For Juan Carlos and his family celebrating Mexican traditions is part of their culture as an immigrant family.

We emigrated to this country more than 20 years ago.

Welcome back to Arlington Eats.

I'm Jeremy Thomas with My Arlington TV.

And on this episode, we are at an anglo restaurant and bar where your palate can experience two authentic cuisines from around the world.

Those are dumplings that you can find pretty much every corner of the country in Nepal.

Human.

Okay, we'll go ahead and call the afternoon session of the Arlington City Council meeting to order.

And perceivant to aurusio.

I'm gonna move today.

L'autre l'autre.

Hold on, so L'humanumanseo, oochio, and L'humour,anseo, I'm not sure.

Humanseo, oochenseo, and so L'humanity L'autre, L'humour.

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

We're gonna move on down to 3.1.

Deputy City Manager Jennifer Wickman on a World Cup update.

Thank you, Mayor.

Jennifer Wickman, Deputy City Manager.

Um, I'm here with your um the last World Cup update that we'll give to you all before the World Cup.

So um, a lot a lot to to tell, and I've uh broadened this.

Um, I also have Brent Gerard here, our president and CEO of the Arlington Convention and Visitors Bureau to help me with part of the presentation.

We're really taking a broad look at everything that's going on.

So we're gonna talk about the scope and the schedule, some ticket sales and preparation, transportation, as well as Arlington welcomes the world and all the things that are happening around that.

Talk about some of the legacy projects and then some key dates.

So just to look broadly, we've got a number of this World Cup is larger than anyone we've ever had before.

So you can see there are 48 participating teams.

That's increased significantly from before.

A total of 104 matches.

So that's massive.

It'll happen over three, three countries, six and a half million tickets.

You can see that it's really very vast, very broad.

So we're we're excited about to host many of these teams here.

You can see all the different locations where these are happening.

It is through Canada, the United States, and Mexico.

Um so you can see all of that.

Uh ATT Stadium here in Arlington will be the site of nine matches, which is also very significant.

This is our schedule.

We're very excited about the draw that we've gotten.

Um we have um nations from Jordan, for example, which is a smaller nation, but this is the first time they've ever qualified for the World Cup.

So they are super excited, and we're hoping to see a lot of excitement around that team and that nation here in Arlington.

Argentina, a powerhouse, consistently in the World Cup.

They're coming for two matches, which is which is terrific.

And the England Croatia match, which is the third second match that'll be here.

Um that's also a very good matchup, and a lot of folks are watching that.

So we're excited about that.

When you look at our uh schedule, uh, World Cup soccer is not the only thing happening in the entertainment district.

You all can see we've got baseball season is still happening, so you can see that a lot of times the highlights in yellow are the World Cup matches, but there are a lot of Rangers Rangers games which are in between.

We really appreciate the Rangers working with Major League Baseball to ensure that we don't have two of those events on the same day.

So that is a huge help.

You can see around the July 4th weekend and through that next week, we have about 12 days that are gonna be really um jam-packed with a lot going on.

Um, the city has made a deliberate decision to continue with our our important Fourth of July traditions here in Arlington, one of which is the parade on July 4th.

That will still take place.

That's an important thing for Arlington to do, particularly in this 250th anniversary of our nation and 150th anniversary of our city.

It's important to keep that going.

Additionally, the light up Arlington fireworks display will also happen.

That'll be on Sunday night, July 5th.

It will be in a slightly different location.

Um, some folks may remember when we did this during um COVID.

We did the uh the fireworks out in the entertainment district.

We'll be doing that again this time.

Uh so you won't have the bounce houses and the activations around music and all that that are tip that's typically associated with light up Arlington, but we will have the for the Fourth of July fireworks and also a drone show, so kind of a new element uh in the sky this year, which should be very very exciting.

So that's 9:30 on that Sunday night.

Um, and it all culminates, you can see with that um with the semifinal uh on July 14th.

So looking at ticket sales, there are approximately 700,000 tickets available for matches in ATT Stadium here in Arlington.

Um we're thinking between about 35 and 50 percent of those have been sold.

My 35% number comes from some tickets uh numbers I got uh a few weeks ago.

Um we are picking up, it is beginning to sell.

Um each of the nine matches, this is it's an incredibly international event, but each of those nine matches has between 125 and 160 nations represented among the ticket buyers.

So that's super exciting.

Even though a lot a lot of the ticket buyers obviously come from the nations that are gonna be competing.

We also have a lot of other folks who have that who have uh interest.

Um, maybe to be expected, there are higher ticket sales on the matches that have the teams confirmed.

So the first five matches we know who's gonna be playing here, and the last four we don't.

Those are qualifying matches depending on how teams perform in those first the first uh rounds.

So uh FIFA released another group of single single game tickets uh back on March May 8th.

Uh, and it we also know that about 50 percent of the tickets for the matches that don't have the known competitors yet have been reserved because those nations are gonna want to sell those tickets and be able to buy those tickets at the time.

They don't want them all sold out for those events.

So um, so we so that's all that is playing into the to the ticket sales information.

So I'm gonna talk a little bit about preparation in three areas, both what we're doing as a city, also how we're working to help Arlington businesses, and also what we're working on with Arlington neighborhoods.

So we've had a World Cup planning team meeting every month since back in 2023.

You can see all the departments that are represented, and we additionally have some other city partners which are stakeholders out in the in the entertainment district.

We've had great conversations, we've solved a lot of problems, we talked through a lot of things.

It's a super helpful group.

Um, although we've been working on this, I mean I've got emails going back to 2017 on the World Cup.

So we've been at this for quite some time, but really the intense work with these groups in planning started in 2023.

So speaking of businesses, we are working very hard to help businesses who are either connected or want to do business related to the World Cup or might be affected by the World Cup and its traffic and and all of that.

We're trying to help them prepare by giving them as much information as we can.

And we've had a series of town hall meetings, both in person and more recently online, just to help businesses understand.

We're sharing the match times as soon as we knew it, you know, the the dates, the teams, um tips about you know how to, you know, that they'll be bringing a lot of cash, be prepared for that.

Just little things like that.

We're hoping to help folks really be as best prepared to to work forward on this.

Really three groups that we've been focusing on hotels, restaurants, and area businesses.

Tomorrow is another town hall meeting.

We think this is going to be our last one, and we're hoping that folks will be able to attend that.

If there are any businesses that you know of or any businesses that are you know hearing this as watching this live or or recorded, please contact either the convention and visitor bureau or the chamber of commerce.

Either of those groups can get them a link to attend to attend the meeting.

And we've really been focusing on small businesses trying to help them find ways to be involved, whether that's directly doing business or whether that's partnering.

Maybe they want to provide a service to a hotel or provide a service to a restaurant that might be able to help them better serve the public.

So I wanted to go over a few neighborhood concerns in every in every talk I give uh related to the world cup.

I try to share these three things because we're hearing these three concerns, and these three are very common questions.

So the first one is there a worry about whether their homes or their businesses will be safe because there's a perception that we're gonna focus all of our public safety efforts onto the entertainment district while these world cup matches are happening, and that's simply not true.

We have the regular contingent of police, fire, and EMS protecting the city as it usually happens.

There are additional additional personnel, additional equipment, additional response that's dedicated specifically to the plan for these World Cup matches.

So that's all above and beyond what is already keeping Arlington safe.

Another question is boy, it seems pretty expensive.

Who's paying for all of this?

So I will also say that all of the personnel and equipment and public safety and traffic management, all that.

We have an agreement that you all have approved with the host committee where that that funding, that all the all those expensive wills will be covered.

Um, we'll document them, we've arranged what they are, we understand what they are, and those will all be reimbursed to the city.

It's really from three sources.

One is the federal funding that's coming focused on the World Cup.

Another is the state event trust fund, which also could fund some of this, and then finally, there's some fundraising that's happening with the the host committee and with their work.

So all three of those sources are coming together to support, so this is not something that's coming out of the general fund, the all the all the work that's being done out there.

And then finally, there's a question about is the city changing its rules around short-term rentals for the world cup.

And the answer is no.

You will have an adopted program, it's well, it works well, it's been working well, there's no need to change it for the World Cup, because that would, you know, I think affect the program in a negative way.

So I did want to go over a few elements of the short-term rental program.

Um, first is that we have it, it is it's a program that requires inspection.

So we've got it was adopted back in 2019, and we have a senior code compliance officer who's always assigned to this.

We'll be bringing additional code inspectors on on board as needed to help with this with this effort.

We're using a software system called host compliance that comes through Granicus, and that's a system that goes out into the web and searches to try to find properties that might be advertised as short-term rentals, but we don't have them registered.

And they have complaint and hotline as well related to host compliance.

A little more on them.

They actually scrape 60 different websites to go out there.

So if if a property is listed, we're fairly confident that they will find it.

However, we're also relying or welcoming residents who think there may be a short-term rental in the neighborhood to call us.

They can call the action center at 817-459-677 and report that, or they can put it into the Ask Arlington app.

Additionally, we have staff just checking, you know, just kind of getting on Airbnb themselves, getting on VRBO themselves and saying, like, what do we see, right?

Let's let's double double triple check this.

If maybe it doesn't get picked up by host compliance, we don't want one sitting out there that we could have seen in plain sight that we're like, oh wait, we need we need to kind of handle that one.

So we're working on that as well.

Just to go over the eligible locations, the city council and and departments working on this really created a really an interesting system.

So short-term rentals are allowed in a zone that's really anchored by the entertainment district.

That's really the focus area where people might want to come and stay in a short-term rental.

You can see the boundaries of that.

It's the it's generally this area here.

So that's really single-family homes in that area and others can be short-term rentals without a problem.

You also see some other lighter blue areas.

Those are areas that are zoned, either uh RM RM12 or RMF 22, and those are apartments or townhomes or duplexes, things like that.

That's the zoning for that.

Those can also just, as a zoning category, be short-term rentals.

All the orange markings you see on this map, those are all mark the current short-term rental locations at the time of this map.

I will tell you we currently have 310 short-term rental permits issued.

From this is this is information from this week.

24 permits are pending, 10 applications are pending payment.

There are 36 permits pending inspections, and 13 citations for illegal short-term rentals have already been issued and sent to the court.

So you can see that our there's an active, there's a lot of interest in doing this from the public, and so where it's legal, we're working on making that happen, and so there's a lot of work that the the officers are doing there.

But additionally, when it's not legal, there are citations being written.

And just to can you know, just to share again what because you as the council were so in you were very concerned about this and concerned about the time frame.

If we left our usual time to cure, here's a notice of violation, let us educate you on this, and then and then we'll wait to issue the citation.

We're not doing that for this.

We're going straight to straight to citation because wasting time in this area could first a visitor could book a short-term rental that's one day it's online, and then and then when they get here, it's illegal, so they don't have a place to stay.

So we don't want to let that linger.

And we also don't want someone to think, oh, I'll just I'll just keep doing it, I'll just pay the fine.

It's worth it to the, you know, I'll wait for the fine.

So really proactive, assertive program that's going on there.

So I wanted to talk a little bit about the transportation.

Um, so we've got this bus bridge that which may have many of you may have heard of.

A lot of folks ask, well, how will we get all these people into town on match days?

Some could drive, you know.

There are there's parking being sold just like a regular cowboys game or regular rangers game.

There's parking being sold for folks who are coming in.

But additionally, people who want who are who are fans who are ticket holders can take DART or Trinity Metro up to the Center Port Station and get on a bus to take if they show their ticket, they can get on the bus for free and take the bus down to lot H in the entertainment district.

If that bus bridge is sort of the train can't handle that many people, or that bus bridge, the bus coming something south doesn't have enough space, they will also run buses directly from downtown Dallas and downtown Fort Worth to lot H here in Arlington.

Again, free to ticket holders who show their ticket to get on.

So we'll have that, we'll have that happening to bring folks in.

We think that because this is a more international credit, we might have more people seeking the option to take take the public transit.

Um, but of course, there's also the option for for folks to come here in cars.

That's also fine.

A little bit of look in kind of what that last mile looks like.

You can see this area here.

This is lot H, and this is where the buses will be coming.

So folks will be walking down to the stadium.

And you can see this right here.

This is the ride share lot.

And the rideshare lot is right outside of eSports.

And it's a it's a central location for all the ride shares to drop off.

We don't want it to be chaotic.

We want people to be able to drop it off in an organized location and also picked up in an organized location.

And so we'll those so those two are fairly close to each other.

They are right there.

The orange, the orange lots, all of these, these are all not going to be available for parking, because they're going to be related to the FIFA activation.

So they'll be using those.

And then all the um the green lots, or sorry, excuse me, the the blue lots, those are those are going to be sold for for fans who want to come in.

And then you can see these small dots here that have the blue on them, those are all the entrepreneurial lots that are throughout the area.

So folks who typically they often park them for you'll see them you park them for for cowboys games and other things.

So that's also available.

All the red dots, those are our kiosks through Orange Barrel Media, and so those will have wayfinding and advertising and and um information available multiple languages, all on those kiosks.

So we're excited to have those along a lot of the major walking uh trails that come into the entertainment district.

Oh, I will mention a couple things.

We've got um one of one thing we've heard, which is an update, is that the um FIFA has asked that there not be any tailgating in these parking lots uh where folks where the folks are parking.

Um that's certainly different from say uh uh you know a cowboys game, but I would say one of the things I'm excited about related to that is that all of our restaurants in this area, I'm hoping that they will actually gain some of that business for folks stopping in for wanting a place to have a drink, have some bite to eat before they go into the stadium.

So I think that could be a helpful thing for those entertainment district businesses who might otherwise feel like people are just running into the stadium to spend their whole time there and then running out and leaving.

So it might it might help folks linger a bit more.

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

So at this point, I'm gonna turn over the presentation to Brent uh Brent Derod uh from the Arlington Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Can I ask you a question?

Yes, sir.

Go back slide 16, please.

The reversible managed lane running east from the entertainment district.

We don't have that on the west side of the entertainment district, and I-30 is always a parking lot every single day on the west side of the entertainment district, both eastbound and westbound.

Are we are we able to work with Techstone or anybody else to help with that?

Because I can only imagine when we start getting the FIFA traffic on the western side of our entertainment district along I-30.

Um that traffic that is typically very backed up as it is, is gonna get much, much worse.

Sure.

That's a great point, Mayor.

Um I can certainly raise that with our transportation team and have them kind of take that idea and take that back.

Text dot, I mean, they're very involved in the planning process.

Um, so I think we can look to our folks, our friends at the council of governments to help who are helping coordinate all of that to see if that's something that they could begin to work on.

Okay, thank you.

Sure.

All right, Brett.

Oh, go ahead.

Dr.

Odin Wisley.

Jennifer, thank you for this update.

Yes.

Um is the sign on the stadium going to be changed?

Do we know?

I don't know that.

I don't know that.

That covered um the logo um that'll that'll have to be covered.

I don't know the answer to that.

Maybe they changed their mind, huh?

It possibly, but I don't think so.

No, ma'am.

And I will say I'm gonna come back after Brent presents a bit on um the the Arlington welcomes the world.

So um I'll also be available for questions at that point.

Good afternoon, uh Mayor, uh, members of the council.

Uh great to see you this afternoon and uh happy to give you uh a quick update in terms of uh this Arlington welcomes the world.

I want to start out by talking about uh Ambassador Rowe.

Now, this was a concept that was in place in uh Qatar, and it was something that I think could really uh add value to the international visitors who are uh who are coming in.

Um so again, I um we at the CVB we uh we rented space at Spark Arlington, and uh uh with help from uh the city's economic development staff and and all the work done by Jennifer Wickman, Kerry Parker Berry on this, uh we were able to reach out to the uh the consulates of all the different countries that are playing group stage matches uh here in Arlington and just to offer them free space at Spark Arlington.

We at the CVB have rented that space.

Uh and we wanted to uh allow them to be able to create a presence uh there in Spark so that uh anytime any type of assistance may be needed by international travelers.

It could be uh maybe they lost a wallet or they need passport assistance.

Uh maybe there's a birth, a death, uh whatever it may be.

Uh, we just want to ensure that we've got consulates available uh to be able to help these uh these international visitors.

And so uh we at the CVB, we hired a former diplomat, uh Cheryl Pinkney Moss.

Uh she's doing a wonderful job on this project right now as well.

Um we anticipate this uh being open uh June 12th through July 15th.

Uh, operating hours will be uh 9 a.m.

to 8 p.m.

as we move forward with it as well.

And we think it'll be a again a great scenario for international visitors to be able to uh uh to come in and get whatever assistance they need.

We're promoting this on the uh on the kiosks throughout the entertainment district.

As uh Jennifer mentioned, uh we've got uh these uh kiosks now programmed with 13 different languages.

Uh in every uh country that's uh that's represented here in the group stage matches.

We have their uh their language up and on these kiosks as well.

So excited to be able to uh uh to promote that service as we move forward.

Uh on the uh what we're showing here uh some stats, uh especially in in terms of uh uh international visitors and accommodations from FIFA and FIFA Dallas.

You know, probably one of the uh the biggest variables here will be the number of international visitors that that come in for these matches.

Um, and again, there's certainly some headwinds to high ticket prices.

Um you take a look at travel, uh fuel prices, et cetera.

Uh it's going to impact international travel coming in, no doubt about it.

Uh I have no doubt that these uh matches will be uh completely full.

It's just a matter of uh what percentage will be international visitors versus domestic.

And so that's something that uh that we're looking at right now as well.

Uh when we uh we look at just uh the hotel booking update right now, uh, there were uh certainly many FIFA uh room blocks set up in all 11 U.S.

cities uh that are hosting matches right now.

Uh there were a lot of room blocks throughout those cities that did not fill.

And so uh again, the hoteliers have all adjusted, uh, everybody's selling uh to the individual traveler right now.

Uh it's it's going uh certainly very well.

Uh what we're seeing uh you know currently out there is that uh again the first two group stage matches.

So the Netherlands and Japan uh and then uh uh you know England is uh is taking on uh I believe it's uh Ukraine if I'm not mistaken.

I'd have to go back and take a look.

Uh Croatia.

Um bottom line is those two matches right now are doing very well in terms of the bookings and then also the semifinal match.

Uh right now, the uh the lowest matches in terms of occupancy in Arlington hotels, it comes back to those um those knockout stage matches because we don't know uh the teams yet.

Uh, we we certainly anticipate those filling up as well.

Uh one thing to keep in mind uh just uh in in general here in Arlington.

Um, you know, half of our hotel rooms are sold within 14 days uh of arrival, and so it's uh it's something where uh we'll certainly see that type of pickup here as well.

Uh but it's going very well, and we certainly uh believe that uh the night before matches and match nights uh that we will be sold out are very close to it, and certainly the uh the rates will be uh higher than what we typically see.

We're optimistic that June and July will be two of the highest room revenue months uh in Arlington's history.

I wanted to uh uh point out uh the Arlington Welcomes the World brand campaign and and really uh want to uh thank Jay Warren, the city's uh communications director and Kristen Wagner uh from Jay's team.

Uh they were essential in terms of working with our marketing staff at the Arlington CBB uh to create uh this campaign.

What we're showing here, uh again, you're seeing uh uh a billboard.

We'll have two digital billboards uh on the eastern and western ends of the city on I-30 uh to be able to uh to welcome visitors as they enter Arlington.

We'll also have one static outdoor board on the 360 southbound coming into Arlington.

Uh those billboards will be up uh during the months of June and July.

Uh 410 poll banners throughout the uh the entertainment district have been uh created at this point.

I believe all of them are up uh right now as well.

And so uh the uh the content on those, again, it's um it's got that uh FIFA branding to it.

Uh some of them say uh again, uh, you know, FIFA World Cup, others say welcome to Arlington, and uh really excited to uh to have those think it really dresses up the city and welcomes folks and lets them know uh you know that uh that they are in Arlington.

Uh these are uh 20-foot tall inflatable soccer balls.

Uh they've actually arrived.

Uh, thank goodness for Gary Packen and his uh his parks team.

Uh they will move these throughout uh the entertainment district and downtown and other parts of the city uh to create photo opportunities for again whether it's uh FIFA visitors, Arlington residents.

Uh we want to make sure that uh that everybody can uh can celebrate uh and uh and take advantage of these different photo opportunities as we move ahead.

These are sidewalk claims uh that uh that'll be in place throughout the entertainment district.

Uh we're also working with downtown Arlington and providing them with some funding as well to be able to uh help direct people uh to downtown Arlington and to their uh their splash page as well.

But the uh QR code there will take you to the uh Arlington CBB splash page on our website, uh, where we have a lot of uh FIFA related information and where people uh can then connect into hotels, restaurants, uh, and other services.

Uh this is a uh a kit of parts that uh that we put together and again uh my thanks to uh to Jay Warren and his team for working with us on this and and encouraging us to create uh this type of opportunity.

What we wanted to do is create uh some different collateral that Arlington businesses could use to uh to uh really just dress up their business, if you will.

Uh we're partnering on this with the chamber and with uh with downtown Arlington as well.

Uh they've been great about pushing it out to their members.

Uh there's no more um excuse me, no markup on this.

Uh these are our prices that it's basically just a straight transaction between uh the company and uh and Fast Signs produce these uh these different uh elements here as well.

We just want to see Arlington uh you know dressed up and decorated and celebrating uh FIFA World Cup.

We also created these uh these uh social media uh templates, if you will, and so uh different companies can go in and utilize those uh to be able to uh to talk about FIFA World Cup and everything that's happening on that front.

Again, our our thanks uh to uh to the chamber in downtown Arlington uh for partnering uh on this with us as well.

Uh finally, my final slide here.

Uh, just wanted to show you some utility box wraps.

Uh so we've uh been able to uh to wrap 30 uh utility boxes uh in uh in the Arlington Entertainment District just to help you know kind of dress those up a little bit as well.

I should mention all the aforementioned elements that we at the convention of visitors bureau paid for, with the exception of the uh the poll banners, those were paid for by uh by FIFA Dallas, and they'll seek uh reimbursement uh I believe through the state uh on that through the event trust fund.

Uh with that that concludes my presentation.

Uh happy to either answer questions now or at the end, but I'm gonna otherwise bring uh Jennifer Wickman back up to finish the presentation.

Thank you.

So a little bit of additional welcoming that we're doing.

Um, Cynthia Lemus has been producing this Arlington welcomes the world video and and podcast series.

So we've about four episodes today, 140,000 views, um, combined views on YouTube, which is pretty terrific.

We're excited about that.

Uh I would encourage everyone to visit our World Cup um internet our webpage, Arlington TX.gov slash World Cup.

There's information on there for residents, businesses, and also visitors.

So we're hoping folks will see that.

And if you scroll to the bottom of it, there's a World Cup community calendar, and so it's got things that the library and a fun run and some other things that are happening around town, just ways to activate and get excited about World Cup.

I would just generally say on media inquiries, for we're really keeping our folks in the Office of Communication uh busy.

There is an insatiable appetite among the press for uh World Cup content, and so they're doing a great job of fielding inquiries, but also creating suggested stories that they're sharing out, and a lot of them are getting picked up.

So we're really excited about all the um the things that we're we're able to to share and the the coverage that we're getting there um uh through through the um through the media.

Uh so appreciate that.

Just an expanded.

We also have an expanded presence and relationships with Spanish language media, so through meetings, interviews, and ongoing collaboration opportunities.

So excited to be reaching all those folks there.

So I want to talk a little bit about uh a couple of the legacy items that we'll be staying here in Arlington that we're really excited about so this is the Texan golden boot and this is a new sculpture that's going to be out in the entertainment district um artist Steve um he'll he's the artist behind this it's funded by the North Texas Sports Foundation they have a buy a brick campaign if folks are interested in in connecting with that and having their name as a part of this build out it'll be at the corner of Stadium Drive and Cowboys Way you can see there the footings are being poured right now and we have the dedication scheduled for May 28th at two o'clock so we hope everyone will be able to join us for that very exciting we also have um something that I think um our the kid the kids in the in the city will will like um perhaps more than the sculpture is a soccer mini pitch um and so parks this is going into George Stevens Park we're repurposing a pavilion that had not been being used very much and just poured an additional expanded concrete slab there and then this mini pitch is going to go on top of it it's got a fence around it's really um there's one if you've seen it out outside the east which is kind of like a double double um court and it's packed all the time it's very well used we think this will be a really great way to activate George Stevens Park.

We anticipate construction completing by the end of this month and having the opening and dedication in June.

So just a few key key dates and next steps that we have coming forward we have the two um dedications and ribbon cuttings that I just mentioned additionally at your next meeting on June 9th uh you'll have an interlocal agreement to consider with a council of governments that's going to allow them to be the pay paying agent basically for those funds that are going to come in and reimburse the city for its costs related to the World Cup.

There may be some other um items on that agenda as well that are World Cup related that we're still we're working on right now.

First matches in the World Cup are June 11th they're both being played in in um in Mexico so Mexico versus South Africa and Mexico City and then Korea Republic versus Chechia and Guadalajara our first match really the countdown I'm I'm moving towards is that Netherlands versus Japan on June 14th at 3 p.m.

And then our final match is July 14th and that'll be the semifinal match with the um uh contestants still to be determined so I'm happy to answer any questions that you all may have and also Brent can answer questions as well.

Any questions from council yes Dr.

Odom Wesley not really a question I wanted to thank CVB for the I guess it's the hospitality workshop that they conducted last week I think it was Brittany out there.

So we got some certifications out for our small business owners and prep them you want to share a little bit about that.

Thank you Dr.

Odom Wesley and we were really pleased to partner with FIFA Dallas on this they brought in uh Colleen Rickenbacher who's a a renowned hospitality expert and really uh took a lot of Arlington frontline personnel I think about 150 or so through a program uh that um again train them on uh uh how to welcome people in different languages and the type of etiquette that uh that should be displayed uh just to ensure that we put our best foot forward as a destination I really appreciate you mentioning that thank you right how many how many countries have taken advantage of our ambassador row now so uh uh Mr.

Mayor it's it's all eight uh at this point that are in terms of the group uh stage matches and then also uh we have uh Canada and Mexico there as well so 10 different countries uh will have uh consular represent uh representation there at Spark Arlington perfect thank you any other questions from council thank you all appreciate you thank you we'll move on down the 3.2 Chief Brett Steadham talk to us about your annual report thank you mayor members in the city council Brett Stenham Fire Chief here today today to on behalf of the men and women of the Arlington Fire Department to present to you our 2025 annual report.

We have made it great progress this year in all aspects of how we respond to the needs of our residents and our visitors.

All members of AFD continue to serve at the highest level, and I couldn't be more proud of each and every one of them.

They understand the mission, and they put service over self each and every day.

In 2025, we continued to refine our response models to ensure we're sending the right equipment to every call, and being closer to four-person staffing has allowed us to reduce the number of pieces of equipment that we send on certain types of calls, but still deliver high quality service, which has reduced the wear and tear on our members, most of all, and also of our heavy equipment.

This has increased our unit availability, which has reduced our response times.

In 2025, we lowered our total responses by over 4,000 calls, which is about 8%, which is a very high number.

We worked with our ambulance service provider, American Medical Response to refine response protocols to better align resources, such as on cardiac arrest calls, where we lowered response from two heavy apparatus down to one.

We worked also with APD to coordinate responses and decrease our staging time on certain incidents, which has also kept more units available to be able to respond to other emergencies.

This past year, we implemented phase two of our new station alerting system.

This system is significantly faster than a dispatcher calling out units over the radio.

Now, with the push of a button, our units are getting in route sometimes before the dispatcher even hits the button, which has resulted in about an 8% reduction in turnout times.

So turnout times is from the time the call received is received at the station until they actually exit the door in the apparatus.

So, 8% reduction there.

They're also able to view the location of the apparatus on the apparatus computer to receive directional support.

And in addition, when the tones go off, they start off slower, more softly.

And we've added different colored lights that come on in the station that indicate the type of call being responded to.

Both of these things have helped greatly reduce stress on our firefighters.

Our communications division continues to be the best in the region.

They answered over 360,000 calls for service this past year, which included over 49,000 fire calls, 59,000 plus EMS calls, and over 290,000 police calls with an average of over 93% success rate of answering those calls within 10 seconds or less.

So our national average is 90%, so we're above that.

We have initiated development of a new computer aided dispatch mapping system to improve accuracy and efficiency, and we have started integrating new AI solutions for non-emergency call handling and language translation prior to World Cup.

In 2025, we completely remodeled the dispatch center with state-of-the-art consoles, chairs, and we added a quiet room for our dispatchers to go to after they've to decompress after high stress calls.

We also combined our communications division peer team with our departmental peer team to ensure all of our members are receiving support 24-7.

In 2025, we welcomed a new team of medical directors, which has allowed us to expand and grow in our emergency medical response.

This team has hit the ground running with programmatic strategies to help our grow our EMS system and has allowed for more face-to-face time between our members and our medical staff.

This has had a dramatic effect of on how we respond to our patients' needs, and additionally, our partnership with American Medical Response has also continued to grow, and the quality of care and level of service being provided is at an all-time high.

The time we have spent collaborating and growing the Arlington EMS system has taken us to another level.

We continue to be innovative, and our resources are aligned to make us even stronger.

This past year we kicked off the new whole blood program, which most of you are aware of, and to date we have treated over 50 patients at an average of just under two a week, which is an extremely high number.

And we are one of less than 2% of EMS systems nationwide to have this type of program.

We're incredibly proud to have launched it so successfully in 2025.

Last year, our peer support team expanded into the one-peer concept, combining operations, preventions and prevention and communications into one single support network.

This concept has proven to be extremely successful and has expanded our training team dramatically.

This past year, our peer members attended several workshops, including suicide prevention, critical conversation skills, and they also learned how equine therapy can be used to help our members get through PTSD and other work-related stresses.

Our REDCHIP program that was launched in 2024, has funded over 360 counseling hours to date and has been the backbone of our program.

Training is at the forefront of everything we do in the Arlington Fire Department, and we are the leader in innovation, operational readiness, and at preparing the next generation.

In 2025, we added 22 new operations members and one new prevention member.

These members received over 12,000 hours of operations and prevention training and 10,000 hours of EMS training, and they are all now serving the citizens of Arlington.

In addition to our basic training, our incumbent members received over 5,400 hours of professional development and 18,000 hours of continuing education.

These are the highest numbers I've seen in my time in this profession, and there's no doubt we are mission ready.

The Arlington Fire Department continues to lead from the front when it comes to special operations.

These SPECOPS teams include USAR, Hazmat, Swiftwater and Dive, Wildland, Gas Well Response, Aircraft Rescue and Drone Response.

Our members responded to numerous of these types of emergencies throughout the last year and mitigated all of them with great success.

Our SPECOps members also deployed to several statewide emergencies to help the citizens of Texas.

The largest of those deployments was to the Hill Country to assist with the rescue efforts during the catastrophic flash flood.

All combined, we totaled over 300 days of deployments with 53 members being deployed.

This year we are partnering with APD on a drone for first responder program, which APD has been the leader at for many years.

I truly appreciate the partnership with Chief Jones and his staff for allowing us to be a part of the program because it's going to have a tremendous effect.

This is an exciting partnership for us, and it's going to make a have a big impact on how we respond in the future.

It is safer for our members, and it will minimize wear and tear on our frontline apparatus.

Our AISD Fire Academy is still considered one of the best high school academies around.

Other cities reach out to us when they're starting their own program.

In 2025, we delivered 7100 hours of instruction to 39 students.

Our senior class, class 13, consisted of nine of those students, and they had a 100% pass rate.

We recently hired three from past AISD classes and had 54 applicants for our upcoming AISD junior class.

These students not only learn what it takes to become a firefighter, but they also learn respect, accountability, and leadership skills.

The Arlington Office of Emergency Management is known and respected around the state and the country.

Our Office of Emergency Management has been accredited by the Emergency Management Accreditation Program or EMAP since 2014, and we recently were reaccredited.

This accreditation is incredibly difficult to achieve, and it takes months and countless hours of work by our staff to get it done.

Arlington OEM was the second in Texas, the first in North Texas, and only one of only eight in the whole state to receive this EMAP accreditation.

This past year, OEM trained city staff in emergency operations training, preparing them for World Cup and other large-scale events.

They also assisted Arlington Memorial Hospital on an active shooter mass casualty scenario and the city's IT department in developing a cyber attack tabletop exercise.

In 2025, OEM partnered with UTA OEM and launched our first preparedness in the park event, connecting community members and teaching them what it truly means to be ready for several types of emergencies, and we're already planning this year's event, which will be in mid-September.

Another area where we are well known around the country is our special events division.

This past year we supported high profile events such as the Medal of Honor opening, a college football playoff quarterfinal, the Big 12 Championship, Cowboys and Rangers seasons, and many large concerts that can only be held in a place like our entertainment district.

More recently, we hosted the first ever Grand Prix race here in the city where we have set the gold standard for managing an IndyCar race, and those are IndyCars' words, not mine.

In 2025, we had over 270 special event deployments and over 24,000 hours worked.

In the next few weeks, we'll be on the world stage with the largest sporting event there is, the World Cup, but I have no doubt that our special events division will continue to set the standard through innovation, collaboration, and operational excellence.

Our prevention inspection division completed numerous large inspection projects in 2025, uh from One Ranger's Way to the Medal of Honor Museum to the Active and Fire Station 8.

Our emergency ordinance disposal unit provided protection for numerous high-level officials, including former presidents and U.S.

current U.S.

cabinet members during high profile events.

Our investigation unit completed specialized training and interview, interrogation, and case development, leading to over 10 arson arrests in the last six months alone.

Our prevention teams continue to excel in all areas.

Our financial services division continues to enhance operational efficiency through strong financial stewardship and strategic decision making.

Throughout 2025, the team focused on improving financial transparency, strengthening forecasting practices, and identifying areas to reduce costs.

We advanced initiatives by updating our permit and inspection fees to better align with industry standards, and we secured numerous grants to offset costs in training, equipment, and mental health support for our members.

And we also launched our hazmat cleanup fee ordinance.

As we move through 2026, we are constantly reminded of the incredible efforts of our members in all facets of emergency service.

And I want to say it once again, I couldn't be more proud of the commitment to excellence and the work that is done by the men and women of the Arlington Fire Department on a daily basis.

Mission first, service over self, and prepare the next generation.

I'll be happy to take any questions you may have.

Thank you, Chief.

Any questions from council?

Yes, Councilmember Pham.

Well, Chief Chief, first of all, I say uh thank you, uh for being the fire chief in the city of Arlington, Texas, since the date at uh the city hire you, and uh I see a lot of uh smiling faces on our firefighter.

They uh they spoke highly of you, they think highly of you, and thanks for your leadership.

And uh, you the type of leader that uh we need in the the city of Arlington and uh thank you for your service and uh continue to uh lead away and I do appreciate it.

Thank you, Councilmember Hog.

Yeah, thank you, Chief.

Uh I agree with my colleague, Mr.

Pham.

You know, I asked some of our firefighters.

I go, y'all are so happy with the chief.

What are y'all gonna complain about right now?

So uh they find things, they do.

I know.

They're not complaining, they're not working hard, Chief.

So that's the way it goes.

Let me ask a question.

Um, some of the innovative things like the whole blood program and those are just truly amazing.

Um this council worked with uh fire staff and our fire association to really get four man staffing out there, and then you talk about all the training they've done.

Have we seen a reduction in injuries or workers' and we're talking workers comp a little more?

Um, have we seen a reduction from that?

I see you see the cost savings we've had on equipment, and those are huge numbers, but um have we seen a reduction?

I would hope and assume that is a good question.

Um I don't know that I've seen a reduction.

I can definitely get you that information, but um I would say that um we do have some training injuries occasionally.

Always we true, and we we train more than any other department I've ever seen, and that's why we're so prepared all the time, and these guys do such a great job.

Uh, but we do have occasional injuries.

I just I don't know if it's been a reduction or not.

Okay.

It just, you know, you always want to think about how we've been able to, you know.

These are the guys you guys and the police were asking you to put in harm's way um to protect our citizens.

So the more we can do to help increase safety for them, you know.

We've talked about it on bunker gear, some of those basic basic things that we can do, though those are critical factors.

So um I appreciate y'all are y'all are uh an excelling excelling organization, and I bet you didn't even show you've hired 15 from the ASD fire academy, but I bet you if you really counted that number, the amount of graduates who are now working at other departments because it's not easy to get hired by AFD.

Um the ones that are working in other departments, I bet would be um double, maybe triple that.

Well, I know we've had a couple that have gone to places like GM out of our program because uh they come out with the leadership skills and the you know the abilities to just do whatever they want.

Um we're hoping that be firefighters, but it's even more important that they just become leaders at whatever they decide to do.

So we're proud of it.

Any other questions from council?

Yes, council member Odom Wesley.

Thank you, Chief, for this report and for the outstanding work that our fire department does under your your leadership.

I know that a substantial percentage of your calls are related to medical and health issues, and um I see in the reporter uh note from the medical director and just could you say a little bit more about our response to medical calls and how we're handling them.

And I know you and I had a just a brief conversation the other day how we can help educate the public or work on our abuse of the 911 line.

So would you just share a little bit about that?

Yeah, these are these are things that continue, you know.

Calls continue to go up every single year, um, and that's across any department you see.

Um, but I'll say that the um the foresight, the uh what our what our new medical direction team is doing is kind of above standard.

Um they really look for ways to make us better.

We're constantly putting new things in, the whole blood program, um uh just the constant training and re-educating of our folks, is just making us better and better at responding uh as far as trying to bring call volume down.

One of the things that we're gonna be launching on the 27th, so next week, is a nurse navigation line to better help folks that you talk about bringing our numbers down, folks that don't necessarily need a lights and siren ambulance or fire truck to show up, but they need their meta prescription filled, or they need an appointment to a doctor.

This new uh program will help those folks even further.

You know, we have the community engagement team that we've had in place for some time, and they they've had over 200 contacts throughout the city, and they're helping those folks too.

But this new program is gonna have a pretty dramatic effect on what on how we respond.

Yes, ma'am.

Councilmember Gonzalez.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Chief.

You know what I think about you all.

You guys are incredible in everything that you do, not only here, but throughout the community and throughout the world.

Um, with regards to the peer team support system, I mean, have we have we noticed a big increase?

Have we noticed some changes that have happened, especially mental health?

I mean, we we talk about health and safety of the firefighters, but it's also the mental part that's the most, you know, that's the hardest one to really diagnose.

It is so has that really been utilized, or is there things that we can do to help these firefighters?

Definitely.

So we've been really fortunate over the last couple of years to be able to get some grants to help supplement our red chip program, which we launched, like uh talked about in 2024.

Uh we have seen an increase from 23 to 24 and 24 to 25 of use of the program.

Um, and so we just continue to look for ways to support that, support them.

Our peer team members are doing more and more training all the time in different aspects of uh being able to help.

And so we have we have the resources in place currently to manage it.

We just got to continue to support that.

So that that is you're right.

It's it's the biggest thing that concerns me uh with our members is just making sure that their mental well-being is where it needs to be able to be able to respond to calls.

And I mean, like you said, it's critical, and I'm glad people get help when they need it, but how about those that don't know they need it, but the people they work with know it.

So do they have a way of reporting that or be able to say, hey, you know, Joe needs help on this, or he's having issues, or can I mean how's that taken care of?

So we've also we also train our officers to be able to recognize situations when somebody just may seem a little off to refer the peer team to them.

Um the peer team gets out and they go around the stations and visit folks.

Um, if we hear of anything, if we hear of a uh pretty substantial call, we'll you know, we'll tell them, hey, make sure the peer team is there, they have a death in the family, you know, whatever it is.

We're always there to support and help them.

Um, and it's had a very, very good impact over the last few years since we really ramped our program up.

Well, that's great.

I mean, like I said, you you guys are top notch and not just only here, but I mean, firefighters throughout the world are a big fraternity.

When you all see another firefighter, you guys treat each other like you know, a brother, even though you've never met him before, you just feel like it's part of the deal.

So thank you for your service and thank you for the entire department for all they do.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Okay, thank you, Chief.

We're gonna move on down to 3.3, Mr.

Gary Packin.

Tough act to follow, fire department.

Uh thank you, Gary Packen, Director of Parks and Recreation.

Um, here today to talk to you about a project we're working on in cooperation with Arlington Tomorrow Foundation, Carolyn Menasana, Jay Warren Office Communications have been a real help and a great team putting this together.

It's a proposed application for cultural cultural district designation through the Texas Commission of the Arts.

So, what is a cultural district?

Cultural district is authorized by the state of Texas, managed by the Texas Commission of the Arts, TCA.

It's basically a special zone that's dedicated the hardest power of cultural resources to really grow economic development vitality.

Uh the goal was made major focal points, generating businesses, attracting business, stimulating cultural development, and really fostering civic pride.

So far to date, there's 57 cultural districts across the state of Texas.

Five have multiple districts.

As you can see, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio have multiple districts.

Arlington currently has one.

And with this, we'd have our second.

Downtown Arlington Cultural District was designated in 2016.

One thing that we got feedback from TCA was don't and don't expect applications to be approved in the first year.

It may take multiple times.

Downtown Cultural District took two times for that to be approved back in 2016.

Founding members, Theater Arlington, Levit Pavilion, Music Hall, UTA, Symphony, Arlington as well as DAMC.

The goals of the cultural district are pretty simple.

Establish tourism, create destinations, enhance property values, foster local cultural development, attract tourism, encourage business and job development, preserve and reuse historic buildings when possible, and it also provides opportunities for grant funding.

So for example, a cultural district project awarded this fiscal year, had 118 applications, 37 different cultural districts applied.

27 cities received funding totaling over 7.6 million dollars.

Those are specifically for cultural districts.

Overall, for 2016 TCA grants have awarded 65, 66,000 in Arlington.

As a whole, they've awarded about 18 million dollars as in total across the state.

Some success factors, unique and authentic identity.

We feel very fortunate to have our entertainment district and the identity we have with the history of Six Flags, the Rangers, the Cowboys, everything that's going on is a solid base, but yet we're growing more and more as a cultural community in the entertainment district itself.

It has to be walkable.

We have trolleys, we have sidewalks that are going in right now to improve ADA accessibility.

So that's critical.

Community support from not just the cultural district and the cultural district, cultural amenities in the area and throughout the community, but also the residents in the area.

Artists, strategic partnerships are key.

The one thing that we've started just and just in the few meetings we've had this year is creating new partnerships, programming ideas, opening up the lines of communication just by meeting on a regular basis as we form this group.

Anchor institutions, new museums that have been in the cultural district are critical to that success, as well as private businesses.

Events and venues, the events that are going on, the Lone Star Cookout, Barbecue that happened, Chris Kindle are all part of that that enhances and makes districts successful.

So over the past few years there's been a lot going on in the district.

You're well aware of our AMA is fully operational at the Expo Center, Texas Live, Lowe's Hotel, National Medal of Honor opened last year.

One Ranger's Way is successful.

Significant investments in Six Flags.

Orange Barrel Media has put up some unique wayfinding opportunities for us, which is a unique opportunity for us to help communicate and direct our visitors.

The entertainment districts sculpture trail is something I worked on years ago, and ironically, it's the oldest thing on this list, and it's it was 10 years ago that we created that.

And then AIDS Center for Visual and Performing Arts is a real unique gem in our district and for our community.

So what's coming in the future?

Again, sculptures and murals.

Right now we're working on 17 murals, sculptures in the district itself across the city.

They aren't all in the entertainment district itself, but we definitely have a strong commitment to arts and culture in our community.

Continued exhibitions and events at the museums and the expo center.

Growth in stadium tours and live music.

There is a substantial amount of live music that's happening, even just the live by lows.

It's amazing how much is going on from an arts and cultural perspective.

Grand Prix, the first year this year, it's coming back next year, FIFA World Cup.

New development on the perimeter of the culture of the entertainment district that we'll talk to you here about in a second, and then obviously new police uh amenities, both at uh North Arlington as well as Choctaw.

So the boundaries of the district, this is a little bit smaller than the entertainment district as you may know it.

Uh, we want to make sure it was walkable, as it mentioned earlier.

I 30 to the north, Collins to the west, division on the south side, and roughly 360 to the east.

The boundaries can be modified as things happen in the district grows and changes.

So that is an opportunity that we can approach down the road.

But we felt the entertainment Arlington Entertainment District was already a stable brand, it's already out there.

Why try to change it?

It's who we are, it's what we do, it's where we invest a lot of time in entertainment in our community, and we felt that we need to stick with that brand.

So proposed goals, you know, what we aim to achieve.

Establish effective government governance, obviously working with the stakeholders in the area with our department, um, making sure that we're following TCA guidance and rules and regulations if we're fortunate to be awarded.

Enhanced communication.

I talked about that earlier.

Just having meetings on a regular basis have opened up doors and lines of communication with both the city as well as private businesses.

Placemaking opportunities, whether it's arts and culture or sculptures, murals that we're working on, those are all opportunities that we're working on to achieve grant opportunities.

I mentioned earlier, and then maintain a long-term strategic focus.

So I know we're gonna be working with AMA as a culture master plan moving forward, so looking forward to that.

So stakeholder outreach.

Uh, we have a working group that here I'll have in the next slide, but we've worked with all of these entities to get feedback on the creation of this cultural district and working on this application.

Uh, in fact, we're going to meet with one ranger's way residents this evening.

Um, so looking forward to meeting with them, and then also have talked to public art people in the community, our cultural networking group, as well as the park board.

So, what we've heard the desire to create a second district is real.

Um, there was support for that concept.

Want to make sure that both districts are really working together.

Uh they're treated equally, they're separate distinct brands so people don't misperceive what's going on in the different districts, and they all have those strong identities.

There's walkability between the districts, and as public works enhances sidewalks, that'll get better and better, and then as development continues to improve, that will enhance that opportunity as well.

Uh, grant opportunities should be limited to nonprofits and government agencies.

That's something that is controlled by TCA.

Creating neighborhoods within the district.

So our the entertainment district is large and it's expansive.

There's a lot going on there, the buildings are huge, but it's still very walkable.

We want to make sure that maybe we create neighborhoods, whether this is the museum district or this is the educational district, that we could use that for marketing purposes and branding as well.

From an organizational structure as we have it right now, uh everything is going through Parks Recreation Culture.

So we'll be the the gatekeeper, the person that's guiding this.

As I mentioned earlier, ATF and Office Communications have been very vital in making this happen, working with a leadership council, which is made up of focused uh businesses uh in the district itself, including the CVB, Texas Live, Lowe's, Cowboys, Rangers, Six Flags, EDC, uh, AMA, Medal of Honor, are all providing input and direction to us.

So next steps, we have some a timeline here that's getting pretty tight.

Uh, we're working to complete the document by June 1st.

We did submit a draft application over to TCA yesterday, so they can go through and give us some feedback before we submit officially on the 15th of June.

Uh, we are gonna go to Park Board on June 8th and give them an update.

We've had one briefing with them already, and then on June 9th, we'll have something on the agenda for resolution supporting the application for city council to consider.

Um, and then final review by the leadership council on June 11th.

So those are the timelines uh that we're working towards so in the next few weeks.

Any questions or comments for Gary from council?

Councilmember Gonzalez, thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Gary.

I really have a question, I think for Trey.

I mean, I'm first of all, thank you for the presentation.

I'm glad we finally got it going because we first discussed this.

There was some issues with you know one group with the other group.

So I'm so happy that we're looking forward to to moving forward.

So one of the things that we discussed was to get to instead of calling it the entertainment district, we were talking, we were calling it the district.

Have we sort of just stopped that or do we call it an entertainment district?

I've been just calling it the district because of so um, you know, to what Gary's saying, it's always been called the entertainment district.

We did go through a little bit of a kind of a branding exploration exercise a few years ago, and we we didn't know it when we saw it, it didn't nothing popped out.

So uh a placeholder was for us just to become the district, kind of like the Ohio State University, right?

It you know, you don't have to go to X Cities Entertainment District, right?

You know in North Texas, the district is the district for the whole region, right?

Was kind of the thought.

Um, and it it works fine.

I don't know that it like resonates deeply, it doesn't create an emotion necessarily, but it but it works, it works fine.

So I think it's beencome a little more interchangeable between the district or the entertainment district until we find the thing that really suits us.

Um so either way we could go go with.

Yeah, it sort of reminds me of UTA with Mav Up and Buckham.

I mean, that buckham is just not taking off the Mav Up has been there forever.

So thank you, Trey.

Thank you, Gary.

Gary, I'm I'm excited about this.

I'm ready to have another cultural district assigned to Arlington.

I I dealt with this issue when we first started this, where there was concerns from the other cultural district that this would be competitive and it's not a competitive process.

If you make a submission and it's warranted, you get the money type of thing.

I understand that.

I am concerned that other cities smaller than Arlington is asking for more stuff than we have.

There's no downside of asking for grant monies to help our cultural districts.

So I just want to make sure that once we do this, let's take advantage of the cultural district designation.

That's why we're there is to get those type of monies on there.

I looked at your slide and I forget which I was looking back on here to see which one it was, but I think it was $3,600 Arlington received.

I'm sorry, that uh why?

So that's I know you you're not answering that because you're not the one overseeing this one, but when you look at Denton getting 134,000, I'm thinking, how is it that we're so limited here?

And my only explanation is we're not asking.

So um, so this is for the cultural district project grant.

They have a number of grants.

Uh, these are just for districts itself.

What I don't have is how many people applied and didn't get awarded.

So it is competitive.

Um, it's competitive amongst other cities.

Yeah, that's correct.

Um, so they they do give they give 7.6 million dollars out for this grant, and they increase that roughly two million dollars recently over the past couple years.

So there is funding available, and uh the feedback that we got from them, as long as you have a competitive grant application and project, we're gonna award it.

It may not be the same award every year if it's kind of a similar project every year to year, but they are looking to award projects, and overall it was 18 point five million dollars total that's available that they've awarded across the entire state, those aren't necessarily all cultural districts, but two arts entertainment cultural entities.

Trade do we know are our grant group helping that cultural district at all?

I mean this this is this has been run by the downtown organization so they're responsible for managing the one that's over the downtown area.

We haven't been directly involved in it and our our grant people are helping do public safety grants park grants all that doesn't mean that they couldn't help here they just didn't exist a year until a year ago so they weren't around to even help but could they help yeah we just need to find the right projects to submit to be successful.

I just don't want us to leave money on the table for the cultural districts in the city of Arlington.

I mean the worst that can happen is they say no.

I think that's one good opportunity for our parks recreation and cultural department is to help foster those discussions and help push arts and culture across the community not that we're experts by any means but we're here to help.

Yeah.

Anything else from council appreciate you sir thank you thank you.

Lemuel Randolph workers compensation program and administration 3.4 please thank you very much mayor and members of city council aluminum randolph deputy city manager.

So a number of you have had some questions about our workmen's compensation program recently and I know a number of you have seen recent articles in the media regarding specific cases throughout agencies in the region about how they've managed certain workmen's cases and so we wanted to provide you an overview really at a higher level wanted to talk about how our workmen's compensation program is administered talk about some of the data regarding claims and I may have some answers for you Bowie with respect to kind of public safety and how that's trending and also what we're going to be doing moving forward.

This is a highly complicated and highly regulated industry and so we want to help demystify that for our employees to give them a little clear guidance on on how to pursue these cases.

And so let's let's move forward but first a little bit of context the city provides significant benefits for employees and we established this financial wellness you know graphic a couple of years ago to really identify the five key areas of benefit that we provide our employees from our market wages which includes not only the base pay but all the special pays the step pay sick leave sell back and that compensation our retirement benefits including 401k 457 and obviously TMRS and then we have a number of life insurance products that are available for employees as well as training I mean you heard the chief referenced the amount of training that FIRE provides for its its staff well we have a lot of programs for all employees throughout the city in addition to tuition reimbursement and we heavily invest in the education of our workforce that last category physical and mental wellness is where our workmen's compensation program resides and so we'll dig into a little more detail regarding that program.

So what is working compensation in essence it's an insurance program.

And what what is not is as well known though is that it has two major categories most folks are familiar with the medical benefit side of it but it also includes a wage replacement and income side and we'll talk a little more detail about that.

But obviously in order to qualify they have these these incidents have to be related to a work related injury injury or diagnosis and then the medical providers are specifically authorized to to take workmen's compensation cases so not not all medical providers do that.

And it certainly must be reasonable and necessary.

As far as income and wage replacement benefits, there are a number of different categories that we'll talk um in more detail about.

But in essence, it's the theory is that if that work-related injury has caused them to to miss significant time, then there's an allowance to be compensated to to certain limits with respect to that lost time.

And so it is governed by the Department of Insurance, division of workmen's compensation.

Again, highly regulated agency, establishes guidelines and procedures for handling of workplace injuries.

It defines employee rights and responsibilities, insurance requirements, dispute resolution processes, which we'll talk more about, and then administrative violations and penalties.

And so there are a lot of requirements on the city's end to ensure that we're in compliance, or we could be subject to a number of different penalties.

And so how we manage these cases is critically important.

All public employers are required to provide workmen's compensation for their employees, I believe nationally, but certainly in Texas.

And there's a number of ways that that can be done, either through self-insurance, through a license carrier, or a risk pool.

Since 1989, we have been self-insured.

And so what that is what that is that means is that we hire a third-party administrator to manage our workmen's comp cases, and we'll talk more about more about that.

So I mentioned this is highly regulated agency.

And so we'll go through a number of legislative changes that directly impact how we administer workmen's comp.

But House Bill 2771 expanded the course and scope for firefighters and emergency personnel.

In 17, the creation and designation of a first responder liaison via the Office of Insured Employee Counsel before this provision.

2019 House Bill 2143 added PTSD, it's compensable.

And so the idea there is that there is a presumption that if you have one of those cases of cancer, it is presumed to be workmen's comp related.

Moving forward, House Bill 471.

In essence, this allows for or ensures that any income benefits are offset by workmen's comp payments in the event that they're missing time related to their injury.

House Bill 4464.

You heard the chief earlier talk about task force deployments.

Well, this provision ensures that the host agency, in other words, the city covers those employees while they're on deployment under workmen's comp.

And then finally, House Bill 2488 allows for contested hearings either through Zoom or other online systems.

And so how do we administer it?

Well, we have a division within the city, the city's risk management and safety division.

Lacey Stewart is our risk manager, right behind me.

So her division is responsible for the tracking of all the cases related to workmen's compensation through our third party administrator.

We also have HR consultants that ensure the salary continuation and return to work programs are managed effectively.

And that third party administrator currently is a company called ASNG out of Houston that provides that oversight.

They make determinations on compensability, and we're responsible for managing that third-party contract.

And so a little more detail on those two areas that we talked about, both the medical care and then the wage wage replacement.

In terms of the medical care, as I said, the care must be reasonable and necessary per medical evidence through the Office of Disability Guidelines.

There's also provision for lifetime medical, and that does mean lifetime.

That means post-termination, post-retirement.

If it is determined that that employee has been impacted for a lifetime, that benefit could apply.

You know, based upon the extent of the injury and nature of the injury.

Wage replacement, and we'll get into a little more detail about the different categories.

But generally speaking, disability allows for up to 70% of the average weekly wage and then the salary continuation.

The state requires 70% of average weekly wage.

However, several years ago, the city elected to offer 100% of wages for the first 90 days, it doesn't have to be continuous, but for 90 days.

And so I referenced some of the different categories, and these really kind of go up depending on the severity of the workman's comp uh injury.

So that first block in part impairment income benefits that category, in essence, what a doctor will determine is the impairment rating of a particular injury.

So that first category goes up to about 14%.

So if an employee is diagnosed to be impaired, let's say at 3%, then under this equation, you would you would multiply that 3% times three weeks at 70% of average weekly wage, and that would equate to a payment under that benefit.

Moving forward, the supplemental income benefit again is for 15% or higher.

So a literal higher compensation for that one.

And then the lifetime income benefit not only comes with that payment, but also is triggered with a 3% annual increase.

And then finally the death income benefit for spouses, for minors, and for children that uh up to the age of 25 if they happen to be in college or trade school, and also includes a death benefit of up to 10,000 post-2020.

So let's talk a little bit about denials.

There are denials through the process, and they could come through a couple of different ways.

Either the it was determined that there is no injury or illness that was sustained via exposure, and we'll talk a little bit more about that when we look at the data.

It did not occur within this course in scope, and so they certainly may be injured, but it's determined that the injury was not the result of work-related incident.

There simply isn't supporting medical evidence for to justify the approval.

And then it could be a disqualifying reason, intoxication, courseplay, you know, those types of things would likely preclude a approval.

There are also partial denials, and so that could come through the extent of injury diagnosis or lack of substantiation in terms of the inability to perform the functions of the job.

And so, how do we resolve disputes?

Well, the first thing uh is important to understand is that the dispute resolution resolution process really goes both ways is for employee and employer.

But there are a couple of steps that are allowed under an appeal process.

The first is that benefit review conference held with the hearing officer, and each side kind of brings their information to bear, and then a recommendation of decision is is based uh from that uh that hearing officer.

Um if there's if there's not satisfaction at that level, then a contested case hearing uh can be uh can be provided.

An administrative law judge uh administers that that process, and they'll issue a written decision regarding that case, and then that can be appealed to a panel, which is a panel of judges that will review all the information.

They can either um change the decision, uh, they could reverse the decision or they could um request that the uh administrative law judge go back and reconsider uh the case.

And then the judicial review process is not part of the formal process, however, uh if an employee, for example, is not has uh happy with the results of that appeals panel, uh, they can certainly avail themselves of the the courts to make a final determination on their case.

So let's look at the data a little bit.

Um, and a couple of things I wanted to draw your attention to.

Um, one to address at least an aggregate um answer uh for for Mr.

Hogg related to how we're trending on cases.

Of course, this is all public safety, so this includes police as well, but it does show uh a in or excuse me, a decrease in uh number of cases overall from 2021 at 505 and most recently at 279.

Um of the interesting factors there though is that the cost per case has has increased over time.

Another area that I wanted to draw your attention to is this line regarding the exposure, no injury sustained.

And so you'll note between 2022 and 2023, a significant increase in denials, and that really relates to um situations where there was an exposure that was um suggested by by an employee, for example, and that could be exposure to um some type of disease or infection.

What typically happens is that the workman's comp uh process will send that employee for testing to uh validate or to confirm whether an exposure exists.

Um in many cases, no exposure was found, and so that's what it tracks.

But one of the things that we weren't diligent about though is denying the case at that level, and so what would what could potentially happen is that if a denial is not made, and then some years later, an employee um claims uh some impairment based on this exposure, it could put us uh the city into a position of some liability, and so um that's that's one reason that major change uh is shown in the data uh relating to those full denials.

However, overall, um we we trend around a million three, kind of as an average in terms of of overall cost, and that includes the income benefits, uh, those categories that I referenced earlier.

Um as it relates to cancer specifically, we had uh since 2019 we had 18 claims, and 15 of those were considered compensable, uh three denied, which um likely related to not meeting those 11 cancer uh factors over the course of that time.

That total compensation for those cases was about $600,000 over those over those years, very different picture on the civilian side of the data.

Um there just aren't a lot of of cases for our civilian population.

Um the nature of the job is is very different.

Um, and you'll you'll likely find most of these cases are are for folks in you know public works and water that might have some slightly elevated risk, but generally uh very low claims across the board for our civilians.

And so what are we doing?

What are some of the processes that we're undertaking?

Um, what are the kind of the advocacy steps?

Uh well, one of the things that we have to do often is to track legislative changes.

Um, you know, as you can see by the data, it's there's not a legislative session that doesn't go by that there's not some change to workmen's comp.

So ensuring that we're up to date on all those changes and that we're implementing the changes within our our processes.

Um the trends analysis and that trends analysis really highlighted our need to dig into that exposure non-injury category, and so um taking uh uh hard look at those types of trends, enhance oversight of our TPA, really important, particularly as it relates to to our public safety claims based on the nature of their work.

And we'll talk in more detail about the special handling instructions, but uh since we're self-insured, we have a lot more flexibility on how we can manage some cases than perhaps other agencies could.

And so we developed and are refining special handling instructions for some cases so that we we can ensure that our TPA is managing those in the manner that we prefer, and then obviously um just being available for contact for uh various employees who may have uh questions.

Um as it relates kind of the overall context.

While you'll certainly hear from time to time about concerns relative to workmen's comp, uh the reality is that every case is different, and you could have similar injuries in two different uh employees, but they may have different results, and it just depends on the the unique circumstances and the fact-specific circumstances of each case.

Um so the outcomes do vary uh uh among employees, but there are uh a number of kind of emerging issues and concerns that we're we're working through that fall into that gray area.

Uh as an example, as as you know, and and Jennifer talked about earlier, we hire uh excuse me, our stadiums hire a lot of our public safety folks for off-duty work.

Um, and currently, um, when they're working off-duty, their workmen's compensation is managed by those entities, by either the rangers or the cowboys.

So that may be an area we want to look at because uh frankly, the while the the medical side works very similar to how the city uh manages things, the compensation side doesn't, and so uh that's an area uh that has been expressed by both uh police and fire of concern.

Uh in addition, we have a contract with our uh our APD motor officers, and by contract, coming to and from work, uh they are covered, although workmen's comp generally would not cover those employees, but our contract allows those to be to be covered, and so uh that brings to mind um you know how to manage take-home city vehicles and to what extent uh you know should those folks or or should they be covered coming to and from work specifically, and so those are some of the areas that we're we're working on and certainly hot topics for consideration, and there's certainly cost considerations to those areas as well, and so kind of what to expect uh moving forward.

Um, really, we're we're currently working real diligently to take care of our employees.

Um we recognize the risk that they're taking on our on a daily basis to ensure the safety of our public, and it's our obligation to to ensure the same for them in terms of of making them whole when they're injured on the job.

Um part of that process though is to demystify workmen's comp.

As I indicated, um, this is this is just surface level that I'm getting to at this point.

It is a highly complicated and regulated uh industry.

And so we're trying to make it um you know more transparent, and so we're creating some interactive tools for our employees to be able to use a matrix to help determine kind of the workflow if they have active cases or concern, not only for employees, but also for their supervisors.

Um we're gonna be creating some process mapping guides that will help them as well.

Standard SOPs we're gonna we're developing as well.

So, you know, Lacy has a lot of knowledge in her head, but um, you know, Lacy can't be everywhere all the time, and so we're working hard to get all this information out publicly available, so that uh there's there's no uh no thought about why certain things were done.

And just this week, so later on this week we have meetings with both the um police and fire associations, and we'll be unveiling some collateral for them to take uh to their places that will be kind of how-to guides as we start to roll out some of these new uh new kind of media uh pieces that will help uh demystify the process and provide some some answers to to questions that they may have.

And I know that was a lot of information and uh I know a little bit about this subject area, uh, but if you have technical questions, Lacey, uh hopefully we'll be able to answer those, but certainly any other questions you might have, uh, be happy to respond.

Any questions or comments for Lemuel or anybody else that may have greater knowledge?

I'll ask questions, but not greater knowledge, like that is uh Lacey, thank you for what you do because workers' comp as Lemuel said is uh highly regulated.

Each state is different.

These organizations there are third parties are running them across all 50 states, and each state has their own kind of set of rules that they get a go by.

Um I do want to ask a couple questions, and Lemuel, you may have to defer quickly to Lacey.

Um, and some of these, and listen, I work in the HR benefits world, but I'm by no means an uh workers' comp expert.

I try to avoid it at all means possible because it is tough.

Um, let me ask what uh what percent of claims have gone to appeal?

Like I didn't see that in the data, like how many actually go have to go to appeal from our members?

Uh, for noise, because sometimes we see from third parties that are automatically denied, and that you kind of have to go through that.

What would you say is that that number?

And I don't have to have an exact number.

Afternoon mayor and counsel Lacey Stewart Risk Manager.

I don't have the exact number, I can certainly pull that number for you, but I can tell you it is a very low amount that goes through the actual appeals process.

It is less than 25%.

Okay.

And Lacey, you know, it's always about a balance for you of cost control versus fair treatment, right?

That's the world of workers' comp.

Like you've got a budget you've got to try and work with, and your goals to reduce, you know, hopefully we're training and keeping people safe so that our workers' comp claims go down and historically what five percent or probably 95% of your cost of those claims for your budget.

So it's always a balance.

How do you think we compare to other like cities?

Like I see our numbers of our workers' comp, but I have no comparison to see are we we performing well or are we not performing well?

So to other cities, I don't have the exact as far as other cities, but the industry and for the work that our first responders, as well as our public safety and our employees that are out in the field, we are just a little bit lower than the average, lower on spend, lower on claims.

What where where do you on both on lower on claims and spin?

Sometimes we are a little bit higher because cost our medical care does increase over time.

And because of the added benefit that we have for our employees with the salary continuation, we do see that our costs are going to be higher than a private employer because we offer the 100% salary.

And could you talk through a look because return to work programs are critical for workers' comp programs?

I mean that is like we want them to be healthy, but if we can get them returning in their time back to work, could you talk?

I just don't know much about our return to work program.

I know we have one.

We do, we actually have a very robust return to work program.

We do try to place that employee back in their department if we're able to.

Oftentimes we're not able to, and do we do we do have other opportunities throughout the organization throughout the city that we can place employees that may be the action center, they may be the library, it may be at the animal services shelter.

And so, like with you know, listen, firefighters and police when someone can't return, how many do we in that program?

Is it I don't know what term you call it?

Sometimes I heard it called being on the beach when you're not actually out working a truck, but you're doing things maybe in a call center, um, things like that.

Is that part of our return to work program?

Yes.

Okay.

Generally speaking, we do see there's a higher percentage of an employee returning to work if we're able to place them at work in some capacity, even if it's not in their department.

And Lacey, you may not know this.

What do we have budgeted?

Do we know what we have budgeted this year for workers' comp?

About that same number of 1.3 or so.

Yes.

So our workers comp fund is actually separate from our HR risk management fund.

And we just we kind of manage those that budget.

Do we keep a reserve pool in there?

Okay, and do we know what that reserve pool is?

I don't know that exactly.

I was asked this other year, I was like, there's no, I thought about sending it early to Spencer to say what do we have on that.

Um let me see if I had anything else.

Let me ask, and listen, I'm not saying this and encouraging it.

I'm not asking and saying anything wrong with a workers' comp company.

I don't even know anything about them.

Um have we audited our workers' comp program from our internal audit department in the past?

And the second time question is when was the last time we bid um our workers' comp program out?

And I'm not encouraging anything, I'm just inquisitive asking a question.

Absolutely.

The last audit that we had was on the actual claims themselves, not the operations of the ASN of the ASNG or our TPA program, and that was in 2021.

You can't expect that there will be an audit for the claims as well as the city's special handling instructions, the city's expectations and standards that is gonna be implemented as annual.

And the last time that our program was bid was in 2025.

Okay, so we do a lot of bids, so I forget why we've had on that.

Um, I think that's perfect.

I appreciate it.

Thank you, Lacey.

It's the workers' comp it's a tough segment.

So I appreciate what you're doing because it's a lot to handle.

Let me add one last question.

Maybe you're Lemuel.

Um, we see a state rep making a lot of claims, a lot of workers' comp things.

I won't even say his name, y'all.

Everyone can look it up and Google him.

And he's he's gone after Fort Worth a fair amount, he's hit some pieces in Arlington.

What is his biggest complaint with what's happening on the workers' comp if either y'all have that general concept?

I think the biggest complaint is the timely care, making sure that the employees have that access to that care.

Very timely.

Uh, one of the things that we've always also seen is helping the employees find care.

Sometimes their care requires specialized treatment or specialists that can include, you know, doctors that are not your everyday primary care physician, a pulmonologist, or you know, a dermatologist or things like that.

So sometimes that they may be difficult as well as time away from work, making sure that they ensure they ensure that the employees have enough time away from work to recover.

Okay, thank you.

And listen, it cities I think have it harder on workers' comp than most other organizations.

We have all our sworn officers or in the line of danger every day.

I'm actually really shocked our water and our public works numbers are as low as they are.

Um, I would have thought they would have been much higher than what what they showed in this report.

So I commend that group especially because I think those could quickly get out of control.

Um, but boy, we've seen how water and public works works on safety.

So it's obviously working.

So I appreciate thank you for all the data, and thanks for tolerating all my questions.

Just one question for uh the shrug to follow up.

We've well, we've had some some audits kind of done within the program.

Internal audit has not looked at workers' comp in some time because of some of those questions came up.

I went down and talked with Susan about that a little bit.

1996 is their records the last time internal audit took a look at it, and so I've asked her to give some consideration to adding that to her program in the future.

Thank you.

I think I think that's helpful and a probably a good recommendation just to double check.

I'm sorry to turn loose an insurance guy on y'all like that.

Council member fam.

Well, uh Lacey, so we paid a third party to handle the workman comp for us, right?

That is correct.

Okay, so we do it costs a lot of money every year, paid a third party company or the exact number to they charge it per claim or did charge.

We do not charge per claim, it is a flat rate.

Flat rate per year.

Yes.

Okay, and then we have the reserve set the side who's settled the claim.

Yes.

Okay, and how on the average, how close how long is a claim open until you're close?

On average about six to seven months.

Six, seven months.

Okay, okay.

Yeah, because I I've been told years ago that my uh my previous employee don't recommend me file what wouldn't come because once you do it, it's on your record.

If you leave the company, nobody wants to hire you, they see you know, like a uh they call it like um like an index, you know, injury index.

You know, you bottle injury claim and vehicle get a list, so you know I use settle claim for a living, so I never file when the workman comes, I just you know, take ask when they put some band-aid and should move on.

So, but uh that thank thank you for answering that question for me.

Any other questions from counsel Dr.

Odom Wesley?

Thank you for all this information and breaking it down so that we can understand it.

I remember a few years back, we did have an employee that actually came to a council meeting and was dissatisfied with I guess the coverage or that that she received.

I'm just wondering, looking at your emerging issues and concerns if we learn anything from that case.

Uh, it was a receptionist exposed to fumes during the elevator installation.

I don't know if you might remember, but have we had other cases like that and what did we learn from that?

So I recall the case that you're referencing.

Um, that was a unique case.

Um, and so I don't know that there's a specific learning lesson that we could attribute to that case, other than perhaps how uh we help staff manage those complaints as they come through.

Um, and so that would be a lesson learned in terms of helping our supervisors in terms of how to manage those issues as they as they come through.

Uh one of the things that that I would say though, relative to kind of moving forward is um we're we're perfecting a lot of processes now.

We're gonna be unveiling a lot of new strategies to help our employees, and so uh within a few months we want to see how those those things are working and check in with our police, particularly on a police and fire side, check in with them on a more regular basis on how those uh guides are working, because we don't want anyone to go into this process uh frustrated before they start.

And that's what's what's happened in some cases.

We want them to have as much knowledge as possible on the front end to make it a lot less stressful uh moving moving through it.

We also are going to be tightening up as as I reference our instructions to our TPA on how to treat certain cases, and not only how to treat them, but providing us foresight on emerging cases before they even get uh you know fully filed so that we can have some input and in terms of of those discussions.

So uh it's you know it's a work in progress.

Uh we're working hard to really assist in that process to what I keep saying is a highly complicated area, but there are things that we can do that we're going to do to help make it a little more seamless.

Any other questions?

Council member Gonzalez.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, thank you, sir.

Two questions, I guess.

Two questions.

With regards to workers' comp after 90 days, is that when long-term disability comes in, or does that work together in conjunction or it's covered for 90 days?

What happens to an employee if they can't come back at that point?

So the 90 days is for salary continuation.

So that just means that for 90 up to 90 days, the city will cover that employee salary at a hundred percent.

After that 90 days, the employee is eligible for what we call temporary income benefits.

That is at 70% of their average weekly wage, and they are eligible for that benefit up to 104 weeks, or once they are placed at maximum medical improvement.

Okay.

To aid in that 70%, employees are also allowed to supplement their personal accruals to make up that difference to keep them in a you know, in a more whole position.

Okay.

That makes the other questions.

You sort of answered the other question also.

So thank you.

Okay, go ahead, Trey.

Well, just a couple other things I know that have come up in this in this particular area that I think might hit a little bit in the part of what Mr.

Hog was sitting to.

Uh I've recently received a couple of uh pieces of feedback.

One that came from CLET regarding the one year uh provision as it relates to the statute that was passed in 2023.

Um, and we've we are in the process of updating policies to uh be in better conformance in that area.

I think we had a more conservative interpretation of that than what we've probably needed to.

So we're in the process of changing that.

We've communicated that back to the uh CLEAT folks, and so that and we've communicated, I think that to our labor labor leaders as well as it relates to how we're gonna be making sure that the one year uh statutory provision for public safety is is covered.

Um, and then the other um area that that we've heard, and it goes back to this fact-specific kind of question, and it's one of these emerging issues as it relates to how we administer off-duty assignment.

Um, what we've historically done uh is the the the venue or the teams are providing workers' comp insurance, just kind of on background more administrative kind of protection, if you will.

Um, and what we have done is we've accepted responsibility or compensable status when it goes into kind of a more of an action-oriented use of force, use of law enforcement kind of scenario.

And one of the ones that got some attention here this last couple of months was when the high school playoffs occurred at the stadium and there was a lot of youth running, you know, around, and our our uh our folks were trying to corral that and kind of calm that situation, and the TPA in that situation uh determined that that was a quote security enhancement.

It wasn't law enforcement, and so as we we dug into that, that's one where we've changed a process to make sure that the fact set is more fully known by the TPA through communication with our risk office because no one would look at that video and not determine that that's not a law enforcement activity that's going on, right?

So um, but I understand why they made that determination with the lack of information based on it being an off-duty job, it's looked at differently.

We'd kind of provided some wisdom to help them look at that in a different light, and we'll have to kind of continue to process improve.

But it's always um I like that term fingerprints.

They're all fact unique, right?

They're all different based on what you were doing, where you were doing, when you were doing it, how you were doing it.

So it's it's not always black and white, and uh we're continuing to listen to folks and listen to feedback and make uh process improvements that are hopefully helpful to everyone.

Kind of related to that uh one of the the goals that we have uh out of this this process is to really uh educate our employees on how to complete the the forms and what evidence to provide.

Um, you know, we need all of the information to be able to fully evaluate each case.

And in some cases, uh, and this may have been one, I don't know, but in some cases uh we get partial information, and that partial information isn't enough to meet the requirements of being compensable.

Had we had all the information, for example, it may have been a different determination.

So certainly a work in progress.

Anything else?

Thank y'all so much.

Uh 3.5 Spencer Slider Council priority, please.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council Spencer Slider, Chief Financial Officer.

Uh, real quick before we begin, uh, Councilmember Hogg.

Uh you were asking for what we keep reserved for workers' comp uh $500,000.

So uh I'm here today to give you your quarterly update on the council priority uh preserve financial stability and resilience.

This is our second quarter update.

Um this is a new priority that was created last year uh consolidating multiple priorities uh that had previously touched various topics.

At its core, it is to preserve the financial stability and resilience through the disciplined fiscal management and sustained investment of essential infrastructure and through forward-looking initiatives.

This year we have 43 business plan projects.

Uh so kind of keeping in the practice of the last few presentations I've given you.

I will keep a couple key high-priority projects on here and then try to cycle through new items for you each quarter.

One item that we're going to keep on here until it's either the complete, or y'all tell me to stop talking about it.

Is the construction of our police North District substation.

Everything's still going fine with that project.

It is still due for completion early 2027.

Another project nearing its completion is the updates and infrastructure improvements to our Northeast Library.

That's still ongoing and just about finished.

And then our new traffic management center is buttoning up very soon and should be ready just in time for the World Cup.

And another project that I don't believe y'all have seen before, but is uh ongoing on track is the transition to a new benefits administrator, a new vendor who administers our 401k and 457 benefits.

Quick highlights on a couple of projects to call out from some of our departments doing good work.

Both of these projects represent areas where the water department has determined it's more efficient and better to use internal services to replace small water sewer lines as well as doing the initial engineering services ahead of time.

And I believe that they estimate that this process saves them about a million dollars a year that they free up for other projects within the water utilities project.

Um other highlights we want to talk about is our grants team, both enhancing uh the training that they give out to deliver focused sub-recipient training and technology technical assistance, as well as expanding the funding opportunities.

In the second quarter of 26, they submitted 17 grant applications, which are able to result in an additional 235,000 in funding, which we wouldn't have otherwise had.

Uh covering some new uh key performance indicators we carry in this uh council priority.

You can see that our action center is still continuing to answer high volume of uh customers, ensuring that we're being responsive to the residents, visitors who have questions or answers or need answers from us about things in the city.

Our fleet team is still staying well within their targeted goal of getting at least 90% of their vehicles fixed and out within three days, and then a combination of departments is still working very hard and diligently to ensure that the money the funds we budget towards public safety salaries are being spent efficiently and keeping a low turnover rate so that those police officers and firefighters are constantly on the street protecting the city.

And covering some projects that you'll probably be seeing for me when I go over the third quarter here in a few months.

In your top left-hand corner there is the e-Builder integration.

Uh e-Builder is the capital construction software that's used by Water Utilities Public Works and Asset Management.

It's a very robust software that we've used for years, and now that workday is online.

This is the combination of both of those softwares, which will help reduce the amount of time and effort that our construction crews have to spend in both softwares, allowing them to focus more of their time on the construction projects.

And then in the top right hand corner, talking about all the hard work that the Action Center is doing.

We are currently implementing a limited AI initiative which will help more efficiently answer these calls without adding additional resources so that we can continue to serve the growing needs of the community in a cost-effective measure.

In the bottom left-hand corner, we are following up on a prior audit of our fleet data.

Fleet is working with all the fleet liaisons and all the various departments to ensure we're taking the vehicle information and transitioning it correctly into the fleet services software to speed up timeliness of repairs, preventive maintenance, and ensuring we're continuing to give good service to departments.

And then lastly is the search for our new budget software.

We've had GovMax for uh 15 years now, and we've been using the same budget book for more than a decade.

Uh, this will help us forecast our budgeting materials in a more timely and efficient manner, as well as helping us convey this complex but very important information to both the city and residents in a uh easier to understand fashion.

So that is all we have for the second quarter, and I'm available for any questions.

Any questions or comments from counsel for Spencer?

Councilmember Gonzalez.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Spencer.

Um, one of the things that came up during the election was uh the percent of police cars that were unusable or I guess would need a repair.

So do we have a separate?

I mean, I love these metric, these uh scorecards.

Do we have it?

You know, it says 10%.

Do we have a separate one for fire and police?

We do keep separate metrics for our public safety vehicles.

Um I can put that in our I can make sure I include that in our third quarter numbers for you, and I can get the specific information to you after this meeting.

All right, thank you.

Anyone else?

Thank you, Spencer.

We're gonna move on down to discuss our committee meetings.

Uh we'll start with 4.1 municipal policy committee.

Councilmember Odin Wesley.

Thank you, Mayor.

Municipal Policy Committee met today with all members present, and we had a pretty packed agenda.

Uh the first item on the agenda was a couple of naming opportunities.

Uh, the staff brought to us uh a request that they had received to honor Brett Smith by naming uh one of the amenities at the Martin Luther King Sports Complex in his honor because of his work with the little league in um and use of that uh of that of that facility.

And the committee after discussion agreed to move the process forward, and we did ask uh that we do our due diligence with background checks and that kind of thing to make sure that we never have to revoke a named amenity.

The second naming opportunity that came to us was President's Corner.

There's a section of town, um, see Lamar Boulevard up to Washington, where several of the streets and several of the developments there have been named after presidents.

Uh, you see the Truman, the Jefferson, Lincoln Street, Washington Street, and it was offered as an opportunity to either rename a park that's within that area, or how could we capitalize on making that president's corner and that it would become a destination and provide some some benefit to our our facilities to our citizens.

So uh the committee expressed support for pursuing renaming of the park, which is currently called Parkway Central Park to Presidents Park.

So it's not named after a particular president, but just the concept of president.

Um, so that'll that'll come back to us from the from the staff research, and it'll also go to the parks board both of those opportunities so that we get some input from citizens on this.

The next item on our agenda was generated from the passage of I don't see the Senate bill number.

Um I don't see it.

Uh Senate bill that allows for oh thank you, 28 Senate Bill 2835 that allows cities now to um provide a single stairwell as opposed to two stairwells in the development.

Uh and the way it read, you could not do it in what's considered high-rise buildings, and in Arlington, our definition of high-rise is five stories.

Did I say that right?

So we could do it up to four stories, but we couldn't do it five stories.

So the discussion was around whether or not we would want to do that.

The goal is to increase affordability of some of these structures as well as to provide more opportunity for developers to develop in in field development, which is smaller lots.

So going forward, we wanted to look at some additional research on the safety of these structures.

There were some provisions in the bill.

For example, no more than four units could be on the floor that would be using this single stairwell.

But we still had some concerns and wanted to get some additional input from our fire department for accessibility for egress and uh from the building in the case of emergency.

So once they look at all of that, it'll come back to the MPC for a recommendation.

We also heard from Rick Ripley on our national electrical code adoption, it's been updated in 2023, and we have not updated all of our code to coincide with that.

So he shared with us some of the provisions of the code, and the direction from the committee was to move forward with adoption.

The last item on the agenda was approval of our legislative agenda, state as well as federal.

And uh Jay Warren, Direct of Communication and Legislative Affairs gave us categories that are being addressed that are recommended that we address on the federal agenda, which included sustainable economy, housing, transportation, public safety and emergency management, and infrastructure.

And on the state agenda, we also had five categories: municipal finance, land use and housing, infrastructure and transportation, economic development, safety, and emergency management.

After discussing the buckets and what was included and what we anticipated for the upcoming legislative session, we agreed that we were in great shape.

In fact, we were above, well, before the deadline.

Thank you, Natalie.

And the staff indicated that a supplementary item should be included in the federal agenda, and the and the committee provided direction on a few additional refinements.

So they'll return to the committee on June 9th with those updates, and we'll bring the final agendas forward to the full council on June 23rd.

Any uh additions or comments from committee members questions from council.

That concludes my report, Mayor.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We're gonna move on down now to 4.2 council member hog.

Yeah, thank you.

Uh happy to serve as the new chair for community neighborhood development.

Uh, Mr.

Clante and I welcomed our two new council members on this of Miss Mr.

Ware and Miss Garcia Dumas.

And so uh we potentially had a really tough agenda item that became much easier, so nowhere near much as work as uh MPC had today.

So uh let me explain that a little bit.

We had an update on a Lisa Townhomes projects near the southeast corner of Arbor Boulevard and Collins Street.

I think everyone on here knows.

Um, I don't know if I can officially call it a nuisance, but I'll call it a nuisance property from where it is, but no offense to the project of where it is, but it's pretty much a nuisance.

This is a project that was approved in 2016.

It was a planned development with 37 attached, six unattached townhome units.

It required a brick screening wall around our brook and vila, uh, and finally the final plows in 2018.

So you can see this has been going on a long time.

We've all heard about it, we've all seen the complaints.

Um, five units were completed and occupied in 2021, and then two four unit buildings were started but never completed after the developer became defunct.

Um we face this sometimes, developers fall out, and this is what happened.

So it had foreclosure proceedings and fragmented ownership of the perimeter open space lot.

No party was able to complete or require perimeter fencing, which is necessary before any additional units.

You're allowed, as y'all remember, we're allowed to build a certain number of units, but then you have to build the perimeter fencing for this, and they fell out, so they weren't able to do that, and so with now fragmented fragmented no one owned it, um, they didn't know who that so we were preparing for lots of legal discussion of how we could move forward, how we could options we could have, but uh recently a bank acquired the control of most of the property, including the common areas, and they submitted a fence permit.

So there is a fence permit application that is submitted, they've already staked off on the outside of where that fence will go um and so it is currently under staff review and revision um to give them the official permit we're hoping they will they have 180 days from when that permit's issued um to have that built so hopefully we won't have to come back and address this but we're prepared to but otherwise um I think we're hopefully finally seeing some traction on a could be a former nuisance property I'll just say it that way that that's our report for that thanks sir council member is 4.3 plus yes thank you mayor the Transportation Municipal Infrastructure Committee met today uh all four members uh were what were present uh we want to welcome Tom Ware to the committee we received a presentation on potential options for recouping some of the costs associated with service outside the city limits um this is regarding Handy Tran uh as a reminder the handy trans service includes a city limit plus 1.5 miles outside of the city limits which adds an additional 88 square miles.

If you remember last time I reported that over 5000 trips were taken to or from locations outside the Arlington city limits between December 2024 and November 2025.

So the committee focused on two options and all services outside of Arlington city limits or two continue services outside Arlington city limits and do two things to bring in revenues to pay for that service first increase the trip price for the zone outside Arlington to eight dollars per ride second charge cities based on the number of trips taken by their residents in the previous year at our meeting we did decide um I guess our next meeting on the June 8th we hope uh we'll decide between the two options that make a recommendation to council uh we hopefully get this done before barber's off the committee and we had somebody else new so is there any questions concerns perfect thank you sir miss Garcia any appointments to boards or commissions this evening we have two appointments to boards and commissions on the evening agenda tonight mayor thank you ma'am evening agenda items anybody have any issues with anything on the evening agenda comments not issues but comments mayor okay then 8 15 federal railroad administration the potential grade separation project at great southwest parkway between division street and neighborhood streets can anybody give um a clarification why that uh particular spot was was chosen uh due to the uh transportation and uh traffic uh mitigation is uh uh constant priority uh get around and also the citizens of Arlington uh it's a long uh request for them is to address the the the traffic congestion uh uh caused by the railroad the call is in Cooper's yes sir and in this project addresses a spot that is only 4,000 cars a day cross by uh in callings we have like uh 29,000 cars a day right in a corporate 31,000 cars a day almost 32,000 so why did that spot was was was chosen yes sir so uh Keith Brooks director of public works uh so to answer your question so with the Cooper and Collins we we apply for grants on those uh repeatedly uh year after year this was a um kind of like collaboration with the Grand Prairie to see if we could come together as two cities and maybe that would have a little more um weight uh to get because that is that is a location that we're looking at we're always looking at great separations all throughout the city uh whatever we think that can help us but every year we're always applying for grants.

We we've applied for several grants for Cooper and Collins.

So this time we were just working together with Grand Prairie to see if we could get that one.

But we'll continue applying for Cooper and Collins on a regular basis.

Just to clarify the the Great Southware sparkway is right at the border.

So this side is orito.

Actually, until the other sidewalk and then Grand Prairie, right?

Right.

Okay, so that having uh Grand Prairie is also uh applying for the same grant.

Yeah, is a combined grant or something like that.

Yeah, we're kind of working, we're working together on this, and uh there was a uh a state representative that was also making the request, also.

So all that combined is why we decided, hey, let's go ahead and try this one and see if we get a little more uh traction with it.

Uh, but we'll continue, like I said, with uh uh Cooper, uh Collins.

Of course, we're all we're already looking at ATT Way doing the pedestrian, I mean the feasibility study on that.

So we're we're looking throughout the city uh constantly for grants that we can apply for for grade separation.

Well, appreciate your your answer and good luck on getting the grant.

Yes, sir, thank you.

So another one is uh eighteen, mayor eight eighteen.

Yeah, maybe uh off contract with uh uh on-demand ride share service at uh during the work up.

I'll be transportation.

Yeah, go ahead.

Oh, thank you.

So the on uh on the staff report was not very clear what what exactly uh the extra service that the the rideshare service will provide uh for for the need of uh the contract.

Yes, sir.

Anne Foss, planning and programming manager for the transportation department.

Um the Federal Transit Administration has made additional transit funding available for communities that are hosting World Cup matches this summer.

Um so Arlington is receiving a portion of that funding, it's being administered through the council of governments.

Um what we are envisioning using that additional funding for is basically to provide more supply on the roads for the Arlington on-demand service during our existing service hours and service area.

We would just be able to have more vehicles, uh, more drivers, more seats available um to meet increased demand as it comes along.

Um, this is a flexible grant, so we will use what we need to use to meet the demand.

Um, but one of the things that you know we like about the on-demand service is that it's very scalable.

So if we don't see as much demand, we can scale back.

If we see more, we can scale up to that um dollar amount that we're receiving from FTA.

Okay, correct me if I'm wrong, you have like sixty-five cars running uh uh or the total fleet.

Currently about sixty-one, sixty-two vehicles.

Okay, and then uh at one point, how many are running?

One third of the cars are running, the other ones are uh uh rotating.

It varies throughout the day, but um we do have time periods during the day where all 60 vehicles are on the road.

Okay, so what are you saying?

You're gonna have uh longer periods of all 65 vehicles on on the streets to you know to uh take care of the demand expected during the the events, correct?

Right.

We may have more vehicles throughout the day.

We may also exceed that 60 vehicle limit.

We may go up to 70 or even more vehicles to meet demand at certain periods of time if needed.

Okay, thank you so much.

Thank you, Mayor.

Any other questions on the evening agenda?

Yes, Councilmember O'Reilly.

Just to follow up with uh Councilmember Galante.

Uh, are we looking at expanded hours during during this time period and including Sunday?

No, ma'am, we're sticking with our existing service hours and days.

Okay, just more vehicles.

Oh, that's right.

Okay, okay.

I had a question on one.

Uh 8.8.

I don't know, my numbers may be off because I use the draft.

This is the medical triage modules that the fire department is purchasing.

I don't know, is there a different number?

8.8.

That's a you're at the right one.

Is somebody from here from the fire department?

There's chief.

Okay.

Thank you, Chief.

I was just curious about these medical triage modules.

Cause when I first read it, what the first thing that came to my mind was education, but it sounds like this is a portable building.

It is.

That's that can be reused.

Is that right?

Yes, ma'am.

Uh, can you say a little more about that?

Yeah, so these are like 20 by 20 or so uh buildings that we'll be able to put up there for cooling tents, and we'll have them placed throughout the district for like when people are walking to the games from the parking lots.

They can stop in.

We'll have a little hydration hydration station, we'll have medical staff.

You know, obviously, middle of the middle of June and July.

Folks from other countries is going to be a bit of a challenge for us.

So we'll be staffing those tents around throughout on each game day.

But these are, you know, to your point.

These are uh tents that we can also have in the future at other events.

Yeah, I wonder if we do we get to keep them.

Yes.

Okay.

Okay.

Thank you, Chief.

Yes, ma'am.

Set it.

Anybody else on the evening agenda items?

Okay, any issues relative to city or tech stop projects.

Seeing none, we'll go to council external committee and training reports.

We'll start with Mr.

Gonzalez.

Uh, we'll have you address the RTC subcommittee and RTC as a whole, please.

Yep.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

The RTC transit subcommittee met in person on Thursday, May 14th for the two new council members.

Uh it's important to know that uh this subcommittee is formed by the RTC on August the 7th of last year, discussed transit in the region.

15 members were appointed, and I was selected to be one of them.

The four guiding principles of the committees to help achieve the North Texas Transit Vision.

Number one is a regional system, which could provide a spine service of rail or bus rapid transit with an appropriate regional boundary.

A governance mechanism should oversee the regional spine transit, an equitable funding mechanism that would be identified for the regional spine transit system, and finally, the most importantly, cities should design local solutions to link communities to economic centers and regional transit system through menu-based service that can cross jurisdiction lines.

Um DART and Metro, Trinity Metro and DCTA, Den County Transit Authority gave the subcommittee a 60-day progress report on their explanation exploration of delivering regional high capacity transit in the new manner.

They presented eight regional governance models, including single agency, joint agency, multi-county authority, regional mobility authority, county state transit authority, and state transit authority.

The next steps uh DCT at TRE and DART will collaborate with COG staff on developing three alternatives with the approach to deliver regional high capacity transit services, service scope, funding debt, and legislative strategy as applicable.

The subcommittee's target is to have this information ready for the next subcommittee's update to RTC within 60 days.

Uh we then discuss proposed legislation for the upcoming session.

We believe that if we can show the RTC that we've taken care of our own business without Austin, there will be more open to our issues.

The next two meetings for the subcommittee will be on Friday, May 29th, which is virtual, and then we have another meeting on Thursday, June 11th, which is in person before the RTC meeting.

And then that same day, RTC met on Thursday after the meeting.

The mayor and I were both present.

Um, Michael Morris was reinstated as a director transportation as of May the 5th.

The RTC approved several items, including the one you asked about FTA supplemental funding for transit operations during the World Cup, including $350,000 for Arlington's on-demand service, a grant application for the federal safe streets and roads for all program, a grant application for the federal road railroad crossing elimination program.

Then RTC had an extensive discussion about several items related to the roles and responsibilities of the RTC and the COG executive board.

And they we voted to approve a new agreement between RTC and TechSoup where RTC would serve as a region region's Metropolitan Planning Organization or the MPO, and requested that COX serve as a physical agent.

RTC also approved this the start of renegotiating or the start of negotiations to appoint Michael Morris as a transportation director for the MPO.

Finally, RTC received an update on the status of high-speed rail in the region, including a brief summary of the Arlington Fort Worth Economic Impact Study and voted to continue discussions among the key partners to move forward with high speed rail planning activities.

The next RTC meeting is scheduled for June the 11th.

Also, I was appointed to serve on the RTC nominating committee, which was which will be responsible for selecting the new officers for the in June 2026.

Our meeting for the nominating committee is scheduled for Thursday, May 28th.

Thanks, sir.

Councilmember Hog, well, go ahead.

Councilmember Odin Wesley.

Yes, ma'am.

Um in the subcommittee for RTC, what you were talking about, a regional transportation authority.

Did they talk about membership for cities who are not a part of either Dart or Trinity Metro or DTCA?

That's all part of it.

I mean, it's there's so many.

They always talk about us, how we do things, and so they're trying to.

We're a great example, but they know that if we're part of that, we're gonna, you know, as we've discussed, those there's some type of ethical buy-in.

So most of the cities like Mansfield, Grand Prairie, they're all they're all in that committee.

I don't know.

They're not members, yeah.

No, they're not members, also.

So we're trying to do a spine where everybody works together.

All different cities.

So try and find something for everybody, and not force everybody to go to DART or TRE or whatever it is.

Council member Hogg.

Thanks, Mayor.

Um, at our last uh COG, multiple.

I think we've had three since uh last report over this, a couple of special meetings.

Uh, wanted to hit on a couple of highlights of some major things.

Um, last major uh key meeting we had.

Uh COG, we approved criminal justice funding recommendations.

Um, you know, there was 96 applications reviewed over six days, scoring teams evaluated victim assistance, courts initiatives, law enforcement, juvenile justice, and then they all got approved rankings list uh based on new and new and renewal projects, um, all projects scoring 70 plus recommended for funding, uh, of course, all pending allocations.

I just have to commend the Arlington City Arlington, and I had it on my notes somewhere I can't find it, but uh we had I think two uh projects that were in the high 80s, low 90s scored.

So uh just commend our team for what we're doing on some of the scoring uh from where that's come through, and our grants application program does a great job of uh write up it.

I think everyone we've approved, we've been very highly ranked, and it's not just big cities.

Dallas and Fort Worth had some that were low, right?

Um so it's don't think it's just because we have the staff to do it.

Um, our staff is doing it well.

Um, there were some on fund fiscal year 27 funding and estimates.

Um, you know, governor's office gives rough estimates.

Uh, they're not guaranteed amounts of what will be funding because you all know COG is funded all through grants and and funding from other sources from where it's come.

And so you look at categories and it's violence against women, youth diversion, criminal justice, general victim assistance.

Um, there is not sufficient funds to cover all recommended projects.

Uh there we're looking at, they're evaluating now, allocating some of violence against women to general victim assistance um to make up some of those uh shortfalls that we have over there.

Um, also these funding decisions, uh, there the reductions to make sure we hit all budget.

It it non-proportional reductions across all recipients.

Um, some programs will be already reduced to extend funding reach from where it's doing in five final state funding locate allocation.

Sorry, allocations to this to come in late summer, early fall to all this.

In 2026 grant status, there was also uh 18.5 million approved grants for things such as uh all hazards program initiative, uh Texas Regional Broadband, federal emergency management, and as like we've always seen constantly FIFA World Cup, another 581,000 dollars to that.

There was one rejection of streets and some roads grants that were done on there.

Uh a big item also coming up is strategic planning process for the COG as they tackle a new one, May 28th of Board Orientation with contractor external stakeholder SWOT exercise, and then time frame November December um framework for allocation, and then final framework, hopefully January, February.

And it's really about four items, four project phases, setting foundation for regional leadership, forecasting future of North Texas, charting strategic vision and designing implementation and impact.

I think there'll be some more solutions coming up.

We have a meeting on the 28th to get to that in that stage as we go through good old legal processes on those.

That's my report.

Any questions for Councilmember Hogg, future agenda items.

One of the issues is when we're serving on COG or RTC like Councilmember Gonzalez and I are on, or even if I'm serving as a trustee as I am with U.S.

conference mayors, we're not serving in our individual capacity per se.

We're serving as a representative of the city of Arlington and consequently this council.

So I think we have to find a way to better communicate and advance some of those desires of council and moving forward.

So I'd ask us to look Trey at some type of staff recommendations on how we can do that type of stuff.

It would be beneficial for council member hog or me or anybody if we're representing the city to not take it upon ourselves to do one thing or another, but that we go there with the understanding that council wishes us to do A, B, and C, and that way when I do D E and F, I don't have to come back here and answer to y'all for that type of stuff.

Councilmember Gonzalez.

Yeah, I'd also like to uh look into changing the way we uh people that apply to run for an office that either we raise the fee or get more signatures because we're just getting a lot of people that are just put a hundred bucks in, and it's you know, I I know we don't want to discourage, but just make it a little more skin in the game uh because I think it would help rather than just having people running and um you know not getting many votes.

So just look at that possibility.

What do you read my mind?

No, I just want to go and move on.

Okay, it's hard not to discuss.

I want to discuss also, mayor, on both of those.

Uh it's hard not to discuss.

Um, one other thing, and mayor and I talked about this and and Molly and Trey.

Um, as we as the mayor and anyone nominates people to serve on any external committees, um, sometimes it's not really written in our charter whether we as a council need to approve those people.

We've made some of those changes in the past.

Any boards or commissions within the city, we do all as approved as council, and as the mayor said, serving on behalf of the council, those appointees should be approved by the council.

So I would ask uh that to be on a future agenda item.

That was making an argument one way or the other when you made something on there.

See you see how good I performed, and I I didn't even argue against what you were saying, even though that was more of a persuasive comment.

Councilmember Pham.

Well, um I just wanted to echo council member Raúl Gonzalez about the the charter for running office.

Uh if we all agree, I think you should get at least 150 signature, legitimate signature in the city of Arlington to run, and then you get to pay a fee, not 100, like at least three four hundred dollars.

So that way we can get some viable candidates to get on the ballots instead of you know.

I think we have to limit what we can say on this.

I think we're gonna wait until staff comes back with some type of recommendation.

We don't we can't get into all of the details of it right now.

I got one more Mr.

Mayor you're not gonna get into details are you no no no I let um can you get this uh Molly can have a staff check in you know uh I'll sit on and say if you park illegal in the street we can tow within 24 hours with the police orders stayed at 72 hours so which one is more important which one supersede the other one is it a seating ordinance or the police order I I like to know if I can get the uh study on that one can you just get that in an email I think we just had a pretty robust parking violation discussion didn't we so can we just send that to you?

Yeah, but check makes sure they just send it to you and if you're not satisfied with it we can look at putting it on something in the future.

I see too many illegal parking vehicle in public street every day.

Okay you're arguing again.

Okay thank you Mr.

Mayor last one you know as we uh you hear from more residents and we see the growth in downtown Arlington we see more and more parking issues.

There's all kinds of ideas of how to do it whether it's a parking system you know growth and garage I think it is worthwhile for us to you know not we don't have to rush it um but have a on a future agenda discussion over parking in downtown and options and where we go for strategically because it is a it is an issue that's becoming more and more as downtown grows.

Okay anybody else future agenda is issues I would just add I'm not gonna argue I would I would just ask but but council member odon wesley you have no future I know I have no future you why would you have a future agenda issue when I have two more meetings of future how many days I got 30 I love you.

I was I was just gonna add to the concern about the election you said the fee but I did get an email from a resident complaining about the campaign signs at active specifically and how it was it was defacing our beautiful older adult center.

So just include that in your discussions I'm not sure it's under our jurisdiction but that's the the email was unhappy about the clutter okay I'm I'm almost afraid to ask anything else but I already see council member where um I'm still trying to absorb all the rules um I suppose to let you know that I will be soon coming up with for a replacement for myself on PNZ for uh to be presented at a future meeting no you uh my understanding is is like any appointments on this and I think without getting into details that's what council member hog was doing there are sometimes I'm gonna do it anyway there's sometimes you can make appointments and it doesn't have to be um affirmed by council and sometimes that you make appointments and it does and what you're referring to is making an appointment and then it does get affirmed by council and I believe what met Councilmember Hogg is saying is seeing if there is a process by which we can have a uniform process for all appointments that are made how is that so what would I mean you get to nominate who you would want from your thing and then it would be up to the council to either accept or reject that.

Okay.

I thought I'd read somewhere it had to be done.

Fourteen days.

They'll let you know.

The staff, the staff will certainly let you know.

I promise you.

Andy never lets me forget any of those type of things.

Council member, should let you know that I've been through this about a year and a half ago.

Okay.

I'll be arguing like council.

So I just um piggybacking what uh council member hogs said uh about this uh uh parking.

We already have the the discussion here about the the trucks parking and uh asked for a follow-up or what solutions we could have for uh for the the trucks park illegally in the city.

And I think could be could be very uh could be an opportunity to have the same discussion as he's suggesting for future agenda.

Appreciate it.

Okay.

So totally so I I mean it relates to parking.

I'm just gonna follow up like uh we had we had a discussion about truck truck parking in uh in asked for follow up and we didn't have a follow-up yet.

That's it.

Okay.

All right.

With that, we're gonna leave that.

That's enough future agenda stuff for one night.

And we're going to adjourn.

No, we're going to adjourn the afternoon session of the city council meeting, and we'll see everybody downstairs at six thirty.

Thank you.

Yes.