This special joint meeting of the El Paso City Council and the Youth Advisory Board was convened to develop a two-year strategic plan. The session featured presentations from Workforce Solutions, community and youth perspectives, internal department overviews, and a financial outlook. No formal votes were taken, but the discussion set the stage for strategy development on the following day.
Good afternoon, everyone. If you all take your seats, please we can get go ahead and get started. This is a special meeting of the El Paso City Council for Monday, February 23rd, 2026. Mayor Johnson is present and presiding along with Mayor Potem Chavez, Representative Acevedo, Representative Boyatrejo, Representative Nino, Representative Pierro, Representative Flimon, and Representative Canales. It is 110 p.m. This is also a meeting of the Youth Advisory Board. Present we have board members Madison Miller, Ariana Jaime, David Dorsey, Aliana Acuna, Leon Lerma, Rebecca Olguin, and Madison Serva. Item one on the agenda is presentation and discussion on an update to the strategic plan, including but not limited to the proposed pillars, goals, objectives, and core strategies toward a two-year action plan. All right, everyone, welcome, welcome to the 2026 strategic planning session. One question, thank you, thank you. One question, are we ready for it? Yes, ready to jump in. And so I have the honor of welcoming up Mayor Johnson to kick things off for us. Well, good afternoon, everyone. It's good to see everybody. And I hope everyone had a good weekend. I'm gonna make sure I don't knock anything off here. Okay. Alright, so it's great to be with everyone uh this afternoon, and as many of you know that yesterday was the El Paso Marathon, and some of you might have ran the 5K, the half marathon, or even the full 26 miles. Although I didn't run yesterday's race, what I didn't know, and no one told me, that my first year in office would feel like I was running a marathon, but completely uphill in high heel shoes. It's one of my little dad jokes there, and getting my kids with it. So as we kick off the 2026 strategic planning session for the city of El Paso, and I can't believe just over a year ago, I stood before this great community for the first time as mayor, with an incredible deep sense of gratitude, and an even deeper sense of responsibility. Over the past year, I have often asked what made us choose public service, and why this city means so much to us. Most of us did not end up working for the city of El Paso by accident. Somewhere along the way, something pulled you here. A family member, a teacher, a neighbor or a friend, are just simply a love for the place we all call home and a belief that El Paso deserves our best. Like many of our city council members, when we were campaigning, we spent months listening at doorstops, doorsteps in neighborhoods, at small businesses, and in community meetings, and we heard from partners. We heard from parents, seniors, small business owners, and young people trying to decide if they can build their future here. All the conversations were meaningful, but one has stayed with me. I met a woman named Maria who lived in District One. She told me that she absolutely loved El Paso. But she was worried that she might have to leave because she couldn't no longer afford to live here. She said she might have to move to New Mexico. Not because she wanted to, but because she had to. And we also have to be honest. There's a lot of misinformation out there about El Paso. People who have never been here think they know our story. We know better. We know El Paso is defined by its people, its neighborhoods, and its sense of community. That means we have to own our story and tell it with pride. Not just from City Hall, but across our whole community. El Paso is special. We are unique even among border cities. This is a city with a story worth telling. And how we show up for the people who trust us. This year's theme, greetings from El Paso says a lot. It's a message to the world and a reminder to ourselves of who we are and what we stand for. We are not going to fix everything at once. But we can choose to move in the right direction. We can choose to be thoughtful.