Okay.

Let's go ahead and call the afternoon session to order.

I came straight from the airport here, right?

I was like, don't pick me up, or I'm calling you.

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

It is three oh two PM.

And the afternoon session is now back to order.

Three point one, Chief.

We're all yours.

Thank you, Mayor.

Good afternoon, Council.

Uh Mayor Council.

I'm Al Jones, I'm the chief of police.

Uh, today we're uh presenting the annual racial profiling analysis report, uh, which we are required to uh present to our governing body every year.

Uh for the last several years we have contracted with uh Del Carmen consulting LOC conduct our analysis.

Uh Dr.

Del Carmen is a national recognized expert in the field of racial profiling.

Unfortunately, he can't be here with us in person.

Uh however, he is joining us on Teams and uh he's snowed in in New England.

Uh so again, thank you, Dr.

Del Common, for uh joining us.

Uh, as we all, as you all aware, uh, one of the primary causes to mistrust within uh communities is either the actual perceived incidence of racial profiling.

Uh, this is sometime uh it takes uh we you know, we really take this very serious, and we're committed to transparency and countability for our practices.

Uh this report shows that our officers are effectively managing their responsibility while maintaining a positive interaction.

Uh I'll now turn the presentation over to Assistant Chief Leland Striction, who uh oversees the uniform officer who conduct traffic stops throughout the city.

So thanks.

Thanks, Chief.

Thank you, Chief.

Good afternoon, Mr.

Mayor, members of the city council, Leland Strickland Assistant Chief over our department's patrol bureau.

Today it is my honor to present you with the Arlington Police Department twenty twenty-five racial profiling report and analysis.

At your places, you will find a hard copy of the report.

Members of our community may also obtain a copy of the report, both on the City of Arlington City Council website as well as the Arlington Police Department website.

During today's presentation, I will briefly discuss the statutory framework that prohibits the act of racial profiling as well as the Arlington Police Department policy that provides clear guidance and directly mirrors state law on this topic.

We will define racial profiling and contrast it to the legitimate practice of criminal profiling.

Explain the standardized approach that is employed by Arlington Police Department officers on all traffic stops and why that standardization is important.

Explain how the department seeks feedback from our community on every stop, discuss the kind of data that the department collects and analyzes.

And then finally, I will discuss highlights from the 2025 analysis.

As the chief said, the report was created by Dr.

Alex Del Carmen.

Dr.

Del Carmen is a nationally recognized leading expert on racial profiling and police reform.

He has specifically served as the independent auditor for our racial profiling data for over a decade.

We are honored to help to have a man of Dr.

Del Carmen's caliber and credibility to help our department as we maintain accountability on this topic.

As the chief already said, due to the magnitude of the recent winter storm in the New England area, Dr.

Dill Carmen is joining us by remote connection today because he's frankly he's just snowed in.

So he's a he's online and he'll be available for comment as we go through this presentation.

The Texas Racial Profiling Law was established in 2001 when Senate Bill 1074 amended the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.

It strictly prohibited law enforcement from engaging in racial profiling, defining it as a law enforcement initiated action that is based on race or ethnicity rather than on behavior or specific suspect information.

It required law enforcement agencies to collect specific information on all traffic stops and report that to the state annually.

And finally, it required that law enforcement agencies submit a racial profiling analysis to its governing body each year, which is the purpose for this presentation.

It is important to note that while the state requirements were effective in 2001, the Arlington Police Department began collecting traffic stop data and fully was fully compliant with all tenants of the Texas racial profiling law beginning in 1998.

That is a full three years in advance of the state mandate.

This note highlights the department's forward-leaning posture on this topic, and that we have been on the leading edge of data collection, analysis, and public transparency on racial profiling for almost 30 years.

APD collects demographic and incident specific data on all traffic stops, not most of them, all of them.

And we do that for each and every stop that we make.

Race, gender, and individual of the individual that was stopped is the first thing that we collect.

In addition to that, we did we determine whether or not the driver was a resident of our city or a visitor, whether or not the officer had any prior knowledge of the driver's race before the stop, the reason for the stop.

Was it a hazardous violation?

Was it a non-hazardous violation, or was it an investigation?

What was the outcome?

I apologize that the slides are running slow.

Let me back it up.

There we go.

What was the outcome of the stop?

Was there a verbal warning given?

A citation given, or was there an arrest made or was the driver just released?

Was there a search conducted?

And if so, what, if anything was found?

Was force used during the stop, or was the vehicle towed?

The department's independent consultant conducts analysis of this data and provides the department with a quarterly audit for our review.

The patrol officers under me conduct random body worn camera and dash cam video audits of each officer that is subordinate to them every month, so we can ensure that the officers are in compliance with department policy and state law on this matter.

So, what exactly is racial profiling and how does it contrast to the valid technique of criminal profiling?

Racial profiling is designed is defined in state law and in Arlington Police Department policy as a law enforcement initiated action based on an individual's race, ethnicity, national origin, gender identity, religion, economic status, age, cultural group, or other identifiable characteristic rather than on an individual's behavior or information identifying the individual as having engaged in criminal activity.

It is expressly prohibited by state law and by APD policy.

Quite candidly, racial profiling is discriminatory, unconstitutional, and patently antithetical to the core principles of our department as we strive to provide public safety through the fostering of relationships that build trust with our community and enhance our agency's legitimacy in the eyes of our population.

In contrast, criminal profiling is a legitimate law enforcement tool that relies on evidence, eyewitness testimony, and investigative analysis to identify suspects based upon factual data and behavior patterns.

It is legal and ethical in its design and it is transparent in its use.

APD officers are trained to conduct traffic stops in a very structured format.

From the initial contact through the entirety of the encounter, each step is designed to de-escalate tension and foster trust between the officer and the individual that has been detained.

This standardization helps to ensure professional consistency and maintains clarity of communication between the officer and the driver during each and every encounter.

For sure, every driver that is contacted on a traffic stop in Arlington will leave that encounter with two things in writing.

One, the name, badge number, and agency of the officer that stopped them, and two, the contact information for the Arlington Police Department, that be it be the phone or the email or the physical address.

All that information is provided in writing and in multiple languages.

During 2025, we received citizen feedback on approximately 1% of our traffic stops.

As in previous years, the vast majority of that feedback was related to general questions about what the encounter and what certain aspects of the encounter or to provide positive remarks about the officers' interaction, compliments, or commendations.

Of the over 103,000 traffic stops that were conducted last year, only 11 allegations of racial profiling were received, all of which were fully investigated by the department's investigative body, the internal affairs section, including full review of all available video, whether that be dash cam, body cam, or cell phone video.

All were ultimately unsustained.

So before we get into the details of the racial profiling data, I just want to take a second and look at the total traffic stops in 2025 and compare those to the previous four years.

During the COVID pandemic of 2020, we saw a dramatic drop in traffic enforcement, not just in Arlington, but across the nation.

Like the rest of the country, APD's resumption of pre-COVID traffic enforcement numbers did not immediately return after the pandemic subsided.

In 2024, this council challenged the department to increase its emphasis on roadway safety as a key component of our public safety mission.

Greater enforcement was expected, and we heard you.

The department responded in 2025 to meet those expectations.

Last year, traffic stops increased 24% as compared to 2024.

That is over 20,000 additional traffic stops.

As a consequence, it resulted in a 14% decrease in fatality crashes in Arlington in 2025 as compared to 2024.

When you compare 2025's traffic stops to the first post-COVID year, let's say of 2021, we saw an impressive 72% increase in traffic stops.

That is almost 45,000 additional traffic stops last year, and a almost 40% reduction in fatality crashes when compared to 2021.

Our department's equitable and ethical approach to standard to traffic enforcement has increased the safety of our roadways, and it has done so without eroding the trust of our community.

This slide depicts the overall traffic stop numbers for 2025 delineated by race.

Of note, officers reported that the race of the driver was unknown prior to the traffic stop in 98% of the incidents.

Another way to say this is of the over 103,000 traffic stops conducted last year, the officer had prior knowledge of the driver's race and about 2,000 of those stops.

These data represent all traffic stops on every roadway type from our busiest interstate highways to our smallest residential streets.

Because this important data point is driven solely by officer input.

I want to take a quick comparison and look at these citywide ratios and compare those to a very unique roadway in the city of Arlington.

This slide takes a look at focuses only on traffic stops that took place last year on the I-20 corridor, and it compares it to the aggregate citywide data.

Why I-20?

Well, it's a 10-lane divided highway, a major artery through our city, our region, and our country.

The volume of traffic on this roadway is one of the highest in our city.

Certainly the post and speed limit on I-20 is the highest anywhere in our city, and that is assuming that those going down the highway are going the posted speed limit.

Most violations or sorry, most enforcement that takes place on I-20 is for the violation of speeding.

Certainly those that are being stopped for speeding are going higher than the posted 70 mile an hour speed limit.

And the drivers on this roadway are more likely to emanate not just from Arlington, but from all over the region and from throughout the country.

So the speed, the volume, and the dynamics of road of this roadway make it abundantly reasonable to understand that the race of the driver could not be determined before the traffic stop took place.

And therefore, I feel it serves as a good control group for comparison to the citywide data.

As you see, the ratios of traffic stops delineated by race on I-20 directly mirror those of the citywide data, which supports that race of the driver was unknown to the officer in 98% of the traffic stops in 2025.

On the following three slides, we will look at traffic stop outcomes supported by or sorted by race.

The outcomes we will review include verbal warnings, citations, and arrests.

This chart contains the verbal warning data.

The left side of the chart depicts the information we've already covered.

All traffic stops in 2025 delineated by race.

The right side of the chart contains the ratio of verbal warnings given, also delineated by race.

In summary, when an individual is stopped for a traffic violation in Arlington, they will receive a verbal warning, approximately 50%, 56% of the time on average, regardless of their race.

A review of the data shows that all racial groups are within a few percentage points of this overall average indicating an equitable distribution.

The next chart contains the citation data.

As before, the left side is the overall data for all traffic stops delineated by race.

The right side contains just those for citations also delineated by race.

In summary, when an individual is stopped for a traffic violation in Arlington, they will receive at least one citation 42% of the time, regardless of their race.

A review of the data shows that all racial groups are within a few percentage points, thereby indicating that equitable distribution of that outcome, traffic stop outcome.

Now this slide depicts the ratio of arrests that resulted from traffic stops in 2025.

Arrests occur relatively infrequently when observed in the aggregate of all traffic stops that are conducted.

In 2025, actually, only 3% of all traffic stops ultimately resulted in an arrest.

A review of the data shows that all racial groups are within a few percentage points of the overall average, indicate an equal equitable distribution.

Now arrests that emanate from a traffic stop can be categorized into three groups.

In 2025, 12% of the arrests were for some traffic violation of the driver that the driver committed.

35% of the arrests were for outstanding arrest warrants.

The driver was identified during the course of the stop, found to have an arrest warrant for some violation during the course of that stop and was arrested for that warrant.

53% of the arrests were made for some violation of the Texas Penal Code or other code in the Texas law.

Most of those arrests were for something that the officer observed during the course of the stop, often during the course during uh the course of a vehicle search.

So no analysis of these arrests uh would be complete if we did not also assess the data on vehicle searches in alignment with the arrest outcome.

Vehicle searches during the course of a traffic stop may occur a number of ways.

One, voluntary consent.

The driver gives the officer consent, but thereby allowing them to search the vehicle.

APD policy emphatically requires that all persons consenting to a search be notified in writing of their constitutional rights on this matter, and that they knowingly relinquish those rights in writing before the search consent can be actionable.

Two, incident to a lawful arrest.

The driver is arrested for some violation.

Example, outstanding arrest warrants, and the vehicle is searched subsequent to the driver's arrest.

Or three, a search based upon probable cause of a crime.

So probable cause is a standard of proof that is greater than just mere suspicion and greater than even reasonable suspicion.

Probable cause requires greater, stronger evidence than either of those.

It is established based upon objective objective and articulable facts.

These can't just be a hunch, but observable facts that would lead a reasonable person to believe that a crime is in process or has been committed based upon the totality of circumstances present.

So in 2025, vehicle searches were conducted in approximately 3.4% of all traffic stops.

The ratio in which contraband was found as a result of the search was 49% on average, and that's regardless of race.

That ratio of 49% is maintained across all the racial groups.

The rate at which arrests were discovered.

I'm sorry, what the rate at which arrests were made based upon the discovered contraband is 83%, regardless of race or ethnicity.

That ratio is within a few percentage points across all major racial groups.

Both of these ratios show strong indication that the vehicle searches conducted in 2025 were done so in a lawful manner and based upon ethical best practices.

So in summation, the 2025 racial profiling report indicates that the Arlington Police Department remains committed to constitutional policing practices, equitable treatment of all individuals, and federal requirements pertaining to racial profiling prevention and reporting.

With that, I thank you for your time and I will answer any questions that you may have.

Any questions from counsel?

Chief Trick.

Tell me how it is that you're able to track the verbal warning that is given to people who've been stopped in traffic.

Is there a mechanism?

I remember back in 1804 when I was riding around patrol cars, we didn't have a way to track the verbal warnings.

How do they do that now?

It's a great question, Mr.

Mayor.

So nowadays we have computers out on patrol, and so when we are when an officer is on a traffic stop call, the computer is tracking what's going on.

And for the officer to be able to clear the traffic stop or to relinquish and go back in service, they have to clear the stop with a number of identifiers before they can successfully get out of that stop.

So one of those identifiers is about the about what was the outcome?

Was a citation issued?

Was a warning, verbal warning given, uh, or that sort of thing.

So that is how we track that on every traffic stop.

You can't clear the traffic stop without making some uh remark in that regard.

Okay.

Thank you.

Yes, sir.

Councilmember Hogg.

Thanks, Mayor, and and thanks, Chief, and thanks uh thanks, Mr.

Del Carmen, Dr.

Del Carmen for this.

Um, you'd mentioned earlier on beet sergeants or are doing audits on those things.

Is there a way for individuals if they think they've been racially profiled to submit that for y'all, and then do y'all go through and review that?

I I just and I may have missed it, but I didn't think I heard that.

Yes, that's a great question, sir, and yes, we do.

So um, whenever a person is stopped on traffic in Arlington, they like I said, they're gonna leave that encounter with three ways to contact the Arlington Police Department.

And the purpose of that is to allow them to do whatever they want, ask just general questions, commend the officer, or to file a complaint, whether it be a complaint about racial profiling or some other matter, that is how they do it.

And so when we get those complaints, specifically racial profiling complaints, those do not go to the line sergeants for investigation, those are all exclusively handled by the internal affairs section, which is our our uh investigative body for the department.

And as I was looking through this book, how how many of those self-report I guess it's not self-reported, but um citizen reported complaints do we get a year?

Very few.

So uh in in 2025, we received 11 racial profiling complaints out of 103,000 and some odd traffic stops.

Perfect.

Thank you, Chief.

Any other questions from counsel?

Go ahead, council member go on.

Thank you.

Thank you for the representation.

I would like to commend you guys for being so careful of um in being fair uh and go about your job every single day.

The numbers are impressive.

So we see here 70 uh something percent increasing traffic stops.

It's not a small thing compared to 2021, and then uh 31 percent increase it 25 to uh 24 to 25.

Yes.

So CD was doing 60,000 traffic stops, now he's doing over a hundred, right?

Yes, sir.

And the numbers are so small when you when you have this racial profiling incidents, right?

So you said 11, it's almost minimal.

Uh I have some uh residents questioning when they saw this presentation online that uh you still uh when you see the the the number of uh the number of traffic stops and verbal warnings given, and you see the citations given, they're pretty much even across the uh across every uh race presented here, right?

Uh that that speaks that you guys are really uh consistent if regardless who is being stopped, you're consistent on procedures.

That's amazing.

But it's still the black community still has twice as many.

That was a question that sent it to me.

Uh and it's fair enough for us.

Is this the nature that they have uh warrants on them?

Uh can you elaborate on that?

Thank you.

Yes, sir, it's a great question, and I appreciate you asking it.

So uh when we look at um the number of arrests, particularly of of of uh black members of our community that are driving these vehicles.

I think we have to really look at and say, are these arrests based upon some bias of the officer or are they based upon sound uh law enforcement techniques?

And to do that, I really think we have to look at the rate at which contraband is found during a vehicle search, regardless of race, and then the uh outcome of those searches that lead to an arrest.

So when you look at the at the searches that are conducted in the outcome, about 50 percent of the time, give or take a few percentages, contraband is going to be found.

It doesn't matter what race you are.

It would be my assertion that if these searches were based upon bias, those ratios would not be the same regardless of race.

The same applies to the arrests that emanate from searches.

When you see that the arrest data indicates that, well, I think it was 80 something percent of the time, arrest is going to be yielded from that search.

It does not matter what race it is.

I would think that if bias played into the search and the subsequent arrest, those ratios would not be the same regardless of race.

Chief, if I may add um to what you said just now, Chief Strickland.

Yes, sir.

Um so I think it's really, really important that everyone uh understands that the contraband hit rate, what Chief just explained, it is the golden standard that is used by many of us, and also by federal courts as it relates to racial profiling assessments.

And what that means is that when you look at the amount of contraband or the percentage of contraband that is found on individuals that are stopped through traffic stops, the assertion is that if contraband is found, it is in fact a legitimate law enforcement stop and search.

And going back to the numbers on page 22 of my report, you will see on there that the contraband hit rate for African Americans, as Chief noted, is almost 50%, 49%.

And what that means is that the national average for contraband hit rate, what we expect for police officers to produce is 30% across the board.

That means that the Arlington Police Department is exceeding the national standard as it relates to the contraband found in all races, but particularly among those that it seems to stop more frequently based on suspicious activity.

And I want to also note uh, first of all, uh offer my apologies for not being there.

I wish I could be in the warmth of Texas right now, but I am facing uh two and a half feet, three feet of snow.

And then secondly, I want to commend the chief, uh, Chief Jones, who has been through his leadership, is that the Arlington Police Department continues to serve as a model that I often cite for other police departments in the state of Texas.

So congratulations, Chief, and to you, council members for having such an outstanding police department.

Thank you, Dr.

Del Carmen.

Uh Dr.

Odom Wesley.

Thank you, Chief, and thank you, Dr.

Del Carmen.

Get close so you can hear me.

I appreciate the data and uh I appreciate the effort that I see from the Arlington police department and real happy to see the increase in traffic stops, resulting in a decrease in fatality crashes.

That's all good news.

But it has been brought to my attention.

If you look at the numbers, there's a higher number of African Americans being stopped, even though you said 50% of the cases, it results in discovery of contraband.

But just look at uh, let's see, result of stops with the citations.

Uh blacks, we got almost 38,000, whereas white whites are only 24,000.

And Hispanics are like 33,000.

And that doesn't correlate with the percentages of those racial groups in our city.

How do we explain that?

Ma'am, are you referring to the census data?

Um, yeah, I'm looking at result of stops, citations 2025.

So I I would I would my answer to that is this.

The the individuals that are driving through our city on a daily basis, from which our officers are interacting with that pool on daily basis, are not comprised of just Arlington residents or Texas residents.

I used I-20 as a great example, I thought, of a of a mixed population that could emanate from anywhere in the country.

And uh I wanted to pick that roadway because I wanted to really highlight the fact that the dynamics of that roadway make it so improbable that the officer could possibly know the race of the driver prior to the stop.

And then compare that to the citywide data to see does it match up?

And I was um not surprised, but I was pleased that it does.

You know, almost directly mirrors the citywide compared to just the I-20 corridor in 2025.

Okay, Dr.

Del Carman, did you want to add to that?

No, just to concur uh with what the assistant chief said.

I I uh I do believe that in Arlington, and I'm intimately acquainted with the Arlington data for I've now been on and off studying it for over 25 years.

And I've oftentimes cited it as an example of what happens with the rest of the state, which is that even there are cities in the metroplex that the slight majority of their contacts are non-residents.

And so when we look at the the baseline, which to compare it to those motor vehicle stops, the data is just simply we don't have an accurate baseline which to compare it.

So it would be it's not of concern to me that a larger number of minority uh drivers are being stopped when compared to the actual census data.

What would be concerning to me would be that the contraband hit rate on the minority drivers would not necessarily match the number of stops, meaning that they would make contact with minority drivers, but yet the contraband outcome would be simply negative.

Because then what that shows us in terms of data is that there is bias on behalf of police officers that are stopping individuals and searching them for no probable cost reason.

However, in the case of Arlington, it's pretty clear that almost half of motor vehicle contacts with African Americans that result in searches, contraband is found.

So in the world of civil rights, in the world of data analysis, we interpret that to be meaningful police work.

And just for a point of information, do we know the racial demographics of our police force?

We absolutely do.

We track that closely.

I did not come prepared to share that information with you today.

I mean, we strive, and Chief you might want to answer this, but we strive on every time to hire academy classes that directly mirror the demographics of our community.

I'll I'll yield to the chief on that.

So we are a little bit behind on the demographics.

We're about about 24% African American uh within the police department.

And what about the other racial groups?

Um I think there's the breakdown of white.

I think that's about 48 to 51%, something around here.

Um, so there is uh so it really is not a true reflection of our community.

But I I can tell you um each and every class that we put in, we strive to make sure that we are moving towards that direction so that we can have a balanced police force.

Thank you.

Sure.

Councilmember Glatte.

Uh thank you, Chief.

Uh, just want to follow up on what you ask us.

I just saw the census here for the citywide profile, racial profile.

22% is a black, 32% Easpanic, 34% white.

So police has 24.

Actually, police has a higher rate of black uh members than the the citywide racial profile.

So just following up on my my last question, uh thank you for uh looking at the number of arrests with contraband and hit rate, 50%, 83%.

That's across the the the all the groups.

Uh still the um I'm I'm relaying a question for our residents, right?

Um the the Latinos have uh 33,000 uh traffic stops in the black community 37,000.

It's almost pretty much the same.

32, 36 percent.

But when you see the number of searches is twice as much on the black, on the black stops, uh traffic stops than the Latino and Hispanic.

So the searches, as we see, probable calls or voluntary consent.

So what is the reason why the searches are twice as much on the the black drivers uh stops?

Well, there could be a number of reasons.

Um if if I'm pulling someone over, and again, I think it's important to realize or to understand 98% of our traffic stops in the city, we do not know the race of the person that we're stopping.

Now, once we make contact, uh, is there drugs in the car or do we smell drugs in the car?

Does the person have a warrant?

All those other factors play a part in us conducting searches.

Okay.

So without those factors, I think it would all equal out.

But if we pull someone over and they do have a warrant, we're gonna search because we're gonna lock them up, unfortunately.

So I I think we have to look at the totality of the host traffic stop and not just one piece of it.

I think it's all of it has to go together.

Thank you, Chief.

And what you're saying is this uh you don't know what you're gonna get until you get it.

We don't know what we're getting.

And and I think with the analysis of the I-20, I think that's perfect.

Sure.

Because uh those men and women that drive in through our city, and and and again, they're coming from all around the region and even across the country.

It's a multi-city traffic table.

And and if we have the same rate that we do have in the city, our people are doing what they're supposed to do.

And I'm just so proud of the work that they're doing.

Especially if you think about this too.

We have over 103,000 traffic stops last year, and only 11 people made complaints.

That that's really that's awesome.

Yeah, I just want to uh commend you again, Chief, for the reflect of those traffic stops.

I am really convinced that those 24 uh 20 uh fatalities less in uh 24 uh 24 compared to 21 in five less photologies.

That's 25 lives uh saved uh every year.

I I'm a true believer that traffic stops play a major role in that, and we are on track of implementing the safe streets plans uh because of your help and because of our efforts.

I will like to commend you in public.

Thank you so much for what you do for the city.

Thank you.

Appreciate your support.

Any other questions or comments from council, Councilmember Gonzalez?

Uh thank you, Mayor.

Thank you all.

Thank you, uh Mr.

Del Calmra.

I I've always go, I always love this.

And you know, every time I think I say the same thing as you know, when you see African Americans and African and Hispanics, Latinos get arrested, you know.

Uh those two groups tend to do more unlawful things than others, and it's just plain and simple.

And I think you know, we need to as uh leaders, we need to address that with our communities and let them know hey, teach our kids that they need to do what's right.

So um, you know, I I do not believe in racial profiling.

Uh, like you said, when you're in the car, I didn't pull you don't know who's there.

So uh, but I think we have to be honest with ourselves and our uh our country and realize that hey, we need to do better, all of us, and not blame anybody, and just you know, we appreciate you keeping us safe no matter who or what we are.

So thank you to the police department.

Thank you.

Thank you, I appreciate it.

Any other questions?

Thank you, Chief.

And Chief, all you chiefs appreciate you.

3.2, Mindy Cochran.

Mindy.

Good afternoon, Mindy Cochran, executive director of housing.

I'll give them just a second.

They're swapping out your Zoom.

There we go.

There it is.

Um, this is Becky Slandy, she's the operations manager at Housing, and we're here to talk to you all today about the housing tax credit applications, the 9% projects.

For a little bit of background, um, the tax credit program is a program of the Internal Revenue Service.

It's not public housing, it's not vouchers.

Um, it's really an opportunity for investment into affordable housing that creates tax credits for the uh commercial corporate investors, um, and that results in lower rents.

The way it works is basically flipping, and you all have heard me say this before, flipping the financing basically upside down.

So, for example, if I buy a house, I have to have sufficient income to support the mortgage on my house, right?

A small down payment and a big mortgage.

Same thing with commercial financing, a little bit of equity and a big mortgage, and the rents have to be high enough to support that.

This flips it upside down, so there's a lot more equity through the sale of the tax credits and less debt, so therefore you can have uh lower rents to support that debt.

So there's two different types of tax credits, 9% and 4%.

We've kind of mixed this in with you all back and forth over the the last couple months, but today we're only talking about the 9% tax credits.

The tax credits are very, very competitive.

Um in Arlington, we have three applications that you're gonna see today.

And there is a tax credit cycle.

So every summer, the TDHCA, Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, puts out the qualified allocation plan, and that's basically the scorecard, how they're going to score the tax credit applications.

They put that out for public comment, they receive feedback.

Once it's approved, generally on December 1st, when the governor signs off on it, then the applications start coming out, and the applications are due in Arlington early January.

Those are reviewed by staff.

We take them to community and neighborhood development committee, um, and then they come to city council for either support or no support of a resolution of support.

Can't have a resolution of no objection for these because it doesn't score well enough for them to be competitive.

And you all have seen this slide before, and the lower boxes show what the ideal scenario would be for a 9% tax credit application starting with zoning, but that just doesn't happen that way most of the time.

So what it'll happen is we we get these applications, staff reviews them, they bring them to city council.

If they and during that process in the spring, if they move forward after tonight from city council, then the developers will be looking at uh their zoning uh changes if necessary, and all three of these would require a zoning change.

So there's a lot of places along this process where council or PNZ can say no, the the project just isn't shaping up the way we want it to.

Uh this slide just shows the um current tax credit review policy that's been approved by city council, and the most recent changes were in 2022, and that's when the non-discrimination clauses were added.

So it's in past years, very similarly, there's way more in requests statewide and within our region than it is available.

431 million in requests, um, 107 million available.

So in region three, which is Dallas Fort Worth, Arlington all the way up to the Red River, $96 million in requests, 20% available.

So in region three overall, we can expect about 10 awards.

And in Arlington, as I said before, we received three total applications.

The housing needs analysis that projects housing needs for 2025 through 2029 shows that nearly half of our residents are cost burdened and seniors are even more cost burdened.

It also shows that our deepest need or our greatest need for housing is in the lower for affordable at the lower income brackets.

So this slide just shows a look back at what's been this applications that you all have received in the past several years, what was supported, and how many uh units were developed.

So after 63 applications over this number of years, city council supported 22.

Nine got credits from TDHCA, which we don't find out until July, and that resulted in 892 new units, most of which is affordable housing.

So this shows you a summary of the reward awards that sorry summary of the applications that we received this year in council district one is the Knox, which is 69 units of senior housing.

Um, and then council district two, Campbell Place, 90 units of workforce housing and heritage at Sublet.

The Knox up there on 1421 South Watson might look familiar, but it's it's right adjacent to a project that was approved last year.

So this is a senior development, and the one that was approved last year, same developer, just adjacent to this, um, was workforce.

So these would be sort of sister properties if they both moved forward.

So we staff looked at these on how they um complied with the city of Arlington's um approved policy, and they're pretty similar.

The only place that they really differed is um item number two there, where only one of them was considered consistent with the comprehensive plan, and that was heritage and the other two were not considered consistent, but they all three would need zoning changes if they move forward from here.

On the TDHCA scoring, um, they all scored 170 points, so that it will come down to tiebreakers for these, um, and that's something that TDHCA will look at and they verify all the tiebreaker statuses.

That's not something that we do here.

So these were these projects were reviewed by community and neighborhood development committee on March 3rd, and the committee recommended that we bring them to full council so that everybody would have an opportunity to weigh in.

Um, these will be on all three resolutions of support are on your evening agenda this evening on the consent agenda.

So if you want to support one versus all three, you would need to remove that item so you could vote on them separately.

And I'm gonna step aside here and let um Becky tell you about a little bit more detail about each of the developments.

Okay.

Thank you, Mini.

Good afternoon.

Uh the first one we have is the Knox Senior Living.

Uh the developer for the Knox is structured development and JCM Ventures, represented to represented today by Jake Mooney and Fred Merrill.

The location is directly south of their 9% project from 2025, which received council support and a tax credit.

Um, these would be the sister properties.

Mindy talked about, the first being for families, and this development for seniors.

The proposed development is 69 units of senior housing and varying levels of affordability.

The developer received positive feedback both from Commissioner Galante and Representative Bahshani.

The developer has also met with Sue Phillips and has planned a meeting with the East Arlington renewal.

Um, this one is located in a census track with a poverty rate of 20.4%, and the zoning is currently CC.

This one is not uh consistent with the comprehensive plan.

The site consists of a single four-story building with amenities you would expect to see if approved.

This site would also provide a secondary access point for the sister property, which would create substantial savings to the infrastructure cost for that development.

The next one is Campbell Place.

The developer for Campbell Place is Pen Rose, represented by Zachary Carpenter Cavender.

I'm sorry.

The development is 90 units for families with one, two, and three bedroom units with varying affordability levels.

It includes one unit for an on-site employee.

The development is new construction, but will include the demolition of two vacant homes on the site.

This one is located in council district two.

Um it is in a census track with a poverty rate of 18.8% and has a development cost of 22.5 million.

This site is not consistent with the comprehensive plan.

And Penrose has provided that amenity at previous developments.

So on this slide, you can see the site plan.

It isn't oriented the way it's actually situated, but it's shown this way to provide more detail.

The smaller map on the right um shows the actual orientation, the way it's relative related to highway 287.

The site plan includes five three story buildings, three for units, one community building, and one for the pre-K Center.

The amenities are typical of what you would expect.

The last one is the Heritage at Sublet.

It's proposed by Elizabeth Property Group or EPG, and it's represented today by Chris Epton.

This is a senior development located in district two and proposes 42 one bedroom units, 18 two bedroom units, and it also has uh burying affordability.

This is a reduction in the units from the initial 71 that was presented at C and D committee as a result of an update to the site plan.

The proposed site is located in a census track with a very low poverty rate and is considered consistent with the comprehensive plan.

As with the other sites, it has the amenities you would expect to see.

And here you can see the updated site plan.

The developer is still working to find a way to connect the residential building to the community building so that the residents don't have to go outside to access the amenities.

I'm gonna turn it back over to Mindy for the next steps.

Next steps.

So this just shows the timeline and where we are today.

So we're here today at work session to provide this information to you all and answer any questions that you might have.

Um and then as a reminder, there's a resolutions that are on your evening agenda.

You really have the option to do whatever you choose.

You can support all three of them and sort of let the chips fall where they may, or if there's some that you don't think are um gonna make it through zoning anyway, if it's not a good location for multifamily housing or anything else, um, certainly you can pull those from the consent agenda.

I'm happy to answer any questions.

Questions or comments, Dr.

Odom Wesley.

Thank you for this review.

Do any of these units provide a certain percentage of their apartments adhering to the universal design standards?

I don't know the answer to that.

I'll look for nods from the developers, especially the senior housing.

Sure.

You're you're welcome to answer, but will you go up to the podium for me, please?

Dr.

Edon Wesley, do you want to give them a brief explanation of what you're referring to to for universal design standards to make sure that you all are talking about the same thing?

I think you probably are, but just to make sure.

Yeah, when I well, when I think universal design standards, I think the width of the doorways, barrier-free entry, the bathrooms, it's accessibility issue.

So I'm Jake Mooney with JCM Ventures.

Um, you know, we we follow all the fair housing rules regarding you know, five percent of the units are gonna be ADA, uh, two and a half percent of the um, you know, for visually impaired, uh hearing impaired units, but then when you uh do a senior development and add an elevator, then that does add different elements of kind of that universal design that you're you're talking about where uh now all units have to become accessible because of that elevator providing access up.

So um I think that maybe that answers the question.

So a senior development, if it has an elevator would have more uh ADA compliance than maybe a family development or a development that doesn't have an elevator, if that helps.

But what about the width of the doorways?

Would that accommodate a wheelchair or a walker?

So all of the ADA units in the entry doors would all have uh would all have that accessibility when you have an elevator because you you then basically make every unit uh accessible because of the elevator component.

So all the doors end up going to the you know a 36-inch door.

Um but then the the actual amenities that are ADA compliance where you have lower countertops, um, you know, and and turn radiuses in bathrooms.

Um those that's limited really to those to those five units that that are ADA.

And I'm gonna get some clarification for you on your question.

So I believe what Dr.

Edon Wesley is asking is on your ADA units, certainly they're accessible, but on the rest of the units that are not your accessible, your five percent accessible.

Do those have the wide doorways also?

For a development that has an elevator, yes, because when you add the elevator, you add accessibility for every for every unit.

Does that make sense?

The elevator.

Wait a minute.

Having having an elevator.

Because then you're gonna widen the door into the apartment.

Otherwise, somebody that's in a wheelchair would never rent an upstairs unit, right?

So there's no reason to widen the doors for a wheelchair if they can't get it to the second floor anyway.

But when you add an elevator, then anybody could rent a second floor unit.

Therefore, they want the doorways wide enough for a wheelchair on not just the first floor, but the second floor.

Fair?

Is that right?

Okay, so when you put the elevator in, now all the doorways are going to be wheelchair accessible.

Yeah, they don't they don't all become quote ADA where where it's everything is, but yeah, all the doors, every unit then becomes an accessible unit because it because you are providing that accessibility by providing an elevator.

So the the thresholds on the doors, you know, go to a quarter of an inch so you can roll over uh and once you get inside the apartment or the doorways wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair.

So that's where it's it's the answer is no, because you're providing accessibility into the unit, but it's not a true ADA unit.

If that's so what percentage of your units are true ADA?

Usually it's five percent or true true ADA.

That's the to meet fair housing.

And that would be true of all of them, Dr.

Odin Wesley.

That's a requirement.

Other questions?

Okay.

Any other questions from counts.

Okay.

Thank you.

3.3.

Jay, are you doing this?

Where'd you go?

There you are.

Uh good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

Jay Warren, Director of Communication and Legislative Affairs, and happy to be with you here today to talk about our 150th anniversary in celebration of that anniversary.

I have a presentation with 150 slides, one for each year of our history.

Um, but I do want to take the opportunity, and I Dr.

Artum Wesley, thank you for asking for this presentation to talk you through our some of our plans uh and and uh talking a little bit about what we are working on.

Um and we've got a few kind of overriding goals that we're looking forward to in this this project.

Uh, it is a year-long celebration, not a specific day or even a specific month, but it gives us the opportunity to kind of spread our celebration out over the course of of the 12 years of 2026 with a unified look um throughout all of it.

Um we want the branding to be similar so that people see it and signage or other places they know, oh, that's Arlington's 150th.

Um we'll have signature events and community moments, then a lot of that will happen with partnerships that we're developing, and we have long had developed, but working with specifically on this project with our different nonprofit organizations, some businesses to help us uh really uh bring this to light over the course of 2026.

A lot of storytelling opportunities.

This is directly in our wheelhouse, talking about our history, but also how does that take us into the future?

The comp plan happening this year is a great example of how we start making this a forward-looking uh exercise as well, and then perhaps ending with a legacy initiative that might help us celebrate us long after 2026.

Um to us, this is more than a birthday.

Uh, it's a once in a generation opportunity to strengthen community identity and civic pride.

And truly, uh, you know, since I've been here, started here in 2013.

I can't tell you how many times I've had different council members ask me, how do you build pride in Arlington?

We need to build pride in Arlington.

How do we build civic pride here?

And that's a hard thing to do, to be honest with you, in a in a metroplex as big as where we live, where our boundaries are right up against each other.

Uh some folks may live here in Arlington, but work in Fort Worth, and maybe they decide to play in Dallas or any combination of any of that.

How do you make that pride, you know, that feeling here at home?

Um, and more than anything I've worked on since I've been here, I think there's been an organic already um wellspring, if you will, of energy toward how do we celebrate this?

Um, having different organizations uh step up and say, I want to do this, and in fact, uh try to corral them a little bit to say, wait a minute, let's all get on the same page and work together as we do this.

Uh there's that much kind of enthusiasm down to employees raise their hands saying, How do I make sure I get this in my email signature before we're even ready to release the instructions at how to put it in their email signature?

There's just a lot of enthusiasm out there, and we want to see if we how we can corral that and really create some community pride through this.

Telling our story will be a large portion of that.

So editorial content, obviously on social media, it's a great place for us to do this with regular uh posts, also trivia contests throughout the year, um, with some tough questions, we hope that will stump a few people.

Uh, what's in a name, talking about a lot of the different things you may see names throughout Arlington, whether that's Bob Duncan Center or Harold Patterson or other facilities that are named, but what does that really mean?

And what do they do and what's the history behind that?

And then a fun feature where we can kind of do pictures beside each other that might look at Main Street from 1950 to Main Street in 2026, or the wellspring from the late 1800s to what the wellspring looks like today, um, and really get a comparison view of how Arlington has grown and how we've changed.

A lot of media relations, particularly working with our great partners at Arlington today and the Arlington Report.

Video content we've done uh since we launched the brand in 2014.

I think we've done about a hundred and sixty different, what we call American Dream series, stories about people living their American dream here in Arlington.

They've reached about four million people through those 160 views in more than a decade.

What we're doing this year is focusing on folks who have had a significant history making part of Arlington.

That might be a former elected leader, but it also could be community members, someone like Donna Mack, who has been a huge advocate in Arlington for decades now for our disabled community.

How what impact have they had in Arlington to make Arlington a better place for us all to live, learn, work, and play?

And our Arlington Eats series, which is going on for a decade, how do we focus it on some more of the historical elements of Arlington?

Believe it or not, in that decade, we've not yet done the candlelight in perfect opportunity during our 150th anniversary to highlight a restaurant of that nature.

Um I will have a monthly special 150th anniversary e newsletter that we'd be putting out for our residents.

We've already put a lot of information on the employee portal that will give our employees information about this.

And then finally, we have a 150th anniversary website.

I sent you a link to that, so I'm not gonna go into every segment of this, but I do encourage you to take the time to dig through it.

There's a lot out there, and we'll be continuing to add more and more to this webpage from our Hall of Mayors.

Uh historical photos that we've been working with uh UTA on, probably more than a thousand pictures in total, we'll have there.

Our historical timelines really we've divided into about seven different chapters or different time periods or eras, if you will, of Arlington so folks can get a better sense of how we've grown.

Just a ton of information on there that we hope will be very engaging to our residents.

And then while I'm here, I want to give a big shout out.

Jeremy Thomas is sitting here beside me.

Jeremy has had a large hand in putting this all this together, including the website.

And I think he's worked about a month total uh putting all this website material together and is continuing to update it, and we really do appreciate his hard work and dedication to this project.

We are starting our first ever podcast.

Uh, we're doing that called Arlington Archives, and it will take a little bit of a deeper dive into some maybe untold stories of Arlington or stories that may have been forgotten, particularly from folks who haven't lived here all their lives, but may have moved here in the last uh decade or two.

Uh okay Carter, who I think you we could call our unofficial, if not official historian of Arlington is being tapped to host that, and he graciously volunteered.

Our first episode will actually air this week, and it looks at the eras of Arlington, and by that we mean starting from a railroad town to where Cotton was loaded up uh here in Arlington, transitioning to the mineral well to starting with a college town, and looking at all the way to the 50s, we'll do chapter two of that from the 50s on in another episode.

But you see some of the other proposed episodes that we have on there, trying to do one of these a month over the course of the year.

Um, and some of these aren't necessarily the successes you'd look at.

Seven C's maybe not have been the success or long-term success, but look at what's transpired since then with the Sheraton going on those grounds, and then in just a couple of months, we'll be taking the Sheraton down and on that property where seven C's was, the brand new Lowe's hotel will be going up.

So a lot of exciting activities like that that we can highlight.

And some where the it may have been actually a tragedy at the time if you look at Amber Hagerman, but think about the impact that that has had going forward across our entire country with Amber Alerts and how many Arlington residents actually know that originated here and how many lives might have been saved as a result of that.

So lots of different stories that we can tell through this Arlington Archives podcast.

Now, how do we amplify that?

How do we make sure that folks are being able to really see this and they're getting the full picture?

And we're proposing here legacy banners that would be going on City Hall and inside City Hall in our lobby as well.

PSA Billboards on our Lamar and Clear Channel boards, we're able to place advertising, but as well as in the entertainment district.

We're proposing yard signs that would celebrate our anniversary, and then banners up and down Abram Street here in the corridor, the central corridor of Arlington.

Now I think it's what I really want to point out from a signage perspective is while we are having some of that happen right here in our downtown or in the entertainment district.

What our real goal here is how do we make sure that this is getting out to every segment of Arlington?

It's not just downtown, it's not just the entertainment district, but far south Arlington.

Every council district has the opportunity through yard signs or having those flags flying at our facilities that are sprinkled across the city.

That this really permeates all of Arlington.

Keepsakes, fun things that people may want to keep, lapel pens, I place it'll pelpen at all of your sites there that we produced, a small quantity to start out with, uh stickers as well that could go on water bottles or on uh computers, uh challenge coins, tumblers, t-shirts, and even a time capsule.

We already have two, believe it or not, from different time periods where we've we buried them that are all supposed to be opened in uh 2026, is that right?

Um, and so we're proposing maybe a third one uh for that as well.

As I talk about the stickers, those are the place the uh six in the series that we uh have produced for this, give a little bit of a nostalgic feel to it, but highlight some of the big moments here in Arlington.

Um, and then some of the signage that we're working on that might appear here in City Hall.

Digital marketing will also be a component of this.

Obviously, our promoted content on social media that we'll be doing that.

I mentioned the email signature also and sent you all instructions on how if you'd like to do that with your email signatures.

We've had a lot of interest in that.

And then if you open up your desktop after you've restarted it on your computer, you'll see that we've changed that out.

Just special ways that we can help commemorate the anniversary and placing graphics then on all city monitors as well.

Um, again, trying to get this out, just not here in City Hall and City Center, but how do we make sure all residents are able to really feel this and celebrate it and take pride?

Our business community will be a part of that.

We're working with downtown management corporation on some of these things with the first Thursday collaboration, so maybe then and now pricing or other opportunities with anniversary specials, uh, window cleans that could be placed with businesses.

And then we've been talking with Division Brewing about maybe a specialty brew just for the 150th anniversary, or with the Arlington Coffee Roasters with the 150th themed blend uh of coffee that they could celebrate over the course of the year.

We'll also be working with all of our delegations, state, um certainly federal, as well as our county delegation and our school districts, making sure that this is commemorated in an appropriate way, the proclamations or or uh the uh roll call and on Congress, things of that nature, where we can make sure that that our 150th is is again appropriately commemorated.

And then we want to create moments that will be special times for people to come out and celebrate the uh anniversary.

And we're not alone, so I thought it was interesting to kind of list some of the other anniversaries that will be happening in 2026, and it gives us an opportunity to partner specifically with those different entities, whether it's Six Flags, 65th, they already have a special logo as they start their season that they've released.

Um, but but River Legacy, Medical City Arlington is an example, turning 50, lots of opportunities for us here.

So we've started working with some of our partner organizations.

You'll see there, the Arlington Museum of Art has proposed doing an extensive exhibit that would be their one of their primary exhibits from September to December, focusing on our history, as well as 150 hands of Arlington, a mosaic that they would incorporate into that.

We've been talking with the Quilters Guild, and they've already started working on a commemorative quilt that we could display here in City Hall, Theater Arlington.

Again, these groups were jumping at the opportunity when we held our kind of call with all of them to how do we participate?

Their initial idea was how do we do a theater production that would incorporate different voices over 150 years and produce that and have it done at theater, but the opportunity where we might be able to take that out on the road to different uh parts of Arlington as well.

They do a weekly video series on YouTube, and they've already started a segment within that that's called 150 seconds with just Arlington residents they're talking with for 150 seconds.

Why do you like about Arlington?

Why do you live here?

What do you love about Arlington?

An opportunity to spotlight just their pride in our community.

Other partner events, Fielder House, uh again, as you may have noticed, the Arlington Garden Club is having its centennial uh celebrating that as long as as well as uh the way we were historical exhibit that they're doing and a bankhead highway tour.

As I mentioned, downtown Arlington's working with us on their first Friday themed events, a dream mural that we'll be able to place here in downtown, an interesting design that also will help us a little bit with the World Cup and to celebrate our diversity.

It's almost like a three-fur, really, where we can put the word dream in the center of a mural, but then in 150 different languages, the word dream.

And so folks, particularly where they're here for the World Cup, might be able to go by there and find their native language and have their picture maybe taken with that and dream in that portion of it.

So a cool opportunity for us to combine maybe those three events into one.

But the Abraham standard uh Abrams City uh street banners as well.

AISD has been a good partner, and we're talking with them about uh Taste of Arlington and how that might incorporate Fielder House and some maybe old recipes.

And the theme of the Taste of Arlington this year might be you know some old Arlington recipes from the 50s or the 40s or even even longer ago.

150 birthday cake that the students might be able to make out at the Dan Dypert Center and some other opportunities there as we're talking with them.

Uh the Chamber of Commerce, their challenge coins that they do will be uh 150th themed this year for stay of the city, incorporating the 150th into Arlington Insights.

In fact, we just got off the phone today with UT Arlington and their spirit horses, and they're wanting to work with us on one of the spirit horses that will be themed for the 150th anniversary with the students doing the design work and creating it, and then actually doing the paint job on the on the spirit horse and placing that perhaps here in downtown or another appropriate place to celebrate for and then that would be a legacy item that might be here for for years to come.

And as I mentioned, Medical City Arlington doing digital signing as a part of their 50th anniversary, and how do we tie that into our 150th?

And a volunteer walk challenge is also planned with them.

Levitt Pavilion is going to start trying to incorporate this into their digital signage as well as their uh concert that they're doing uh just in about a month now, um, and it kind of music through the eras, um, so that we'll be able to kind of highlight this in different areas to different audiences.

Uh, CVB has a commemorative t-shirt, and then we're talking with the Arlington Community Band about a 150th tribute concert and an original 150th song that would be a part of that tribute concert in July.

Our city departments are jumping on board with this as well.

The Parks and Recreation Department plans to do 150 trees that will be planted every month of the year, not necessarily in the bad weather months, but we'll average out to 150 trees every single month for 2026, as well as kind of the culmination of that with uh a really large legacy tree that would be planted for our kind of end celebration of all this.

And then a lot of their different events, and this was really kind of our goal.

There's so many things that are already happening.

How do we help 150th be a part of events that are already planned?

So, whether that's picnic in the park or art in the park or even movies in the park, which might be an Arlington edition with with movies that have featured Arlington in the past, ways to kind of highlight that, and their golf pin um flags will also be celebrating our 150th.

Library also jumping on board.

I promise you that I did not twist their arm for a Lego event, uh, but the Lego free play event at the libraries will uh celebrate the 150th theme with multiple multiple of those.

Um they have 150 years of stories, historical exhibit that they're talking about doing, a bookmark contest in uh cooperation and collaboration with AISD, and then an Orial Histories that they've been working on that we can incorporate into the website.

And then we're talking with all these different groups, including the the Independence Day Parade, obviously Light Up Arlington, Dream Fest, the Texas Rangers, all these different groups about how again do we incorporate the 150th into something that they're doing.

So that again, this is a community-wide celebration.

It is not just the city saying let's celebrate this, but it's all these different entities within the community that are helping us uh commemorate this.

Now, there are some costs to some of this.

We've been very frugal in how we've been doing it so far, but on your next agenda for the Arlington Tomorrow Foundation board, there will be a request to help us cover some of the expenses related to this, um, whether that's the programming with the time capsule, the archival materials from UTA, uh, the marker for the Susquea Centennial Tree as an example, um, maybe a legacy sculpture gift that may be an indoor sculpture and outdoor sculpture or both, um, depending upon the interest there, um, helping our nonprofit organizations that we're already partnering with that they might raise their hand and said, We want to help.

How do we help them fund some of their collaboration with us?

And then the promotional items that I talked about as well, whether that's the banners or signage, um, the different branded items, and certainly the flags that we've discussed uh flying around all of our different facilities.

So that that requests coming uh here in the next month as we we visit the Arlington Tomorrow Foundation board.

That's what we have planned so far.

I I didn't go through that in 150 slides.

I promised it was only about 30.

Um, but we'd love to hear any questions or any feedback that you have.

Questions or comments for Jay.

You yes, Dr.

Council Member Gonzalez, go ahead.

Go ahead, Gonzalez.

This is exciting.

I maybe I missed it.

Nap Heritage, is there anything planned?

Have they?

And we're still talking with some of our parts.

This is why we get a year to do this, right?

Instead of having to do it.

But one opportunity with the the theater production as an example might be if they're able to do it in multiple places if we're able to provide the funding.

NAP heritage might be one of those where we might be able to incorporate them.

That would be a kind of a cool place to do the dialogues there in the appropriate time of year where it's outside.

So yes, we're in we're in thinking about that.

I appreciate the suggestion.

And I knew I knew you did, but I guess you know if they're watching that name wasn't mentioned, so I just want to make sure their name was mentioned.

Thank you.

Councilmember Peale.

You know, when you were talking about when Arlington, the day Arlington was founded.

Would you talk to the mayor?

Because I think he was there.

Was that like your senior year?

It may have been.

Okay, that's what I thought.

Just making sure.

My covered wagon was parked illegally at the time.

So any other questions?

So, Mr.

Peel, you did not ask the question I expect you to ask.

Six flags?

No.

Uh-oh.

How do we incorporate the old logo into some of those?

Yes, I know.

I've learned to hold my tongue on that.

So I do have a shirt display for you.

Where I think we've reached a nice compromise where we get to have the new logo on there.

So it's a bit it's evident to everyone what the logo is currently, but the history of our old logos that we might be able to also display and have for purchase.

Now that is awesome.

Like I told you.

One thing I asked before our roll-off council.

We were next, we've got five meetings left.

Just wanted a hat with the old logo on it.

But this is pretty darn good.

And I think people who show their Arlington Cred will buy it.

I'm old school oiling too.

Perfect.

So Jay, I have a very serious question that's real important to me.

I love pizza.

Do you know the restaurant in Arlington that made the first pizza in Arlington?

Our history bus behind me.

Do you know?

Oh, I heard Councilmember Gonzalez.

Candlite is a candlelight.

All right.

Candelite and the first pizza in Arlington.

Good to know.

All right.

So that'll be a part of our episode then.

There you go.

Perfect.

There's no charge for that.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thanks, sir.

Wonderful.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

I appreciate you.

Deputy City Manager Wickman.

3.4.

Thank you, Mayor.

Appreciate the opportunity.

Today I'm bringing to you information on one of the council's priorities, strength strengthening our communities.

So just as a reminder, this was created in 2025.

It's a consolidation of champion great neighborhoods, build unity, and support youth and family that have been previous priorities of the council.

So we're going to go through just a couple, three a few different areas of where you all have as a reminder to the public.

This is included within the budget that the council passes, and this is what focuses the funding that we that they appropriate.

So in the business plans, four things that are on track that I'm just highlighting here.

Comprehensive plan update and form-based code.

Our friends in community or in uh planning and development services are working very hard on this.

In fact, municipal policy heard an update today on form-based code, so that's moving along well.

Long-term projects, but they but they're keeping up with them.

Uh the communication legislative affairs department is working on an AI-driven legislative tracking implementation.

So this is something new that they're bringing to that effort to in IGR to sort of track those bills.

Use the AI tool to help us analyze and figure out where the city needs to put our resources and to understanding legislation.

And then we have a fire station alerting system.

Um also sort of using some technology with text uh uh text-to-speech and reducing the call processing times.

They're always trying to shave a little bit off that response time.

That time can really mean the difference you know in in people's quality of life and their their success right there.

So we're pleased that they're looking at that as a way to improve their services even more.

So a few program highlights, um the active memberships.

We've all been really excited about the active and and how it's growing and how popular it is.

At the end of the first quarter, they had 10,158 memberships there.

Um but if you think that was impressive, they now have over 11,500.

So that continues to grow.

It's a very popular location.

If uh for those who are using it are super excited about that.

So we're we're excited, and and um, you know, 81,000 scans at for the first quarter.

That's significant and high use.

We're really excited that it's so popular, and that it's certainly being used over used um by our our 55 plus community.

Uh I want to talk a little bit about invasive plant uh species removal.

We've tried some different uh techniques there.

Goats, as some folks may remember, also made social media when they escaped from one of their pens, um, but an innovative way that was grant funded to to try out.

We've done mechanical forestry mowing and also herbicidal spray.

We've really found that the most effective method is the mechanical forestry mowing and also spraying.

So we'll continue to work on that.

It's really it's something that we could probably have a team on full time, but we'll do, we advance it as as we're able, and we sort of work on that throughout the park system.

But it's been good to experiment with what the most effective technique is to reduce that those invasive plants.

So I also want to highlight the municipal court warrant clearance.

This is an event.

It's called the warrant drive.

It's going on actually right now.

It began yesterday and it'll go until March 13th.

Those are the dates.

It is an opportunity for folks who do have warrants with us to pay those off and they waive the collection agency fee.

So this is a really good opportunity for folks to take advantage of that, clear those warrants off their um off their record.

And it will also mention our court is what's called a safe harbor court.

And that means if someone has a warrant for the arrest on a municipal court, you know, through the municipal, our municipal court, they will not be arrested when they go and we want people to be able to come in, take care of that business without fear of being arrested.

So we're hoping that folks take advantage of that between now and March 13th.

And the court's doing a lot of great communication around that.

Um they have this comprehensive strategy with Leinberger, and they're sending texts out to folks.

Easier to respond to, just a quick reminder of what is due so folks can understand that, and then hopefully come in to resolve their cases.

You can see crime is continuing to go down in the first quarter, crimes against persons, property, and society have all been decreasing.

So we're pleased about that that action continuing.

So we also track, in addition to the projects within the business plan, we also track a number of performance measures and what we call the scorecard.

So here's just a sampling of the many measures that we have.

Uh we look at, so we have here in the columns just to orient you, we have the fiscal year 24 actuals, the fiscal year 25 actuals, and then what the goal, the target was for 26.

We're working on getting that into actual.

But you can see that for FY26, um, particularly on live animal release rate, they've been at 80% the last few years, and they're and but the target is we're they're trying to get to 90%, um, but they're looking at um 81% there.

So it's been going up and it's continuing to go up.

Even in January, we saw that improving.

So we really appreciate that.

Um, uh the work they've done there.

Um you know, percent of our city, city maintained drainage inlets, not the most exciting thing, but certainly very important, and they're on track with getting one quarter of that done already.

Um, police time committed to calls.

This is up at 85 minutes.

It's something that we're looking to find different ways, perhaps using technology, perhaps using other elements, sergeants who could come and help move calls along to help get our officers after a call back on the street.

It's a continual improvement effort that our police department is working on.

And then um fire uh the percent, the fire percent of outdoor warning sirens test is successful.

You all hear this once a month, you'll you'll hear it go off.

You'll also know that if we don't test those in in cases of bad weather.

If it's cloudy out or whatever, we don't want to concern people thinking like, oh my goodness, there's actually something happening.

So you'll notice that the FY24 actual was 62%.

Um that it actually wasn't 62%.

So we're gonna go ahead and correct this, but I wanted to show the old number, but then show the actual number.

What had happened is that they were counting the months when we canceled it due to um you know inclement weather when it was bad weather.

That's not a true test of what their functionality is.

That was actually a mistake.

So just to explain that, if someone might have seen that in the past year, but they're you know, 92, 93, um 95% as of this quarter, which is an important, um, certainly an important element to make sure that um we have all this, that those functioning so they can warn the public when uh poor weather is coming.

So just some upcoming projects and initiatives to highlight.

Um there's a water treatment um plan, they're looking at PFAS mitigation, those forever chemicals are looking at a study to see how those can be taken out of the system uh down at the at the Pierce Birch Water Treatment Plant.

We've got a safe driving recognition program.

Uh, our colleagues in risk management, which is part of the HR department, they're helping us look at overall what are the accidents, what are the crashes?

Are when we're driving city vehicles, all of our employees are out there.

What are what are some things they can help us take a look at?

That's one of those things we really want to save as much money on as we can.

If there's a way that they can help us see patterns, see where we need to pay more attention, that'll be a help for saving um has saving money overall, so we don't have to fix those vehicles in those crashes.

Uh the neighborhood directory development is an interesting project.

It's a collaboration between Office of Strategic Initiatives and the library.

So they're looking at creating access access points and a web-based mapping tool so the public can get access to information about what the registered neighborhood is in their area.

They may not know that they have a neighborhood, but they can kind of get that information.

They're going to the library, they can access it.

We're helping OSIs helping register those neighborhoods so we can connect them with their with their with their neighbors.

And then finally, some work with the fielder house, sort of operational and historical item.

It's very apropos with our 150th anniversary, but helping them with archiving strategy there and also happen helping them with operational continuity over the years that are to come because we certainly want them to stay around for many, many, many, many years for our next uh for I guess our 300th anniversary.

Uh so that's all the information I have there.

Happy to answer any questions that the council may have.

Any questions from council?

Perfect, great job.

Thank you.

All right, we're gonna move on down to discuss our informal staff reports.

Council, you received them already.

I won't have Gen C go through all of her stuff unless you have some specific questions on 4.1, which is the used auto sales certificate of occupancy update.

I'll start with just saying what an incredible job.

I love seeing that type of reduction of those establishments, particularly along Division Street, Collins, places such as that.

Um it is becoming very noticeable, and I appreciate what you and your department has been doing, Gen C.

Thank you for that.

Any other questions or comments from council?

Perfect.

4.2 municipal policy, Dr.

Odom Wesley.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I lost my notes.

Municipal Policy Committee met today.

Can y'all hear me?

Okay.

And that was an update on the form-based codes.

Our planning and development services staff gave us an update on the zoning change and the related initiatives in the form-based code, which covers our downtown Arlington area.

We offered some guidance focusing on communications and educational materials to talk about the benefits, not just to the developers, but also to residents and to neighborhoods.

And now I can't lay my eyes on it.

What's the other word, Andrew?

Easier, simple, simpler, faster.

Simple.

Easier, faster, and simpler to understand, to explain, and to talk about the benefits to our to our city when we implement the form-based code.

So during the uh rollout process, the committee asked the staff to explore creating a short video that would explain how the form-based code would be more efficient than our current UDC, and they gave us a nice visual because the current UDC is about two inches thick of rules, regulations, and guidelines.

And the new form-based code is like 88 pages.

So that's simpler, faster, more efficient.

And also to include community voices such as residents, students, everyday Arlington community members in this video.

So you can see what a difference it will make in our downtown Ardington.

Okay, I talked about that part.

And we want to highlight improvements in clarity and usability.

So this item will move forward to the public hearing process, beginning with planning and zoning on March the 4th.

And then we'll see it come back to full council.

So it's very interesting presentation, and we got to see some uh areas where form-based codes have been implemented in other cities and neighborhoods.

Uh any additions or comments or questions from the council.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

4.3 community and neighborhood development, Councilmember Boxell.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um CND reviewed the city's multifamily inspection program.

We've been doing this on an ongoing basis for several weeks now, several months now.

Uh some of the things we looked at was the we we continued to review the current multifamily scoring system.

We looked at the risk rating scoring system and protocols and the scores for the last three years.

We also looked at uh the benefits and potential issues for continued use of the HUDS React system, and we looked at other examples, uh other cities inspections uh processes.

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

We talked about uh requiring multifamily properties to post or distribute information about how to file complaints, what inspection systems or software platforms are being used by other cities, and information on how the React system weighs various uh various uh items on their list on their checklist.

Okay, and then in addition to that, we also took a look at uh further look at the uh PY 2026 action plan for CDBG and ESG.

We looked at the program year, the action plan, recommendations, allocations for CBDG public services, ESG programs, and community development projects.

In addition to service programs, the committee reviewed community developed project recommendations including housing rehabilitation and code compliance.

We also discussed um development of stronger inclement weather sheltering networks.

We had a quite a good conversation about that.

Um with that, we we presented um the staff presented research on how other cities use their general funds to supplement limited HUD public service dollars.

The committee confirmed that the findings clarified how similar approaches might be feasible for Arlington.

We also looked at um general fund planning and discussed the recent use of general funds to support emergency sheltering during this last cold spell that we had.

Are there any other comments from committee members or more clarification?

CNN.

Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am.

Uh 4.4, Mr.

Peel.

Do you have anything additional that we haven't talked about on economic development?

All economic development uh matters were reported out in executive session.

Thank you, sir.

4.5, Councilmember Hunter, Arlington Housing Finance Corps.

Thank you, Mayor.

The Arlington House and Finance Committee met this morning.

All members were present.

Um the board reviewed the Tom Line and the next steps for the conversion of the construction financing to permanent financing for the Matlock Flats, um, which is held by the developer Dominion.

The board will consider the conversion documents on March 10th.

Um the board was informed about the upcoming change in the property management for the paddock at Park Row from asset living to uh Seldon.

Most of the onsite employees will transition to Selden for a seamless change.

And finally, the only action item that we had on the agenda um was an inducement resolution, which the board approved.

Um, this was one of the many steps towards your partnership and development project with Dominion.

Um I don't know.

Does any other committee members have anything to add or anyone have any questions seeing nothing else?

Thank you very much.

Uh 4.6, Mr.

Buskin.

Do we have any appointments, boards or commissions this evening?

Yes, sir.

We have two appointments this evening.

Thank you, sir.

Evening agenda items.

Council, do y'all wish to talk about any of the evening agenda items?

Yes, Councilmember Gonzalez.

I just have some general questions for 12.1 and 12.2 uh and them and the all cash contract of sale.

Lindsay, you know we've gotten quite a few emails, so I didn't know if you wanted to and you did an excellent job answering all the emails for me and for the citizens.

So I don't know if you wanted me to ask some of those questions or if you're gonna go over the discussion tonight to be able to, especially like the one regarding um the water pay to go account.

Maybe many people didn't know what that was and how it gets reimbursed, and so I didn't know if you want to um we can probably just go over your individual questions.

Um Lindsay Mitchell, director of strategic initiatives.

So to answer the question about what is the water pay-go account, it is a cash account, so it's not bond funding for capital projects for the water department, and it's typically used for those capital projects.

Um acquiring property the way that we are proposing today is not a typical use for that account, but the count does have cash resources that are available for the city to use uh during the fiscal year for opportunities that can arise outside of capital projects.

So in this case, using the funds to acquire the property helps with the cash flow on this whole transaction.

Um so it won't slow down water capital projects or prevent them from starting because the intention is to reimburse that account within this fiscal year.

So that explains that one.

Uh and then the other one.

I think that was the main one.

There was another one.

I guess regarding the PID for the Anthem.

You know, can you explain that one?

I mean, sorry.

We've already discussed it, but I think there was some questions regarding, you know.

So what's the plan to build a six property or you know, to increase it?

So what's the plan with the pit on the anthem part?

The PIT is intended to help us monitor and maintain the entirety of the Anthem property over time.

So um, you know, typically a commercial property like that would have um cam charges, so common area maintenance charges, or uh or a business association that would take care of property maintenance.

It still will have those things, but on top of it, we are layering the public improvement district to help us monitor the maintenance of some of the more public areas, landscaping, uh security, those types of things.

So that that budget through the pit has to come through you all every year so that you will see those expenses and be able to monitor that over the long term.

Well, I just want to thank you for replying to the emails.

There's citizens out there that do look at our agenda uh early as soon as it comes out and they start asking questions right away.

So when I sent you the emails, I think Saturday morning, I didn't expect to get a response until Monday, but you replied right away.

So I appreciate your due diligence and thank you, Trey.

I mean, she's really good, as you know.

So thank you all.

Thank you.

Any other questions on the evening agenda item from council?

Councilmember Odom Wesley.

Yes, I I just had a question on 6.4, but it's really four, five, and six.

It's our uh sidewalk project for Division Street.

I'm just wondering how much how much total have we spent on this project.

No, I don't Dr.

Odam Wesley, we don't have that number right now, but we can get it to you.

Okay, okay.

I was just curious because I know we've approved quite a few um settlements.

Yes, we're about halfway through with the acquisitions.

Halfway through, okay.

Yeah, so so when you give me that, can you uh just talk about the future and when are we gonna finish?

Sure.

Yes, we can do that.

Where are we?

And Lindsay, uh remind me that's a grant funded um item, correct?

I don't know if it's fully grant funded or if it's 8020.

It's an 80 20.

So it's an 80-20 grant, so the funding that's coming is 80 percent um tech start uh funding that's helping us with that.

Good.

Okay.

I have one other item.

Sure.

Uh 8.31.

Yeah, we pulled this from the consent agenda at our last meeting uh about the board appointments for the entertainment area management district board.

And I thought the reason we pulled it was so that we could get some information about the appointees, and did I miss it?

Because I still don't have any information.

Deputy City Manager Lemuel Randolph, yes, we sent out last Wednesday an email, about a four-page email that provided a full description of the board, the membership, the responsibilities of the board.

Um so I will certainly make sure that you get that, but we we did send out a copy of it.

Okay, well, my my apologies.

I I was out of town last week, and I guess I was just disjointed and didn't see it.

Sure.

Additionally, we have uh Rob Matwick, who is the general manager uh available if you have specific questions that might be up to answer.

Okay.

Thank you.

Any other questions on the evening agenda item from any council okay?

Um issues relative to city or tech stop projects.

Councilmember Pham.

Mr.

Mayor, sir.

First, I would like to say thank you to Tex Doss and uh our city staff working with them that uh we have issued a big truck and trailer part on um Arkansas Lane Soundbound exit and block, you know, the service road.

And finally, uh thanks to um uh Mr.

Brook uh director public work, his staff installed the notebook and sign that so now in the weekend I come around and check that area.

It's totally clear, so you don't have the problem.

They're blocking the view when people coming up at night, and then you're gonna service drive.

So I want to say thank you to here with Tex Dart Tech Chart and Wilkedov City staff, and uh I want to extend my appreciation to uh Text Dot and our staff.

Thanks, sir.

Four 4.9, the external committee and training reports will start with uh number A, the convention center and visitors bureau, board of directors, council members hog and boxel.

Y'all gonna share this or okay.

If you just want to add in uh Ms.

Boxell.

So we had our CVB meeting week and a half ago, I can't even remember what day.

Um we've had so many meetings since all that.

Um some basic you know, normal things we cover, but one big item.

Uh CFO or our Joel McClellan, it was his last meeting.

Um he announced his retirement months ago on that, and so it was his last meeting, and I just have to commend him.

He's kept the CVB in a really strong financial state um for many, many times when we're tearing hotels down, building new ones, and a lot of change um and using that from the perspective.

We also had a long discussion over uh fiscal year 26 arts and cultural funding.

Um, about 750,000 hotel occupancy tax goes to uh to fund organizations.

Um we have a board that helps manage that, helps manage those organizations that go out.

Um, there's a lot of discussion because like with anything, and we've seen on CDBG grants and everything, there's always some complications on funding um from where it is.

So the CDB did accept the recommendations, but we did ask for some eventual um review and changes because the discussion really is about um we've been funding for arch and cultural brick and mortar.

Um, you need to be in the cultural um and tourism district and really have brick and mortar, but there's a need for programming um and and groups to have some funding.

So we kind of asked them to go back and say what are some new parameters for the future year?

Um, we made the recommendation uh for the current year to stick with the recommendations where they um, but in the future, I think we'll be coming back with brick and mortar um locations still being the predominant things like Arlington Music Hall, um, Dance Theater Arlington, Levitt, Symphony Arlington, some of those things, but then also um things that offer programming like Shakespeare, Arlington in that cultural and tourism district to really be able to assist.

So that should be coming back from that perspective, and then a good number in 2025, five percent uh increase in revenue for rooms, hotel rooms, which is always a good sign, and then uh the CVB is working a lot.

We have one, I think, meeting tomorrow again starting on uh a new strategic plan coming up for the Commission Visitors Bureau.

Anything else, Ms.

Baukville?

And then, of course, all the you can imagine tons of updates still on World Cup, um, all the different the IndyCar coming in, all the different, and uh and Arlington the sports commission, and then uh with all the sports routing.

So uh a lot of good updates from CV.

Thanks, sir.

Councilmember Gonzalez, RTC.

Yes, thank you, Mayor.

Uh the RTC met on Thursday, February 12th.

Uh the RTC approved several items, including funding from TCEQ for air quality planning and the submission of three grant applications uh to the US Department of Transportation Bill Grant Program.

RT RTC spent uh we spent most of the meeting discussing potential funding to support DART, uh depending on whether member cities chose to leave or remain.

Uh, from the conversation, it seemed that DART was close to finalizing an agreement that would incentivize man member cities to stay.

Uh it was really interesting that the conversation.

I think a lot of the cities didn't realize if they left DART that they would have to refund some of the money that they received.

So it was it was really eye-opening for a lot of people, uh, including myself.

RTC approved potential funding for DART to help cover the cost of regional conductivity services, uh, provided that the member cities remain and that Dart returned some funds to individual cities.

Um so that that was that was some good news.

So I think I think that was a hopeful.

In fact, since that RTC meeting, DART has approved the plan on return the funding to the member cities and Plano has canceled its vote to leave DART.

So I don't know about the rest of the cities, but I know that's the only one that has.

So our our next meeting uh for the RTC is scheduled for March the 12th at 1 p.m.

I think.

So it's all happening.

No, you did.

Thank you.

Any questions for Councilmember Gonzalez.

Convened the meeting.

I was a couple of weeks ago.

Um if you're not familiar with that, it's a 13 county North Texas area.

The purpose is to advocate for our collective region, educate and convene uh leaders within those 13 counties.

Um we talked about some of the upcoming stuff, such as the cultural and commerce summit on April 10th, the annual meeting this September on the 22nd.

Uh the infrastructure summit on in August, August 31st.

What was probably uh more interesting and exciting to me was the fact that the Metroplex Mayor's Association, which has typically been run way up in Addison, they have a new president over the association, which is Wes Mays, the mayor of Capel, and uh Wes has moved the location of that over to Irving at NTC, so um it's easier for us to get to, and NTC and the Metroplex Mayor's Association are now merging so that we can put everybody all the eggs in the same basket.

So uh it's pretty good and a lot easier to get to Irving for those 7 a.m.

meetings than getting all the way up to Addison for those.

So I was appreciative of that move.

And he did it because having it in Addison, though the West Counties just were not getting any participation over there.

So I thought that was a great move.

Any questions on that?

Future agenda items.

Yes, Councilmember Hunter.

Thank you.

Um is there any way we can get a staff report or update on um the construction on Debbie Lane?

Construction on right?

Debbie, yeah.

Sure.

Is it sufficient that they just send you an update on that, or do you want to?

Is that good enough rather than having a staff report or someone?

Um so that's I get a lot of calls from Peterson Mansfield.

Uh Councilmember Golante.

Um lots of residents have been asking uh Rich and Al about the situation with the STR short short-term rentals during the the the ward events, the big events.

Uh do we have any any update on the code enforcement?

Uh what is gonna be the the policy plus um what we're doing to curb um any uh non-compliance uh STRs during the events?

Can we have a report on that?

Surely there won't be any Arlington residents leasing out their facilities without proper certifications to do so.

What is the plan for the court enforcement on those those events, please?

Sure.

Thank you.

Any other questions on that?

Perfect.

With that, we're gonna go ahead and adjourn the afternoon session.

We'll see everybody downstairs at 6 30.

Concerned, we'll accept anybody over 18.

It's fun, it's community, it's comradeship, it's I'm doing something useful, and I enjoy it.

We're actually doing something for something that needs to be done.

Animal shelters and helping take care of the little critters that wander through here.