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.

And then the city must also, in an enabling ordinance, specify the powers and duties of the board.

And they're they're old, but it'll establish you'll see the powers that were delegated to the board back in 1952.

It also requires per the original ordinance that the that the utility present to the city council a detailed report of the operation of the system for the preceding 12 months.

The utility provides water to all the surrounding area beyond just the jurisdictional limits of our city, and also allows a municipality to transfer the management of the utility to a public service board.

Again, when we first got started in 1952, they only had water and wastewater authority, and then in 2007, the council also delegated stormwater and drainage to the utility.

Again, under 552, the municipality can grant authority to the board to set rates, which they currently do, and then other related items regarding the operation and management of the system.

Also, the municipality must prescribe the number, the qualifications, the terms of office, compensation and powers of the duties of the board, which means that this body gives that duty and decides the term, the type of structure that the board would entail.

So here's our local ordinance, which is 752, again passed in 1952.

The enabling ordinance, and this is how it happened.

In 1951, the city of El Paso held an election to ask the public whether they wanted to issue 2.9 million dollars of debt.

And in today's money, it's approximately about 29 million dollars, give or take, which happened back in 1951, and the voters of the city approved that bond ordinance to create to fund the utility.

And then fast forward about six months later in May of 1952, the council then passes the ordinance, which issues the bonds to establish the utility and establish the board.

Again, remember this is when the the surrounding region and the area were facing a severe drought.

So the purpose of the of the of the bonds at that time, and you'll find it in the original ordinance was to improve the water and wastewater system.

It allowed it to purchase wells and land to build the system, it can extend the water system service and sewer connection systems within the area, as well as acquire a secondary sewer treatment facilities.

It's very important to remember that the principal and interest that is paid on these bonds is solely payable from the net revenues of the system, which means that that we pledge future fees and future issuances through through fee revenues.

It is not none of the utility or the city's property is encumbered as part of a security towards the payment of these bonds.

Furthermore, it also creates and what it and it essentially does is it creates an enterprise fund, and the council is familiar with enterprise funds.

The airport is an enterprise fund, our environmental services department is an enterprise fund, the airport is did I already say airport?

Environmental services is also international bridges.

So you have enterprise funds that generate funds or revenue from a separate source.

That is what this enabling ordinance did.

It created an enterprise fund and it establishes various funds.

You have the water works and sewage fund, it creates the board of trustees, which at that point, including the mayor, was five members, and they could serve up to five years.

It was only one term.

Now they have two year terms, four years each.

And then we transferred at that time management and operation of the system, including the ability to approve any regulations to manage the system, to appoint employees, the general manager, etc.

of this of the utility to collect for rates and services, and then to manage the revenue of the system and then make determinations regarding the inexpediency of property in the system.

And again, it requires that they file an independent report filed annually with the city clerk regarding the adequacy of the system.

That is still a requirement of the original ordinance.

So I'm gonna fast forward to 2007, and there are a lot of things happened between that time period, but for purposes of this presentation, I wanted to just focus on the governance structure after the 2006 floods.

Um the council recognized that it was a requirement that we manage our stormwater in a better way and we create a utility system that allowed it to do that.

So the council created the municipal drainage system.

It used the same governing statutes that I just mentioned, 552 and 1501, to create the stormwater utility system.

And again, it was adopted in June of 2007, and it was allowed, it was it was it was intended to allow the utility to collect a fee through drainage fees, which are imposed on all properties that that are part of the system and allows the utility to also set rates and manage that those fees.

And so it for all intents and purposes, the public service board already existed.

So when the floods happened, the city had the inherent power to determine what do we do about our stormwater.

And the city could have decided to create a separate board, but instead, or kept it to the city council and said we will manage stormwater and manage that fee.

But instead of doing that, the council decided that they were going to delegate the authority of stormwater had like it had already delegated the authority of water and sewer to the same board.

So it's the same enabling ordinance and the same um excuse me, it's the same enabling statute that created the stormwater utility.

Um and this is another important distinction under stormwater ordinance, and again, this ordinance is in your backup.

If you all wanted to read it, it did something different.

The council didn't delegate all its authority away.

The council kept the authority to approve the master stormwater management plan.

So the management plan is developed by the stormwater utility and it's presented to the council, and the council approves it.

Um this plan also has to take into account the use of storm open space and natural drainage, and I'll explain to you why in a few minutes.

Again, the thing that it did delegate to the PSB was the approval of the annual stormwater CIP program, right?

The capital improvement program for stormwater, and you've seen the water utility come forward and present that to you in the uh recent past.

So they they they were delegated the authority to create the CIP.

So they're required to review the we are required to review that plan, and the council ensures that the CIP conforms with the stormwater management plan, which is approved by the council.

It has to identify green projects.

Green projects is any infrastructure that has the potential for a dual purpose, both uh stormwater preservation, but also has the ability to have stormwater features or facilities that are naturally occurring within the land.

As part of that enabling ordinance, the public service board is required to set aside 10% of the annual drainage utility fee for green projects, which is projects that serve that dual purpose.

That same ordinance also directed the PSB to create the drainage utility fund, and those are funds that are segregated from your traditional water and sewer funds and are specifically used for drainage utility fees, and they are restricted to pay drainage services.

They have to remain segregated, like I just stated from their water and sewer funds.

And also, this ordinance requires that the general manager on behalf of the PSB present at least manually to the council on the status of that system.

So just some examples that have been used that we have used the stormwater, the 10% fund.

In 2018, the city of El Paso used the 10% punt to purchase a portion of the NAP open space property because that property had again a dual purpose of stormwater or natural open space, and we could use the 10% fund to purchase that land.

Again, in 2019, um, the city, after you all will recall the Lost Dog Trail Initiative Petition that was circulated by the vote by some of the citizens of El Paso, they were able to gather enough votes to put the item on a ballot.

That item passed by the public, which said that the land that was considered the lost dog property needed to be preserved into perpetuity as open space.

We use the 10% fund to pay the PSP back for the fair market value of that property with a 10% fund.

It's $11.3 million.

Um I believe that they're still using the the 10% fund to pay themselves back for that purchase.

And then in 2021, um, once again, when the city purchased the MLK site, we used 15.78 million of the stormwater fee because again, it served the dual purpose of stormwater and open space to pay for the acquisition of that property.

In both of those instances in 2019 and 2021, the city amended the bond covenants to allow the utility to reimburse itself from those funds.

So in 2009, so in May of 2009, it was the end of the legislative session, and at that point, the state code changed to allow cities of our size, it was a bracketed bill for the city of El Paso, allowing itself to amend the original the original ordinance to increase the number of members that served on the board.

So at that point we had five, and under state law, we were able to increase the number of board members to seven, which again always includes the mayor.

There was additional changes in that ordinance that set out the number of terms.

So now it went from five years to two four-year terms.

And then and then subsequent to this ordinance, the city also passed the resolution establishing the public selection committee.

This happened in 2009.

At that point, El Paso Water hired a consultant to make recommendations on how the board needed to be selected.

If you look at the original ordinance from 752, the original ordinance allowed the mayor to pick three people and then present it to the board, and then it came to the council for approval.

So it was directly by the mayor and the board to the council.

In 2009, El Paso Water hired a consultant to make a recommendation and change the selection process, and the council accepted those changes.

That resolution, as a result of the that study done by the El Paso Water Utilities, there was a change to the composition of the board.

Again, I just explained it was four years, and then they were able to serve two consecutive terms, but they also created the selection committee, which resulted in a 15-member board, which includes the mayor and the current PSB board members, and then one appointee from each of the council members, which you get to 15.

That committee is chaired by the mayor, and it's convened at the request of the mayor when there is a vacancy on the board.

The applications are received, the mayor calls a meeting, which is subject to the open meetings act.

They determine which one of the candidates or they interview the candidates, and then a slate of three candidates is presented to the council.

You've seen that done by resolution of the El Paso water utilities, and then you're given an opportunity to interview the candidates before a vote of the council.

You all could also form a legislative review committee, which is a composition of members of the council who could interview the candidates before a candidate is selected by the council.

So here's the process, and I already went through it.

The part that I wanted to focus on is the selection committee identifies the three slates, and currently the six members of the council should have this type of experience when being appointed.

So it's by category.

You look to fill the vacancy with people who have this type of experience.

And I already explained this to you.

It's it's done by a state of three candidates.

Goes to the to the selection committee, and then it comes to the council.

Now, also in 2010, there was a there was a joint resolution that was passed by both the city and the public service board.

And in that the purpose of that resolution was to establish how the transfer and transaction of the sale of property would take place or the transfer of property from the city's inventory into the water utilities inventory and vice versa.

It was adopted in March of 2010, and then it's been amended twice in September of 2012 and in December of 2019.

The joint resolution addresses the transactions related to property, both the sale of city-owned property that is managed by the utility, the transfer exchange of property between the entities, and then joint use of city-owned properties.

When they are major capital improvement projects on city-owned land, we are required to collaborate and work with them through the design process and through the full build of that type of infrastructure.

And then part of that joint resolution also requires that the utility present to the council an annual report of the land holdings.

Furthermore, the joint resolution, and I already've gone through this, it's it's sale of city-owned property managed by El Paso Water when we're selling it to a third party.

It can only be sold on the on the public market after the public service board declares that an expedient to the system.

So in a typical transaction, a member of the public would be required to provide notice of its interest to purchase property both to the public service board, the mayor, and the city manager.

And once that happens, the three entities begin the process of reviewing the land.

If the PSB finds that the process that the land is not an expedient to the system, then the process stops.

However, if the public service board finds that the land is an expedient, which means it's no longer usable or necessary to sustain the system, then it comes to the council for consideration.

At that point, the council is able to place conditions on sale of the property, rezonings, land use studies, et cetera, to determine how to best use the property.

That's a synopsis.

Again, if council wanted to get take a deeper dive in that, we could do a separate presentation just on the inexpediency process.

Again, the joint resolution discusses the transfer or change of property between the city and the public service board, and it allows us to exchange properties between inventories, and it also addresses the price of any of those exchanges.

The amendments in 2012 and 2015, 2017, excuse me, were regarding the size of properties that were being sold, whether they were over or under 25 acres, and whether or not the city wanted to put land use studies restrictions on parcels that were under 25 acres.

Due to the expense of doing land use studies, there was a decision that only properties over 25 would require that.

Again, if you wanted to take a deeper dive, we could do a separate presentation on just the joint resolutions.

Prior to the joint resolutions, as a result of this ordinance in 2010, there was the 1965 rules and regulations that governed the relationship between the city and the PSB and it appears based on my research and watching some of the older meetings that the 1965 rules and regulations had become unworkable, and it was a desire of the public service board in the city to come up with this joint resolution process moving forward, and that's what we've been functioning under since 2010.

So in a nutshell, what what is the public service board?

What is El Paso water utilities?

What are they?

They are a municipally owned utility that is not independent of the city.

They are an agent of the city of El Paso.

So what I've explained today is the city has delegated its inherent power to manage water, stormwater sewer and handed that authority to a public service board.

And that's been established in in various cases in the state of Texas.

Most recently, yes, it's 2014 out of the out of the Texas Supreme Court.

And then also in 1997 again, the courts have found these these two statements to still hold true today, as well as those two opinions from the Texas Attorney General in 1997 and 2006, where the attorney general was opinion both on New Bronsfeld and the City of El Paso's ability to issue impact fees.

And then locally we have state created law that talks about the fact that El Paso water utility and the public board do not have a separate legal existence.

That was done as a result of a lawsuit that the city was defending against the Pueblo.

The lawsuit was filed both against the City of El Paso and the Public Service Board over a land transaction.

And we were able to successfully argue that the public service board should be dismissed from that lawsuit because the lawsuit didn't, the PSB didn't have a separate existence outside of the City of El Paso, and the court agreed and stated that the public service board is actually a component of the city of El Paso.

Also, the public service board cannot cannot own land.

I'm referring to the same Texas Attorney General opinion from 1997, and I'll read it to the council.

The utility board cannot hold title to real property, only the municipality that created the utility may do so.

A possession and holding by a municipal system is in fact a possession and holding by the municipality.

And any deed that lists the utility as the owner means merely that the utility only acquired the real property as an agent of the city.

So once again, the premise being that the public service board and the utility are agents of the city.

The city retains ownership and title to all real property.

And then finally, and there's other opinions that I cited to the ask the question about what are El Paso water utility employees and managers.

They are considered employees of the city of El Paso.

The general manager, their lawyers, their their employees are all employees of the civil of the city of El Paso, and except for the general manager and the lawyers, all of the employees at El Paso Water Utility are civil service employees.

So they're subject to our civil service rules.

Like this body does have a fiduciary duty to the citizens.

They are required to act on behalf of the benefit of another on all matters within the scope of their relationship.

As public service board members and employees, including acting with the highest degree of honesty, loyalty, and good faith in managing another's money or property with the highest standard of care, which means handling the property in the sewer system, the water system, the stormwater system, and all of that to the highest degree.

They are also subject to our code of ethics, like all other employees and officers of the city.

And then I'll fast forward to uh August of 2021.

On the day that we presented this presentation, the council passed an additional or an additional resolution in 2021 seeking to have better integration and coordination with El Paso water in the delivery of services, both in water, wastewater, and stormwater.

And that resolution is also part of your backup if you would like to read it.

That is the most recent action that the council has taken in in recent history.

It requires quarterly system status reports.

So beginning in FY 2021, they were required to start coming forward to the council and reporting on the delivery of services, including these five categories, which are product quality, customer satisfaction, their financial viability, the infrastructure management and performance of the system, and then their enterprise resiliency.

So if you look at the resolution, it's actually broken up into categories.

So the first one is the quarterly status reports.

The second one is asking for strategic planning and integration.

As council knows, you will be uh conducting a strategic planning section in October.

This resolution requires an asks that the public service board and the El Paso water utilities be involved in the annual strategy sessions and to share data with the with the council.

They are required to develop shared strategic objectives and address identified goals, challenges, and opportunities, and they're required to participate in the performance measure monitoring, knowledge sharing to ensure accountability and progress towards strategic objectives.

And the intent of that resolution is seeking stronger collaboration through include through increased communications between the El Paso water utility and the city.

They also required operational coordination.

And the operational coordination has five objectives.

It requires planning document coordination between El Paso Water Utility, which states El Paso Water will participate in development and updates to the city's planning documents, the future land use map and open space plan.

They will coordinate with the city on existing and proposed facilities.

Annually, El Paso Water will submit information related to their general proposed location and capacity of the system and its facilities, and then we'll update any information where there are any major changes to their system.

They are required to coordinate on capital improvement plan coordination and assign representatives to coordinate planning for capital improvement projects.

So these are projects where the city is is developing its own property, its city owned land, and you find that there is infrastructure that is existing that is managed by the utility that needs to be moved or improved or created anew.

It requires El Paso water utility to plans CIP that will affect any right of way within the city to be provided to the city every February 1st so that the city is prepared in terms of what projects are going to be moving forward on our streets.

It requires that El Paso Water Utility and the City meet quarterly to coordinate any construction that's impacting a right-of-ways, and also includes all CIP that will be coordinated to minimize any disruption of the public.

And then in emergency operations, as you all have seen, we've been in an emergency state for the last couple of years as a result of COVID and some of our large immigration influx.

And that's the required coordination.

And then base and then finally, they are required to create to provide general coordination and information, which is account data on the consumption and billing data, maps and records, El Paso Water Utility will provide S builds, maps and records and facilities of right-of-ways, meets and bounds and surveys, and then they're also required to participate in joint projects that address emerging issues and strategic opportunities.

And then finally, that resolution required that within 120 days of passing of that resolution, which is in August of 2021, they were required to come back with these three requirements.

They had to update the city regarding any city-owned property, which was dealing with any growth of the system and what could be sold or the inexpediency process as we all know it.

Present and provide updates on any potential stormwater projects that served the dual purpose, which again it's the open space, the 10% fund, and then the water supply, which was to provide updates regarding regional efforts that are meeting the existing and future demands for water resources in our service area.

I didn't this is not on the presentation, but also as part of the original ordinance in 752, the water utility transfers 10% of its water sales to the city of El Paso, and then we also have a franchise fee where El Paso Water transfers 2.5% of its fee to the city as part of the use of the right-of-way under a franchise fee.

And then finally, under the original resolution and subsequent resolutions, any time that there's a sale of property in the system, the public service board transfers 5% net proceeds of that sale to the city of El Paso.

They keep the 95%.

And that that concludes my presentation.

I know it's a lot of information, but it's very good.

And thank you, uh Ms.

Neiman, for bringing that here.

You know, there's been a lot of questions to me about the relationship between you know the city council and the utility.

So we haven't had this orientation since August of 2021.

So I think it was timely that we come back and at least let the council members know what our relationship is with the uh the water utility.

And with that said, we have a number of questions.

We're going to start with Representative Vierr.

Thank you, Mayor.

Now, first and foremost, Mayor, thank you for starting this conversation.

As Ms.

Neiman went through her presentation, she talked about delegating our responsibilities to the what to the PSB board.

And I'm hoping that we can expand that conversation further and further in the future.

Ms.

Diman, you answered just like the mayor mentioned, you answered a lot of questions that we get from in our office.

Is the water department part of the city?

They say they're not, we say they are.

What authority, what oversight does this council and mayor and city manager, of course, have over that water authority, that water department, that city department.

So though these are questions I know that as we move forward, and you clarified a lot of them today, we're gonna get to have really get a grasp on what it is and what our responsibilities and duties are.

You know, the mayor likes to say that El Paso is open for business.

I think that the water department and and the city and the relationship with the land that's um the opportunities to sell is really a big part of of being open for business because we need um as a community as a as a city, we need that land to develop more and more uh businesses and and really take the burden off the taxpayers, the residential taxpayers, and bring it on to the business where it should be.

You brought up the um or that ordinance from 2021.

Um I I would like to see if we could get an update from the water department in the future um on where they are and the data that they have to show us where they're at at this at that at this point on the five items that were were were asked in the ordinance.

And and lastly, Mayor, um for Ms.

Neiman, uh, what what other oversights do we have because I I get this question all the time.

Does a city council and mayor, of course, and city manager, do we have oversight on the budget?

So the the budget is approved by the public service board and then is brought to the council for ratification.

However, um the the rates and the budget are approved by the public service board.

When you look at the original enabling ordinance, the only power that you did not delegate to the public service board was the issuance of debt.

So the issuance of debt continues to remain the authority of the council.

You will see other entities around the state that were created under the same enabling ordinance that are um didn't delegate all that authority, they set the rates the utility the the city sets the rates, issues the debt, and approves their budget.

So in this instance, you split the baby, the council approves the debt issuance, and then the public service board sets the rates and their budget.

Mayor, I it's it's such a big responsibility for this council, I think, to vote and approve the debt, which is I think is is muchly needed with improvements in flooding and and a storm dream.

But I also think we owe it to the constituents to have have some oversight on the budget.

And this is just a conversation that like Ms.

Neiman uh brought up, we can talk about in the the our strategic planning session.

Okay.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Ms.

Neiman.

Thank you, Representative.

Mayor and I'd like to thank the the group from the water uh authority or the water department for being here.

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you.

Representative.

Thank you, Mayor.

Carla, thank you.

There are two things that that I highlighted.

Um was on page 11, and this is the green projects, the open space uh preservation.

I would like to see if we could get some more information, like how do these projects come about?

Is there a listing or are we operating under an emergency mode?

If I could just address that.

So the public, the El Paso water utility puts together um, they have a list of of properties that they have identified that serve that dual purpose that could be purchased with a 10 percent fund.

And historically, that information is brought to the open space advisory board.

That's recently changed, and then they make recommendations and they come to the council to make recommendations when there are opportunities to purchase properties that would qualify under the 10 percent fund.

Is that limited to certain parts of the city then?

Or is it open to the entire city?

It's it's open to the general vicinity of of the system, and then they determine the boundaries.

So we would need to look at the plan in terms of how far and why the stormwater plan envisions.

As you will recall, there have been substantial purchases around central El Paso where they purchased large properties and created ponds and drainage structures.

So it's an ongoing project and it's a substantial capital improvement project.

Okay.

That's of interest.

And then something else that caught my attention was almost never at the very end when you talked about 10% of the water sales come to the city.

But then the sale of property.

Let me see if I got it correctly.

The sale of property the city earns or gets 5%, and then they get 95%.

That's correct.

I'm not sure who arranged this contract either, but um is that something that we can review or we can talk about at some point in time?

Yes, ma'am.

That's part of the enabling ordinance that that can be looked at.

Very good.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Representative Trehoff.

Thank you, Mayor.

I I have additional questions on this green project.

Uh is it based on the sale of the property or when they're looking at the green project?

So do you have this uh green projects on page page 11?

I think it is.

Is it uh when when are those projects identified?

Is it based on the sale of a property?

No.

So the the city of El Paso establishes the stormwater management plan.

So it is created by the utility, and they come forward and say this is what we believe the stormwater management plan needs to look like, and we are identifying parcels of property that need to be acquired for stormwater infrastructure and then development, and then they are what we call green projects.

The green projects are what can be purchased with the 10 percent fund.

So you're talking about two different sets of land, the CIP project for purchasing property simply because we need need it for drainage and stormwater purposes, and then you also have within that same function the 10 percent fund, which is used to purchase property that serves both a dual purpose of stormwater and open space, and traditionally those parcels are not um built out, or you don't see a massive amount of capital improvement on it because it already serves its natural purpose of creating water into arroyos, so they're left practically in its natural state, but they're also open for the public to enjoy as open space.

So that's it's a distinction.

You can buy property for the stormwater purpose that are not dual purpose, and you use the fund for that, and then you have the 10% fund only for dual purpose projects.

Got it.

Thank you.

Um additional question.

If the PSB is the only agent of the city, what happens when council NEP water fundamentally agree, disagree on priorities?

So that's happened over many decades.

Um I've seen councils uh require a joint meeting of the public service board.

Also in my tenure with the city, there have been um the CARES committee, which is created of people that are both utilities, not just this the water utility, but the El Paso Electric and Texas Gas, as well as a lot of the cable and comp providers.

Um, the city and the public and the El Paso water utilities are all part of that committee, so they collaborate on projects that allows for uh more communication amongst the parties.

You also have uh a standing meeting that the city manager and um the general manager of the utility get together and discuss issues.

Um I will tell you that looking at the history just in in educating myself in the history, it appears that there was times where things were okay between the board, but then things needed to change.

And I don't know if it was just disagreements or or a fallout, but but the council has always taken the initiative to make changes in regards to what needed to happen.

You saw that in the joint resolutions.

You also see it during the stormwater um ordinance, but more particularly in 2009, when the state statute was changed to increase the number of members from five to seven.

There was probably a feeling that the board was too small in regards to the size of our city, and we needed to have additional representation on that board.

But um it's been you know an ongoing process in terms of of communicating with the utility.

Okay.

You you mentioned on page uh 19 of your presentation regarding going into deeper a deeper dive on the process.

Uh I I would love to have a presentation on that, and then also joint resolutions.

Excuse me.

The the quarterly reports are are we receiving those quarterly reports?

I would I would defer to the water utility or Ms.

Mac.

I know that there was one recently, as maybe in March, where Mr.

Bulu presented on the Bustamante plant and and other projects.

I think that that's the most recent presentation that you've received.

Okay, thank you.

Is there a joint emergency plan in place with El Paso Water in the city?

Yes, ma'am.

That's part of our our emergency response system.

They are included as part of those response.

Okay.

How often are they tested?

I don't know.

I would defer either to our office of emergency management or the like with uh Chief DiAgostino to give you that information.

But we do have tabletop exercises and various trainings that are taking place on a yearly basis.

Okay, thank you.

Representative Chavez.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Carla, for the presentation and the historical context of El Paso Water and the City of El Paso.

So when we came uh on board in January when we were sworn in, we well, my district specifically needed to appoint someone to the selection committee.

And then we appointed some people to the PSB.

And so I'm just trying to uh clarify something here.

Council does not give direction to El Paso Water, right?

Because it's through the PSB that they receive direction?

Correct.

So the public service board serves as the board that has management and control of the utility and they're in charge of their operations, and that is uh done through the general manager and the employees of the city.

The direction that is received is done either during the strategic planning session when you all are talking about you know the need for water, any economic growth, etc.

And you saw it in most recent history you saw it after the flood events, right?

When we had the severe floods and the council needed to take action to address those issues.

So it's done by ordinance of the council, is how most of the direction is given to the board.

Okay, so we pass an ordinance and the ordinance goes to the PSB board.

Is that is that what you're saying?

And then the PSB board um, I guess also decides to to follow through with that ordinance or not, basically.

So the enabling ordinance, so let me explain it to you in another way.

You have a big pie, and the pie is all of the authority vested to the city of El Paso as a home rural municipality.

You have all the power given to us under our charter, and then authority given to us by the state of Texas, and part of that includes water stormwater sewer, right?

And it's a slice of the pie.

Under our enabling ordinance in 752, and then our stormwater ordinance, the council said this piece of the pie we want the public service board to handle, and you've delegated that authority to the board, and they are your agent.

So subsequent ordinances, and you also see it in the bond ordinances where the city delegates authority and then requires the management and control of the system to the board.

So it's done by your authority vested as a governmental body that is delegated to the public service board, and then they have that exclusive authority.

Okay.

So could you clarify when we do uh resolutions then?

Um how does that how does that affect that relationship?

Right.

So the resolution is another way that the council acts, and a resolution is directing the board to do certain things, which is what happened in 2021 when you wanted additional collaboration with the board.

So you wouldn't necessarily codify that because it's um the relationship in terms of you all asking for additional information or more cooperation.

The enabling ordinance is what set out the confines of this is your lane and this is what you have to do.

If you look at the original ordinance, and and I would encourage you all to read it, it's a bit long and it's old English almost.

But but it it establishes as part of that original ordinance, the public service board is required to pass their own rules and regulations.

So they do have the power to create their own rules and regulations confined to that piece of the pie that they were given, right?

So they wouldn't all of a sudden start saying we're gonna build airports.

It's like no airports belong to the city of El Paso.

You were given the authority to do water, stormwater, sewer, etc.

So then they pass rules and regulations within the system to promulgate the the authority that you all were given to them.

But any change that we would like to make as a council would have to be approved by the PSB.

Not necessarily here.

Okay.

Your enabling ordinance and your stormwater ordinance were inherent powers of this government delegated to the utility.

So those powers belong to you, and as the principal you give and you can take away.

And as the principal you give and you can take away.

Okay.

And those are the 20, 10, 12, and 17 that were amended.

And those were done jointly because they manage the land that is used for the system.

And then we're o it's owned by us, so it's a joint agreement as to how those lands need to be managed.

So those would require a joint discussion, but your enabling ordinances for the original El Paso water utility and the stormwater, those are yours and yours alone.

Thank you.

And I know this uh conversation is very complex and there's a lot of history behind it.

So I appreciate uh again just giving us a lot of historical context on this.

Um and I also uh appreciate El Paso Water being present and and I know that as far as district one is concerned, there's they've been doing a lot of work in my district, and and it's been it's been going very well.

So thank you so much for that.

Representative Canales.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um I don't think anyone up here would disagree that water is our most precious resource, especially where we are here in the Tuon Desert.

Um I think it's important to have a little caution in the way we discuss uh the the public service board and the water utility, uh the both the creation of the PSB in 1952, the creation of the municipal drainage system in 2007, the stormwater utility, entering into the joint resolution, all of those actions had at their core the same objective, I think, to make sure that decisions about water and the infrastructure that is needed to source it and to deliver it and to manage it are made apolitically without the influence of uh the sh the changing whims of of politics of local government, um, you know, a council with a shifting makeup over time.

And so I'm I'm not in any way saying that we shouldn't examine these arrangements and make sure that they you know work as well as they sh as as they could for the public benefit.

But I just urge the council to take care in saying, you know, we that maybe we should be taking on more responsibility.

Historically, these responsibilities have been uh voluntarily moved away from the council in order to protect the future of of the water system.

Um I know that people feel pressure, for example, of of raising rates.

Um I always urge people to remember that the water utility is not a private company that's seeking to turn a profit.

Um they they charge a rate that covers the cost to to deliver water to homes and businesses and customers all across uh the the service area.

But they're not uh, you know, they're not making a uh a profit on that.

And so their rate making decisions should be apolitical.

Um and I know no one's talking about a change to to the rate making structure.

Um but I I've heard that conversation happen publicly, and so I just want to urge caution as we talk about uh these things and what changes would look like or you know there they're uh uh it doesn't hurt to ask some some questions, hypothetical questions about what an arrangement might might look like in a different configuration or um you know what what changes could be made.

People should take caution uh to avoid consolidating too much of that decision-making authority with one body that I think would be the city council as much as it's uh you know it it might sound better that uh your elected officials are directly managing the water system.

Uh it's also important to leave some of these things to both the experts and to people outside of politics.

Just my disclaimer.

Thank you, Mayor.

All right.

Well, I I certainly don't think that we want to take on more authority from the the utility.

So I think it's it's best suited with the the PSB.

And I think today's presentation was just to make sure we got an overview of the relationship between the city and and our public service board.

I do have a few questions, uh Carla on page 19.

When land is is deemed inexpedient, and let's say it's being deemed inexpedient and we're taking it back in as a municipality for our use.

What do we pay for it when the city needs to take it back for the use for the city for the public?

Right.

So so there's um for public facilities we can take it, and there's a 25% fee that we would pay the utility for that facility.

the city and and our public service board I do have a few questions uh Carla on page 19 when land is is deemed inexpedient and let's say it's being deemed inexpedient and we're taking it back in as a municipality for our use what do we pay for it when the city needs to take it back for the use for the city for the public right so so there's um for public facilities we can take it and there's a 25 percent fee that we would pay the utility for that facility there are times I believe where we have taken it without paying again it's it's evolved over the years mayor so it's not always um black and white but there are negotiated agreements in terms of what is paid okay and then if we were to have to take land back or uh use land for private use to sell to a developer or a contractor what does the city then buy it from the the utility has to be uh compensated for the fair market value so at a hundred percent of fair market value yeah and then when we take land like that and let's say we we're we're putting it into the private use uh uh for a private user and the utility has easements underneath uh the property are we securing the easements for the utility yes we are there have been two instances in which mistakes were made and easements were not acquired um in 2000 and 2020 that happened and then we immediately were able to uh turn on and request that the easement be granted and then most recently in 2024 2025 there was a mistake made where adieus was not acquired and we're in the we're in the process of acquiring that easement now right Ms.

Bryan believe we have some public comment yes mayor wait do we have two members of the public that signed up to speak the first person is Mr.

Lane Gatty I don't see Lane Mr Lane Gatty Brian Morris good morning good morning I'm Brian Morris I'm currently the chair of the I'll pass water you to leave PSB.

I've been on the board six years now is my second term of the chairman I'm on as you saw in the presentation I the six members in the in on the board I'm actually fulfilling the engineering position I appreciate the the city taking this time to go through this this workshop and the city attorney putting this together because it is it is very hard being on the board is like feeding you know drinking from a fire hose so it is very hard and complicated and I guess why again myself is here another board member Lingatti does apologize we we exceeded a quorum so we had to leave the mayor is actually a member of the board so we had to have the people leave so we didn't didn't have a quorum here.

So again he apologized for for departing but um representative canales I appreciate your comment about the board not being a for-profit entity every time that we go through the rate setting and the budget I try to make that comment to to the public so they understand we're not like the what the gas company or the Pass electric company or any communication company that's a for-profit I'm I always try to make the notation that like like Representative Canala said we're covering covering costs and expenses to to build the system and keep it running so just again we're here available for any other questions obviously John Blue Gilbert Trevor here and another board member Charlie and Teby so if anybody else have any other questions.

Okay thank you anybody have any questions and John you're more than welcome to to speak if you like good morning good morning thank you Mayor John Balou with a pass of water so appreciate the opportunity to come up I'd like to address if I could a couple of questions that were that came up so representative Trejo you ask about the reporting so later this month uh Gilbert who's here will come and give the quarterly presentation this one will be focused on the capital improvements plan for the following year.

When I say the following year that's the following fiscal year which for us starts on March 1.

So when we talk about the the budget and the rates it consists of three different things.

So we do the capital improvements plan so that's the big part of it that's the driver really of the budget.

The O and M that's needed to produce the water and then we forecast for the year how much water we we're going to sell and under what circumstances and we divide that up and that's what the that's what the rate is so we do appreciate the opportunity to come before council I think since you have uh two board members here we actually had more board members uh that shows that their interest and responsiveness to what what council needs I think that we've always been responsive to to each of you when when issues come up so representative Lamon one of the questions you you asked or comments you made was about the 25 percent uh so I want to uh to clarify that that's of course absolutely correct but the the dollar amount that was originally used for the purchase of that land was from the from the ratepayers there's not any city tax revenue or anything that came into the the contribution of that and then also uh it and thank you for the city attorney's office for that excellent presentation and she did point out there are many instances where land that land was given to the city for municipal purposes

Uh so I want to uh to clarify that that's of course absolutely correct.

But the dollar amount that was originally used for the purchase of that land was from the from the ratepayers.

There's not any city tax revenue or anything that came into the contribution of that.

And then also uh thank you for the city attorney's office for that excellent presentation.

And she did point out there are many instances where land that land was given to the city for municipal purposes.

The one that comes to mind almost immediately is the Northeast Landfill, the uh out on on Macombs.

That land was given to the uh to the city of El Paso.

So we do try to be uh very responsive, and as Representative Canales mentioned, uh we like to do this within an envelope of of being very uh transparent as to how we do the budget and ultimately the rates.

And we do have rate increases almost every year for the past 14 years.

But if you look at it where you you take the income, the adjusted household median income, and inflation, you you kind of incorporate those together.

Our rates have been constant uh over the past 20 years within about two, two and a half percent of the adjusted household median income.

So we have a lot of rate uh rate pressures.

Our big driving forces, infrastructure rehabilitation, and replacement.

Uh there's there's things that just need to be done, and then we have water supply on top of that.

The biggest capital improvements project that we have right now is the Bustamante Wastewater Treatment Plan.

That's our newest wastewater treatment plants, more than 30 years old.

And so there's uh a state requirement.

TCQ is the regulating agency that governs us.

We have to embark upon an increase in capacity based on the growth on the east side.

And uh like I said, that's the the newest of the wastewater treatment plants.

We have to systematically go through all of them to make sure that they meet the requirements.

But any time that you you need uh further information, we're more than happy.

Uh we have uh four budget meetings during the course of the year, and uh you're all invited to it every now and then a member of council has shown up to that, and we have some members of the public, but we it's very seldom that we actually have somebody from the public, somebody from outside that comes and participates in that project.

But thank you very much for the opportunity.

Well, John, thank you for for being here and congratulations on your Woody L.

Hunt award for economic development.

Thank you.

And and again, today's meeting was simply to make sure that we had an overview of the relationship between city council and the utility, because we haven't had one since August of 2021, and it was timely that we we got that done.

And in addition, we want to acknowledge that you know our water you or or the utility is a leader, not only in the state but in the nation, and all of the work that you guys are doing and the what the awards that you have received uh in Washington as well, and what you're doing with the reclaimed water and protecting and making sure that we have water for today and into the foreseeable future.

So uh we are very proud of the work that uh you guys do at the utility, but we wanted to make sure that council had an understanding of our relationship.

But thank you and keep up the good work.

Thank you, Mayor.

Ms.

Pryne.

Yes, sir.

That brings us to the executive session items on the agenda.

Is there a motion to retire?

There's a motion and a second to retire to executive session.

All in favor?

Anyone opposed?

Before we retire, though, I do you know one of the things I was supposed to do first on my list was to wish Representative Limona happy birthday.

Yes, you're very welcome.

Yes.

We're gonna celebrate your birthday all month.

Yeah, there we go, the whole week.

Yeah, thank you guys.

And the city council of the city of El Paso may return to executive session pursuing to section 3.5a, the El Paso City Charter and the Texas Government Code, Chapter 551, Sub Chapter D, to discuss any of the following.

Executive session item one, claim of Roberto Leon, claim 745 under 551.071.

Executive session item two, Ruben Aldas versus City of Al Paso under 551.071.

Executive session item three, discussion on R number W 177489, HQ number 25-tPIA-717 under 551.071.

Executive session item four, John Service and Adan Chavez versus City of Al Paso at all, cause number 24-CB-0026-DB under 5 1.071.

Executive session item five discussion on Texas law regarding the granting abasements, HQ 25-4323 under 551.071.

And executive session item six, discussion on an economic development opportunities in Northeast Al Paso, Texas.

HQ number 25-535 under 551.087.

These matters are taken into executive session under 551.071 consultation with attorney and 551.087 deliberation regarding economic development negotiations.

It is 1008 a.m.

Council, is there a motion to come out of executive session?

Second.

There's a motion and a second to come out of executive session.

All in favor?

Aye.

Anyone opposed?

The meeting is back in session at 1234.

1238 p.m.

Mayor Pro Tem EX1.

Thank you, Laura.

I think Josette's gonna read the motions because I have not received them.

Good afternoon, Council Joseph is from the city attorney's office.

We are having technical difficulties, so I'll read the motion.

Got some feedback.

We have on EX1 motion made, seconded, and carried that the city attorney's office in consultation with the city manager be authorized to deny the claim of Roberto Leone.

No, I don't hear myself in matter number claim seven zero nine and to take all steps necessary, including the execution of any required documents in order to effectuate this authority.

That's okay.

Is there any discussion on this item?

Second mayor.

That was the motion second.

There has to be a member.

You can make the motion.

Yeah, I made the motion.

Okay.

Any discussion on this item.

All right, Miss Brian.

Yes, sir.

The motion was made by alternate mayor pro ten Pietro, seconded by Representative Limon, and this is on EX1 is read into the record on that motion, call for the vote.

And the voting session.

And that motion passes unanimously.

EX2.

EX2 reads motion made, seconded, and carried that the city attorney's office in consultation with the city manager be authorized to reject a settlement offer and participate in a mediation in the matter Ruben Aldaz et al.

V.

City of El Paso cause number 2019 DCV 2807 and to take all steps necessary, including the execution of any required documents in order to effectuate this authority.

So moved.

Okay, there's a motion and a second into discussion on this item.

All right, hearing none C None, Miss Prime.

So the motion was made by Representative Canales.

Seconded by Was it made by it was made by Representative Limon, seconded it by alternate mayor pro tempiero as read into the record.

This is to reject the settlement offer and enter intermediation on EX2 on that motion.

Call for the vote.

In the voting session, and that motion passes unanimously.

All right, EX3.

EX3 reads motion made, seconded, and carried that the city attorney in consultation with the city manager be authorized to retain outside counsel and file suit against the Texas Attorney General in Travis County regarding the Attorney General's decision on the city's open records request number W 177489 and to take all steps necessary, including the execution of any required documents in order to effectuate this authority.

Furthermore, the city attorney's office shall release a redacted version protecting attorney client privileged information of the requested records to the requester in an effort to comply with the intent of the Texas Public Information Act requiring transparency of governmental bodies.

Sir Second?

All right, there's a motion to second any discussion on this item.

Ms.

Prime, call for the vote.

Yes, sir.

The motion was made by alternate mayor pro tempiero seconded by representative Boyer Trejo on EX3, and this is to retain outside counsel and file suit on that motion.

Call for the vote.

And the voting session.

Representative Acevedo voting nay, the motion carries.

EX4.

No motion.

vote yes sir the motion was made by alternate mayor pro tempiero seconded by representative boyar trejo on eX three and this is to retain outside counsel and file suit on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes 7 to 1 representative Acevedo voting nay the motion carries EX4 no motion no action ex five ex five reads as follows motion made seconded and carried that whereas since 1910 the city of El Paso in parentheses the city has owned operated and has owned and operated a municipal water utility system and whereas the city's municipal water utility system is known as El Paso Water in parentheses EPW and whereas in 1952 under the authority of Texas state law and pursuant to city ordinance number 752 the city created the public service board in parentheses the PSB and vested the management and control of EPW in the PSB and whereas the PSB is a component of the city and does not have its own separate legal existence and whereas the PSB is an agent of the city and whereas EPW remains a municipally owned utility and component of the city and whereas since the PSB's creation it has not been the city's practice to grant easements to the PSB due to the longstanding principle under Texas law that easements can only be granted between two distinct and separate property owners and whereas the PSB has recently begun requesting easements from the city and whereas the granting of easements by the PSB I'm sorry by the city to the PSB is a legal impossibility given that they are a single entity and whereas despite all of the foregoing the city desires to collaborate with the PSB in their mutual pursuit of protecting and preserving the city's municipal water system infrastructure for the benefit of the city and its citizens now therefore be it resolved by the city council of the city of El Paso that number one the foregoing recitals are true and correct and are incorporated by reference into this motion as a fully set forth herein number two the city is legally prohibited from and will not grant easements to the PSB three when preparing joint use agreements with the PSB the city of El Paso were applicable and as approved by the city attorney's office will include provisions that ensure the protection and preservation of the city's municipal water system infrastructure such as a granting a right of access where when necessary for the for El Paso water to construct operate or maintain such infrastructure on city property b providing the PSB with an acknowledgement form signed by the city manager or a designee to be filed with the El Paso County clerk by the city acknowledging the existence of such infrastructure on city property C requiring that should the city sell city property in the future the city will make all reasonable attempts to procure an easement from the purchaser and such easement will be in the city's name and for the benefit of El Paso water.

Mayor make a motion to approve this okay is there a second second there's a motion and a second any discussion on this item all right hearing then seeing then Ms.

Prime call for the vote yes sir the motion was made by representative seconded by alternate mayor pro tempiero on this is on EX5 as read into the record by Ms.

Flores on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and that motion passes unanimously is there a motion to adjourn EX6 thank you no action second there's a motion and a second and a second to adjourn the work session all in favor anyone opposed and the work session for Monday September 15 2025 is adjourned at 1247 p.m.

Thank you council thank you council okay that's my email is still frozen down here