would need to direct us to come back with that to terminate the agreement okay thank you like I said right now we do have a motion to approve representative ass yeah I I guess I also wanted to clarify some some stuff I think that on on this this is specifically on Omni Omni omnibase which we've been in with a contract for 14 years now and I hear the City attorney loud and clear in terms of you know the the motion would be to come and come back and terminate this whole thing but I I think that the only reason that this is up for discussion right now is because the state passed these changes that we need to add but if we weren't part of omnibase we wouldn't have to be doing these changes anyway because the state does not mandate us to be part of omnibase face at all this is just another I'm assuming private company that we have contracted with for 14 years but with it or without it we would still be um having to collect these fees anyway and the the big issue that I have with this is that this is just generating fees for omnibase I don't see the significance that it has provided in making people pay and so I I understand that I I asked you for data on on Thursday for the last 10 years on that but I think that just backed by data the numbers are going to look different like you said 5 years ago um prior to co now with Co this is not collecting money for us it is collecting money but in not not in a significant way that we could see it and again the state of Texas is not allowing people to renew their stuff but they're not allowing people to renew their stuff because we are in a contract with them if we weren't in this contract we wouldn't be in this position right so yeah yes you're right um Lilia World from the Municipal Court director I just wanted to clarify so DPS Department of Public Safety is actually the one that has a contract with Omni base the municipalities and the counties then has have to have a separate contract through Omni base uh there is a $10 fee fine for every case uh the city does keep $4 of that omnibase does keep $6 it was $30 but then it was reduced to 10 um you know our main our main thrust with this program program is actually to get people to come in here into the court to actually resolve their cases because as Annabelle said just yesterday there was somebody that came into the court 23 warrants and we we automatically recall the warrant as long as they make an effort to come in and pay we do not require them to pay it in full just the $10 for each case and then we immediately recall that warrant also if they claim Indigent anybody can claim indigency we will let them speak to the judge set them up and they can go before the judge the judge will then determine whether to wave everything including the fines and fees or whether to assign community service so we already have that option and the judges do um assign community service not not everybody completes it but they do um have give everybody that option but can you give me a percentage let's say last year of how many people how many cases did you have last year and um how many actually went through because omnibase helped no I don't have it with me we i' have so I had requested those 10 years of of of data and um I've seen some of it from I believe back in I forget sorry let me pull it up again um yeah I think it was in 2021 I saw data that you really didn't see any significance on on that and so I think when we go back to slide nine like that slide was referenced several times and you have online by phone and all of those things I think one big thing that is missing there is that there are three things that are that are happening those are coming from a p Pas Municipal Court they're coming from a collection agency and they're coming from omnibase so imagine getting all those different calls and emails and those nine different options that you had on slight n and you're just creating more confusion rather than making government efficient and at the same time actually getting people to pay because it's not an incentive enough to say your license is not going to get renewed people are still not doing it so that's where I see omnibase as an issue this this contract is not good and this is what I'm saying like if you gave me okay omnibase we had 50,000 cases and 40,000 cases even 20,000 cases came in and they did it because of omnibase then I would say okay this this program might be working and we could see where we could actually make it better and and do things to make it better but at this point for 14 years this has been a failure over and over and over again and so that is where I see the biggest issue with this and we're just giving more money to omnibase every single time rather than getting results from it well on on slide excuse me but on Slide Five we do have a percentage of how many remain open and how many have been closed 4,775 from 2016 to 2023 so 42% have closed thanks to Omni base alone not because of the Municipal Court efforts not because of the collection agency efforts it's literally omnibase no I and it could be any of those and so that's what I mean like that that's the thing like when you when you present data like that that is a very dangerous thing to do because you're just saying it could be all these different things but I think that that's again we when we're we're playing with the numbers we're manipulating them to say oh as a council person if I didn't asked that question oh the Omni base is doing 42% and this is a great program but if you break it down you're not going to see the significance there and it's a very ineffective it's a failure of a program and we continue to be part of this and this is why I I said I I could have said something a little bit better to say direct staff to terminate and I understand that wording and I didn't get a second on that but I I don't see how we're doing this as a city council to be endorsing this to continue moving forward at this for 14 years and not getting any results right this is just one option one tool that the court has and as you said we have other tools and it's and yeah you do have other tools and this is probably the worst of them all and not a great for us to continue on thank you representative nandes that'll be your second time ma' thank you mayor um no I just had a couple of comments um I think that there is consistency or some consensus that we just want to do more for for our residents um and so I just want to clarify because my words are often misconstrued I love our Municipal Court judges I was never criticizing them in fact you know how much I love them I volunteer in all of their campaigns and I've advocated to increase their salaries so I just want to make sure the record was corrected and I'm looking forward to voting in favor of increasing their salaries um but us as policy makers it is our duty to review which programs are effective are achieving economies of scills are helping our residents and you've heard today that there is a concern there are Statewide initiatives and we just need to explore them and see how we can improve our services and so like like we said there's multiple tools and I think that if we become too lenient on one tool the unintended consequence is that either there's money being left on the table our Indigent uh residents are are facing economic hardship and so we're looking for other avenues and if you have any other avenues that you want to explore that we've never considered I would be eager to hear those out in our upcoming budget session thank you for all your work thank you ma'am thank you um we have public comment ma'am yes mayor Miss Turner would like to comment on this item good morning Miss Turner you have three minutes I found this discussion discussion quite interesting you have this company if that's what you want to call it working for you for 14 years and you still have issues okay uh either the bulb's gone out or you didn't pay your electric bill but to me if somebody is messing up for 14 years maybe it's time that you terminate okay now I heard two of our council members talk about driving the last time I looked at it m municipal courts handled more than those who drive whole lot of things the municipal courts handle but I also have failed to hear over the years is anybody from Council complain about DUIs DUIs are a misdemeanor you want to charge a $10 fee but you will refuse to ask your legislative people to turn DUIs into something more than a misdemeanor can't do that we got a drink and drive in Texas that's our right we talk about rights well you want the bills paid people have to have the ability to get to work and back and I don't know about the judges do judges allow a single parent to bring their children to court do they I mean we have women at the VA who can't they have to choose between going and getting medical care because or staying home with their kids because they don't have anybody to babysit nobody's thinking I hear a lot of people talking from the position of privilege you're forgetting about who you represent they can so I don't know you know I don't know how you got to this point but this Corporation is not doing its job it's not solving the problems that it's been hired to do plus let's talk about driver's license we heard well the state suspends driver's license well guess what the state renews the driver's license they can't come to the city and renew a driver's license they have to go to the state so if you take that right drive away you it's going to impact their ability to work how do they get to the doctor if they're going to follow laws how are they going to get to the doctor what are you doing to make it easier for them to pay the respons ility instead of just adding more and more and more debt onto them you've got to step back rethink this issue and dump om me whatever this thing is and start at new because right now it's not doing anything for you thank you Mr Turner I think we missed that that there's 10 different opportunities and there is an occupational license you can get and also that U I don't think you're limited who can go to court with you or not so um mayor protm and then we are going to call the question yeah I was just going to quickly say yeah I've seen a lot of people bring kids into court and I was also going to say that DWI third or more is a felony in the state of Texas thank you mayor Pro with that Miss PR yes mayor there was a motion made by alternate mayor Pro molar seconded by representative fedal to approve item four on that motion call for to the vote in the voting session and then motion passes 721 with representative ACO voting nay for that was moved to the regular agenda is item six and this is a resolution that the city manager be authorized to sign amendment number one to the articles of agreement between the city of Al Paso and the AL Pasa Municipal Police Officers Association for the contract period covering September 1st 2023 through August 31st 2027 thank you representative Canales thank you mayor um yeah as I explained yesterday when I asked for this to be moved from the consent agenda to the regular agenda I reviewed it very thoroughly I don't have any problems with the changes being made it is mostly correcting uh scrier errors essentially typos um some you know there are some small items where when the CBA was originally agreed um they said that a later conversation would happen to iron something out those conversations have happened now and and those changes are being made um I just wanted it to be presented publicly I think it's it's such a big driver of our of our budget uh you know Personnel is is the biggest chunk of our uh of our uh expenditures and uh the the agreement uh with the police officers Association is a big part of that so I think it's just good to present this publicly for everyone's okay thank you Chief Peter P for the record uh can it bring up the present good morning mayor councel um so this is the uh Amendment uh um number one to the CBA between the city of El Paso and the police uh association with me is Sergeant Patrick natividad the president of the Police Association uh next slide please so this just outlines uh the the history of the CBA the current one that we're on it was signed in September of last year and it's going to go through August 31st of 2027 and it just says that in article 33 everything has to be reduced to writing next slite please uh the first article that was addressed was article four on wages basically it's just clearing up a language so uh people that are promoted they know that their new anniversary date happens on their date of promotion so for example if a detective gets promoted sergeant lieutenant or Commander their anniversary date and time and grade is where their steps start happening they still retain their time with the city from the time that they graduated from the academy but their new uh steps uh coincide with their time and grade uh the next thing was is at the the time that uh the uh CBA was executed uh payroll uh needed to come up with a code uh number so it can be tracked through the payroll process for the police executive assistant chief position and then the last one is is when we make somebody an officer in charge meaning they're going to be handling the duties uh above their current rank for example an officer detective is stepping in for a sergeant or a sergeant stepping in for a lieutenant uh that they get a 5% uh pay increase while they're handling those responsibilities and the reason for that is they are held accountable for those positions during that time so uh the pay should be commensurate to their responsibilities and duties the next one just uh puts in a matrix so everybody understands what it is uh how they uh came up with the $125 maximum incentive pay under article six um it's just five months uh uh $5 a month per year of service and it maxes out at $125 next slide is on article N9 uniform and equipment so when detectives get uh promoted to a detective they get a clothing allowance it's 475 bucks it's broken up in two different time periods in the fall and in the uh spring and uh it will go up uh to $650 uh come January of next year next slide this one is just the uh scrier or typo uh just need to be corrected from 440 hours to 500 hours of vacation and then uh it uh clarified the time frames when an employee could sell back their sick leave um uh to uh the city of El Paso uh next slide and then the grievance procedure this is just another cleanup uh from civil service and uh the city of Al Paso the city of Al Paso Works directly with the the association on designating hearing officers for uh arbitration next slide and this last one is an IRS mandate um saying that the U the deductible has to go up from 3,000 to 3200 and uh so to be in compliance with the IRS uh that's why we did this one but that's uh why we did all this stuff uh the Union uh their attorneys and our city attorneys worked all this out and so uh we're recommending approval this so we can just move forward with the CBA second did you have opportunity to brief everyone on this I know I got brief from you we uh a brief date of you okay thank you for that sorry mayor I think I still have the floor if do I still have the floor mayor goad yeah thank you um thank you Chief thank you Sergeant notiv dad um again I want to be clear the the CBA that uh was executed uh last last year I think was a an excellent agreement between the city and the the officers um you know it had unanimous support from the council and it had very near unanimous support from the officers that doesn't often happen um in in negotiations for a CBA and so um I think the I want to make sure the public understands this is a great agreement these are very small uh changes and adjustments like this happen in a CBA um as the years go by uh because they are longer term agreements um so happy to support this today I don't think I can make the motion anymore but uh be happy to support thank you m protim thank you sir yeah is this this is the same presentation that you briefed us on right yes sir okay well I felt like I was having Deja Vu for a second you know like watching the movie Cars for the 12th time with my grandkids and I just want to commend you for learning the word scrier typo Miss Miss P yes mayor there was a motion made by representative Federal seconded by alternate mayor po mol to approve the resolution on item six on that motion call for the vote and Council I'll remind you to please refrain from from side conversations while the meeting is in progress in the voting session and that motion passes unanimously thank you Chief thank you Pat thank you that brings us to page number eight to item number 23 item 23 is presentation and discussion on El Paso Animal Services animal protection officers good morning mayor and Council Gina Ramirez here field operations manager I saw you on TV this morning um thank you for having me here this morning uh I appreciate um the consideration and I know you guys are busy so I won't take too much of your time um but I wanted to just give a brief overview of what our animal protection division team is and what our roles we play out in our community what we used to be and how we've transitioned to where we are today um next slide please so Al Paso Animal Services field division is not the only animal control unit that is within our County of Al Paso we have partner agencies that we work with day in and day out and that's going to be our animal County Animal Welfare our Soro animal control and our Tiga Animal Control all the animals that they pick up do come and touch ground here with our facility at 50001 Fred Wilson some of our other partner agencies that we work with are going to be Texas Parks and Wildlife the AL Paso Police Department's animal cruelty investigation unit and of course Health and Human Services Texas Health and Human Services next slide please we are Public Safety our animal protection team play a vital role in the health and safety of our constituents as well as promoting compassion respect and safety for the animals in our community our officers operate tirelessly to ensure the safety and well-being of our pets but also safeguarding our neighborhoods from any potential threats and Hazards our officers um operate off of three shifts our morning shift is going to be from 7: to 3:30 our evening shift is going to be from 2:30 to 11: p.m. and then we have our on call which respond to high priorities in our P1 such as an injured animal um cruelty and progress um an a Outside Agency that's needing assistance such as PD if they're making an arrest and we have to pick up those animals we'll go ahead and do that and assist as well the field operations is also comprised of 43 positions with currently eight vacancies next slide please our animal protection officers we were once known as the dreaded dog catchers um and the shelter was once known as the pound I have been here for 18 years if I get emotional I'm sorry but I've seen our department transition so much that it's um it's a very rewarding feeling I started off in 20 uh 2006 as a kennel attendant where every 3 days we were given a list of maybe 50 for employees you go pick that animal out of its cage you bring it to the youth room and you would put them down knowing that they had owners out there after I promoted as an officer our main objective was to go out to the community and round up all the animals that we can find regardless if we knew that they had pets or not and bringing them into the shelter for their three-day holding period we've transitioned from that and I'm very proud to say that we are still always looking for ways to improve and we've transitioned from 26 20 16 we transitioned into animal protection officers our roles changed we're no longer just trying to round up every animal we were different hats in the community as officers um once we employ an officer they must pass a state required test um it's a du it's a two-day training and once they require once they pass that test they go onto 6 to8 weeks of training with their field training officers which is a veteran officer um throughout throughout that time they also must maintain 30 hours of continuing education some of the trainings that we provide them are going to be basic and advanced animal cruelty investigation dangerous dog tools investigation key component witness identifications um Animal Health and disease recognition to include control and prevention and um report writing next slide please some of our APO duties these are just some of what we do on a daily basis um won't bog everyone down with the whole list but our apos handle and investigate a variety of calls just to name a few we do handle roadside sales not only for domestic dog and cats but also aquatic turtles we respond to exposures animal cruelties stray animals and holdings our officers also engage in what we call Al Paso Animal Services Prime in the event an owner's uh a pet an owner's pet touches ground to the shelter and for whatever reason whether it's lack of Transportation or Mobility they cannot claim their pet our officers will be deployed to pick up the the owner's pets and take them right to their doorstep as representative Rivera and representative molinar thank you for your service with the law enforcement um as the you very well know in each each call each investigation we must be thorough and do our due diligence every call is investigated and work diligently diligent investigation is essential for identifying and holding individuals accountable that have committed crimes but it also ensures an Evidence collection whether it's physical evidence photos and statements providing RJ's office that likelihood of a of a conviction January of this year with the assistance of our assistant City attorneys we were able to provide a presentation to our Municipal judges providing them an overview of what the duties are as the officers and how they concluded that that violation was committed it helped the judges understand more in depth of how the officers operate out in the field next slide please this slide um pretty much it's our our Animal Protection Officer tools of course all our all our officers are going to be equipped with our vehicles each officer is equipped with a scanner um part of their pre-trip is making sure that their scanners are functional to ensure that when a pet is picked up we are scanning and checking if we can identify and locate a migr chip um one of our major tools that we've used and transition to is going to be social media our social media platforms have played such a vital role in getting these pets back back into the community but have also helped us in investigations so we we use our platforms a lot next slide please um by the Numbers okay so this this slide is going to be our cases and our activities for the last four years everything in Orange are going to be the calls that we responded to and we handled the purple is going to be the activities so not confuse you for each case warrants an inspection or followup one case may be one followup and the call can be concluded or one call can can initiate 10 12 follow-ups depending on the call that we're investigating bites hoardings cruelties um standards of care so it just depends on the call but the purple are going to be the the activities thank you our main objetive for this V uh for this slide is going to be um all of our citations of 2023 our main objective as animal protection officers are to gain compliance we want our community to want to be better owners to be more responsible pet owners while we're doing that we also have a balance of not only engagement but enforcement not every call results in a violation we have a lot of new residents from different countries and we've paid them a visit because we've we were um deployed out on a standards of care for unreasonable restraint a lot of these new residents come from countries that don't even have animal laws so it's our responsibility to educate them and provide them the knowledge of what is required here not only in Texas but in in El Paso our department when we do enforce and enforcement is taken our department is responsible for identifying violations for city and state laws within our jurisdiction once the violation is issued it enters a whole separate legal and administrative process our department initiates it by issuing the violation but we do not oversee the process on what happens next the outcome or any findes that are are um determined to the owner um next slide please I'm sorry can you go back to the slide night I'm sorry and I did want to point out um the the highest three that we have are going to be no vaccination no rabies vac uh no rabies vaccination no microchip and no registration our microchip is a bit lower our officers are equipped with microchip so when we do go to a call and we have owners wanting to comply and cooperate our officers are able to microchip on the spot gaining that compliance and getting that pet microchipped um giving them an extra safety guard to getting them back home in case they get out okay I'm sorry next slide more than just dog hatchers um again we still see it in in movies and what what we're known as dog hatchers or dreaded dog hatchers but we're a lot more than that our animal protection officers are far more than that um beyond apprehending straight animals we play a multifaceted role in different ranges and responsibilities we have to wear different hats in different calls we enforce animal laws we investigate cases we assist injured and distressed animals but we also educate the public on how to be responsible pet owners we work extended beyond the streets to include Humane education programs Outreach initiatives such as our Mega Clinic events providing free vaccines to our community and microchips and very and of course our Partnerships with other shelters and our local rescues our community we are 100% reli reli reliant on our community um our rescue Partners without them we wouldn't be able to be doing what we are doing today um we we we strive every day to do better and if there's a situation where we're not able to um when we respond to call calls and we're limited on the information that we're provided but we have an anonymous caller our officers have to operate off of what the capability in our hands are what the letter of the law is um and often times we always recommend for anyone to see anything to call through in one but we do encourage for individuals to provide their name and number to help us investigate and further that investigation for um a successful prosecution next slide please and as I reach my final slide um I'm very passionate about my job I've been here long enough um I love to see us transition and evolve into where we are today and I know that we can evolve into better um I we try to get our community to want to be better and that's what we work with every day April is prevention of animal cruelty month and to today I stand here asking each and every one of you to stand with us and stand with sunny Against Animal Cruelty I'll try not to get emotional again thank you um the things that some of our officers see every day can be difficult they can respond to a cruelty and progress where we know that CPS needs to interv immediately and our officers put on that hat and maintain professionalism to ensure the safety of not only those kids but the pets and often times the owners themselves need resources and we work with um getting them that help whether it's some type of um help mental health help um if it's getting them some water sometimes we have to run out and get water for them they don't have any food in the fridge we always try to leave not only our pets but our owners better than how we found them our objective is being cohesive with our community and making El Paso the Lead Animal Welfare City and in every living thing there's a desire to live and if we all work together as a community with our rescue partners with other shelters I know together we can continue to make great change and um next slide and that that's all I have for today I do have goodie bags for each and one of you um I am asking again part of go orange and stand with sunny Against Animal Cruelty is helping us make and light El Paso orange so in your goodie bags you'll have an orange light bulb you'll have an orange ribbon and then you'll have an orange wristband to stand with sunny um again your support is completely and and appreciate and um if you have any questions I'll be more than happy to answer your questions we do have a couple people uh signed up here but uh thank you for your presentation and I can feel your passion really can and you know and that's really important when when you do something you love like this you can you can feel it so we thank you for for what you you and thank you for doing it with your heart thank you% of fear thank you mayor I also wanted to state that thank you for your passion and your love for our community um it the one consistent thing about this animal all the animal issues is the passion everybody has for the the well sake of the animals and and it seems like um the biggest issue that we have is pet owners that don't take responsibilities um but but I wanted to thank you would you mind introducing the officers with you oh absolutely I'm so sorry um here I have a um our field shift supervisor Alberto Ortiz and then our fish uh recently promoted this Monday shift supervisor Yasmin kada um they're part of our boots on the ground as well um they've encountered uh dangerous situations our officers do get guns pulled out at them uh on them and chased with weapons so um again with the passion as uh representative Fiero said our owners are very passionate but we also want them to be responsible in in taking care of their pets and their companions thank you again and is there like a height limit to be an officer no without These Boots I'm like four 48 than for know no no thank you thank you representative Canales thank you mayor um yeah I basically just wanted to thank you all for the important work you all do it's incredibly difficult work um but it's so important for the community um you know in in the past year and change I've gotten to see it extra up close um and it really is an immense undertaking that that you all carry out every day so thank you for the work um I know we had the uh the privilege I'll call it a privilege because we we had a fun day filming uh some PSAs uh about adoption about animal cruelty I think a couple of you appeared in them uh and those are going out soon so uh I want the the public to understand that uh animal cruelty illegal breeding uh all of the the problems that you encounter every day they're things that we're taking very seriously um and and there's a reason you're here in front of the council today we want the public to hear all the important work you're doing and know that we have uh officers out enforcing the laws that we have on the books and that um if they are participating in things like illegal breeding or animal cruelty um that it will catch up with them and they'll be caught and there will be consequences for that so again thank you all for the work that you do and uh we're we're happy to continue to support because it's such an important job thank you thank you representative Gales and I'm glad you touched on that real quick um we are boots on the ground um any type of investigation especially breeding um we do a lot of undercover and swap sweeps so we're in plain clothes we're not easily identified that we're out there but we are out there in the community thank you now we have some U public comment that is correct we have three members of the public signed up to speak the first one is Mr Ron Koo it's French you have three minutes sir thank you ma'am well good morning what a surprise I'm here um got a few things I'd like to bring to light um there's on what 700 and something quarantine violations so does that mean that these home quarantines that we're doing aren't working and is it the fact that the people feel that they respect and are concerned about the shelter's quarantine rules as the shelter is concerned about them um I I I I appreciate the Animal Control Officers I really do I as we all know I believe the problem starts at the top um we're we're discussing animal cruelty cases and things like that um there was a case that actually I ended up sending you pictures of a definite cruelty case 15 dogs or band in a Home Animal Services answer to the question to the man that owned the property that had feces every 2 to three inches on the floor with 15 little dogs running around with green slime in their water bowls was for the owner to allow or the owner of the property to allow the owner to come in and feed and water this the dogs those dogs should have been confiscated those pictures should have been taken the person was the owner of the dogs and the rental of the property should have been prosecuted under animal cruelty laws under title 7 but instead for five days we played games with animal services trying to do their job and that's why I finally sent the pictures to you funny after that it got taken care of we we we acknowledge that there's a lot of animal cruelty cases we acknowledge that it needs to be taken care of but when they're brought directly to the director and their answer is to allow them to go back into these properties and feed and water I'm saying we are doing some things but we're not doing enough I'm saying that home quarantine does not protect the community we had one dog that attacked three times before they finally took the dog and euthanized it we need to protect the community from these Strays running the streets which means Animal Services needs to do their job completely not partially not when they want to all the time thank you thank you sir thank you Mr coma then next person is Barbara Valencia followed by miss Patricia Osman Miss Valencia you have 3 minutes thank you good morning ma'am first off I want to say sorry I missed last night's dinner um I understand it was fun happy birthday Kea I know she watches okay what I'm going to address today is the animal quarantine violations El Paso Animal Services is our local RAB Control Authority and as such must abide by state State Department of State or Texas Department of State Health Services requirements or regulations at a minimum the rules adopted by the Texas executive commissioner are the minimum requirements for rabies control in the state of Texas under health and safety code section 826 the director of Animal Services has stated multiple times if a dog is loose on the streets but has an owner owner or a Home the dog is not astray and therefore is not subjected to the state's required in-house quarantine if the dog has a baby's exposure incident that is wrong Texas legal definition of a stray means roaming or loose with no physical restraint beyond the premises of an animal's owner or keeper so that means if a dog is running the streets he lives two blocks over bit somebody he is still considered a stray with any incident that results in the break of the skin on a person regardless of vaccination status animals must be quarantined for the 10 days observation period there are two types of quarantine available the first one is home confinement the animal to be able to qualify for home confinement the animal must be current with a rabes vaccination and the animal was not a stray at the time of the incident Miss PR can can I ask um for some clarification the members are signed up to speak but it's not related to the item that was just presented by staff the quarantine violations were on there no that was a presentation from animal services from the Animal Control Officers what's written on the agenda is it's AE it's an it's a presentation and discussion on Animal Service animal services and animal protection and they issued 788 but it was just an update you are signed up to speak on on uh public comment you can address your concerns during public comment right yesterday I was told I could not address this a public comment because it was a because it was an agenda item and because the Quant quarantine violations were included in the presentation I had to address it during the presentation for for clarification we do have you signed up for public I do have something on called the public which is excuse presentation and and I may have not heard the presentation if the presentation dealt with uh quarantines then it's it's allowable I I wasn't aware that that was what the presentation was about it's included in the presentation it was in the presentation it was in the presentation yes ma'am in fact I I stand corrected it states 788 quarantine violations issued M Valencia you have 59 seconds left if we and I'll go ahead and time the uh the time ran out but I looked up as 59 thank you I yeah I apologize I okay okay there are two two ways to quarantine the first one is home confinement the the requirement for a home confinement is the animal must be current with rabies vaccination and the animal was not astray at the time of the incident if an animal does not meet the home confinement then it's called in-house and quarantine must be either at animal services or at a Veterinary Clinic operated by a veterinarian local ordinances may have more stringent requirements otherwise State minimum standards must be adhered to so there are some questions that we need answers to how many of the 78 8 violations are a result of Home quarantine violations how many of the animals allowed to be home quarantined were not current on rabies vaccination at the time of the incident how many of the animals allowed to be home quarantined were running at large or loose on the streets at the time of an incident and what is the total number of animals that were quarantined in 2023 and have a breakdown to the number that were home quarantined versus the in-house quarantined your three minutes are up m apologize for the confusion the next the next person is Patricia Osman you have three minutes ma'am so I read through the presentation before so I know what I'm going to address addresses everything within it um now yeah the issue is top down and I feel her passion and I and it's not about a lot of times it's not necessarily about the employees but I do kind of wonder about the issues I mean it showed uh for animal neglect yet our director is neglecting every stray in El Paso and I say that because Westside Mr Kennedy and uh my district Mr ASO we have had some animal mulations out there okay I mean quite frankly I don't know what the qualification is to be a director and to to find out um to be placed in this job I would like to find out um because even if there's an investigation within that department and it involves a director and that goes throughout El Paso departments please refrain from personal attacks what what ends up happening is that a director has to then investigate themselves but I'm wondering ha has has the department uh citate the director himself for animal neglect because there's a lot of Strays I I person hold on a this is not about the director this is about okay but this is the services let's stay with the presentation but he you can is the one that is in charge of everything that's within that presentation okay it is it is under his Direction I understand that but there's stra isue and part of the straight issue okay and I'm going to say part of it isn't necessarily El Paso's problem or El Paso County it a lot of it has to do with Fort Bliss because Fort Bliss closed their animal services that used to be on on bont in fact Mr Kom uh Ron had no idea that that even existed I'm old enough to know that it did all right so perhaps animal services does need to get together with Fort Bliss or maybe Fort Bliss needs to have a rule out there that their families cannot have pets because they are dumping them in the city okay the straight issue it is a big issue aside from from that in central if you get on next door there have been Animal Services have been called numerous times because two dogs have attacked not only pets and some of the stays but a homeowner small pet small dog they killed and Chase down that Elder elderly man okay so this is a public safety concern that is really not getting anything done when you call who knows when they show up but at least four calls were made in regards to those dogs killing and chasing down people chasing down uh killing pets and chasing down people in central that was on next door and I know they have a presence on next door thank youman you're three thank you ma'am thank you for your comments that's all the public comment we have sir thank you and I think we um we go to public comet would you like to go to public comment call Call of the public the the El Paso city council is a local government body in charge charged with serving all of the citizens of the city and meetings must be focused on the meeting that 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 cility and dequorum that is respectful to other persons without the use of insulting profane threatening or abusive language public comment will not be used for personal attacks against the person or group's character or Integrity which are not pertinent to City business nor May any member of the public use this forum for political statements or campaigning please note that during the call to the public the city council may not deliberate or decide any subject that is not on the agenda however Council May propose that a topic comment commented on the post poed be commented on the posted on a posted agenda in the future we do have five members of the public signed up to speak sir and the first one is Miss Elizabeth Crawford followed by Ron KO Barbara Valencia Steven strumer and Patricia Osman Miss Crawford her topic is Passover in Moses rescued from infecti side and Miss Crawford are you on the Q star six to un your thank you ma'am you have three minutes we can hear you you have three minutes good afternoon thank you so much um in in light of Passover being celebrated this month in light of the abortion issue raging in our nation in light of what took place um recently in Dearborn Michigan with the screams of death to America death to Israel um I would like to speak briefly on Moses um Moses was rescued as a baby and God later took Moses and used him as a rescuer of God's people Israel we're told in Scripture that in the in the New Testament the book of Hebrews by faith Moses when he was born was his three months of his parents because they saw he was a proper child and they were not afraid of the king's commandment by faith Moses when he came to years refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God s to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season esteeming the reproach of Messiah greater riches than the treasures in Egypt for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward by faith he forsook Egypt not fearing the WRA of the king for he endured as seeing him who is invisible through faith he kept the Passover in the sprinkling of blood lest he that destroyed the first born should touch them by faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land which the Egyptians trying to do were drowned Moses was rescued miraculously by God God used the Egyptian midwives to save moses' life God used his parents in a bold act to save him and God later used Moses as The Rescuer of his people Egypt from the slavery of Egypt in light of everything that's going on in in our nation and in our world the story of Moses is is an amazing account of God's hand over human history and God's hand to rescue babies in that time from aant infanticide and in many cases in our day he saves babies from abortion he's at work in spite of the dark dark days that we live in thank you so much thank you thank you ma'am the next person is Mr Steven strumer his topic is possibilities of Dollar Tree opening on 406 South or at Pano mercadito Dollar Tree has been closed for 22 and a half months and it has a Major Impact in the downtown area Mr strumer you have three minutes sir there a slight correction my name is Strummer I'm sorry good afternoon city council since May 14 of 22 for 22 and A2 months we have been with without a Dollar Tree store in downtown El Paso our nearest store is found 1,000 ft south of the corner of North Messa Street in sunbow drrive a Dollar Tree store was found at South Stanton Street one block west to the El Paso County courthouse building it was by far the most heavily frequented store of all of the locations in El Paso city and county 98% of the merchandise was sold out by each Sunday afternoon every Monday evening at 6:00 p.m. a vast Dollar Tree truck arrived and the entire staff unloaded restocked everything the effects of this store closing have had a severe impact on our Hispanic and Asian businesses we've had to limp and hop to find a Dollar Tree store nearby in fact many on both sides of the real Grande pre with tears it will be openen far back in late summer of last year I had a face-to-face interview with a Dollar Tree store woman administrator at the Coronado shopping center location that we and the promise we would receive a store at the Pisano Marcato at 406 South Oregon Street to open in January of this year here it is April 9th and no story doors opened at that location I called representative kades his staff date March I spoke to you two weeks ago I spoke to representative Cassandra Hernandez um would it be possible for The Honorable kades or the mayor's office to pull some strings and call to effectuate some change over this in I even Envision The Honorable mayor to be at a ribbon cutting to open the store pisan Marcado was under the opes the leadership and vision of The Honorable John Cook and city council it no longer has an anchor in the store it's a Hispanic business and it needs it this is no small issue it is very tearful uh I pray thank you for your listening to me call me representative this is having a impact beyond what you believe so I just ask you in closing uh thank you for hearing me at this time thank you sir thank you sir next speaker is Miss Barbara Valencia her topic is Animal Services the public has spoken you have three minutes ma' what do you want to do thank you let's okay last week there was a video that was put on all the different social media Outlets from Animal Services it basically said be the voice for the voiceless stand with Sunny Against Animal Cruelty if you see something say something for all animal related concerns call 311 well surprisingly this is what the community is saying I've called numerous times and no response I really wish that the caring was real these animals need help and we rely on these services that are supposed to care as much if not more than we do it is truly sad let's see here's another one we did call and say something about a neighbor throwing a dog nothing was done yeah I just called another person said yeah I just called yesterday about a dog no one came honestly there seems to be no point in calling this one here I wish I could say they act in complaints but they don't so much for protecting the defenseless animals I unfort somebody else says I unfortunately agree with all these comments I've called to two for neglect and it doesn't get taken seriously what is the point of this post marketing building a reputation got a long way to go to make that happen folks this person says this is ridiculous I've called over six times for a neglected dog and they have done nothing another person says nothing gets done I've called countless times about the same large dog I always see locked up in a small cage every day and the poor dog is still there it kills me this person says will anything be done or is this just a feel good initiative to stroke some egos while putting people at ease thinking action is being taken care of this person says every time I call they ignore me they don't take anything seriously please actually do something for the animals evil is out of control okay and it just goes on and on and on there are pages and pages of this this is what the tax pay payers are saying they are speaking but no one seems to be listening to them the community has no no trust in this director in the department of animal services something needs to be done and it needs to be done I'm to please do not talk about the animal services director talk about everything else but those are becoming every time you come up it's become personal attacks when you bring him up and I'm going to stop you 100% of the time every time you bring him up and anyone else that does that I will stop at 100% of the time and you'll run out of time okay how about the community has no trust in the department of animal services as long as you don't bring him up I'm okay thank you okay the community has no trust in the department of animal services something needs to be done and it needs to be done now not tomorrow not next week not next month now the public has spoken now you need to respond thank you thank you ma'am your three minutes are up next speaker is Mr Ron KOMO you have three minut minutes sir well hello again so we're going to discuss some failures that are going on here in El Paso um finder to Foster which we all know it's a huge problem but we continue to do this even though we were told at our first rescue meeting by another rescue that this was a failure we have Missing Pets from the shelter do they disappear out through the roof people kidnap them where do they go that's three failures Community can't walk the small dogs safely on the streets of El Paso we all know that every single person in this room knows that that's an issue for Affiliates the retention rate of employees at Animal Services we all also know that that's an issue we're getting ready to open up a second facility and we don't really have enough people for the first one um El Paso Animal Services is and has been the biggest backyard breeder in El Paso history since 2020 when we implemented the hos program you cannot leave unaltered Strays or on the streets and not expect more Strays I I I got to be honest with you I could keep going we got numerous issues I'll be more than happy to talk to anyone that wants to listen about what's happening and what needs to be corrected but let's just say it's it's going to take years to clean this mess up we need to get started not in baby steps we need to start moving along um I would appreciate it if the uh somebody could explain to the ASAC committee that open intake is a law on City funded shelters not something that we do because we got nothing better to do we're about to have a city an asack meeting on Wednesday we need to stop it um I I don't know I'm just I'm I'm tired I'm I'm really tired guys you know I I hate coming up here every two weeks I hate telling you what a horrible job it is because every one of you knows anybody that's paid attention to any anything that's being said or done on the streets or fitfam or Facebook or anything you know we have an issue we need to correct the issue issue starts at the top you know the old saying about cutting the head off the snake this has gone on too long way too long folks can we please correct the issue I I appreciate the fact that your new deputy director actually has some shelter experience that's great we need more of it because right now we don't have enough thank you thank you for your comment sir the next speaker is miss Patricia Osman followed by Miss Lisa Turner and Miss Patricia's osman's topic is ethics violations and misappropriation solicitation purchasing director's management City leader rubber stamp stamping if you can please refrain from any personal attacks man you have 3 minutes first I'm going to say uh in our United States Constitution we have freedom of speech and we all have freedom of press the reason it was put in is so that citizens can hold our leaders in to account that means City local state federal and so forth and you're right there's no personal attacks and you're 100% but what I but what I'm going to go ahead and remind you all of again is it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man or person to enter the kingdom of God okay so when our cancel rubber stamps solicitations we get we get people that just be before it's even done move to approve because you know what hey it it gives the citizens a an impression that somebody may be doing a back a a back door deal Kickback whatever that's the impression it gives the C of El Paso when they watch city council do that just so you know okay but what I'm wondering about so no personal tax management city leaders are man are directors down to the employees everybody who has had ethics violations issues with misappropriation of funds some of which I have given you all proof of when people like myself file complaints with HR and those complaints that include a director is then just sent over to the director to investigate themselves well there's something pretty shady going on within the system okay so I know you don't like the word corruption but this is the thing if I was looking at a at computer this is a corrupt system something is definitely wrong here does need to be fixed maybe it needs to be fixed on an outer level whe whether that's the de J on a state level Paxton's office to do a an investigation all the way through an audit within the city you know how epis uh SDI was it Soro Independent School District uh was taken over by Texas perhaps you know we've had cities in Texas taken over by the state as well perhaps they need to look into El Paso because there are some clear issues within the city there's a reason why some people online are stating that there it's rats jumping off a ship right now and I'm glad for for for changes that are going to be made but we need to make sure qualified people are in spots educated to those qualifications not just oh move from within because let's keep the status quo nothing has been done to my home nothing although I was approved for that Grant and I'm not the only Citizen and Senior missman thank you for your comments your three minutes are up Mr Mayor Miss Lisa Turner has requested to be removed from the call to the public com come on up Miss Turner no she's requested to be removed oh you waved it I'll miss you goad and that takes us to the introductions and that would be items 24 what's through 34 would you like to continue the meeting or yeah please do the first reading we have a motion made by representative rera okay seconded by representative alter mayor proam Kennedy okay to approve and that again that's items 24 through 34 H I lost a motion give me one sec my voting session is open representative Sido I thank you ma'am and the item has been approved unanimously that takes us to item 35 and that is discussion and action to sign an agreement for Professional Services buying between the city of Al Paso and consor Engineers LLC a Florida USA for limited liability company authorized to transact business in Texas for a project known as project management services for the El Paso Public Safety and Fire Department headquarters and maintenance and and Logistics Center project and this is for an amount not to exceed 3,654 64162 cents motion approve second and we do have Miss Lisa Turner signed up to speak for this item mayor proam can we see the presentation first I think it makes sense to present it first and then hear the questions all right if you want to see the presentation first Sam it can you please pull up item 35 thank you um good afternoon uh mayor protm and Council I Hernandez uh Capital um Improvement Department um for today's item it is the solicitation for project management services this is for the El Paso Public Safety and Fire Department headquarters and maintenance and Logistics Center project also known as the public safety complex um this project is located out in uh District 4 but we do um want to report this as all districts because it provides the training for both fire and police the contract value for these project management Services is 3,654 641 and4 and 62 this will be funded through the 2019 Public Safety Bond and so these project management Serv services are in support of the public safety complex which is estimated right now at 78 million so to put that in context the investment to provide a quality facility to both our fire and PD is 4% of the estimated cost and so just looking at um what we have scheduled for this facility um it's really small but that's purposeful so that you can see there is a lot of work that is programmed for this safety complex we're looking at developing over 50 plus acres um right now we're slated to have approximately uh 10 buildings this will also house the uh fire headquarters and then the Trading Academy like I made mention for police and fire and just some of the specialty items that we see in the training are the indoor shooting range Hogan's alley obstacle courses and also the driving emergency vehicle operator course so looking at the scope of work we want to make sure that this firm is engaged from the beginning so looking at the planning and design phase um being a representative for both design and construction making sure that we're adhering to quality control and then we know that we have a lot of parts moving we have 10 facilities located in one parcel so looking at project schedules uh budget analysis management and really uh reviewing the cost estimates from the design build team Services during the construction phase um to serve as the owner's representative for construction management this would be looking at some of the documentation that I have listed here so uh reviewing submitt uh reviews and logs just really ensuring that we have the submittals in before the contractor um starts that work and they're reviewed and approved um looking at closeout procedures contract compliance um and Construction contract requirements working with the city staff to negotiate any potential change orders estimating what the cost of work is um providing status reports and really we want to ensure once we finish the development and we turn it over to police and fire that they have all the necessary documentations the asilt drawings um this basically just means we have the design sometimes out on the field there's some variations we want to make sure that we record that and that they have true existing conditions um our onm manuals so that they're aware of any parts that they might need they can really provide that proactive maintenance and warranties um for all the equipment that is uh installed also we'll be um looking at commissioning requirements also providing financial report outs during inspections uh which is the bulk of the cost is we will have up to one to three individuals that will be out on site so so as soon as we uh break ground um to make sure that we have the inspections needed and so that will be daily reports making sure quantity oversight observation reports uh we want to make sure that if there are any non-compliance issues they're reported and we have the the um Team correct that construction that we're really adhering to the drawings and specifications also working with traffic control plans we will be working with uh Tex do as well um and then ALS Al our uh Public Utilities this is undeveloped land so we're bringing in water gas uh and also electrical as I made mention our commissioning Services um that they're there through the design phase but also the documentation when we have the startup of the building so we really are turning over an energy efficient building to our PD and fire so this uh request for qualifications this was advertised in September of 2023 we had three firms that submitted bids they were all local offices and so we're asking Council to recommend award to consor Engineers who has worked um with the city on previous projects they have a 19 years here with the local office um in their proposal they identified uh 20 staff members that will be dedicated to this project and I believe that this is a good investment to um what we're doing out in the Northeast for both our fire and PD um and it will really complement the the services that the city of El Paso will provide in the oversight of this construction thank you any questions representative Hernandez um I'm happy to support this today the only question I had is if you could provide um the the overall 2019 uh fire and police Bond and where we're at with the projects that we had promised and then the redirection of some of those funds and so it's been some time since revisit but I am starting to get questions as we were're starting to roll these uh uh purchase agreements forward um cuz I I cannot because I know we the only thing I remember is that we were over $100 million um from what we had initially anticipated and then um if we could just have the status update on that please thank you representative andand that's a very timely comment and I will be um back to council with our midyear report and so not only just looking at Public Safety I know there's been questions also about the community progress Bond so I'm going to provide a comprehensive uh report of where we at with our portfolio yes ma'am Miss Brian we have public comment yes sir we have Miss Turner that signed up to speak good afternoon Miss Turner I'm against this and I'll tell you why this is one a foreign owned Florida Corporation the State of Florida presently is engaged in discrimination against active duty military and their families veterans and their families and women so the fact that you would choose to do business with such a CO Corporation from that state is beyond me you claim to be the capital the veterans capital of the United States and yet you will do business with a corporation from a state that actually discriminates against active duty and Veterans so explain to me where your principles are explain to me what principles does this city council operate on what what are your morals because right now people are scared to go to Florida because will be arrested if I try to use a public restroom in Florida I will be arrested and jailed it's against the law for me to use a public restroom in Georgia the only restroom I excuse me not Georgia but Florida Georgia is working on the same law the only restroom I could use would be on a military base you this is who you're dualing business with you send your money it goes to that Corporation you support that Corporation you're supporting the State of Florida and what you're telling active duty service members their families veterans and their families is that you don't care if they're discriminated against in another state you won't take a position you'll just spend this money so I'm going to ask you to deny this and I have no idea why our procurement Specialists don't look any further I don't even know what foreign country this entity is from so I have questions and I have discuss that my city would actually want to do business with people like this thank [Applause] you Miss Brian yes sir there was a motion made by representative Federal second by representative Salo to approve item 35 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously that brings us to item 36 and this is a public hearing on an ordinance changing the zoning from R3 residential to C3 commercial this is south of Vista Del Soul drive and west of Joe Battle Boulevard motion approved there is a motion made by representative Fierro seconded by representative Riva to approve item 36 there's no public comment on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously item 37 is discussion and action on a resolution authorizing the city manager to sign a contract of sale with the Board of Trustees of the AL Paso Independent School District for the purchase of approximately 13 acres located at 7024 SEO Vista Drive El Paso Texas move to approve there is a motion made by representative ernandez second by representative Fiero to approve item 37 on that MO call for the vote and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously that brings us to item number 39 and this is discussion and action approving a resolution that the city council of City B pel supports the tenants of the supply El Paso procurement Playbook move to approve represent Canalis are you on or no we do have public comment on this item okay yeah represent Canales would like to see the presentation okay if it can please bring up item 39 now again I know I said this yesterday but uh I do want to repeat myself cuz I really believe you all did an incredible job at that Expo and had over 2,000 people show up over 225 participants and the the quality of the exhibits and it really wasn't people competing it was uh a lot of businesses and and people that do business in El Paso kind of working together to see how they can better their business or help someone else and you had a great uh kyot speaker Walter Bon so you guys really knocked it out of the park uh I know that uh back in 2014 I was here for the first one so I saw you know the first year and how it was to today in 2024 you guys have really come a long way and I um I know that um I couldn't and then the breakout when we talked about the Playbook and had all the you know the um the players in the whether was the Hispanic chamber and the other companies EPCC and everybody that want want to talk about how we're going to work together was very very impressive so I want to commend you and your team for for doing that and putting that together because uh it'll go a long way so thank you for that thank you mayor thank you very much and thank you for doing the opening remarks on on at that session as well and then thank you all for those of you who were able to attend we really appreciate your support both on Tuesday and Wednesday for the Expo last week um Nicole Cody managing director uh the presentation we have here today is regarding Supply El Paso and so uh what does that look like so first I'm going to cover the requested action today is we're asking Council to approve a resolution that supports the tenants of the El Paso Supply El Paso procurement Playbook and I'll have some highlights of that Playbook here and it is part of the attachments uh that are with this agenda item as well as including a creation of a supp Paso board and we'll talk a little bit more about what that means so Supply El Paso Playbook was and you'll see the partners on the next slide really looking at unlocking the procurement economy for local businesses and so it's really about making Market making initiatives to help local businesses be able to compete for contracts and grow and in an area of governmental entities so here you'll see the research team that conducted this Playbook and the study it was from Drexel University in support of the Aspen Institute and the funer of the Rockefeller Foundation you'll see the partners here and we do have um here in the audience today the El Paso chamber was able to make it today but we also were working with as the mayor had mentioned the El Paso Hispanic chamber we have of course the contract um op contract I'm going to say it wrong because all of a sudden my brain stopped the contract Opportunity Center sorry the sbdc as well as our utilities and our community college of course um this shows the timeline of this project so we went from February of 2023 and then it the final product was presented in January of 24 they did identify three major goals that we're really looking at the procurement landscape here in El Paso as well as what do we have available for ready tocale framework what is it uh as as far as industry what are we looking at and what strategies can we help El Paso be successful and so here in the procurement Playbook this is a direct uh slide you'll see that we're looking at the large procurement economy so what is what is thriving what do we see where are the dollars being spent in addition to that what are those barriers to the firm participation and growth and so they highlight three areas here that the procurement economy or procurement landscape or environment is fragmented across governmental levels and so what does that mean that just means that we each have our own way of uh requesting bids and proposals from vendors and so what can we do in order to really have an effect by making it easier for businesses to be able to do business with the city of El Paso as well as other governmental agencies and then Also it talks about low capacity and procurement and just any of the struggles or challenges that that we've seen in the procurement area as well as the centralized platform that would assist buyers and suppliers in being able to easily uh submit bids for governmental agencies and so their recommendation is to create a procurement Marketplace Council it's located on that right side of the slide and so really what they're looking at and what they recommending is that we um it would be top buyers Chambers of Commerce our key stakeholders and then of course the procurement professionals working together to be able to identify opportunities to support these organizations and make them successful so in addition to that as part of the procurement Playbook we really looked at expanding the opportunity expanding the local share of direct spending as it requires a certain focus on ready to scale firms and so what when we look at this slide in particular what's great is I wanted to touch on the presentation that you all received yesterday and so in that presentation um the professor Dr chanduri also had a slide about talking about the different levels and the different size of firms that need to be part of the Premier destination of advanced manufacturing for making Paso the premier destination for advanced manufacturing and so this speaks to this this speaks to the local business opportunities that we have here in El Paso and identifying those suppliers those that are ready to scale up and identifying also their barriers that they have to being able to scale up so the next item that was covered as part of this is a way forward and how this procurement Marketplace Council can assist in addressing these issues along with identifying spending and so we seeing those federal grants come in and they touched on it on yesterday as well but also what can we do as a collective body in order to prioritize and truly attack the barriers that our local businesses see in doing business with government and so here you'll see two initiatives where they're we're focusing our efforts in areas of the defense procurement Advanced um initiative also looking at Green supply chain initiatives and then of course Advanced manufacturing as was mentioned yesterday and so this is the timeline that we're really looking at over the next 90 days um 180 days and then over where will we be in the next year and so as the mayor mentioned the meeting last week on April 3rd was really that first step we were able to bring stakeholders together that are really focused on El Paso and focused on improving the business environment for our businesses here in El Paso and so in summary we really believe through The Playbook and also the efforts of our stakeholders and our community working together that we can be that National model to Foster local Enterprise growth through effective procurement and that's what we're looking at and also identifying those key sectors or those key Industries such as defense energy and Manufacturing that can really help us have an effect a focused laser focused impact in those areas and then as we continue to stand precedent precedent Federal Investments That Just provides those opportunities that the grant Federal granting opportunities and then the creation of the suppo Paso board so while this Playbook uh really brought all of the community together and was helped and facilitated by of course Drexel University and Aspen Institute we want to make sure that it reflects El Paso it's about El Paso for El Paso and so that being said we do recommend that we change the board or the council name to supply El Paso board and that we continue to identify and work towards those three core issues and really bring our resources each of the resources that all of the different stakeholders and partners can bring to the table in order to make this possible and so again this is just a request um from both the purchasing and strategic sourcing department and economic development as well as our partners that are here today to approve this resolution and then these are the next steps that we have we are hopefully planning on meeting in May again and we will have um set board members as well as create an action plan and we'll we'll be bringing that back to council motion approve second do we have public comment yes we do mayor we have Miss Osman that signed up to speak and we did already have a motion from representative it on the second by representative Federal good afternoon man' you have three minutes the fact that there's always it seems to be a pattern that there's motions to approve before you even check to see if there's public comment to to get a full scope of what the citizens might feel it's very interesting but we won't take a vote till after you speak ma'am you know what they would have done it anyway I've seen it happen but uh so my question I I have a few one uh purchasing and procurement they do need a lot of changes because there are a lot of issues for example not all of the bids and procurement are put on ION wave for full transparency they need to be um the non-competitive it seems as though there has been a lot of rubber stamping of about the non-competitive solicitations that get approved I understand they bring it to you but it's your all's face that vote on it and are held to account by the citizens um I'd like to find out and my question is is there going to be you're going to do these changes but are there going to be changes in better requirements so that employees are not bidding in uh there's not purchasing in procurement issues with employees of the city of El Paso bidding on their own Department bids what what is that type of implementation going to be because right now it's it's currently happening and this body has actually approved some of those solicitations so they bring it up to you guys y'all really don't check that's I understand that's their job but then you rubber stamp and you approve these solicitations um local entities I'm all for that the thing is is that there is a lot of issues within the purchasing and procurement Department there's a huge lack of transparency and it gives by the evidence that I currently have um misappropriation of funds ethics violations these are things that need to be placed if you're doing on this agenda and need to listen to me for a second this is not what this is about that was what you just okay hold onur procedure Miss Osman part of these are that need to be I'm going to ask you not to return if you continue this cuz this is item is about procurement process this is about not about processes procedures that you all are being asked can you stop our clock for a minute miss hosman this is not about corruption this you keep going back to corruption since the day you showed up here this is not about that this is about procurement process this is about helping businesses learn how to get federal grants how to get federal jobs how to get state jobs this has nothing to do with this is helping the businesses work together I mean you keep coming back and you keep telling us the same thing about corruption and about investement and about whatever and it's not about that this is the item on the agenda was an item to help businesses work together there's 225 vendors that came together female was here the state was here the schools were here everybody was here to help these businesses to be able to grow we're about 85% small business in El Paso and our job is to help them grow but not only within the city of we're talking about City business but we're talking about federal government state and County so that's what this was about so you keep coming back with the same thing but this is not what this was about you just talked about these are amending procurement procedures correct pardon me these are this is about amending procedures with' that's not what it's about that's what I was trying to tell you please go ahead you want to explain what it was okay that's not what it was about that's what I was trying to to tell you that keep going back are employees passo right so that's not what it's about though okay come on up just ma'am yes sir so just to clarify so this item and I'll go back to that slide if it can please bring up the item is to request Council action um in order to approve the attendance of you were good of Supply Al Paso as well as the support of a creation of the supply Al Paso board which as you said mayor is bringing together the community to help support small business to be able to grow and submit proposals for governmental agency yeah it's not the city it's the community it's everybody together hadn't really was in the city we we facilitated to be able to work together with everybody that's all it was about yes sir thank you yes sir thank you pardon me anyway Miss P do we have any other M mod is here do you want to speak come on up Miss modus and thank you for being there also thank you mayor and city council thank you so much mayor I just want to uh Echo everything that miss Cody mentioned this is for the community will you will you uh tell us who you're with please thank you sir yes Lup and Maris I'm with the El Paso Chamber of Commerce foundation and I am here in support of the procurement Playbook we've worked on it for many years it's been long coming and it is to support small business and it is a community effort it is um a vill it takes a village to help a community and it's all of us coming together to support small business I saw firstand what they went through during the pandemic um thank you to the city for all the grant money they provided to these small businesses I was one of those that administered some of those funding that those funds through LIF fund and they need a lot of support and this is one way through the procurement Playbook and the procurement is to help support these businesses scale up there's a lot of businesses that are ready to get to that point but don't know how and so I am confident that we will be able to support these businesses so thank you very much thank you ma'am anyone else Miss PR no sir thank you and with that we do have a motion in a second yes sir there was a motion made by representative ernandez seconded by representative Fiero to approve item 39 on that motion call for the votee in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously representative ernandez not present we' reached the end of the agenda wait before we do that um Mr Rome will you uh come up and address us please you I know you work for the city manager but I thought I'd give you a directive no I I just uh I want to thank you for for the years you put in with the city I know that uh we talked about and it's um always tough to leave somewhere you like and you love and and you've done a lot of great work here and I you know I wanted to give you the opportunity of course to address Council and the community that you've done a lot of work for and personally thank you for what you've done thank you mayor um it's been an absolute honor um and pleasure um the time that I've spent here we we've been here for a little over 9 years uh we were lucky enough I came with adult kids that didn't come with me um but there were some really beautiful things that happened my son who was active duty Army U was actually stationed at Fort Bliss for a period of time while we were here uh which was a surprise that we didn't anticipate um during covid there was a lot of tragedy and terrible things that happened but one of the things we were able to do was um our younger son who was living in New York was able to come and live with us here um in El Paso for a period of time and and and telecommute um which was a gift that was unanticipated um we have adopted two Chihuahua um from Animal Services who we would have never brought into our lives if we had not been here in El Paso um these are some personal things that I will tell you that I will be taking with me in memories um being a part of this community has been an incredibly unique experience um that I will always carry near and dear to my heart I will never be able to eat food um from this region anywhere else um I've been um you know I've been spoiled in that regard I know better now so um and no one invites us out to eat um food from this region anywhere else because this is where we need to do that um I have had so many great wonderful beautiful experiences here um and I I I really hope that the mark that I have left has been indelible I do believe that I have uh I I hope that you will all agree left it better than I found it I've worked very hard to be a part of this community while I've been here and I appreciate all of the support uh this is an incredible team of people um the elected officials that we have here uh uh are such gifts the leadership that you have provided over the years um some of you have been on Council for a very long time mayor you came back um and thank you for your second term it it's been a pleasure to serve with you twice um and I just wish you all the very very best the world is a very small place so we will not be saying goodbye uh we will be saying we will see you again in the future so thank you all very much thank you and good luck in your new Venture thank you and now with that I will take a motion toj there's a motion and a second to adjourn the regular city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed I and the regular city council meeting for Tuesday April 9th 2024 is adjourned at 12:55 p.m. thank you Council