Okay.

Okay, we're gonna go ahead and call the afternoon session back to order.

And uh next up on the agenda 3.1 World Cup update with Deputy City Manager Jennifer Wickman.

Thank you so much, Mayor.

Uh Jennifer Wickman, deputy city manager.

Um, we're here.

We have two presentations today on the World Cup that's coming.

Um, first, uh Monica Paul is typically here with us.

She's the executive director of the Dell Sports Commission and also the um the president of our uh hosting committee here in this area.

She wasn't able to make it today, so we have no uh Noelle Laveau, she's the chief marketing officer for our local um organizing committee.

So I'll let Noelle kick it off, and then I'll come in with a second presentation.

Thanks very much.

Okay, your mayor Sarah said that I have to do a dance when I come up to the podium.

Is he being serious with me?

Um, thank you so much for having us today.

We're really excited to be here.

As you guys know, um, this is such an exciting time for us, and there is um so much great news, we think after the draw, where we had a great time finding out um the teams that would be here and the schedule.

Before I get into that, some things I know that you already know.

We're expecting um, you know, quite a few people to be in the area.

Soccer is the largest sport in the world, uh, boasts six billion fans.

We're of course also um home to the International Broadcast Center, which will be in downtown Dallas at the K.

Bailey Hutcherson Convention Center.

We are expecting over the 39 days, plus the additional days that the media will be here starting in late May.

Um, approximately 3.8 million visitors to the region.

In addition to that, that then equates to approximately 1.5 to 2.1 billion dollars in economic impact to the region.

So we did have a fantastic time.

Your mayor was there, of course.

You see him in some pictures here with Monica Paul and the uh city mayor, City of Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson.

Um we see the official match ball there, the Trianda, which means three waves, really focusing on the three countries hosting um the World Cup.

I mean, yes, the North American World Cup.

And then this last picture down here, it was snowing in DC on that Friday morning when we went to the draw.

So we were all waiting outside for our shuttle, but it wasn't that cold.

It was beautiful.

All right, so the draw, what happened there?

There were over 2,000 guests that were um at the draw party here.

This is you can see Billy Bob's in Fort Worth.

I was in DC, but we had a lot of great partners here that came out from FC Dallas, Dallas Trinity, um Atletico, the Texas Rangers, we had the Mavs Drumline, um, we had Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders.

We have recently announced that Choctaw is one of our host city supporters, as well as Coca-Cola Southwest.

Bank of America was there hosting the VIP area.

Um, they obviously are a commercial partner of FIFA.

Visit Fort Worth was great to really be our host and partner for that event.

Mayor Maddie Parker opened up the event with the Mexican and Canadian um councils as well, and then Grammy winner Trey Nagalia, who did our um Sonic ID was also in attendance.

So it was a ton of fun.

I think that our locals really had that first taste of how big and exciting this is going to be.

So that was a fantastic time.

And then we got the schedule.

So, of course, the draw happened on Friday where they announced the teams that would potentially be in the groups that are playing here, and then about 24 hours later, they released the schedule.

So the schedule is so important.

We have been driving to this date of the draw for so long because it really does help us better understand who will be visiting in our marketplace.

Also, eventually, we will know who will be base camping in the region as well.

But we kick off on June 14th at 3 p.m.

with the Netherlands versus Japan.

If you know anything about soccer fans, the Orange Army is a fandom in the Netherlands like you've never seen before.

In 2024, not World Cup, but in another competition in Berlin, they had a hundred thousand fans on their fan march to the stadium.

Now we don't expect it to be that much because Germany is very close, right next door to the Netherlands.

But we are expecting about 10,000 folks that will want to march from an area towards the stadium.

So the great news about that is that then several thousand of those fans will go into the stadium and the others will be looking for places in Arlington to go watch the match because they're not gonna want to go far and miss kickoff.

So those are some of the exciting things that we think are coming, you know, right here to Arlington.

But that's gonna be a great matchup.

It's a very friendly matchup between the two.

Then three days later on the 17th, we have England and Croatia, another great matchup.

England travels very well.

So we're excited to see what we have in the market then.

That matches also at three o'clock on June 22nd.

We have Argentina, obviously, the former champs of the World Cup coming to play Austria.

And then Japan.

And then there are six teams that still have to actually qualify.

So 42 of the 48 teams were announced and qualified.

And then we have a couple of matches that will happen in March, a couple of tournaments that will determine those last six spots.

So Japan will play the winner of that tournament.

And then on our last match of the group stage on June 27th, we have Jordan versus Argentina again.

So the great news is Argentina and Japan both play twice in that group stage.

What happens in the group stage is that each team plays three times.

So to have a team that is playing two times in your market gives us a higher probability, we hope for base camping here.

So we are looking forward to hearing more from the teams that they might potentially base camp here.

And then we'll have two matches in the round of 32, one in the round of 16.

And of course, we have the semifinal on July 14th.

So a lot of activity, but we are now starting to really um research, gather information around these teams specifically.

Now we have a better understanding of who's gonna be in the marketplace.

So we start to understand how do they travel.

Do a lot of fans travel.

Are there fan bases within the United States or North America, where we also think there may be some domestic travel?

Um we're looking at things like um spending patterns when they do travel.

So there's a lot of information that we're starting to gather now that will help us better understand who's gonna be in market and that economic impact number that we've looked at.

Um, we think that we're gonna get pretty close to that higher number based on this schedule.

It's an outstanding schedule.

We are very happy to see this for the marketplace.

This we know is a bit of an eyesore, but now this schedule has all of the matches that you can see here in that group stage.

So you can see in every host city, this shows all 16 host cities, as you all know.

There are 11 in the United States, three in Mexico, and two in Canada.

Um, but you can now see here all the matchups across the group stage.

And then also, and we will put out um it's a little bit easier to look at as we start to develop the fan festival schedule, but also all the times of the matches, which is also extremely important, obviously, when you're thinking about watch parties and things like that.

We do have some late starting matches.

Um, those matches that are being played on the West Coast.

Some of them have a 11 p.m.

start here.

So just something to think about when we're thinking about watch parties, bars and restaurants, that we do have some late times in regard to the match starts.

Um, but this schedule can show you all of that and then the teams that are playing in each of those groups as well.

We launched a community engagement playbook.

It is digital.

Um, it is digital, digital because we are constantly changing it.

We have it online.

You can click this QR code, it's also on our website in both English and Spanish.

And the digital playbook is really a resource for really everyone in the community.

If you are a nonprofit organization, a small business owner, um, just an individual.

There's some basic summary information, some of the things you guys know, nine matches, where they're gonna be played, that kind of stuff in the front of the playbook.

And then we also have additional opportunities.

So this is where we're seeing um this playbook update quite a bit.

It has RFPs and RFIs in there.

So you can click a link and you can see all of the RFPs that are coming out from the local organizing committee as well as from FIFA.

Um, those are also on our website.

Um, there's also a form for potential sites for mini pitches.

So a part of our legacy and donor program will be to install mini pitches in underserved and under-resourced areas.

We're working with the U.S.

Soccer Foundation on some of those areas.

They've done some uh research already to identify several places, but we want to hear from the community.

If you work with an organization or in an area where you feel like it would be a great place for a mini pitch, you can use this form um to let us know that you think that that's a good place for us to consider.

The fan festival, we have a lot of programming hours.

We will show all 104 matches at the fan festival, but we have multiple stages, and there's plenty of time for local groups to be um showcased at the fan festival.

So there's a form here if people would like to submit their performances or their groups for that opportunity.

And then we are obviously working with FIFA on the FIFA app.

The FIFA app has, if you are going to the stadium, your tickets are gonna be in the FIFA app.

And then we are also working to integrate the fan festival with that app.

And so we are collecting information for restaurants, bars, entertainment venues right now, and then continuing to build that information to go into the FIFA app with around our region type of information.

And we will also have that on our website.

So we continue to put these types of opportunities in the community engagement playbook.

Like I said, it is digital because it is constantly changing.

And I think, are you doing this one or is this me still?

Okay.

So the North Texas Business Connect program is where we are having small businesses or businesses in the area overall register their business, tell us a little bit more about it, go through some questions in regards to sustainability and human rights.

And when they sign up, what it allows them is they will get direct RFPs, particularly if they are a certain type of business that we're looking for.

So recently we had a box lunch RFP that was out.

So if they had said that they catered, they would get an in a specific email in regards to that RFP.

And then they can go into their portal and use that to be able to apply.

The great thing about this database is that this will live on past the World Cup.

So visit Dallas and many of the other DMOs, as well as the sports commission will continue to use this database for businesses.

So something we try to make sure, we're trying to make sure that every business is registered so that they can see these opportunities.

That is where they would do that.

So we work in work groups, as I'm sure you guys are aware of.

So we have regional work groups across several different topics.

For marketing, I have a marketing communications work group.

There are folks from Visit Arlington that are on that work group.

And so we have everything from safety security and human rights.

And human rights is a really large work group because it was very important for them to identify the areas that they felt like they could really impact during this time period.

And they have a human rights plan that has gone through several iterations.

Most of our work groups have to develop a plan that is then submitted to FIFA and approved.

And this so they've gone through at least two iterations, and their final will be published in May.

And so there are several aspects to the human rights plan, everything from free speech tool kits, there are training modules and videos that we are releasing.

Our first trainings have already started with COGS Transportation Committee that will also be offered to the hospitality communities across all of our cities as well, focused on things like human trafficking, and then even the unhoused and some of the homeless coalitions and what they're working on.

And so that is the human rights aspects.

And finally, our calendar of events.

A lot of these have passed, but we just wanted to note certain things that we've been doing.

We have sustainability events, at least one a quarter.

We did some tree planting in November.

We'll be doing more of that in March.

We are also having a kind of city cleanup challenge that we will launch in March as well.

Our volunteer center opened at the Food and Fiber Building in Fair Park.

As many of you have probably heard, we had an excellent response to volunteers here in North Texas, which we were not surprised by.

And we had over 30,000 applicants, and we will get down to 6500 actual people that will be volunteering for the World Cup.

This week we will have hit our 5,000th volunteer tryout.

That's that initial quote unquote interview.

They call them tryouts for our volunteers.

So that was a really big milestone that we know we will be hitting this week.

So we're excited about that.

On Thursday, we will actually launch our first mini pitch that we have.

And so it really kicks off our legacy donor program this Thursday at Lake Dallas, where we will do a dedication and have an announcement of some of the other areas that we are looking at for mini pitches.

The International Broadcast Center at Kate Bailey Hutchinson convention center.

Actually, FIFA takes it over on January 14th.

So they are ready to come in and start creating that incredible space that will be the media will move in at the end of May.

They have everything there from dry cleaners to restaurants.

They expect them to be able to live at the International Broadcast Center.

And so that development starts on January 14th.

We expect for uh teams to announce base camps probably by the end of January.

We should know who is going to be base camping here.

We'll be 100 days out on March 3rd.

We will have the actual trophy tour that's led by Coca-Cola coming into market between April 24th and the 26th.

And Memorial Day is actually World Soccer Day.

So we will kick off a week long of events on May 25th to celebrate soccer and to basically kick off the World Cup.

So, do you want me to hand it over and then take questions at the end?

Any questions from council.

Okay.

Good.

So now we'll move on to my presentation.

Noah will stick around if in case any other questions do come up.

So today I want to talk a little bit about economic impact.

North Texas Connect.

I won't cover that as much as Noelle did.

I appreciate her having that slide.

The ambassador's village, the town hall meetings we're planning on having, and then the bulk of my presentation is going to talk to you about different elements of the host committee agreement that you all will see in the next month or so.

So the economic impact is as Noelle mentioned is going to be significant.

You know, stuff that comes directly or parts of that to come that come directly to the city would include hotel occupancy tax and sales tax.

But it's important to think of that impact as it's also just the increased impact on our businesses that are here in town.

Our hotels, our restaurants, our entrepreneurial parking operators, vendors who are working either for the city or FIFA or the host committee on this.

I know some of you have been mentioning hearing some concerns in the community about how are all these costs going to be covered.

I will tell you, and we'll you'll see more in the host committee agreement discussion is that we're working hard to uh pre-uh plan all of the expenses that the city will have, give good estimates, and those we're working with Monica and her team on finding funding sources for.

So we anticipate that every one of these things that we have to we have to provide for safety and security and all that for the for the matches are going to be uh connected in there.

So we'll talk a little bit about that in a bit.

North Texas Business Connect.

The only thing I would add to this is that Monica mentioned uh yesterday that the 20 to 30 RFPs are coming out uh today related to the fanfest build out.

So I would encourage any businesses that are under you know seeing this to please register.

If you just go to the Dallas World Cup um web page, the they have a business connection thing that you can click on.

They will get those RFPs.

They don't go out, they don't just post them online.

You do have to be registered to get those, but we encourage folks to do that because they need all sorts of things from box lunches to any number of things for the build out.

So they they we hope that some of our Arlington businesses will get connected there.

I did want to show a cut just the the council and and and really the community, what our schedule looks like in the entertainment district with our two main uh large sports venues uh in uh June and July.

You can see that um we start, you know, the MLBs and the Rangers have been super helpful in in scheduling around what what we've got here.

So you see the the month starts with some Rangers games.

Um when we come into that week of of June 14th, the first week we'll have we'll have uh World Cup matches.

That's you know, that's a very it's the week is completely full.

There's an event every day.

The next week there are they're you know three days off, and then it sort of continues.

You can see July has a similar run from the 2nd all the way to the 12th.

There's something happening every day.

So there really is a lot of work and coordination.

We've got some very skilled uh and smart uh and experienced folks who are working in our you know, public safety areas, traffic management areas, code enforcement, all those areas.

They're working really hard to make sure this all can it can all, you know, all the buses arrive on time, leave on time, all of that.

Wanted to talk a little bit about ambassadors row as we've talked to you all and mentioned that we are gonna have offer to the nations that are have teams playing here an opportunity to have some office space free of charge within Spark.

We're working with our convention and visitors bureau to set this up and also um our economic development services team to reach out to these foreign um uh governments who they already have some contact with through their foreign direct investment efforts.

Uh we have already um we've reached out already to all of these confirmed nations.

Um Argentina, Austria, Croatia, England, Japan, Jordan, and the Netherlands.

We're offering this to them.

Would you would they like to have a presence here?

This is because they may they will have their their uh citizens who are here who might have a challenge, maybe Lulu's a passport, maybe someone gets sick, something like that.

They might need those ambassadorial services, and those will be there available to them very close, very short walk from the stadium.

Um so we're we're excited about that.

It's coming together.

We're we're looking forward to to that um to hearing back from them.

We have also, because we have worked with the Mexican consulate quite a bit.

They have said that they have they just have a lot of fans, uh, Mexican um nationals or Mexican Americans who have a lot of um interest in in uh in soccer, and so they're gonna be there through the whole time because they know they'll have folks who are gonna be gonna be um coming to the matches.

We want to really work to prepare our business stakeholders for these uh matches.

Uh Noelle talked a lot about getting those fan profiles, understanding not only um when you know a particular what a particular fan group likes to do, they they they like to eat in the area, they like to stay come early, leave late, all that stuff.

We want to get as much information as we can to our hotels, our businesses, our restaurants, and really those businesses that are right in the entertainment district footprint, so they know what to expect.

Uh and I think we'll also add on that these other watch parties.

If we have a pr you know, a group and we're probably have a lot of fans in Arlington in the area who follow different teams who might be playing on the West Coast, they might want to watch party that starts at 11 p.m.

So we have to work with our businesses to understand what's needed and what folks are are interested in.

So now I want to talk through the agreement uh with the World Cup host committee.

This is an agreement that'll come to you all as an item to consider um in the in the coming in the coming weeks.

Uh so it's important for us to get that in place.

It'll be a direct agreement between the city of Arlington and the North Texas uh uh FIFA FIFA World Cup organizing committee.

They were referred to as the hosting SPV, and SPV is just stands for special purpose vehicle, it's an entity, it's a legal term, and that's how they're they're gonna be defined.

That hosting SPV has an agreement.

They've joined the agreement that the city of Dallas already had with FIFA, and that was beginning from when the the bid, you know, when we were chosen as the uh an area as a city for the uh uh with the bid for the World Cup.

So some key elements that we wanted to make sure you all had some some um insight on is that the city of Arlington is going to be uh uh the endorsing municipality for their major events reimbursement program.

This is with the state of Texas, where some of the funding for this um this event, putting on this event will will come from.

A portion of the local match, one million dollars to activate the MERP was going to be provided by the city's event trust fund.

There are a number of funding sources that we will look to for event cost reimbursement.

Those range from that state major event reimbursement program, which I mentioned earlier.

We're familiar with that.

We've used that with a lot of a lot of the events that have come here to to uh Arlington.

There's also a special federal FIFA World Cup grant program.

Uh we have a lot of our particularly public safety uh expenses, which are already targeted to be reimbursed by that.

Uh there's a federal counter UAS or unmanned aerial surveillance uh program.

Uh working with the city of Dallas, we could get some support uh from that program.

And finally, the host committee is doing a lot of work to do some fundraising.

Uh, and so some of the funding may come from that from that source.

So, a couple other things to spike out on the reimbursement.

All the payments from the hosting um SPV to the city are going to be subordinate to the payments that the hosting SPV owes to FIFA and also to their lenders.

Um, as we think about this, um, one thing that I mentioned earlier, about 90% of our expenses are covered, going to be covered through that federal grant.

They're already going to be accounted for.

We just most of what we're doing is police fire, things like that.

We've got about $800,000 that is things like uh traffic management, it would be um uh the cleaning up things, you know, street sweeping code, all of that stuff.

So it's a smaller amount that we would have that would be subject to that subordination payment rule, um, which is something that we we considered and and took a look at.

Um there's also asking the hosting SPV to help us with recognition of local efforts, helping them understand that um they're working with us in good faith to provide media exposure, other promotional opportunities for the city of Arlington during and in connection with the event to ensure that folks know where where the where the event is happening as much as as much as we can.

Um and then there's also they are create there's gonna be a host, there's a community leadership council, and we've asked that they um appoint have Trey included on that or city manager included on that, um, so we can remain, we can be on that.

That's gonna start up in about January.

What is also gonna be included in this agreement is a spent uh expense matrix.

We started this with the All-Star game, and it's a very useful tool that lines out all the different expenses that could happen and what the funding sources for that.

Not only would be not all would be subject to this reimbursement, but they would all be included and directed.

Uh want to make sure that I also explain that there's certain some city expenses that might happen around this time that would not be reimbursed.

So any standard calls for service in the entertainment district, police fire EMS that are not event related.

So someone is you know walking into a restaurant up at Lincoln Square and they trip and break an ankle.

That's not something that would be that's that's just our we're bringing an ambulance, we're responding, we're doing that.

All those sort of regular standard calls, not event related, where uh the city would continue to um bear the cost for that.

Um any emergency response in excess of that forward deployed personnel in the case of a public safety incident or at or related to the FIFA World Cup that requires additional public safety personnel.

So we have a very robust planned group from both police and fire and other departments that will be there.

If for some reason something happens that requires even more assistance from that, that would be something we would provide.

This would be a fairly significant event that would happen.

Um, but but we really have a very robust plan for all the scenarios that we think are are are likely to happen.

So the stadium authority expenses include the activities covered through the existing agreement used for ATT stadium events.

We already have an agreement through which we run all sorts of expenses that is understood through the ATT Stadium and that agreement we have with them.

All of that would continue to get reimbursed through that channel.

And we would also we're also going to add language that any expenses above projected levels due to FIFA requests would be reimbursed by FIFA or the hosting SPV.

And this is say bomb dog sweeps are something that we do, and it's say once a day in a certain area.

If they said, Oh, we want to do it twice a day in the certain area, that's a FIFA request.

We would look to FIFA to reimburse that if they've decided after they've they've agreed to once a day, if they decide to go to a higher level, that we would look to them to reimburse.

So some just generally looking at World Cup expenses and when they will happen.

Before the World Cup, we have got some building and permitting.

There's going to be a build out within the stadium footprint that's going to need to be permitted and inspected and all of that.

That will happen there.

There's going to be some wayfinding site signage outside of the stadium footprint as well, so folks understand where to walk from the bus drop offs from the rideshare drop offs, all of those areas so they understand how to get around related to the to the world cup and the matches.

Something else that's happening that hasn't been included in this that our public works department's been working on very hard with the council of governments is things like sidewalk installation improvements, creating those replacing those messages messaging boards that we've got.

So they've been already working on that.

That's already been happening.

During the World Cup, we have a few few general areas.

We've got area cleanup.

It's important that we we look, we we have groups that will be scanning for you know, trash, things like that.

We want Arlington and this area to look its best when when we have so many folks coming, and when we're turning this this event, so the the area so quickly.

Um so we might have have an event for uh uh provisions for that.

We also want to be able to communicate uh traffic and public safety information out there.

That's not what our public safety group would do, but this would be something that our office of communication would do.

And then EMS fire police and traffic management.

So it's sort of staffing in those areas in accordance with the standard stadium agreement, and then whatever is beyond that stadium agreement that would be required for the World Cup matches.

So that's all I have.

I know it was a lot of a lot of information, but happy to talk through that if you all have any questions for either me or or Noelle if you've thought of things for her.

Any questions, comments from council.

It's too bad y'all don't have anything to do in preparation for FIFA.

So appreciate y'all.

Thank you.

Thanks, Noelle.

Okay, let's move on down the 3.2 council priorities strengthening our communities.

Jennifer, don't run away.

No, sir.

I just got got my new presentation.

Thank you so much.

So this isn't a series of us presenting information on the council's priorities and how that how that's going.

I will mention strengthening our communities.

This is uh a new one of our new priorities.

You all created this in 2025.

This combined our champion great neighborhoods, build unity and support youth and family priorities that we previously had.

So just I'm gonna summarize some of the things that are these are FY26, so we're not quite through the first quarter, so we don't have all of our results for the first quarter, but this is these are the things in some of the areas that we're working on, so you all know what has ended up within this priority.

So the comprehensive plan update, that's obviously continuing.

It's on track to be adopted in November of 2026.

Uh we have some important park improvement projects, not only the River Legacy Trail Realignment, um, but also the Helen Westler Park replacement are on their plan.

The libraries is uh looking at some program for neurodiverse neuro, excuse me, neurodivergent adults.

This is something they're studying that follows the same uh type of program they did for neurodiverse children in 2020, FY25.

And then the River Legacy Living Science Center, which is an important um important element of the community to all of us, but funding was approved by voters in May of 2025, and they will be um providing both interior and exterior improvements to the center.

So looking at our some highlights that have that have happened uh more recently, but Arlington has been named a tourism-friendly uh friendly Texas certified city.

It was a multi-step certification process, and it adds to a lot of other certifications we've gotten to the from the state.

We've got music friendly, um, and now we've got uh film friendly.

So I'm sorry, I may have missed said that, but tourism friendly uh Texas.

So it's it's nice that we're receiving these different certifications from the state on that.

And then, as you all have noted before, injury and fatality crashes have decreased.

Um we've got down two years in a row now that those are down, um, and police have been using the crash data so they to prioritize where they're doing their traffic enforcement.

So good use of data and a good result there that we're pleased about.

Um there was also some um some voter approved streets that were in both north and east that have been completed.

Uh Sun um Sunnyvale Drive and also Marcellus Court and Slaughter Street.

Those have all been uh completed.

Form-based code continues to move forward.

Um there was a public open house held December 2nd uh where the first draft was um was um put out there to great acclaim, a lot of interest from the community on that.

Looking at the scorecard, we'll continue to evaluate a number of important ones.

There's a lot of uh items on here, but just wanted to highlight the animal services live release rate, code cases resolved through voluntary compliance, that 10 minute walkability, how close are our residents to parks and fire EMS response time.

You can see in all these areas, departments are are continuing to stretch.

They're not sort of resting on what they did the previous year, which we're really pleased about.

They're continuing to try to, you know.

I mean, 86 is percent is great, you know, on the animal live release plate, but they're trying to go to 90.

So we really appreciate them doing that.

So some upcoming projects and initiatives.

Um the park department is looking to assess their current programs and facilities to see where we've got some active and inclusive um park programs.

Um they want to expand to really be more welcoming to all of our residents in that area.

Um the flood risk community rating system continues.

Our public works group continues to enhance this and um maintain that insurance um discount that all of our residents can get because of what all the great things that they have done to reduce the flood risk.

In police, our human uh exploitation and trafficking or the heat team, that heat unit is continuing to work.

It's not something new this year, but they're continuing to work.

They'll be particularly uh important around some upcoming major events that we have to make sure that that that's an area of enforcement.

And then we have a lot of public safety camera replacements going on, both police and fire.

We're really pleased about that.

Um, and they're working hard to get those implemented.

So I'm happy to answer any questions if you all have them.

Anybody questions, counsel?

Yes, Dr.

Odom Wesley.

Thank you for this update.

I had a question on the scorecard.

Yes, ma'am.

Uh you talked about 10 minute walkability.

Would you elaborate on that a little bit?

Sure.

Um, and if someone from parks is uh knows more, they can certainly chime in.

But this is um uh the goal is to have everyone be able to be a 10 minutes walk away from a park.

And so public or or children or whoever could walk to a park easily from their home.

Um we we jumped, you may see here we had 61%, 71%, and we jumped to 71%, which was a really um important jump.

That was a um sort of a negotiation that um I think Trey might have inspired, and then James Orloski, our previous parks and recreation director, negotiated with AISD because we got to count because they they are in agreement that yes, if it's after hours, it's not during school, folks can use their parks, and that increased the numbers that we could really check on that.

The rest of this is not gonna be an easy win, though.

It's gonna require developing parks, acquiring land, all of that.

Um but yeah, the important the important, I think answer to your question is finding uh if if everyone in town could be 10 minute walking distance from a park, that's really what we're trying to achieve.

Yep.

Anyone else?

Thank you, Jennifer.

Thank you.

Appreciate you.

Let's go on down to discuss informal staff reports, uh 4.1 handy Tran update.

Anyone have any questions for Leisha on handy TRAN update?

Yes.

Um I'm just gonna let you know I received uh notice from a resident.

I've known for a long time regarding the rate increases, and it's too detailed of a deal for me to talk with you right here, right now.

But I'm going to be forwarding you those concerns to your city email.

And do you have any what is the timing on the implementation on the rate increases?

Sure.

Um, Alicia Winkle Black, Director of the Transportation.

So City Council has a public hearing on the proposed rate increases on January 6th.

Okay.

So we had a uh public comment period that was open for about a month per FTA guidelines that closed on December 12th.

Okay.

Um, and then depending on what council does on the 6th, um, if we do need to implement a new fare increase, we are gonna do that probably um like March or April.

I think we want to have plenty of time to make sure people understand that there's a change if that's what council decides to do.

Okay, the resident's name is Donna Corman.

Okay, all right, thank you.

Thank you.

Strog, yeah.

Thank you.

And Andrew and I got the same email, and I've had two others ask.

And and a lot of the question comes in handy tran, specifically on the handy tram piece.

Was there any consideration for a max like monthly fee?

So, you know, they're getting charge each one, and um most of the time these are medical things they're using for.

Was there any discussion?

You know, I think about like the subway system in New York, use it a certain time and they automatically cap you at a monthly fee on some of those things.

Was there any discussion over that of a monthly max?

Because I know we used to have a monthly fee for unlimited, um, but we're going away from that, correct?

Uh, correct.

The proposal is to move from so right now.

You can pay for individual rides, two dollars per person per ride, or you can pay $55 for a 30-day pass with unlimited so it does still give them unlimited.

That's what we have right now.

The proposal is to move away from the pass and go to a um credit or a bundle of credits tech system, um, where we would have a few different options.

Um, and the more credits you buy at once, the more of a discount you get.

Um, and then you could just use those over any time period.

And there's a few different reasons we want to do that.

Um, we feel like it will um smooth out some challenges we have with people understanding when their past renews and how much time is left on their pass, and just a lot of kind of um back and forth we have with residents.

We also um commonly have residents who maybe end up in the hospital for a couple weeks or they're on vacation and they bought a monthly pass and they feel like they're not getting the value of that pass because while they're unable to ride, their pass is still kind of ticking away, if you will.

Whereas if they had a bundle of rides, they're not doing it, they're not taking those rides, so they're not paying anything.

Um that's the proposal.

Um, and that's part of that public hearing for council in January.

Okay.

I I think those are reasonable.

You know, it's always those are some good reasons as to why to do the bundles versus uh a max.

You know, if we ever needed to, we could always put a cap max for those few superusers, right?

It's and it is, I think a handful of true superusers um that could possibly impact that.

But I think what we proposing works.

Any other questions for Lucia?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Let's go on down to talk about the committee meetings 4.2, Miss Boxel.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

C and D reviewed the city's multifamily inspections program as it relates to powers and duties.

The preservation the presentation included the following topics: what each department inspects, complaint process, type of inspections, training, rules of municipal prosecutors, and judges, and multifamily staffing in other cities.

The committee requested that staff bring back information to the committee on several topics.

When does a renovation trigger bringing the property up to current codes?

Breakdown on how multifamily officers use their time, information on self-certification programs in Dallas.

How much time do the officers spend on reactive inspections versus proactive inspections?

How we can use the carrot and stick approach when it comes to enforcement and the number of vacant buildings and fire inspector positions.

That concludes my report.

Any questions for Ms.

Boxel or comments from council?

Thank you, Miss Boxel.

Mr.

Buskin, any appointments to boards or commissions this evening?

Yes, sir.

We have 21 appointments this evening.

Thank you, sir.

Move on down to our external committee and training reports.

Mr.

Gonzalez, RTC and Regional Transportation Council Transit Vision Subcommittee.

Thank you, Mayor.

We met on Thursday, December 11th.

The RTC approves several items, including submission of two projects to the National Railroad Partnership Program to advance inner city passenger rail.

And then uh they also approve we also approved the 2027 management operations air quality program to support a variety of transportation services and activities in the region.

Um RTC also um receive informational updates on several topics, including the process of awarding the next round of transportation development credits, which can be used in lieu of local funds as a match for federal grants.

We also had a report on transportation projects that are behind schedule.

Uh we also had a report on public transportation authority safety and crime data.

Um and then we had a uh update on a proposal for regional electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft pilot program, and then we had another update on Cog's disadvantaged business enterprise program.

Um at the end of the meeting, Michael Morris, the director of transportation of COG announced his secession plan and the plan to transition out of his role as director.

He anticipates serving as a director uh emeritus status once the new directors hired to ensure continuate continuity continuity of all work.

Uh RTC members discussed the process for hiring a new director.

Many, with many stressing the need for RTC involvement in the search.

Uh Cog's director Todd Little also spoke to the RTC about the matter.

Now, throughout the legacy and importance of Michael's work on transportation for the region were highlighted.

Additionally, uh yeah, that was it.

The next meeting is scheduled for uh January 8th.

You made that RTC meeting sound like it was fun.

Oh, I know.

I didn't I didn't I was trying to keep it I was gonna let you do it.

Um just to update counsel, uh myself and uh I think the vast majority, if not all, of RTC expressed tremendous concern to the executive director of COG regarding um this succession plan and retirement of Michael Morris.

Um it was pretty direct and candid discussion.

Uh I have a subsequent meeting that is set up for next week with the executive director of COG to talk about this stuff in further detail.

Um the excuse was made that it's just a succession plan, and I asked them if others were gonna have to do the succession plan, and they said yes.

Every department head, all nine of them are doing succession plans.

So I asked, are you firing all nine department heads?

Are you gonna ask for their early retirement as well?

And he said no, that it was just Mr.

Morris.

Um we expressed concern about the election process of how to go about and search and find someone to replace him, giving his four and a half decades of service and institutional knowledge and how that is supposed to be done.

Um I'll be candid.

I don't like how all of this was done.

I think it was um a good old boy type of thing, and um uh I I struggle with the protocols of how these decisions have come about.

I understand he's an executive director and gets the ability to do what he wants, but I question um the decision making process when you step in in a matter of a few months and you have no real transportation experience.

And you terminate a guy who has arguably more experience than anybody in the country.

Um so we're not done.

Uh RTC was insistent about having an independent committee as a part of the search engine for finding a new director of transportation, one that doesn't have dual roles because there are some members of RTC who serve with Mr.

Hogg on the executive board of Cog.

And we don't want the dual role individuals playing a role in the search of that because we want to make sure that we focus solely on what's important to RTC.

And I guess it's you'll have to understand the relationship between RTC Cog and TechSot.

There is an MPO planning agreement that is signed by those three entities.

And in the MPO planning agreement, Cog holds the purse strings.

They control the money, but RTC is the policy making authority.

Um RTs for transportation, thank you.

RTC is the policy making authority for the transportation that goes to Cog, who loosens up the purse strings to X execute what is being done on the various tech stop properties.

So when RTC wasn't consulted in any way, shape, or form, and we were finding out about this through people who weren't a part of RTC or Cog, it caused a lot of problems.

So there's shakeup that's going on, and I'm one of the many who are very concerned about how it's being done.

Mr.

Peel.

You know, I expressed at a prior meeting some concerns about the future of high speed rail uh given which would benefit Arlington, I think, given, you know, that our new executive director at Cog comes from Ellis County, where a lot of people really want it to die.

Was that issue ever taken on our attacked head on any of the discussions at the meeting?

Well it it certainly was discussed, and I intend on discussing it more because I don't know how much Mr.

Hogg can discuss because he can't get into executive session discussions.

But I know that there was a handful of individuals who were involved in the selection process of Mr.

Little.

Those include Chris Hill, Collin County Judge, Tim O'Hare, the Tarrant County judge, and Kara Middlesen from Dallas.

None of whom are fans of the high speed rail.

And in this national search, Todd Little from Ellis County was picked to be Eastland's replacement on this.

So you can read into that what you'd like.

But none of the people choosing the new executive director are necessarily fans of high speed rail.

Now, to his credit, Todd Little did say we fully intend on continuing with the high speed rail project.

And Mr.

Peale, I've had the same concern.

We brought it up to Mr.

Little and in an open board meeting, we've asked Mr.

Little that, and he says he believes the planning should still be going through that.

And he was supposed to go to RTC and give that, I think not this last meeting, the one before, um, because we sent something back to RTC from the executive board for the high speed rail planning.

So I don't know if that occurred.

Yeah, and and that's interesting because if if the board instructed him to go do it, he never came to RTC to do it.

So I don't know exactly about the protocol.

So yeah, I mean, you can write into it what you want with all of that, but how it played out, I I really have issues with and how, and it these discussions I have learned with Mr.

Morris happened early on with Todd Little's appointment or acceptance as the executive director.

This isn't something that just came about.

This is something that's been in the works early on, and one of the things was well, I have to work on our comprehensive plan that you know, looking at 20 to 30 years out.

Well, they haven't even started their comprehensive planning yet.

So they don't know what that plan is looking like and how Michael Morris or anybody else for that matter can fit into it.

So without having a comprehensive plan, I think what you're looking at is finding someone that's more conducive to what's currently happening in that environment.

And um, I don't know.

I I'm hoping I can get some greater insight into what's going on when I have a lunch meeting with Mr.

Little next week.

And uh, you know, because God knows I I'll be a little bit candid, like I was in the RTC meeting.

Mr.

Grenz, it's your report.

You don't have to I mean you can tell the rest of the three.

I don't like interrupting.

I'm just that's how I am.

I like to follow rules, so I guess I don't know the rules.

Um I just want to pig back on the mayor's comments.

I mean, it wasn't the mayor, it was uh it was the entire room.

They had questions and they were glad the questions that were being asked, and uh Mr.

Little waited till everybody had their concerns and then he addressed it.

So but this is not he says him, but it was many, many RTC members include the.

Yeah, and some of the members, I mean I'm we can't some of the members even talked about legal representation for RTC against Cog because they had that type of concern of what we were what was going on with this.

And um uh it's it certainly sad.

On a lighter note, Michael Morris handled everything like a champ, of course.

He was elegant and graceful and appreciative.

And you know, he he could not have been better on how he dealt with this.

And you could tell that this was all about what's best for the 12 counties that are represented.

And uh but as it stands right now, I feel like this has been handled wrong and is continuously to being handled wrong.

So any other questions or comments.

Boy, that was fun, wasn't it?

I set you up.

Yes, you did.

Thank you.

All right.

Uh did you cover both of them?

I don't remember now.

Uh before the RTC meeting, we had a transit vision subcommittee that met on that same day, December 11th.

Uh we talked about transit funding in DFW.

Uh, they talked about the distribution of funds is as close to possible to federal requirements to the way they should be distributed.

Uh population and healthy conversation regarding who designated recipients versus direct recipients.

Arlington is a direct recipient.

Uh they talked about hoping to have direct recipients to evaporate.

So hopefully, Ann and at least I understand what that means.

Uh RTC briefing.

Um we're gonna give an RTC briefing in January, or to we're gonna give a briefing to the RTC uh to talk about all the things that we've discussed.

We've talked about vision committee uh discussion topics.

The subcommittee is working on future uh institutional structure for transit, not the current DART issue, uh existing transit in the region, part of priorities and defining success.

Uh we finished our vision statement, uh data analysis and mapping, uh, regional transit boundaries, service levels, transit funding and DFW policy bundles, and transit impact.

Uh, we did set July as a month we want to finish our work.

Uh with that in mind, with all the things we still have to do, we've changed the meeting length from one hour to one and a half hours.

Our next meeting is in person for January 8th uh before the next RTC meeting.

That's all I have, Mayor.

Any questions for Mr.

Gonzalez?

Thanks, sir.

We had an executive board meeting uh with the U.S.

Conference of Mayors.

We discussed the upcoming winter conference being done in Washington, DC.

Um at the end of January.

Uh generally speaking, uh the January meetings are ones where the president or the vice president or at least a number of the cabinet will come and speak uh to the conference.

Um this administration uh has so far refused to allow any cabinet members, the president or vice president to speak at the conference.

So we won't have any of that generally speaking.

Uh there'll be uh 200 or so mayors that are invited to the White House to go and uh have a meeting with the president uh and listen to the president, but that will not be happening.

Um housing continues to be the primary issue that municipalities seem to be struggling with throughout the country.

Uh so we talked about some of the things as an executive board on what we're gonna be doing and presenting at the winter conference to uh help address the housing issues and informors of what programs are necessary and available and things such as that.

Any questions?

Mr.

Gonzalez, you get the last one.

Yeah, uh I stepped in for the mayor for to the emergency preparedness planning council.

That was really interesting.

Uh it's about all the security around DFW with regards to um FIFA and everyday life.

Uh they approved funding for the state homeland security program projects.

Uh they gave us a list of that.

Uh they approved statewide emergency radar infrastructure supports uh to improve and sustain inoperable emergency radio infrastructure.

Uh they also approved the threat and hazard and identification risk assessment.

Uh they approved the 2026 EP emergency preparedness planning council meeting dates.

Uh they gave an update on grants awaiting wards since the government shut down, not much has happened.

And then very proud to say that Irish Hancock, our very own, um, I gave a Metro X full scale pub public safety exercise uh presentation that occurred October 25th through the 29th.

Uh they coordinated it with different municipalities and they had different large-scale regional events uh to be prepared for any incoming um exercise that they needed to do for upcoming events.

So he did a great job and very proud to see him up there in his uniform.

That's all I have, Mayor.

Thank you, sir.

Any questions from Mr.

Gonzalez?

Mr.

Buskin, uh never mind.

I don't need you.

Uh anybody have anything on evening agenda items.

Yeah.

Mr.

Hogg.

Sorry, I got to turn my mic on.

On the dedicating of the marker at a landmark for landmark preservation committee.

What does that then limit that property um from doing or what?

You know, we now have 55.

I think this one's worthy.

It's a it's a good house and pretty good story.

But what does that then limit us on uh renovations to that property or potential?

You know, it's in a residential, so I think that one will remain a residential property, but just for the future of that knowledge.

Sure.

Lindsay Mitchell, director of strategic initiatives.

The local marker program does not limit the property owner in any way.

It is simply a recognition of the local history of the site.

So no regulations.

Well, that was a simple answer.

Thank you, Lindsay.

Thanks, Ms.

Mitchell.

Anyone else on the evening evening agenda items?

I don't want to give you any credit, but that was pretty good question that I hadn't thought about.

That was all right.

I think a lot of us didn't know that as the answer.

So I I definitely didn't.

In hindsight, the smarter ones around here did, but Mr.

Gonzalez and I didn't.

I can I'll make you a wager Miss Boxell knew it.

Uh anything else, evening agenda items.

Okay.

Text out of related properties or related items.

All right.

Future agenda items.

Ms.

Boxel.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh, I would like to revisit the um our recycling uh program and multifamily properties, city facilities, and businesses.

Um I recently got an inquiry about that.

People are are interested in it for those that are veterans of the two-year trust talks.

I apologize, but uh it's something that I think we should revisit on multifamily properties in particular.

Thank you.

Okay, Mr.

Pham.

Well, um, I was like to bring up the uh track to trailer and box truck part on City Street.

I know back when uh deputy chief Rodriguez went uh in charge of the South Side.

He's pretty good and very proactive to have an officer come out and get the vehicle move, and if you get caught the second, third time you get a citation.

Then one time we have a tow truck, keep parking it, and he have beer towing towed a tow truck.

And uh that was awesome.

So we need to have something in place.

Uh I know that we like to give them the first warning.

I'm I'm fine with that, but we have a lot of repeat offender, and I see that happen all the time.

And I see them on district three, district two.

I see some of the district one.

Occasionally I see them on district four and five because I travel a lot around the city.

And uh I think the uh uh EPO police department can take a look at our policy and give us uh step study, see what we can do.

You know, do we provide give more citation?

I think the citation is not very expensive, but you keep every hour we come by, give another one, and eventually they get enough that fine, they're gonna stop it.

So uh that's something I need to have uh step do some studying that one.

I think Mr.

Elverton may have an issue with having personnel every hour go by.

That's uh that's a whole lot of man hours to go by and try to do citations on that.

But we'll be happy to put it on there and let someone come in and tell us what's going on with those trucks and what we can do, Mr.

Gonzalez.

Yes, we had a speaker last week at the city council meeting, and uh Jennifer met with this lady in uh this email regarding uh sort of what he said, but it's a little different.

It's regarding businesses or homes with cars in their driveway with signs that they have a business and uh she doesn't she's against it.

So uh, you know, I I think I I would like to have um staff look in that, see regarding the possible legal pathways and practicality of enforcement of this option.

I mean, we merge your two requests together and just say let's look at illegal parking period in the city and see what our policies are or discuss those in nature and and uh see if there's any adjustments that need to be made.

You might have to get with uh co-complant involved, and Mr.

Gus Gasia can give you an update on I'll I'll defer to our fine city managers to identify what departments need to be involved to submit that staff report.

And this one's different because this is parked in your driveway.

He's talking about in the street.

This is in your driveway, your house, it's your car.

I get it.

And you gotta sign something.

Whether they're abandoned vehicles, whatever.

If it's vehicles doing non-good things, let's let's see if we can figure it out.

Non-good is a new term I'm I'm using, so y'all don't make fun.

Any other questions?

Anything else on future agenda items.

With that, we're gonna go ahead and adjourn the afternoon session, and we'll see everybody downstairs this evening at 630.

He always talked his whole life about uh what Arlington did, and he was just a steward of the time.

For him to come in and literally take that team from Washington and move them, you know, to what Shirley Povich, who was a famed sports writer at the time said, you know, it's a town uh with the stature of an anthill.

Um it was it was big.

It was really big, and he uh lost so many times.

I mean, it was year after year in constant rejection.

He never stopped.

I mean, never stopped.

That took a few years, but we finally get a home run.