Good morning.

Good morning, sir.

Good morning, Mayor, Council members, city staff, and everyone here.

Thank you for having us at El Paso City Hall.

My name is Roland Rios.

I'm president co-founder of Combat Fighting Championship CFC.

And I'm also proud of veteran of the United States Air Force.

So when I talk about community impact, I'm coming from a service mindset.

Show up prepared, lead responsibly, and create something that improves lives.

Today it's meaningful because of the proclamation.

And we don't take this lightly.

Since then, we've been committed to earning that recognition through results.

We produced five major events, and our sixth is coming April 25th.

We started with 1400 attendees and grew it to 3100 attendees.

That's momentum and community trust.

Each event takes a hundred and twenty to a hundred and fifty people working behind the scenes to keep it safe and professional.

We invest local locally to deliver a high standard event.

About a hundred and twenty thousand spent uh per event into the operational ecosystem that makes this happen.

And we bring visitors to El Paso.

About 300 hotel room nights per event, supporting hospitality and small and small and small business.

But most importantly, where we are uh where we're headed next, we launch our CFC Foundation.

It's new, but our purpose is clear.

Create an opportunities for youth through structure mentorship and access.

Our targets are to serve two thousand underprivileged kids, provide five hundred mentorship hours, and fund two hundred scholarships.

Now I want you to hear from my co-founder, Jose Carlos Pacheco, because he brings the athletes' perspective and the passion behind what we're building.

Carlos.

Good morning.

My name is Jose Carlos Pacheco, co-founder of Combat Fighting Championship CFC.

Mayor and Council members, thank you for your time and for letting me speak today.

This project began with nothing more than a simple what if conversation.

Standing here now representing the MMA community, it truly feels surreal.

Our worlds don't often intersect, so I want to sincerely thank you for seeing Beyond the Cage, Beyond the Fighting, and recognizing the purpose behind what we're building.

Not just for our athletes, but for the city of El Paso.

CFC was created to showcase the incredible talent that exists right here at home.

El Paso has always been a fight town.

And that's proven by athletes like WBA world champion Stephanie Hahn and former Fury FC champion Andrea Maro.

Fighting is in our is part of our culture.

It's in our blood.

We are fighters, both inside and outside of the cage.

As a professional fighter myself, I can tell you that Al Pasoans take immense pride in representing our city.

When we travel and compete across the country, we carry El Paso with us every time we step into the cage.

We are nine out of town promotion.

We are Al Paso born, El Paso bred, El Paso Proud, and El Paso Strong.

It may not happen today, it may not happen tomorrow.

But I guarantee that CFC will be the platform that helps launch an El Paso athlete to the UFC and represents our city on the biggest stage in the world.

Thank you again for your time.

And now I pass it on to Marco.

Good morning.

Uh my name is Marco Vallejo.

I lead partner relations for CFC, and I'm also the executive director of the CUC Foundation, where I lead our mentorship and scholarship efforts.

Roland shared the vision and the impact.

Because none of this happens without a local network that believes in El Paso.

We're grateful for partners who don't just sponsor an event, they invest in the community around it.

Partners like First Layer Federal Credit Union, Jordan Foster Construction, Ride Drive, Sushito, and many more who consistently show up for El Paso.

We also want to recognize and thank the local United States Air Force Recruiting Office for sponsoring the event.

Because that support aligns with what C of C represents.

Discipline, structure, service, and opportunity.

The foundation, these relationships matter because they translate directly into outcomes.

Mentorship hours, scholarships, and access for kids who otherwise wouldn't get the chance.

So today's proclamation is meaningful, not just for CFC, but for partners, families, and the youth who are part of this movement.

Thank you.

Thank you, Marco.

Thank you, Carlos.

Mayor, Council members, thank you for this proclamation and for recognizing CFC and the direction we're taking it.

We accept it through gratitude and responsibility.

We want you to know you can expect the same standard going forward.

Safe professional events that reflect well on El Paso and a foundation effort that's focused on mentorship access and opportunity for the youth.

Thank you for your time, your leadership, and for believing in the people building something positive for our city.

Wow.

And Roland, I want to thank you and your team here for all that you're doing with our youth, especially in the area of mixed martial arts and anti-bullying initiatives that you guys are taking on.

And I know you had some sold-out shows, which is incredible.

And uh this this uh sporting event is only growing in popularity, and we want to continue to help you guys in any way we can to grow out uh sell out more shows.

Also, I want to uh thank you for giving our local fighters a platform to showcase their their talent.

You guys have really uh put some of them on the on the national stage.

So again, thank you to CFC for all that you're doing, and let's continue to do some more economic development and sell out some more rooms.

But congratulations on all that you're doing for this community.

Congratulations.

And the next proclamation is El Paso Children's Hospital Day.

Representative Acevedo.

Thank you, Mayor.

Have the honor of reading this.

The children's hospital is so important to our community, and I will read the proclamation and then hand it over to the amazing children's hospital after I read this proclamation City of El Paso, Texas.

Whereas each year, thousands of children in West Texas, Southern New Mexico region require specialty pediatric medical care.

And whereas El Paso Children's Hospital was established by the community to be the first ever and only separately licensed hospital dedicated to pediatric care.

And whereas the hospital is continually recruited pediatric specialists and now has over 20 specialties led by world-renowned physicians and medical experts, making it easier for families to stay in El Paso for specialized pediatric treatment instead of traveling out of town.

And whereas February 14th, 2026 marks 14 years since the hospital's grand opening.

Now therefore be a proclaimed by the mayor and council of the city of El Paso that February 14th, 2026 shall be known as El Paso Children's Hospital Day.

Signed the Honorable Mayor Renard Johnson.

Good morning.

Good morning, everybody.

Most importantly, we want to thank Representative Acevedo for continually hosting our proclamations and Mayor Johnson and all of City Council for welcoming us.

We're gonna step back today and we're gonna let some of our leadership team share the great things that are happening at El Paso Children's Hospital.

So first up, we'd like to welcome our associate administrator, Naomi Bastardo.

Good morning, everyone.

Good morning.

Thank you for having us.

El Paso Children's Hospital has provided the highest level of pediatric care in the El Paso community for officially 14 years now.

This story began when the community calls for a dedicated children's specialty hospital nearly 30 years ago.

That dream came to fruition on February 14th, 2012, with our hospital designed exclusively for pediatric health care and an additional floor, which has recently opened up.

Most recently, we were also voted the best hospital in the the in the El Paso area for El Paso Times for the second year straight.

Al Paso Children's Hospital is full of dedicated doctors and nurses committed to delivering the highest level of care possible and instituting an environment where our kids, our family members, and our hospital staff feel safe.

We've been able to recruit top quality physicians and bring on new specialties each year.

We recruited the region's only pediatric geneticist, Dr.

Maria Ethel Aguirre, who plays an important role in understanding the cause of conditions deep in a child's DNA.

As we build the top quality pediatric orthopedic program in the region, we have create recruited two additional physicians this year to assist in growing a much-needed service for our region.

Just recently, we announced a game-changing partnership with Toyota to help treat traumatic brain injuries, which start in the emergency department.

Our pediatric emergency department is staffed with pediatric pediatric tree uh team that specializes in only pediatrics, which is extremely crucial for our community.

We strive in building relationships with our local EMS partners to ensure that every child receives the specialized pediatric care right from the beginning.

Right here, I'm going to introduce Christine Tejeda, our director of our pediatric intensive care unit to talk a little bit about our inpatient care.

Good morning.

Hi, good morning.

My name is Christine Tejeda, and I am the director of our pediatric intensive care unit.

I am born and raised in El Paso, Texas.

So I'm very proud to be here.

So we are the one in six pediatric intensive care units in the state of Texas to receive this award, and we are the only one in the region.

We're so proud of our staff, our board certified intensivist and nursing team that work tirelessly so that kids do not have to leave El Paso for the highest level of critical care services.

And this is when pediatric patients need it the most.

So we're very excited and happy to be able to offer these services when our patients in our region need them most.

So uh thank you both so much.

We have a many of our leadership team, many of our chiefs here as well.

Too many to keep within the 27-second time limit.

Um but we're very grateful for you all as we've had to educate people.

It's our golden birthday.

We're turning 14 on February 14th.

It's a big year.

Yes, that means next year is the quintineta for El Paso Children's Hospital.

So you will all be getting an invite, no doubt.

It's gonna be a fantastic day.

We're grateful to the Chamber of Commerce.

The star will be lit on our in our honor both next Friday and Saturday.

We'll be completing the celebration of the week at the UTEP basketball game with our giant teddy bear toss for all the kids.

Uh so we have a lot of great things.

We'll be sure to share with you all the events going on to invite you if you'd like to attend.

So thank you all so much.

Now let's take at least another minute so everyone can introduce themselves because they showed up this morning.

Let's run through.

All right, we'll go left to there we go.

Hi, Javier Science.

I'm the assistant chief legal officer for the hospital.

Myra Estrada, Director of Perioperative Services.

Jeannie Shaw, Associate Administrator, Perioptive Services.

Nicole Boick, Child Life Coordinator.

Good morning.

Amy Hernandez, Administrative Director of Outpatient Services.

David DeMarc Antonio, Vice President of Outpatient Services.

Janly Saparo, Administrative Director of Nursing and Special Projects.

Daniel Lopez, I'm the quality management director.

Hello, Liliana Rivas, Director of Cardiac Services.

Good morning, Melissa Rodriguez, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives.

Good morning, José Luis Salas, Director of Infection Control and Employee Health.

Brenda Gonzalez, Director of Laboratory Services.

Elizabeth Carroll Gonzalez, Director of Medical Staff Services.

Liz Flores, Director of Patient Accounting.

Good morning, Stephanie Hubbard, Director of Health Information Management.

Good morning, Maria Diaz, Administrator Director of Social Work and Case Management CDA.

Good morning, Lupe Saliz, Contra Compliance Manager.

Hello, I'm Laurel Houston.

I'm the Chief Legal Officer.

Good morning.

I'm Terry Jordan, uh Chief Administrative Officer.

Thank you.

Is that the team, huh?

We do.

Cindy is unfortunately able to be here today, but uh we're all here in power numbers to prove the great things that we're doing for these kids in the community.

So thank you all.

Yeah, and thank you guys again for all the compassionate care that you provide our kids so they can stay in this community.

And one quick question how many beds is it?

Hundred and forty eight, yes, sir.

Great.

Okay, 148 beds, and you guys have received a number of awards, Pathway to Excellence, Beacon.

Is there more awards we're missing?

We have more wards on the way, so we'll be excited to share in the coming week.

Very good.

But thank you guys so much for all that you do for the kids in our community.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Yes, sir.

The next proclamation is twenty twenty six, El Paso Black History, Hall of Fame Inductees.

Representative Canalis.

May let it finish clearing out here for a second.

All right, proclamation, City of El Paso, Texas.

Whereas the City of El Paso recognizes the enduring necessity of commemorating the achievements and contributions of African Americans.

A principle given special focus by the 2026 National Black History Month theme, a century of black history commemorations.

And whereas this centennial theme invites us to reflect on the formal establishment of Black History Crations, recognizing that honoring those who have paved the paths of progress is a vital act of self-affirmation, cultural preservation, and empowerment for future generations.

And whereas the 2026 El Paso Black Hall of Fame inductees are themselves a living embodiment of this commemorative legacy, representing diverse fields of service, leadership, and community advancement that have profoundly shaped our region.

And whereas we proudly honor this distinguished class of inductees for their historic historic contributions and achievements.

And whereas we also give great honor to those who are who are being inducted posthumously into the Black Hall of Fame.

Cleola Lee Oliver Barry, Thaddeus John Bowden, James Jim Crouch, George B.

Cumber, Esteine Davis, Jack Darrell Fields, Jeff Row Hills Sr., Harold E.

Howell, Bruce Alvin Mathis, Flamenny Laurel Purchase, and Carl Robinson.

And whereas the collective accomplishments of these individuals and the work of the McCall Neighborhood Center reflect the strength, resilience, and intellectual power of the black community, ensuring that their impactful narratives are woven into the public culture and history of El Paso.

Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Mayor and Council of the City of El Paso that February 3rd shall be known as El Paso Black Hall of Fame Day, signed by our Honorable Mayor and previous inductee, Mayor Renard Johnson.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Thank you all.

Thank you, Mayor and City Council for this uh honor for this proclamation.

I'm not going to take too long because I do want to make sure some of our inductees have a few words, but this was this began um when I first arrived here due to the military in 96, but we never got a chance to do it until now because military life happens.

So we're just honored to be able to uh acknowledge those in the community who have made a difference.

And also this was also started because of some things that my son experienced and that my daughter experienced, and even some things that my grandson, who is now 15 years old, um who lives in Las Cruces, um, but comes to El Paso a lot experiences.

So we want the youth to know that there are people that they can look up to in the community.

So if they can do it, so so can they.

You know what I mean?

So that's what that's what we're here for.

So I'm going to step to the side and ask um some of our inductees to give about 30 seconds.

I know we're on a time limit to introduce themselves.

Um also before we I'll have Miss Ums Anna Howell.

Good morning.

Good morning, Mayor and Commissioners.

I it is truly an honor to be inducted myself and and for my husband who is not with us, but his soul and and love is always with me.

So I just want to thank you for giving us the honor of receiving the proclamation today.

I live what I was taught.

It was says give of yourself, not just money, but of yourself.

So I try to do that in everything that I do.

Good morning.

Good morning.

First of all, giving honor to God.

Hey, just wanted to say we uh truly honored to be up here.

I am truly honored uh not only because for the black community, but the our paso community.

I did 32 years in the military.

And this is the kind of stuff that made me want to continue service, being great in our community to be able to do things, not just for our just community, but to be able to mix in this community to let people know that we are important too, and that we love El Paso.

Just love us back.

We love y'all and God bless you.

Good morning.

Good morning.

My name is Karen Cooper Linden.

I grew up here in El Paso since uh I was four.

And I came back to take care of my parents after they passed away.

I I continue to stay, and I work in this community because that's how I was taught.

We would go with my father to help the homeless, and he always preached to us that you are your brother's keeper.

So I continue to work because I love this community, and I'm teaching that to my grand.

And Karen.

How long have you known me?

Since you were a baby.

I've been in El Paso back and forth since 1981, where my husband first started his military career.

We have served and raised our children, 46 years old, and a 33-year-old here that was born in El Paso, Texas.

What Pastor Thaddeus has stood for was life is about connecting the dots and always serving.

Am I my brother's keeper?

What an honor for him to be honored.

He is gone with the Lord, but to see the people that is gone with him, Carl Robinson.

You think about all the giants that he even stands with today, Anna Howe, my brother Reggie Daniel.

I want to thank El Paso for this proclamation.

It means so much to all of us.

Amen.

And um, before we have our um keynote speaker for this weekend and our lifetime achievement awardee, um, I was gonna have Miss I'm used to calling her Barbara, but minister Beverly.

She was born and raised here.

You know, good morning.

Good morning, Mayor and Commissioners.

God bless each and every one of you.

I am Elder Beverly Mathis, member of uh Faith Tabernacle Full Gospel, where my pastor is uh Bishop Dr.

A.

W.

Flower Senior and our elect lady.

I am proud to be here at this moment because this is what's been uh justified for us to continue to carry on, and I'm very, very grateful for Miss Monica Tucker for having the vision to carry this out.

I am a proud El Pasoan, born and raised, born at Newark Maternity Hospital.

I am proud to say that I graduated from El Paso High School.

Yeah, and I'm a part of the El Paso Association that's there, and I'm very proud to be an El Paso 1969 alumni, also a Lieutenant Colonel of the J R O T C at El Paso High School.

Uh I was the only black female in my class of 1969, and they treated me with the greatest respect, and I will always acknowledge them as being the best lady on the hill.

She is on the hill and she shines and she brights, and I'm also just now understanding about how some things we go through in life that we have to deal with.

I am now a also proud uh breast cancer survivor.

I want to acknowledge that my daughter is Miss Monica's right hand, along with Miss Howell and all the others that are standing here, but we want you to know that we will be doing more.

We have the Black Tour coming up this weekend, and we just want you to understand and know that everything that we are doing is for everybody, not just for the black community.

God bless each and everyone.

Yes.

Oh my goodness.

Good morning.

Good morning, Chief.

Good morning.

Thank you all for coming.

We are really appreciate this proclamation.

Again, like it's been said before.

This is not just about the black community.

Even though we're doing amazing things here, we have our mayor, our city manager, our fire chief, and even me.

We're all doing great things across the world here in El Paso, and we want to keep the energy going.

We've got a great event coming up Saturday, and it's a sold-out event.

Thank you, Monica.

So we're going to continue to do things in El Paso.

And me personally, I've been serving this community now for almost 31 years, and I'm going to continue to do so for as long as I can.

So thank you very much.

Good morning, Chief.

Good morning, Mayor, Council.

Um, I just want to first thank Monica and and uh you know the Black Hall of Fame.

And um I'm very humbled and honored to be standing here amongst these other inductees and to be mentioned alongside of them.

Um I didn't get here alone.

You know, the love and support of my family, you all, uh, mayor and council, city leadership, Miss Dion Mack, uh Deputy Chief, uh Deputy City Manager Mario Di Augustino, and you know, my staff of uh along the wall back there.

Uh they all contribute to the success of not only my my own success, but the success of my organization in the El Paso Fire Department, and I'm truly honored to represent the El Paso Fire Department and the City of El Paso.

So thank you.

Monica.

No, I just want to also thank um Representative Canales who champions us all the time.

Well, on behalf of the entire city council, our heartfelt congratulations to all the twenty sixteen Black History uh Hall of Fame inductees, and you and others have helped pave the way for so many, and most of you, if not all of you, have done it quietly with profound passion and commitment to the black community.

The countless hours that you have given to this community does not go unnoticed.

So today we celebrate you and want to say congratulations.

I just want to reiterate right reiterate right quick that this is the one hundredth year celebration of black history.

Wow, one hundred years.

Congratulations.

I got you.

The next proclamation is Text Dot National Engineers Week.

Representative.

So I think it's the one before, no?

Miss Pryn.

I think you skipped community partners.

You're correct.

The next proclamation is community partners in action.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm reading this on behalf of Representative Cynthia Boyer Trejos.

She couldn't be with us today.

Proclamation City of El Paso, Texas.

Whereas Mrs.

Jane Hopkins, Assistant Store Manager, and Ms.

Rachel Maines, Store Manager at Sam's Club store number sixty-two forty-six in Northeast El Paso have demonstrated exceptional commitment to community service, civic engagement, and support for families and veterans across our region.

And whereas through their leadership at SAMS Club store number sixty-two forty-six, the store has become a trusted community partner, supported meaningful initiatives that bring residents together, honor veterans, and strengthen neighborhood connections.

And whereas Mrs.

Hopkins and Miss Mains have actively supported the Persian Gulf Memorial and the Old Glory Memorial located in Northeast El Paso, contributing to events and collaborations that honor service, promote unity, and create welcoming spaces for veterans, families, and community members.

And whereas their collaborative efforts have included family focused community events, partnerships with local vendors, and initiatives that encourage participation, creativity, and togetherness, resulting in memorable experiences embraced by residents.

And whereas both leaders exemplify professionalism, warmth, and a genuine commitment to service, setting a high standard for community involvement and reflecting a shared belief in giving back to Al Paso.

Now, therefore, be a proclaimed by the mayor and council of the City of El Paso, recognizing and honoring Mrs.

Jane Hopkins, Assistant Store Manager, and Ms.

Rachel Maines, store manager of Sam's Club store number sixty-two forty-six as community partners in action and commends them for their outstanding leadership service and lasting contributions to Northeast El Paso.

Signed the Honorable Mayor Red Nard Johnson.

Good morning.

Thank you.

Good morning, members of the Steam.

Still reside in District 4, and I would just want to congratulate Sams Club 6246 for all the community work that they do.

They give uh very much always to the community.

I'm the president of the Kazner Heights Neighborhood Association, and I know we can count on them for their support at any time.

One of the things I would like to really say is that uh having been here for four years, I would speak to different city employees.

One of the things that they always recurring theme was that they would go shop at Sam's.

Sam's Club 6246 of the Northeast.

And I would ask them why.

I mean, these people lived in the various parts of towns, the West Side, East Side, Central, whatever.

They say, well, number one, they have a very uh assortment of products and services.

The staff there are always friendly, and the stores very clean, and the parking lot is great.

So just remember if you need to go shopping, Sam's Club 6246 and District 4.

Thank you very much for this opportunity.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning, Mayor, and distinguished members of City Council.

I stand before you to recognize sincerely to thank Sam's Club 6246 for their outstanding commitment to our Northeast community.

Their generosity and willingness to support events at Old Glory Memorial from providing pastries, water, hot dogs, and hamburgers, and other supplies have made a meaningful difference year after year.

She has company in town, you know how that goes.

For their leadership, kindness, and dedication to giving back.

Their partnership is more than a donation.

It is a true investment to our community.

Without their continued support, many of our events simply would not be possible.

We're deeply grateful for their long-standing collaboration and unwaving commitment.

Thank you.

All City Council, Debo Wakefield here.

Um, I would just like to say for the SAMS Club in the Northeast, without their support, a lot of things would not get accomplished.

When you show up, you do want your coffee, you do want your donuts, you do want your water when it's hot outside.

Um, the other thing is the camaraderie.

The camaraderies, they just don't stay inside the store.

They come out and mix and mingle with us.

They come and help serve, they come and greet the different family members, and they're very encouraging with their smiles and their hospitality.

So without further I guess recognition, I would like to say thank you again to Rachel Angelo.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Good morning.

My name is Denise Carruthers, and just very quickly, um, aside from the big thanks that we owe Sam's and Jane, I just want to say thank you to y'all for recognizing all of the people here today, because in a world where we only hear negative, it's nice to hear positive things.

Thank you.

You're very welcome.

Well, thank you guys.

I I know that Sam's Club is very proud of both Rachel and and Jane for all that you do and the way that the exceptional way that you guys represent Sam's company.

And I also know you guys have touched on it that Sam's Company nationwide has their associates and volunteers at events giving away resources and time.

So this is a a testament of Sam's Club across the nation.

So again, thank you guys for all that you do for our community, and thank you for all that you do for our veterans and everyone else.

So congratulations.

Thank you.

Representative Rocha.

Congratulations on the proclamation.

I just want to say, as an Eastsider, I live off of Le Chorino, and I travel to the SAMS in the Northeast.

Quite often because it is uh it is just quite exceptional when you compare it.

So congratulations again.

Oh, she's gonna do it from the front.

And the final proclamation is Tex Dot National Engineers Week.

Representing you.

Thank you, Mayor.

The honor is coming up forward.

Well, thank you, Mayor for allowing me to read this proclamation today.

Absolutely.

So proclamation for the city of El Paso, Texas, whereas February 22nd through the 28th, 2026 is recognized as a National Engineers Week to honor the nation's engineers in all fields who use their knowledge and skills in an innovative ways to fulfill our society's needs and ensure a diverse and well-educated future engineering workforce by increasing understanding of an interest in engineering and technology careers.

And whereas El Paso Electric is powered by more than 1,0100 employees, including more than 150 engineers across environmental, electrical, mechanical, and civil disciplines, whose expertise supports the safe and reliable delivery of electricity to more than 460,000 customers across the service territory spanning from Van Horn to Anthony, Texas, and into Southwestern New Mexico to Hatch.

And whereas 30 professional engineers, 16 engineering assistants, and 20 engineered interns across Texdot El Paso district are integrated in each aspect of the agency's work from design, planning, traffic, maintenance, and construction.

They're part of more than 1,000 across Textot statewide, working tirelessly every day to provide a safe and reliable transportation system that enables the movement of people and some goods.

Whereas UTEPS College of Engineering has had 5,400 students enrolled in the fall of 2025, and it's 11 bachelor's degrees, 17 master degrees, and six doctor degrees that produce 886 great engineers last year, many that are Hispanic and first generation, and many that graduate and place into four hundred fortune 500 companies across the globe.

There's also a larger regional national impact at the College of Engineering is a significant contribution to research and expenditures for the university, therefore assisting in sustaining the university's R1 status according to the Carnegie classification system.

And whereas engineers serve as role models and sources of inspiration to our students and community to realize the power of their knowledge.

They will work for the promoted diverse and well-educated future engineering workforce and will be recognized with the lighting of the city landmarks and all green to cut the color of all engineers.

Now therefore be it proclaimed by the mayor and the council of the city of El Paso that February 22nd through the 28th, 2026 shall be known as National Engineers Week for Engineers at El Paso Electric, Text.

This year the Text Dot El Paso District will be hosting the third annual West Texas Young Engineers Group.

And they've been tasked with making it the best best one ever.

Uh and they'll be choked showcasing many of the engineering projects going on, not only at TechSot, but uh around the region.

That's why today I'm joined by some of my young engineers embedded in various sections throughout the district.

Ninety-five percent of them are UTEP graduates.

Ninety-five percent of them are here are here from the region.

They're local students.

They were taught in the local education system, came up through the ranks, went to UTEP, got their engineering degree.

I don't I don't think we realize how lucky we are to have a top-notch engineering program.

I can tell you my peers across the state struggle to fill engineering positions, and that's not the case here locally.

Again, I want to thank you on behalf of all engineers and I appreciate your support.

Thank you for the recognition.

Good morning.

Uh thank you for the proclamation.

We're really honored by it.

Um I'm Ken Meisner, I'm the dean of the College of Engineering here at UTEP, and uh we're proud to partner with uh with TechSdot and El Paso Electric and really helping drive workforce development, economic development in the area.

Um the College of Engineering and UTEP have grown greatly over the last uh few years, and most of our students are from Region 19, showing our commitment to the community.

Um not only trying to ignite that flame of curiosity in the students and the young people, but also again, trying to get them interested in engineering and community service.

And uh we're very proud to to do that service uh to the region.

So uh thank you again for the proclamation.

Pixup and vamos Maneros.

Now, Tomas, you have a lot of people with you there.

They want to come up there we go.

Uh thank you everyone.

Thank you for recognizing us.

Uh my name is Victor Tokinto from El Paso Electric.

Um, you guys mentioned uh in the proclamation we we hire uh we have over 150 engineers through all uh uh uh through all uh fuels uh environmental, civil, uh mechanical, electrical.

Um the El Paso area, most of us did go to UTEP.

So we we do want to uh give the thanks and uh thank you thank you to everyone.

I myself actually started my career in Text Dot as well.

Um thank you for the recognition and thank you for uh for really us putting us uh uh on the spotlight.

We really want to be able to have uh all these students that go through UTEP be able to start the career and develop the career here locally.

Tomas, we got some more time.

They want to introduce themselves?

Um I'm an engineering assistant in central design of Textot.

Good morning, my name is Leonardo Calce.

I'm one engineering assistant for the advanced planning development section at Texat.

Good morning, my name is Font, and I'm an engineering assistant with uh the El Paso District Maintenance.

Um the engineering assistant at the El Paso District now.

Good morning, I'm Jezebel Ray, um transportation engineer at the West area office.

Good morning, I'm good in Nagasca, and I'm a distribution engineer for El Paso Electric.

Good morning.

My name is Ugo Luran.

I uh work for El Paso Electric.

I'm a distribution design engineer.

Thank you.

Good morning.

My name is Vivena Sambrano, I'm the business lead for the Sun City Summit Rocket Team.

Oh, wow, good morning.

And Gabby Gandhara, Assistant Dean for Engineering Student Success in the College of Engineering.

Very good.

Well and Tomas, what I believe I learned about this week is uh it's aligned with uh George Washington's birthday and honoring his background as a surveyor and an engineer.

And uh we are honored today to highlight our local engineers who are problem solvers, builders, and civic leaders, and stellar members of this community.

So congratulations to each and every one of you guys and Go miners.

Okay, Miss Prime.

Yes, sir.

Good morning.

This is a meeting of the El Paso City Council for Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026.

Mayor Johnson is present and presiding in Council Chambers, along with Mayor Pro Tem Chavez, Representative Acevedo, Representative Malonado Rocha, Representative Nino, Representative Limon, and Representative Canales.

It is ten oh seven A.M.

Will everyone please silence your electronic devices so and not to disturb the meeting and rise for the invocation.

Delivered by El Paso Police Chaplain Robert Hempel Jr.

Good morning.

Good morning, Honorable Mayor Johnson and uh Mayor Proton Chavez and also the honorable members of the El Paso City Council and Department of Chair.

Let us bow heads at this time for the invocation.

Most holy God, you say that it's honorable to have a good name.

A man is honorable in this city council here, and all this leaders have a great name because El Paso has a great name as being one of the best cities in the country.

Guide them Master as they make decisions that are in the best interest of the citizens of this community.

We ask Master Dick discuss pros and cons, Master, and come up with a solution that's best for all this concern.

This we ask in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Okay, Miss Bryant.

Once you obtain the floor from the mayor, you will have up to ten minutes for debate and may speak twice per debatable motion.

Please speak into the microphone and refrain from side conversations of the dais while the meeting is in session.

For those of you joining us virtually, please make sure to reduce to mute your microphones to reduce any background noise.

Thank you for showing up.

And thank you for showing who we are and how we show up for one another.

We're glad to have you here today.

Ms.

Prime.

Yes, Mayor.

At this time, I'll call the persons that signed up to speak at 10 o'clock, either on consent or regular agenda items.

And the first person is Stephanie Block.

Ms.

Block signed up to speak on item 31.

And item 31 is discussion in action on a resolution to appoint a member to the El Paso Water Utilities Public Service Board of Trustees.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning, Mayor and distinguished.

I have to stand on my toes a little bit.

Good morning, Mayor and distinguished members of City Council.

It was a pleasure to meet with each of you last week and share information about myself and thank you for the taking the time to speak with myself and the other candidates about this important position.

I want to make it clear that today I'm representing myself as a citizen and a dedicated public servant, and I'm not here as a representative of El Paso Water since I am up for reappointment.

I just wanted to say, as I mentioned to each of you in the past, that El Paso Water is a really complex and highly regulated organization for good reasons, and it takes time to gain the requisite technical knowledge and understanding to be very effective.

And I feel that I will hit the ground running if selected for a second term.

So I just wanted to uh reiterate that and also say, of course, my goal is whatever is best for El Paso and the ratepayers.

Um if I'm that person, it would be my honor to continue serving if you feel that somebody else is better suited to that position.

I encourage you to vote your conscience.

This is a really important role, and um I would be very happy to continue in it, and thank you very much for your consideration.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'll now call the members of the public that signed up to speak at 10 o'clock on item 34.

And this is the uh item to develop a plan of action to prevent the installation of any ICE detention facilities.

You'll have up to three minutes to speak.

You can monitor your time on the timers that are going to be displayed on the monitors in council chambers.

You don't need to, if you don't need the all the three minutes, that's fine, but you will have up to three minutes.

And I'll begin with students from Eastwood High School, Sofia Gutierrez, followed by Elisa Aguirre, Zayle Buck, Lafani Davis.

Good morning.

Good morning, Mayor Renard Johnson, City Manager Dion Mack, and El Paso City Council members.

My name is Alisa Aguirre, and alongside me, I have Zaley Buck, Lalani Davis, and Sofia Gutierrez.

We are the voices behind Troopers for Justice at Eastwood High School, and as well as the as well as the leaders of the first El Paso ICE walkout here in El Paso.

We are beyond grateful to be here representing the youth of El Paso, though and through all student-led walkouts and peaceful protests, send a clear message of disagreement with further implementation of ICE within our city.

We took it upon ourselves to create a petition so all voices of our community are heard.

The petition is as summarized.

We, the undersigned residents of El Paso, urge the El Paso City Council to direct the city manager and city attorney to prevent the installation or expansion of any immigrate immigration customs enforcement detention facilities within El Paso city limits.

This petition is signed and submitted to demonstrate clear community opposition to any expansion of ICE detention centers in El Paso.

The piece of legislation being spoken upon today was proposed by Lily Limon and Chris Ganales.

However, not only do city officials disagree with further expansion, we the people do.

Our citizens have been clear in their opinion with approximately six high schools of our city participating in student-led walkouts against ICE, with more set to happen in the near future, including citywide organizations.

This petition in only 48 hours received support citywide, gaining over 1,200 signatures as of this morning.

Not aliens, human beings.

I'll now hand it over to Sophia.

Good morning.

Thank you, Zay.

Good morning, Mayor, City Manager, and City Council members.

My name is Sophia Gutierrez, a junior and organizer from Eastwood High School's Troopers for Justice movement.

And I am here to ask the City Council to support item number 34 unanimously to develop a plan of action in the prevention of building another ICE detention center.

We believe these detention centers are immoral in unchecked and goes against everything our beautiful city stands for.

El Paso was built off the backs of immigrants, which inherently makes it rich in culture, community, and pride.

It deserves to be known for that, not deemed the detention center capital of the U.S.

We want due process for all, but more importantly, no person should be abused, neglected, or tortured because of their background.

El Paso is a place that has welcomed me.

Do not turn this land into a place that will not welcome others, said Mr.

Garcia, whose name will remain anonymous for their safety upon signing our petition, and we are here to reinforce that statement.

El Paso is a border city, and as young, un as young informed and passionate citizens, we urge the city council to fully consider the promises of this action plan for us and for every immigrant who has come into this country in promises of a better life, not fearing if their child will be deported or placed in a detention center.

What other city is more qualified to stand up for their people?

We must realize and address that our people are not being targeted by criminal records, but racially profiled, regardless of their citizenship status, including children.

In cases of a U.S.

citizen being obtained, they are denied due process and given an ultimatum of waiting to be transferred or signing an I-407 form stating that by making a phone call they abandon all of their residency rights.

Not only is this highly illegal, but it also further proves the targets are not the criminals, but the very people that do the jobs Americans don't want to take, and the people in our city that look out for their neighbors.

If our city can't come together to create an action plan against these immoral detention centers centers, I don't know any other city that can, as you would probably agree with me.

And with that, I'll pass it over to Leilani.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Um stated before, and I'm one of the voices behind Troopers for Justice at Eastwood High School.

Today I stand before you, not as an expert and not as a politician, but as a teenager and a human being who cares about what's happening in our communities.

ICE was created in the name of safety, but when that safety turns into fear, and when people are targeted for their for the color of their skin or for the language they speak, that stops being protection.

Here in El Paso, three people have lost their lives.

Victor Manuel Diaz, Francisco Gaspar Andres, Gerardo Lunas Campos, were all killed during immigration enforcement.

Our purpose here today is to speak up for them as well as many others that are unable to.

Human rights aren't something you earn.

They're something you're born with, and human rights cannot be selective.

Empathy should never be determined on where you're from.

If item 34 is failed to pass, it will only harm El Paso immigrants, and it will only show the country that even the city built on immigrants' backs, don't we not have theirs.

I will now pass over to Zaley.

Thank you.

Hi, good morning.

Good morning.

Um, my name is Zaley Buck, and I'm here representing Troopers for Justice from Eastwood High School and urging City Council to support item 34 in the name of justice for those who have lost their lives, their loved ones, and their rights to live in the place they once called home.

As our Pledge Allegiance states, one and indivisible, but this issue is dividing the country like no other, with citizens comparing it to Nazi Germany, with the mass deportation and human rights human beings being treated less than just because of a difference of ethnicity.

When given the platform, El Pasuans as a whole were able to speak out on an issue that affects us and the more that conflict arises, the harder that we will work to set things right.

If our border city formulates an effective plan to further prevent the creation of ICE detention centers, it will hopefully show other cities that they can unionize to and create a plan for their own city.

And push for more ethical solutions as a country.

Living in a country built on the values of democracy, it is our city's officials' duty to make individual voices heard.

By rejecting agenda item 34, we are not only failing the people of El Paso, but also what our community has stood for and the morals of our city.

Juntos somos más fuertes.

Thank you all for your time.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Ms.

Ryan, Representative Limon.

Thank you, Mayor.

You are absolutely outstanding.

Eastwood High School, the first school to walk out orderly, non-violence, with the administration clearly understanding what you were doing, the last 30 minutes of the class, but to make a point and to stand here today.

You are just an amazing incredible group of students.

I am so proud.

Both of my daughters graduated from Eastwood, and Eastwood is in my district, a district that I represent so proudly.

Thank you very much for being here today.

Thank you for speaking up, and thank you for that beautiful future that we have in advance with you.

And Mayor, on Martin Luther King Day, you and I worked, and Mayor was about an hour there before I was at the food bank.

And you may remember we were sorting out carrots.

Congratulations and thank you very much.

And go troopers.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, guys.

Thank you, Mayor.

The next speaker is Claudia Contreras Siller.

She will be followed by Aiden Martinez.

Adrian Gonzalez.

Angelica Rodriguez.

Good morning.

Hello, good morning.

The last two Tuesdays I was here.

I spoke in Spanish.

I explained.

I lived in Juarez for the first 12 years of my life.

I explained that I went through hunger for days.

Not one day, weeks.

And I want to encourage the news and everybody to educate that law enforcement is not only arresting people, like it's not arresting people without papers, but they're going after drug traffickers, human traffickers.

We all know that people nowadays cannot even taste weed, cocaine, or anything because it can be laced with fentanyl.

Okay.

So let's respect our authorities.

And I see a representative walking out on me, so that's fine.

And I am for law enforcement.

And I just don't want to see this turning violent.

I've seen posts on FITFAM of them like glorifying the students that are waving our flag.

And I want to say that whoever waves our Mexican flag, it has to be with honor and respect.

And also we need to wave the American flag because the United States is the nation that feeds us.

Okay.

Also, law enforcement, they put their life on the line for us.

They're protecting our streets against human trafficking, drugs, crime, etc.

So I don't want to attack anybody, but let's inform how it is.

If we want to know if they're arresting criminals, okay.

Let's ask for the shards.

We want to know why you arrested this person and why you arrested that one.

Let's not make it political.

And it's not okay for students to be walking out saying bad words, insulting the law enforcement, because that's not what true Mexicans stand about.

I know what it's like to be in Juarez for a long time.

And I don't want to attack anybody.

I respect their points of view, but I think there's a lot of miscommunication and misinformation.

And I want to say, like I said the last two Tuesdays I were I was here speaking in Spanish.

Do not turn violent against the authorities.

And also the spirit of uh anarchism is the spirit of antichrist.

So let's be very, very cautious on how we lead our youth and for them to use their potential in what they have to do it, and God bless the police.

Thank you.

God bless America.

Aiden Martinez, Adrian Gonzalez, Angelica Rodriguez.

Good morning.

Good morning, Mayor and Council.

My name is Angelica Rodriguez.

I am a local social worker and a member of this community.

I want to be very clear today.

The city, the county, didn't make it a political issue.

We have in this administration has.

Sorry.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Anna Reza.

Anna Reza.

She will be followed by Juan Ortiz.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning, Mayor and City Council.

My name is Anna Reza, and I live in District 7.

I work for the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande.

As people of faith, we support Item 34.

We need to plan and prevent this ICE detention site in our city and in surrounding areas.

These places are horrible.

It's evil, and right now our government is requiring people to prove their cases in these places.

There are 73 73,000 migrants throughout the US locked up.

There are no bonds currently, so people can't get out unless with Habis Corpus.

And that isn't attainable for all.

They have lost lots of their power.

Some of them are lost all of it.

But many people of faith in that evil become a light.

Free them all.

And let's all work together to stop this project and start to current to stop this project and the current torture sites in our communities and throughout the country.

This week I was at Fort Bliss.

I met two daughters, separate families visiting their father.

One of them was from Phoenix, and the other was from Miami.

Her and her husband drove 36 hours to visit him.

One daughter shared that she came because her father didn't sound right.

The other daughter, as we walked out in the visiting area, said that her dad had lost a lot of weight.

The man I was there to visit had been in Minnesota for 30 years, had his own cement company.

He signed his deportation seven days ago.

Because he can't handle it in there.

He said, I'm not a criminal.

They still haven't given him his medicine that he needs.

It's inhumane.

They are human beings, not criminals.

Thank you for bringing this item, and I hope we stop this.

It's a moral just thing to do.

We pray for all those innocent people in these sites.

We pray for our government, including you all, to have the courage and strength that these people trapped in these places have to keep the hope alive and still be loving.

Let's keep the hope in our hearts and make the commitment to stop this project and close these evil places.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Juan Ortiz.

He will be followed by Jessica Morales.

Juan Ortiz.

Juan Ortiz, yes, followed by Jessica Morales.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Good day, Mayor Johnson and City Council members.

My name is Juan Ortiz, and I'm a constituent of District 2.

I am here to support I am here to speak in support of agenda item number 34.

I asked you not only to support Agenda 34, but also to explore any means at your disposal to limit the city, um, the city of El Paso's cooperation with ICE.

Um the newly the new facility uh slated for client will uh no doubt be like all the other impromptu hastily constructed uh concentration camps at uh like the one in camp East Montana in which a worker died during its very construction and in Tornillo.

The fact that grey water has to be taken in and out and potable water be brought in speaks volumes of an untenability.

Our community has been besieged by these human warehousing since Torneo, um, since the Tornillo concentration camp for children, which our group and many others um fought so hard to close down.

Just say just yesterday, a breakout of measles shut down the children's concentration camp in Dilly, Texas.

Since December 3rd, uh three detainees, three human beings have already died at the latest camp on Montana, with Gerardo Um Linas Campos' death being listed as a homicide.

But before that, the Washington Post had already detailed fifty uh sixty violations in 59 days at the camp in East Montana.

For some context, I am a PhD student who walked out many times, by the way.

I'm a I'm a Ph student, and I was recently at a gathering in New York City where a scholar from New York stated that the infamous Rikers Island has a target capacity of around 3,300 to 3,500 people, with 8,000 people detained being considered illegal.

But New York City has a population over of over 8 million and a half million people.

El Paso has six over 600,000.

Um just these two camps alone, Clinton and Montana would house over 8,000 people.

Not only do not only do we not have the infrastructure for such facilities, we do not have the tolerance for such inhumanity.

The camps are an abomination, and we do not want them in our community.

In academia, I very often hear our communities being referred to as death worlds, ruled by necropolitics.

That only served to they only serve to verify that perception.

Our community has always prided itself on being and saying we are a community that knows how to treat immigrants.

Let's prove that with actions.

Now when it's now when it's needed the most, I urge you to make the right decision because you don't get to relive history.

You don't get you only get one chance to do the right thing.

We reached the three.

And you only get one opportunity being on the right side of history.

Jessica Morales will be followed by Eva Wooden, Tanya Hall, and Jaina Garcia.

Good morning.

Good morning, Mayor and City Council members.

My name is Jessica Morales.

I'm a constituent of District 1.

I'm here to speak in support of agenda item 34.

I want the city to prevent expansion of ISA detention facilities.

I'm a licensed social worker, just like my peer right before me.

But I'm also the daughter of proud immigrant parents, and I'm here today to speak from direct firsthand experience.

In 2024, I oversaw detention center operations as a private contractor serving as a private director.

I worked on the ground in El Paso, Eagle Pass, and Tucson, where I witnessed up close how individuals and families were processed, detained, and separated.

I wasn't observing from the outside.

Um I was responsible for helping design, implement, and manage the systems.

What I learned is this detention is not a public safety strategy, it is a business model.

Detention centers operate on guaranteed federal funding streams through successes measured by Bitcount and occupancy, not community safety, crime reduction, or humanitarian outcomes.

Once the facility is established, the incentive becomes expansion, not resolution.

As a social worker who has served the border community for nearly a decade, I also understand something else very deeply.

El Paso's strengths has always come from its immigrant community and from families who are descendants of immigrants.

Our workforce are small businesses or service economy and are by national identity are not weaknesses.

They are the backbone of the city's economy stability.

Introducing additional ICE detention facilities will not only harm us morally, it will harm us economically.

These facilities drain public resources, depress surrounding development and strain local infrastructure and create long-term costs for health care, emergency response, and social services of the federal government does not absorb we do.

I want to be very clear this is not an argument against public safety.

It is an argument for effective public safety.

From an operational standpoint, the funds currently flowing into detention could be far better allocated towards external border protection, targeted fraud investigation, and specialized human trafficking enforcement.

The areas where real criminal networks operate.

Mass detention of individuals already living and working within our communities does not disrupt those networks, it distracts us from them.

What concerns me more is that the expanding detention normalizes the idea that our city should be a staging ground for federal enforcement rather than a protected community with its own economic, moral, and strategic priorities.

El Paso has always led by being thoughtful, collaborative, and humane.

Preventing the still show of ice detention facilities is not defiance, it's responsible governance.

I strongly urge you to support it in 34 and take further steps to limit city cooperation that enables the expansion of detention infrastructure.

Protecting our community means investing in solutions that actually make us safer as systems that profit from our proximity to the border.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Eva Wooden, followed by Tanya Hall and Jaina Garcia.

Good morning, Miss Wooden.

Good morning.

My name is I am here to support the proposition 34.

I have a personal story.

I'm an immigrant, and I'm an immigrant from eastern Europe.

My family lived through fascism and communism.

And I immigrated to America to uh seek the freedom to and justice and all that this country has to offer.

And I always been so proud to be an American.

And now look around.

You see the concentration camps being built, the ICE acting as Gestapo did when they came to Europe, to Eastern Europe.

And I uh just want to urge you, because I do support the proposition territory, and I urge you to take action to make us the citizens here in El Paso to feel safe again.

Yeah, I don't want to live next to concentration camp.

I don't.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

The next speaker is Tanya Hall.

Tanya Hall will be followed by Jaina Garcia and Susan Urbeta.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning.

My name is Tanya Hall.

I'm here with Indivisible the 915.

I do live in District 1, but our members are in every El Paso City Council district, as well as in the greater El Paso area, and we strongly support agenda item number 34.

El Paso must stand firm.

There will be no concentration camps here.

We want ICE out now.

Make no mistake, ICE is prepared to expand in El Paso.

And if they are successful, it will mean more civil rights violations, more human rights violations, more violence, and more death.

The people are saying no more, but what will our leaders say?

The very ones we voted for.

Choose the right thing for El Paso.

El Paso should be known for its vibrant art, culture, and heritage, not concentration camps.

There are already an estimated 73,000 people in these facilities across the nation, with Fort Bliss being the biggest one.

They want 23 even larger facilities.

Make no mistake, if they build them, they will fill them.

Continue El Paso's legacy of strong, resilient border community, one that paves the way for humanity regarding human dignity and flourishing communities.

A city that understands to its core that immigrants are interwoven into the very fabric of El Paso.

Immigrants are not our enemy.

Immigrants are future Americans.

As they've always been, and we will fight for them, for we are all immigrants here.

You find yourself in a time that demands action, that demands bravery and resilience.

We will remember how you vote today.

Let us remember you as the leaders we need.

True civil leaders who care for their community and its health, it's happiness.

Support agenda item number 34 unanimously.

Take every action within your authority against concentration camps in El Paso, and work with the county to keep them out of the Greater El Paso area.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Jaina Garcia.

Jaina Garcia.

Susan Urubietta.

She will be followed by Barry Walter, Alyssa Garza, Eduardo Castillo, Joanne Bernal, Kyle Nam.

Good morning.

Good morning.

My name is Susanna.

Thank you, Representatives Limon and Canales for putting this on the agenda.

We know what happens when a migrant detention facility is built in El Paso and ICE comes to town.

Within weeks it becomes a place of unbelievable horror and torture.

A place where people are deprived of their rights and dignity in a place where people die and are killed at the hands of federal agents.

This Eastside facility is now more appropriately and commonly referred to as a death camp or a concentration camp.

Thank you for your words, Mary.

But they were words.

This now is an urgent matter, and we need action.

This is a call to action.

The best argument against a second camp is the very existence of the first.

The community has spoken loudly in condemnation and with outrage.

This is not who we are.

We the people have spoken.

This is not who we are.

We the people have been marching, protesting, holding vigils and rallies, writing postcards, making calls.

Yes, holding vigils for the dead, holding vigils for the dead.

Now it's the government's turn.

You're our leaders.

We put you here.

Step up to the plate.

We are watching you.

We're tired of hearing there is nothing that local government can do to stop the supreme authority of the federal government in the area of immigration.

I do not believe that is true.

If you didn't watch television last night, stream it today.

There are municipalities all over the United States doing extraordinary things in red states, in tiny villages and counties all over the United States, being brave, being innovative, and being smart.

They're doing it.

I get it, but this is your wake-up call.

You are being tested.

This is your moment to, as they said on the stage in Broadway, to rise up.

Yes, join forces with the county government.

The people of the city and the county will love that you do that.

I have a list of quotes in my home that I look to often.

And one of them is, and I have no author to attribute it to how we respond to what happens to us defines who we are.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Barry Walter.

Mr.

Walter will be followed by Elisa Garza, Eduardo Castillo, Joan Bernal.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Morning and thank you, Mayor and City Council members, and thank all of you humanity for being here and showing up.

Because we're showing up for those who can't show up for themselves and can't speak for themselves.

All this national government made up chaos has gotten way too many focused in the wrong directions.

Icemen and concentration camps are now the pinnacle of this chaos.

It is easy to imagine what a child must feel when they're swooped off the streets, and even those that remain hiding thinking these icemans are out to get them.

Myself including think that these icemen are like the boogeyman, but much, much worse because the horrors and the mission and the performance of icemen is so horribly real.

I do not think we're here today to gather more information, for we already know that the roundup of human beings is being done in ways that even cattle drives are conducted with more dignity as they detain and shadow cattles the slaughter.

A harmonious city, country, and world of humanity requires conscious choices of what colour clutter to allow and what clutter to remove.

With clarity, calm, respect, and emotional maturity, we are here for uniting what only appears to be dividing us.

We are here not with complaints, but to witness the conscious choices and rightful declarations to act on as we go forward.

We are here not to just be the voices for those who cannot speak for themselves.

We are each here for our own salvation, for it is with clarity of mind and corrected intentions that we hear and declare that there is a much better way than icemen and concentration camps.

Humanity does not need icemen in black cloaks dressed as boogeyman.

We need them in white outfits and open hands and hearts, offering solutions to our problems, not being the problem.

With each one of us declare we are united and focused for real solutions, not more concentration camps, deportations, and rendering of our neighbors without due process.

Let each one of us declare to not see ourselves as divided, separated only by complaining voices and planted in a mind through the bot and paid for propaganda for a divided people is already defeated.

We are one humanity and we have a very important job to do.

Humanity is capable and willing to do whatever it takes.

We are not lazy, we're capable.

Look and listen to all these that are here today.

Look and listen to the three million, then seven million, and in the next No Kings rally, there'll be 13 million of us peacefully rallying and protesting on the streets of our United States.

With so much gratitude, we join the voices of humanity and peacefully protest to open the doors to more abundance and better today's and tomorrow's.

There is no complaining or focusing on what's missing.

Let us no longer be blinded to everything already being done through Icemen and the building of concentration camps and the treatment of humanity like cattle on their way to slaughter.

The existing sir.

You have reached the three minutes.

Thank you so much.

The next speaker is Alessa Garza.

Alessa Garza.

Eduardo Castillo.

He will be followed by Joanne Bernal and Kyle Nabb.

Good morning.

Good morning, Mayor, Council members.

Ms.

Limon is our council representative.

My name is Eduardo Castillo.

I'm a retired attorney here in El Paso.

The last 26 years of my career I spent with the Department of Justice.

Across the country, communities of every political stripe are raising their voices against actions they believe violate constitutional principles and basic human dignity.

This is not a partisan moment, it is a moral one.

When any government agency exceeds its authority or inflicts harm, the greatest danger is not the abuse itself, but the willingness of ordinary people to look away.

History has shown us what happens when societies choose silence.

In moments of crisis, people will bury their heads, convincing themselves that if they do not look at injustice in the face, it will simply fade on its own.

But silence has never protected a community.

Silence has never corrected an abuse of power.

Silence has only ever empowered it.

El Paso is not a city that turns away.

We are a binational, multicultural community shaped by generations of immigrants, families, and workers who have built this region together.

When constitutional rights are threatened, when families are torn apart, when fear replaces trust, our community cannot afford to stand on the sidelines.

Our identity gives us a unique responsibility and a unique strength.

Cities across America, red and blue alike, are saying clearly that they will not allow unconstitutional actions to take place within their borders.

El Paso should not only join that chorus, we should lead it.

Our voice carries weight because we understand the border not as a line of division, but as a place of connection.

This is a moment that demands clarity.

It demands courage, it demands unity.

Whatever our politics, we share a commitment to fairness, to due process, and to the belief that every person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.

Those values are not negotiable, and they are not optional.

Silence is acquiescence.

El Paso is not a silent city.

And for this reason, I stand in support of item number 34.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Joanne Bernard.

She will be followed by Kyle Knapp.

Good morning.

Good morning, uh Mayor, Council.

My name is Joanne Bernard.

I'm a retired attorney, and I come to speak in favor in support of Item 34.

Thank you to Representative Limon, Representative Granales for putting this item on.

Um this is an important moment in El Paso's history.

Every single credible report has indicated that the current in the current detention facilities in El Paso, people are routinely abused, neglected, and sometimes tragically killed.

There is no dispute of that.

The question then is what you will do going forward.

The eyes of the country are literally on you at this moment and what you will do.

It is my opinion that saying that the city has no role in immigration enforcement is simply an insufficient answer.

It may be true that you don't have the authority to unilaterally stop detention facilities, but it is not true that you have no power to rise together to oppose detention facilities, to do it politically, to do it morally, and to take every legal action that you can in unison with other jurisdictions to unite and oppose this facility.

There are many things that the city can do.

We urge you to do those.

Thank you, John.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Kyle Nabb.

Kyle Nabb will be will be followed by Ivan Diaz, Marisa Limon Garza, Andrew Husby, and Anna Valtiera.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Uh Mayor and City Council members.

I'm here.

My name is Kyle Nabb.

I'm here to speak in support of agenda item 34.

Uh, like you said, we don't want detention centers here in El Paso, so we must do everything in our power to prevent the expand expanding of these ICE detention centers.

Um I also beseech you to limit support and cooperation with ICE to the absolutely bare minimum possible because they're snatching people off the street, our community members, our neighbors, and they're stripping them away from their family and their houses all because of a paperwork issue.

And I I wonder if if these if these resources might be better allocated to expediting the process of getting them the paperwork and the citizenship that they deserve.

ICE has shown that they are not to be trusted, that they think that they are above the law, and they are dangerous.

So, in the interest of keeping the city of El Paso safe and ensuring the safety of the people that live here, we want ICE out of El Paso.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anna Valpierra.

Good morning.

Good morning.

My name is Sivon Diaz.

I am providing comment on behalf of the ACLU of Texas to support item 34 and oppose the expansion of detention centers in El Paso.

Over six months ago, the ACLU of Texas warned that the use of the Ford Blaze Military and Ice immigration detention camp will lead to human and civil rights catastrophe.

And we are already seeing that.

In December, we had the ACLU of Texas and our partners' partners send the federal government a public letter documenting abusive conditions at the tank camp.

We documented the following.

The camp denying people with serious medical vulnerabilities or medications and medical visits.

People facing retaliation for even asking for the medication that they need.

The food is causing widespread illness, but people feel the need that they need to eat it anyway because they have no other options to stay alive.

Water filled with extrament pools into the areas where detained people are expected to eat.

The city of El Paso cannot allow the construction of any new ICE detention centers in our community as the abuses documented at Camp East Montana remain unresolved.

The Trump administration is now seeking to detain 80,000 additional people in privately owned warehouses.

He plans to buy or lease across the country, including here in our own city of El Paso.

We should not allow more detention centers.

Because when our neighbors in detention camps are being abused and deprived of their most basic constitutional human rights, none of us in El Paso are safe.

The next speaker is Marisa Limon Garza.

Followed by Andrew Hughesby.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning, greetings, Mayor and Council.

My name is Marisa Limon Garza, and I'm the executive director of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center.

I, like so many borderland uh residents, stand in full opposition to the construction of any new ICE facility, which are detention and deportation sites.

And we call for the immediate closure of all ICE facilities in our area, and here's why.

As one of the two nonprofit immigration legal service providers for three pre-existing ICE detention facilities with the capacity it hosts close to 6,000 people.

An additional 8,500 people is astronomical.

One percent of all attorneys who submitted data to a 2024-2025 statistical report from the Texas Bar Association practice immigration law.

This administration does not respect the Constitution, the rule of law, or due process.

It will not miraculously do so for a new facility.

We recently submitted a demand letter with colleagues from Estrella del Paso, the ACLU, Texas Civil Rights Project, and others regarding the inhumane detention conditions at Campis Montana at Fort Bliss.

We all know how deadly detention can be.

In addition to abhorrent conditions, the attorneys and legal service riders wait up to an hour to visit people detained in custody despite prior coordination with ICE officials.

On other occasions, ICE tells us they cannot find the person at all.

Or they can't bring someone out because they're doing count, which can last up to one and a quarter hours, and this is conducted twice a day.

Medical neglect is real and intentional.

It was a miracle when a man in his forties with type 2 diabetes was miraculously cured since he was denied his medication for close to two weeks.

It was only after he agreed to deportation that he was provided his medication.

This is not hyperbole.

This is real.

Sites so large make you wonder who else will be detained, who else will be deported, because as El Pasoans is Fronterizos, we know that it's not just the other.

The immigrant is us.

And so we ask you to stand strong, vote in favor of item 34, and protect Fronterizos immigrants and our way of life every day.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Andrew Hughesby.

Andrew will be followed by Anna Valtira.

Good morning.

Excuse me.

Good morning, Mayor Johnson and City Council.

My name is Andrew Hughesby.

Um I'm a constituent in uh district eight.

I'm here to speak in favor of agendum uh agenda item number 34.

I'm not scaled nor comfortable with public speaking, but I am here today because I feel it is my civic duty.

The entire country is watching in horror as ICE commits atrocities from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., and most recently in Minnesota, and it has to stop.

My mom is from North Dakota.

My uh father is from uh Los Angeles, uh, but El Paso is where they met, and this is where I was born.

As a community, we know better than to let ice rain terror upon us.

I was born at uh William Beaumont Medical Center, just north of the border, and many of my friends happen to be born a few miles south in Ciudad Ware.

It never meant much to me which side of the border you were born on.

We went to school together, we worked our first jobs together, and our differences amounted to a bit of paperwork.

Everybody in this room has much more in common with each other and with our neighbors than we do with the people in Washington.

We know better.

The overwhelming majority of migrants, legal or otherwise, are more upstanding members of our community, and I will refuse to stand by what our ICE targets and attacks uh members of that community.

And we just saw ICE terrorized Minneapolis, they murdered Renee Good, they murdered Alex Predi.

They have no intention of backing down right here in El Paso.

ICE killed her Heraldo Lunas Campos.

Lunas Campos, according to the Texas Tribune, the death was ruled a homicide from suffocation while restrained.

We need to take a stand against further ICE activity.

They terrorize Minneapolis with impunity.

We cannot imagine the horror we would witness if ICE is allowed to operate unrestrained in this majority Hispanic community on the southern border.

And we are El Pasuans, and we know better.

Get ICE out now.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Ana Valterra.

Anna Valpierra will be followed by Shailing Cohen Jones.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Um my name is Sana.

I was here last week, but I am here once again because this issue has not been solved, but because it continues to grow.

We as a community, we keep showing up because we care deeply for our neighbors, and because this proposed detention center doesn't represent who El Paso is.

This project will place a significant strain in our city's already limited resources, and we as a city don't have the sufficient legal aid and capacity to provide representation for the number of people disability is expected to detain.

This center will funnel more people into a system where access to attorney and due process is scarce.

Infrastructure, emergency services, and public found will be redirected away from residents and towards sustaining the detention.

Over 80% of a population is Hispanic, and based on FBI crime data, we are consistently recognized as one of the safest largest city in the country.

Our violent crime rate is lower both in the national and state averages.

And the safety never came from detention center militarization or mass enforcement.

It came from families, immigrants, workers, and neighbors looking out for one another.

ICE has relied on racial profiling under the immigration and nationality act, which has been upheld by the Supreme Court.

In cases that allow race to be considered in a migration stop, in a city like El Paso, that means our appearance or language and identity became the ground for suspicion.

This would not make your paso safer.

It will make our community feel targeted and unsafe.

There's also a documented pattern of abuse connected to ITE enforcement both inside and outside the facilities.

A 19-year-old detainee identified as Samuel claimed an officer broke his tooth, crushed his testicles as another officer forced his fingers deep into his ear, permanently damaging his hearing.

This inside the detention center within our district.

Doctors said they found plastic metals throughout his side, and his doctor said that it was a miracle that he's still alive.

Many of the people who end up in ICE custody came to this country believing in what we are taught to call the American dream.

They saw hope in our country, hope for stability, safety, education, and the chance to work with the dignity.

They believe that we the people meant burden, opportunity, and humanities, not cages and detention.

The detention center, this treatment do not honor the American dream or any of the things that the country stands for.

I am scared for my community, and I am scared for myself, and I know that many people here share that fear.

So again, we asked the county to reaffirm the opposition to the detention center and to choose policies that will reflect who we are.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Shaylin.

Shailen Cohen Jones, followed by Arnulfo Hernandez.

Miss Prime?

Yes, sir.

Do we have Ms.

Carberhall on phone after this?

Yes, sir.

I'm calling the people that are in person first, and then I'll call all those folks that are sitting in the queue.

Perfect.

If that's okay.

Perfect.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

My name is Shay.

I'm a resident of District 8.

I'm also a student.

And I have deep, deep love for this community.

I'm joining many others here in support of agenda item number 34, preventing the expansion of ICE detention in El Paso, and additionally, pursuing all possible avenues to limit city cooperation with ICE.

Unequivocal opposition to detention is not an abstract talking point.

It is the logical conclusion of witnessing the massive, immediate and long-term violence and trauma that detention inflicts.

Now and over the long arc of history.

Camp East Montana is not the first concentration camp to be located on Fort Bliss.

The base was first a site of Japanese American incarceration.

Others here have laid out what some of the beyond abusive and deadly conditions look like in El Paso's existing camps, including Camp East Montana.

As you've heard previously, a coalition of rights groups from Texas and New Mexico recently put out a 20-page report detailing its abuses, including death, torture, sexual abuse, medical neglect, poisoned food and water, third country removals, starvation.

I want to orient us now to how much people inside the camps are risking to resist their own further subjection to these conditions.

Last week, for example, families detained in Delhi, a concentration camp holding children, not unlike the one that community came together to resist in Tornillo, protested en masse.

You could hear in videos the cries of the children children shouting Libertad, let us go.

What do we owe them?

And I want us to think about this very seriously.

What is it that we on the outside owe the people behind those camp walls?

We must all answer that and act accordingly.

Council members, here is an opportunity to do just that.

Prefacing this with the fact that we're talking about people's loved ones, not numbers.

There are currently over 70,000 people in ICE detention, as of ICE's own most recent release of data this week.

And I want to be very clear.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Armulco Hernandez.

Mr.

Hernandez will be followed by Uriya Ramirez.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning.

My name is Arnulfo Hernandez.

I am a citizen of El Paso.

I am a voter.

I'm a United States Navy veteran.

A retired lawyer, although still hold a uh active uh license to practice law in California.

And I'm also the co-author of the book, The Men of Company E.

I do wonder out loud where my representative Art Fierro is today to vote on this important issue.

Yes, Mayor, we are a safe city.

Yes, we are a city built by immigrants, and yes, it's a city that we don't want ice in El Paso.

Representative Limon, Representative Canalis, thank you for this item.

I urge the plan of action to prevent the installation of any ICE facility in El Paso.

Consider the recent action taken by the city of Kansas City.

City Council, led by its black mayor, Quentin Lucas unanimously passed an ordinance imposing a five-year moratorium on non-municipal detention facilities in Kansas City.

If I might just quote from a press release, um it applies to uh they're thinking of a mass detention facility holding up to 10,000 people in Kansas City.

The ordinance applies to any application to establish expand any detention corrections or carsal facilities not owned by the city of uh Kansas City through January 15th, 1931.

It applies to any pending and future applications.

The city will use all its available resources to enforce the moratorium.

Statement is very clear.

He says we consistently hear from the residents that the city's focus should be on economic development and housing and not mass detention facilities holding thousands, Mayor Lucas said.

Our priority is building businesses, homes, and schools that strengthen and grow our community on a platform, Mayor Johnson, you're in.

The action of DHS, ICE and Border Patrol hearkens back to the internment of Japanese Americans.

You were in World War II into concentration camps because of anti-Japanese prejudice during World War II.

Let us not repeat history again.

The forcible removal of people because of their color, the language they speak, their accent, or how they look is unacceptable.

We are a country of laws of a constitution, which you say agencies are now violating.

We must oppose that and do it forcefully and be a beacon to this country that in this far away land called El Paso, Texas, bordering Juarez.

We're still the United States, and we believe in our constitution, and we will defend it to the end.

Thank you.

Followed by Adrian Palacios.

Good morning, Mr.

Jamidas.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning, uh, City Council.

And uh just wanted to say uh to need to come speak to you guys.

I'm a tutor and a teaching assistant at UTEP.

Um, and I am in favor for Article 34 to prevent any new detention centers.

Um, as someone involved with the university, I try to make it a point to engage with the community.

Um I talked to a lot of people of El Paso, underprivileged areas, um, but all of El Paso and uh students, parents, colleagues, people who make up this city on a daily basis, um, those that call this place home.

I'm not suggesting that I'm speaking for everybody in El Paso because that's impossible, but I did feel compelled to come speak to you all here today.

Um a lot of people are afraid about this detention center.

Um I wonder as a conservative, what does this hyperfear do to our city?

Um I sincerely sincerely worry about the spirit of this city moving forward, its future for my community members who are afraid to speak out, who wanted to come here today but cannot.

Um I was raised by a single mother and my TIA who have given this who have given to the city for over fifty years, um, and they are afraid.

Um and I can speak for probably so many other family members.

There's a high level of concern and anxiety, and understandably so.

Um I'm I'm by no means calling our city weak and afraid, but rather we are strong as evident by everyone coming out here today uh to oppose this detention center.

People are dying.

Uh Gerardo Lunas Campos, Victor Manuel Diaz, Francisco Gaspar Andres, and I'm leaving countless others out.

People are being mistreated, and my community members are coming asking me to come here and ask.

Um, can you all understand that many people feel like this abomination is an attack on them?

And how does it this improve their well-being?

So I ask, when will we stop being attacked and made to feel afraid?

And which side of history will our children be standing on due to the choices we and you make today.

I'm urging you all to grant us peace and not allow terror to be brought and bred here, please.

This city has already been through enough.

I'm urging you to get out there and get together with your community members, the ones you're meant to look out for, and let's figure out how to build our people up and not punish them with this center.

Um, our community members do not deserve to live in fear.

Enough is enough, and let's do better for them, please today and with real action.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Adrian Palacios.

Good morning.

Uh, my name is Adrian Palacios.

I'm a first generation Mexican American, born and raised here in El Paso.

Uh oh, sorry.

Let's see.

Um I work on an old folks home.

My viejitos are worrying themselves sick, quite literally.

Worried for the families, word for the neighbors with the threat to public safety imposed by ICE with a racial pipeline and excess force that we have seen on the news, newspapers.

I'm here speaking uh favor of N34 to prevent the construction of more ICE facilities.

Um the camp at East Montana is was built and uh and is operated under direction of ICE by acquisition logistics.

They had 60 violations in the first 50 days, which is no surprise considering they have no former experience running correctional facilities.

And had not have a contract greater than 16 million dollars.

Suddenly they get a 1.2 billion potential uh contract.

The medical contractor is loyal source, who has seen previous scrutiny for critically understaffing border facilities, medical neglect, as evidenced by the detainee deaths last year being uh 32 up from the previous year, 24 uh being 11 with the addition of uh two legal observers that were killed by ICE, in addition to all of the countless folks that have lost their lives.

With um the American Civil Rights Union calling for a closure of Campis Montana, we should not have any more camps here in El Paso, nor more Abuelitas crying.

And given the this country's gradual descent into fascism, evidenced by this further merging of corporate and state interests.

And meets this administration with the resistance that it deserves.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I will now call the people that signed up to speak by phone at 10 a.m.

The first person is Adrian Gonzalez.

Adrian Gonzalez, if you're in the queue, star six, please to unmute your telephone.

Adrian Gonzalez, star six, please to unmute your telephone.

I don't see Mr.

Gonzalez's phone number in the queue.

We'll move to Jaina Garcia.

Jaina Garcia, if you're in the queue.

Star 6, please hear you.

Jaina Garcia.

Star 6, please.

I don't see that phone number in the queue either.

Alyssa Garza, star six, please to unmute your telephone.

Alyssa Garza, I see you in the queue.

Please press star six to unmute your telephone.

You're still muted, ma'am, star six, please.

Alyssa Garza, star six.

Okay, I still see your your microphone on mute.

I'll move on to Veronica Carvajal.

Star six, please.

Veronica Carvajal.

Star six.

I don't see Ms.

Carvajal's phone number in the queue.

Eugene Montag.

Star six, please.

Eugene Montag.

I see your phone number in the queue.

Star six will unmute your telephone.

Eugene Montag, star six.

We'll move on to Kaylin Salais.

Star six, please.

I don't see Mr.

Salais' phone number or Ms.

Aley's phone number in the queue.

Anjali Terranson.

Star six, please.

I don't see that phone number in the queue either.

Michaela de la Cruz.

Star six.

I don't see that phone number in the queue either.

Kevin Amezuka.

Star six, please.

Yeah, I hope it's out of that one.

I don't see that person unmuting their microphone.

I'm not sure if we're having technical difficulties, mayor, because I just requested IT to come out.

I do see some phone numbers in the queue, but I don't I don't see them turning on their mic.

Let's give IT a second, Ms.

Prime.

Yes, sir.

I'm not sure if that's if we can unmute them.

Okay, we have we have Ms.

Carvajal, I believe.

Ms.

Carvajal is ready.

Yes, good morning, mayor counsel.

Good morning.

Good morning.

My name is Veronica Carvajal.

I live in District 2.

I am proud to be the great granddaughter of immigrants.

Please vote yes on item 34.

Thank you, Representative Limone and Carnalez for placing this very important item on the agenda.

I am so incredibly grateful for the immigrants who continue to build and sustain this country despite living with such fear.

I am grateful for the advocates who have fought for decades to help immigrants have access to legal justice and have painstakingly documented their stories so that our hearts could be changed.

I am grateful for the students who know this country's history and refuse to let this government repeat it.

As a lawyer, I am outraged at the illegalities being committed by ICE in our communities and in ICE detention centers, including the deadly Camp East Montana.

As an environmentalist, I am appalled that our water and electricity is already being consumed by Camp East Montana, and that other ICE detention centers could do even more damage.

The City of El Paso should not be complicit in any of the illegal acts being committed by ICE.

The City of El Paso should not be complicit in creating wells for corporations on the back of our immigrants and their families.

The city must take action in every way possible to speak clearly and without hesitation.

ICE is not welcome in El Paso.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Alyssa Garza.

Good morning.

Alyssa Garza, Star 6, please to unmute your telephone.

Go ahead, ma'am.

You have three minutes.

Oh.

Can you hear me?

Oh, okay.

Thank you so much.

Uh, my name is Alyssa, and I'm part of District 7.

I'm asking El Paso City Council to support item number 34 and develop a plan of action to prevent another ICE detention facility.

I also want the city to limit its cooperation with ICE.

As a granddaughter of immigrants, I'm very frustrated and angry about what is occurring nationally, statewide, and even in our own community.

I commend students and everyone in our community for walking out and exercising your legal unprotected right and making public comments today.

I don't want another ICE detention center, and the city should explore its legal authority to prevent another one from being built.

Something has to be done.

People who are in these detention facilities are people who have work visas, pending asylum cases, their doctor recipients.

ICE is also arresting children.

These people have families, they have loved ones, and they contribute to our communities every day.

The facilities that already do exist here in El Paso have numerous complaints and obvious evidence of human rights violations.

Immigrants are people, they're human beings.

What is happening nationwide and in our community is morally wrong.

I was raised in El Paso and our borderline community shouldn't be known for having the largest detention facilities.

We are known for our unique culture and kindness and how we welcome immigrants.

I'm proud to stand with other community members here today who recognize the injustices that are happening.

So once again, I'm asking city council to support item number 34.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Eugene Monte.

Eugene Montaigne, star six, please to unmute your microphone.

Eugene Montaigue.

Star 6, please will unmute your microphone.

Good morning.

You have three minutes.

Thank you very much.

And I'm strongly opposed to building another massive detention center in El Paso and urge this governmental body that represents the people of El Paso to fight against it on behalf of the people they represent and then in favor of the current item.

We already have the largest detention center in the country where three people have died in January.

One of them ruled a homicide.

Just in the past weeks, we have seen what ICE is capable of when hundreds of cameras are trained on them in broad daylight.

We owe it to our community and our humanity not to build a second massive detention center where the most vulnerable are housed without oversight, often without access to counsel or meaningful access to counsel, or without any way to prevent abuse or the denial of rights.

We cannot ignore that ICE and this administration have immediately jumped to the most aggressive forms of violence and then obstruct in every way possible any kind of oversight, investigation or accountability while also smearing the names of victims in any way they can.

When I spoke last week at the commissioner's court, I noted the following.

In only the past weeks, we had seen the ACLU and the Guardian reporting sexual torture of detainees, reports that ICE has stopped paying medical providers, leaked videos of overcrowded and inhumane detention centers, videos from the from the detainees begging to from the families at Delhi begging to be let out, and a pro-publica and PBS report of MOLV food and other inhumane conditions, such as inadequate access to clean water and medical repair, reports of freezing conditions at the Prairie Land Detention Center during the war the winter storm last week.

Months ago, we heard from the Miami Herald that two-thirds of the detainees at the detention center and the Florida elevat Florida Everglades could not be located and no longer appeared on the ICE data pass database.

Since speaking only a week ago, we have learned of a measles outbreak at Dilly, a man brought to the hospital with multiple skull fractures where the ICE agents told the doctors he had run into a wall, a claim the doctors claims was not medically possible.

News that the administration is planning to build meant massive detention centers, not just in El Paso, but across the country.

That there are currently seven 73,000 people in detention centers, the most ever in history, even before these plans for mass expansion expansion of these centers.

Reports by El Paso Matters that the that the courts here in the Western Destrict has Texas have received more habeas petitions in January than in all of 2025 combined, itself a record-breaking year.

Meanwhile, at every turn, the administration has thought to undermine and abstract judicial review of any kind.

There's no working infrastructure to prevent abuse or correct injustice.

And so to build one of these is to be complicit in the abuse, complicit in the denial of the case.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We cannot be the next speaker is Keelen Salais.

Kylie or Keelen Salais, if you're in the queue, star six.

I don't see their phone number in the queue.

Angelette Terranson, if you're in the queue, star six.

Michaela de la Cruz, if you're in the queue, star six.

I don't see any of those phone numbers in the queue.

I do see Kevin Amescua.

Kevin Amascoa, star six, please to unmute your telephone.

Good morning.

You have three minutes.

Hi, everyone.

Um, my name is uh Kevin Amesquam, and I come here as a citizen and one of many whose family routes stretch out south of the border.

But these are uncertain times that have provoked terror in many of our communities, regardless of their documentation status in our country.

I believe that constructive conversations should always be centered in the authenticity of all parties.

So allow me to say that I believe that immigration is a human right and that no human is illegal on stolen land.

This is slow.

Good number of people believe this is the current issue to be for U.S.

citizens.

As such, I will attempt to put this in pragmatic terms.

These detention centers will be funded by us, the taxpayers.

We're told constantly that our tax money is a highly finite resource, causing social human services such as health care and housing to be limited.

We have also been told that these ICE arrests are being done in the name of public safety.

ICE has been ordered to go after the criminals, rapists, and thugs, this administration's words, who bring drugs and organized crime.

If this were the case, then why is it that these arrests target blue-collar workers, business owners, students, children, and many who are simply wishing to survive and pursued happiness?

Many news sources have reported on directives for ICE to focus on quantity over quality, allowing the construction of ICE detention centers, no matter the size, we're compliant with the administration who wishes to arrest people for inauthentic reasons.

We're complying with an anti-immigration ideologues like Stephen Miller with his history of promoting white nationalists' ideology, who want the American people to believe that this is about the safety of the public and its better interest.

Let's not forget Tom Homan, who has met with the associates of the Proud Boys on four separate occasions.

Regardless of your stance on immigration, I hope that you, our city representatives, will consider that these detention centers will not benefit taxpayers and use any power and influence you have to prevent brother facilities from opening in our area.

In terms of the county, the Secora water system is inadequate for living in the area.

For many living in that area.

Will they be expected to provide water and electricity for the building and maintenance of this facility that will detain 8,500 people?

The city of El Paso has recently had a water main break that has left many on northeastern central El Paso on a boil water nose or without water.

Despite this, El Paso has approved a rate hike for our water.

I believe that our utilities and taxes should benefit all El Pasoans and visitors to our beautiful city, and I hope our local leaders agree.

Building more detention centers will decrease our quality of life and make people wary of visiting El Paso.

We should say no to allowing the building of any immigration detention center, especially when it place a burden on the people's already strained resources.

All this for an anti-immigration agenda that endangers the lives of many who wish for a better life in this country.

If the rights of immigrants is not to be considered, when they should, then allow me to phrase it another way.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mayor, that that's everyone that signed up to speak at 10 a.m.

We do have call to the public, or we have mass transit next, whichever you would like to continue.

Let's let's go with call to the public first.

Yes, sir.

We'll move on to call to the public.

The El Paso City Council is a local government body charged with serving the citizens, and the meetings must be focused on the meeting at charge.

The city council meetings are public meetings under the Texas Open Meetings Act.

Public comment is an accommodation and not a requirement of city council.

All persons in attendance are expected to display civility and decorum that is respectful to other persons without the use of insulting, profane threatening, or abusive language.

Public comment will not be used for personal attacks, nor may any member of the public use this forum for political statements or campaigning.

Please note that during call to the public, the city council may not deliberate or decide any subject that is not on the agenda.

However, council may propose that a topic brought forward be posted on a future agenda.

This morning we have 17 members of the public that signed up to speak at this time.

Good morning.

Good morning, mayor and elected officials.

They always come to 3628 Wickham to buy their drugs at the end of the night, all hours of the night.

Nothing happened at all.

What is the next step, Mayor?

3628 Wickham caught on fire on the 10th of January.

Explosions, and it was very dangerous.

Firefighters and police officers told us that the house will be condemned.

No one will be allowed back.

These people haven't paid their property taxes for several years.

Police officers joke about it.

Do we want it to become the new devil's triangle in Northeast?

Do we want this neighborhood to be new crime place?

Do we want would you be okay to live next door to this?

I'm asking for help.

Please help with this matter.

We need your help, Mayor.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Next speaker is Connie Ortega, and IT will need to use the wordly app if you'd like to follow along with a translation.

Buenos días, Miss Ortega.

Buenos días, representantes.

Este caso lo tenemos desde más de cinco años.

Estamos pidiendo ayuda.

Esperamos un anno para que se movian los carros.

Gracias.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Rocío Yanis.

Rosio Yanis.

Followed by Graciela Guzman.

Claudia Contreras Siller.

Okay.

Okay, we'll move on with um Graciela Guzman.

Yes.

Okay.

Good morning.

My name is Graciela Guzman.

I live behind that uh affected house.

And we have a neighborhood watch.

And that area is affecting our area now.

We had a neighbor.

They dump their trash, they collect it in uh Walmart bags, and they go throughout the neighborhood emptying out their trash.

They don't have facilities, so they defecate and everything in bags and they put them in bags and then they go spread them out throughout the neighborhood.

And then uh we have a park, so all these homeless are starting to go into our park.

They have rights, they have more rights than we do.

I've called your office three times.

We've never gotten any response.

So where do we go next?

Who's gonna help us?

Uh the these people have been living there for years with no electricity, no gas, no water.

Um you couldn't you know that it's a drug house.

Uh our power officer kinda helps us, but there is no help.

I go to another officer that will help us, and he directs us to other places.

But we do need help because it is spreading.

It's spreading, and we have kids in the neighborhood, lots of kids.

And um these people live in those abandoned cars, and we we have one of them that goes to different areas and parks, because he knows he could park at certain areas for a couple of times before law enforcement throws them out.

But this is an ongoing and it goes the drugs are there.

I mean, they they gotta see that.

And I know it takes time for law enforcement to uh get all the evidence that they need to get them out, but we need help with these people.

They've gotten they go into our cars, they try and get into our cars, they've gotten into our neighbors' backyards looking for stuff.

But by the time we call law enforcement, they're gone.

They're they're smart, they know what they're doing.

So if you could please help us soon, Mr.

Ace but Mr.

Acevedo.

Ms.

Guzman?

Yes, uh Steve Avarado, our code enforcement is gonna be in the back, he's gonna help you.

We've already spoken to you.

You spoke to him too.

Okay, represent Acevedo.

I just wanted to clarify a little bit.

Um we we did have meetings, a meeting at this house, and we've been trying to see what we can do.

It's a very complex situation.

So one of the things that we offered when we were there was to make a complaint with the city attorney's office.

And I'm not sure if that happened, but we'll continue to follow up on it.

Okay.

Okay, thank you, Representative Acevedo.

Her topic is animal cruelty, cats are victims.

She will be followed by Ron Como.

Good morning.

Even if you're not ready for the day, it cannot always be night.

Yesterday at night I was driving under the 375 and I saw a truck getting the pigeons.

I approached them and I asked, what do you do with them?

They said we sell them.

And I asked, To who?

Do they get killed?

They said, it's none of your business.

We're gonna call the police on you.

And I was like, no, I'm gonna call the police on you.

So uh these people are not regulated.

I have their information.

They're getting the pigeons.

I was in contact with one of the only persons that cares for wildlife, and she told me it is animal cruelty.

They're letting the babies behind to die as low uh death.

I drove by this morning, and there were dead pigeons, and I have their information.

They're not regulated.

If it's a business, if they're making money out of the pigeons, it has to be regulated.

They have to be uh with a license.

So I've been here a year exposing animal cruelty, and this is the first time I'm gonna show pictures.

This is a collage of four, I'm sorry, six cats in the freeway.

One I was able to uh trap and the other one ran away, the rest are dead.

Miss Hiller, you can put them on the It's because I don't have enough time.

Okay, sorry.

And then this one, it's a house cat.

He was fat and he was in the freeway.

Animal cruelty is happening in our eyes.

This cat was posted without eyes on social media.

No eyes, no tenia hojos.

Um this cat, this kitten I gave for adoption.

It was beheaded on the veterinarian on Litre Vino.

There was no records of this cat receiving like the test for rabies.

I spoke to the animal uh services director at the time.

He said there's no record of Misty picking up the head of this cat.

Sue them if you can.

I was dealing with a Satanist that picks up cats and dogs.

I couldn't do that.

So this is another uh screenshot of FITFAM.

A colony of cats was killed on the west side.

It was posted on FITFAM.

Please hire them to educate against animal cruelty.

This kitten was found in a bag of trash.

His arm was pulled off.

He was with his brothers and sisters at a trash can in Circle K.

Uh this cat was picked up and it was thrown all the way to horizon.

And this is the same street where the firefighter killed five cats and a dog.

Please Google it.

And this is animal services opening a bag with a dead cat inside.

And I think it was the dead, I'm sorry, the black cat that was stalling for me during October.

And let's get right, you know.

So uh please do something for the cats.

Uh they're picking up 30 dead cats a day.

Thank you, Nino, for your uh interest.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Rod Como, followed by Sandra Winston.

Mr.

Como's topic is exercising his constitutional rights to rescue 1983 animal services.

Yes, sir.

Good morning.

Morning.

How are we all doing today?

Another Tuesday.

Okay.

Let's start out with the difference between reaction or pro action.

Reaction is what you all did the other day by putting stricter laws on people after they have already attacked the community members.

Pro action in this case would be if you actually picked up the loose dogs and got to them before they attacked the citizens of El Paso.

Now that we got that straightened out, somebody on Cheek Cheek Chucopedia has accused Barber Knives trying to support euthanasia.

Let me explain.

23 to 25.

Compared to 2019 numbers, 1773 more euthanasia were done in city shelter.

The other thing you need to understand is for the first time in history in the animal welfare world, we've got a new term, environmental euthanasia, which means the strays that you're leaving on the streets are dying on the streets, which is another form of euthanasia.

So congratulations, who's actually killing more strays?

Who's actually advocating for killing more strays?

Not us.

Just the cheerleaders.

Now it's discussed.

13,914 less strays in 22 to 23 were picked up in the city of El Paso.

How many more strays did that create?

How many dead strays did that create?

Because you all don't want to pick up strays.

2102 less rescue polls in 203 to 25.

Yet somebody on Chicopedia said they have numerous rescue partners or had numerous rescue polls.

Well, obviously it wasn't as many as we had in 2019.

So we discussed community support.

If you look at these numbers, end count for 25, December 25 was 2907.

2019 was 1856.

Where was the community support in 2019?

Not 22 to 20 or 23 to 25.

The community is not supporting you.

The community's fed up.

What are we going to do?

I keep giving you guys information.

I'm giving you a piece of paper.

You can Google it.

What happens when you leave strays on the street?

Understand for the first time in history, first time in history, we have environmental euthanasia that had to come about because of people running the best friends Haw Sheltering Plan, which we've been on since 2020.

We have been trying to get you back on our no-kill plan, which is obviously more of a success than what you all are doing today.

Take notice, fix the shelter, get the proper director, and start picking up the strays and protecting the community members.

Thank you, Mr.

Homa.

We've reached the three minutes.

The next speaker is Sandra Winston.

Sandra Winston will be followed by Julio Ortiz.

Ms.

Winston's topic is enforcement of protective covenant of North Hills concerning roosters.

Yes, ma'am, go ahead.

Good morning.

Good morning.

It's almost afternoon, but I'll say good morning.

My name is Sandra Winston.

I live at 11171 Loma del Sol Drive in North Hills.

On October 10th of 2025, I first saw a rooster on the rock wall between my yard and my neighbor's yard.

And she lives at 11167 Loma del Sol.

And the next day I called animal control to the to the loose rooster and the crowing at 5 30 a.m.

And I have a small dog, and I was afraid that the rooster would fly into my yard and hurt my dog.

On October 13th, I spoke to Animal Control, and I was told that roosters were permitted, but they needed to be kept in a coop.

And so the next day the neighbor did install a coup.

And by the way, it's just one rooster, there's no chickens.

On October 15th, a friend sent me a copy of the Protective Covenant from North Hills from 1987, and I've given you a copy.

On page three, it says, no hog pens, stockyard pens, or chicken pens allowed, whether for profit or otherwise.

And on the list page, there's a photo of the rooster.

On October 17th, I talked to code enforcement, and I was referred back to animal control, and they didn't know anything about the protective covenant.

And I made several more noise complaints about the crowing at 5 30 a.m.

every day, but nothing uh resulted from these calls.

On October 28th, I contacted the office of Cynthia Trejo and sent a copy of the covenant to Elizabeth Masias, the legislative aide, and she did some checking, and she referred me to the North Hills Neighborhood Association.

On November 20th, I sent a copy of the covenant to Vanessa Betts, president of the North Hills Association.

She did some checking, um, really couldn't come up with an answer.

Um she wasn't sure if it was really still valid.

But actually, the covenant says that it's a valid for 40 years, which will be until 2027.

And so my question is is the protective covenant still valid, or does the city ordinance that permits roosters take precedence over the covenant?

Thank you.

The next speaker is Julio Ortiz.

Mr.

Ortiz's topic is designation and installation of two West El Paso parks, Paul Harvey and HT Ponsport has disc golf-friendly parks to promote health activity tourism and local business in West El Paso.

Good morning.

Good morning, Mayor Johnson, Council members and fellow constituents.

First of all, I commend your bladders for holding so long.

My name is Julio Ortiz.

I arise today representing our El Paso Disk Golf Community.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

I will be happy to answer any questions after my presentation.

I'm here to propose the installation and official designation of two existing city parks, Paul Harvey Park and HT Ponsford Park, both located in District 8 under Chris Canales and West El Paso, and we'd like to thank you for encouraging us to come up and uh empower us to come uh present here.

So uh these disc golf courses.

They would be using land that is already open, underutilized, and owned by the city.

Disc golf is similar to traditional golf, but instead of balls and clubs, we throw these plastic discs into metal baskets.

We want six baskets in in both parks.

That's it.

It's a sport that's free to play, accessible to all ages, and widely recognized for promoting physical activity, mental well-being, and community engagement.

Families, seniors, veterans, students, casual park users, all participate, often together.

One course serves hundreds of residents without ongoing staff or programming costs.

We presently have two courses in East El Paso, one in the Northeast.

But regrettably, there is no representation for disc golf in West El Paso.

From a city perspective, disc golf is one of the most cost-effective recreational investments available.

Installations costs are low compared to traditional sports facilities.

A full-size basketball or tennis court is upward of 120,000 dollars.

A half-court of basketball is 45,000.

Yet installing both of these proposed parks would cost about 14 to 15,000 for both of them.

On the high end, now maintenance is minimal.

There's no turf, no lighting, no fences, no reservation systems.

These courses coexist with walking paths and green space and do not prevent other park uses.

In fact, cities across the country report increased park usage and improved stewardship once the courses are installed.

Disc golf also brings measurable economic benefits.

Tournaments such as our annual ice bowl, which benefits El Pasoans fighting hunger.

Bring visitors who eat loc, they eat at local restaurants, they stay in hotels, they shop locally.

Many cities are now marketing disc golf courses as tourism assets.

Just as importantly, disc golf creates a self-organizing volunteer base.

Players routinely assist with litter pickup, signage upkeep, and course monitoring.

Because when people feel ownership, they take care of shared spaces.

Designating two parks allows for balanced use, skill progression, and reduce congestion.

One course can serve for beginners and families, while the other one can be more of an advanced layout.

Today I'm asking the city council to please consider authorizing a feasibility review or pilot and the city.

Thank you very much.

Thank you so much.

Also speaking on expanding disc golfing to West Side Parks.

Alan McGaughan.

Jesse Romero.

Mr.

Romero signed up to speak on El Paso tourism.

He will be followed by Wanda Helgeson.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning, Mayor Johnson.

I'm here to talk about ask your question.

Does Dallas, what does Dallas have?

Green trees, nice ponds.

San Antonio, a little creek down the street, you know, middle, not compared to El Paso.

You've got uh Corpus Christi has got the ocean.

But what is El Paso have to offer?

Guess what?

One thing.

We've got a mountain.

And the mountain is good.

Because we've got uh first of all, San Hasino Plaza.

It was built in 1883.

It's the same size now as it was before.

That's a bit non-town.

Okay, they put alligators, it took the alligators to put a statue out there, which is good.

Not for tourism.

Then you've got uh Scenic Drive.

Those 1920.

Has done anything to it?

Not at all.

Is it a good tourist attraction?

At night it is, because you see beautiful lights, and the day is night because all you see are streets and rocks in El Paso.

There's nothing green in El Paso or not that much.

Okay.

What do we have?

Al Paso.

What is it on the mountain?

We have the aerial tramway.

But it's not working.

What have you done?

Have you done anything about it for the tourism department?

No, we haven't.

You've got Trans Mountain, which is nice.

Nobody except in um at Capitol, the only mountain in Texas other than El Paso.

We've got real mountains.

We don't have hills, we don't have anything.

All right.

Now, the biggest thing we have on the mountain is the star.

At night this stands out.

People see it, people recognize it.

We need to increase or we to develop our what we have to make it nicer, greener, beautiful.

So like tourists have.

We have a lot of people coming from Mexico who cross.

Would it be nice to make them tourists to come in here and do our you know watch everything we have?

We can.

But apparently ask people what they do in El Paso, and they say we don't know.

They don't know.

It's boring.

El Paso is boring.

And basically, we have more in El Paso than San Antonio does and Dallas does, and Houston does.

Okay, Houston has NASA and a couple of couple of things, but nevertheless, we have a lot of things.

I see El Paso as a diamond rough.

We're still there, we're still growing.

We can improve it, we can make it better.

Now, how are we gonna do it?

We need to develop it.

True.

So I need your help and help in that.

All right.

Thank you.

Have a good day.

And it was not anyway.

I was born in Mexico, what is raised in Denargo, came in El Paso, American citizen.

I'm here legally.

And I was Navy, U.S.

Navy.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

The next speaker is Wanda Helgeson.

Ms.

Halgison's topic is water main disruption.

She will be followed by Eddie Chavez Jr.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning.

It is still morning.

Sorry.

Um, Mr.

Mayor Council members, my name is Wanda Helgison.

I'm the executive director of Border Rack.

We're a nonprofit organization that serves to coordinate emergency health care and disaster preparedness for our health care providers.

While we're typically behind the scenes day to day, I do feel certain that our hospitals and our EMS agencies would attest to our contributions to the regional coordination of time-sensitive emergency events and our commitment to the community, the emergency health care system and disaster preparedness.

January 11th, we were notified of a water main lake in Northeast El Paso.

We immediately sent information via EM resource, a tool we used to communicate with our health care entities in everyday situations, such as mass casualty incidents or when situations arise that affect our health care operations.

Border Rack staff activated the regional medical operations center within the EOC to begin communicating with our health care entities.

That included making personal phone calls to every hospital, freestanding emergency department, urgent care center, nursing home, and assisted living facility in the affected area, and we expanded that outreach to additional facilities as the scope of the incident increased.

In determining their needs, we collected information about their status, available water, and anticipated needs over the next several days.

We gathered that information regarding the number of patients or residents and staff and calculated the amount of water they would need for every 24 hour period.

We arranged water delivery to some and personally delivered water to some long-term care facilities, unloading pallets of water on site for them.

We continued these queries and support for the following four days.

In addition, we coordinated West Texas Medical Reserve Court volunteers to join with the Department of Public Health and American Red Cross and Police Department volunteers to deliver water directly to individuals registered in the steer registry.

I've told you that we work behind the scenes, and I would like an opportunity to recognize the work and introduce our group to you.

We have Brian Olsen, Peggy Jaime, Vanessa Bandetis, Zion Zait, Susan Sharp, and Rafael Garcia.

Thank you for the opportunity to recognize them and to publicly thank them for their hard work.

And Wanda, I want to add my thanks to the border rack as well.

During the water break, I was in the emergency operations center and had an opportunity to work alongside of some of your members there.

And you guys did a heck of a job.

So thank you for all that you do for the community.

And you were working behind the scenes, but you did a lot of work that day.

So thank you guys.

I appreciate that.

Thanks very much.

The next speaker is Eddie Chavez Jr.

He will be followed by Gordon Thatcher, Anaba Yanueva, and Victor Ramirez.

Mr.

Chavez's topic is city spending.

Good morning.

Good morning.

I'm gonna change now that I met all these people and what they started talking about.

Immigration, I don't know, these young people know that Border Patrol started in El Paso.

And that was because now that I've been doing a lot of history uh reading for Mount Crystal Ray, which I was a president up there for 12 years.

Um they the immigrants, the Chinese immigrants that were making the railroad, they were dropped off here in El Paso to cross to Mexico.

I don't know if we all knew that.

You know, think about being uh treated cruelty.

Come from a nation overseas, then they come and get you and they throw you on the Mexican side.

How do you think they feel?

But you know that rules that have to be made are made to be followed.

When I was in construction, I did a lot of uh big companies uh projects, like I don't know if you all know about uh King's Hill apartments.

And we used to hide them in the in the cabinets, and then we started hiding them on the on the roof and everything.

So by the time immigration went up there, there was nobody around.

So they had to go back down.

Well, that happened about several times when they went up there.

And then they came with a plane and they caught us.

So my favorite another week.

We had a drainage dish in the back side of it.

Uh probably about a football field long.

We used to hide them in there for a while.

But I tried helping immigration.

But the thing is, you know, rules are made because they're made for a reason.

You know, even God made the Ten Commandments for us to follow them, which we don't do it.

But anyways, um I had a big script I was gonna write on something else, but since I saw this that's going on.

Last Tuesday, I went up to Mount Cristo Ray because they were dynamiting up there.

They're making a fence.

I want the fence.

I've been fighting for the fence with a diocese since 1980.

I uh we had a Tonhaw meeting at the race, and I I thought it was gonna be excommunicated with Bishop uh Ramirez.

I was going against we wanted to put the fence up, and he did not want it.

And it does and the respect to the diocese, that's why they haven't built it there.

But now the boss, you know who decided they're gonna make it regardless.

So but we do need it because there's a lot of thefts up there.

I don't know if anybody's been up there, but you know, you don't know who's hiding out there, but you go and look on the other side of the m uh of uh uh uh the border, you see there's houses there, there's no stores.

This house is made out of cardboard.

You know, we've had little kids with uh screwdriver, ten years old, go and rob people up there.

Why?

Because hunger is desperate, makes you do the do things that you don't want to do.

But I would like to just say you guys, like I said, God put you here for a reason.

So let's do it for the people.

Remember what you promised you would be for us.

Okay, God bless you all.

Take care, huh?

Thank you.

Love you all.

The next speaker is Gordon Thatcher.

Gordon Thatcher.

Virtor Ramirez.

Crawford's topic is Black History Month and Abortion.

Miss Crawford, star six, please.

Good afternoon.

You have three minutes.

Thank you so much.

I I appreciate the opportunity to speak.

I'm just gonna briefly um say something.

Um we know that mankind is created in the image of God for the glory of God.

You know that God is the one who creates life in the womb.

This promise said spoke about God, forming him in his mother's womb, said he's fearfully and wonderfully made, and for that reason he worships God.

Um I I've been listening to some of the comments.

Um, I have to say that probably even though um in terms of many issues, we might be on different sides of the aisle, maybe for the first time in my life.

I can I could say that some of us could maybe have a little bit of understanding.

I heard the the comments about standing on the other side of the wall and imagining what's going on in in terms of the migrant facilities.

I I would just submit to you all that that is how how we feel when we stand outside the abortion center, and we know the babies are being slaughtered inside um inside of those those walls, um, in honor of Black History Month and the following month being uh women's history month.

I just want to uh briefly share um uh a woman who came into my life and exited my life very quickly in Louisville, Kentucky.

Miss Christ, she was an elderly lady from the B South from Alabama.

She did not let the color of our skin from her from hanging out with us.

So even the most of us are white, she she chose to hang out with us.

She was very kind to me when I first got to Louisville, helped me to settle in there.

Um, just showed many kindnesses there.

The image is always so stick in my mind.

It's Miss Christ uh dancing on the sidewalk outside the EMW Surgical Abortion Center in Louisville, Kentucky, dancing on the sidewalk, singing him to Jesus and saying, in the name of Jesus, God is finished at this place down.

That image is permanently stuck in my mind.

Praise God, God did shut down the EMW surgical abortion center.

I recently had the privilege of going back to Louisville.

Um the the building is now staying for destruction for a high-rise um hotel to be there.

Um, and I I will always remember um Miss Price just singing gospel songs and phrasing the Lord Jesus Christ um in anticipation of of what he was going to do.

I I will probably never see her again in this life.

I've got the contact information, but I I hope to one day be able to hug and celebrate um together what what God has done.

Abortion does specifically target minority communities.

We'd be over and over again, be it the black community, be it in the Hispanic community, the abortion center are strategically placed.

Thank you, Ms.

Crawford.

Thank you, ma'am.

You've reached the three minutes.

Patricia Osman also signed up.

Patricia Osmond.

Her topic is U.S.

Constitution rights for all persons in the United States.

Good afternoon.

You have three minutes.

So let me take down my mask, as maybe y'all should do an ordinance requiring all of ICE to do.

Because there are things that you can do.

I spoke here two weeks ago in regards to First Amendment, second amendment, fourth amendment, fourteenth amendment rights.

There's also the due process.

All of this are constitutional rights.

It's very fitting.

We're also celebrating Black History Month.

I don't know about any of you, but I have visited civil rights museums.

The sit-in counter that Woolworths.

That represented the place of lynchings across this country.

But let us not forget locally, because that civil rights center, it's not just people of one color.

They emphasize it's people of all color.

Okay.

Let's not forget locally.

Aside from Mexican reparation, uh repatriation, interment camps, operation, what y'all don't like to hear.

We also had La Matanza, which were Texans hunting down Hispanics and lynching them as well.

Now I am old enough that my mom's oldest brother would tell stories to us about how proud he was.

He was older than the state of New Mexico, and how he would go into bars with his now wife and be thrown out because they didn't allow Mexicans and Indians.

I would suggest everybody who supports our law enforcement here in town, locally, nationally, whether that be ICE or Border Patrol, please read the U.S.

Constitution.

Very carefully, the First Amendment, freedom of press, freedom to protest.

Y'all practice freedom of religion.

That's also freedom from religion.

That there's a lot.

You know what?

I am fine with everybody else's rights, but what I require from my local government is that you make sure everybody's rights are enforced.

The First Amendment, Fourth Amendment.

No search and seizure, seizure of person, not just home.

Yes, Fitfam shows ice going out to construction sites.

They're in our neighborhoods.

And most of us here are the other.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mayor, I've called everyone that's came up to speak for call to the public this morning.

Ms.

Prime, let's convene the mass transit meeting, please.

Yes, council.

Is there a motion to recess the regular city council meeting?

There's a motion and a second to recess the city council meeting.

All in favor?

Aye.

Anyone opposed?

And the city council meeting is in recess at 1210 p.m.

in order to conduct the mass transit department board meeting.

Third at 1214 p.m.

Thank you.

Okay, Miss Bryan, let's call the regular board meeting to order.

Yes, sir.

Is there a motion to reconvene?

Second.

There's a motion and a second to reconvene.

The regular city council meeting.

All in favor?

Aye.

Anyone opposed?

The meeting is back in session at 1214 p.m.

That brings us to the consent agenda.

All matters listed under the consent agenda will be considered by city council to be routine and will be enacted by one motion unless separate discussion is requested by council members.

Prior to the vote, members of the audience may ask questions regarding items on the consent agenda.

When the vote has been taken, if an item has not been called out for separate discussion, the item has been approved.

Council may, however, reconsider any item at any time during the meeting.

Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you, Ms.

Prine.

I make a motion to approve the consent agenda with the following revisions.

Page three, item two, revised per representative Boyart Trejo.

And that revision is to read the request to excuse Representative Borietre Hope from today's meeting.

Page three, item four, revise per fire department.

And that revision is to strike out the words public safety and replace with office of the governor.

Page four, item nine, move to the regular agenda per representative Acevedo.

Page six, item 16, delete per representative Fierro.

Page six item 19, move to the regular agenda for representative Acevedo.

Page 10.

Revise per representative Niño.

And that revision is to strike out the number 60 and replace with 90.

Page 10.

Item 35 delete per representative Boyart Trejo.

Page 10.

Item 36.

Delete per Representative Boyar Trejo.

Page 17, item 53.

Take item at 4 p.m.

per municipal court.

Representative Lumon.

Yes.

Do we have a second moment?

No, he has no second.

No second or no seconds.

All right, Miss Bryan.

I believe we have public comment on some of the items.

Yes, we do have public comment on item number three.

Good, Representative Lamont.

I'm sorry.

Mayor, I I wish to re uh request items 50 and 51 moved up to the forefront in the meeting, please.

Okay.

50 and 51.

Okay.

And take them together, I think.

Okay.

Okay.

Mayor, may I call the speakers on the consent agenda items?

Yes, please.

Okay.

We have Christopher Bailey that signed up to speak for item three.

Christopher Bailey.

Signed up to speak on item three.

Patricia Osman signed up for item 10.

Okay.

Um our person told me that 10 and 11 were being deleted earlier.

No, ma'am.

Would you like to speak on items 10 and 11 at this time?

Oh, if you're still going to have it.

Yes, it's still on the consent agenda.

Item 10 is a resolution authorizing the city manager to sign a memorandum of understanding with El Paso Electric Company, Al Paso Community Action Program Project Bravo, and for the sole use of low-income assistance funds contemplated in section 1.24 of the franchise amendment ordinance for the installation of cool roofs for low-income homes within El Paso City limits.

And item 11 is a resolution authorizing the city manager to sign a sub recipient agreement between the city of El Paso and Solar United Neighbors to provide solo photo voltaic installations.

So first, maybe you need to speak to your PR person, or maybe that's a civil rights issue that she was trying to tell me that 10 and 11 were deleted from the agenda.

But as you all know, I sent you all emails, some of you too, in regards to Project Bravo in their contractor, who now goes under the name of White Buffalo.

Same owner, Jeremy Safuentes, same address off a dire.

Previous company was high rich.

Yet you all want to hand nearly a million dollars to that same contractor through a bypass.

Seems more like a loophole because that same contractor was receiving contracts as a vendor through the city of El Paso.

Same owner, operator, same address.

And then there was a lawsuit because your employees were giving him contracts that didn't go through city council.

So there was under the table.

That same contractor, I do because my entire place is camered up with video and audio, had their employees talking city inspectors, about money under the table for inspections.

Told me that they needed to do things to the to my house.

Now, mind you, they did work to my house under Project Bravo, and they ruined they drilled into my roof, which led to years of damage that they didn't fix.

Jeremy Sofuentes was stating, oh, you got it free.

Now my mistake that somebody suggested that I go and I apply and get that because a five to seven hundred dollar AC cost me thousands of damage to my home.

Project Bravo didn't actually fix anything.

In fact, that contractor, during the time they were recently in my house because Project Bravo said that they would fix it under weatherization.

That same contractor used to work for El Paso as a vendor doing weatherization, made more damage.

They didn't fix everything.

And that's who you all want to, because you know what?

Federal contractors, even subcontractors are supposed to have a background check.

So just because you're going to do a bypass through Project Bravo, your employees full well know who the money is going to go to.

Because Project Bravo doesn't do their contracting.

They have White Buffalo, and during the time they were at my house, switched from high ridge to White Buffalo.

Same owner operator, lots of lawsuits.

Y'all are fully aware.

So the fraudulent nature of that, perhaps the AG needs to find out.

Maybe social media messages to find out.

You have reached the three minutes.

That concludes public comment on consent agenda items.

Okay.

Is there any other discussion on the consent agenda, Council?

Okay.

Ms.

Brian, call for the vote, please.

Yes, sir.

The motion was made by Mayor Pro Tem Chavez, seconded by Representative Acevedo, and this is to approve the consent agenda as revised on that motion.

Call for the vote.

And the voting session?

And that motion passes unanimously.

Mayor, may we take the items I would move to regular?

Yeah, was that four nineteen, fifty, and fifty-one?

No, it was nine and nineteen.

Fifty and fifty-one, yes.

Well, 50 and 51 were moved to the forefront, but per the rules of order, those come after the public hearing.

Sure.

Okay.

So item number nine is a resolution that the city manager or designee be authorized to execute a public highway at grade crossing agreement between the city of Al Paso and Union Pacific Railroad Company, granting the city the right to reconstruct and maintain the road crossing over North Piedras Street at railroads, mileposts 967.35 on railroads, Carrizozo Subdivision in El Paso, as consideration for granting of said right, the city shall pay the railroad $20,250.

Representative Savedo.

Thank you, Mayor.

Hi Joaquin.

I think this is uh a great project, and we really need to do it.

Uh more questioning what maintenance means.

Does that mean that if there's weed or weeds or trash in that area, the city is gonna be responsible for that and not union Pacific?

No, so the the project uh Joaquin literally guess with capital improvements.

The project installs new sidewalks along either side of that uh at grade crossing.

So the maintenance refers specifically to what's being installed as part of this project by TechStot.

Okay, sidewalks.

I think there's a hand railing on one side and then some striping infrastructure as well.

So that's the only thing that the city would be maintaining.

Yes, we wouldn't be maintaining.

General cleanliness or you know, weeds along uh the Union Pacific right of way.

And that would be on Union Pacific.

Correct.

Okay.

Just asking because of the dire situation where we have the the BRIO where we believe that it's Union Pacific that needs to maintain it, they're not maintaining it.

So I don't want to create another situation here.

And that's why I was asking this clarified question.

No, no, the this maintenance obligation would be specific to the infrastructure that's associated with this project.

Okay.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Yes, sir.

Move to approve.

Okay.

Second.

There's a motion and a second to approve this item.

Number nine.

Ms.

Prime, would you call for the vote?

Yes, sir.

The motion was made by Representative Acevedo, seconded by Representative Canales.

This is to approve the resolution on item nine.

Call for the vote.

In the voting session.

And that motion passes unanimously.

Okay, this take item number 19, please.

Yes.

Item number 19 is a request that the director of purchasing and strategic sourcing be authorized to issue purchase orders to increase contract 2021-1071.

Parsillator control to Delta and Limited LLC, DBA Delta Pest Control and Lawn Services.

That change order will increase reference contract by $923,211 for a total estimated amount not to exceed $4 million $4,866,056.

And we'll increase the contract capacit capacity to cover services of trash removal at citywide parks and special events through the expiration of the contract in July 2026.

And Representative Massavedo, can I get a motion to approve so we can have discussion first?

Yes, I don't know about the Well, anyone want to make a motion to approve it.

Is there okay?

Representative Acevedo.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um this, I was kind of looking at the backup and there there were a few questions that I had.

Why is the amount so large?

It's almost a million dollars in this change order.

So did things go up?

There's not a real clear explanation in the backup.

Hi, good afternoon, Paula Salas with purchasing and strategic sourcing.

So this is the percentage taken from the total amount of the contract.

So it was a four point I'm sorry, a 3.8 million for the initial contract for the total years.

So that's why it we're just adding capacity before it it it ends before the contract ends.

There's no increase in in unit prices or anything.

It remains the same.

It's just a percentage that it's allowed by state law up to the 25%.

Okay, so how long was this contract?

I'm sorry?

How long was this contract?

It's a three-year contract with a two-year option to extend.

Okay, so then the three years end in July.

No, that was that's at the end the we're currently under the two-year option.

Okay.

So is this an extension?

Uh we already did a month to month, up to six months.

Okay.

Yes.

And so that's why it's down to $900,000.

Right.

And then when you say increased capacity, is this just to extend the contract, or you're going to be able to do more in terms of trash pickup?

I will defer that to the department.

Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council Reps and Miguel Gonzalez, Assistant Director for Parks and Recreation.

We're looking for the extension uh on this contract to be able to handle a six-month extension with the possible additional six-month extension to put a new contract in place.

Uh the new contract in place has some modifications that build some of the cost figures that we have now and and our run rate into that contract to follow.

Okay, so this is just to kind of keep you going for now, and then you want to do a better contract about a year from now, but then procurement is gonna take six to nine months to go to do to get through that process.

Um, and we will use this funding to bridge until we get that new contract in place.

And it's usually this much money.

Um it's significant amount of money in this case.

The the additional um capacity we're asking for is driven by two things.

Um is we have extended coverage for existing and planned events that could take months of run-up.

Um, an example would be the uh ball drop on New Year's uh Eve at San Asinto as an additional event that costs additional funding.

If we take a typical monthly cost of 55,000, um Winterfest alone will cover that much and more, depending on the turnout of the event.

So that's something that we can look forward to and plan on a regular basis.

Uh we also get calls where uh tournaments, for example, will exceed expectation and the routine service that we have booked for as part of the 55,000 service that we have budgeted for.

Um there's more turnout, there's more trash as a result.

We authorize additional expense and we carry that into the um coming year as a projection, but for the existing contract, that gets us beyond capacity.

Okay.

And have you already started the process for the next contract that you want to do in about a year?

We have, yes.

Okay.

All right, thank you so much.

Certainly.

Representative?

Thank you, Mayor.

I think maybe for this meeting in particular, there's a lot of uh new eyeballs on the city council meeting.

So maybe just to explain as clearly as possible, when we approve this type of contract, it's typically for a certain defined length of time and also a certain maximum amount of money.

And so in this case, um, and and as the contract goes on, uh we only pay for the services that are actually used.

And so uh in this case, we've exhausted the or reached, I guess, the maximum amount of money, exhausted the capacity as we call it on the contract before the amount of time has expired.

And so uh the department is asking for additional funds within the same contract.

We're paying the same amount, you know, per per unit of services that we receive.

It's just additional money within the same amount of time to be able to get us through to the end of the contract.

Hope that explains for anybody watching uh to cons, you know, this uh change order is the type of thing that we uh have to consider here.

Um as was explained, there is a maximum that we're allowed to increase the capacity per state law, and that's what they're asking us to do today.

Thanks, Mayor.

All right, thank you.

Any other discussion on item number 19?

All right, hearing now, Ms.

Prime, call for the vote, please.

Yes, sir.

The motion was made by Representative Canales, seconded by Representative Maldonado Rocha, and this is to approve item 19 on that motion, call for the vote in the voting session.

And that motion passes unanimously.

The first reading of ordinances are items 20 to 23.

Mayor, I make a motion to move on the first reading of the ordinances.

Okay.

There's a motion and a second.

Any discussion on well, Ms.

Prime, call for the vote on this one?

Yes, sir.

There's a motion made by Representative Limon, seconded by Representative Canales, and this is to approve the first reading of ordinances on that motion.

Call for the vote.

And the voting session.

And that motion passes unanimously.

Okay.

I believe we are on items 50 and 51 now.

We have public hearings first.

That's right.

I can item number 24.

And this is a public hearing of an ordinance authorizing the conveyance of real property owned by the City of Al Paso to Don Luciano or assigns for the purchase price of 483,142.68 cents.

Such property known and numbered as 1926 Bassett Avenue.

Okay.

Is there a motion to approve this item?

Is there a second?

Mary Lou, how are you doing?

Good and yourself?

Good.

Can we see your presentation, please?

Absolutely.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

Mary Louis Pinoza with the real estate division for the record.

Okay, so this item is for the property sale agreement for 1926 Bassett.

This item was brought to council in May of 2025.

It was vetted as a surplus property and approved for listing, and it was listed in accordance with the Texas local government code, section 253.014.

The property was marketed via a broker and listed for at least 30 days on a multi-listing service.

The property is.23 acres, light manufactured zoning.

It was listed on September 16th of 2025.

The proposed buyer is Don Luciano and a signs.

The appraised value for this property was 480,000, which was appraised in August of 2025.

The purchase price for the property was for 483,142 and 68 cents plus closing costs.

We had received one offer, and we're recommending that we sell the property to the highest offer.

Okay, is there any more discussion on this particular item number 24?

May ask questions.

Sure.

Representative Nino.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Mary Lou, for always briefing us and meeting with all of us to talk about these items that are coming forward.

Quick question for you.

Once this property is sold, where does the funding go to?

It goes to the Capital Assets Fund.

Okay.

And what can that capital assets fund be used?

I don't know if that's a question for Ms.

Mack.

Or Robert?

Just for, you know, I know we've talked about this, but just so that the community and the public could know a little bit about it.

Good afternoon, Robert Cortina.

So those funds as per the city charter can only be used for capital asset acquisition or to retire debt.

So it can go into the debt service fund to retire city debt.

Perfect.

No further questions.

I just wanted to make that clarification for the mayor.

Thank you.

Any further discussion on item 24?

Okay.

Ms.

Prime, call for the vote, please.

Yes, the motion was made by Representative Canales, seconded by Representative Maldonado Rocha, and this is to adopt the ordinance on item 24 on that motion.

Call for the vote.

In the voting session.

And that motion passes unanimously.

Okay, let's take item number 25.

Item 25 is a public hearing of an ordinance authorizing the conveyance of real property owned by the City of El Paso to Romedi Ventures LLC for the purchase price of 1,530,000.

Such real property described as lot E and a portion of lot F, Block 15, Mills Map Edition.

Okay, is there a motion to approve this item?

Move to approve.

Okay.

Hi, Mayor Lou.

Can we see your presentation, please?

Absolutely.

Mary Louis Spinoza again with the real estate division for the record.

This property was also vetted by council in September of 2025 as a surplus property and was also listed in accordance with the Texas Local Government Code Section 253.014.

Property was marketed via the broker and listed for 30 days on a multi-listing platform.

The property is.45 acres, zone C4 commercial.

It was listed on October 8th, 2025.

The proposed buyer is Romnetty Ventures LLC.

The appraised value for the property was 400,000.

It was appraised in October of 2025.

The purchase price is $1,530,000 plus closing cost.

We received a total of 11 offers, and we recommend selling the property to the highest offer.

Okay.

Any discussion from Ms.

Prime, believe we have public comment on this item.

Yes, Mayor, we do.

We have three people that signed up to speak.

We have Sergio Tinajero, followed by Michael Luciano and Tyler Leon.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, Ms.

Mayor.

Uh uh members.

Uh no, there's not going to be an public meeting.

I don't think anyone is supposed to, so there's no need for us to talk.

Okay.

Okay.

Appreciate it.

You got the setting up.

Anyone else, Ms.

Prime?

We have uh Michael Luciano.

Uh they're not here.

Neither one.

Or Tyler Lyon.

Thank you.

Okay.

All right, Ms.

Prime, we have a motion and a second on item 25, please call for the vote.

Yes, sir.

The motion was made by Representative Canales, seconded by Representative Maldonado Rocha to adopt the ordinance on item 25.

On that motion, call for the vote.

In the voting session.

And that motion passes unanimously.

Okay, let's take item number 26, please.

Item 26 is a public hearing of an ordinance authorizing the conveyance of real property owned by the city of El Paso to Jesus Martin Lara and Lorena Villar for the purchase price of $1,608.

Such property known and numbered as $212 Dolan.

Second.

Okay.

Motion by Representative Rocha and second by Representative.

Chavez and Representative Nino.

Alrighty.

Mary Lee, you back up.

Mary Louis Spinoza with the real estate division for the record.

This property is at 212 dolin, also known as property identification number 315742.

Background information on this property is the abiding property owner provided a survey that showed a portion of their single family home encroaching on city property.

Comments from planning and inspections indicated that the city owned parcel is a leftover parcel from a major from a part uh prior realignment of Baisano Drive.

The city owned parcel has no lawful independent access and does not meet the minimum zoning or dimensional standards for development on its own.

This uh transaction does meet the exception to bid notice.

Texas Local Government Code Section 272.001, letters B through J.

The property is 0.04 acres in size.

Its current zoning is A2.

The proposed buyers are Jesus Martin Lara and Lorena Villar.

The purchase price of $1,060 plus closing costs, and we do recommend selling the property to the abutting property owner.

Okay.

Is there any discussion on this item number 26?

All right, Ms.

Brian, call for the vote, please.

Yes, the motion was made by Mayor Pro Tem Chavez, seconded by Representative Nino to adopt the ordinance on item 26.

There is no public comment on that motion.

Call for the vote.

And the voting session.

And that motion passes unanimously.

Okay, let's take item number 27, please.

Item 27 is a public hearing of an ordinance amending El Paso City Code Title 20 zoning, chapter 20.02, Article 2, definitions to add a definition for short-term rental.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council Kevin Smith with Planning Inspections.

Is there a motion to approve this?

Second.

All right.

Kevin, you're up.

Okay.

Let's see the presentation.

Thank you.

So we'll just have a brief presentation for you on this item here.

So just a quick background.

In October of last year, uh staff presented along with the Greater El Paso Association of Realtors and El Paso Short-Term Rental Alliance on short-term rentals here in El Paso.

As part of that presentation, staff did present a recommendation to create a definition for short-term rentals in a zoning code, and I'll get to the that here in a moment.

This item on this agenda here is that recommended definition.

And the City Planning Commission did recommend approval of this definition that will be uh shown here shortly.

So under the current code, uh short-term rentals are not uh explicitly classified um in our in our zoning code.

Staff has been we've been classifying them as a bed and breakfast.

It's not really compatible with the actual use.

And under the Ben Bref bed and breakfast definition, uh it does require a special permit application, which as you are aware, all special permit applications require city council approval.

So the recommendation is this definition uh here on the slide.

Um it was also included as a backup I will not read it to you, but um this is a definition that would be uh if approved by council that would be included as part of the uh our El Paso City Code and would create a definition for short-term rentals here in the City of El Paso.

With that, that concludes the presentation.

I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Council, any questions?

Uh Representative Canales?

Thank you.

Just a quick comment, and that's this presentation is short because of a lot of other presentations that came before it that were far less short.

So thank you to uh staff in GEPR and the Short Term Rental Alliance for working together on getting to the getting to something that everyone could agree on.

And uh I think the council is ready to get happy and ready to pass something today.

Yeah, appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Representative Rocha.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Kevin.

I want to echo Rep Canales' um statements as well.

Thank you to Gephardt, thank you to Heidi and the Short Term Rental Alliance and your group, Kevin.

Thank you all so much for collaborating with them and working to this to to this place that we are now.

I I think it's a great way for these these groups to be able to have that that feeling of being included in that process, and it really helps that process move forward.

So thank you all for the great work on this.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, Ms.

Brian, I believe we have public comment.

Yes, Mayor, we do have five people that signed up to speak.

The first person is Heidi Sience.

Soens, followed by Denise Ivana Perales, Ernesto Garcia.

Good afternoon.

Thank you, good afternoon, Mayor and City Council members.

My name is Heidi Sewens, and I'm here on behalf of the El Paso Short-Term Rental Alliance and as a board member of the Texas Short-Term Rental Association.

First, I want to sincerely thank each of you, and especially city staff, for your time, your openness, and your willingness to work with our alliance over the years.

It's already been three years since we started this.

We truly appreciate the conversations, the collaboration, and the effort that has gone into understanding our industry and our community.

Our alliance represents local families, small business owners, and responsible operators who care deeply about El Paso.

We are committed to being good neighbors, operating with accountability, and could contributing positively to our city's economy and growth.

As our alliance continues to grow stronger, we look forward to continuing this partnership in the years to come, working together with transparency, respect, and a shared goal of what's best for El Paso.

Thank you again for your leadership, your service, and for allowing us to be part of this ongoing conversation.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Denise Ivana Perales.

Thank you for your time.

Um just to clarify by a mistake I put that I was against, but I actually am in favor of this.

I was probably sleeping.

So no, it seems like uh this is really important for us to have clarity uh guarding uh and the way that you you see us uh as an authority.

And this is very important that we have reached to something that is meaningful for all of us.

So that's why I'm in favor.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

Ernesto Garcia.

Good afternoon, Ernesto.

Good afternoon, guys.

Uh once again from the Greater El Paso Association of Realtors.

We continue to uh support the Short Term Rental Alliance and we'll continue to back them as we look ahead to the future.

We still have a lot of things to work on, and we can't wait to get to work with you guys on it.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Patricia Osmond.

Followed by Michael Bray.

Decided I you know, they always say dress for the job you want.

I figure I would uh dress for the times we are in.

Apparently we are living in Gilead.

So the questions in regards to defining short-term rental.

Mr.

Canales in the past has brought up, you know, Airbnb and the rentals and everything that's out there online.

The problem the the I have a couple of questions that I hope all citizens ask themselves, not just city council.

Is are you changing this definition?

Because we can hope that you will in the future, like other communities, ban short-term rentals because of the issues that they create in the communities.

There's the shortage of homes.

We already have a home shortage here.

So those little investment properties exacerbate that issue.

Short-term rentals also raise rental rates for those living in our community, not just the short-term rental folks.

I realize that everybody in support of this are just people that are going to profit from it.

Not considering the community in the residents that live here.

And everything that the communities have to raise expenses, rentals, difficulty in finding homes.

So you're doing a definition to help the real estate folks who, some of which do donate to your discretionary funds.

Anyone looking through the P cards or you know, donation agendas can all discover that.

I'm just kind of curious at what point will you start actually creating something not for those who seek to profit off the community?

But those in the community living here.

Raise their standards, as versus keep letting people pull homes away from others who would choose to live there and be part of the community long term.

Other communities across the U.S.

are banning short-term rentals, banning verbo and Airbnb.

And instead, El Paso is always behind the curve on that stuff.

But I'm curious, is it because you're going to add this to the hot tax?

We're already in a MSR.

Final speaker is Michael Bray.

Thank you.

I'll try to be uh brief.

I was just talking to the Mayor Cook there in the back.

I can't think of a better way to spend uh I guess the anniversary of probably uh day of celebration of what's probably my last decade in coming down here, and I've been doing this for about 40 years.

Let me just start out by saying I really came here to thank everybody, thank the mayor for his leadership, thank each and every one of you on council for your diligence and looking at this really important uh project, looking out for the community, looking out for the members that uh live and uh exist in here, and mostly with working with uh with staff, and this has been what about a three-year process.

So this is not the first time that we've been visiting, maybe not the the last time.

I think uh really the other key thing, and I'm here to speak uh kind of in favor of this.

And I remember a time when, and Mayor Cook will uh back me up on this.

I've been doing this for almost 40 years now, and we used to have to come down here with you know the pitchforks and the torches and all other stuff.

We put those things long away away a long time ago.

And what we discovered is it's much more effective if we gather everybody in the same room, staff, industry experts, members of the constituency there, and we found that typically the smartest person is the room in the room, the smartest person in the room is the room itself.

We get together, we work on things, and this is the result of that, that that uh working kind of relationship.

So again, I'm just really here to say thank you.

They told me if I was short on this, there would be some cake back there.

So thank you very much for your leadership and vote for this uh particularly.

Michael, we want to wish you a happy birthday as well.

Well, thank you.

Yeah, happy birthday.

Okay, cake?

No.

Representative Chavez.

Thank you, Mayor.

Happy birthday, Michael.

And I just want to congratulate the team, uh, planning and inspections, Kevin and and the rest of the team, the short-term rental alliance, get bar, everybody who's been involved in this process.

I think frequently we talk about not working in silos, and this is a great example of what can really happen when we come together.

So congratulations.

Representative.

Thank you, Mayor.

And I was gonna say exactly that echo uh congrats to the entire team.

I know that this has been ongoing conversations for the last three years.

I remember when we had our first community meeting at the beast three years ago, and that you know the conversation started.

So thank you guys for all the work, and it's great to see it coming forward.

Thank you.

All right, Miss Prime, I don't believe we have any other comments on item 27.

No, sir.

All right, would you please call for the vote?

Yes, the motion was made by Mayor Pro Tem Chavez, seconded by Representative Carnales to adopt the ordinance on item 27 on that motion.

Call for the vote and the voting session.

And that motion passes unanimously.

Okay.

Ms.

Brian, let's take item number 28.

Yes, sir.

Item 28 and 29 are related.

Would you like to take them together?

I would love to.

Thank you.

Item 28 is a public hearing of an ordinance changing the zoning from R4 residential to C2 commercial and imposing conditions at 8701 Gateway South Boulevard.

And item 29 is an ordinance granting a special permit to allow for a reduction to rear yard and site street yard setbacks to allow for the use of contractor's yard.

Okay, is there a motion to approve this?

Second.

All right.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council representatives.

Can we see your presentations, please?

Yes, Luisa Mora with planning and inspection.

So item 28 and 29 are going to be presented together.

As mentioned, 28 is the rezoning and 29 is a special permit request for the same property.

So here's the aerial imagery of the subject property.

It's existing.

Right now it is zoned as R4 residential.

So the request is to rezone to C2 and to request a special permit to allow the use of contractor yard, as well as reducing setbacks for the subject uh property and the existing uh structures.

So future land use map for this area is G3 post-war, uh, which calls for uh strategic retrofits to supplement the civ missing civic and commercial uses in this area.

Uh we know Gateway South is a major road, it's a freeway.

Uh so residential is really not appropriate for this area anymore.

Uh rezoning this property will trans help to transition uh lower intensity uses away from the freeway.

So here we have a detail side plan.

The side plan will be but will be binding per the special permit request.

Uh as I mentioned, most of it's already existing.

So it just um the only changes will be uh some uh landscaping that will be built or installed for the subject property.

Uh the uses again, it's uh there's an existing dwelling in there that will remain as a watchman dwelling for the contractor yard, and then the the rest is for the office of the contractor and storage.

Here are the current conditions showing kind of pictures of what's existing.

Maximum elevation is 15 feet high, which complies with zoning requirements.

Uh here's the side plan superimposed on the aerial.

Here are here our picture of such a property, as you can see from uh this is from gateway.

And then surrounding development to the west, we have residential single family home across the street uh on the freeway.

It's a vacant lot which is on uh commercial, and then property to the south, it's also zone commercial, currently vacant.

And to this to the north, we have a a close close by.

We have an uh an hotel and another contractor yard, as well as a single family home adjacent to this property.

So we did send on uh the applicant notified the Sunrise Network Association back when they submitted the application.

Uh we did something that send notices for the public hearings.

Uh at this time we have received only one letter in support of the request.

Here you can see the notice map of all those properties that got notified.

Uh we send 13 notices in total for 15 properties.

Uh so with this, and just as a reminder, this is two items.

So this is the first one for the rezoning.

So our staff recommendation and city plan commission is to approve with conditions of the rezoning.

First condition is to impose a landscape uh buffer uh along with uh 20 feet uh trees every 20 feet on center adjacent to residential some properties just to protect those residential homes.

Second condition is to kind of restrict uh the having multiple businesses that uh sorry that with more than 50 percent of their income from alcohol and then providing outdoor amplified sound.

Again, this is to protect those residential homes.

And then the second item, which is the special permit, the recommendation is approval of such and the detail side development plan.

And this includes a request for a street setback reduction and rear setback reduction as well as approval of the use of contractor yarn the property.

And with this that concludes my presentation.

Okay, representative uh Lima.

How long did this um business operate illegally?

Uh some not aware.

We can we have checked before uh aerial imagery.

We're still unsure as to when exactly they started operating.

Um but that's as much information as we have at this time.

When were you made aware that it was operating illegally?

Uh so I believe we were um processing an always zoning in this area, which is when we started noticing that there was another an illegal business in that area, and this probably about three years ago, I believe.

I have a problem, a real deep problem with businesses operating illegally.

I've encountered one in my district, and it's just a really hard thing.

Um what are the consequences for business that operate illegally before getting their permitting?

Um so let me define it for him.

Thank you, Kevin.

Good afternoon again, Kevin Smith with Planning Inspection.

So there are a couple of items.

Obviously, what we're discussing about here to remedy this is obviously the rezoning and the special permit.

We do have to look at if it's appropriate or not.

Um the other item is if it there was any items constructed without permits, we all either impose a double fee or a triple fee to that property.

Then as well as there's a court proceedings as well, um, which um I believe that would go through Steve Val Rado's team to go to municipal court for any any action and and consequences for that.

But were there any consequences to this business?

Have there been any consequences?

That's so obviously this is this is one where it does have to go through that that um that process, that public process where it gets approved.

Um I will have to defer to Steve and team.

I'm not sure if um this item.

And I believe Danny Chevier here is here as well from planning inspections who could talk about the building permit aspect as well.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Good afternoon.

Uh Daniel Chabina with planning and inspections.

So during uh once uh the property goes to this uh zoning change uh application and reduction of setbacks, they're gonna have to submit for building permits.

So when it gets to that stage is when we know that work was done illegally, and that's when the penalty fees are gonna be assessed.

That is part of the part of the process there.

So now that they've gone now, so the fees are assessed as part of the permitting.

When they come through through now after the fact coming through for a permit.

Correct.

And the fees are much much higher than they would be if it was a regular request.

Is that correct?

Correct.

Once the permit fee is assessed, it's gonna be uh triple the amount of what they would have paid if they would have done it uh legally.

Okay.

Okay.

I I just have a concern with um the operation of businesses without permits.

Um this one was like eight years before we ever caught it.

And and so I just have a problem with that.

But thank you for the information.

Thank you.

Mayor, thank you.

Representative Canales.

Uh I guess that answered most of my questions.

Is there do we know is there a pending uh enforcement case uh either going through municipal court or currently with code enforcement?

Mayor, city council Steve Alvarado for the record.

Uh I don't have the data with me, I wasn't expecting that, but I could get you that information.

Okay.

Um being told we do have one right now.

So there is a there is a pending enforcement case.

The representative um for this application is here as well, so I believe he can answer a little bit more of that as well.

Why couldn't we?

Um is there any more questions from council?

We're gonna let the public speak too.

Uh yeah, I was hoping if he has a question.

Sure.

Yes.

All right.

Mayor.

Good afternoon.

Pleasure to be here sitting on the other side of the table for a change.

Uh I was hired uh uh by the owner of the property uh after he had already been summoned to go to court.

Okay so uh to answer your question.

So uh to answer your question, had there been any uh legal consequences and yes, he had to go before a judge and the judge told him I'll I'll give you so much time to take care of that.

He hired me to uh to make sure that we did conform to the city's codes and to get all the proper permits.

So I want to thank the the city staff for the excellent work that they did and and uh taking this is not as a simple case because some of the things that were built there without a permit were built back in the 1970s.

Uh so uh so I do want to thank staff for the way that they worked with the the property owner and myself in order to resolve those those problems.

Um what this this is an electrical contractor, so some of the concerns about noise and all uh they go there, they pick up their materials and they they go to job sites.

So uh I think it uh I did go and meet in individually with all of the neighbors that are there and ask them if they were opposed to the project.

And uh they all look at this man as being a good neighbor, and they've enjoyed him being there in the past.

Okay.

Um I guess one final question is that uh do we have an understanding of if those structures have been there since the 1970s, has the property had the same owner since the 1970s, or is this a newer operator there?

I know you said you saw additional construction around 2017.

Yeah, so that's one thing we don't really have uh information for.

Um we're not sure when ownership change.

Uh so one thing I can say is part of the request for the setback reduction is because there was a well the existing house has been there for a long time.

Okay, I believe it goes back even predates uh um the zoning ordinance back in the fifteen fifty-four.

Um so we know that that one technically was there before you know we have any selling requirements.

Uh there's other options for them to legalize that, but at this time going through this process, that's another option that they cannot pursue.

Um for some other ones, I think there's just gonna like a start chairs, which if they did not get permits for those, then they will be required to to legalize those through permitting.

Okay, thank you, Mayor.

All right, Ms.

Prime, we have public comment on this item.

We just had former mayor cook.

Okay, is it you have anything else to say, Mayor?

No.

Okay.

You're welcome.

All right.

See no further comments, Ms.

Prime, please call for the vote on 2829.

Yes, sir.

The motion was made by Representative Malona Dorta, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Chavez to adopt the ordinances on items 28 and 29 on that motion.

Call for the vote and the voting session.

And that motion passes unanimously.

Okay, thank you, the state.

You're welcome.

And Ms.

Brian, I know there's a lot of members of the public here for still item number 34.

And the media is here too.

We're gonna try to get that moved up just as quickly as we can, okay?

Uh Ms.

Brian, let's take item 30.

Yes, sir.

Item 30 is a public hearing of an ordinance amending ordinance 16015 to grant the authority to the city manager to administratively enter into and sign certain contracts on behalf of the city in alignment with recent changes to local government code section 252.021 and repealing ordinance number 016736.

Okay.

Okay, there's a motion to approve in the second.

Good afternoon.

Can we see your presentation?

Hello, good afternoon, Gladia Garcia with purchasing and strategic sourcing department.

Okay, so uh what we are requesting under these uh revision to this ordinance, it is essentially to align this ordinance with the changes made to the state regulation um for procurement and competitive uh bidding.

So that is one of the uh revisions to this ordinance and also to allow uh for automatic uh alignment as the code may change in the future, so we don't need to bring this item uh again to city council for approval.

And the last item it is also to uh give uh authority to city manager or designee to enter into contracts in compliance with uh competitive procurements as allowed by regulations, including uh state regulations and policies for multi-year awards up to the amount being amended by the regulation moving from 50,000 to 100,000 dollars.

Just some background about this ordinance.

It was adopted back in 2005.

Later in 2007 was modified again to align with the revision to the code, moving it from uh 25 uh thousand to 50,000, and now these uh regulation changing it to 50 to 100,000 dollars.

including uh state regulations and policies for multi-year awards up to the amount being amended by the regulation moving from fifty thousand to a hundred thousand dollars just some background about this ordinance it was adopted back in two thousand five later in two thousand seven was modified again to align with the revision to the code moving it from uh 25 uh thousand to fifty thousand and now these uh regulation changing it to fifty to a hundred thousand dollars is that it's okay all right uh representative uh chavez thank you mayor thank you Claudia I have a question regarding this is this change um in order to be compliant with state law yes we're aligning aligning uh these ordinance do they change that the code uh requirement had back in September so state laws requiring us oh one of the city attorney's office we are in compliant we're just going to align with what the state law allows we our thresholds were below what the floor was or actually what the ceiling was when it came to these type of procurements we still have to procure you know the uh the solicitations regardless for the goods and services but uh the legislature has given us a little bit more authority so we're aligning our practices with what the state legislature is now allowing us to do so what is what is what is the state say what is the requirement from the state floor was fifty thousand they've raised it up to a hundred thousand we're bringing the city manager's authority in line with what the legislature has allowed which is a hundred thousand but that is that a state requirement or a policy decision here locally the raising from the 50 to 100 is a policy okay but not a state requirement is not a requirement to move it up okay potentially then um if we adopt this policy then the authority would be up to potentially right up to five hundred thousand dollars yes ma'am okay um do we know how many contracts fall within this uh amount so we uh analyze our data for last two uh fiscal years so we have an average let's say these was applied uh two years ago we had an average of uh 25 to 30 items that would fall under these uh near regularly yeah thank you how many did you say again between 25 and 30 per year per year okay and I guess I guess for one year between 50 and 100 doesn't seem like a lot but up to five hundred thousand seems like a lot do you know how many would potentially fall within that category up to five hundred thousand dollars so that's the based on the analyzing data from prior prior years it would be uh between twenty five and thirty potentially I mean it can it depends on the cycles of the contracts that we have but that's an average that we uh calculated from prior years.

And I understand that things cost more money these days and costs have increased generally speaking I just uh think that uh council at least in my role uh has a responsibility to to make sure that um we are fiscally responsible so I I think the threshold up to five hundred thousand dollars seems a little bit too much for me at this time but thank you for the presentation just add something that's for multi-year uh context yes but we don't know how many fall within that category based on statistics it is between twenty five and thirty per year per year okay thank you Claudia Representative thank you mayor I I have a lot of trouble with with this as it's presented from what I'm understanding what our our legal advice on this is it's something that we can do but we don't have to do it correctly yes okay and so for me I take transparency and accountability really to heart and make sure that we are holding the city accountable in many different ways and I think this is one of the biggest ways that the council can do this giving authority to go and sign a contract for up to 100,000 dollars rather than $50,000 really erodes a lot of the power that the council has in my opinion and where we're getting five hundred thousand dollars is that every year you could do a hundred thousand for up to five years.

So a hundred thousand times five is five hundred thousand dollars and that can be done without any approval of city council correct if this were to pass.

It would um typically the approval would be through this ordinance and then of course through the budgetary process which all expenditures typically run through just for your own edification we chose the 5000 because it was a prior consent threshold so the consent threshold was removed up to one point five the prior one was five hundred thousand and we figured that was just a operational uh efficiency you know that we could lean upon but it's ultimately of course council's decision but there could be a a scenario that maybe throughout the year there's something budgeted in in one of the many budget lines that we have and something comes up and we say okay well the city manager has the authority to go sign a contract for ninety nine thousand dollars that would stay with the city manager's office it wouldn't even come to council because that authority would be granted at that point if it is a multi year contract that threshold the ninety nine thousand over multiple years earlier

But there could be a a scenario that maybe throughout the year there's something budgeted in in one of the many budget lines that we have, and something comes up and we say, okay, well, the city manager has the authority to go sign a contract for $99,000.

That would stay with the city manager's office.

It wouldn't even come to council because that authority would be granted at that point.

If it is a multi-year contract that uh threshold, the 99,000 over multiple years already exists.

Yes, sir.

Okay.

And then I I really look at this and think about what happened last year when we uh voted to move things to consent that were under a million or what was it, under a million dollars would be on consent.

It used to be under $500,000 would be on consent.

So we made that change.

I voted against that last year because at the same time I felt like the accountability piece was being taken away from council at that point too.

And I worry what this can present.

I've also been in scenarios, I haven't seen it at the city, so I want to be very clear, where going above $50,000 can present a lot of challenges to governance.

And I worry that that could put us in this territory just because the state is allowing us to do it, it doesn't mean that we shouldn't do it.

This is still something that we could locally control, and I'm more comfortable with the 50,000 threshold rather than 100,000.

So thank you.

Representative Nino?

Thank you, Mayor.

Um Ms.

Mack, what are the types of contracts that usually are brought forward with with this uh type of authority?

Or Claudia?

So for uh procurement items that we facilitate, we still follow a competitor procurement methodology to get into those contracts.

So we still follow the same processes that we would for a formal process, an item coming to you for award.

So we still opened uh the procurement to the public through our online bidding system, so all the vendors that are that can provide those services are encouraged to participate in the procurement process, and we would follow the same evaluation process depending on the methodology you were using.

Uh and then it would give us authority just to award those administratively, but the procurement process for purchasing, it would be the same under the purchasing directory authority.

So it goes through the exact same process as any other bid, it's just doesn't even be posted on an agenda for us to approve.

Correct.

Correct.

You said that it was anywhere from 25 to 30 potential contracts per year in the last two years, right?

Yes.

Okay.

No, that clarifies a lot of my my thought process.

I just wanted to make sure that it goes through the RFP, RFQ, RFI, or um that it still goes through the procurement process.

Thank you.

Yes, Mayor, we have Ms.

Osmond.

It would appear most people also don't read the fine print.

So I want to make sure, you know, I didn't come up with the with the costume.

So residents take me seriously.

Now you're giving more power to the city manager who during city manager hiring.

Citizens were asking at all of these meetings that we no longer wanted a city manager.

But then we were told, hey, because of the charter, we couldn't that couldn't be put out there because of the time limit.

But I want all citizens to understand this isn't just a purchasing issue.

Okay, because they slip in.

You know how like Congress slips in, all that pork?

What slips in here that every resident should know, because nobody here has said it.

Is on here.

Page one, section F.

Including, but not limited to the city council's discretionary funds expenditure.

So how much can she just write off that you all that gets donated by whether it's foster, Jordan Foster, Paul Foster, real estate.

How much more is she gonna be able to sign off and just let you all go willy-nilly with and does that mean nothing's gonna come in front of us?

Because quite frankly, citizens of El Paso want our representatives in our mayor responsible again.

We don't want this shadow government.

We no longer want a city manager.

And when y'all were hiring, when leaser went through this, people spoke out about it.

I spoke out about it because that those same four candidates that came up were the same four that came up before.

He pulled it off when I spoke.

And the news threw me up there about oh our leaser pulled it off the agenda.

We want our government back for the people by the people.

Meaning who we vote for should be who makes the decisions, and not the shadow back of the house able to just willy-nilly let you all do with whatever on that discretionary fund.

Yeah.

Everybody needs to read this, because that if y'all don't line item that out, then I don't know what citizen wouldn't consider that fraud.

Okay, Miss Bryan, I believe that believes all the comment.

Yes, that is all the public comment on this item.

Okay.

Here are no further discussion on this item number 30.

Please call for the vote.

Yes, a motion was made by Representative Limon, secondary by Representative Canales to adopt the ordinance on item 30 on that motion.

Call for the vote.

And the voting session.

And the motion fails.

Two to three.

Representatives Chavez Acevedo Nino voting nay.

Representatives Limon Canales voting aye.

Representative Madonado Rocha not present.

Okay.

Let's take uh item number 50.

Yes.

Is that right?

Would you like to okay?

5051.

Would you like to take them together, sir?

Yes, please.

Okay.

Item 50 is discussion in action that the city that the mayor of the city of Al Paso, Texas, be authorized to sign resolutions of support and or resolutions of no objection for the following 2026, 9% regional competitive low-income housing tax credit light tech applications to Cielo Towers 2, located at 201 Cortez Drive, to East Side Crossings 2, located at Sarago San Joe Battle, and Siesta Garden located at 9,009 Dyer Street.

All right, Ms.

Prime, we're actually going to take them separate now.

Yes, okay.

Rep uh is there a motion to approve?

I'd like to make a motion to approve item number 50 on the agenda.

Okay.

Is there a second?

Second.

All right, Representative Canales.

My apologies, Mary, I don't mean to nitpick.

There does have to be a more specific motion.

Um I'm happy to we are making decisions about which projects to offer which types of support, and so there we do have to make specific motions about you know to to effectuate that.

Okay.

Representative Lemon.

Okay.

Um Represent Canales.

Thank you.

Um I move that the mayor be authorized to sign resolutions of support for Siesta Jardin and Cielo Towers 2 and a resolution of no objection for East Side Crossings too.

Uh, and that the mayor be authorized to sign a resolution acknowledging oh, that's that's the other item.

So I'll leave it at the first one.

Yes, ma'am.

So you I believe you you retracted your motion, and then Representative Carnegie's made a motion that the city council authorize resolutions of support to Cielo Towers 2 look and a resolution of no objection to East Side Crossings 2 and a resolution of support to Siesta Garden.

Second.

Okay, we have a motion second.

Can we see the presentation, please?

Yes.

Uh good afternoon, Nicole Rodriguez with Community Human Development.