hmm foreign good morning mayor good morning everyone yes sir I do see a quorum good morning this is a special meeting of the El Paso city council for Tuesday January 24th 2023 it is 902 a.m mayor Lisa is present and presiding in council chambers along with representative anello mayor Pro tem anelo alternate mayor Pro temolinar representative Salcido representative Fierro representative Rivera representative Canalis is joining virtual this morning mayor we do have a quorum and representative Kennedy is also on the Deus good morning can we write for the pledge please Christian will you lead us please thank you and I know um we did this uh last Wednesday but uh I think it's very important that um you know our city and all the selected officials and everyone here lost a great friend and a great leader that um you know I I've been on all over just listening to some of the comments and what people have to say about our chief and what a leader and how women and women of the police department respected him and I just think it's um it's a huge loss to myself and the city of El Paso and I know Michigan College and the rest of the people in El Paso but I'd like to remember him as a great leader and a person that uh really meant a lot to our community and um didn't want to retire every time I talked to him he kept telling me that he had more to offer he had more to offer and he would tell me that he would retire the day he felt he wasn't effective and I can tell you probably would have if he had lived to be a hundred he probably wouldn't have retired because he was so effective and and so well respected by uh the people that uh really walked aside along the side of him so I'd like to have a moment of silence for chief Greg Allen who will be missed not only by his family but his family at the police department and his family here in City Hall thank you and he will be missed by his two dogs I tell you that he he loved his dogs and when I talked to Roseanne she said they they missed him every day so with that may God bless you Chief and may God be with you thank you Miss Prime thank you mayor the first item on the agenda is discussion in action on the charter election and amendments well that sounds official I'm not exactly the tallest person in the room so the fun thing about this document this uh Podium is that it moves um I.T can you bring forward item number one please oh so Council will remember this presentation from no I'm sorry the other there you go thank you Council will remember this presentation from last week and so I'll go over it as quickly as possible and what I'd like to ask um legal do you want to go through each item Miss Carla I think it would be important we do that okay so a quick summary overview once again that you'll remember January of 2022 we brought these um discussion regarding the charter amendments the council at that point in time approved 17 amendments to bring forward to an ad hoc advisory committee that committee met from February to June on a bi-weekly basis and the community they hosted several Community meetings related to that time frame for the record representative division on this is also present in council chambers in July of 20 of 2022 the ad hoc advisory committee came back and recommended 11 items at that point in time the council approved the 11 items that are listed in this presentation then in July of 20 uh July 25th of 2022 the clerk's office received a petition for climate petition and that one was brought forward in August of 2022 the council postpone the ordinance ordering for the election of the charter amendments in November and then in October the council deleted the ordinance ordering the special election with the direction that we would have it in May in November of 2022 the clerk's office had certified the petition for climate and staff began reviewing the policy at that point in time so the 11 items that the council had brought forward and approved in July of 2022 are as follows Article 2 Section 2 2.2 C um specifically is a 10-year limit to stating the cap not being impacted when the council members are filing a filling out an unexpected unexpired term that may be able to serve two fully so that they may be able to serve full terms the proposed language is listed there if you all wanted to see the charter language and I have it listed at the end of this presentation and with that for your term you'd have two full four-year terms 3.1 on that one specifically the call is for the charter relating to the creation and composition of the powers and duties of the council be amended to allow the council representatives to appoint and remove district office staff I was pretty straightforward in terms of your Staffing capabilities 3.5 a on that one we have two items on the ballot this one would be for 3.5 a on amending the language to allow the council to reschedule meetings by resolution to allow for City holidays but also to still require two regular meetings per month and we see that primarily during the December time frame 3.5 a of the charter be amended to allow that the mayor be able to cancel a meeting if necessary due to federal state or local declarative emergencies not when we see that one we saw that primarily during the covid pandemic um and some a little bit during the migrant crisis 3.11 and I'm going to ask Kristen Hamilton from legal to help me out with these following slides on this one 3.11 related to the initiative Petition of the council to be amended to remove the requirement for a second petition and Institute a process for the public to initiate the city ordinance and I'll ask Miss Kristen to take the following slides thank you Miss Cruz Acosta uh the the ad hoc Charter Review Committee that was appointed by city council last year spent a lot of time working through the language on the initiative petition we benchmarked a lot of different cities processes and policies that they had in their Charter and the language that they recommended was what is posted on slides seven and eight there was a correction that um was made when we transferred the slides over there was a line at the bottom of this slide that was missing so I wanted to point that out to you all that um the number of individual signatures that are required for a an initiative petition is remaining the same you can see that that language is not bold or underlined because that's the same uh standard that was already existing as far as numbers needed and then additionally here's the rest of the language that would be incorporated into the charter should this proposed amendment pass and then this is the process for Council to place it on the ballot it was requested that we look at the different initiative petition limitations there is a listing of items that are not included in the initiative process that is appropriating or allocating City funds Corpus Christi Austin and San Antonio have those limitations in their Charter this protects budgets this protects contracts and this also protects City council's work that is done when you develop the budget each year each year there's detailed analyzes that go into those numbers that city council develops and so an ordinance initiating appropriating or allocating City funds was recommended as a limitation by the committee zoning and rezoning again is withdrawn from the Field San Antonio has that in theirs levying taxes San Antonio Corpus Christi and Austin have that limitation in their ordinance their charters setting utility rates San Antonio has that in their uh Charter and that also is withdrawn from the field granting franchises that's a power that's directly delegated to the city council through the charter and San Antonio has that and purchase and sale of real property is something that would be withdrawn from the field because that requires procedural steps as you know when you when the city sells property we have to put it out to bid these were recommended to put place in the charter so that folks who are seeking to initiate ordinances are aware of which types of items wouldn't be able to to you know appropriate for an initiative process we are seeking Council feedback on these three items on whether or not you would like to us to include this in the ordinance to uh regarding the charter Amendment for initiative petitions number one is regarding who is authorized to place items on the ballot currently the language in the charter states that the city clerk shall place an item for the election under state law only the governing body has authority to place an item on a ballot so it does require Council action which Council can take action on an initiative petition ordinance by a resolution to place that onto a ballot so we wanted to clarify for the petitioners that Council action is required we'd recommend that change number two we we were discussing in the in the mayor weighed in last week about the number of days that the city clerk is required to review the signatures uh we'd recommend that 90 working days or 90 days be allowed for the city clerk at the maximum but that it be required in the charter language that it be done without delay so the language would read something like if Council approves it that the city clerk shall review the initiative petition's signatures without delay but shall provide the response no later than 90 days to or to certify the petition and then the third item that we were considering or asking Council to consider is to allow Council to amend ordinance adopted after one year so this would be the language for the governing body this would be the language regarding the number of days that the city clerk's office has to review the petition's signatures without delay but no more than 90 city clerk working days and this is the language regarding the amendments provided however that no ordinance adopted at the polls under the initiative shall be amended or repealed by city council within one year of adoption thank you thank you so the remaining items section 3.9 b 3.10 b 6.1-12 oh thank you this one specifically is a lot of cleanup related to some of the language in the in the charter specific to that is um submission to qualified voters for the city to eliminate the provisions that have been inoperative because they have been superseded by state law replace obsolete references and update terminology to current legal usage section 6.13-11 D specific to the El Paso Police and Fire pension fund and that one is related to establishing no less than 18 percent of the federal of the total amount expended for wages of the participants and then they increase to the contribution rate shall be allowed by the state section 3.18 leases franchises and conveyances this one is specifically related to the leases franchises and conveyances to be amended to authorize the council to lease city-owned properties for 40 years or less by Council resolution ordinance and it's inefficiency for the council members on Section 4.1 B powers of Mayor this one specifically um calls it mend authorize to authorize a mayor to vote on All City agenda items and remove the mayor's tie-breaking and veto capacity beginning with the first meeting in 2025. on this one it's 6.1-4 specific to allow for the appointment of civil service Commissioners that reflect the diversity of the community and the city Workforce this one specifically allows for the council members have seen in some cases for the Civil Service Commission that you all struggle to appoint folks to this position leaving um the commission without Quorum so this one would allow for some flexibility to account for the council members to appoint folks to that Commission 6.2 on this one it's related to the unclassified services and 6.23 related to the appointment and removal of unclassified Personnel be amended to align the person carrying out the role of Civil Service Commission recorder with all other unclassified city employees who may be removed by the city manager or designee in accordance with the city Charter 6.71 Dash and dash one and 6.8-1 specific to the policies and procedures for promotion of city employees and this one will allow for staff to be able to more efficiently bring forward staff and promote those folks that we qualified for promotion which would improve the ability for us to hire and keep quality staff so as I mentioned before the steps for this on January the 31st the council members are asked to introduce the ordinance ordering the special election and the ballot language must be finalized at that point in time on February 14th is the last day that the absolute last day that the council must adopt an ordinance ordering for the special election and I understand that we have an item on the agenda to do that meeting on the 7th of February February through April we would have Community meetings and information sessions about the proposed amendments I'd like to again remind the council the city staff can only educate and inform the community we will not be in favor or against any of the proposed amendments that the council approves today and April the 24th through May the second is when early voting takes place and the 6th of May is election day and that's pretty much it um mayor Pro Tem mayor um so I have a lot of comments about some of these but I want to start with one that's um really important to me and that is the um citizen petition process uh and so Kristen I know you presented on that I don't know if you can answer some questions for me and I have quite a few of them so looking at slide seven it says any five registered voters referred to in this section as a committee is that currently in our language all the language that is bold and underlined is new okay so I would like to remove that I'd like to make sure to remove that it currently States right now um any registered voter May commence initiative proceedings or something like that I don't know if that's the exact language but it says any registered voter versus any five registered voters okay so I would like to make a motion to change that I have quite a few things though so I'll go through them um or it reads something like that I guess well I guess maybe um instead of because these we would have to vote to approve your changes correct um and since what does it currently read right now currently it reads whenever a number of registered voters equal to at least five percent of the voters who voted in the last general city election sign a petition setting forth the precise content of the ordinance desired by the signers so all of the not bold language is the original language that's currently on the charter as the committee was discussing this the There Was You Know multiple processes that we reviewed that recommended that it be a group so that was why that was there well I'm so confused so it currently says any five currently it says if you look at the bottom of the slide that's on the screen right now that begins with the word whenever that's what is currently in there whenever a number of registered voters equal to at least five percent so it doesn't have a person delegated as the person bringing forth the petition it just needs to be five percent yeah um yeah I mean I don't I don't think that we should be putting a number on it do any other cities do that there were a couple of cities that did similar things to that I believe that the city of Dallas has a similar process and what is their language that's where the the charter committee we can pull the the presentation up from what the charter committee reviewed well I mean I just I think it should say any registered voter I I don't think it should say five and so I don't know what the correct process to go about this is because I know these are your recommendations for a change and so I don't know if I need to amend your recommended language or if I just need to make a recommendation not to accept that language you can make a recommendation to amend that that language this is the recommendation of the committee you can certainly make a recommendation as you had last summer to amend that language to say that any registered voter okay so that would be one um and then my next thing you and I spoke yesterday um in depth about my concerns uh where it says uh maybe initiated through the process regarding allocation or appropriation of City funds I understand in the conversation you know that really goes in where you were coming from is that goes into expertise on the exact number of funds that can be allocated which I understand but I I did have some concern that the way it reads is that you cannot do an initiative petition to allocate any funds right so what you're saying is you cannot have a petition that says I want to allocate x amount of dollars to X department but you can have a petition that says I would like the city to invest in X and I just wanted some language that was clarifying on that I don't know if you were able to to work on that at all if Council so moves we can certainly adapt or create language for next week's posting and that as again this is going to come back to you all as an ordinance and so city council can amend the ordinance it's not going to you know be limiting council's authority to amend that language so we'll come back with proposed language if Council moves to do so and you all can can review that okay so that would be added to my amendment to direct you all to come up with that language okay so now I want to talk about the amount of signatures I'm sorry I have so many notes already and the 90 days um so you looked at benchmarks um when it came to things like appropriating or allocating funds and zoning and rezoning from cities of Austin Corpus Christi and San Antonio can you tell me what those cities also required for signatures we have a slide on that the city of El Paso has the lowest uh the lowest number percentage-wise of signatures required the other cities that we looked at typically were were five to ten percent of the registered voters the city of El Paso is five percent of those who voted in the last general city election the general city election is the mayoral election so it would be every four years uh the city-wide election when the mayor is elected so the city of El Paso currently has the the lowest percentage of Voters required to sign a petition you said you had a slide on that we had a slide on that on the on the committee for the committee I don't have that readily available right now because my understanding is that though some of those cities and the state of Texas also has a cap right so it could be five percent of the voters or 5 000 voters whichever was less or more and so um do we know Ms Prime maybe you could answer this currently as it stands what five percent of the voters are from the last general election I don't know if you have that right it was approximately eleven thousand eleven thousand about eleven thousand it was eleven thousand three nineteen in twenty twenty okay I believe the cities that have a cap are Austin and their cap is 20 000 which it matches up to the state standard for initiative petitions for Charter amendments okay so I think that we should also place a cap um I think I know what some constituents were asking for when they came here last summer was five thousand um I again would maybe just uh direct you to come up what you think is a reasonable cap um like if 11 000 was five percent maybe ten thousand is that cap but I would just um ask you all to to come up which you would think is reasonable for uh the ordinance posting um I've we don't have a committee to ask that question to at this point okay then I would ask maybe Council would want to make that recommendation um then I would just say 10 000. thank you so much um were there other cities I'm sorry um well yeah I guess my recommendation for that would be ten thousand and then so again looking at these three cities and looking at the proposed amendment of 90 days uh how do these three cities what is their time frame are they still on 30 days do any of them have over 30 days the the number of days for the the city clerk's office tribute of signatures the cities that we benchmarked varied from from five days uh which is I'm not sure how they would do that in Plano to Austin has uh matched up to the state to the state standard and the state standard does not have a required number of days it's without delay so it was a very broad range of days that were required okay I mean I do feel that 90 is a little long I also did we um one of the things I asked at the meeting last week was uh to define whether those are working or calendar days did we come up on what we felt was appropriate for that um Laura has some recommendations related to to that word yeah I mean if this is an appropriate time I'd love to hear them yes representative vanilla we had recommended 90 working days 90 working days for my office the city clerk's office okay were those working days or business days working days and defined by the city of El Paso or the department by the Departments okay clerk working date um so that's actually how many uh business days I'm sorry I kept wanting to say calendar day so how many business days is that because your department is closed on Fridays so it actually is more than 90 business days and more than 90 calendar days I could do that math if my brain was working correctly I guess you would subtract 20 yeah 12 days yeah so to me that is too long if we are going to go off of working days determined by the department I would say 45 to 60 which then becomes I think 60 to 75 I am fully estimating here that math could be very wrong but it is still over the 60 days if you look at 60 days working days determined by the department so that would be my my last recommendation I believe look at this really close so yeah those would be my three um four multiple amendments um for this and I don't know if I have a second do you want to read those out again miss Pride what I noted is to remove the num the number five from the first paragraph is that correct yes ma'am and to direct staff to return with language on the types of ordinances is that correct um on the language regarding allocation or appropriation of City funds just being specific on what the limitations are I don't know that maybe made that too wordy yours might have been great so to direct staff to return with wordy on the allocation or appropriation of City funds yes ma'am and then the Third is to recommend a Kappa ten thousand for the required number of signatures and the fourth is to require the city clerk to verify the petition between 45 to 60 working days I think you can say 60. 60 working days and then I had one more and it set my mind again while you're thinking of that we did find the benchmarks so El Paso is five percent of the voters who voted in the last general city election Austin is five percent of the qualified voters which is registered voters so that's going to be slightly more because not all voters turn out uh Corpus Christi is five percent of registered voters again Dallas is 10 of the qualified voters Fort Worth is 20 of the total number of registered voters Houston is 15 of the total votes cast as circulated in accordance with the Houston Charter uh Loretto is 10 of the electors qualified Plano is 20 of the number of vote votes cast at the last regular municipal election or 150 whichever is greater but I think that was changed because that one was very low that might be why they have such a low number of days required and then San Antonio is 10 of the electors qualified to vote at the time of the last regular municipal election and do any of them have caps you said Austin Austin is 20 000 yes ma'am twenty thousand okay um and so my last question is currently what is the language read right now for um an ordinance once it's adopted right so I know that you're recommending that an ordinance cannot be changed within a year I don't know if we even have language um currently at the time that addresses that it does it is not addressed it states that no that council is not obligated to consider the same ordinance initiated by petition or one that is substantially the same more often than once in two years but it's not addressed the process to amend so this would require that Council cannot amend an ordinance um less than a year after it's adopted by an initiative so as it stands right now council could amend an adopted ordinance within a month of its adoption it's silent that our Charter is silent on that issue so we would have to revert to what state law would require and what a state law would think that we're prohibited but now I'm interested just in what state law requires the state law doesn't prohibit us from amending our own ordinances but how does it work in a state law uh if a state Amendment if the cities no I know I'm just interested though no it would happen the way you women legislative legislation it would go back to the legislature for proposed amendments and there's no time right okay so this is in a way protects this ordinance for a year so I'm fine with that um yeah so those are my amendments I don't know if there's a second or if Council would like to do them individually second help we need to take them separately I think I think so representative molinar just seconds all of them [Music] thank you representative thank you mayor Pro tem representative um Fury thank you Mr Mayor um I have just three uh recommendations and three motions actually the first one is on amendment number one Article 2 Section 2.2 I align my recommendation is that we reward it so it says align maximum years of service to match actual length of terms so adding two years to that that's my first one my second one is oh amendment number eight article four article uh four 4.1 B um and to remove that one so to remove item eight uh Amendment eight and the last one representative Fiera what page is that on uh page 10. it's um petition number 3.11 is that the one you want to remove oh he's asking for 4.1 B yeah that's what I'm saying it's not page 10. it's mine says page 10. oh it's on slide 17. thank you thank you page 17. okay and the final one is to remove it to remove the item entirely and my final recommendation is on article 6 section 6.2 during my briefing it was um explained to me how this staff person is already on the city payroll doing other signed duties and then I came to find out that this person is only assigned to the commission and the example that was used was actually miss Costa's example of she was assigned to the ad hoc committee as a staff person so with that I'm I'm gonna move to remove amendment 10 on I'm not sure what oh well mine says page correct okay those are my three recommendations please and animate motions so if I if I if I can ask um just for just to clarify because I'm not sure that the explanation that you just gave I understood it so this one in particular the Personnel that is being asked um is we're asking for that Personnel who is has only one duty as a civil service reporter that's all that that person does right and if you remember that wasn't what the explanation gave to me during our Zoom they did explain to you that it was just that Duty well in spite of that I believe the perception is is wrong for this especially in this commission that it should be this person should be responsible to the committee and not to anyone else so my motion is to remove amendment 10 on page I'm sorry I didn't hear you page 19. I want to remove the item okay my motion is to remove the item do I have a second hmm those are my three emotions can so they'll need to be taken separately can you can you just repeat the first one again first one was to align the terms um of Maximum service to add two years so it's 12 years maximum maximum term so it's three terms the second one was to remove amendment number eight section 4 4.1 B and that one that has to do with the the mayor's veto that's page 17. and the last one was to remove article 6 6.2 I will second the last one I'll second the second one I'll second the first one thank you please check in the first one yeah yeah I had no second yeah so we have a motion on the second and the third item no second on the first okay we'll go the next time next uh thank you representative Bureau representative Hernandez good morning thank you for the presentation um I just wanted to to share some background information and my position on on some of these amendments um when we activated the city chart recovery committee it was the second time we've done that because unfortunately the pandemic happened and folks seem to feel comfortable expending money on an election and so here we are 2023 it's been over four years since we've reviewed and asked the voters to make changes to the city Charter what we have found as part of our due diligence in reviewing the city Charter is that it is in very much in a mode of of a strong mayor form of government having studied and committed a lot of my educational research on forms of government in Texas I feel very comfortable and and so do many other cities feel very comfortable with Council manager form of governments and when you look at our city Charter there are a lot of remnants of a strong mayor form of government one of those being the veto powers of the mayor the careers Council decided to um to you know make sure that there was no interruption with current representation which is why there was a motion to push it forward to a new incoming candidate or mayor that would not have those Provisions or privileges and so we I believe and I still believe that our city Charter still has those remnants and and part of that we asked the city Charter advisory committee to do a deep dive get into the weeds and try to determine look at Benchmark all of the cities in Texas and try to determine how do we make the city Charter a true form of a council manager form of government in 2015 some changes were made for example like the the city council appointment of a City attorney and under that new provision City attorney Neiman is has been the first City attorney that was appointed by Council again a change from strongman reform of government to a council manager form of government veto Authority or having um a mayor vote on all items to make sure that the citizens of El Paso understand the positions of their presiding officer and mayor you can't have a voting Authority and have veto Authority and so that was something that our city Charter advisory committee recommended that we remove those Provisions with the new mayor to make sure that it is in the sense of a city Charter with the council manager form of government in mind so I certainly wouldn't wouldn't support removing that also would would prefer to have a mayor take a position on all items through their votes because the the city deserves to note their position of every elected official um the the other issues related to the the petition initiative petition you know I personally believe uh it allows for democracy in action it allows and it gives the opportunity for members of the public to share um what ordinance they would like to bring forward but with those ordinance changes comes with a lot of responsibility and it comes with a lot of unintended consequences which is why some of those limitations have been considered by the city a charter advisory committee but not just haphazardly making decisions but looking at Best Practices and looking at cities across Texas and so I think that these items are fair but I also believe that petitioners do have a form of recourse by working with their elected officials to compromise or to find language that will bring the intent of the desired outcome with the petition so I think the limitations are fair it protects taxpayers it gives the authority of council to make decisions in the best interest of their budgets because we know with Rising costs and economic drivers like our Public Safety departments it will require careful looking at expenditures utilizing our budget really making sure that taxpayers are not unintentionally impacted by those changes and so I do believe that the Amendments proposed today would let voters um make it easier if you will uh to to change ordinances that could be incredibly impacted by our budget and so I wouldn't support the Amendments proposed today um most importantly because our city Charter advisory commission has already made those recommendations they've already gone out to the public they've already gotten feedback not once but in two different rounds and so to the respect of the commission and their time served and their volunteer time as well as the input from the public I certainly wouldn't like our city attorney's office to make those recommendations because it came from the public and these recommendations I think are fair and they've been worked on in the past so I I would re I would ask the city council to respect that process because I do believe there has been some fairness and some Middle Ground here not everybody gets everything they want but I think this is a fair response to some of the concerns we have seen with initiative petitions in the past um we have term limits so I would ask that we not extend there's term limits but most importantly um I think the concern has been well what happens if you know you fill out um an unexpired term and and we have seen that you know pretty much every other year every few years I think the language as written addresses that I don't think there was ever an intent to extend terms but rather to allow for any representatives to finish an unexpired term if it exceeds that 10-year we're not looking at going over by three years or two years we're looking at going over let's say a couple months or 18 months so I think that was the intent if there's any effort to change the overall City Charter governance structure I really do believe it has to go back to the citizens of El Paso removing veto power from the ballot is one of those one of those things that I think needs to go back to the public let the public decide this is going to be their opportunity to vote get put it on the ballot and then let the citizens decide to to remove it from the ballot I believe census sends a bad message especially because a lot of us have over the years over the past at least 24 months a lot of us have have already shared these proposals with the public we've done deep Dives and we we discussed at nauseam with our constituents and I really do believe that the public deserves to have an opportunity to vote and look at these items carefully and to to vote their conscience but certainly this Council should not remove them because we disagree with them but rather let the public decide um so so my uh my concern um I've shared today so my vote will reflect um preserving this language so that we can ask the voters what they decide again I do want to give thanks to all of the city staff time City attorneys you have you have spent like literally two three years on these changes very proud of the work and the engagement we've done with the public and so would would I fear that because there's not a true understanding of the work you've done may result in changes substantial changes to the language today and so I would I would ask that we respect the city Charter commission process and the public engagement process and leave and preserve the language as is thank you thank you representative thank you mayor and so I first before I get into some of my other questions about other items I want to address uh the Amendments and the comments about the amendments to number four because I felt like they were a little misinformed and a little disingenuous so um when it I'm not asking staff at all to change uh the language and what is not or what I guess what is not allowed in the citizen petition process I'm just asking them to clarify because I feel that as the language currently reads you know we look at citizen petitions that have been successful like the lost dog which did well the petition did not ask to use City funds did require City funds and so I just feel like the language is a little open-ended and it could be abused by Future councils and say well you can't use any you can't do a citizen petition that requires any funds even if it's not written down in language which I know is not the intent of our staff today Kristen clarified that with me yesterday I just want that clarified in the language language I think also this language if any of the council had watched the committee meetings this language was proposed by legal and brought to the commission and so to say that having legal draft this language or change this language um you know is not what the commission wanted that's exactly what happened that's all we're asking to continue you know I'm just asking to clarify what the commission approved that was proposed by legal I also want to say the the 90 working days was never brought to the commission so in that regard we would either leave that or not you know not address it at all or change it um and there was one more point I wanted to bring up about this um oh I the thing about the cap on signatures that was brought to us and to the Charter committee by a constituent that we hear from regularly ignored by the charter committee ignored by staff at that point and ignored by the council when they came to this so I am just adding in the community's presence in this process and asking to adopt that land language Council cannot do it but I do think that if we're we're speaking for the voice of the constituents that should be brought to a vote as well so that's all I have to say about that but I do want to go back to amendment number one because I I do still feel a little uncomfortable about this um and I'm not going to ask to amend it Miss Prine or Cruz can you clarify we are going to once we go through the Amendments we are going to then vote on all of these items again is that correct you will vote on the Amendments and then you will vote on the final okay then I'm not going to make any amendments to it I just want to on the record again say I am a little uncomfortable because I do think that it does open up the ability for someone to serve three terms again uh you know if if I had been sworn in and then you know not made it through my car accident there would have been an election to fill my term immediately and someone then would have been able to you know serve three terms where everyone else only serves two and so I I just don't think this language is appropriate and so I'm not going to be supporting that one my other question is for the very last amendment I believe yeah amendment number 11. so I have some questions about this and I'm pulling up the backup language for it so it talks about oh yeah okay so I'm going to read this out are you reading out the charter language the proposed amended language from slide 32 and and just I'm going to read it out because I I feel like I'm gonna have a hard time articulating what my questions are like so um I'm going to read out about the screen right now thank you so you're removing including examination that's not to say that examinations won't be used and that's not my question is this the last part so promotion in any position in Civil Service shall be by examination weighed by seniority and performance record except as otherwise provided in the charter rule so that's where what are the what is otherwise provided in the charter rules is there anything currently right now provided there or are we just taking that up because it's a cleanup that's that's where I'm like a little confused yeah representative anytime you see language that it struck out like on this proposed slide that's on the screen it's removing that language that's what is currently in the charter and it would be struck no I I mean I understand I understand this language is being taken out I'm asking it says accept otherwise provided in the charter and rules my question is is there other language provided in the charter that this is specifically referring to so I'm going to ask um mayor Michelle Williams to speak to that from HR Mary Wiggins assistant director of HR um so in the well I can't even say this what we're proposing is that the seniority points um and the military points would still count I'm not sure if we're if we found that there's other word in the the charter I mean I guess that's your question but that would still be in effect those will still be whenever someone if they have an exam the seniority points and their military does count towards um their place in the position that will still be in effect the only thing that we're asking to be removed is the requirement and again that does not mean that we're not going to test there are some positions where tests are applicable it benefits to be able to to rank based upon an exam all this we're asking is the requirement that every single position has to be tested okay so I'm just going to get into where my heartburn is I don't know about this um so I've heard from some staff members that they've taken the test the path is test they have seniority and they've still been turned down for positions and they've come to me well I have no Authority on this and ask you know we don't understand why we've been overlooked for seniority position that's now still open and has not been filled and so I'm trying to understand you know how these things correlate right I have no authority to say well this is why you weren't given the position or you should be and that's not what I'm asking what I'm just trying to understand does this help or hurt an individual right because from what I'm understanding is that people are taking the test that is required they're doing well and they're still not being given the position so the exam that is being administered is a tool it's one of many tools that supervisors use to be able to to select positions um whenever someone takes a test they're going to be ranked based upon their scores it's going to be their testing score then their seniority and their military points will be added to that whenever it comes time for a supervisor to interview um what's going to happen is they're going to look at the the resumes they're going to go through all of the resumes of course you know they're going to take into account their position on there but that does not require any longer that for example if your number you know three that you're definitely going to be one that is chosen it they're going to take the the your number on the eligible list couple that looking at your resume and looking to see the qualifications that you have the experience are you going to fit with that position because sometimes just because somebody may have some qualification they it may not be a good fit and then they're going to take the interview so all of those things those three items added together is how a supervisor would make a selection you know for the position yeah I don't know I still feel a little strange about this um but I'm going to move on because I think there are some members of the public here to talk on it and I would like to hear from them first so eligibility criteria and rating factors for promotions shall be established by the rules and shall be included as a credit for seniority so you were saying individuals are still going to look at your resume it can open up to anybody you know in the city outside of the city but that credit for seniority is supposed to give you a point over other candidates who may not work in that department or work for the city and so where my concern is is that there no longer is that credit for that seniority so meaning you are good you could very well level up with someone who hasn't put 20 to 30 years of time into that department and that's where you know I think that's why we have it I don't know if you all have another process in which you are you already look at that that doesn't mean that the test really does help but I just wanted you to know where my concern for that was because I do think if you've put you know a lifetime of work into a department that should count towards a promotion and again I don't know if there's another mechanism in which you do that other than the exam but from what the charter says is it is the exam well and so that will be you know so for the the employees who have the military or who have service they will be given points so they will rise higher up on the list because they have those points so most definitely those will still continue to be credited the other reason that we look at removing the exam is not everybody is test takers some people just get in there and they freeze we've found that you know there are people who can do the job but but they just can't take tests and so we're just trying to afford better opportunities for all of our employees to be able to to move up in the organization I can understand that is there and you you keep referring to just general points for seniority or military are those outlined in the charter somewhere are they in the chart or in the ordinance that they're in the ordinance well and so I I guess I would be a little bit more comfortable if there was something because we're taking language from the charter um if we were to put in other language in the charter right that said we're using just just based on seniority and Military you're receiving x amount of points um again so the exam is not my issue my issue is just the language and getting them credit exactly um and I don't know what the best way to go about that is uh but again I'm gonna I would like to hear from public comment before addressing you so thank you so much for those answers I appreciate it thank you representative Canales good morning sir good morning can everybody hear me okay yes sir okay I have a few uh proposed amendments also they are very small they're more clean up than uh substantial I'll begin with uh number four we can scroll to number four that is uh slide eight so this is uh proposed amendment to the uh proposed amended language um and it is simply to read in the sentence uh about two-thirds of the way down uh mid-sentence that starts thereafter must place the proposed ordinance on the ballot at the next city-wide general election specified in state law I would like for to to well I move for uh that to read uh no later than the next city-wide general election specified in state law comma meeting all deadlines I'll second that and that's simply to give Council the flexibility to place this at a sooner election than the next city-wide general election if if such an election date is available to us I will second that okay and then I will move to uh number nine and number nine on slide 18 uh is just a small clean up uh to the ballot language itself the proposed ballot language um I think in general we should air on the side of being a little bit more specific in terms of uh what is is what amendments are being proposed in the uh backup language those should be also proposed uh or be reflected in the ballot language and so this one I would like it to read uh should 6.1-4 be amended to change the qualification requirements to allow for the appointment of civil service Commissioners that reflect the diversity of the community and City Workforce I'll second that and again it's just a small change but that is just to bring Clarity uh to the voters who see this on the ballot so they understand what the change being proposed actually is and not just the goal of the change and then I have a similar Amendment for number 11. again this is to the ballot language itself is slide 20 and I would like for this one to read should sections 6.7-1 and 6.8-1 be amended uh excuse me one second to remove the requirement for examination so uh sorry BM headed to establish policies and procedures for the promotion of city employees uh I think this language changed since I wrote this down this proposed palette language but I I'd like to include a reference to removing the requirement for the requirement for examination um be amended to establish policies and procedures for the promotion of city employees and I guess it would read then uh by removing the requirement for examination I I would defer to legal here to uh draft to this in the way that that makes the most sense in order to reflect the the removal of the requirement for examination in the ballot language because that is the change that's being proposed I will second that and those are the only three that I have again there largely clean up of the language but I do think that it behooves everybody to have clear ballot language uh that describes what the change being proposed actually is thank you sir and with that we have no other um city council members to speak I do want to talk about item eight that I think it's important that we do remove this item to continue to have checks and balance for the city and city council still has the opportunity to override a mayor's veto but I think it's important for the mayor to have the opportunity and the ability to have checks and balance within the community as the mayor is elected Citywide and that makes a big difference when you're talking about the ability to um preside over City Council and with that Ms Prime I know we have some call to the public and then we'll take action on the amendments yes mayor we have 20 members is a public that signed up to speak on item number one the first person is Richard dayu followed by Miguel escoto Michael Seiko Jesus Reyes Diego Martinez Adan signs good morning Mr dayu you'll have three minutes sir good morning Laura before you start the clock if I could just add something to your comments earlier Greg Yellen was a really close friend of mine he was my lunch buddy I miss him like all of you do I had the blessing of of doing a radio interview with him several years ago and luckily for me they archived it at kateep so we're going to air it this weekend in some sort of tribute to him so I just wanted to mention that to you all thank you Marion Council for the record Richard Dave I'm glad to be here this morning I am a registered lobbyist and I would like to just offer a few comments before I do though I want to do welcome our three new members of council including Chris who's somewhere out there in Virtual land I'm looking forward to working with all of you I just have a few comments I'd like to make to you all uh this morning and to the city manager and and City attorney as well first of all have you chosen or are you considering choosing an election date for this particular Charter and if so may I ask when that will be it's uh May May 6th this year May 6th okay thank you this is not a question but an opportunity to express my views and the views of my clients as it relates to a few of the recommended Charter amendments I attended nearly all the commissions meetings and expressed similar concerns to them at each of those meetings so some of this is not new to you I will add to representative anello's comments and to representative Hernandez the attendance frankly was sadly very very low at all these meetings there were two or three of us at best at most of them Rick Monarch was there sitting next to me for seemingly all of them to the point we strongly encourage Council not to consider any amendments that would dilute the powers of the mirror specifically the mayor should retain his or her Authority and discretion to exercise veto Powers additionally and related the mayor should not be required to cast his or her vote on each agenda item requiring action by Council unlike single member districts the mayor is elected by the entire Community a system of checks and balances is currently available to Council in the form of overriding the mayor's veto by the way representative another part of the challenge in my view with lowering the number of signatures required for a petition is that it makes it candidly perhaps a little too easy to force a ballot Initiative for sometimes possibly capricious reasons finally these measures are too important to the electric to place it on the Maybelline in my view when very few El pasoans are expected to vote instead we recommend waiting until the November 24 election when voter turnout should be much higher because of the presidential election we strongly urge Council to consider these changes before placing the charter amendments on the City ballot thank you the next speaker is Miguel escoto Miguel escoto followed by Michael Siegel Jesus Reyes good morning sir you'll have three minutes hello my name is Miguel I'm a co-founder of Sunrise movement El Paso I'm here to speak on um the charter amendments at large in general um so we are very concerned with some aspects of the charter amendments that were done through committees in um the major concern that I have is what representative anello mentioned earlier in the discussion in section 3.11 where the language of the charter Amendment suggests that you can only participate in this Democratic process of a valid initiative if your ballot initiative doesn't require City funds uh to me that sounds like you are encouraging you are giving a message to the public don't try these don't try these uh public uh publicly run ballot initiatives in the future that's the message that you're sending us um so we ask that you strike that part of the language allow for the public to run their their ballot initiatives um secondly we're concerned that the language that you write uh does is not reflected on the proposed ballot language right so the proposed ballot language doesn't say anything about City funds at all so that is a blatant misrepresentation of the charter Amendment it's very bad um I don't understand why it wasn't even included in the proposed ballot initiative um so that that's concerning but I understand that you all wrote this as part of your Charter Amendment committee um and I understand that there were some uh public uh meetings about this but the public doesn't have um enough time to do that you need to create a program where you go out into the public to let the people know that these are happening the vast majority of people don't understand what you are trying to do with the charter and I do want to make a distinction between what you all are trying to do with the charter amendments and the process that we have to go through we had to get almost 40 000 people to get something changed in the amendment you all did not have to do that so please be cognizant of that um please be much more protective for the charter amendments that had to require literally hundreds of thousands of conversations in the streets thank you thank you the next speaker is Michael Siegel Mr Siegel star six plays to our major telephone Michael Siegel good morning you have three minutes go ahead sir you have three minutes Michael Siegel we can't hear you sir oh I'm sorry madam clerk uh I'd like to defer my comments until item two on the agenda thank you the next speaker is Jesus regas followed by Diego Martinez Adan signs coming up Jesus Reyes yes right good morning you have three minutes all right uh good morning good morning Council mayor uh it's an honor to meet you all this morning but I want to address the first item in particularly section 3.11 in which it will bar the use of City funds for future ordinance ballot initiatives like uh the climate Charter for example this is a very austerity uh kind of measure to hamper City participation in City matters in my opinion and it is it is a Veiled Threat to direct democracy and people's right to bring ordinance ballot initiative forward to city council this item is also disingenuous in the proposed ballot language as the current language does not reflect the actual impacts of section 3.11 and item one I asked city council to please be honest with your constituents and change the ballot language to reflect the actual impacts this item will have on future ordinance bio initiatives going forward that way the or citizens of this great City will make the right decision going to the May polls thank you thank you the next speaker is Diego Martinez Diego Martinez followed by Adan signs Brandon sharples angel uyoa perea Charlene Hill no one's coming up Diego Martinez Adan signs if you're in the queue star six to unmute your telephone Adan signs Brandon sharples angel uyoa foreign coming up you have three minutes thank you good morning Council uh I'm enjoy joa here to speak on item one particularly section 3.11 the Amendments made to current section 3.11 are stifling to our City's democracy increasing requirements from 30 to 90 working days is way too long for a verification being as it was decided that the city clerk's office only works four days out of the week and I know there was just a discussion from representative anello to change this to 60 working days which seems a little bit more reasonable there's also no language in the amendment that says petitioners have that extra time as well which makes it a little more harder for us and puts us at a disadvantage sorry the language is also incredibly misleading as proposed for the ballot it states the second round of petitions will be removed which seems as though this will be an easier process but the rest of the language that is omitted actually does the opposite there is no mention of the Citywide general election only mandate there's no mention of required percentage of registered voters to sign and there's no mention that this will make it more difficult for us to petition our city government essentially creating a petition and Gathering signatures is very hard work and is very expensive work so please change the language before finalizing for the ballot make the language more transparent for your voters and don't make amendments that will make ballot initiatives proposed by the people more impossible thank you thank you the next speaker is Amy area Charlene Hill Nick hansopolos coming up good morning please state your name for the record um my name is Charlene Hill thank you um hello the confusing language being used in section 3.1 is a threat to ballot initiatives like the climate Charter the climate Charter which was supposed to go on the ballot in November but that wasn't doable for you so it'll go on the ballot in May 2023. but now rather than going on the Belt as one proposition the climate Charter is going on the Belt as eight different propositions this isn't what forty thousand El pasoans who signed up that'll be item number two we're on item number one on the general Charter amendments yeah this will be on item number two okay then I'll just come back Friday yes ma'am thank you very much thank you the next speaker is Nick hanzopoulos followed by Sapphire Ortega Jose Miguel Reyes Veronica Carvajal good morning sir you have three minutes morning Council good morning my name is Nick kanzopoulos uh I'm a district 8 constituent represented by City rep Chris Canales um quick comment I'm with Sunrise Paso and I insist that city council do not carry out the prevention of further ballot initiatives this item is purely anti-democratic and inequitable item one section 3.11 is an obvious contradiction to our rights as an American to propose simply put change without ballot initiatives voters will only be able to exercise their right restrictively without this initiative there can be no change and also be no hope for the future for future Generations thank you speaker is sapphire Ortega Sapphire Ortega followed by Jose Miguel Reyes Veronica Carvajal Vanessa Medrano Ana Fuentes good morning you have three minutes and I live in District 8 for item one um the language Amendment four section 3.1 I feel like it has to be more clear to the reader and to those who struggle to understand or even pay attention it looks as though it is trying to confuse the reader and I personally don't understand what it is and is sane I also do not see it summarizing Amendment 4 as its original state I think it needs to be made clear that the government does not want any ballots that require funding which makes no sense because you are here to help the people a democracy and as shown in history many have silenced many have been silenced but um it is now 2023 and I think we should stop silencing people it's time to stick to the values oh gosh I lost I lost it's time to sorry it's time to stick to the values of helping the people and funding projects that help our El pasoans and our city I personally do get distracted um so in terms of accommodating others who struggle to pay attention this also is not friendly to those who are disabled that's another thing to keep in mind it looks as though you are taking advantage of their deficits but truly I think my most concern is for those who struggle to understand what is being said if many of us can't understand or see the summary as reflecting what is in the amendment for then I'm sure many of other El pasoans won't understand it when reading though I do understand it has taken years to make the amendment I think we need to be willing to keep an open mind and and change things in terms of clarification for the people of El Paso remember the goal is to help the people and make the language easier for them to understand what they are reading that way they know if they truly do or do not wish to vote for the amendment thank you the next speaker is Jose Miguel Reyes Jose Miguel Reyes followed by Veronica Carvajal Vanessa Medrano Ana Fuentes good morning you have three minutes good morning um greetings I'm a constituent from uh District Seven uh I'm here to denounce the proposed language for the amendment to the city starter section 3.11 the proposed ballot language is at best vague and at worst utterly disingenuous let it be known by the city council and mayor that we can see through their pilot stripping away democratic-led initiatives for material materializing in the future like hosticia frontalisa's ordinance petition for election reform one is left to imagine the envy that El Paso City's government has over their constituents power to make meaningful change in their city that they want to keep it all for themselves also know that we talked to hundreds and hundreds of of individuals and will make sure that every person we come across knows the true intentions of this amendment enough that it gets voted down by the people in May thank you [Applause] please to unmute your telephone good morning you have three minutes good morning good morning my name is your mayor and Council yesterday evening I sent you each a very long detailed email with my concerns regarding the proposed changes to section 3.11 ballot initiative I really wish I could support these changes because they do get rid of the second round of signatures but at a really high cost the remaining terms and proposals are extremely undemocratic and they make valid initiatives nearly impossible petitioners currently work backwards from the state's deadline to get the language on the ballot and that's about eight weeks before the election in either May or November getting thousands of signatures from people who are actually registered to vote is very time consuming and expensive we're talking about seven to eleven thousand ballot signatures right now um under your proposal we would have 180 calendar days to get 11 000 good signatures um for us that's 180 days but yet your proposal is giving the city clerk 90 working days which we've heard before really turns into more almost six months because of the four day work week as a lawyer I'm not sure how that is um allowed under the law but it is according to to the City attorney um I'm asking that you please use calendar days for both um if you're going to use it for petitioners that you also work use it for the city now signatures already expire within 180 days per state law that is already enough of a burden for petitioners without the city now dictating when that 180 day clock begins right now under your proposal it begins with the new initial notice of intent and the city's 30 days to consider it I'm assuming that's working days it was not in the presentation thirdly we need a cap of 5 000 if we are going to have a 180 day calendar day deadline for the public and a five-month deadline for the clerk to validate those signatures I also don't agree with limiting petition elections to Citywide general elections currently we're limited um the the ballots go on the um next general election specified by state law right now we have eight opportunities to put ballot initiatives um on the on the ballot um during the span of four years what you're proposing would put ballot initiatives on the ballot only once in four years because you're considering city-wide general elections to be only when the mayor is on the ballot this is extremely undemocratic um and um you know you know that section 41.001 of the state election court code mandates two elections each year one in May and one in November there is no reason to limit that to to only um to having us only on the ballot once every four years now as for the limitations I also don't trust that the the city will interpret these in a way that will allow us to actually get anything done in the future I'm thinking about the climate change for three minutes ma'am thank you thank you the next statement was submitted by Vanessa Medrano and it reads my name is Vanessa Medrano and I'm a constituent of District Seven when I first read the proposed ballot language for the proposed amendments to 3.11 ballot initiatives amendment number four I was so thrilled then I actually read the proposed amended language the proposed amendment I read in article 3 section 3.11 does not simply remove the requirement for a second petition and Institute a process for the public to initiate a city ordinance it removes the ability for any community-led ordinances to go into effect it that requires any city funding even if it is signed on and voted by owned by your taxpayers regardless of how ridiculous I find this amendment to be I understand it has to go on the ballot please actually make sure El pasoans are aware of what they're voting for when it appears on the ballot I like many El Paso voters struggle to trust and believe that our city government holds our best interests in mind this proposed language for this amendment does not help this language is missing reading and it was not long ago that the city council had to address initially vague ballot language to push an agenda the majority of el pasoans would not support if you all were to keep this language it would only prove that we can't trust you please be as sincere as you all claim to be by ensuring that the ballot language for this amendment actually references the amendment the language you have drafted the next speaker is Ana Puentes followed by adziri Reyes Isabella Correa Josh Simmons Dr Rick boner Carmen Rodriguez Lori Marshall Yvonne Diaz good morning Miss Puentes you have three minutes thank you good morning good morning my name is Anna Fuentes I'm an organizer who with Jose from Theresa as well as soon as El Paso as well as the constituent of District 8. I'm here to express my concerns over the ballot language proposed before Council specifically Amendment 4. the proposed ballot language does not match what is what the initiative initiative actually entails um since the language completely emits the assertive measure that prohibits initiation of ordinance petitions that will require the allocation of City funds as it reads the proposed language and insinuates that the amendment would lift barriers so that community-led petitions can successfully make it to the ballot when in real reality the amendments to article 3.11 close Democratic venues for the electorate to express their will by emitting the importance of the Australian measure as it is including the amendment the language blatantly is blatantly deceitful to the voters I'm additionally concerned um about removing the limit for the city clerk to verify the signatures I understand and I am sympathetic to the workload that it places on the clerk's office however I think removing or extending that cap to 180 days or 90 days sorry um is removing a check of accountability in the clerk's office rather than providing her with more staff you're removing you're extending that deadline and making it so that petitioners have to wait longer to know whether or not their petition will be on the ballot so again I want to reinforce that the ballot language should be amended so it accurately reflects what is proposed in the initiative thank you my next speaker is at City Reyes followed by Isabella Correa Josh Simmons good morning you have three minutes good morning my name is a district one constituents represented by Mr Brian Kennedy today I am here to Advocate against article 3 section 3.11 where in Twisted words it bans all future ordinant ballot initiatives from taking place when they require city funding I am a huge advocate of the people and our rights for the democracy and this is anti-democratic and an abuse to our freedom of choice a way in my eyes to control the people given that I am just as human as anyone else I will state that I have a voice and my family has a voice my friends have a voice and so I ask with that voice that you listen and put the voices of the people first not just the privileged few Let There Be future ordinance initiatives let us have choices and let us have a voice and make a language of course more understanding so that everyone can know what they're signing on to in the ballots thank you thank you the next speaker is Isabella Correa followed by Josh Simmons Rick bonart Carmen Rodriguez Lori Marshall Yvonne Diaz good morning you have three minutes hi good morning my name is um I am going to be speaking for item two instead of item one I just wanted to make you uh just to make it clear if that's okay with you all thank you thank you thank you the next speaker is Josh Simmons Josh Simmons star six two and meet your telephone Josh Simmons star six please Josh Simmons you're still on mute star six please Josh Simmons good morning you have three minutes hello hi good morning uh Disney staffson City Council my name is Josh Simmons I am a resident of District Five and I want to voice you're back on mute Mr Simmons star six please star six go ahead Mr Simmons thank you hello go ahead sir okay thank you um yeah I just wanted to voice my concerns about some of the Amendments although I am a very strong advocate for direct petitioning for the people um some of the language and the proposed amendment uh presented today is concerning whereas people should be allowed to petition the government in a timely manner as well as having once verified and acceptable having those petitions move towards the ballot in a swift Manner and considering with this being a charter Amendment and all the other proposed amendments I just would like to remind the council that it was already delayed from November and now to May so any further delay although it would seem like in the interest of the Public's for Education also delays the First Amendment rights of the citizens that engage in that position so thank you very much and I hope that Council does adopt some of the amendments to post today by representative anello and allows Fair governance by the people for the people thank you very much thank you Council a friendly reminder please no side conversations while the meeting is in session the next speaker is Dr Rick bonard followed by Carmen Rodriguez Lori Marshall Ivan Diaz good morning sir you have three minutes so good morning Dr Monarch good morning mayor and Council uh I I I'm speaking to you as someone who has been involved in the initiative petition process as you know I led the campaign to save lost dog just a little reality check for that campaign we needed approximately 3 500 signatures and all and that was 1700 on the first petition in 1700 on the second petition I have uh given you some simplified language here which I believe anyone can understand and it has the following advantages it establishes a responsible party it allows for early Council intervention it sets reasonable time limits all specified as calendar days it avoids additional costs of special elections and it eliminates the second petition and a reasonable number of signatures so 5000 signatures as a cap is very reasonable when you consider that over the last 20 years there have only been two successful petitions that have made it onto the ballot and then of those two only one was successfully permitted by the voters and went on and that was lost dog so this is not something that occurs every day even with these lower limits of signatures so a cap of 5000 is very reasonable also by changing everything to calendar days you can tweak the little parameters a little bit but everything becomes Fair the additional thing that that I want to speak to is you know I wouldn't die on this hill but the need to have five people participate in the initial process it's very simple for me to walk across the street and get my neighbors to sign something but it doesn't help you it doesn't bring this process forward one responsible person is what you want maybe an alternate in case something happens to that person you can see how life can change in the blink of an eye so I think that what I'm proposing to you is very reasonable and finally I would like to say it's a shame that the public can't see what I'm proposing and I would encourage you in your rules as I spoke to Mr Fierro before You by not allowing us to give you things in electronic format the rest of the city can't see what we're even talking about so it's very difficult for the public to even get past these barriers that are common so I can take a presentation to my board I can send you an email so the concern about whether there's a virus or something in an electronic transmission is really not of not legit so thank you very much thank you the next speaker is Carmen Rodriguez Carmen Rodriguez if you're in the Q star six I don't see Ms Rodriguez phone number Lori Marshall good morning you have three minutes Lori Marshall you're back on mute star sixth place to unmute your telephone good morning you have three minutes hi I would like to speak to the next agenda item I believe I want to speak um in regards to uh having the vote in May um and not having it be broken down into eight amendments so with your permission I'd like to speak in the next section thank you thank you Yvonne Diaz star six SDS you have three minutes you're back on mute star six please Yvonne Diaz star six to unmute your telephone good morning you have three minutes good morning my name is Yvonne Diaz I am with Texas writing in El Paso I am a community organizer that focuses focuses on Civic engagement of young people um different Civic duties such as voting such as uh I don't know getting involved in Grassroots organizing and this morning I've been listening and and I just want to continue to express a concern that a lot of uh our partners in the community or on a lot of our colleagues in the community have been expressing it's a concerning that a lot of these process is like it disappointing that it's not going to help like continue engaging young people in the Democratic processes difficult language and all this morning I also have been like trying to wrap my head around everything that is happening and it's so hard to keep up and with normal people or young people we want them to get involved but doing this Democratic process so difficult uh having a charter an amendment like all these things are not helping for people to get engaged or to get interested in politics if we really want to be a democratic deity I think the language has to be less confusing and has to be um this process has been taking so long um I remember last year when everything started and then now extending it on 2023 to make it longer uh it's just so uh disappointing but um definitely uh I just want to experience my concern and and I wish things can be easier so we can continue making the work in the community and continue engaging young people on all this uh because ultimately as you as we're always here saying like they're the future and and the young people is the future so if you really want to take like those words into like uh inter consideration or into like our hearts like really truly believe in like this doesn't have to be this difficult thank you that concludes public comment on item one thank you Miss print I don't think we have Miss Marshall for item two if we could move her down the item two please yes sir thank you and I think I would like to see if there's anyone else who would like to speak who has not signed up for our rules and we'll have to suspend the rules is there a motion to suspend the rules so moved second there's a motion and a second to suspend The Rules of Order to allow additional speakers on item number one all in favor anyone opposed the motion passes sir please state your name for the record good morning David Guzman with the American Federation State County Municipal Employees Union good morning um good morning to all and uh we I see new faces Mr Kennedy Mr Fierro Mr Canal is up there somewhere he's um now I hear a lot and I heard a lot of uh constituents come up about them not knowing what was going on when they bring up paperwork and information about it and I'm pretty sure a lot of constituents in the city don't even know what civil service is I come in to review these things about the Civil Service is for the employees rules regulations policies procedures and um I hear that Mr fiatore on one of them he um he wanted to take it off and the thing is that we all have to know before we vote on something what is it about civil service is unique civil service it's only for the employees and for the staff and representatives like me that we look at those things have you all seen the documents and and heard from staff that some of these items already are are in place um 6.1-12 says that they wanna have the hearing officer under under the procurement process it's already been done September 19th the hearing officer was under what became a city employee it was brought to the attention of the Civil Service why because civil service has their own bylaws it has their own rules anytime that has to any they had any change any rules changed by Me by the American Federation State County Municipal Employees or any other group or the staff it has to go to them before anything now here I see a lot of information too that contradicts the rules in the Civil Service because if you change something in the charter and it's still in the Civil Service rule we're going to have a problem now they brought up about the um the um testing exams at the same time in the rules it says that if there's there's examinations a lot of times you have the right to uh to promote and they're taking it away they did they they did stay with the seniority that I did have a problem when when we did the ad hoc committee but at the same time they're taking away the appeal in the rules it says that an employee can appeal a a um a a promotion whenever they thank you mister when you preach the three minutes thank you very much thank you sir is there anyone else that would like to speak on item one thank you thank you mayor we have a representative Kennedy followed by representative Hernandez um one of the one of the things I was going to ask because we hear it again and again and some of that maybe because it seems a little confusing is the 3.11 in the ban on expenditure of City funds um if if I could get again I know we have an explanation on the ramifications of having that uh it doesn't automatically stop somebody from having a charter Amendment that could have an expenditure I want to make sure I understand this but it does stop uh something that demands that we spend a certain amount on an item is that correct or do I did I misunderstand that Kristin Hamilton came for the record and I believe that it is on the slide right now that's being presented uh this would remove from the field of the initiative process ordinances regarding allocation of funds so the if somebody is proposing an ordinance attempting to allocate or appropriate City funds that would not be appropriate for the initiative process because there are budgetary requirements that you have to do in the background in order to determine where that money is coming from what you're moving money out of in order to per in order to allocate this money you know for a different cause it would not eliminate an ordinance that would provide for a project that the city would then need to figure out how to fund so this would not just so I understand completely this would not have stopped a lost dog from being put on the ballot correct the that initiative petition was regarding was to require that the city Preserve in perpetuity a specified property that the city already owned there was not a an allocation of City funds with that okay ordinance I just I want to make sure I was clear so when I get asked I can at last give a clear answer the only other thing I was going to say is the only other issue that that I have with everything that was up is when we look at giving 60 days to go through the signatures in a ballot when we work that out to a four day work week that's a little over 15 weeks so I know that you I'm hesitant to put the extra work on Ms Prine in her Department that have done yeoman's work verifying signatures my concern is even with 60 days we're looking at at 15 weeks you know when we're stretching over almost four months to verify signatures I'm concerned because it moves time limits around so dramatically for those people that are bringing petitions forward 60 days should be 60 days 60 days would make it 89 days I I should I would like to stress uh Laura cruzicoso for the for the record I would like to stress that 60 days is a worst case scenario in most cases Laura will Laura and her team will make it to the 30-day time frame or close to it's it's a worst case scenario should the situation be that we receive a large volume of petitions for any reason and or it becomes a time frame when for example this past fall we had a large volume of folks that were coming in for the election period and it's a team of about eight folks that she has on her stuff yeah remember Infinity if you do 60 days it should be 89 days because there's three days there's a four day week so you got three days you don't work times 12 times 4 is 12. you did it twice as 24 60 plus 24 is 89. so roughly it'll be 90 days so what happened this in this cruise is correct what happened is this fall is we received two petitions within days of each other along with the election period and we received another another five candidate petitions to verify on the candidate petitions I have five days to turn it around we did get two large petitions to certify and so the 30 working days was just not feasible for my office of eight I have heard mention of four day work week I will tell you that we did come in on weekends during those weeks during that time period to verify the petitions we were here over the weekend for example on the fair elections petition our deadline to complete was September 26th we completed it by September 13th so we do work as expeditiously as possible however we're just looking for a little bit of leeway to eliminate any hardship to my office should scenarios like that happen in the future Kenya did a great job by the way Mr price thank you mayor and I was going to say it I know that you guys were working nights and weekends to make this happen my only concern is to address the concerns of the constituents and I understand this that right now it's 30 calendar days is that correct 30 working days if we were to attack 50 on that make it 45 working days it might give Miss Prine in that department the relief they wanted but still be that happy medium where we don't end up making it where it can be three or four months to get to get them you know certified I was just and the only the only point that I would make there is that that's why we put in the language without delay yeah I've I understand I and I appreciate that and she has always done it without delay I mean it's not like she sat around and wait for the close to the deadline I just think that if it's if it's a deadline that we don't think is ever gonna we're ever going to run into then there's really no reason to push it out that far that's all I was going to say thank you representative mayor Pro Tem um thank you mayor So based on representative Kennedy's concerns I'm going to ask to amend oh do you want I'm just going to ask to amend my amendment to 45 working days because I think we've determined that that would be about 60 days I also finally remembered the last amendment I wanted to make to item number four and that is to remove city-wide um went to general election because I think that really limiting citizen petitions to once every four years is I I just think really awful I really believe in the citizen petition process and when you say Citywide general election which means it's only during the mayoral election I mean look at the case with the charter Amendment we've asked them you know they had their signatures uh prepared for November we asked them if they would let us wait until November they agreed this also doesn't give us leeway I just I really I can't even in my mind understand how we could justify saying you can only do a citizen petition once every four years and if other cities do it that's fine that is not what our city does that is not what our community is like and so I'm going to make the motion to remove the word Citywide from item number four I don't know if I have a second second on both items reppinela if I may mayor just we have one percent let me get representative at none this and I'll get you sir Canales uh had um clarification on that language and then repinella just made a further changes and so the the question I have is related to um the the Striking of language or addition of language and so you had mentioned um let me go back to the slide here in a second thereafter must place the proposed ordinance on the ballot at the next city-wide general election specified in state law and then you had said to add no later than um and so is is there any striking of language and then where would the addition be if you can please clarify what I had proposed read thereafter must place the proposed ordinance on the ballot uh no later than uh the next city-wide general election specified in state law and then an additional uh at the end in a comma and uh the words meeting all deadlines so no striking uh it is the addition of no later than um before the words the next city-wide general election so the ordinance on the ballot comma no later than comma at the next city-wide general election is that what I'm understanding uh I guess I would be striking the word at okay all right so no late yeah okay I understand yes thereafter must place the proposed ordinance on the ballot no later than uh well no that can remain no later than at the next city-wide general elections specified in state law meeting all deadlines okay so that that helps answer my question and I'm sure you have more feedback on that but I do have a question related to that specific Amendment um for our city attorney's office I recall um in Prior discussions about uh what the state election code says and so I just want to make sure that there's no conflict with this proposed amendment as it relates to what the state election code says on ordinance amendments correct the state election code provision is related to Charter amendments but the the current language in our Charter so to your question representative Hernandez the state election code does not address this detail for initiative petitions for ordinances it doesn't even require that cities the homero cities have ordinance initiative petitions in their Charter and some cities do in some cities don't our current language on our Charter states that the ordinance must be placed at the next general city election that is the next mayoral election a general city election is the mayoral election the uniform elections are the state law defined May and November elections so miss representative canales's uh amendment is workable it requires that council do it no later than the next general city election uh but may do it it clarifies for the public that the council may choose to do so at the next you know at the very next uniform election okay so um does the word general election need to be changed to election and just striking general or do you do we have if you do that then the city would be required to place it on the next uniform election date which could cause significant cost if you're already in an election year if you're already going to have your Council representative elections if it's already a year that you have a regular election so there's regular elections that's the elections that are set at two-year intervals for members of council for your intervals for the mayor those are regular elections the general city election is the city-wide election for the mayoral election so if you were to change it to say the next election the city would be bound even if you were in a year where you're going to have a November election the city would be bound to have another election in May if a petition came in in the interim okay so that would create Costco and that's why we recommended that it be the next general city election as it still is today but the term but representative canala's Amendment no later than would address this concern with having multiple elections in one year and just focusing on a next city-wide election so so you're comfortable with with that as it relates to having multiple elections per year absolutely that's the way that this has been interpreted to apply in the past already as you recall the the election related to The Lost Dog trail happened at a non-general city election and and so Council has already had that leeway this just provides counsel the ability to choose to put it on an earlier election or to to wait until it would be you know election that's already coming up as a regular election okay so that's that's helpful thank you for clarifying I do have multiple other points but I know rep Canal is we're we're um on this subject and so I would I would defer to Mayor Lisa if you wanted to add and chime in um as you were trying to earlier if you're comfortable if I can move on with the discussion that was the question for you representative Gonzalez if you wanted to add anything Miss part I would like to remove my motion yes ma'am the one about the removing City white yes thank you so what about general election I think representative canale's motion covers that okay yeah Dustin I think Ms Hamilton covered that also of course okay so so then I'd like to move on um there is a question from uh I guess a question posed from staff that they needed additional clarification and um there's three items The Ordering of an election the removal of required number of days and then they allow the council to amend ordinances I only heard one um motion but in my understanding you still need direction on the other two items yes okay and so I would like to make a motion and if you if counsel is following along in the slides that's slide number 11. I moved to um I moved to add the addition of language as stated in the slide that edition of the language would be the governing body highlighted in yellow so that would be my first motion is to add that addition to clarify that it is this Council that has the authority to add ballot language to a future or ordinance amended form onto a ballot for the future so that's my first motion as proposed okay thank you representative Rivera and then the the issue about the petition the number of days I think has been clarified um thank you Mrs uh Prine for that additional information I know even though you're working four days a week you're still working 10 hour days and so it's not like you're working less time um but you're we're just being more productive with the time that you you spend here um and then the third item is relating to initiative ordinances approved by electors and so the addition that staff has proposed is and I move to approve the addition of language and it starts on page number 13 and it's highlighted in yellow provided however that no ordinance adopted that the polls under the initiative shall be amended or repealed by the council within one year of adoption further protecting initiative ordinances to ensure that no future councils can amend it within a year because from what I understand from Mrs Neiman is that there is no clarification in our current Charter that would provide future councils to just change it within a year so this I I believe would protect initiative processes and so I moved to approve the addition of that language as as prescribed in slide 13. um and those were my final uh my final amendments thank you thank you representative Rivera thank you mayor thank you this is foreign so what you're telling us is that you're okay with 45 days Miss Frank is it in a situation like that ever right yeah the problem with the 45 days is that the language States that I must place it on the city council agenda within 45 days if it this passes that means I lose a weight because we post a week prior so I'm losing days if we say 45 days because I have to place it on the city council agenda I would have to place it within 45 days which means that takes away at least a week of verification time so if it was ever to happen again where you get those large volumes of petitions and uh canvassing votes and everything else you'd have to work seven days a week for the next 45 days we would have to meet the deadline sir and this is this would be instituting a statistical sampling method because we would not be able to check every single signature within that amount of time okay and and I was I was comfortable with the 60 days were you comfortable with that one I was comfortable with 60 because as I stated I lose a week if I have to place it on the city council agenda within a certain time frame I lose a weight because we post the agenda a week prior to it I was going to ask representative Kennedy we would reconsider the 45 days to 60 days like we had it um suggested 60 days and that'll be a lot of second that item it was representative anello secondary by representative Molina for 45 days so do you want to would you consider 60 Dice and lift your second I'll go ahead and remove my second for that okay okay go ahead and make some motion sir for the 60 days motion to return the 60 days to to for the for that ballot uh initiative second working days 60 working days yes sir yes sir thank you thank you thank you representative thank you mayor thank you representative Canales that you have something else sir yes we we heard from several speakers that uh they had concerns about the proposed ballot language for uh amendment number four um so I think um it would be prudent to at least create the option uh here to add some of the language from the proposed abandoned language uh into the proposed ballot language uh having to do with the the limitations on uh what can be considered through the through the initiative process and so I'd like to uh propose some amended ballot language uh to read should section 3.11 relating to the initiative Petition of the city Charter be amended to remove the requirement for a second petition uh strike the word and uh and replace with two so two Institute a process for the public to initiate a city ordinance and then adding new language uh comma And to clarify that no ordinance may be initiated through this process regarding allocation or appropriation of City funds zoning or rezoning Levy of taxes setting utility rates purchase or sale of an interest in real property or granting a franchise second yeah I do think that that is more complex language that goes on the ballot uh it's something that the look to reduce the complexity of ballot language when possible but I do think that in this case it it can add some clarity as to that additional uh part of the of the proposed amended language that isn't captured in the battle language right now can you repeat that language sir and so on slide six is the proposed ballot language that I'll be amending um and then uh the the rest of the language is taken from slide seven so it basically adds a comma with a third clause on the proposed battle language uh reading um And to clarify and then we pick up or I guess and to clarify that and we pick up in the the middle of the first sentence on on slide seven which says no ordinance may be initiated through this process regarding allocation or appropriation of City funds zoning or rezoning Levy of taxes setting utility rates purchase or sale of any uh interest in real property or granting a franchise thank you for that and we do have a second representative Nella and with that um verifying question point of clarification um there is an amendment to to clarify the language on the allocation or appropriation of City funds if that Amendment passes will that be added into your ballot language representative Canales yes that's what he asked for yeah I think that that would definitely be the intent here so that whatever whatever uh Clause ends up in the proposed amended language uh about these specific limitations that that would that Clause essentially word for word would be included as the as the third part of that proposed out language great thank you thank you Miss Prine will we take the Amendments now please yes absolutely one by one place yes sir so the first motion was made by representative anello and it was seconded by representative Molina and it was on the flight seven and it's to remove the word five so that it reads any registered voter is that correct thank you and this is on slide seven so the the language would be to strike out the word five so that it simply reads any registered voter on that motion call for the vote representative Canales bye thank you in the voting session the motion passes seven two one representative Hernandez Bodine the remainder of council voting I the motion does pass the next motion was made by representative anello seconded by representative molinar and this is to direct staff to return with recommended language to clarify the allocation or appropriation of City funds and this is also on slide 7 to section 3.11 is that correct representative Manila yes ma'am okay it's to approve or can you clarify this is to direct staff to return with recommended language to section 3.11 the proposed amended language to clarify the language for the allocation or appropriation of City funds okay um yes sir this is to direct staff to return with recommended language that would clarify the language regarded regarding the allocation or appropriation of City funds and point of clarification that can be done and presented in the first reading correct this will not delay the process okay I just wanted to clarify that thank you on that motion call for the boat representative Canales hi thank you and the voting session and the motion passes seven to one representative Hernandez voting a the remainder of council voting I the motion does pass the next motion was made by representative anello seconded by representative Molina and this is to cap the number of required signatures for an initiative petition at ten thousand is that correct representative anilo correct yes ma'am thank you this is to cap the required number of signatures on an initiative petition to ten thousand on that motion call for the vote representative Canales hi thank you in the voting session the motion passes 721 representative Hernandez vodine the remainder of council voting I the motion does pass the next motion was made by representative Pierro seconded by representative molinar and this is on slide number seven I'm sorry this is to delete amendment number eight and this is regarding section 4.1 B s slight 17. and this is to delete the amendment on slide 17 amendment number eight regarding the powers of the mayor section 4.1 B and this is to delete on that motion call for the vote voting session is open representative Canales mayor we have a tie thank you and the voting session the motion passes with the mayor breaking the tie Representatives Kennedy anello molinar Fierro mayor Lisa boating I Representatives Hernandez Salcido Rivera Canales voting nay the motion does pass the next Amendment the next motion is made by representative Pierro seconded by representative anello and this is to delete amendment number 10 on slide number 19. and this is regarding section 6.2 Dash two and this is to delete it it's on slide number 19. regarding section 6.2-2 can you read the item please yes sir and this says should section 6.2-2 relating to unclassified services and 6.2-3 relating to appointment and removal of unclassified Personnel be amended to align the person carrying out the role of Civil Service Commission recorder with all other unclassified city employees who may be removed by the city manager or designee in accordance with a city Charter this is to delete that Amendment on that motion call for the vote representative Canales mayor we have a tie thank you and the voting session and the motion passes with the mayor breaking the Thai Representatives Kennedy anello molinar Fierro and the mayor voting I Representatives the motion does pass the next motion was made by representative Canales seconded by representative anello and this is on slide number eight on section 3.11 and this is to amend the language and this is where it reads on the second paragraph where it says thereafter must place the proposed ordinance on the ballot at and to insert the words no later than the next Citywide general election specified in state law comma meeting all deadlines is our correct representative Canales yes that's correct thank you on that motion call for the vote I'm Sorry Miss Prime can you read that one more time yes ma'am and this is a motion made by representative connellis seconded by representative anello and this is on slide number eight and this is on the section 3.11 on the initiative and on the second paragraph on the slide where it says thereafter must place the proposed ordinance on the ballot at and to insert the words no later than the next Citywide general election specified in state law comma meeting all deadlines I'm sorry I wanted to clarify from representative camelli's my understanding was that his language was to say at the next election no later than the next Citywide general election correct but that's not what she read she said at no she just said no later than the next city no later than at the next no later than is what I proposed right no later than representative Canalis can you restate that please correct no later than is what I proposed uh exactly as Miss Pride read it thereafter must place the re the proposed ordinance on the ballot no later than at the next city-wide general election specified in state law meeting all deadlines right yeah I mean I have a little bit of concern that we're not specifying at the next election if possible if you are not in a uniform election year well you are because you're saying no later then but you can do it before is what he's trying to say nothing's requiring you too no I'm just trying to say you you have to do it at the next one but you don't have to wait for it no later than that's what he specify no later than but when the next one comes you'd have to do it at but you could do it prior to if you felt like doing it oh and we should do it prior to is is right well that gives you that option excuse me so representative Canales would you um be willing to add in the language at the next election no later than the next city-wide general election at the next uniform uniform election I'm sorry I mean I know it's I know it's counterintuitive but I just I have a lot of concern that this will just end up pushing every ballot initiative to the next Citywide general election which in some cases could be four years potential solution is that perhaps the language could say may place it on the next election however no later than the next general city election so then it gives you the option and it discusses that it could be on the next election but no later than I think it's basically the same thing it's not that it's not yeah it's the devil's in the details right representative Canalis are you okay with that with rep with Christian Hamilton's suggestion can I hear it again I don't see a particular difference I think what I proposed gives the same flexibility that it can be done sooner but it has a deadline of the next a hard deadline of the next city-wide general election but the Citywide general election in is once every four years and so there's really no language in there that is is propelling the council at the time to pick an earlier date with this language it is essentially just saying you just have to do it but it's the same language to me it does it says no later than which means you can do it anytime before then you can but you don't have to you're talking about you don't have to but you can't but I would like to there to be language that per like that says that you have to yeah unless it's an election year so uh if you're not I will pull my second and just make the motion um to approve Miss Hamilton's recommendation but I just would like to to know if you would accept that no I think that would have to be a separate motion I I propose mine to give the the flexibility needed to to for the council to make a decision of when to post or when to put this on the bound so is there a second oh second then knowledge second okay we have a motion in a second I would make the motion to um accept uh Kristen Hamilton's recommendation which does still give the flexibility but um also allows if there is a non if it is a non-uniform election year to call it on that year thank you thank you that was gonna be my question importantly that was going to be my question on flexibility the same thing it does the same thing but what this would State on the charter would say that thereafter must place the proposed ordinance or may place the proposed ordinance it would change that must to may may place the proposed ordinance on the ballot at the next election comma but no later than the next city-wide general election s if I may I think I have I might have a kind of to down the middle compromise here um something Reading uh May place the proposed ordinance on the ballot at a uniform election no later than the next city-wide general election yeah fine with that well we need to get uh representative Salcido to pull her second oh it was representative Salcido do you withdraw your second yes okay so now do we have a second on that motion thank you we got a long way to do say the same thing but we got it this motion is made by representative Canales seconded by representative Kennedy and this is on Section 3.11 flight 8 that it reads thereafter May place the proposed ordinance on the ballot at a uniform election no later than at the next Citywide general election specified in state law meeting all deadlines is that correct representative vanilla is that correct can you read it again for representative Rivera their actor May place the proposed ordinance on the ballot at a uniform election no later than at the next Citywide general election specified in state law meeting all deadlines yes and I just hope this Council remembers the intent in this language Miss Hamilton saying that's correct so with that if I may ask yes sir go ahead that may actually needs to be a must again um I agree yeah must it must be at a uniform election no later than the next general election I think May leaves a forever deadline so what you had originally yeah I had said may but I think must is correct no representative reaffirm my a second for uh the must well I had a second representative Kennedy you will be your second right yes okay thank you so then representative anello your second Dean the must the must so then it reads let me read it once again thereafter must place the proposed ordinance on the ballot at a uniform election no later than at the next city white general election specified in state law meeting all deadlines correct correct okay that sounds good to me okay thank you on that motion call for the vote representative Canales I thank you and the voting session the motion passes seven to one representative Molina voting the remaining council members voting I the motion does carry the next amendment was made by representative American question does that include the 60 days that we need a amendment to we're not there yet okay it's coming thank you the next motion was made by representative Canales seconded by representative Kennedy and this is on slide number 18. and this is to amend the proposed ballot language to section 6.1-4 and this is this is the to read just 6.1-4 be amended by the city to allow for the appointment of civil service commissioners to change the qualification requirements that reflect the diversity of the community and City Workforce representative Canalis is that correct I believe so I'm I'm sorry can you read it one more time I have should section 6.1-4 be amended by the city to allow for the appointment of civil service Commissioners to change the qualification requirements that reflect the diversity of the community and City Workforce replaced by a two to reflect the diversity or the community and City Workforce I believe so let me see should 6.146 6.1-4 be amended by the city to allow for the appointments of civil service commissioners uh can you pick up from there miss Prime what was that to change the qualification requirements to reflect the diversity of the community and City Workforce yeah this was the one when I made the motion that I I asked for some help from uh the legal department I think there's a better way to draft this to integrate the the actual uh change that's proposed in the in the proposed language um namely the the change to uh the uh the exams I mean I'm not the exams I'm sorry the change to the uh qualifications but I don't know what the best way to draft this is to to integrate that I can we maybe just instead direct staff to integrate that language into this proposed ballot language and and present that to us uh at the introduction do you second that Mr Kennedy representative Kennedy yes I do and this is to direct staff to return with recommended language to incorporate uh the words to change the qualification requirements on the proposed ballot language for section 6.1-4 is that correct thank you on that motion call for the vote representative Canales hi thank you in the voting session the motion passes five to three Representatives Kennedy anello Salcido Fierro Canales voting I representative the motion does carry the next motion was made by representative Canales seconded by representative anello and this is on slide number 20. and this is to change to amend the recommended ballot language on sections 6.7-1 and 6.8-1 to reach sections 6.7-1 and 6.8-1 be amended to establish policy and procedures for the promotion of city employees by removing the requirement for examinations is that correct yes and then point of clarification um this we are just approving the Amendments this is not approving the item correct this is approving the the amendment thank you sir thank you and this is the amendment to the proposed ballot language on 6.7-1 and 6.8-1 to amend the proposed ballot language to reach section 6.7-1 and 6.8-1 be amended to establish policies and procedures for the promotion of city employees by removing the requirement for examinations on that motion actually I think that by uh is because they're they're I guess there are no other additional policies and procedures but um establish policies and procedures for the promotion of city employees to remove yeah yeah to remove did you I think to remove um makes more sense in the Drafting and that was his original emotion I had written it down okay so this is the proposed ballot language to section 6.7-1 and 6.8-1 to reach sections 6.7-1 and 6.8-1 be amended to establish policies and procedures for the promotion of city employees to remove the requirement for examinations on that motion call for the vote representative Canales I thank you in the voting session the motion passes five to three Representatives Kennedy anello Salcido Fiero Canales Representatives Hernandez Molina Rivera the motion does pass the next amendment was made by representative Hernandez seconded by representative Rivera and this is to slide 11. and this is on to add this this language to the to the Charter amendments that reads if counsel and this is to add the words the governing body so it will read if Council does not adopt or adopt a proposed ordinance in an amended form the governing body will order an election and submit the ordinance to a vote at a regular or special election to be held on the next allowable election date authorized by state law after the certification to the council if the proposal receives a favorable vote of a majority of those voting in that election it shall thereupon become a city ordinance and this is to insert the words the governing body on that motion call for the vote representative granalez thank you in the voting session the motion passes unanimously the next motion was made by representative Hernandez seconded by representative Kennedy and this is on slide number 13. also for section 3.11 so that it reads initiative ordinances adopted or approved by the elector shall be published and may be amended or repealed by the city council as in case of any of other ordinances and to insert the words provided however that no ordinance adopted at the polls under the initiative shall be amended or repealed by the council within one year of adoption on that motion call for the vote representative Canales hi thank you in the voting session the motion passes 721 with representative Molina the remainder of council voting I the motion does pass the next motion was made by representative Rivera seconded by representative Salcido and this is to section 3.11 to change the number of of requirement that says without delay the city clerk should review the petition signatures without delay but no more than 60 city clerk working days is that correct representative thank you this is on slide 12 and this is to say without delay but no more than 60 city clerk working days on that motion call for the vote representative Canales hi thank you in the voting session the motion passes 622 Representatives Hernandez molinar Salcido Fierro Rivera Canales 49 Representatives Kennedy anelo voting a the motion does carry the next motion was made by representative Canales seconded by representative anello and this is also to section 3.11 and representative Canales you'll have to help me on this one because you wanted to add language to the ballot language correct I send it to you by email as well but I'm happy to read it no and let me let me grab it and it should to reach section 3.11 relating to the initiative Petition of the city Charter be amended to remove the requirement for a second petition to Institute a process for the public to initiate a city ordinance And to clarify that no ordinance may be initiated through this process regarding allocation or appropriation of City funds zoning or rezoning Levy of taxes setting utility rates purchase or sale of an interest in real property or granting a franchise and this is uh with the ultimate language to be adjusted after staff makes recommendations to clarify the proposed amended language regarding allocation or appropriation of City funds on that motion was that going to be inserted that was part of the ballot language which is what he's proposing he's proposing a new ballot language he's proposing ballot language so on the screen right now you see the current battle language and what he's proposing is clarifying the ballot language to include the wrong one thank you man portions of slide seven yes sir yeah and so the words that will be inserted after the proposed ballot language on slide six is to add And to clarify that no ordinance may be initiated through this process regarding allocation or appropriation of City funds zoning or rezoning Levy of taxes setting utility rates purchase or sale of an interest in real property or granting a franchise the ballot language will include this added language on that motion call for the vote representative Canales hi thank you in the voting session the motion passes six to two Representatives Kennedy anello molinar Salcido Fiero Canales voting I Representatives the motion does carry Council I don't have any other emotions noted I moved to approve all um City Charter amendments as amended second um I would like to take these separately or I would like to propose one more Amendment whichever you prefer I would move to delete um amendment number one the entire which which is which would be giving uh potentially one city council representative up to three terms if they are filling an unexpired term my motion would delete this leaving the language as is with the 10-year limit second second the motion made by representative anello second Now by representative Rivera and this is to delete Amendment one which reach so should section 2.2 C of the city Charter relating to term limits be amended to provide the person who serves an unexpired term due to a council member vacancy be allowed to serve two full four-year terms regardless of whether it results in more than 10 years and this is to delete this amendment motion made by representative anello secondary by representative Rivera and this is to delete that Amendment amendment number one on Section 2.2 C and leave it as this yes sir if you come in and you fill an unexpired term and you're a month into it again you give up your next term basically on that motion to delete amendment number one call for the vote representative Canales hi thank you in the voting session the motion passes six to two Representatives anello molinar Salcido Fiero Rivera Canales voting I Representatives Kennedy Hernandez the motion does carry and the final motion was made by representative Hernandez seconded by representative Rivera and this is to approve all the charter amendments as revised on that motion call for the vote voting session is open representative Canales hi thank you and the voting session the motion passes unanimously is there a motion to research I'm sorry which motion to recess do we have anyone signed up for public comment no well those are for the items can we take a 10 minute recess till 11 45. oh till noon okay okay research to noon there's a motion to recess until noon is there a second there's a motion in a second to recess the special city council meeting until noon all in favor anyone opposed and the meaning is in recess at 11 34 and we'll reconvene at noon I mean yes mayor is there a motion to reconvene there's a motion and a second to reconvene the city council meeting the special city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed the meeting is by concession at 1203 pm that brings us to item number two on the agenda and this is discussion in action on the petition received for amendments to the city Charter entitled climate Charter for the city of El Paso good afternoon mayor good afternoon city council Kristin Hamilton Karem again for the record we're here to discuss the climate the petition to Memphis city Charter uh related to climate we have several presenters today Ms Laura Prime will be assisting to present as well as Mr Sam Rodriguez and Ms Laura Cruz Acosta if you could go to actually I have the clicker we'll go to the first slide and Miss Prime if you could present to this good afternoon Council Laura Prine city clerk for the record and so there's city of El Paso received the climate Charter petition on July 25th 2022 it was submitted by ground game Texas to amend the city Charter to adopt a climate policy the required number of signatures was 20 000 out of the twenty thousand we identified 36 360 signatures on the petition of using the statistical sampling method we obtained the assistance from a statistician from the University of Texas at Austin to obtain a random sample of 9091 signatures in order to verify upon the results we submitted our findings to the statistician who then provided us with a report and I was able to certify the petition on November 4th 2022 that said that the city did verify that it is um the number of signatures required were contained on the petition based on our statistical sampling I'll now turn it over to Ms Christian Hamilton Karam to proceed thank you and the the key dates for a May election are that the ordinance would need to be introduced on January 31st and adopted after a public hearing on February 7th the petition that was received and again that petition is included in the backup in its full text uh under the law the city is not allowed to change any words of that petition the city has to place the the text of that petition cannot be adjusted or changed after it's after it has been certified by by the city clerk the petition uh creates seeks to create a Ninth Article of the city Charter that has 14 or 15 sections and it does a few several different things there is an a section regarding governance that includes the creation of a climate director a climate Department a climate commission through the charter and then it also has out environmental areas of Interest which include rooftop solar power generation water conservation that bans using City energy for fossil fuel industry cancellation and ban of fossil fuel related contracts climate disaster mitigation and preparation preparedness plan I apologize and to make El Paso a municipal entity Council under the law is required and responsible for determining what the ballot language is the council is to determine what constitutes a subject for the purposes of the ballot language and to that subject and that topic must substantially submit the measure to the voters in in such deaf Fitness definiteness and certainty that voters will not be misled and under the law an amendment may not contain more than one subject and the ballot shall be prepared so that a voter May approve or disapprove any one or more amendments without having to approve or disapprove all of the amendments um and so we're going to go through a a our recommended propositions proposition a would adopt measure a measure a is direct quote from the petition submitted by ground game Texas Proposition a is shall the city Charter be amended as proposed by a petition to require the city council to employ a climate director who shall be appointed and removed by city council and Report directly to city council to create a climate policy requiring city council to use all available resources and authority to accomplish and reduce the city's contribution to climate change invest in environmentally sustainable future and Advance the cause of the cause of climate Justice and to require the creation of a climate Department to be directly overseen by the climate director and proposition a if this was approved by the voters would adopt measure a which is direct quote of the petition received and that would include article section 9.1 9.2 which is the definitions 9.1 is the policy that I just read into the record 9.2 the definitions definitions continued the climate director appointment and qualifications this is including this is included in the section related to The Climate director the disclosure of Investments accountability and removal representative of the city of El Paso in certain aspects along with the city manager this is 9.4 is the climate Department and 9.5 is the climate impact of City decisions which is a role that the climate director would engage in with the city manager tracking climate emissions and that is all of the sections that would be connected or that would be adopted if proposition a passes at the ballot proposition B again proposition B is tied to measure B so if proposition B passes at the ballot by a majority of the voters measure B would be adopted in its full text which is direct quote from the petition received proposition B shall the city Charter be amended as proposed by a petition to require the creation of a nine-member climate commission with recommending and investigative powers for the purposes of overseeing the implementation and fulfillment of a city climate policy the climate commission shall be appointed by a city council with removal of individuals only for incompetence or non-feasance misfeasance or malfeasance in office and that would be if that's approved at The Ballot Box it would adopt the climate Commission Section 9.14 which includes these General Provisions the functions and duties of the commission the appointment the qualifications compensation that they serve without salary and this is very similar to some of the language from the Civil Service Commission sections of the charter the Staffing the organization and the removal provision related to removal of Commissioners Proposition C again would adopt measure C which is directly quoted from the petition received shall the city Charter be amended as proposed by a petition to require the creation of an annual goal for climate jobs and the adoption and implementation of a policy that will provide a preference for contractors who are able to advance the city's climate policy that would adopt section 9.7 climate jobs which is your annual goal for creation of climate jobs which tasks the city manager to coordinate with the climate director to create these goals and the preference for climate jobs when new and when new funding becomes available which this one whenever the city becomes eligible for new funding including new funding due to tax increases grants from the Texas government grants from the United States government grants from private entities contracts or other funding opportunities the city manager shall ensure that such funds are used to create climate jobs and Associated training programs whenever such jobs are consistent with funding requirements City needs and available resources transitioning current city employees to climate work and this is a provision to change City employee jobs to climate jobs provision for contractors who Advance the city's climate policy measure D would be adopted by proposition D which reads shall the city Charter be amended as proposed by a petition to require the creation of an annual solar power generation plan for the city of El Paso and to require the city manager to establish and maintain policies that encourage the development of rooftop solar power generation capacity within the city of El Paso using City facilities and require both new buildings and retrofitted buildings to include solar power generation capacity and that role is solar or that is section 9.8 solar energy it includes the solar generation plan and the rooftop solar power generation Proposition E shall the city Charter be amended as proposed by a petition to require the employment of all available methods that all energy used within the city is generated by clean renewable energy with the goals of requiring 80 percent clean renewable energy by 2030 and 100 clean renewable energy by 2045. and that would adopt section 9.9 from the petition as drafted by the petitioners the city council shall employ all available methods to require that the city uh convert to clean renewable energy within these goals proposition F shall the city Charter be amended as proposed by a petition to require the city of El Paso to employ all available efforts to convert El Paso Electric to Municipal ownership and this would adopt section 9.10 which is the municipalization of El Paso Electric and proposition G shall the city Charter be amended to require as proposed by a petition to require the city of El Paso to undertake all necessary efforts to prepare the city infrastructure to withstand extreme weather conditions and ensure uninterrupted provision of basic services and utilities to City residents and this is section 9.11 climate disaster mitigation preparedness and response and proposition H would adopt measure H the full text submitted by the petitioners and this would require the city of El Paso to be get to ban the use of city water for fossil fuel industry activities designed defined sorry to include El Paso Electric Company outside of the city limits and prohibit the city of El Paso from selling or transferring any water for purposes of fossil fuel industry activities outside of the city limits or otherwise allow any City water to be used for such purposes and that would adopt section 9.12 water conservation Banning City use City water for fossil fuel industry activities and canceling City contracts subject to the ban the next steps are that um Council on January 31st introduce an ordinance ordering the election if this if this election is to take place on May 6th of 2023 the ordinance would be introduced at next council meeting and open for a public hearing on February 7th and would be would need to be adopted that day in order to order the election for May 6th so today we can discuss the ballot proposition language that Council deems to be the subject areas proposed by the petitioners the Ms Cruz Acosta is prepared to speak to the next items Miss Hamilton are we calling for the election also today on May 6th or that will happen on February 7th that would happen on February 7th sir pursuant to an ordinance that we'd introduce on the 31st thank you for the record Laura cruzicosa communications director for the city so as Miss um Miss Hamilton mentioned this would follow along the same lines as the city Charters the previous item agenda in terms of the timelines the introduction on the 31st and then on the seventh of public hearing for the final ordinance calling for the for the ballot item we would then in February begin the process alongside simultaneously with the charter amendments that the council had previously discussed also bring forward these items as an educational um campaign for the community in that respect and so there would be a website social media post a city you're sitting in five City TV programming in all aspects as well as press releases and any kind of media interviews we would conduct them on this item as well and of course we would be in all of our efforts with the community meetings we would be reaching out to each of you in order to coordinate individual constituency meetings with you all as well as general Community meetings for the general Community along along the lines with our stakeholders such as a business Community the neighborhood associations and any kind of Civic organizations and with that I'm gonna um hand it over to Sam Rodriguez I think he had no okay San Rodriguez chief operations officer so congruent to this we are currently working on cost estimates for each one of the measures uh that will be presented to City Council in the future as well to the public as part of the public information campaign in addition to the operational impacts associated with uh with the charter if it passes so again we're currently working on that as well we'll presented in the future thank you Council you ready for questions uh representative Pierre followed by mayor Pro tem thank you mayor this is for legal counsel please okay so Mr Mayor I and thank you all for all the work that you've done on this and and your recommended ballot language my question is what happens if Council decides or can Council decide to put the the charter Amendment as is on the ballot the charter Amendment will be placed as it is on the ballot the charter amendments cannot be adjusted or changed so the language that was submitted by the petitioners has to stay what it is the ballot language is what the the council must decide the petitioners did not bring forward ballot language they that's not the role of the petitioners that's the role of the council thank you and that's uh just last question has there been any interaction with with the group that brought this to to go over the Amendments as recommended or to the background on why we we with you're proposing this Prine has provided regular updates to the petitioners we have not conferred with them related to ballot language that's the role of the city council again all right thank you Mr Mayor thank you representative I'm Miss Hamilton in regards to what representative fyoto is asking I know we have about two hours of public comment and from the statements I've been asked to read and have been submitted by email I'm going to make an assumption that they are in regards to the request of the petitioners to put this in as one item and so representative Fiera I think that's what he was getting at what is the possibility Council can do that correct yes ma'am council is obligated to determine what a subject is for the voters I will remind you though that of that language foreign that I read into the record a moment ago council's obligation and under the law is that no item no petition item have more than one subject no proposition have more than one subject and that the voters have the opportunity to adopt not be required to adopt all amendments but may choose which ones they want to support read the last part again I'm sorry I I heard that they cannot have once more than one subject an amendment may not contain more than one subject and the ballot shall be prepared so that a voter May approve or disapprove any one or more amendments without having to approve or disapprove all of the Amendments and that council is obligated to determine what a subject is for purposes of ballot language and it must be it must Council must substantially submit the measure with such definiteness and certainty that voters would not be misled okay there's a lot of maze in there though so are we legally able to present this as one proposition yes okay I just wanted to clarify that uh again because I know we're going to have a lot of speakers um my next question is for Miss Cruz a coaster [Music] um I see in this presentation somewhere you will you just presented about the Outreach that we're going to do um and I am concerned with putting you in a position that's I don't know somewhat controversial I know that we are not allowed to advocate for or against this proposition correct correct we're not allowed to Advocate or for or against any of the charter amendments or proposals is it our responsibility to I don't know why I can't see it in this presentation I know you just gave presented it but you did talk about public meetings and mailings and information on the website are you required to do that we're not required to do that however it is advisable that you help educate the community in order to ensure that you are able to get voters out to educated voters out to the ballot sure I guess my con I I just don't want to put you or other staff in a position um where someone may feel that the information you have provided is biased either for or against so I just want to that's my concern um so I just voices the information is provided as fact it we do not comment we've done this before with a number of different recent ballot items for example most recently the public safety uh Bond language that just went out and so we were not allowed to uh state for or against that ballot language either and so anything that goes forward to the elected we do not no I understand for or against I completely understand and I just you know I think it is a little different like when we are having um whether it's a public safety Bond or something that's initiated by Council versus initiated by petition and what those petitioners consider fact right and again my concern I'm not arguing with you whether you should or shouldn't be doing I'm just voicing my concern that um I do worry that it could could put staff in a position in which they're what we consider facts are being challenged the only information that we would provide in this scenario would be simply what the council votes on okay but people will ask questions right at public meetings right um and so again just voicing my concern uh there's no answer to that I just wanted that to be on the record um then I'll hold the rest of my question so after public comment thank you very representative molinar thank you mayor this is for legal so I just want to make sure I am understanding this correctly you just re-read a statement there that the ballot has to have a separate subject correct the ballot does not have to have a separate subject council is required to determine what a subject is so under the law and this is from the state code is that the Texas elections code the Texas local government code States in section 9.004 that an amendment may not contain more than one subject in the cases that discuss that give Council the authority to determine what a subject is okay so the amendment cannot contain more than one subject so we have proposition a through h less total of eight and that's what we determine to be it's eight different amendments but we're now we're calling them propositions each of those it a subject other subjects okay and that could work on its own okay and this is for Mr Rodriguez thank you very much for your earlier input Mr you guys but um are you able to disclose let's say a ballpark figure but this would entail let's say for the city moving forward not only to establish it but also to continue the it should all propositions pass yes so um in discussions with legal we would determine what the cost impacts would be for each one of the propositions and present those to council and to the community as well whether it be to purchase El Paso Electric make them a public entity the different aspects of the different Bond propositions would be uh evaluated are being evaluated for cost impact as well as operational impact as well I've already also um had some discussions with the finance department about that and also looking at hiring some additional folks in order to do that analysis so that we can share that information with the public okay and uh thank you for that sir do you have a timeline when that might be accomplished no so we're going to try to acquire the services in the next couple of weeks and then we'll determine what the time frame looks like after that so we're waiting for the actual analysis and that could take some time it might you know we need to make sure that we do this well the first time yes sir I said two weeks you know hopefully want to beat that time frame and get it much sooner than that and then start the process as quickly as possible and then look look at look back at the direction Council gave and then work with City attorney in order to put get someone on board as quickly as possible okay Mr cortinas you have anything to answer no I think city manager covered it pretty well but but Steph is working on providing the estimates or calculating the estimates based on the information that we currently do have but again we're going to utilize some of the LSI resources that city manager did reference to help us with some of those estimates Mr Gonzalez or Mr continues would you say this is like the first time you and your careers have you uh had this challenge or this opportunity to put this in the Forefront and so you're like trading new Waters yes I know that when I was in Lubbock and we were looking at buying Excel Energy because we own Lubbock Power and Light that was a city Department it took about a 12 to 15 month feasibility analysis process in order to determine engage the cost of the utility and after that uh time period Well you do the feasibility then you have a due diligence process that you engage after that so after that you would still need to go out to the public to engage them to like um it's about a two-year process if you do it the way I just described okay but so to answer your question yes this is a challenge but we'll we'll do our level best to attack it I just want to make sure that everyone here completely understands that this is a process that it needs to be properly vetted that it needs to be examined it needs to be double checked it needs to be make sure that I I cannot support something that is rushed you know I just I cannot because all of you are very young you're going to be paying for this your children are going to be paying for this and it's going to have a ripple effect and I'm not saying I don't support it but we as City Representatives need to make sure that we're doing our due diligence that we're making sure that what's best for the community for the city of El Paso and how that's going to be you know water is a commodity here in El Paso we're in the desert to me I've said it before on city council water is gold okay water is gold uh look at other cities that are happening in Arizona right now they've shut down from Scottsdale I shut down water to other communities guess what a liter of water you know how much they're paying for that a lot okay that's a leader not even a gallon a liter of water that's life and death so before we make decisions up here on this Deus we need to make sure that everything is vetted properly double checked and make sure that we come out with a great answer the right answer and I applaud everybody that came up here I appla or will come up here I should say earlier today and we'll later on but at the same time we need to make sure that we do things the right way just that's all I can say on that part so thank you very much thank you sir representative Nella I mean um Kennedy followed by representative vanilla a couple of quick questions the first one is when you say that we can't advocate right we meaning the city as an entity or representing the city if we are asked in a public meeting what our stances are we allowed to give that stance or have we violated the City dollars may not be used to campaign that means City dollars cannot be used to promote or to oppose a ballot proposition anything that is being voted upon by the voters so if you're at a public meeting that is at a city facility as a city representative funded by the city of El Paso then you would not be able to Advocate or oppose but if I'm at a breakfast at a private facility for my constituents and there's no City money coming am I allowed to express my support for it provide your position on the matter as long as City funds are not involved promote or oppose the measures but we're allowed to you don't lose your First Amendment right well I just want to make sure I stayed inside the guidelines um a couple other quick ones and I was going to say that I'm sure your guys are going to be able to come up with a number pretty quickly but I was also going to say that that my concern is given the time frame okay you've got to come up with a number in two weeks the confidence level let's be honest begins to grow the longer you're able to vet out what that number is I mean I have no doubt that that professionals can come up with the best guess on what they think it's going to be but I guarantee you when the city manager talks about a two-year or year and a half process to really get a solid number I'm gonna put out the caveat that any numbers from something as large as as purchasing the electric company done in a couple of weeks I I give them kudos for even being able to come up with a number but I will say that if if we confidently want a number somebody comes back and says well that's not the number I heard I'm going to say in two weeks they did an amazing job to come up with a number and I just want to let everybody know when we're talking about specific numbers it's not going to be a no this is what it's going to be we know for sure yes sir a good example of that and just give one quick example the utility the electric utility here in El Paso was purchased for close to five billion dollars this last go around or about that that number and then you start looking at the Investments that they've made since they purchased it and then you look at the market and you look at what covet's done and the impact it's had on our real estate you can imagine what kind of impact it's had on the commercial properties and or something like a utility so you have an idea of what it costs then and then you start prognosticating and then start talking to experts as to what you think that the cost should be without doing a full appraisal yeah it's scary territory yes sir it is but I mean we do have a baseline uh and and so to your point there'll be some bass lines that are irrefutable but in terms of the prognosticating of the numbers yes they will be refutable in terms of people could say there'd be more I I would have a hard time you know people challenging us that it would be less because we're going to be conservative and the the costs are what they are and what they were before and they're certainly not going to go down the only other question I had is is if we while we're the ones that get to decide what a subject is um that's pretty wide ranging and I concerned about the ramifications if we do a wide-ranging subject that are virtually mutually exclusive at times and go to bond what are the post the post-election ramifications of us going too wide and what we decide a subject is the voters need to be able to have not be misled they need to have Clarity there needs to be enough Direction and definition on the ballot language right as I as I stated earlier um the it has to be definite and has have certainty so that the voter knows what they're voting on so if if we put these items as their proposed today there's significant definition if we put it as one item it would be a very long item it would have a lot of detail is there is there any ramifications if we put it put it out and it's challenged that it was more than one subject the courts give broad latitude to councilman to the body the governing body to determine what a subject is okay it's clear to the voters and the voters are not misled and there's substantial definition and certainty um the courts find typical give broad discretion to the body okay I was just wondering what the case line was sorry thank you that's all I have representative thank you represent Kennedy thanks I just wanted a point of clarification um is it the ballot language does it ask for the study on purchasing the electric company not the actual purchase of the electric company I will I will pull that slide up I lost the clicker oh sorry sorry so on measure f as submitted by the petitioners is to enact section 9.1 to enact a new section 9.1 into the city Charter and this is the language the city of El Paso shall employ all available efforts to convert El Paso Electric to Municipal ownership in consultation with the climate director the city manager shall provide the city council with an annual report to describe the feasibility of converting El Paso Electric into a municipal electric company including any actions required to advance this directive in my reading of that is a feasibility study and I think back to what representative Fierro said had there been any conversation or clarifying questions to the petitioners we would know the answer to that and I I do think that this is where I go back to what we consider fact and how that is going to be challenged because at no point where did we fact check for lack of a better term with the actual people who wrote the petition so we are making assumptions based on what we're reading and then we're going to go to the public and call that fact again I am concerned about the liability on that and what we are determining fact is so that was my only point of clarification notice the ballot proposition language tracks exactly the first sentence the language proposed by the petitioners which is to require El Paso to employ all available efforts to convert El Paso Electric to Municipal and I would make you referring to the cost analysis that's required by law and so that's something that will happen that's not what I'm referring to I'm referring to it's a private company and so there are only available effort to even purchase the company would be to do a feasibility study that would that's my perception of that because it's a private company we can't just walk in one day and say we're going to buy this so again I am concerned on what we are determining fact and how we are doing that when we have not even determined to have a conversation with the petitioners and the authors of this representative Charlie yield my time thank you mayor if I can answer also the the language that we're proposing is the language that the petitioners proposed so we have no flexibility in terms of changing the language or adding additional language to clarify what what your position is that may be the position of the petitioners but under state law it's very clear that once the petition is approved and presented in Council places it on a ballot that is the language that we are we have to put on the ballot so I think that it does allow however the petitioners who are supporting the measure to also educate the public on what their language is intended to mean I understand that and the difficulty that the council is placed in is using the language that was proposed and written by the petitioners I understand that valid arguments but I think that the the difficulty for us is reading into it or interpreting what is on the face of the proposition as and placed on the on the proposed ballot language and I guess my interpretation that is where my concern is because again even as a member of this Council I think there's been conversation that I don't believe to be true about what that item says and again if you're going out to do public comment I do worry that you were going to submits or or say something that the actual authors of this bill do not consider fact and then we are in a precarious position because we're not allowed to either advocate for or against and I just again as a council member I think I've been told things that I don't believe are fact on this again I'm going to yield my time and allow for public comment or other council members as well thank you mayor yeah to that we have no other comments we do have public comment yes mayor we have 49 members of the public that signed up to speak on this item the first person is Richard dayu followed by Elizabeth O'Hara Miguel escoto Michael Siegel Jesus Reyes good afternoon Mr dayu if you have three minutes sir good afternoon Laura again for the record Richard dayu A registered lobbyist I want to thank you for this opportunity to speak to you I'm here representing several El Paso owned businesses both large and small and I'm also speaking on my own behalf as a registered voter and taxpayer we support the ongoing efforts in our community to reduce pollution both by such organizations at Sunrise El Paso and the individual efforts of many companies who are voluntarily making significant Investments to reduce their carbon footprint their carbon emissions this afternoon you will be considering a number of factors related to the ballot initiative supported by nearly 40 000 El pasoans you'll hear from many who will insist the charter Amendment be presented on the May 6 ballot you will also be asked to keep the proposed language as one proposition ultimately you have to make these decisions please consider the following in your deliberations it is true that the ballot language has already been determined by the signatories unfortunately no analysis has been done yet to assign the estimated costs to implement the many recommendations nor has there been any analysis done to demonstrate the economic impact of these proposed Charter amendments how will they impact the local businesses which are the lifeblood of our economy indeed there has been no engagement with the business Community to consider any of these recommendations we submit that the voters cannot make an informed decision on the future of our economy without knowing all the financial implications and how they will impact future economic growth of our community one glaring example of this is the recommendation to municipalize El Paso Electric the current market valuation of El Paso Electric is estimated to be between eight and nine billion dollars do the voters know this and will they support another utility being owned by the city how many tens of millions of dollars will the city have to spend in legal fees to accomplish this Monumental undertaking as an aside El Paso water utilities is mandated by state law to have backup power generation in the event of electric companies power grid failing the massive backup generators are currently powered by diesel fuel we are many years away from a scenario in which solar and or wind power can fill that void in an emergency these are all factors that must be considered we urge Council to delay this ballot initiative until we have answers to all these questions and have given the voters the opportunity to make informed choices thank you thank you the next speaker is Elizabeth O'Hara followed by Miguel escoto Michael Siegel Jesus Reyes good afternoon Miss O'Hara you have three minutes thank you good afternoon good afternoon city manager Gonzalez mayor Lisa and members of the council my name is Elizabeth O'Hara and I am the regional community relations manager for Texas Gas Service and I'm here to talk about the importance of natural gas for El Paso and the overall energy infrastructure our company shares climate change concerns and continuously Works to find affordable solutions for our customers and our communities the climate Charter amendments while well-intentioned fails to consider the unintended consequences for our community including the financial impact these discussions are important for El Paso and Texas gas is pleased to be at the table for them as you know there is a great Passion on this topic which is why it is important for all stakeholders to work together so we can develop an inclusive approach to Safe reliable and clean energy for the future natural gas plays an important role in achieving decarbonization objectives in an affordable way governments and companies must ensure that people continue to have access to Reliable and affordable energy sources the proposed amendment may increase costs for El pasoans there are other solutions that can help avoid that the energy demand required for our modern way of life cannot be met with just one energy source natural gas is an important component to a balanced Energy Future it has kept homes and food warm during challenging weather conditions like what we're seeing today and it can be a critical backup power source it helps to reduce the load on the electric grid and is also a complement to renewable energy sources natural gas bucks backs up wind when it doesn't blow and it backs up the sun when it doesn't shine natural gas provides backup generation to every hospital in El Paso and it sterilizes equipment there it enables our local dairies to homogenize the milk that has served to thousands of El Paso children in a dozen schools in a dozen school districts it is also used as you know by Sun Metro cutting the bus services emissions natural gas is used by Fort Bliss UTEP and Texas Tech and natural gas is used by just about every restaurant in El Paso on the renewable energy front we're engaged in efforts like renewable natural gas projects and utilizing hydrogen in our system now I want to reiterate that our company believes in climate action but not via a climate Amendment we look forward to continuing this discussion on how we can all play a role in safe reliable and clean energy for the people of El Paso thank you thank you the next speaker is Miguel escoto followed by Michael Siegel good afternoon sir you have three minutes good afternoon hello mayor and Council uh Miguel with Sunrise um so our two messages for you all keep to your word and put this on the May ballot first and foremost it's really important that you all maintain that promise that you had with us uh secondly is to play your role as a neutral arbiter basically you have a responsibility to disregard the two previous commenters because it's not your job to be Pro or against this climate Charter it's your job to place this on the ballot for voters to decide um if you sever this climate Charter if you it it we see this as you taking a stand against this you it's a form of confusing voters I'm going to point out how very simple each of the Articles of this single climate Charter relate back to a single subject very easy climate policy everything turns back to climate policy we didn't include immigration we didn't include any other subjects it's all about climate policy so the section section 2.9 definitions on what is uh what is climate policy for renewable energy section 9.3 climate director refers back to the single subject of climate policy uh 9.4 climate Department refers to climate policy 9.5 climate impact climate policy again tracking of climate emissions climate policy climate jobs climate policy solar energy climate policy renewable energy goals climate policy municipalization of El Paso Electric the feasibility of getting there is also related back to the single subject of climate policy it's very easy to make these connections um so last thing I want to make sure you all have we drafted a letter to each one of you it should be in your inbox it's very important for you all to read the case study for case studies for how this is a very clear example of of different articles relating back to a single subject right clear as day um we also have a legal Memo by um ground game Texas uh Council Mike Siegel and I'll go ahead and pass out physical copies to everyone if the clerk could allow um but but I I will I will end with this uh important um distinction it's your it's your job to be neutral Arbiters right keep keep to the side your personal opinions about this policy it's your responsibility to put it up for voters um and and again just to clarify the section on the municipalization refers to very clearly the feasibility study to get there so if the if the council puts a price tag of eight billion dollars that is deceiving voters you are deceiving voters three minute limit thank you sir I will ask the the audience to please maintain decorum and refrain from outbursts that interrupt the meeting the next speaker is Michael Siegel Mr Siegel star six please good afternoon you have three minutes hello this is Mike Siegel I'm the general counsel for ground game Texas and I'm a civil rights lawyer representing the climate Charter Coalition and we're here today to celebrate that the climate Charter qualified for the ballot and to oppose the proposal by City staff to split the charter Amendment into eight different propositions and I emphasize staff proposal because it's the council not step staff that has the authority and it's the council they will be violating state law if the climate Charter is not put on the ballot in the way it was submitted and so there's two legal issues uh they're in the memo that will be shared with you in person as well as by email but the first issue the council does not have the authority to change the climate Charter the petition was submitted uh as a single proposed amendment to the Charter the Texas local government code cited 9.004 is that section it says when a petition to amend the charter is certified by the clerk that petition must be placed on the ballot so the council has what's called a ministerial Duty no discretion you can't change the proposed amendment you can't weaken it you can't chop it up into pieces the second legal issue is that the council cannot cause voter confusion with a ballot description this is from the Texas Supreme Court you can't misrepresent the policy you cannot omit essential information but that's what you'd be doing if you break the climate Charter into eight pieces almost 22 000 voters sign this petition one time they only signed it what so when you break it into eight parts you're confusing those tens of thousands of people those voters who took one action one signature to put this on the ballot and then the ballot descriptions are also confusing because they pretend that these elements of the climate Charter can stand alone when they are all linked and dependent upon each other this was presented to the city clerk as one Amendment it was certified as one Amendment one policy it was signed by the voters as a climate policy it is your duty to place it on the ballot as a climate policy we ask you to follow law and please respect the will of El Paso voters thank you thank you clinics speaker is Jesus Reyes followed by Kenneth Bell and Matthew Rodriguez good afternoon you have three minutes good afternoon Council nice to see you all again my name is Jesus Reyes with Sunrise I just want to say that I'm speaking in front of you all today with a mix of surprise disappointment and a hint of frustration with regards to this item like the rest of my comrades I was taken aback by the sudden news that the city council will make some major decisions that will affect the election and structure of the climate Charter not even reaching out to us for input these two decisions are whether to push the climate Charter to be on the November 2023 ball instead of the May election and whether to break up the language and policies of the climate Charter into eight separate propositions I want to voice my concerns that the negative outcomes of these decisions go against the promises made to Sunrise El Paso and the thousands of apathons that wanted the climate chart to be on the May ballot in its entirety I urge you all to keep the climate Charter on its current plans to be held during the May 2023 election and I have and have all of its contents contained in one proposition to avoid voter confusion I also want to read that city council and the mayor you just heard the city's attorneys tell you that you can keep this as one proposition in 2012 the Texas Supreme Court decision dacus versus Parker determined that the single subject rule allows for an amendment to include multiple subjects that address one main subject specific to City Charters and ballot measures in this case we are discussing the sole subject of climate action and also before my time is up I also want to speak from personal experience about at least from the first two commenters how we rely on gas and oil infrastructure for everyday use everyday societal activities what happened to that infrastructure out east I was there in Beaumont when due to during the Texas freeze of 2021 oil and gas was not there and we had to rely on our own means to get through that terrible winter storm and if the this is clearly the current infrastructure in Texas it's not suitable for the upcoming events of the future of the media future with climate change so I suggest we upgrade to better means of energy production and storage thank you the next speaker is Kenneth Bell Mr Bell submitted a statement good morning Council my name is Kenneth Bell I am writing to urge city council to take two actions first maintain your commitment to having the climate Charter Amendment on the May 2023 election there is no justifiable reason to delay the vote on November 2023 it was supposed to be voted on this past November election however the city and sunrise El Paso agreed to move it to May 2023. second do not sever the climate Charter into separate propositions I along with almost 40 000 people signed the ballot to vote on this Charter Amendment as one proposition splitting up the amendment is nothing more than a dirty tactic to weaken the climate Charter and confuse voters people who disagree with the charter Amendment will have their opportunity to voice their opinion with their vote they should not be allowed to influence how the proposition appears on the ballot Council has an obligation to respect the will of the people not bow down to special interest Shadow groups respect democracy keep the charter Amendment as one proposition to be voted on May 2023. the next speaker is Matthew Rodriguez Matthew Rodriguez star sixth place to unmute your telephone Matthew Rodriguez good afternoon you have three minutes good morning uh Hey everybody my name is District three uh I'm from here in El Paso all my family lives here in El Paso and personally I love El Paso more than the other place in the world I say this in spite of the fact that over the last five years half of my immediate family has been diagnosed with cancer there's a Health crisis here in El Paso and it's time that Council act like it every single one of you talks about public health on your website and this Charter amendment in its entirety addresses that every single one of you on your website talked about Community engagement the climate Charter in its entirety was drafted by and four people in El Paso and then got 40 000 signatures every single one of you talked about wages and bringing up Jobs still on your website every single one and the climate Charter in its entirety ensures that we're keeping jobs in El Paso instead of having so many people have to go off to the Permian to work every single one of you on your website in your campaign talks about El Paso being a leader as representative represented right now just said the entire Southwest is sure is drying up and the climate Charter in its entirety would ensure that El Paso is a leader in a rapidly drying Southwest to break up the climate Charter or to delay it past May is a Clear Choice by all of you to stand against all of this it is a choice that you all have to make today we've already heard that it's feasible the people are behind it now keep the charter together and have it on the Matrix ballot thank you thank you the next speaker is Angela followed by Elena Mania Sandy Oglesby Wesley Lawrence Angel Oyo what's coming up good afternoon you have three minutes good afternoon hello again so I am enjoy your an organizer with Sunrise El Paso not a stranger to this Podium a constituent of District 8. and I am one of the main organizers for the development of El Paso's First Solar Co-op program that did vigorous studies to show that the solar capacity that we have here in El Paso can power our city just as much or more than natural gas can without poisoning the almost millions of people that reside here so our group understands that did my bike go down continue ma'am our group understands that this item was also discussed in last week's meeting without our knowledge which was a requirement by Council motion on August 2nd 2022 by representative anello and seconded by representative Rivera II and I quote Miss Laura Prine direct the city manager to designate an appropriate staff member to communicate with a representative from the sunrise group on a monthly basis to provide updates on the climate Charter petition which Council the city manager and the so-called designated staff all failed to do regarding the change to proposition bundling I want to say that we created a campaign and collected signatures for one proposition the city clerk approved and signed off on the petition on July 25th 2022 as one proposition before the signature Gathering phase had started on our end our group drafted and had the charter reviewed so that all items fit in conjunction with and are made sense to pass with each other splitting these up would then undermine the work that was done for the work that we did to do that undermine the promises that we made to voters who supported this as one and undermine the goals that we want this climate Charter to achieve as a whole I helped gather a portion of these signatures I will say that municipalization and public ownership over El Paso Electric was popular amongst the people which we spoke to I can tell you we were transparent and thorough when canvassing for our climate Charter our past electric is not a very well liked entity in our city I'm not going to go into that whatever city council promised us on August 2nd that this will be placed on the May 2023 ballot shook our hands and voted almost unanimously to push us back from November 2022 on that same day mayor Oscar Lisa let us know that Council was looking out for us and we appreciate that however this decision is not yours to make without consent without our consent Council keeper promises to your constituents do not delay the charter keep it at me keep this at one proposition and please do not make any more changes to the climate Charter petition without consulting our group and twisting our language any further thank you the next statement was submitted by Elena Mania and it says hello representative Rivera my name is Alina Mania constitute of District constituent of District 7. I am a cancer survivor a young mother of a four-year-old and someone who is deeply concerned about the environment my daughter will grow up in I'm writing to demand city council to do the following ensure the climate Charter gets on the May 2023 ballot as was promised in the August 2nd 2022 meeting ensure the climate Charter is not severed into multiple propositions potentially altering the language that people drafted and signed on to I expect you to do the right thing and listen to the voices of almost 40 000 El pestilence the next statement was submitted by Sandy Oglesby and it reads hello representative Hernandez my name is Sandy Oglesby constituent of District 3. I have lived in El Paso all my life and I have felt the effects of endless growth for the sake of growth without care or concern about those who live in who live here the way that Mrs can I finish reading it I'm sorry she had asked me to read it and I unintentionally walked away um to continue I have lived in El Paso all my life and I have felt the effects of endless growth for the sake of growth without care concern about those who live here the way that the council and the city manager are building the city is directly harming my family the climate Charter exactly how it was written is the first time in my life that I have seen a real solution to this problem I am writing to demand city council to the following bullet one is ensure that climate Charter gets on the May 2023 ballot as was promised in the August 2nd 2022 meeting bullet to ensure the climate Charter is not severed into multiple propositions potentially altering the language to the people drafted and signed onto I expected to do the right thing and listen to the voices of almost 40 000 El pasoans and I request that myself read the following into public record on the January 24th city council meeting thank you the next speaker is Wesley Lawrence followed by Teresa Rodriguez Jonathan Gomez Christian Marquette good afternoon you have three minutes good afternoon again can you hear me okay good just testing that my name is Wesley Lawrence I'm your sg-29 Committee Member here in El Paso Texas democracy as we see it today is an accident at an existential Cross Point the climate Charter is is addressing a lot of the issues that we're facing here environmentally here in El Paso today Council promised us back in August that we would have the ability to vote on this in May it was a very exciting meeting to be at because this is the first time that our community will have climate Justice climate change needs to be addressed now not tomorrow and it's important that we realize one thing these the young people that are standing behind me they're not naive they're they're not out here to destroy this city as I've heard from some people in the community these are bright individuals that deserve the chance to lead they deserve the chance to be listened to and the solutions that they worked diligently to bring to the people of El Paso were co-sponsored by nearly 40 000 El pasoans registered voters so we already know how the voters feel about climate change here in El Paso and it's time that we give them the chance to do that and it's mostly important to understand that at a time when energy rates are raising through the roof not because of inflation but because of corporate greed and and malfeasance that this will address that El Paso is a Sun City solar power can and will power this city one day but we have to give it the chance to do that um with these Investments yes it will be expensive I I agree with you representative mullinar but this is an investment that we need to make now not 20 30 40 50 60 years in the future um when our people are dying of of cancer and Asthma and diabetes Now caused by the climate crisis here in El Paso I would hope that Council keeps their word today and keeps the charter Amendment the way the voters intended it to be passed when they co-opted onto this Charter Amendment leave it as an entirety it is is not confusing to voters but if we want to speak about confusing and lying to voters we can thank the city who lied to us about an arena project and I thank members of council who voted to save this is a clear and concise proposition is a clear and concise voice that has been co-opted by nearly 40 000 voters and I want to keep reiterating that because we already know how people think and and lastly thank you sunrise and thank you ground game we need to remember one thing and we all as a council and as all pastors understand the youth is not our future the youth is now and it is time that we allow them to lead El Paso into greater days thank you thank you the next statement was submitted by Teresa Rodriguez from District 5 constituent hello representative Salcido my name is Teresa M Rodriguez constituent of District Five I am a grandmother who is deeply concerned about the environment my granddaughter will grow up in I am running to demand city council to follow ensure the climate Charter gets on the May 2023 ballot as was promised in August 2nd 2022 meeting during the climate charges not served into multiple propositions potentially altering the language the people drafted and signed on to expect you to do the right thing and listen to the voices of forty thousand Lopez ones I request that my city representative Elizabeth Salcido read the following into the public record of January 24 city council meeting thank you the next statement was submitted by Jonathan Gomez District 2 constituent my name is Jonathan Gomez I am a small business owner who lives in District Two I love El Paso and I want my family to be here for the rest of our lives we need to ensure that we have enough clean water clean air and that and we the people have control of our own utilities the charter amendment that I signed on to exactly how it was written is the first step to ensure this I am running to demand that city council do the following ensure the climate Charter gets in the May 2023 ballot as promised in the August 2nd 2022 meeting ensure the climate Charter is not severed into multiple propositions potentially altering the language of the people drafted and signed on to I expect you to do the right thing and listen to the voices of almost 40 000 El pasoans I requested my city representative Alex and Ella read the following into a public record on the January 24th city council meeting for comments on item two the next speaker is Christian Marquette Christian Marquette to our sixth place to a major telephone Christian Marquette star sixth place to unmute your telephone Christian Marquette you're on mute star sixth place to unmute your telephone Christian Marquette you're still on mute star six please to unmute your telephone we'll move on to Roman Marcus oath go ahead Christian Marquette you have three minutes good afternoon mayor council and community members my name is Christian Marquardt and I'm a constituent of District 8 I'm speaking today in support of the El Paso climate Charter Coalition I have a master of Social Work in public policy practice with a minor unlocked from Columbia University and as one of the policy drafters of the El Paso climate Charter amendment I speak today in regard to several Syria's concerns both ethical and legal regarding the proposed presentation of the climate chart on the May ballot the proposal to distort and sever the climate Charter language firstly exclusion and tampering of the climate Charter language because the climate Charter language is intrinsically linked severing the language into multiple props will then tamper the overall significance and considerably mislead and impact constituents understanding of the climate Charter which was presented as one sole Amendment during the signature Gathering process to sever the language into multiple propositions would mean to tamper with the policy and confuse and mislead voters the presentation itself excludes language from the policy as submitted to the city clerk and presented to constituents who signed on to the climate Charter as a single Amendment to the city Charter Additionally the severability clause and legal protections for the measure in section 9.16 of the climate Charter language States if any portion of this article shall be deemed on My Soul by the court by a court of law that portion shall be severed from the charter and the rest shall continue in force suggesting that the climate Charter is one article additionally this Clause was included as a legal protection for each section of the single Amendment as was submitted to the city clerk it is uncertain where this Clause will be included as well as how frequently it can be used throughout the multiple propositions being suggested to council for the ballot other causes from the climate Charter have also been severed or seemingly displaced from The Proposal and the presentation we would like to ask city government when will the full language be included and why is some of the language being left out additionally why are the sections of the climate Charter out of order throughout the propositions a through H this is also again misleading and confusing for voters lastly case on the state of Texas in the following Texas decisions it was determined the single subject rule allows for an amendment to include multiple subjects that address one main subject specific to City Charters and ballot measures in this case our subject is climate action and is designated as climate policy in the charter language for article 9. there are multiple climate related subjects present within the language Each of which addressed the main subject of climate action city council and Merit you just heard the city attorney's office tell you that you can keep this as one proposition and the Texas Court decisions determining this as law and art stated in the letter presented to you today on our coalition's behalf include Des V Parker Gibson V city of Orange Garrity V halber and FM properties operating company versus the City of Austin each of these cases have come along across Generations ranging from 1921 the last from the Texas Supreme Court updated in 2012. we ask you to reconsider this anti-democratic thank you Christian Michael you've reached the three minutes thank you thank you the next speaker is Roman Marquez followed by Adan signs Robert Heimer good afternoon sir you have three minutes I'd like to yield my time to Adam Pacheco with a possible Association of contractors thank you sir the next speaker is Adan science Adan signs star six to unmute your telephone Adan science star six I don't see Adan sign's phone number in the queue Robert Heimer followed by Adam Pacheco Graciela blanden good afternoon you have three minutes good afternoon Council my name director of customer care at El Paso Electric I'm here today to speak on agenda item number two I'm here to express our support for the propositions as presented to be voted on separately in addition we're supporting keeping the climate Charter on the May ballot as part of the customer care team at El Paso Electric I hear I hear every day the stories of our customers in Texas and New Mexico who depend on us for affordable reliable and sustainable energy some may not know our clean energy story and the path that we are taking towards a cleaner Greener and more affordable future at El Paso Electric we have set bold clean energy goals to provide our customers with 80 carbon free energy by 2035 and the pursuit of 100 decarbonization by 2045. in just two more years by 2025 our customers will benefit from over 700 megawatts of renewable energy some of the propositions align with our clean energy goals that have already been put in motion this is why we feel strongly that each proposition be voted on separately when voting on any proposal it's important for our community to consider the economic impact and way the costs and the benefits each of the eight proposals have different costs and benefits and customer impacts and we believe that customers should be allowed to evaluate those costs and benefits for themselves in fact because some of the impacts could be significant it's especially important to give them transparency and choice thank you for your time and attention thank you next speaker is Adam Pacheco followed by Graciela blanden good afternoon you have three minutes good afternoon good afternoon mayor Lisa and council members the climate Charter for the city of El Paso is a very widely targeted policy and includes anyone from Transportation oil refineries utility companies oiled and gas pipelines warehousing Etc construction is an industry that will certainly be put into the mix my name is Adam Pacheco director for the El Paso Association of contractors we represent 150 local members that include commercial General Contractors subcontractors and suppliers the construction industry of El Paso is supportive of the larger climate goal within the framework of sustainable industry that meets the needs of economic growth in our community construction has been and will continue to be The Driver of local economic activity and greatly impacts the economic status of all members of this community whether heavy highways bridge bridge or roads water treatment plants school and community recreation centers Sports Parks Warehouse warehouses for manufacturing facilities for our National Defense buildings for Public Safety and quality of life or entertainment facilities we are responsible for building key components of this community that will form the vital lifeblood of our community most of our building efforts include environmentally sustainable initiatives such as recycling of construction waste using recycled materials and buildings that we build incorporating energy efficient components in our work through low VOC Coatings low e-glass high Seer cooling units and recycled concrete and asphalt many of our buildings use lead green Globes and site initiatives that promote energy efficiencies sustain sustainability and conservation are jobs constructed with sensitive are constructed with sensitivity to the environment as is evident in the erosion controls that are required on projects we built the city continues to adopt higher standards for energy efficient on local building codes as is evident in the IBC and ashrae standards currently in force the proposed climate Charter amendments hurt contractors in El Paso by limiting opportunities for securing contracts fairly significantly increasing costs of construction and doing business in El Paso and unjustly shames hard-working contractors this amendment will inevitably limit jobs for contractors and dilute the higher El Paso first programs hurting small businesses and contractors opportunity to earn an award for a bid fairly this proposal will make it easier for large out-of-town contractors to win proposals excluding capable hard-working El Paso contractors rather than adopt these policies we recommend the city create an environmental task force that compromise of Representatives of all aspects of the industry to engage in the dialogue to develop and to develop a sustainable policy that will be in the best interests of our community thank you all very much thank you the next speaker is Graciela blandin followed by Kathleen Stout good afternoon you have three minutes good afternoon hello everybody my name is Graciela and I'm an organizer with Sunrise El Paso but I'd like to speak in my capacity as a constituent of district one and the signatory of the El Paso climate Charter uh I'll have to stop myself from advocating for the charter up here and talking at length about how we will pay for this with our health before we pay for this with our taxes about how a polluted waterless deathly hot City will do nothing to attract or protect businesses but I'll keep it to the item at hand uh myself my family and many of my neighbors signed on to vote for a comprehensive policy package we all knew what we were signing on for and were concerned that the proposal of this item implies that we didn't the policy as proposed is an intertwined system of checks and balances it's more than the sum of its parts and splitting it up defangs the policy that nearly 40 40 000 El pasoans approved the difference between the clarity of the ballot language we at we advocate for and the ballot language on the last item for example is that we actually went out and spoke to people and made all of those clarifying points but more than anything else I fear the lack of communication regarding these decisions further damages the relationship between this Council and the Grassroots we even received news that Council would consider the unthinkable proposition on walking back on holding a male election and people obviously prepared public comment based on this possibility we were assured regular correspondence and transparency on all these decisions so it feels disingenuous that we had to learn about such large decisions in such roundabout ways though we'd like to establish trust and assume good faith on the part of our officials we fear that the frankly underhanded methods this city has used and we have become so used to have not changed as much as we hoped they would and we've come today seeking answers thank you thank you the next statement was submitted by Kathleen Stout for representative Canales Mr Brian I'm appearing virtually today because I'm home ill uh Dr Stout I mean absolutely no disrespect I'm going to ask if the the city clerk could read this today trying to preserve what I have left of my voice or later in the meeting thank you thank you representative Canales and the statement reads greetings I write with both my hats on as a 40-year retired political science public administration professor and as co-moderator of the Community First Coalition of more than 25 organizations and individuals also I testified last year at one of the city Charter advisory committee meetings about simplifying and streamlining the ballot initiative procedures among the 10 big cities in Texas El Paso was the only city to require a second Signature Collection round other cities require just one in 2022 El pasoans for fair elections collected over 11 000 voter signatures for three ballot initiatives validated by the city clerk the first initiative one thousand dollar cap on individual campaign contributions is one about which I have done research I care so deeply about this that I collected many signatures myself among enthusiastic signers and I also read and commented on drafts of the climate Charter and signed the petition as did approximately forty thousand El Paso voters now I learned from reading the staff presentation PowerPoint slides about staff efforts to delay complicate and require new rules to act on voters voices and signatures the staff flights are unclear in Parts leave out important details like the percentage of overall voters from home signatures must be collected and proposed lengths of time for city clerk validation that exceed time in other Texas cities or event our County government the climate Charter was supposed to be voted upon in one piece in the upcoming May election yet the city staff want to break that into eight pieces perhaps an effort to divide and confuse voters overall staff seem bent on pursuing efforts to delay and undermine small democracy my ask for Council hopefully accountable to the people and voters streamline ballot initiatives with signatures from five percent of Voters in the previous election into a one-step process not two steps whether those two steps are in Council or another round of signatures enhance small D democracy with a structural change in the charter and show voters that you listen to and respect their voices allow voters to decide on the climate Charter in one piece not divided into eight segments the urgency of strong comprehensive action on climate in our Sun City is obvious sincerely Kathleen Stout the next speaker is BJ Smith BJ Smith star six to unmute your telephone BJ Smith I don't see that phone number in the queue next speaker is Brandon sharples followed by A.B perea Charlene Hill Nick hentosopolis Brandon sharples good afternoon you have three minutes good afternoon I stand before you today to speak about the proposed climate change Charter amendments and to urge you to vote against delaying the vote and breaking up the charter this Charter will establish the need for oversight into our City's pollution and energy usage which is crucial in addressing the pressing issue of climate change this next part is directed at my newly elected representative art Fiero but I think this applies to all of you first I would like to congratulate you on your newly appointed seat is district 6 rep and I would like to remind you of this statement you made on El Paso Texas website about your intentions as City rep thank you for electing me as your city representative for District Six I look forward to working with my constituents to build a better future for our children accomplish great things for our city and ensure the needs of District Six are met well sir I am one of those constituents and I'm asking you now to prove well on your word to seek a better tomorrow for the families of your District as well as yourself as someone with the history and marketing in PR you know well the power of incentives and how in the hands of those seeking profit over people those same incentives can alter the very shape of those seeking peoples for the people's lives for the worse I ask no I implore you sir to consider this matter with the utmost care respect it deserves because climate change is inherently not a partisan subject it has real and legitimate consequences on the quality of life for the people of this city the city that you and I both love dearly there are families now in the very City being subjected to the brunt of the blow when it comes to the pollution such as those in the chummy saw we're being asthmatic and having respiratory disease is far higher than most areas due to the particulates in the air and it is not a coincidence the median salary is lower than the rest of areas in El Paso and it goes to show that the interests lie in the money not the people fight for the litter little guy show us that District Six did right in electing you as our representative the moral of this story is that incentives matter the proposed Charter would establish incentives for individuals in the city to reduce their pollution and energy usage providing a tangible benefit for both the environment and the economy the charter would also encourage Innovation and investment in clean energy creating jobs and economic growth for our city by delaying the vote and breaking up the charter it will only prolong the inevitable and put our city and citizens at greater risk urge you to vote against delaying the vote on the climate change Charter and take a step towards a sustainable and resilient future for our city nearly 40 000 people did not sign petitions so that you could obfuscate the intents of this Charter and undermine our efforts thank you thank you our next speaker is Abe perea followed by Charlene Hill good afternoon you have three minutes hello thank you thank you so much um so you have just one task to just keep your promise from uh last fall uh y'all I remember y'all uh praising each other for being so Cooperative um for working together and so I just asked to keep that ball rolling um it we made it very clear there's a legal memo to refer to I think a lot of this discussion might have been avoided if there was more direct collaboration with the organization as one of my comrades mentioned earlier this type of excluding us from the dialogue damages the relationship between y'all and Grassroots that's such an important statement because it makes it very very very clear um it's it's very telling how you know the relationships that are brought to the surface right um you know got a little crew going back there hail pass electric hey it's the most time we've had them here because it's it's again it's very very telling y'all didn't come to us we could have given y'all the facts we could we could have given you all this legal memo before having to come here and spend hours and hours and taking up a lot of time um so I want to assume the best I tried coming over here in the fair elections uh city council meeting and I tried to assume the best and see the humanity and it just seems very exhausting at times and I know that this was actually brought by the City attorney right so this is now just y'all's as a council responsibility to decide put it all in one item right so um I guess to not further harm that relationship right and especially all new candidates that are on this Council I ask that you just please please please please please respect that please be more inclusive to us because we're not just young people please don't discredit us as just young that feels a little bit ageist we don't even just have young people in our in our Coalition we have all kinds of people we have a lot of people your age we have a lot of experts um so again lots of valuable information that could have been accessed had we been reached out to so uh I heard someone over here a city staff member saying um that the that the climate Charter language being proposed as just one item uh is too long for the voters that's very discrediting not just to the canvassers but to also the people who signed on to we've made it very very clear what they signed on to we gave them all the resources so to assume that it would be way too long um I think the folks have had plenty of time and I think you all have also had plenty of time to make your studies and your cases so uh going forward I would hope that y'all would give us a little bit more credit and not just that you don't always that but I think a little bit more direct communication would be appreciated so thank you and put it all in one item please thank you thank you the next speaker is Charlene Hill [Applause] Charlene Hill Nick hansopolos Charlene Hill or Nick hansopolis the next statement was submitted by Sapphire Ortega and it reads good afternoon I am Sapphire Ortega and I live in District 8 my representative is Chris Canales I will be speaking for item two I was supposed to speak in person but it took a while to get to item two as I am a student I had to leave I asked the city clerk to read this I want to add my voice to the nearly 40 000 El pasoans who have signed on to support the climate Charter the signatures of the climate Charter have now been counted and verified by the city I expected to I expect you to do the right thing and listen to the voices of almost 40 000 El pestilence on behalf of my Sun City Community I have seen firsthand all the hard work Sunrise El Paso has done and I do not think it is right and in respect of democracy for city council to separate the climate Charter to eight sections I think the word he needs to represent more of what the actual policy says please keep it as one policy and not eight separate sections because this is all very confusing also when I'm voting I get a bit overwhelmed when there are so many amendments and separating it brings that much more confusion to the voters this is also not friendly to those who are disabled or get distracted as well there's another thing to keep in mind it looks as though you're taking advantage of their deficits I'd like to mention briefly I took ecology and temperature is a cause for concern when temperature changes everything changes everything the bugs the plants the food for us El pasoans the housing the electricity the illnesses that emerge from climate change it is real and if we don't prioritize it consequences happen nature doesn't care if we do things last minute nature cares about Surrey El Paso is so beautiful I think we all can agree the sunsets and sky here is breathtaking and deserts are known to be adaptive in harsh conditions but that does not mean the desert will stay the desert it will adapt to the high temperatures but will struggle the most to adapt is a people because being human is so complex we have bills families jobs Etc not prioritizing the climate is not prioritizing the El Paso citizens personally I cannot believe this is even a matter of discussion because our city government wants to silence change and growth El Paso has so much culture and it needs to be heard the people need to be heard the whole point of democracy is for the people please stick with the original date and give the people their power we have worked hard and followed all the rules we deserve respect and the nearly 40 000 people deserve to be heard El Paso is speaking listen keep the climate Charter as one policy and keep the promise to ensure the climate Charter gets on the May 2023rd ballot as was promised in the August 2nd 2022 meeting the next speaker is Jose Miguel Reyes followed by James schneichto Andrew Segura good afternoon you have three minutes good afternoon to all presidents good afternoon my name is Jose Miguel Reyes a constituent of District Seven an undergraduate at UTEP and a canvassing volunteer with Sunrise El Paso out of all my experiences canvassing I always recall the day when I uh when I was door knocking in neighborhoods around District 2. to spread the word about the climate Charter and meeting a gentleman named uh aliberto when I talked to him about the charter he was thrilled to know that uh someone was there seeking him out for support for such an ambitious policy policy of initiative um he invited me into his home um wanting to know more about the policy about the charter about the people behind it that have made it come to fruition about uh the how he could do more to make this happen um all uh most above all he thanked me for the work I was doing from then on aliberto's gratitude has inspired me to continue fighting for him and countless other people that I've met all throughout my canvassing experience for the climate Charter uh and uh which is uh why I'm here today I'm here as my first time uh technically second giving a public statement uh undoubtedly the start of many uh because me and my friends are here to hold you accountable mayor and City Council Members I am urging you to remain too true to your word in keeping the election for the climate Charter on May 6 2023 that you promised to us uh during the meeting of August 2nd 2022. uh moreover I asked that you cease your attempt at sabotaging the charter by splitting it into eight different propositions that in doing so will undermine the Integrity of the policy and simultaneously subvert the will of the people and that's signed for the entire uh that they signed for the entirety of the charter Amendment it's frankly insulting to the people who signed a petition that their city government would consider having them pick and choose on policies they signed on to it just goes on to show how little the city council thinks of its constituency I hope you can come to your senses and vote against splitting up the charter and vote against postponing it I also wanted to address some of uh council member molinar's comments um solar energy and to address it to the council as well solar energy is by far the cheapest source of energy readily available and will continue to grow as the cheapest source of energy available in the near future as a research and development continues um also there's a clause in the climate Charter that states for the protection of Water Resources by binding the sale of city water outside of city limits to address the concern of Mr molinar's over water scarcity thank you the next speaker is Jim schechtel good afternoon sir you have three minutes can you delay me one second to I I want to just join the mayor and and others about um who talked about Chief Allen I I met I met Chief Allen when I was 15 when he was on the gang test Force um for the police department I won't say how we met but um it had a had a tremendous influence over me when I was younger I I came to be friends with them I trained in martial arts with them he was just a terrific guy and I I should say one of the scariest people I've ever met but that was a that was a good thing at the time that was what I needed and so um I agree with you I think I think the city really lost something there with um Chief Allen thank you sir so um good afternoon for those of you who don't know I work for El Paso Electric but I'm I'm commenting as a resident of district one I look forward to an opportunity to meet you um Mr Kennedy Fierro representative Canales um but I do want to just comment as a resident of district one I declined to sign on to the Charter um when I had an opportunity because I felt that there were while there were things that I thought could be constructive in the charter I also felt that it was um as a whole it was a it was angry and I thought divisive and um and I recognize that's the nature of political and social discourse these days um but I I do think we have to find a better way to do this fighting amongst ourselves is not going to solve these problems um and how we adapted climate change in the city and the world um I I totally agree with the with the idea of of structuring the climate Charter on the ballot as a as a collection of separate propositions because I think it gives voters an opportunity a chance to judge for themselves which of those different propositions could help solve problems and which of them are just about dividing us and I think you can trust voters to be able to do that um and and I and I think supporters of the climate agenda as a whole have the opportunity to vote for all of them so I think I think having um the ability to pick and choose amongst those or or vote for all of them is what what this separating them out affords us um I think and I also think that having them separated out gives us an opportunity over the next however long it is um I think May is is correct it is an opportunity to debate the individual merits of each of those propositions um and I I think that's a good thing uh it it gives us an opportunity as a city maybe to put together a climate Charter that keeps the positive attributes and and maybe dispenses with some of the more divisive ones um I care about I care about the climate deeply I have a um I now have a 14 month old son who I'd really like to grow up in El Paso and and um and I think that we can solve these problems and I think we all face a common threat and I think we have to face that together um that adversity um you know can can help us come together to to learn to solve problems maybe a little bit um but cooperatively so thank you thank you the next statement was submitted by Alyssa Garza constituent of district 7 and I'll read this on representative Rivera's behalf it says my name is Alyssa Garza and I'm a member of district 7 who lives in the Lower Valley my family and I fully support the climate Charter and sign for all of it to be on the ballot city council must ensure the climate Charter gets on the May 2023 ballot as promised in the August 2nd 2022 meeting and ensure it does not get severed into multiple propositions which could alter the language the people drafted and signed on to where in the midst of a climate crisis and we have the opportunity to take immediate action now on a local level forty thousand El Paso and signed on to put the entire Charter onto the ballot and supported all eight propositions when they signed I collected signatures in my community and community members consistently complained about air pollution lack of infrastructure flooding and the elites who take advantage and pollute our community if the climate Charter is not placed on the May 2020 three ballot and if it is severed it will be an example of social injustice and influence of special interest I'm asking the city council to listen to their constituents the climate Charter will only benefit our community once again I am asking for the city council to place a climate Charter on the May 2023 ballot as promised and not to sever it into multiple propositions thank you Alyssa Garza the next speaker is Andrew Segura good afternoon you'll have three minutes good afternoon yeah first I just want to address what Jim said uh this is the climate Charter was born out of love it's not divisive at all unless you believe that I believe in exploiting marginalized groups of people for profit is divisive then uh yeah my name is Andrew I'm an organizer of Sunrise El Paso this summer sunrise in crowd game Texas organized over 39 000 people in an effort to make El Paso a leader in the fight against climate change by signing on to the El Paso climate Charter the city of El Paso trusted us and you all to deliver the will of the people which is one policy and a timely election the unelected power Brokers in this city are trying to convince you to ignore this Duty they want you to split up the climate Charter which would be against the will of the people as they sign on to one single Amendment an amendment which more than 39 000 El pasoans understand and want they are trying to scare you by saying the city must buy a patch electric which is untrue the charter simply states that a feasibility study must be done they want us to feel bad that El Paso Electric might lose some profits well we refuse to continue to put profit over people they say that all stakeholders should have a seat at the table while they've been denying Frontline communities that same luxury for decades they want you to delay putting the charter on the ballot when we now know that it was valid and should have been voted on in November I ask once again that you do your job and honor the will of the city thank you solidarity my Conrads and free salon the next statement was submitted by Brandon Warner and now we'll read this on behalf of Representative granalis as requested that says my name is Brandon I am a constituent of Chris cornellus in District 8. I wish I could be there in person or virtually but at this moment I'm on a train probably in the middle of nowhere without any internet connection even so I have a strong desire to say a few things regarding this item I have been excited about and supported over the climate Charter for the city of El Paso ever since I heard about it last year and have followed its progress as it makes its way to the ballot I was disappointed to hear of the proposal to delay and split up the planet Charter for the city of El Paso and would like to say these things first regarding the proposal to delay the vote I believe that action for climate resilience and sustainable development is long overdue and should not be postponed El Paso has already been negatively affected by climate change and any more hesitation or delays could have serious outcomes I am personally invested in this amendment to the city Charter having developed Asthma as a child due to the poor quality in the air in this city and now needing to pay in almost equal amount to my rent just to buy inhalers so that I can breathe properly for a month I don't want our future generations to have to deal with this and the change needs to start now this may I'm also a firm belief that this amendment is most effective in its entirety as one proposition the people of El Paso petition for this amendment in its entirety not in bits and pieces by splitting up the amendment it would confuse voters many of whom will have signed the petition for its full inclusion in the ballot in addition there are some parts of the amendment that would be rendered weak if voted in without the other parts the climate Charter for the city of El Paso is a cohesive self-sustaining and strong piece of legislation that is a right and proper reaction to the dangers that climate change in the fossil fuel industry present to the citizens of El Paso do not make the mistake of delaying or splitting up the climate Charter I hope that you will consider my words and that my representative Chris Canales will fight for the quick and complete passage of the climate Charter for the city of El Paso we need this amendment right now Brandon Warner the next speaker is Lauren Lorena Ramirez Lorena Ramirez followed by Crystal Moran ICA Carvajal good afternoon you have three minutes good afternoon hi good afternoon can you hear me yes mayor my name is Lorena Ramirez I'm a constituent of District 2 of the city of El Paso I helped collect hundreds of signatures for this campaign as a community organizer with Sunrise El Paso I am I'm here during the petition process the climate Charter was presented to the voters as a single Amendment for the city Charter so I am here to insist that the proposition does not get divided the amendment was written with the intent to establish a climate director and a climate Department to address climate policy by dividing it and forcing voters to vote on it separately it threatens the purpose of the amendment the attempt to divide cannot the the attempt to divide the proposition can only create confusion and devalue the voices of the voters remember it's the voices of forty thousand people voters May perceive the attempt to divide the proposition as suspicious actions it is important for voters to have confidence in the Democratic process says people who signed the petition have been waiting long enough personally I would like to see policies in place that protect the environment so that my two-year-old granddaughter over there can have a world where there is free the world a world where the air is free of pollution are pollutant and and that she has drinking water for her family thank you so much for your time thank you the next statement was submitted by Crystal Moran and I'm going to read it on behalf of Representative Canales as requested and it says Dear council member Canales I am a constituent of your district and I'm requesting that you please read the following into public record of the January 24 city council meeting on item two my name is Crystal Moran a constituent of District eight I am voicing my opposition to severing The Climate Charter into a propositions this is not how the climate Charter was written nor intended it is meant to be only one policy and one Amendment to the city Charter nearly 40 000 El pasoans did not sign on to eight different pieces of the climate Charter they signed on to it as a one sold package supporting the entirety of the climate policy Charter we expect an argument to be made that keeping the climate Charter as one proposition would obfuscate the policy in the same way that led to disastrous events with multi-purpose arena in durangito but this is not all the same thing and should not be compared to that another deep concern about City and Council wanting to sever the climate policy into eight sections is tampering with a language in the policy as it was written and submitted and accepted severing it and tampering with a written language is dishonest and disingenuous to El Paso voters I'm also voicing my strong opposition to postponing the May election of the climate Charter to November city council gave us a word in August 2nd of 2022 for it to be on the May ballot and it is in fact much more cost efficient to have it in May than in November city council city manager and City attorney had six months to prepare for the May election it is highly suspicious issues that the reason for the suggested postponement of the election is so that time can be bought so that their friends at El Paso Electric and JP Morgan Chase can organize against the climate Charter hands off the charter and keep the election in May thank you Crystal Morin the next speaker is Veronica Carvajal is star six please to unmute your telephone good afternoon you have three minutes good afternoon my name is Veronica Carvajal and I live in District 2. I have been an environmental activist for almost 30 years and an environmental lawyer in El Paso for almost 18 years but for over 18 years um all of us but especially our youth people with disabilities the elderly and people who are poor are paying the price already for climate change we cannot wait I Echo attorney Mike Siegel's legal arguments as to why this should be kept as one single proposition and I want to remind you that just earlier the city attorney's office told you that you can keep this as one single proposition separating this into eight propositions women's lead voters especially the over twenty thousand registered voters that signed the petition and as one proposition the level of specificity in the climate Charter is incredible um that is a contract with the voters not the ballot language and so um the transparency that they have provided the work that they have done the clarification is giving you time and again about um you know not being misled about what is actually there when it comes to purchasing El Paso Electric but rather looking at the feasibility of doing so they have put so much work into this and they have also had legal counsel throughout this entire process and they have looked at other cities as have we at Jose from Teresa I want to take this time to thank the youth at Sunrise El Paso Brown game Texas Teresa who have had the honor to mentor and to learn from they could be anywhere right now and yet they have chosen to um love their community so much that they are in front of you hour after hour at city council meeting after Sunday council meeting um and it is um I believe um your duty to honor their hard work and to keep this as one proposition and also to honor your promise to them to have this on the May ballot thank you the next statement was submitted by Vanessa Medrano and I will read it for representative rivet as requested and it says my name is Vanessa Medrano and I'm a constituent of District Seven I'm adding my voice to the nearly 40 000 El pasoans and the over 1800 district 7 voters who have signed to get the climate Charter on the ballot I signed this petition and eventually gathered signatures for it as a volunteer I signed because I knew this that the city needs sweeping changes to address Community pollution and the effect climate change has on the region other community members who have signed also demanded a huge change in a single proposition the people of our community can vote on this is a one subject amendment that plans one thing climate action facilitated by our government breaking it up into eight propositions weakens it and brings unnecessary confusion to an already popular policy but I'm sure you already knew that splitting this amendment into smaller parts is currently being advertised as an effort the city council is making to hold more transparency around the propositions they put on the ballot I find this messaging to be extremely misleading and a little hypocritical hypocritical when the same government is preparing propositions with deceitful language that further their self-interest I'm also concerned that our city government is delaying this Democratic process when they already gave us their word that it would make it to the May 2023 ballot if you are truly concerned with City spending I recommend you review other over-inflated budgets please provide your voters with consistency and Clarity in your public facing Decisions by putting the climate Charter on a single proposition on the May 2023 ballot thank you Vanessa Medrano the next speaker is Ana Fuentes followed by Rachel Ortega at City Reyes Isabella Correa George Simmons good afternoon Miss Puentes you have three minutes good afternoon good afternoon my name is Anna Fuentes and again I'm a constituent of District 8 an organizer with Sunrise El Paso and the campaign manager for the climate Charter I'm here to request that you already consider the ballot language proposed for climate Charter petition by breaking up the single petition into eight different propositions you're diminishing the will of the people who sign in agreement with the entire policy campaign manager I've directly witnessed all the hard work canvassers and volunteers have put into having deep meaningful conversations with the community as a result of these conversations we gathered 39 159 signatures of el pasamans in support of the full policy again I want to reinforce that El Paso and signed a single petition that operates holistically not eight separate amendments and as as such should therefore be on the ballot as a single Amendment the single subject addressing the petition is climate policy all tenets of the climate Charter are interconnected with a single goal of mitigating the climate crisis I sincerely seen a purpose behind breaking up the policy other than confusing voters and attempting to diminish the morale of supporters in order to stay true of what to what community members sign in onto I asked the city construct Council instruct City staff to prepare a ballot language to a single Amendment rather than continue to break it rather than breaking up the amendment into eight different propositions I was previously here to provide comment during the August 2nd meeting on that day City staff was instructed to maintain regular communication with me as a representative of the Grassroots organization behind a petition however I'm alarmed that neither I nor anyone else from Sunrise El Paso was informed about the proposed language discussed today I find it inappropriate to keep us in the dark despite knowing that Clarity and transparency throughout this process was something that we explicitly desired as well as the community at Large I Echo representative anello's concerns of our us being omitted from this process and asked that we could that we be reconnected once again to City staff as we move on towards possibly the possibility of holding Community meetings meetings regarding the amendment um I also want to clarify some of the fewer mongering that I feel I've heard here today regarding the municipalization of El Paso I want to reinforce again that the climate Charter does not ask that the the utility municipalized we're simply asking for a feasibility study so I think it's unfair and misleading to the voters to attach a price tag to this amendment when we're not actually requiring that we buy out the electric company again to reinforce one last time please keep the language under one single petition rather than breaking it up into eight different parts which would diminish the will of the people thank you thank you the next statement was submitted by Rachel Ortega District Five constituent foreign s who have signed on to support the climate Charter we appreciate that you previously offered your staff that could get our goal being on the 2022 November election as my representative and a signer over climate Charter I am writing to demand city council to following ensure climate Charter getting on May 2023 ballot as was promised in August 2nd 2022 meeting ensure the climate Charter is not served in multiple positions potentially altering the language to the drafted and signed onto here's why it is important to me to take the section you and I along the thousands of the registered voters of District five signed once not eight times of climate Charter we fought and have put before voters November 2022 election but we're told that the city manager and attorney will have possible we were told we were listening to will the People by giving us the May election we compromised with you and now we see how important it is to stick to our values we when you compromise with those who argue in bad faith they will always move to the goal post now we are being challenged with November 2023 election and council members are putting the blame for the cost of the May election on us when the temperatures continue to rise natural disasters ruin the infrastructure of the city and Puerto pass once in danger because I've failed to prepare with the climate departure whose fault will it be taken I expect to listen to the El pasoans who signed on to the Charter climate and it will all who answered the voters when didn't act now instead of tried to delay and confuse them on behalf of the business interest thank you the next speaker is at City Reyes followed by Isabella Correa Josh Simmons good afternoon you have three minutes good afternoon good afternoon my name is a district one constituent and represented by City rep Brian Kennedy now before I get started I want a voice that I found it extremely offensive how some people the people who were talking about economy are the same people who have not once spoken to the community about their needs and their desires I am I was a canvasser for phase one of the climate Charter and I am here to speak on behalf of the almost 40 000 people who signed the charter specifically the thousands of district one constituents who signed I asked today that their signatures and therefore their voices are respected when I talk to people about the climate Charter I told them about every section as a whole many times even handing them a copy a physical copy of the charter for them to read in their own time they signed the charter every section not sections one through eight segregated and at risk of losing their impact as an El pasoan who signed who also signed the charter I am confused and wondering why I have to read and try to understand the charter all over again why are you trying to change what I signed in February I want my opinions and choices to be respected and so does Andrew a Frontline Community member who lives in the front in the front lines of Marathon Oil Refinery and feels relief when the wind blows in a direction that doesn't put their family at risk Richard who because of financial restraints is living to in the front lines of mass pollution and directly facing climate racism respect the voice of the Community member who has sacrificed basic needs in order to pay their electric bill and these are facts I actually spoke to these people respect my family who had to rebuild their life after my father's lungs could no longer breathe in Ozone or methane respect the people Isis Malaya Aaron and the thousands of voices who took back their power and chose to chose to fight for their losses and fight for the future I speak today for the voices once ignored and Left Behind Closed Doors do not leave us in the dark and don't ignore our petition the people want climate Justice and we want it now on May 6th not November so I ask for myself I ask for the community give us back our power leave the climate Charter is as is and put it in the ballots this may thank you next speaker is Isabella Correa Isabella Correa followed by Josh Simmons good afternoon you have three minutes hello and good afternoon my name is Isabella Correa and I am an organizer here at El Paso Sunrise El Paso I'm here on behalf of speaking and protecting the climate Charter city council stick to your word and leave the As and leave the climate Charter as one proposition not eight not only am I speaking for myself but I'm speaking for the for the 40 000 residents that signed the charter because we are all aware that the climate change is increasing and is getting worse day by day stop delaying the possibility of a brighter future and stop undermining our voices the language the language structured for the POS for the policy will bring confusion for El Paso with and will create untrustworthiness everything is connected and we all and we are here to stand for each other and care for a city that is El Paso becoming a canvasser for Sunrise El Paso has opened my eyes and I got to communicate and learn about many personal stories as I was going around El Paso and all of these stories all had to be intricate and they all had to go down to the climate crisis so here I'm just reminding and I'm backing up my fellow Sun risers that we fight with love and we're not going to stop until this day thank you the next speaker is Josh Simmons Josh Simmons star sixth place to unmute your telephone Josh Simmons good afternoon you have three minutes hello good afternoon mayor representative and City staff I am Josh Simmons I am speaking to you now on item two as executive director of Eco El Paso and also a volunteer at supporter of Sunrise El Paso I too have also collected signatures and personally endorsed the El Paso climate Charter in its original form and I also want to make a statement of reinforcement support for the legal advisor from ground game Texas Mike Siegel on his um his comment on the climate shutter as it should be as it was presented as in its entirety and I want uh to remind the public to look at the connection uh and enhancement that both the El Paso climate Charter and the already passed initiatives that we saw this past November 2022 of prop C and pursuit of the climate goals that not only does the climate action plan outline but also the continued and future sustainability of our city and region um as the executive director I want to make a statement on behalf of the board of directors of Eco El Paso and speaking to you in regards to the Integrity of the El Paso climate Charter in its original presentation for again as everyone has stated and is very much familiar if they've read it the detailed uh Approach at the El Paso climate Charter uh has and that uh was submitted by ground game and I'll pass uh Sunrise will pass in the summer of 2022. the El Paso climate Charter must remain scheduled for the May 2023 election and as mentioned in the previous City uh of Seville Paso City Council meetings uh Eco Paso was an early adopter of the El Paso climate Charter as a non-profit organization built of volunteers and many if not all the members are fellow past ones who feel strongly uh that the entirety and bundle of goals that the charter Amendment uh presents are pursued and needed to ensure that our Sun City can approach sustainability with clean energy clean air and clean water at the Forefront it is from the understanding of the board and our supporters that the city Charter Amendment were already delayed from extended to November 20 2022 election to now may 2023 and any further delay to November 2023 um is an overdue um commitment that should be brought to um you know voters of the Seattle passed away not only the manners of the climate Charter aim to amend um but along with the other proposed Charter amendments are essential to equipping our city to move forward with policy and ordinances to implement resiliency and preparation for the challenges of the future our opinions are based on the common Trend observed abroad of brainwashing of the policies or just uh of climate policy than disruptive movements and pursuit of equality and sustainability is a fundamental element in building Justice so the propositions thank you Mr Simmons the three minutes thank you oh thank you speaker thank you very much is Dr Rick bonard I don't see him in here I don't see him in the audience the next statement was submitted by Brianna Lucero and I'll read it on behalf of Representative Canales as requested and it says I request that city council representative Chris Canales read my comment into the record my name is Brianna Lucero I'm a constituent of District 8 and proud signatory of the climate Charter petition I would like to urge my representative Chris Canales to follow the will of the people and protect the climate Charter by keeping it as a single proposition as it was signed by El pasoans rather than broken and diluted into eight different petitions I'm a civil engineer interested in sustainability in a city with heavy military presence my employment opportunities are often limited to industries that further harm the climate keeping me from reaching my goal of working towards the development of green sustainable infrastructures among other impactful things the climate Charter would one generate and normalize green jobs over extractive Industries and two under the guidance of the climate director helped the city become a Pioneer in sustainable development I assigned a single petition outlining these goals not eight separate ones as outlined by the a through H propositions I asked that my voice along with that of nearly 40 000 El pasoans be respected by keeping the climate Charter under a single proposition the next speaker is Yvonne Diaz Yvonne Diaz Stars sixth place to unmute your telephone Ivan Diaz I don't see the phone number in the queue the next statement was submitted by Alejandro Ruiz District 2 constituent hello Representatives my name is Alejandro Ruiz a constituent of District Two I wanted to add my voice to the nearly 40 000 El pasoans who have signed on to support the climate Charter the signatures of the climate Charter have now been counted and verified by the city I am running to demand that city council do the following ensure climate Charter gets on the May 2023 ballot as was promised in the August 2nd 2022 meeting ensure the climate Charter is not severed into multiple propositions potentially altering the language the people have drafted and signed on to here's why it is important to me that you take action I currently work to serve the El Paso Community by helping them qualify for solar energy at their homes I've seen how this technology liberates people from the financial stress of paying increasing electric bills and seeing how this technology I'm sorry and ultimately cleans up our community I live next to the refinery and there's definitely poison air being inhaled by children this change needs to happen now the community needs action now and there are thousands of signatures Excellence to be done ASAP I expect you to do the right thing and listen to the voices of almost 40 000 El pasoans thank you the next statement was submitted by Brianna Alvarado and it reads representative Rivera my name is Brianna Alvarado constituent of District 7. I'm a medical student who through my clinical experiences has been exposed to the consequences of environmental inequality inequities on health care I'm writing to demand city council to do the following ensure the climate Charter gets on the May 2023 ballot as was promised in the August 2nd 2022 meeting and ensure the climate Charter is not severed into multiple propositions potentially altering the language that people drafted and signed on to I expect you to do the right thing and listen to the voices of almost 40 000 El pestilence I request that my city representative Henry Rivera read the following into the public record of the January 24th city council meeting her comments on item two and I read it on behalf of Representative Rivera as requested the next speaker is Lori Marshall Lori Marshall star six please to unmute your telephone hello good afternoon you have three minutes hello this is Lori Marshall I'm in District One I'm a 73 year old grandmother and I want to acknowledge the beautiful work that the young people have done to help make El Paso an Innovative City that accepts the reality of climate chaos I'm also a member of um so which I joined because I'm frankly terrified about the future that my grandsons here in El Paso who are two and five are facing and the the concept of democracy I think we all need to be to remember is very very young on this planet the concept of a multi-racial democracy is under attack around the planet and El Paso has the opportunity to have a climate Department to really be creative and to use our best Innovation to make a city that works for all people and I'm just thrilled with the work that the young people have done this is a direction that we need to go in to vote on in May because time is of the essence and to also focus on being Innovative making sure the small businesses don't get pushed out by this this is a direction that is essential thank you so much thank you the next statement was submitted by Sarah Cervantes and I'll read it on behalf of Representative Rivera and it says my name is Sarah Garza and I'm a member of District 7. I fully support the climate Charter and sign for all of it to be on the ballot city council must ensure the climate Charter gets on the May 2023 ballot as promised in the August 2nd 2022 meeting and ensure it does not get severed into multiple propositions which could alter the language the people drafted and signed on to we must address air pollution in our city my nine-year-old daughter suffers from severe asthma and chest pain she cannot go outside on Wendy and or Gusty days El Paso children have a high asthma rate and previous academic Studies have demonstrated how respiratory effects in children correlate with air pollution El Paso has one of the worst air quality scores in the nation it is time we address the root causes of air pollution in our community protect our children and Advance environmental justice once again I'm asking for the city council to place the climate Charter on the May 2023 ballot as promised and not to say separate into multiple propositions thank you the next statement was submitted by aleji escoto and it reads hello representative Brian Kennedy my name is aleji escoto a constituent of district one I want to add my voice to the nearly 40 000 El pasoans who have signed on to the support that climate Charter the signatures of the climate Charter have now been counted and verified by the city I'm writing to demand the city council to do the following ensure the climate Charter gets onto the May 2023 ballot I was promised in the August 20 in the August 2nd 2022 meeting and ensure the climate Charter is not severed into multiple propositions potentially altering the language that people drafted and signed on to as a citizen of a polluted city I demand that we start a cities start doing all the steps necessary to improve the quality of life in the city country and Planet I consider all these actions proposed in the climate chart are extremely important and that's why I voted for it sincerely aleji escoto the final statement was submitted by Carmen Rodriguez and it reads there is New Hope in 2023 that the city council will carefully scrutinize the important matters that come before it and that is a sense that this Council will not simply approve previous decisions and strategies amendments contain serious flaws that need to be reviewed and rectified there seems to be an intent to add confusion and application rather than Simplicity and Clarity with respect to section 3.11 which is about most importance to Citizen input and Grassroots democracy the proposed changes make it more difficult for citizens to utilize this petition process effectively for example the identification of matters that are not appropriate for referendum should be limited only to those that are not allowed by state law please consider that this initiative process should be neutral transparent and fair initiatives from the citizens are mostly good faith efforts to improve city government and move the city forward to address conditions and Progressive ways such as the climate Charter further there will be sufficient opportunity to debate the pros and cons in the public Arena when the matter is put to a vote by the citizenry finally there also seems to ex be excessive input by staff on matters contained concerning public policy during this different steps of the proposed Charter changes specifically with respect to the issue of the mayor's veto thank you for your attention Carmen Rodriguez me mayor that concludes public comment on this item thank you and thank you everyone for being here and uh for for participating um representative minello followed by representative hold on uh we're going to go with representative Salcido first she hadn't spoken on the item I keep hearing the the uh the public speakers talk about uh one single item do we have the wording of that how that would read Chris and Karen for the record excuse me representative thank you for the question um if we were to do it as one item it would be basically the same similar language to what the eight items are but all together didn't mean to read it out loud okay to that question you talked about coming up with a the what the items would um impact uh the city would then you would put one dollar item on it correct if it's one ballot proposition the state law requires that we provide a an enormous for the one item yes sir okay so if it's like one item you would put the cost analysis um on each um item as proposed it would be the cost analysis of the item as a whole one cost analysis for the entirety of the climate Okay thank you representative thank you I have it I mean I'm sorry representative mayor Pro Tem anello I was having a hard time with that one it's okay um I a question uh not really I'm going to make a statement I'm going to hold my questions um I personally think that this item would do better the way that staff has presented it but I think as we heard one of the public speakers my personal opinion doesn't matter on this item this was not my ballot initiative I did not gather 40 000 signatures um and I I think there is some public comment um and we we received a folder from Mike Siegel that does again make me question uh our decision to divide this up and so I know we have other speakers with that I'm going to make a motion um to move this forward as one item presented or read by Kristen Hamilton but I would need a second representative pharaoh pardon me I believe representative Canales made a second but I didn't hear him Chris I did second oh okay all right thank you yes um did we not do a feasibility maybe for the city manager was there not a feasibility study done when uh pass electric was sold originally it was the city didn't do one there was a feasibility done by the purchaser by the purchaser yeah they did a feasibility uh analysis and study then they also did did a due diligence process as well and that took I was told about 18 to 24 months pretty similar to what I mentioned of what was done in the Lubbock situation right the timing was almost identical and do we have any idea what the cost of that was I don't have that off top my head no all right that was me thank you mayor thank you representative molinar thank you Mr Mayor um I didn't ask for someone from El Paso uh Pastor water be on this call another thing Mr John Baloo's on the call now yes representative I'm here okay um Mr Blue what is your current title and position with El Paso water I'm the president of El Paso water utilities okay uh for the record for El Paso the city and El Paso County what is your end number of customers that you service and provide water drinkable water potable water firm approximately two hundred and twenty thousand okay um so as El Paso water and the Public Service Board your own hear your own political subdivision of the State of Texas correct well it's complicated we we were created under a provision in in-state law uh we obviously have a relationship with the city of El Paso and that we were created by the city of El Paso like 1952 correct okay and so um the Public Service Board the PSB is your board of directors correct correct so they set policy on what El Paso water can and cannot do they also set limits as far as infrastructure doing bonds uh CI CIP and things like that correct yes yes primarily uh policy rules and regulations budget and rates okay and do you think or can you tell us not your opinion but can you tell us please is uh PSB or excuse me the public service board board of directors what would there be response be is if this item was to pass that we could not service um commercial people doing fossil fuel Industries in El Paso County well we don't think that that is legal for us to to do that okay and we think that there is a preemption under state law but we would have to examine that so you would think uh your legal team would say no I I would I would think so yes okay I don't think the state of Texas allows us to discriminate uh one Water customer to another based on what they do okay and as far as their amount of water that they're taking or not taking and paying for and what rates are set that would come into the play as well or the decision making process as well of the Public Service Board that's correct okay and do you have any uh impact or excuse me do you have any um opinion as far as uh your professionalism right now on what this issue is the climate Charter the charter as a whole yes but more specifically as to not to provide water to outside the city limits to fossil fuel Industries that's problematic because we already have a customer outside the city limits that would fit into the definition that's set forth in the in the climate Charter and so it would be uh you know according to the language here it's talking about you know canceling uh which would be to then if that were to take place and to reduce the power generation capacity of El Paso Electric now from our standpoint that's not a large it's not a tremendously large volume what are you using customer when the plant was put in they uh designed it with equipment that minimized the water consumption and so we've been providing water to them and it's not a significant part of our Our Daily Business okay and as far as part of El Paso water do you right now presently have policy in place that is um that helps our climate that reduces the ozone that uh saves water for their Community provides water for future generations and things like that absolutely when it comes to the the water business water conservation is key to all of these things because when we conserve water that's less electricity that's used to power the system and so that is our number one Focus that I think applies to climate in addition to that we did hire a sustainability professional we're working through our Fleet we are starting the design of our first photovoltaic system so many of these things in here we think are are good and we're going to go ahead and Implement that but water conservation by far is number one and that is going to be Contin that's going to continue to be our goal uh moving forward decade by decade is to reduce the per capita consumption right now we're at about 130 gallons per person per day and we need to get that down to 115 gallons per person per day to make sure our water master plan works out and that's water conservation okay and I know yourself and I know you're now rotating different staffs Miss navarrete then others to come before us as a body here at city council and you update us on a quarterly basis on what you're doing and what you're not doing and how well you're doing it and so do you see other things happening and they're not going to happen should this Charter amendment pass but that's the uh that's the only thing that that in particular catches my attention but we have to do a thorough cost of cost analysis of the other parts of it okay besides the questions I'm asking you today Mr Blue do you have any other um issues that I may have not raised right now no sir and we'll we'll be glad to bring this back to council uh in a future report all right I thank you very much I appreciate your time appreciate jumping on the call too thank you can I respond to that no sir no we have a three-minute limit and we'd have to allow everyone else for additional time on both sides but we do have a motion and a second and if we can take action on that most point mayor I'm sorry I am mistaken we do have representative Canales then representative Nunes thank you mayor um I I want to start off by by saying um I I think we all are in agreement or at least it seems that folks are in agreement here that this is going to proceed in May and there was some discussion about uh the potential of moving this to November uh last week at the city council meeting last week I think it was just a brief mention and and um I certainly will support this continuing uh forward through its process onto the ballot this may um I in in many ways the rep anello you you took exactly what I planned to say which is that um I I also uh personally don't think that uh grouping uh all of the Amendments together or or grouping the the the the proposed Charter Amendment into one item is necessarily what's best for the success of the the proposals um but also like repinello I I think that the city council has a ministerial duty to place this item on the agenda yes and we also have a discretionary uh role to play in in terms of deciding the uh ballot language uh but I interpret that discretionary uh role that we play to mean that we should closely listen to uh the desires of the petitioners and they're here telling us today that they want this to be a single item and that's the reason that I gave a second to rep anello's uh motion because I think that if we uh do our best to follow the intent of the petitioners here and this is what they want uh we should do that regardless of of our personal opinions about uh which is better uh or which uh method would result in uh success or failure of the proposition um I I do want to point out uh one thing that has been said again and again today and people have referenced it kind of them in both sides um it has to do with measure what's proposed now as measure F municipalization of El Paso Electric um I think personally that this reads very clearly as two separate sentences um in section 9.1 uh the first sentence says I think very plainly the city of El Paso shall employ all available efforts to convert El Paso Electric to Municipal ownership now I didn't write this city staff didn't write this the City attorney didn't write this this is the exact language that was handed over uh to the city clerk by the petitioners and and that folks were able to read when they signed uh you know the many many thousands people were able to read when they signed and um yes there is a second sentence and it describes uh the the city manager providing the city council with an annual report uh describing the feasibility of of doing so but I don't think in this case uh you know we have to be very careful with with legal drafting when when drafting this kind of thing one sentence doesn't uh get rid of the impact of the other sentence um and and I do think that this will obligate the city to employ all available efforts to convert El Paso Electric to Municipal ownership and and so I don't think it is disingenuous of the city to say that they will need to provide a cost estimate for that because it does say that very plainly um but again I'm willing to in this case uh defer to what the intent and what the uh the the stated intent today from the petitioners is um and if they want to put this on the ballot as as one single item then I plan to support that um again despite I think uh uh a more difficult path to success for these things um I want to make very clear here at the end you know I'm I'm somebody who I have my degree is in sustainable development I study climate uh you know from my degrees now from the Columbia climate School um I think we are approaching this from the same ideas that uh climate action is is very urgent climate doesn't wait uh we have to make these decisions quickly in order to have any kind of of impact that can uh sway the course of global climate um and so we're we're starting at a very similar Baseline here and and uh you know obviously I think the city needs to take steps and many steps to to get better on this issue um again know that we come from that same that same mindset that we have those same goals uh I can't speak for the city but at least uh myself and and you the petitioners we we have those same goals but uh again know that I will support you here regardless of what I think is a decision that that leads to a much more difficult path to pass these thank you representative representative Hernandez mayor um I do have a second motion if the main motion doesn't pass um and just to give some um context on why I think it's important that we segment by subject because our city Charter this is our governing document just like our other amendments everything is by subject and so the voters need to be able to see and clearly understand all of the changes to their governance structure any commissions any implications of the the city Charter Amendment I'm not here to to favor one or the other but to give clear understanding and guidance to voters if they choose to dissect and vote different ways on different items and so I think it's a precedent setting and we should recognize that as well we we must make sure that our city Charter is clearly it's coherent it's under everybody can understand it they know what they're voting for a city Charter amendments should be clear to to the voters and that has been the precedent that city council has taken for decades so I don't plan to to change my position on that but rather to just to provide a competing motion that I would move to accept the recommendations from our legal outside counsel and our legal team to ask the voters in eight different measures on the ballot if they agree with the proposed questions thank you I was taking that thank you so we'll take the first motion this part yes sir the first motion was made by representative anello secondary by representative Canales and this is to move forward with the climate Charter petition as one proposition on the ballot is that correct representative anello thank you on that motion call for the vote representative Canales hi thank you in the voting session and the motion passes 523 Representatives anello Molina scoring I Representatives Kennedy Hernandez Rivera the motion does carry thank you mayor can I make a motion that we revisit item one second we have a motion in a second there's a motion and before we go to that I want to again congratulate you all for the hard work you did and uh you know I know that um it's going to be a tough tough battle but you guys worked really hard and and I thank you all for being here and we did tell you we'd move it forward and that's why we changed it back in August to make sure that we respect that uh you all and um again um thank you again for being here and with that we have a motion in a second there's a motion from representative Kennedy seconded by mayor Pro temanello to reconsider item one all in favor anyone opposed the motion passes item one is discussion and action on the charter election and amendments um I wanted to wait till we got through the ones that were already here during my briefing with staff the question was asked is there anything that you would want to have added to the the charter Amendment and I have two things that I'd like to have the council consider the first one is currently city council has two people that answer to city council the City attorney and the city manager and I'm suggesting that we move three from the city manager's portfolio to city council the first one is the internal auditor which is a function of the city manager's office and I would there's never been an issue and I don't think there is any issues but I think that is more appropriate that that would answer to city council as the internal auditor the second two is police and fire and the reason I say that is because we're not talking about restructuring fire and police we're talking about having an individual from each department change their reporting structure the fire there is CBA is in place for both there is command structure in place for both and those would not change the only difference would be the answering would come to city council rather than city manager I don't think it's a horrible burden on city council to say that you will now oversee five people rather than two and so I would make the motion that we move police fire and internal auditor under the supervision of City Council second on both motions yeah those are two two separate motions correct yeah okay great I have a separate motion the second motion is that I think it is important that the city manager choose who his Deputy city managers are but I don't think it's outrageous to say that an advising consent form might make sense where he picks who he wants and it just takes a blessing from city council it would keep city council out of the choice except to say you're right this is a great person because I think that you know when you take a look at the deputy city managers they all would have flown through with flying colors so I would make the motion that the deputy city managers go to an advise and consent by city council second so Council uh Laura cruzicosa communications director for the city of El Paso both of the um the items that were brought forward uh by representative Kennedy um would I would advise that we would need to go back to the ad hoc advisory committee either stand him up or um at the very minimum require extensive community outreach because these items were not vetted by the community nor the ad hoc advisory committee and so they would require I would recommend as they are changes to the government structure as it exists right now I would advise that you do some public betting in that respect my comment would be the election is the public vetting and I would say that we did extensive um Outreach with regards to the ad hoc advisory committee in that respect and so for that reason I would suggest following the same process that we did with the beginning of the of the charter Amendment and moving moving these items into the ballot but I've also seen where for example in redistricting where there was a redistricting committee that was completely thrown out and it was scrapped and started basically from scratch to go forward so I understand that but this um I would say if the voters say listen that's a really bad idea they're going to vote it down and say it's a really bad idea and that could happen representative Kennedy if for purposes of the council's um understanding you did you did explain that to Kristen when you she was she was briefing you on the charter commitments they asked if I was if I was interested in editing anything to it and I brought both of those up correct and just for purposes of the whole Council understanding and and this is still our position this is a brand new subject that has just been proposed by representative Kennedy we have no proposed language nor would we know how to address that Amendment the council would need to call the proposed ordinance for the charter amendments will be coming forth to you all on January 31st today is a deadline to post the proposed ordinance to get it on the ballot for the February 7th meeting for you all to um vote to have that action be placed on a ballot for May the city attorney's office does not have language prepared today nor will it have language prepared before the end of the day today to have that proposal placed on an ordinance for next Tuesday okay so going forward with it would if the council decided to do this what would be the be the Fallout so so I wouldn't be ready for posting so the choice would be to delay election or not have it on the ballot no you wouldn't you wouldn't need to postpone the election you have decided what you want to put on the ballot today and that's been vetted now since right I think last March when the council appointed the the charter commission and then additional items have been proposed here today that were amended on existing language that was invented so what what the process entails is meeting with the commission to talk about the subject matters and then as a result of those meetings the city attorney's office in conjunction with the commission takes a substantial amount of time in drafting those amendments and then comparing it to existing language from other cities and then what it would look like on our ballot and then we'd have those discussions at Charter commission meetings so it's not just a matter of sitting down and drafting the language and putting it on on a ballot for for next week it's not how we do I understand uh Charter amendments okay because I had mentioned it when I was briefed correct right and but just for for the record representative Kennedy we we take direction from the majority of council when we draft ordinances no no I understand so it's not that we're ignoring your requests but it's for the for the process to take place the city can't our office can't turn around today here's a proposal on what representative Kennedy is is recommending just question I just listening to representative kidney and he asked that he said that he was asked what he would be proposing and at that point why was the question asked if it was going to be a hollow answer there was going to be no answer or no guidance form I'm surprised that there was a briefing and the question was asked and he said what he was going to do and then nothing happens mayor I wasn't part of those discussions what I was told is that we asked because representative Manila had instructed us to ask and you all voted to ask us to meet with the members of council part of those discussions for the new members of council was to discuss what they were proposing and then whether we would be able to draft them in part of what is already existing in on our Charter because there's a lot of items that you all discussed so whether it was existing amendments or new amendments the answer was the same it's whether they're already on there and we can fix what they were asking for but brand new amendments we would have answered that the same irrespective let me go back to just out of curiosity because maybe what he's asking is not a charter change there's a resolution that's in the books on the way it's set up or was it set up by Charter that who would report to who and what he's asking on um directors or city staff to you know for the city manager to come back to council and I'm not exactly sure how he asked it would that be a charter change or is she really not even a charter chance there's an amendment change right yeah would it be a charter change or an amendment change it would be a change to the Charter Charter as currently written the duties under the city managers portion of the charter says that all Personnel actions are performed by him and all city employees report to him was that and again I'm just asking as I don't was that a action originally when it was created and or is that been after that that was added that's been I and I would have to go back and look at the actual language that is a language that exists under the city manager's duties originally that's what I'm wondering but I don't know if it's been subsequently changed but that side as it currently reads yes mayor all right so both items she's asking for would have to be Charter attention not amendments correct okay thank you for that and for the record in the or if I may um when we did have that discussion we did mention that that's a major policy change so we would expect that if those types of major policy changes were going to be supported by the majority of council that that would need to be a November ballot I could hear back for guidance on language at that time so he could could he have asked for guidance in the language so he could have proposed it we would have to do extensive research to provide guidance on that language there are no other cities in the state of Texas that actually have a structure like that so I mean that would take significant time too if directed by Council okay thank you ma'am representative vanilla American Pro tem thank you mayor um I am a little frustrated um I understand that legal does not answer to one council member but per my motion last council member was specifically to help council members draft language for new ballot propositions since they had not been here through the process and so just again becoming a little frustrated because we knew that we were up against a wall because this was not presented to us until last council meeting so that language was discussed or that action was discussed in helping draft language that came from me that was part of that motion and now we're being told well you couldn't do that because but you could do that because that was the action of counsel and I'm sorry I'm not done this anyway um I don't believe that this language cannot be drafted by Thursday I believe mayor your deadline is Thursday your your deadline is Thursday at noon correct for language um Mrs Neiman or really I guess yeah I'd be missing Laura what is the mayor's deadline of posting items on the agenda it's five o'clock I think maximum it's noon on Wednesday but it has to be done by five o'clock Wednesday or four o'clock noon Thursday it's on on the addition to the agenda would be at Thursday at 3 P.M or 3 P.M what time Thursday at 3 P.M 2 P.M to the agenda Thursday 2 P.M Thursday at 2 p.m again for first hearing which would then give an additional five days to do research in which amendments could be made to the first hearing I understand that we had a lot of public meetings I wonder what happened with the data from those public meetings these are things I heard about from my constituents at these meetings and after these meetings and so I don't know remember staff asking anyone in the crowd how they felt about each individual Amendment and if they had any amendments to propose I think if the council is to do action today I would expect staff to do their best to be able to draft this language for the Thursday deadline but to be amended or removed by the Tuesday council meeting if necessary and I'm only saying this because again the language and the motion last council meeting was to help new council members draft language that was that was the intent they had no they had never been updated by anybody on staff since they had taken election it wasn't even talked about until last council meeting and now to say well you can't propose anything for the charter because we didn't do this no we had a special meeting and directed you to help them that's all I have mayor thank you and I will be supporting this today in hopes that this can be done um as expedited as possible I do have a clarifying question actually represent mayor may I address representative manilo's statements so for purposes of the of the council and the public all Charter amendments take months to write we've never taken the position that we can write an amendment to a to a charter specifically this type of amendment where it would change the structure of who's reporting to whom overnight or in a few hours this Council has a history for the last several I've been a member of this office for 15 years in the last 15 years anytime there's a charter Amendment there is a committee that is formed and all of the questions are posed to the committee and they make those recommendations while we agree and we understand that there is new members of council we met with all of them and briefed them on the pending Charter amendments the direction that we received from Council was to meet with all the members of council and brief them on the pending items on the on the charter amendments and that what was what was done again that type of amendment is a significant Amendment we would need to spend some time drafting that and coming up with a proposition that would conform to what the council is asking and then bringing it back for Council to consider it would be quite out of the ordinary to ask for last minute amendments to the Charter the week before the ordinance is due to be placed on the ballot or for the council to introduce an ordinance and then have the public hearing the following week um again I I very much disagree that both that was the intent um and that it's not possible but my clarifying question for um I guess Mr Kennedy would be uh if police and fire were to answer to council would that also include um and I cannot think of the wording right now uh their agreement collective bargaining agreement thank you CBA goes wherever they go okay that was just my clarifying question and again I will be supporting this today thank you I was going to say that that when I was asked the question during our briefing um all the parameters were not understood representative thank you mayor so um I do support um representative Kennedy's uh motions and I did second them but here's the thing so back in 2021 my first year I did make a motion when we're discussing the charter to go back to a strong mayor form of government okay I never got a second so we never voted but there was no one came up and said hey you can't do that I don't remember that 2022 I also made another motion to go back to the mayor strong mayor form of government this time I did get a second however it did not pass but we voted on we voted on it and so I never heard that we can't write the language we cannot do it in time this can't be done all the negativity that I'm hearing today so what's the difference between today in 2023 and 2022 that all of a sudden it's like we're hitting a brick wall it's like there's a huge bump in the road and all those defenses have come out I don't get it I don't understand it and so I understand you know Miss demon that you have a very busy team and they're doing all kinds of stuff and I also said this in 2021 and 2022 that I've seen some amazing work some amazing things being done here at the city of El Paso and for the most part most of those amazing things have been positive they've been great we're still in covet if you believe it we're doing a humanitarian crisis right now I have gotten text messages and emails and stuff like that on Saturdays Sunday mornings we're working we have people working 24 7 uh all kinds of stuff oems there they're doing their things we're still working we're still going forward and so uh I understand you know when the shooting happened in August we worked I wasn't there but I mean we worked you as a city worked and you delivered you delivered for the citizens of El Paso and so to me this is a very smaller than that and I'm capable of umam to work your education your training your experience your team as assistant city as attorneys that they are more than capable of doing what we asking of them today should we vote and I'm going to support this and I wish to take the vote on thank you if I may to answer your question you ask what the difference is between um 2021 2022 and today um you all have the final ballot that is due the ballot language that is due on the 31st versus a year-long process that we went through when you brought that forward we did extensive Outreach with regard to the committee itself as well as the community outreach that we did for that one yes sir but I'll also counter that there was no negativity there was no one saying you can't do that I can clarify in 2022 and I believe I remember what you're referring to the vote was being had by the council to decide what items were going to be sent to the commission and you did not receive a second on sending the item on the strong mayor to the commission so we would have not said you can't do that because we were compiling from Council what sections of the charter you wanted us to take to the commission and then discuss I don't disagree with you that at that time we wouldn't have said anything because we knew it was going to go to a process and the commission was going to decide and come back with a recommendation on what this proposal would be like the difference the difference today is it's a week out from the proposed ordinance amendment to amend the charter so for us to come back with no feedback from a commission or from the public or with very little time for us to decide which sections of the charter have to be amended to come back with a proposal to the voters and in one week I think it's a difficult ask and I think it's it's not as simple as sitting down and writing the proposal I'll tell you um there might be other provisions and in rushing a charter Amendment remains and whatever mistakes you make you have to live with them until you have another Charter Amendment so the distinction is significant when you were voting in 2021 and 2022 because it was about taking it to the process of the commission and then the public Outreach that that's not what would happen between today and next week numbers Newman my if I'm not mistaken and I don't know I think we can verify it that when Miss Wilson was city manager at the time that she did ratify her decision on Deputy city managers through Council and it was Council action that was done and then Council changed it by Council action mayor you're testing my my memory I don't I don't think it was and that's why I'd like to you know find out because I don't think it's a charter item anyway I don't Miss Wilson I think was appointed in 2004 so I don't know and then she served till I believe 2014. but I don't recall off the top of my head we would have to go back and look at the record in terms of the appointment of her deputies yes ma'am I think it wasn't it was ratified by city council and then it was changed not to bring it any not to bring it forward any longer through Council action um but we can always check that which means that it doesn't need to be a charter Trench because there's not a charter it's not a charter item representative nundas I'm a little confused confused by the um proposed amendments and I would just I was going to ask um our legal team if you can help me interpret interpret based on the information that you have um is the proposal today um in in represent Kennedy you can chime in if if you care too as well to to have the internal auditor the police chief the fire chief um all report directly to city council and to include hiring and firing I don't have an answer to to those questions okay representative Hernandez I think I would defer to representative Kennedy in his proposal those things haven't been discussed okay if if representing Kennedy if you can help if those positions answered to us it would be higher in fire okay so then um based on that response then then I do believe it is the city Charter Amendment that is required based on the powers and duties of the city manager and and I'm looking at the city Charter now um that the city manager has all um that he has the authority to direct and supervise the administration of all departments and offices and agencies of the city and so I do believe that there would be extensive changes to the city Charter not to mention um you know I I think it's very appropriate to work with the police and fire associations to determine um and to get their feedback as well on this on this matter um I know personally that my constituents would have questions about this issue too it hasn't been publicly vetted the discussion about the internal auditor I understand has been vetted by the city Charter advisory commission if you can and I think maybe Kristen you might have information on that the internal auditor function from what I recall I don't think it was this pastor on but the prior round where they made a recommendation not to correct there were some amendments to that section of the city Charter years in the past from the from the internal auditor correct yes and so the current language and I was just looking for it but I couldn't find it didn't spend a lot of time looking for it though from what I understand about the internal auditor is that it is the recommendation of the city manager with the council approval there's it's a hybrid function the internal auditor reports to the city manager and the city council has some role over him through foac through the financial oversight not a committee and so from what I recall from The Advisory commission they had said that Council still has a role in the decision-making but the direct personnel and you know everything related to that department was directly under the city manager but there would still be a function with city council which you know I I don't disagree with their recommendation I think that that is a fair point the council still has an understanding but as it relates to the police chief and the fire chief I think there is going to be unintended consequences across the entire city Charter and those changes as it really to the city managers powers and duties I also believe that we owe to the public and to the men and women in uniform um both police and fire Public Safety officers we need to really give them an opportunity to look at this and then to look at how are cbas one that was just recently approved this past year 2022 the fire CBA how that can impact how cvas are negotiated and so there's a there's a lot of changes that in my opinion really do Merit extensive research I also believe it it dilutes the spirit of a council manager form of government removing these these roles or to even have them report to city council also um significantly dilutes the council manager form of government and as I've mentioned in the past Council manager form of government shouldn't be changed because of the person in that role your government shouldn't be changed because for the person in that role but rather looking at the structure of the council manager form of government and and really making sure that our city Charter is reflective of the council manager form of governments is so critical for our city in so many ways for to avoid corruption to insulate employees and political attacks to insulate the employee morale to to improve employee morale to ensure that no corruption comes from having many CCMS or police chief and fire chief give preferential treatment we have found case study after case study that strong marriage formal governments or minimizing or chipping away a true Council manager form of government is not a best the best for a community and and having a community who has suffered from corruption for decades it is really important that you have and professionalize an Administration that is going to work directly with their city manager to make sure that we have consistency and that we can protect our over 7 000 employee Workforce removing the politics of of of hiring and firing these key critical roles is important we we need to remove that so that we can make sure we have a functioning City that's going to provide basic services without concern that their government is going to fire them if they're not happy and so I certainly would be opposed to those changes without doing the public vetting side of it checking in with the stakeholders staying true to a true Council manager form of government protecting our employees in our Workforce and I would highly recommend to city the city council to not vote in favor of this because the proper vetting has not been conducted and on top of that I think we're running out of time and we need we owe it to our our team and our staff who are working on other pressing issues that they redirect their efforts to these other issues and the other amendments please don't support these amendments there has to be more public engagement on this and stakeholders especially from our uniform officers and our city employees and so those are my my statements as it relates to that but you know I just say that respectfully having I just I care truly about a council manager form of government I've done lots of research on it and I truly believe Texas is better off with Council manager form of governments thank you thank you representative and on this uh Irvine um Kennedy let me ask a question if if it is if it was approved today there are still stop gaps between here and going to the ballot correct I mean there are other votes to be taken this is not if it's voted today it's on the ballot period in a story correct to approve your proposed Charter Amendment it would need to be posted um next at the next council meeting which is January 31st for introduction of the ordinance is the um I'm sorry and then the public hearing would be the following week on February 7th when Council moves the meeting and then that's um the last time that you all have to call the election is the third I'm sorry and then it gets placed on a ballot for the May election so is the 31st the the deadline to have wording for the charter Amendment yes we have to introduce it under under our process for calling an election we call elections to put items on the ballot by ordinance so and I'm I'm basing it on the fact that the deadlines for um placing items on the ballot and then calling the election the last time that you all would have to call the election is February 14th that's the rate last regularly scheduled meeting of council although you have an item here item number three is to move the council meeting up a week for El Paso days so you would need to call a meeting for the sixth and 7th February which would be the last time that you all would convene to vote on the ordinance approving the ballot language is the 14th the drop dead date you couldn't put it on the 15th or the 16th so under state code and and Kristen may know I believe the last actual date is February 17th so we always move back to the date that the council moves prior to that date so the last day that you all were scheduled to meet is February 14th and then or the 13th unless you move it to the sixth and the seventh and that is because the city Charter requires that ordinances be adopted at regular City Council meetings and as we discussed in our meeting we would only have a couple of hours to write an amendment so if there was something that was some that we had already discussed that might be something that's possible but something like this is significant writing that deals with many aspects of managing a department and so the the deadline is essentially tomorrow for us to have that ordinance submitted to the city clerk's office for it to be posted on time for the January 31st meeting which is the introduction all of the language needs to be on there for the introduction Council can make amendments on February 7th but it has to be on there and that will that because Council if Council in the next item is moving the February 14th meeting February 7th is the last meeting before the election deadline of the 17th what's the gap between first reading and final approval typically it's two weeks but because the meeting on February 14th is not intended or expected to make Quorum councils scheduling in a regular meeting for the seventh so it's just one week between is it statutorily a week or is it it's by our code it's not introduction does not require it does not require a set number of days between the introduction and the public hearing okay okay thank you representative Salcido thank you mayor just have a quick question in regards to timeline if um when's the next time that some amendments can be put up for for adoption if that doesn't make so you have to um we would bring them forward on May and may for the May 6 election based on the action that you took with the climate petition you're moving forward amid the May election the next state if we move forward with a climate petition on the May the next time that you could bring these forward these City climate these um City amendments would be in November if the climate petition amendments fail if they do not fail then the next time that you would be able to bring this forward would be in 2025 okay I just wanted to know a little bit the timeline I was specifically asking in regards to his motions if he wanted to bring that up or his proposed amendments that would be it follow the same timeline you was explained right now right so either you move all the items the climate petition and or the city um amendments is the city Charter amendments forward in May or you move all of them to November if you move the climate petition forward in May and it fails then you can bring forward the city amendments in November or if it passes the climate petition passes then you can't bring the city amendments until 2025. 2024 now 2025. so if we move it to November it'd be November of 24. November of 2023 you sure I don't think there's anything I thought Christian had said there was nothing and it'd have to be 24. I thought he had said that in executive session the if we do not go forward with the charter petition climate policy this may you could go in November of 2023 November of or may of 2020 for more November of 2024. but if the climate moves forward in May of this year in in any of those or that proposition passes Council may not under the State Constitution have another election for climate for Charter amendments for to for more any closer than two years and so if any of the climate Charter petition items pass in this may we would be prohibited from having another Charter Amendment until November or until 2025. and I thought you had checked and there was no election in November 23. there is no general election or regular election for the city of El Paso in November of 2023. there there's a uniform election date that is on the books so there's nothing on it but we don't have anything on it and that's kind of what I wanted to know the dates a little bit more just because I don't want to Discount what's being requested I just think it needs more public vetting I do would like to hear about police fire just anybody that's going to be affected and just for us to really hear their input I don't want to rush something that's really why I wanted the timeline so that it would allow for that to happen that process to happen and and then I would be able to support something like that thank you representative vanilla um yeah I just want to clarifying so um even if we had a quorum on February 14th that wouldn't change anything because we need to finalize Language by the 31st correct correct we would need to post the language on the 31st I mean I still think it's doable thank you representative Kennedy the first thing is is I'm not willing to torpedo the Amendments that are going in March for my or May for my proposal okay I'm also going to say that that if the process proves to be undoable between here and there we still can pull the plug on it am I am I right with that that we could still I mean the last date to put it on would be whatever the 7th or the 14th or whatever they're doing correct I mean the last day to do to to actually put it on the ballot would be the seventh because we don't think we're going to have a quorum on the 14th correct correct but you still have to have an introduction right but I'm saying that if the decision is made it's just not doable in the time frame the plug could still be pulled on the seventh right we could say we're not going to put this on the ballot correct yeah we could introduce it and then decide there's more moving Parts here we need to pull it the concern is that to introduce it that's when that's where the work goes like I I have to talk about something by tomorrow so that's it another discussion Mr Price yes mayor there's a motion made by representative Kennedy second it by representative Molina and this is to add a charter Amendment to change the reporting structure of the internal auditor the police chief and fire chief from the city manager's purview to the supervision of city council is that correct correct two Shepherd amendments the second motion was to at a charter amendment to require that the appointment of Deputy city managers be with a consent of the city council that's what I have is that correct Mr Kennedy representative Kennedy that's correct okay so the motion from representative Kennedy seconded by representative molinar is to add a charter amendment to change the reporting structure of the internal auditor of the police chief and the fire chief from the city manager supervision to City councils purview on that motion call for the vote representative Canales hi we have a tie in the voting session and the motion passes five to four with the mayor breaking the tie Representatives Kennedy anello molinar Canales and the mayor voting I Representatives Hernandez Salcido Fierro Rivera the motion does pass the next motion from representative Kennedy seconded by representative molinar is to add a charter Amendment to require that the hiring of Deputy city managers be with the consent of the city council require the consent of city council is that correct thank you on that motion call for the vote representative Canales no in the voting session and that motion fails three to five Representatives Kennedy molinar Pierre voting I Representatives that motion fails may or may we move to item number three yes ma'am item number three is discussion in action on a resolution in Conformity with Section 3.5 a of the city Charter to schedule a regular city council meeting for Tuesday February 7th 2023 due to El Paso days in Austin the week of February 13 2023 creating a lack of quorum mayor can I ask a question um so I'm going to ask again based on the action that just took place is it beneficial at all to relieve the meeting on the 13th and 14th because I don't have to go to Austin I wasn't going to leave until the evening of the 14th anyways so I'm just asking based on that action if it is beneficial to not take action on this item and I can change my plans so we would have quorum do you need more I mean I know it's disrespectful to the the members who are going I do wish the chamber had maybe organized around other people's schedules but their own but that's another conversation I'm just my question is to you all based on the action that was just taken is it beneficial to leave the meeting and if you need some time to think about it we can recess come back I don't know it it doesn't it doesn't affect us because at the end of the day we still have to bring forward the amended language for the petition language on the 31st okay I just wanted to double check still remain the timeline there I just wanted to double check one last time so what what I would ask of council is that we get additional direction today from the Council on proposed language regarding the charter Amendment the representative Kennedy asked in terms of a policy discussion because we need to come back with an amendment to post on the agenda for the 31st so what is you're asking us what specifically and what do you want to see in the charter okay hold on one second can we take this item and then revisit item one to have that conversation yes because she just called it into the record sorry item three so we gotta yeah she called three digital records so just so we're on the item right now we can always come go back to it so what's the so do we have a motion so move to approve item number three Emotion by mayor Pro tem anello secondary by representative Hernandez to approve the resolution on item three to call for a regular city council meeting on February 7 2023 on that motion call for the vote representative Canales hi thank you and the voting session the motion passes unanimously so I would move to reconsider item one per shitty manager City attorney so so is there a second second there's a motion and a second to reconsider item one all in favor aye aye anyone opposed the motion passes item one is discussion in action on the charter election and amendments so specifically uh Council in order for us to come back with a proposed amendment here in the next two or three days I would ask for additional uh direction from the council in terms of what the language you are expecting from us to to read like or be um do you do you want specific language regarding both the police and fire chiefs and you appointing them directly and then in regards to the direction and operation of the department specifically so we we would need to understand how many of the duties that are currently delegated to the city manager would be moving into the fire chief and the police department and then that language so we could get more feedback on drafting something to come back how much of the I'm sorry is it okay fine how much of the duties that are currently handled by city manager would then transfer to police chief and fire chief was that the question or so so from a governance perspective from a governance perspective the current Charter um structure all of the Personnel actions and the duties and the actions of all of the Departments are directed by the city manager per the council Direction on on policy and budget so based on my understanding of today's action Mr Kennedy your proposal is you you you said you wanted to have fire and police report directly to the council so those decisions would have to go through the city they would no longer be under the city manager's purview and then would be coming through directly to the council so we need additional uh understanding of what you're proposing or what you're thinking that looks like so that we can come back with language that that you're proposing here today right that's uh that's important too because I think that I mean you proposing that you know that they report to the mayor they report to all the city council how is the process for selection going to be uh moving forward so I think there's I mean she's got a valid question of how the item needs to be because uh are they going to report to all the council as a whole or is uh you and I'm reporting to the mayor and then the mayor brings items to council I think it's something that needs to be considered because there's a lot of everyday operations that that would need to be considered I mean every time they would need to do something they'd have to come you know at the council and Council would take action every two weeks would be a little tough for them because the management and the agility to make those decisions would be hampered by having to come through council is that the concern so okay and this is what we were talking about earlier in terms of we've never seen this in any other City Charter currently the operations and the daily decisions are handled at the operational level and then the decisions are brought up to the city manager if necessary and then decisions are made when when you're talking about this proposal I I don't know what you you want to be the overseer and you want to have a final say on the everyday operations direction of the Departments then then that's what the feedback that we're looking to understand from right what what your proposal was I I genuinely don't know what your proposal is entailing my understanding and there are some cities not in Texas you're correct there's some cities in Florida I believe in Washington and this is something that I had originally brought up at the charter amendments but it failed they have a board of managers my understanding and this might not be correct representative Kennedy so stop me if I'm wrong is that the police chief and the fire chief would act as a manager of that department and would report to us as the city manager does and so they would still need to work with City management right when it came to HR to purchasing and things like that but they would be their own department head and would not come back to us for the you know every single everyday thing they would be as if they were as if it was a board of managers but that is my understanding that may not be what you were considering yeah that makes it no less complicated I will be honest um but it would be less that every single HR decision came to the council they would still work with the Departments that exist within the city I think you brought hr up as an example no I didn't okay I was in my head I apologize the other thing that I would caution council is that this is going to impact the current collect the bargaining agreement that was just approved for fire as well as the potential collective bargaining agreement for PD which is set to get started here in February so it's not as simple as as just saying we want these people to report to us um the welcome back with with a proposal I have to tell you um the board of managers issue is not something that we've seen and then amending the charter we'll we'll work on something and bring something back but I can't guarantee that it's exactly what you're proposing or that your intentions are going to actually come forth to fruition or that there are unintended consequences of doing an amendment like this and then it not being what you all and you're saying that there could there could be effects from the CBA yes and so so there's language in the collective bargaining agreement regarding management decisions and then who is management is it the fire chief or is it council at this point and then there's also ramifications for uh the way that it in our current police officers are disciplined and then how that process plays out through the process in terms of the collective bargaining agreement okay so so there's other things that are going to be in play here which was why I said this isn't an unstoppable train I mean we take a look and just say listen this is there are too many tendrils on this to make it work and there's a chance that that may very well be true um it can't be it's not something that can't be Unwound let's put it that way no and and I'm not I I just want you to be cognizant of the fact that ordinances aren't written overnight I understand this magnitude and then expect it to get correct or right at the first shot we will draft something I did mention to both Charlie Zeck who has been advising us um on the climate petition and then I did speak to Frank Garza who was the lawyer that advised us on the charter amendments and both of them said that this would be a substantial rewrite that it wouldn't be something that we should just turn over in a few hours or over days after two days and say Here's the proposal and they both said that they had never heard of that happening within a city in Texas okay so it's we're on Uncharted Territory and I understand that it may not be doable in the time frame because I do I don't think anybody up here is willing to move the climate Charter off the May election date I'm not going to speak for everybody but I haven't heard anybody that's like yeah that's an option so I mean if that's if that's the situation I trust that we'll get that information from you thank you okay thank you mayor thank you well that also include uh situations to the magnitude that we've experienced since we've been on such as you know the colbit who organizes it uh are they gonna it's constantly gonna be on call when these cases such as these events come up and they need an okay from the council as opposed to the manager being there uh connected to them 24 7. [Music] work through the the city manager form of government is that there have been some delegation of authority documents that exist and then through the course of practice and other cities best practices we've instituted some of that but again we have no other city in Texas to rely on that so we would need to rely on how other cities that have this type of types of decisions and like I said it's easy for us to sit here or you know for those of that want to do this to sit here and say yeah we'll do it we'll be here we'll make those we'll come in and have those decisions made just like saying well Mr Prime you have 10 days to do it we're we're confident you can do it but we're not the ones doing that that paperwork that she shuffles every day to make verify those signatures Etc in this case when an emergency happens you need to act right then and there so I would caution uh my colleagues that want to do this that's you're going to have a situation on your hand where you're going to have to be willing to answer I mean uh but you know I believe those that uh have experienced something like this or the coordinate officer you can ask them personally is that uh they'll need an answer now they'll need an astronaut to move in a situation such as we've had in the past and this Council or most of us in this Council have experienced some form of tragedy in the years that we've been on so I mean it was handled it was handled immediately and Council was kept informed nothing was being held back um uh I would seriously asked representative Kennedy to reconsider this because it's it's unprecedented for for us to say okay Council we need you at the diocese to make a decision you know as a situation I'm pretty sure you've been in that situation where you have to make the decision and not only does he make it for himself he consult with the mayor the mayor consults with him and and and the green lines of communication are there they're not they're not kept from us we've been uh briefed on briefed and updated on most situations that have occurred and our responsibility is to read those emails as soon as they come in so um I I kind of I'm kind of having really heartburn on this because you're placing a a a demand on our our legal department come up with a proposed language that that needs to be I think they've said it everybody said it needs to be better with the public and see how they feel about it and so um I would seriously he asked if he could reconsider your motion thank you mayor thank you sir representative Canales followed by representative ednundas without much without getting right into discussion of excuse me of merits of of the decision um I know the uh Miss Neiman had asked for some specific guidance in terms of what something that they prepare should look like and uh I'm of the opinion that I think uh section 3.7 of the charter uh appointments might be the best guide here um and and actually uh would be the section about the city attorney's office um I think we see it's it's relatively short uh it's probably not going to be comprehensive enough uh to Simply copy and paste the section about the City attorney um in the appointment of the City attorney by the city council um but there are other mentions of the City attorney uh in powers of the mayor um which is section 4.1 in the unclassified Services 6.2 um in the city council rules and procedures section 3.5 um I think the role of the City attorney as it's described in the in the charter is maybe going to be the best guideline in terms of what structure they might look at and I welcome the feedback of my colleagues on that um but I do think that the the city the role the current role of the City attorney with relation to the council is probably going to be the best guide in terms of how this could be possibly be structured if we move forward thank you um and I did get um a copy and I'll give this to Ms Niemann that the city departments were voted in 2011 by ordinance and it's right here so I'll just send it to you make sure um representative thank you because of the the magnitude and the seriousness of this item I do want to spend a couple of minutes asking the city manager to hopefully that can prompt some guidance to our city attorney's office and the role of the chief of police and the chief of the fire chief I believe is the 24 7 job 24 hours a day and I'm curious Mr Gonzalez if you can share um your your current govern your current structure your organizational chart and then what that day-to-day operational um in the operations of the city the police chief and the fire chief what that relationship is with the city manager's role or the DCM role so that we can better understand what if this item is passed by the voters what the implications will be and then like how do you determine a point of contact and what guidance they need so can you just share briefly on you know what that relationship looks like and what those um I guess any directives or or anything we need to be aware of in terms of your operations well the day-to-day role of not only the police chief the fire chief any department head any senior leader in the organization we have a strategic plan that that guides the execution of the work that's being done it's based on meetings we have with the city council if you didn't have a strategic plan until 2015 you passed one in January of 15 and subsequent to that we've updated that three times and then we'll be updating again that strategic plan again this year in order to make adjustments based on the new leadership on the city council and then that's what predicates what's in the city's budget with respect to that in terms of the work that's been done with police and fire in particular since that's the subject matter they had had a severe neglect in Police and Fire Equipment replacement you can speak to the two people that have served in the police department that are on the Deus right now and they can tell you better stories about what wasn't funded with respect to the police department in particular they had several issues there one in one in which was the number of police officers that they needed when I first started here in 2014 I remember meeting Greg Allen and I met with every department head and I I asked them everything all of them the same question what would you do if you were in charge what are the three things that are we're doing well as an organization what are the three things you feel like we should improve and I'm gonna go through the list of questions there's six of them and I remember asking Greg what he what he needed what the issues were in the police department and I'll never forget you know he said no everything's good and then the first meeting that he had with the city council during the budget process he has this big announcement that they need 300 officers and I was floored because I was like Greg I just talked to you I asked you how many people you needed or what you needed if is there anything you needed people equipment what is it that their issues were and he goes that's how things are done here in El Paso and I kind of feel like he's talking through me today because he said that and he's just what he meant by that was this is how I have to do it otherwise I won't get any attention and I said well that's that's not that's not how you do things with me that's not how you should we should run a city and so so I had asked him for a report on what was it that he was after and what is what is it that he needed and they never gave me that report because it was taking a very long time and I didn't need to wait on that report to know that their equipment needed to be replaced the fact that there was one call that we received that was in the news which took four hours to respond because their number of police officers was less than they had 20 years ago and you know his point to me is that the whole process had become extremely politicized and so they just didn't get the the needs that that they were required to have in order to operate the level that they needed to operate and so subsequent to that we put in the budget a program to have 300 additional officers net officers which means we've taken over 500 people through the academies and so we have added I believe 167 net additional officers than from what we had in 2015 and then we've put a considerable amount of money that we've set aside so that they have annual equipment replacement because before the city was waiting six seven years to make any equipment replacement and so they had they had very poor equipment and as you know if if your departments don't have the right resources in place they can't carry out their duties that's most prevalent in terms of the needs in a area like Public Safety so then the the last couple of years there's been a lot of feedback from not only here but Across the Nation and police departments have gotten a lot of rhetoric a lot of input solicited and unsolicited on what they're doing well and mostly what they're not what they're not doing well and so you have to stay the course and be very consistent in the application of the resources that they need the application the training that's required we've increased the number of hours in the training session in the academy so I guess the way I would best answer the question would be that not only do we make sure that the police and fire have the right equipment the the number of resources that are necessary in terms of Staffing and the right training that's that's necessary without allowing um the the training to to be such that the officer is not protected I mean you have to take that into account that the officer's protection they're doing something to protect our community and so you have to keep that at the Forefront and here recently a lot of what's been communicated it's been uh they've been placed in a in a bad light and we have to continue to fight that narrative and continue to provide the equipment the Staffing and the training that's necessary in order for them to carry out the duties that they have to do on a daily basis 24 7 365 out of the year so I guess that's how I would best answer the question in terms of the application of the governance and the the supervision of police and fire and you're currently um in the process of negotiating the CBA that expires August 31st of 2023 with the Police Association so we've completed the collective bargaining agreement with the fire department and we are in the process of sending some information to the police department of which we are required under the collective bargaining agreement to send them the analysis that we've conducted on the pay that's necessary for for them in terms of what the other peer cities are being paid and so we're supposed to send that to them by the 31st of January we'll obviously beat that deadline we we just completed that information we'll send that to them in advance and we plan on on doing the negotiations in February I actually cancel the El Paso days for myself because the whole month of February I'm going to dedicate to put that to bed the the collective bargaining agreement okay so we have we need some more clarification on who would be the party to do the collective bargaining agreements we would need some clarification in the event of an emergency or domestic terrorist attack um who on this governing body would give direction to the police or fire chief we need some clarification on the procedures related to Grievances and internal audit functions we need some guidance on hiring do we the role of hiring a City attorney and the city manager and then therefore for our internal auditor Fire Chief and police chief we would need um an understanding of potential implications on our current Workforce would try to understand if our uniform officers are in favor or against and then what how these measures could change the employment contracts we have with police and fire officers and firefighters because they go in under understanding that they're protected from from any political environments or political interference other than a CBA that is mutually agreed upon um we would need uh just I could I can go I can go on and on um but again I am very very concerned about the future of our Public Safety as a community I feel that a lot of police officers and firefighters have all shared with me and multiple occasions that they feel that their their positions are minimized are not appreciated and certainly are villainized by certain members of the community not only locally but nationally and so I really do believe this would impact our ability to retain and expand our current Public Safety departments and so I would urge once again for members of council to not haphazardly make these make these measures or requests for the upcoming City Charter and to hold those decisions for a future council meeting or city Charter election because of again because of the magnitude of the changes and the unintended consequences implications to our Workforce we already suffer from having the shortages of police officers and I would ask that we not hinder our ability to recruit but to make it a lot easier and to allow for a Workforce that is going to protect them as opposed to politicize these positions but anyway I I've already I think I've already reached my 10 minutes um but I wanted to share that with our city attorneys because they have little to no guidance on how to move forward thank you thank you and I think I I do want to make sure that the way it's set up right now the city is that the fire chief and police chief report to Chief diagostino chair for August the Agostino reports to the city manager I have daily interactions with Police Department no no I remember seeing an email just recently about and it and he said that and it's that was on there so I just want to make sure that yes sir that's simply done for um just alignment and integration purposes yes sir absolutely no absolutely mayor if I could uh this is an ordinance that was approved by Council back in in 2011 I think I think it was introduced on August 17 2010. and then the hearing hearing August 24th so so this ordinance is an isn't two Title II of our code which designates the city manager's office and then all of the Departments and entities that would report to him under um the the council manager form of government so this is older than when the charter was changed to allow for the internal auditor to report to council so that was done in 2013. right so this is I think that's how we built did the foak and City auditor reports to the foak correct so then forak was created by by an amendment of the charter right exactly 2013. I just wanted to clarify for purposes of of this document you can amend ordinances in regards to the organization of the powers of the city manager but what we're we're talking about here today wouldn't be accomplished to an ordinance Because the actual language of the charter designates all of the Personnel actions go through the city manager right right amend the charter so this ordinance I think is it's still in the books and and we often amend it when we're talking about amendments to well that's what I'm saying that's why I gave it to you because I didn't think it was part of the charter no it's not part of that that's why I gave it to you because I that's what I thought originally I thought that you were giving it no no no I was I was saying that it didn't need to be addressed as part of the charter because it's it wasn't done by Charter so in in Charter allowed for and it still allows for all the Personnel decisions to be made through the city manager so that's what this ordinance allows but the proposal here today wouldn't be done by ordinance you are you are seeking to remove the authority of the city manager to have oversight or or or operational authority over police and fire and it happened yeah that sounds I'm sorry that's not what I meant to give you for that that had nothing to do with that okay I had nothing to do with that no I just wanted to do that but the yeah he wanted us that was his other Amendment my question is could the process be changed by ordinance instead of Charter so what process I mean what we're talking about right now is it is it required that any Amendment similar to this be done by Charter rather than by ordinance so you have to So currently under the charter all Personnel decisions and and management and daily operations of all the Departments under the pursuant to the language of the charter fall under the city manager's purview the council has no purview or Personnel Authority or Duty at all okay the only Authority or Duty that you Authority that you have is to a point and then um evaluate the city manager and the City attorney those are the only two employees so in order for you to decide that you wanted to have purview over police and fire you need to amend the charter you would not do it through an ordinance Amendment that's what I thought I just wanted to make sure yes go ahead um so Mrs on that note so the charter language just needs to be amended to direct who either to either change Who falls under the purview of city manager I.E change language to city manager oversees all departments with the exception of police fire an auditor or to create another section on the charger to say Police Chief Fire Chief and auditor answer to council I know that it's very sophomoric the way that I said it I know that it wouldn't it's not that simple but then the questions of daily operations all of that that is done by ordinance correct the language that we would not be see like there is there language in the chart I'm going to turn the situation is there a language in the charter that specifically denotes how and who is responsible for collective bargaining no it just states that the city manager oversees a department so I am not at all disregarding all of the questions that are coming out of this I think they're very important they they don't disagree that that is what is going to take a very long time to figure out and that is what needs a lot of community or input from police fire and auditor and all of that but the actual language to change those roles is not you know you don't get into the weeds with that in the charter that's done I Believe by ordinance or other Council action so I I wouldn't I wouldn't agree with you because the issue that I have to face today is how do I bring back a charter amendment that fulfills whatever council is directing today and and while I'm listening to the proposals by both you and and District eight those are ideas we haven't sat down and thought about what's the best course of action but that's not how you amend the charter you don't kind of do this you know but that's how they did it with the city manager form of government in in regards to the Amendments that took place I believe that it took several months and committee meetings before the item was presented on an ordinance for calling an election so so we'll we'll take back the the discussion that Council has had here today and look at areas that that are potentially amendable but it may not just be one area that is that is uh amended or proposed to be amended to accomplish what it is I believe that the council's wishes are I don't disagree with you at all on that I think there's probably several areas in the charter in which comments are made in regards to that and I think there will be multiple sections that need to be changed but I just I wanted clarification that on the actual like roles and duties in the everyday those are things that will have to that are not specifically denoted in the charter correct yeah that was and I don't disagree that there are all of these little things um that will need to be done but again I think the the questions which are valid and important and one that we all have to have very extensively on the everyday duties and the multiple things that come with this are not specifically outlined in the charter um and so that was just a clarification that I wanted to make and I think that you really highlighted that to me when you were discussing the ordinance that the mayor shared with you so mayor thank you for that that's all I have thank you anyone else no one else representative Kennedy do you want to revisit it sounds I mean just as we are sitting there talking and looking that it's going to be more than just an item on the agenda to be able to move forward on and and vote on it and then change policies and procedures I think it's going to take a lot of work and you know I'm not sure that um it could be done in in a couple days because I think that's what Miss Newman has been saying I respectfully um disagree snow but I just but I think it's an important conversation because I do think the language that is but I mean we can wait and see what what comes back in a couple days we do have mayor if I can just folks are giving us some additional feedback we would also need to go back and do some extensive amendments in section 6 of it which is civil civil service in regards to how we discipline police and fire police don't go through civil service and then fire does but there's additional language that my folks are telling me we would also need to amend as part of this proposal because then you would have two competing interests on a charter in regards to how you actually discipline our our police and fire so if you had odds to be able to bring it back in a couple days the other zero to none I think we ought to look at um I think we had a good discussion and and um but it doesn't look like we're going to be able to bring this item forward um I'm willing to make a motion we revisit second okay there's a motion and a second to revisit the item there's a motion by representative Kennedy seconded by representative Rivera to reconsider the motion regarding the reporting structure of the internal auditor police chief and fire chief all in favor anyone opposed and we separate those two items were you talking about the auditor and then police and fire or do it as three motions about two motions two or three two I would suggest uh internal Auditors separate and then the PD and the fire chiefs separate I mean one right um I'd like to make a motion that the internal auditor answers to city council second any other motion uh we can stack them if you want to I'd like to make a motion that PD and Fire answer to city council instead of city manager as a second motion second could you repeat that there's no more discussion could you repeat that sir what was your motion the first motion was in internal auditor the second motion was for fire PD well the second motion separated the two items can we vote on that uh Miss Prine there's no no yes no discussion so the motion was by representative Kennedy seconded by representative anello to add a charter Amendment that the city that the internal auditor reports to city council is that correct to change the reporting structure of the internal auditor so that that position reports directly to city council on that motion call for the vote representative Canales hi thank you in the voting session the motion passes 62 Representatives Kennedy anello molinar Salcido Fierro Canal is voting I Representatives Hernandez Rivera the motion does carry the next motion made by representative Kennedy seconded by representative anello is to add a charter Amendment to change the reporting structure for the police and fire so that the Department's report to city council is that correct on that motion call for the vote representative Canales no in the voting session and the motion fails two to six Representatives Kennedy and anello voting I Representatives Hernandez voting a the motion fails no motion to adjourn there's a motion and a second to adjourn the special city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed and the special city council meeting for Tuesday January 24 2023 is adjourned at 3 55 pm thank