El Paso Mass Transit Board Special Meeting – February 25, 2025
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El Paso Mass Transit Department Board Special Meeting – February 25, 2025
The El Paso Mass Transit Department Board held a special meeting on Tuesday, February 25, 2025, at 10:05 AM in Council Chambers, presided by Board Chair Mr. Johnson. The sole agenda item was a resolution to authorize the city manager to take necessary actions in response to the February 11, 2025 fire at the Sun Metro Transit Operations Center (TOC), including contracting and purchasing without further board action. After a presentation by Sun Metro Director Anthony DeKaiser and public comments, the board voted unanimously to approve the resolution. The meeting adjourned at 10:22 AM.
Consent Calendar
- No consent items were presented.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Ms. Janet Flores urged the board to cooperate with victims' attorneys and third-party experts on the investigation. She criticized the city for providing vague answers and demanded a transparent investigation that prioritizes victims' dignity. She asked for details on who is conducting the investigation and their qualifications.
- Ms. Jasmine Flores echoed concerns, asking how the city ensures transparency and cooperation with victims, families, and attorneys. She questioned the bias of an internal investigation and demanded that any findings of negligence be fully disclosed and that accountability be ensured.
Discussion Items
- Presentation by Anthony DeKaiser, Sun Metro Director:
- The February 11 fire affected the east side of the maintenance bay; five employees were hospitalized, and one employee, Ruben Abotto, succumbed to injuries. The fire remains under investigation by multiple entities (fire marshal, cause and origin investigators, structural evaluators).
- The east side of the maintenance building will be demolished; timing depends on completion of investigations and structural stability assessment. The intent is to rebuild and resume full maintenance operations at the TOC.
- Following the incident, Sun Metro operated on a modified Sunday/holiday schedule for eight days. As of February 24, they restored service to 92% of routes (48 of 52) with reduced frequency. Full service with original frequency is expected to be announced on Thursday, February 27.
- Temporary maintenance operations have been established at the Union Depot (7 bays) and 4 bays remain at the TOC for Brio maintenance. Full operational status at Union Depot is expected within the week.
- LIFT service (paratransit) was not significantly impacted; vehicles were fueled at the LIFT facility on the day of the fire (slower pumping but all LIFT vehicles departed on time). On-time performance for LIFT is currently at 90%.
- Board Member Rocha asked about LIFT service impacts. Director DeKaiser confirmed minimal impact and detailed fueling operations.
- Board Member Limon expressed condolences and trust in the city manager to lead a transparent process, noting that communication is key to addressing community concerns.
Key Outcomes
- Motion to approve the resolution (moved by Mr. Canales, seconded by Mr. Fierro) passed unanimously. The resolution authorizes the city manager to take all necessary steps for emergency response and recovery, including contracting and purchasing without further board action, under Texas Local Government Code exceptions.
- No additional directives or referrals were made beyond the resolution approval.
- The board adjourned the special meeting at 10:22 AM and reconvened the regular city council meeting.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning. This is a special meeting of the El Paso Mass Transit Department Board. Today is Tuesday, February 25th, 2025. It is now 1005 a.m. President presiding is Board Chair, Mr. Johnson, also present in Council Chambers, our board members, Ms. Chavez, Ms. Rocha, Ms. Trejo, Ms. Limon, Mr. Acevedo, Mr. Nino, Mr. Fierro, and Mr. Canales. There's no public comment on this agenda. There's also no uh consent items. And we move on to the regular agenda item number two. Discussion and action on the resolution of the Mass Transit Department Board of the City of Opasle authorizing the city manager to take the necessary actions to address immediate and continuing necessary city responses to the February 11, 2025 fire at Sun Metro Transit Operations Center to include authorizing contracting and purchasing without further action of the Mass Transit Department Board. Pursuant to allowable exceptions to the competitive bidding requirements under Section 252.022 of the Texas Local Government Code as amended, authorizing city manager or designate to execute documents required in response to this emergency to enable routine mass transit operations to resume. Is there any public comment on this, Ms. Ryan? We do have uh two speakers. Okay. Mayor, can we see the presentation first? Sure. So that folks know what they're commenting on. Good morning. Good morning, Mayor, City Council, Anthony DeKaiser, the director for public transit, Sun Metro. IT, will you please bring up the presentation for item two on the Mass Transit Department board agenda. So again, good morning. Today I'll be uh giving you an update on the update regarding the request for the Sun Metro resolution. Again, the mission of Sun Metro is to connect El Paso community, and we recognize that serving our public is a reason for our existence. And that's what Sun Metro does on a daily basis. I won't read it, I'll just let you look over that for a second. The purpose of this resolution is to authorize the city manager or her designee the ability in the future to authorize contracting, purchasing, and further action for the mass transit and further action of the Mass Transit Department Board, given exception to the ordinance 16515 and 16736. This is to exit expedite the preservation of municipal property as well as to assure public transportation. Excuse me. Meaning to facilitate the design and reconstruction of our facility to support maintenance operations. So the maintenance division recovery and stability operations has been a key focus of Sun Metro. Essential to bringing us back to full service. Five Sun Metro employees were hospitalized due to the incident. And later one of our one of our employees succumbed to his injuries, as you know, Ruben Abotto. The fire remains under investigation, so I can't say too much about that. I can tell you the affected area of the building was on the east side of the maintenance bay. If you look at the slide here, that's the portion that's has the red box on it. Again, the extent of the damage is still being investigated. I know the east side of the maintenance building will have to be demolished. The timing of that operation will be driven by the ongoing investigations. There's several investigations going on, to include the fire marshal, the cause and origin uh folks, the structural evaluation, and some other entities that are looking at the investigations right now. Once all those investigations are complete, we will also know the structures stability of the and the rest of the building of the rest of the building and how we will be able to proceed for restoration.
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