Well, good morning, everyone.

We're going to call this meeting to order.

Miss Bryan.

Yes, sir.

Good morning.

This is a work session of the El Paso City Council from Monday, September 15th, 2025.

It is 9 04 a.m.

Mayor Johnson is president presiding in council chambers along with Mayor Pro Tim Chavez, Representative Acevedo, Representative Malonado Rocha, Representative Boyatrejo, Alternate Mayor Pro Tempiero, Representative Limot, Representative Canales, and Representative Nino is running a few minutes late this morning.

Mayor, we have a quorum.

Okay, Miss Travis, would you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance?

Under God is all the reaching justice overall.

All right, Miss Bryan.

Yes, sir.

Item number one on the agenda this morning is a presentation and discussion on the creation and governance structure of the El Paso Water Utilities Public Service Board.

Good morning, Miss Neiman.

Can you all hear me?

Yes, ma'am.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Carla Neiman for the record.

Um, I'm here to present um an item on the El Paso water utility governance and structure.

This was done at the request of the mayor who requested that I go through this presentation.

Our office has previously um done this presentation in August of 2021, so not all of it is brand new.

There's a few additions to this PowerPoint, but it is something that we had previously discussed with the council um in 2021.

Can I tea please pull up?

Thank you.

So here's an overview of the presentation.

We'll go through some of the history um of the city in regards to water services, and then uh we'll talk a little bit about Al Paso water utilities and then the governing documents, both at the state and at the local level.

And then you'll have an opportunity to ask questions, Mayor.

At your request, you can ask questions, or we can wait till the end.

So here's a history of El Paso water.

We have to go back to the eight late 1800s.

In 1882, we had Sylvester Watts who created the first um water works um company in Al Paso.

It was a privately owned um water company, and in 1910, the City of Al Paso purchased um that water works company and took it public.

In 1923, then the first water and wastewater treatment plan begins its operations.

And then 30 years later, n the area here in our county sta uh experienced a severe flood from 1950 to 1957.

It was at that time that our council and our our mayor decided that it would be a good idea to create a water utility um to prevent this from happening and then to preserve our most precious resource, which in 1952 the city established the public service board and the Al Paso Water Utility to manage the water service.

In 1995, the state legislature then designated the public service board as the regional water authority or wastewater planner for the county of Al Paso.

And then again, fast forward about 10 years later, we have a major flood, which you all remember with the 2006 floods.

And in 2007, in response to those major flooding events all over the county, the city then created the stormwater utility, which we call the stormwater ordinance that happened in 2007.

And then between 2007 and 2010, the city also made several amendments to the board, and I'll go through that in more detail as well as entering into various joint resolutions with the utility in regards to the use and disposition of city-owned property.

So here is a little bit about El Paso Water.

El Paso Water is a component unit of the City of El Paso.

Again, they were created in 1952 through ordinance 752.

It is currently governed by a seven-member board of directors, which is the public service board, which is appointed by the council, and the mayor has always been a member of the public service board since 1952.

Back in 1952, you only had five board members, and I'll explain when that change happened from five to seven.

And they are responsible for the provision of water services to the city as well as the surrounding areas, including water, wastewater, reclaimed water, and stormwater services.

Stormwater services only began as of 2007.

So here is our governing structure.

So we have both chapter 1502 of the Texas Government Code and Chapter 552 of the Texas Local Government Code.

These are the provisions that give the City of El Paso the authority to issue debt service for the public service board for the utility, as well as the governing structure delegated to the city to create a utility under the state of Texas.

And then you have our enabling ordinances.

So we have state statute that gives the authority to the city, and then under state statute, the city then created the enabling ordinance, which I just briefly discussed, 752, as well as creating the stormwater ordinance in 2007, and then the amendment to the board, which took place in 2009, and then the various joint resolutions that were subsequently passed and amended by this council.

So here is the first set of state statutes.

So it's 1502.

There was a predecessor statute before our state legislature recodified all other state codes.

You see it referred to as 1115, that's the previous code.

It provides authority for Texas cities to create water systems in the state.

It allows the city to impose fees to cover the cost of the system, and it also allows for the city to delegate to a board the management and control of the utility that is vested in either both one or two.

So back in 1952, and still to this day, the council could appoint itself as the governing body of a water utility or create a board of trustees, which is what we've had in El Paso since 1952.