Well good morning, everyone.

We are going to get started.

Miss Bryan.

Good morning, Mayor, and welcome to the presentation of the mayor's proclamations.

We begin this morning with a pledge of allegiance.

And to lead us, we have Madison Olivia Flores from Paso Dale Elementary School at the invitation of City Representative Lily Limo.

Okay, Miss Bryan.

Yes, sir.

That brings us to the proclamations.

For those of you receiving a proclamation, your group will have up to four minutes collectively to speak at the podium and receive the proclamation.

The first one today is Pride Month.

Thanks, Mayor.

Um, have the honor of reading this proclamation.

I think there's a few people in the audience.

Um, I'll read the proclamation and then you can speak.

Proclamation City of El Paso, Texas.

Whereas every June, communities across the nation celebrate LGBTQIA plus Pride Month, honoring the history, resilience, and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual to spirit, and allied individuals.

And whereas Pride Month began in remembrance of the Stonewall Uprising of June 1969, a pivotal moment of resistance led by trans women of color, including Marcia P.

Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, that ignited the modern LGBTQIA plus rights movement.

And whereas the LGBTQIA plus community in El Paso has enriched our city through their activism, leadership, um, caregiving service, and everyday presence, shaping a borderland that is more inclusive, compassionate, and vibrant.

And whereas, despite decades of progress, LGBTQIA plus individuals, especially Black, Indigenous, and Latinx transgender people continue to face systemic discrimination, violence, and erasure in health care, education, housing, and public policy.

And whereas El Paso recognizes the urgent need to confront these injustices and remains committed to cultivating a community where every person, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression, can live safely, authentically, and with dignity.

And whereas we affirm that LGBTQIA plus rights are human rights, and that true liberation must center those most impacted by oppression, including queer youth, transgender individuals, and LGBTQIA plus people of color.

And whereas this year's Pride Month will be celebrated across the city of El Paso through multiple events, including the Pride Market at Artavino's Desert Crossing that occurred on May 30th, Pride Night, and light up the star at the El Paso Museum of Art that occurred on May 30th as well.

Pride night at the El Paso Locomotive game at that occurred on June 13th.

Pride night at the El Paso Chihuahua's game on June 18th, which was last week.

A 5K Pride Run on June 20th this past weekend.

Pride night at Belon Wine Bar on June 24th.

Pride night at La Nuve on June 25th.

A Pride Parade on June 27th this Saturday, coupled with the Pride Festival, this June 27th as well in downtown El Paso.

And finally a Pride Splash event at Wet and Wild Water World on July 5th.

And whereas the city of El Paso honors the LGBTQIA plus community, not only in June, but every day, and expresses gratitude to the organization's families, leaders, and everyday people who continue to advance justice, visibility, healing, and joy for all.

Now therefore be a proclaim by the mayor and council of the city of El Paso, urging all to reflect on the ongoing struggle for LGBTQIA plus rights and to celebrate the spirit of love, authenticity, and collective liberation that defines pride.

June 2026 shall be known as Pride Month.

Signed the Honorable Mayor Renard Johnson.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning, Council.

Good morning, Mayor.

We are super excited for this proclamation, the Pride Month Proclamation of 2026.

One of the things that's been going on is obviously that we've had a very difficult time with the administration, with Texas ledge as well.

And moments like this are incredibly important to our community, specifically those most marginalized and under attack.

Speaking specifically of our transgender, non-binary and gender expansive community members.

Uh this type of recognition, this type of visibility is so incredibly important because when we sit and we think of the young queer kids who have never experienced a time where being queer was wrong, and realizing that under this administration, we are seeing those times come back.

These moments coming from people who they look up to, people that they see on TV, people that they see have true power, is incredibly important to them.

Um so thank you for what you are doing.

Um, and uh it it is just really a testament of all the amazing things that have been going on for Pride.

When you see that giant list of things that have already occurred, um, and then you see the the few uh events that are still to come, and hopefully we will see you all at them specifically the Pride Parade.

Um, and with that, I would like to introduce uh Javier from El Paso Sun City Pride.

Good morning, Javier.

Morning, morning.

Uh thank you, uh City Council mayor.

Uh I really appreciated the support.

Uh the city of El Paso is uh giving us to El Paso San City Pride and also to the Borderland Rainbow Center.

Um, thank you for your leadership.

I know that it's on not only for uh Paso San City Pride and BRC in our community, but also to the community of El Paso, making the best decisions, always been uh supportive for everybody.

Uh I really appreciate uh thank you so much.

I it's really nice uh to be here uh to be recognized uh that the month of you, uh Salad.

Uh it's 18 events that we we put together.

Uh technically we have like five, six more, and then we're done.

Uh, we're actually preparing for next year, because next year is gonna be the 20th anniversary for El Paso and City Pride.

So we're looking forward to seeing and to bring everything back to El Paso.

Very good.

Very good.

Thank you.

Anyone else want to introduce themselves?

Good morning.

Good morning.

Thank you for having us.

I'm Izzy Mora, and I'm on the board of directors for the Borderland Rainbow Center.

I want to uh reiterate what everybody's saying.

Thank you very much for including us for acknowledging our community and giving us the black the city's blessings for our Pride Month.

Um, we pride was born out of the need of of a lot of struggle for LGBTQIA people, and so our ability to to show pride and to have such welcoming from our city is super important, and especially from its leadership.

So we thank you very much.

Very good.

Good morning.

Good morning.

My name is Omar Nunez.

I'm the community co-director for Al Paso Cincity Pride, and just want to thank you all for this opportunity.

I've shared this sentiment with my board members and people uh such as Amber with me.

Um, opportunities like this is has given me the uh ability to be the adult or the person that I needed when I was a child.

So to the community, I just I like these opportunities give us the ability to be seen, which is important for the youth today that maybe don't feel seen or accepted, maybe in their home, but maybe in their community, they can find their chosen family.

So thank you for this opportunity.

Good morning.

Good morning, Mayor and Council.

Um, we are a new board, right?

We're a whole new board, um, with a new vision but with the same mission, and that is to bring everyone together.

Allies, friends, family is number one.

Um, if you've seen it on our schedule, we have wanted to bring families together to show El Paso.

We are professionals, we are people that walk the same streets that everybody else walks on, that deserve the same opportunity.

It doesn't matter what they look like, who they are, how they speak, or how they come across.

We all bleed the same.

And I think being my first year doing this, I walked into it a little.

Oh, what am I doing, right?

As the PR marketing director, I do not have a marketing degree.

Um, but with the support from my team from all of you guys, you know, making this happen.

We've had some bumps in the road, right?

And I think we thank Amber for guiding us, but the number one person is our president.

When one door closed, he got us through the attic.

When the second door closed, he got us through the window.

And when the third door closed, he said, we're gonna knock the door down.

So thank you to our president, Mr.

Javier, but thank you to all of you.

So truly, thank you guys.

Neon Pride.

Okay, well, how to top that, right?

But um, no, uh Carl said some good things, and and then does it did all my former colleagues or all my current colleagues.

I also just wanted to add to that um to the community factor or importance that we've placed upon collaborating with not just ally organizations, but queer organizations in the entire borderland has been something that we look forward to making an annual thing where we can collaborate with the pride and quadz in Las Cruzes, Salamogordo.

We have 2.7 million people at least that we can impact um in the borderland here, and we might not be able to get them all to be like we support y'all, but we can at least try.

And if we don't see eye to eye, we can still you know wish each other the best and go our own way.

So I want us to just know that um we're gonna fight um for you guys the way you'll fight for us, and we're never giving up in this fight.

Thank you so much.

Before I turn over to the representatives, uh, this month is truly a month of celebration.

Uh, as you've already mentioned, 18 events, I believe.

Yes, and there's still more to come.

So congratulations on on all the events, and we've also got to celebrate the progress that has been made um toward equality, include equity, inclusion, and a reminder that every person is treated with respect, fairness, and dignity.

Uh, and El Paso, one of our greatest strengths is our diversity.

Uh, it's not something that divides us, it's something that makes us stronger.

So, congratulations on an incredible month.

18 events this year, no telling what you're gonna do next year.

Thirty-six, maybe, thirty-six of it.

We'll see.

Yeah, but congratulations again.

Representative Nino.

Thank you, Mayor, and Amber Javier and to the entire board.

Thank you for all the work that you all do.

I've seen you all work for the last six, seven months on all of these eighteen events and some of the events.

Well, all of the events have been beautiful and and thank you for creating safe community spaces.

And I echo what everyone has said, including, you know, facing the challenges that we see in the federal administration, the state administration, but you all always pivot and ensure that you continue to show up for each other, showing up for the community and overall ensuring that you create the community and safe spaces that everyone deserves.

So I want to truly thank you for all your hard work and grateful for all.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you for being here.

It's congratulations, Javier.

I've known Javier for many many years, back when he was a DACA student, and has worked his way all the way up to the position at UTIP.

Many of you have traveled a very lonely path along the way.

And many times it seems like there's nobody out there who cares, who really understands.

So I'm very happy that the city of El Paso places such an emphasis on recognition and recognizing this month.

Actually, it's all year round.

We honor the work that you do.

And I'm very happy that I was invited to be a participant in part of the funding for the best that you're having in the parking lot that's coming up.

Very honored that District 7 will be represented out there.

Thank you for all you do.

Muchísimo, congratulations again, guys.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And the next proclamation is El Paso Athletic and El Paso Sports Commission.

Representative Nino.

Thank you, Mayor.

The honor is can make it to the front.

It's an honor to read today's proclamation.

Proclamation for the City of El Paso, Texas, whereas the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame was founded in 1955 to honor male and female athletes who have in their athletic fields or endeavor fought credit upon themselves and the city of El Paso.

Whereas the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame honors Ray Sanchez, high school Student athletes of the Year in the Hall Class of 2026 under President Ray Adoto with two endowed scholarships at UTEP named John Beckerhead Jr., Dick Chanant, and the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame Scholarship.

And whereas this year, the inductees are Michael T.

Baker, Stephen King, Azar, in the leading athlete category, Cesar Hugo Morales will be inducted as coach administrator, and Victor Malunalo as an official and Paul Camus is a posthumous inductee as an athlete.

The banquet will be at 6 p.m.

on Wednesday, June 24th at the El Paso Community College Administrative Service Center building, Building A, 9050 Vicon Boulevard.

And whereas the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame has inducted 421 men and women into this prestigious organization.

And thanks to the University of Texas at El Paso, the individual plaques are proudly displayed in the concourse of the Don Haskins Center on the UTIP campus since 1981.

And whereas the title sponsorship of the El Paso Sports Commission and President Janet Vargas, assisted by Tony Rodriguez, and their great staff and the efforts of the Opatho Athletic Hall of Fame Committee continues to provide fond memories for decades to come for El Paso, Texas, the region, and the nation.

And I'll therefore be it proclaimed by the Mayor and the City Council of the City of El Paso, Texas, that the week of June 21st, 2026 shall be known as the El Paso Athletic and El Paso Sports Commission Hall of Fame Week, signed by the Honorable Mayor Renard Johnson.

Congratulations.

Good morning, Dale.

Good morning.

How you doing?

Good.

Mike's all yours, Mark Ray.

Okay.

All right.

Good morning, Mayor Renard Johnson, members of City Council, distinguished guests and friends.

My name is Dale Averty, and I have the privilege of serving as a current vice president of the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame and a proud member of the class of 2023.

Our president Ray Adalto is continuing his recovery from surgery.

We extend our thoughts, prayers, and best wishes to Ray and his family, and look forward to him having him back with us soon.

On behalf of the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame, thank you, Mayor Johnson and the City Council for this wonderful recognition of the class of 2026 and for helping us celebrate our 71st year of preserving and honoring El Paso's rich sports history.

I would also like to recognize and dedicate and dedicate Hall of Fame committee members and offer special thanks to our secretary Donna Carter, our parliamentarian Ron Lehman, and nominations chair Dr.

Scott Stein, and our immediate past president Ruben R.

Ramirez, who is celebrating his incredible 50 years in the media for El Paso.

We are deeply grateful to our title sponsors, the El Paso Sports Commission, and to its president Janet Vargas and sports tourism strategist Tony Rodriguez for their continued support and partnership in preserving our city's uh city's athletic legacy.

Before I continue, I would like to invite the members of the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame class of 2026 who are with us today, if they could come forward and introduce themselves.

Good morning.

Good morning, Mayor, good morning, Councilmember.

Stephen Azar.

Good morning.

Good morning.

I'm Michael C.

Baker.

Thank you for having us.

Good morning.

Good morning.

I'm Mark Dorian, good friend of the late great Paul Drowey Kamal.

Thank you for having us.

Good morning.

Good morning, Cesar Morales.

Thank you for the recognition.

Good morning.

Victor Maldonado, it's an honor to be here before you, Mayor and the Council.

Thank you for the recognition.

Good morning.

Later this afternoon, we will be honoring the Rey Sanchez High School student athletes and teams of the year.

Then this evening we will celebrate our sold-out induction banquet at El Paso Community College.

For those unable to attend, the ceremony will be live streamed on KVIA.com.

We sincerely thank KVIA TV and General Manager Brenda Dionda Swan for helping us share those remarkable stories with our community.

Again, on behalf of the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame and the El Paso Sports Commission, thank you, Mayor Johnson, and the members of City Council for having us here today and for your continued support of athletics and the preservation of our city's proud sports heritage.

For more information on the rich history of the Hall of Fame, please visit us at EPAHOF.com.

Thank you and have a wonderful day.

Well, it's good to see you, my friend.

I know it's hard to probably say Mary Johnson.

Yes, sir.

Yeah, so uh I grew up and went to school with Dell and uh been friends many many years and it's so good to see you here.

Um, congratulations.

Tell me a little bit more about the ceremony.

What time does it start?

Today, the high school ceremony will start at two.

We will recognize the high school athletes today also, and then the banquet will start.

At seven on Wednesday on Wednesday at community college.

Yes, sir.

All right, very good.

Well, thank you guys for what you do uh uh inducting all the athletes from from El Paso.

And as you know, we've had Olympians, MBA players, NFL players, even professional soccer players.

We've had a number of athletes come out of this community.

We will continue to have more that go on a national stage and congratulations to all the inductees and congratulations on seventy years.

That is incredible.

Yes, so very well done.

We're very proud of you.

It's good to see all the athletes here, and uh, we look forward to to next year, but Wednesday at seven p.m.

for those of you that can make it.

Okay.

And before we go, I have a program for each one of you.

Very good.

Let's do it.

Congratulations, guys.

And the next proclamation is El Paso SGI USA World Peace Day.

Miss Bryan.

Okay.

Representative Trejo.

Thank you, Mayor.

Good morning.

How are you, Tony?

Good, good.

Good morning.

Good morning.

So this proclamation reads, whereas, and I hope I don't mispronounce anything.

Uh, whereas the Sai Ku.

How do you say the name?

Okay.

A scholar, educator, author, and peace builder established the Soka Gaikai.

Yes.

International Value Creation Society based on the belief that dialogue and the commitment to personal transformation are the driving force of social change and world peace.

And whereas El Paso, an international city located in the border of three st three states and two countries, values and promotes the inclusion of diverse cultures and respect of uh differences.

Whereas the SGI has over twelve million members in 192 countries and territories, including more than twelve hundred members who reside in El Paso and surrounding areas, and who taking actions of the I'm sorry.

Sokagaka.

Visited El Paso 30 years ago in June 29th, 1996, as part of their final trip to the US and composed a poem that uh they're entitled Dedicated to the Noble Pioneers of Kosefen Ruku of El Paso, highlighting the commitment to continuing the flow of boldly and serenely uh growing ever wide wider and higher toward the new country century of humanism, and whereas S G I USA's El Paso chapter will have a commemorative event on Sunday, June uh twenty-eighth to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of Dokas Psycho visit with a gathering of friends, families, neighbors seeking to build community and peace and a prosperous future.

Now therefore be a proclaimed by the mayor and council of the city of El Paso that June 29th, 2026 shall be known as the SGI USA World Peace Day.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning.

On behalf of the SGI USA, thank you, El Paso Mayor Johnson, and El Paso and El Paso City Council representatives, especially uh Cindy Trejo in Northeast El Paso, for this proclamation today.

My name is Tony Benitez.

I'm with the SGI USA El Paso Buddhist community.

Since the nineteen sixties, the SGI USA Japanese pioneers had a dream that Dr.

Daisaki Keida, who we regard as our mentor in faith and life, would one day visit us in El Paso.

He did.

June twenty ninth, nineteen ninety six.

This El Paso visit was published in our national newspaper called the World Tribune and our international SGI newspaper called the Secillo Newspaper, which is in a hundred and ninety-two countries today.

Today we will be celebrating this 30-year anniversary on June 28th on Sunday, June 28th at 11 a great community and working toward a prosperous future for El Paso.

Thank you again for this wonderful opportunity and the presentation of today's proclamation.

You got it, Tony.

That tell me, you have a lot of guests with you.

Bring this down to my level.

Congratulations, you guys.

Um, what a great, great way to start our day.

And I think El Paso is uniquely positioned for peace as a symbol of peace.

Uh when you look at the world we're living in today, um, being locally, you know, peace begins locally in our neighborhoods and our schools, our workplaces and our homes.

And El Paso has always shown a resilience, uh, what resilience looks like.

And we have faced challenges and emerged stronger because we chose compassion over hate.

So congratulations to what you guys are doing.

And we couldn't have started the day better.

So, congratulations on SGI USA World Peace Day.

Congratulations.

The next proclamation is Cisneros Family Governor's Family of the Year Award.

Representative Canales.

Thank you, Mayor.

See them coming up.

Proclamation, City of El Paso, Texas.

Whereas the City of El Paso recognizes that the strength of its community lies in the selfless dedication of its citizens who devote their time and energy to the service of others.

And whereas after losing their young son Alex to cancer, the Cisneros family has demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to community service through nearly two decades of unwavering commitment, unwavering support for local youth and creative initiatives through volunteering with the creative kids program every weekend for over 18 years, putting their pain into purpose and embodying the spirit of altruism and civic responsibility.

And whereas through their collective efforts, the Cisneros family has played a vital role in fostering resilience and providing high quality mentorship to young people, ensuring that the next generation has the tools and encouragement to succeed.

And whereas the profound impact the Cisneros family has had on the borderline community serves as a testament to the power of family-led volunteerism, proving that a unified commitment to service can transform lives and strengthen the social fabric of El Paso.

And whereas, in recognition of their exceptional contributions and tireless advocacy for the arts and community development, the Cisneros family has been selected as volunteer family of the year in the 42nd Annual Governor's Volunteer Awards.

And whereas this award represents the highest honor for volunteers in the state of Texas, celebrating those who go above and beyond the call of duty to make the state a better place for all.

Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the mayor and council of the city of El Paso in recognition of their exemplary volunteerism that June 23rd, 2026 shall be known as the Cisneros Family Day, signed by our Honorable Mayor Renard Johnson.

Thank you so much.

As you hear, many years ago, we lost our kid, Alex, our loved Alex, from Leukemia.

But during that during all that year, that time, uh really hard time.

Not expecting anything back.

Uh people from the hospital, people from the community, bringing some comfort to us.

That's when we learned that the way to make someone's life a little bit more easy or better is helping.

During that hard time, creative kids was there for us all the time.

Being in the hospital is so stressful.

Having your kid at the hospital is so stressful.

But having a program like Creative Kids Inside a Hospital, uh, allow the kids to express their emotions, to express how they feel, and be a little bit more a kid, a normal kid.

So for Alex, it was really helpful.

During that time I I asked him why you love to be doing art classes inside the hospital, and he told me, because I'm free when I'm painting.

That is the impact that creative kids create in our family.

They've been there for us all the time.

By the time that Alex passed away, we make a decision.

We decide to honor his life.

And this is the way for us to honor his life.

We volunteer to this program because we know that we can help other kids to have a better life.

This is a beautiful program that we love.

We're trying to set a good example for our son.

But we are also trying to let that community know that working together, we can have a better place to live.

This is the way for us to show resilience.

And we know that helping others is the way to heal.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Good morning.

My name is Oscar's Nittles.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, members of the council, for having us.

And um pretty much uh I just wanted to tell you that we're very honored that uh we're receiving this proclamation.

Uh we have worked uh with creative kids for uh a good number of years.

And like my wife said, I mean, it's it's very rewarding.

It's very uh it helps us as much as we help the other families just to know that um there's there's there's a way that you can you know um bring comfort to families that that are in need um that they don't actually know what's going on.

Um just a little bit of uh guidance and you know a little bit of saying, yeah, I've been there, you know, everything's gonna be as as best as it can.

Um, you know, things things like that.

And and of course, family is you know our number one priority.

I mean, um I have my son that he is uh he's been with the program a lot of years and and he's he's uh he's been embraced and you know, being helped too.

So thank you very much for everything.

Have a good day.

Got it.

Good morning, good morning, council.

My name is Adrian C.

Good morning, mayor.

Uh I'd like to thank you all for this proclamation that you gave us today and this opportunity that you gave us.

Also, we received a letter from you, mayor.

Thank you.

It was very nice.

And uh I did lose my brother at a very young age, and to be honest, I was about two years old, and I cannot tell you that I have a very good memory of him, but I do remember one thing he left, and it's that there must always be people to be good and to be serviceable in times of need.

So I would like to honor that as the thing that my brother left by, and I'd like to thank the people that are with me here today because I would not be the person that I am today without them.

Um I'd like to thank my mother, she taught me uh very good things, she taught me to be the person to be a strong man to do everything the way it should be with discipline and with structure.

My father who taught me to always do things right.

I know as a kid I have the standard kid mentality that I always want to cut corners, but I was taught that it should be done right every single time.

And another thing I can remember from my brother's uh time is that there was always people there to help us, and I'd like to thank people who have been here since as long as I know them.

I would like to thank the Gate Single Family, Andre and Steve, and thank you very much for giving us this time to be feel like we've won this great award.

Thank you.

Well, thank you guys for giving us the the blessing to to honor your family and and you have transformed a personal tragedy into a lifetime of service, and uh I mean for over 18 years you have dedicated countless weekends, volunteering your time with creative kids, helping our youth uh with their talents, building confidence and everything with with our kids, and we cannot thank you guys enough.

Um thank you for giving back to others in such a way that has inspired uh an entire community.

Thank you for your dedication, your compassion, and your unwavering commitment to El Paso.

Um there are no words, but you are definitely a blessing to so many, including many of us here on the dais today.

And those words that this young man just said will stay with us for a lifetime.

So congratulations on Cisneral's family day.

But I do have a question for the young man.

What school do we go to?

I attend the Pebble Hills High School.

Okay, what grade are we in?

I'm gonna be an upcoming senior.

Upcoming senior.

Okay.

Yes.

And what are you thinking about going to UTEP?

Uh I've been looking at schools in Texas, you to be one of them too.

Yes.

What do you want to study?

Architectural engineering.

Okay.

Yeah, I think it's important.

Part of volunteering is we're taught that the four needs of the human is water, food, and shelter.

And as an architectural engineer, I'd love to provide one of those, which is shelter.

Very good.

Well, if you if you have to leave, we want you to come back, okay.

All right, congratulations, guys.

And the final proclamation is Saul Nunez Day.

Representative Trejo.

Thank you, Mayor.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning, so as Reker's Outreach Signature Program, Reconnecting with the Disconnected, serves as a beacon of hope for students through a curriculum centered on accountability, social emotional learning, leadership development, and community restoration.

Whereas Saul Nunes, a sixteen-year-old sophomore at America's High School credits Amantha Record as the founder of Records Outreach and her program helping him recognize that everyone makes mistakes, but no one is defined by their past, providing him with the encouragement, accountability, and mentorship necessary to overcome adversity and pursue a positive path.

And whereas Soul was transformed by a difficult chapter in his life and a series of poor decisions and challenging circumstances.

Whereas, although his father passed away shortly after his 12th birthday, the lessons he taught Saul continue to guide his commitment to helping people and serving his community.

And whereas his dad, Saul Nunez Sr., embodied the values of generosity, compassion, and service, he learned the importance of helping people in need by providing food to the hungry, offering financial assistance, and giving his toys and clothes to children less fortunate than himself.

And whereas after successfully graduating from Reconnecting with the Disconnected Program, Saul chose to remain involved in the student instructor as a student instructor because he wanted to spend more time helping others who were navigating difficult situations.

And whereas Saul understands that young people often face challenges and make mistakes, he has dedicated himself to being a reliable mentor who can help fellow students build trust, confidence, and hope while overcoming their own circumstances.

And whereas Saul's commitment to helping people, mentoring fellow students, and giving back through service reflects both the values instilled by his father and the mission of Wreckers outreach.

And whereas on May 20, May 7, 2026, Saul achieved a significant milestone when the class he mentored successfully graduated from the program, demonstrating a lasting impact of mentorship, compassion, and second chances on the youth of El Paso.

Whereas Saul's journey serves as an inspiring example that with support, accountability, and caring mentors, young people can overcome difficult circumstances, become leaders, and positively impact the lives of others.

And I'll therefore be here proclaimed by the mayor and city council of El Paso that June 23rd, 2026 shall be known as Saul Nunez Day.

Congratulations.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning.

She's nervous a little bit.

So I will go first.

Okay.

Um, so if you don't know me, I'm Miss Wrecker.

Uh, I felt it was important to submit Saul Nunez for this recognition because he embodies that very purpose and mission of our youth program, demonstrating that youth young people can overcome adversity, learn from their mistakes, and become leaders within their communities.

Saul's journey has not always been easy.

Like many of the youth we serve, he has faced challenges that could have easily defined his future.

Instead, he chose a different path.

He accepted accountability for his actions, committed himself to personal growth, and worked tirelessly to become a positive influence on those around him.

What makes Saul truly exceptional is his willingness to use his experiences to help others.

Rather than simply completing the program, he stepped into a leadership role as a student-led instructor, mentoring younger participants, sharing lessons learned from his own experiences, and demonstrating through his action with resilience, integrity, and perseverance looks like.

Saul has dedicated countless hours to community service projects, youth development activities, environmental stewardship initiatives, and leadership opportunities.

He consistently leads by example, encouraging other youth to make positive choices, take a responsibility for their actions, and become active contributors to their communities.

This recognition is not solely about the work that Saul has accomplished to date, it is about the impact he continues to have on other young people.

He represents hope, redemption, and the belief that every young person deserves an opportunity to grow beyond their circumstances.

As the founder of Reconnecting with the Disconnected, I have witnessed firsthand the positive influence Saul has had on his peers and our community.

His commitment to service, leadership, and personal accountability makes him highly deserving of this honor.

I am proud to nominate Saul Nunes and grateful for the opportunity to recognize a young man who has transformed challenges into opportunities and who continues to inspire others through his actions and dedication.

The end of the day, I love you, Saul.

Good morning, Saul.

Good morning.

Dear Mayor Renard Johnson, city representatives and members of the city of El Paso, I am honored and grateful to receive this proclamation for my dedication and service to the youth and our community.

Receiving this recognition is something I never thought was possible as a young man who has faced challenges and made mistakes along the way.

I have learned that our past is not defined our future.

Through accountability and support of those who believed in me, I have been given the opportunity to grow into a leader and a mentor for other youth.

Serving as a student-led instructor with the with the reconnecting with the disconnected has been one of the most meaningful experiences of my life.

It has allowed me to share my story, teach lessons I learned the hard way, and help my peers understand that they have the power to make positive choices and create a better future for themselves.

Lastly, I would want I want to thank my PO Rafa Rafael Duerbanos the opportunity.

And remember, mistakes don't define us.

It's how we rebound from them.

And you have discovered the power, accountability, mentorship, and second chances.

So congratulations on that.

Also, your decision to help others speaks volumes about who you are, your character, and um your commitment to serving others uh in the in this community.

So today's story is one of courage and service.

You have turned challenges into opportunities and setbacks into growth.

So we congratulate you for that.

So we're celebrating your day today, Sao Nunez Day.

So with that said, Representative Nino.

Thank you, Mayor and Saul and Ms.

Record, thank you so much.

I'm gonna be honest with you, I I had no idea that you were a student.

I thought you were leading the organization along with Ms.

Records, which which says a lot, right?

About you all and your leadership, and um I'm grateful that you all have partnered up with my office and done multiple community cleanups and overall, you know, teaching the community and the youth of taking ownership and pride of our community.

Um but I just wanted to say that I had no idea, so it says a lot about your your commitment to the organization and your mentorship, even to uh other youth.

So thank you for all your hard work and congratulations again.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Congratulations, Saul.

Thank you.

Going, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go.

Okay, Miss Brian, I think we're ready to go to work.

Yes, sir.

Good morning.

This is a meeting of the El Paso City Council for Tuesday, June twenty third, twenty twenty six.

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

It is ten oh three AM.

Will everyone please silence our electronic devices so as not to disturb the meeting and rise for the invocation delivered by El Paso Police Chaplain in Chabal Lubavitch of El Paso Rabbi Levi Greenberg.

Before I begin, I'll do an act of charity before starting the invocation.

Look favorably upon the mayor and the honorable members of the city council of our great city of Al Paso, and bestow upon them and all of us gathered here today in person and online the joy of life, good health, and prosperity.

As we gather today, with gratitude, we commemorate two hundred and fifty years since the founding of the Unitedoms with which you have endowed all people.

Our tradition teaches that you gave all humanity the seven Noah Hyde laws, universal principles of justice, reverence for God, respect for life, honesty, family, and compassion.

These timeless values remind us that freedom flourishes only when guided by divinely ordained morality and responsibility.

We recall the teachings of the Rebbe, that difference need not lead to division.

True unity is achieved when people recognize that despite their differences, there are all your creations endowed with dignity and purpose.

Almighty God, teach us to listen before we judge, to understand before we criticize, and to seek common ground before conflict.

Help us build communities marked by mutual respect, kindness, and a shared commitment to the common good.

Bless all of our leaders and public servants with wisdom, integrity, and humility.

Inspire each of us to recognize as my manar is taught that a single good deed can tip the balance and bring blessing and salvation to the entire world.

May our city serve as a beacon of light for people of all faiths and walks of life.

May El Paso help achieve the goal so powerfully stated in our Pledge of Allegiance, so that America is truly one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

And let us say Amen.

Amen.

Thank you, very much.

Okay, Miss Brian, but that believes brings us to public comment.

Yes, sir.

This brings us to public comment on consent and regular agenda items.

This morning we have Jocelyn Yamas that signed up for item 21.

Is Jocelyn Yamas here?

I don't see her in the queue either.

We'll move to Amber Betis.

Miss Betis signed up for item 32.

And item 34.

These are resolutions to authorize expenditure of discretionary funds, for El Paso Sun City Pride.

Good morning.

Good morning, once again.

Uh, thank you for the proclamation this morning.

Um, what I really wanted to speak about when we talk about these two resolutions, 32 and 34, is the importance of uh seeing these resolutions go through.

We have had the amazing support from the city, we have had amazing support from different sponsors, including Destination El Paso, who you sat here saw here earlier, who is really helping put together um this Pride Fest.

And one of the things that I want to remind all of us is that this is a community event, and thank you for putting these items on the agenda.

They are incredibly important because oftentimes we talk about visibility, visibility is super super important, but so is financial um support.

Um, because oftentimes when we where we put our money is where we kind of also see a focus.

Um, it is incredibly important to not just be loud and proud, but it is all like in a visibility type of way, but to also sit there and say, hey, I believe in this and I believe in this so much that it will help to financially support this.

Um, and as I'm speaking, I also am thinking about the fact that there are so many queer dollars, so many LGBTQI plus dollars that are in the city and that are also attracted to cities who have this kind of infrastructure where you see the city supporting in these visible ways with proclamations, and then in these financial ways, which are these resolutions and how there are countless businesses that are owned by queer individuals who are always looking for places to kind of set up a second home or a second business or to start their own business.

And what they do really is that they look at what the city has done, they look to see how they have been supported, our community has been supported.

And when you say when they see this, when they see these these types of items, um, they say, hey, you know what?

This is a place that puts their money where their mouth is.

This is a place that sits there and says, hey, I'm gonna build the infrastructure for you to be able to come here, move your businesses, move your employees, right?

Because oftentimes businesses do have employees that are located in different cities.

And what they look at is how are these families going to interact?

Is there a robust infrastructure, both economically, entertainment-wise, and all these other ways that are going to be that are going to support these families um and El Paso is an incredibly amazing city because we are just one that is diverse we are one that truly believes and that our diversity is incredibly important and it is one of our strengths it's like and this is such an amazing way to also kind of show that to the LGBTQI plus community so I am hopeful that uh there will be a resounding yes on these items.

Thank you.

Next we have speakers that signed up for item 35 and item 35 is discussion and action directing the city manager and city attorney to negotiate a community agreement between the City of El Paso and Meta platforms.

The first person to speak is Marco Sanchez Marco Sanchez followed by Abyan Cashi Andres Martinez Veronica Carvajal Saul Gonzalez Good morning.

Good morning Mayor Johnson and council uh my name is Marco Sanchez and as the acting president of the El Paso Youth Alliance I wanted to thank representatives Trejo and Rocha for bringing item 35 forward I uh see it's a step in the right direction but let's be honest this conversation should have started months ago we're already reacting to problems that have already impacted residents and uh this situation has been so objectively important to voters in our city that this we had the har well we had the largest turnout that this council chambers has ever seen so residents near the metadata center have already faced noise dust and traffic disruptions so how long until water disruptions water pressure drops and electricity bills skyrocket I mean El Paso Electric just recently two days ago asked the PRC to approve a 50% rate increase as well as a 10.7% increase on equity.

If approved once fully implemented New Mexico customers can expect to pay an average of 42 dollars more per month working families an extra forty dollars a month however it gets better the CEO of El Paso Electric Kelly Tomlin had the audacity to say and I quote while we understand and care about customer affordability we also are concerned about long-term economic development we may find it challenging to support our Texas region's growth when the return on equity remains lower than many other utilities in the state well I find it challenging to believe that Tomblin can provide 366 megawatts to meta making the company their single largest customer at a favorable negotiated rate as she actively screws over working families I don't think that's leadership and for those of you that are holding eye contact with me I hope that you guys understand how important this is we are prioritizing a company over working families to me that's disgusting item 35 acknowledges these concerns but acknowledgement and somewhat action isn't enough we need real policy not just lágrimas de cocodrilo because now we have cus uh we have constituents threatening to recall certain representatives every delay cost trust every half measure tells residents that their voices don't matter until the damage is done so I urge you guys to support item 35 but don't stop there strengthen it expand it allow multiple residents from the affected districts to have an input in it make real policy not just words please with that said I want to thank you guys for your time please don't disappoint us again like you did last time thank you very much the next speaker is Abian Cashi Abian Cashi Andres Martinez followed by Veronica Carvajal.

Good morning.

You have three minutes.

Good morning.

Good morning, everyone.

Uh hope you have uh good um morning.

So my name is Andrés Avalos Martinez, and I'm here to talk in favor about the community benefit agreement.

This CBA is what we need to find an agreement between the two parties.

We can completely get rid of the data center because El Paso will uh end up being sued by the meta company.

But neither we can accept the orbital agreements that were made with this multi-billion dollar company, multi-billion meta.

That will damage our water supply and our electricity networks, making our constituents have to pay more for those services.

This community benefit agreement is the middle ground that our community needs so much.

The multi-billion company Meta will invest in the future of our workforce development, and they will be more friendly with the by the main.

In exchange, we'll keep the agreements that we already did with the 35% agreement with 35-year tax cut that we just agree before.

Thank you very much for your attention.

Hope you have a good day.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Veronica Carabaja, followed by Saul Gonzalez.

Good morning.

Good morning, Mayor and Council.

I see the cameras have turned away from our signs.

I am Veronica Carvajal, organizer with Sembrano Esperanza Coalition.

As you know, our coalition is working directly with the Northeast Neighborhood Association Alliance because we believe that those most impacted by data centers should have the first and the last word.

Our goal remains the same.

No AI data centers that will replace our jobs, our minds, our privacy, our quality of life, and our future.

No to meta, no to crumbs, no water equals no jobs.

Thank you, District 4 City Reps Cynthia Boyar Trejo for inviting us and the residents from the Northeast Neighborhood Association Alliance to sit down with Meta last Thursday and for recording the entire meeting and for respecting our position.

Is that all nine of you will see that Meta and its close friend El Paso Electric does not care about El Pasoans, it does not care about your political future either.

Because I guarantee you that Meta will not agree to giving us more than crumbs.

So we are using this process to call Meta on its bluff, and we are here to remind you that while you may some of you may have voted no to undo the 380 agreement, you are always free to change your mind.

For the sake of today's vote, I ask that you keep in mind that to be meaningful, any community benefit agreement must have the following characteristics.

It has to be legally binding, it has to have specific penalties for Meta.

It must directly match the known and unknown harms of this AI hyperscale data center.

The benefit must go directly to those most impacted, including residents near the data center, both in New Mexico and in El Paso.

Those closest to power plants and transmission lines, and it must have extensive financial commitments and it must have specific deadlines.

But it was not.

And as you will see in the letter, one of the requests that we make is a 10 billion dollar trust for our water.

Again, this must actually mean something.

And we know as Al Pasoans that we only have water if we have money.

And for more than 40 years, that money has come from the pockets of people who can least afford it.

I assure, you that Mr.

Zuckerberg will be fine in making this kind of investment.

But again, we hope that you'll join us in standing up for El Pasoans, our water, and our future, and thank you so much for your time.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Saul Gonzalez, followed by Cindy Krause.

Good morning, Saul.

Good morning, Mirror and City Council.

My name is Saul Gonzalez.

I'm an organizer with Sembrando Esperanza and also a resident of District 3.

I want to begin by emphasizing that our positions remain the same.

We do not want MERA in our community, and we will continue fighting against this data center.

I also want to thank representative Cynthia Boyar Trejo for inviting us to participate in the recent roundtable discussions with META.

We hope Meta provides clear and complete answers to the questions to our questions and questions raised by the Vista del Norte Neighborhood Association.

However, the community has been very clear about what they want.

We're not asking for community benefits.

We're asking our elected officials to find a way to cancel the Treidian agreement and remove Meta from our community.

Let me ask a few questions.

How much money is worth receiving from Meta if it contributes to running out of water in our community?

How much money is worth receiving from Meta if community members get sick from increased pollution and utility bills increase?

How much money is we're receiving from META if impacts the quality of life and the values of the homes of residents in El Paso and other communities like Chaparral?

As you consider this community benefits agreement today, I ask you to reflect on those questions.

In 2023, when the 3D agreement was approved, the city failed to include adequate protections and meaningful consequences for META.

I ask again, will this agreement be legally binding?

Will there be clear penalties if Meta fails to fulfill its commitments?

Will the residents affected by this project have a meaningful role in determining the demands?

Will the benefit benefits be significant or will be the amount contributions be like $5,000 donation to the our curse program that was promoted earlier this year?

And most importantly, will Meta actually agree to these terms and sign the agreement.

If we are demands and we hold them accountable, I don't think so.

As I said before, our organizing efforts will not stop because of this agreement.

There is no amount of money that can convince us that this project will not harm our community.

Our positions remain the same.

We will continue fighting to protect our water, our health, our affordability, and our quality of life.

We're continuing to fight at the sea, the county, El Paso Water, and the PECT.

And I hope you can join us.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Cindy Krause, followed by Vianea Larete Gonteras.

Good morning.

Good morning, Mayor, City Council.

My name is Cynthia Krauss, and I'm the president of Vista del Norte Estates Neighborhood Association.

Our neighborhood is located on ground zero.

We're literally one mile away from this meta site.

And with this, we have a lot of concerns that we want to make sure are addressed.

To be exact, or to say experts out there are saying that people who are within one mile of a hyperscale data center are inside the direct impact zone for immediate environmental, acoustic, and aesthetic changes.

Persistent low frequency buzzing and humming from rooftop chillers, HVAC industrial fans, and power transformers.

They operate 24-7.

Frequent testing of multi-megawatt backup diesel generators release particulate matter and emergency runtime during grid matter.

Outages spike local air pollution.

Two open or rural vistas that we are in are replaced by massive windowless high security concrete warehouses surrounded by security fencing, high voltage substations, and barbed wire, high-intensity security lighting and perimetal perimeter floodlights remain illuminated all night long.

Initial development and continuous hardware upgrade cycles bring heavy um truck traffic, roadware, and dust to our neighborhood as we are already currently seeing.

And I would like to go ahead and give an update to Cynthia Boyher Trejo today, as she gave me four days to respond back to her once she mentioned that we would no longer have this traffic up Carlos Rivera's drive.

I would like to notify you that this morning, as of five o'clock, we were still having those trucks going up our busy neighborhood.

Now it never was.

Being in close proximity exposes the immediate area to massive continuous releases of industrial waste heat and directly raises local air and land temperatures.

And some say anywhere up to four to seven degrees higher.

And a day like today with 108 degree weather, that is very significant to live with on a day-to-day basis.

So with that, we are going to continue to fight to find a way to get Meta out of our backyard because we don't want to live there with it in that close proximity.

You see, we were never told when we bought our homes that um meta was moving in.

So that is an entirely other issue.

We have Miss Krause.

With that, we want the CBA to put in something that says another category, such as maybe intellectual property or personal property, because there are some issues that I'm sure we're going to encounter on the way down the road.

And I would like to invite Miss Boyer Trejo to meet with the residents in Vista del Norte States so that we can come up with a solution for the CBA.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Vianney Alberete Contreras.

Miss Contreras star six, please to unmute your telephone.

Vianney Alderete Contreras star six, please.

Good morning.

You have three minutes.

Hello?

Yes, go ahead.

Do you have three minutes?

Thank you.

Um, first I would like to thank representatives Acevedo Limonica Nares for being so brave.

Just end up to Nera in the name of the Paso community.

Um now I am speaking in support of item 35, which means the discussion and action directing the city manager Diane Mack and City Attorney Carly Nunin to negotiate a draft of community benefits agreement between the city of El Paso and Media platforms.

And I support all the details that are included in the item.

You must try these two individuals to guide them into taking action that protects the people in Paso.

Um I live in district uh district three, and I would like to point out that on June 9th, representative Varchat said during a city council meeting that she worked in data centers for the last 30 years because she said that because she worked in telecommunications.

So we're not data centers.

Telecommunication hubs required significantly less water than data centers.

Um, well they have the same data, not in there.

Data centers are now revered, uh filled with syllabus data.

So we present it when you skip this way, it shows that you are not conducting research.

You need to be uh careful with the things that you say in public because everything that you say, we will fetch it.

Uh, you talked about the importance of fiscal responsibility, but it is not more important that the responsibility of keeping your community healthy and keeping massive, massive hundreds of people free of developing serious illnesses.

Um, another thing that I would like to bring up is that it was very unethical that there was uh last week there will be quote viewpoint round cable.

Cooking on the UK channel, we're putting any of representing the Voyatejo.

Only a handful of people are there.

Not all representatives are there.

Not all the media were there.

I believe I saw El Paso Matters.

It was very unethical that you have to one local journalist or one local journalist who has been covering this issue to leave the meetings.

That is unethical.

You cannot pick and choose who you invite and who you don't.

You invite all media outlets.

Um, being out that you invited local Paso Matters and El Paso Matters receive between 20,000 99,900 from the Paso's electricity between 2019 and now, according to his update.

Um we also run ads for a passive water in the summer.

Reminding people not to waste water in the summer.

So please be ethical, take care of what you are doing.

Thank you and have the day that you deserve.

So that concludes the comment from everyone that signed up to speak at 10 a.m.

So that brings us 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 forth be posted on a future agenda.

This morning we have seven members of the public signed up to speak.

The first person is Elizabeth Crawford, and Miss Crawford's topic is Anniversary of Overturn of Roe v.

Wade.

Good morning, Miss Crawford.

You have three minutes.

Good morning.

Thank you so much.

Good morning.

This month marks four years since the overturn of Roe vs.

Wade.

In response to this judicial decision, the organization in our nation is officially known as the Satanic Temple, TST, founded an abortion center in New Mexico to perform ritual abortions.

It's very easy to look it up online, the Satanic Temple, in addition to wishing its members a happy Pride Month with its rainbow decorations and its 666 logo logo.

The Satanic Temple to help itself is founding the first religious abortion clinic on February 14th, Valentine's Day, 2023.

We are warned in God's holy word, 2 Timothy chapter 3.

This note also that in the last days perilous crime shall come.

The men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemous, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truth breakers, false accusers, without self-control, fears, disguises of good, disguises of those that are good, traitors, heavy, high-minded, lovers of pleasures, more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof from such turn away.

That's 2 Timothy from God's holy word.

The ultimate deception in our world will be through the revealing of the antichrist.

While there are still time, the scriptures command people to flee to the one and only place of safety, the true Christ, the Lord Jesus.

Jesus warned us that the faith Satan came to steal, kill, and destroy.

But he promises that he has come for the opposite reason.

He said, I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.

The words of the Lord Jesus recorded in John chapter 10.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak, and I hope that you have a very good day.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Claudia Contreras Siller, followed by Victoria Quinola, Rico Velez, Miss Cotera Siller's topic is animal cruelty in El Paso.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Hello, good morning.

Happy belated Father's Day, especially to the ones in heaven.

Today I proudly wear my Mexico shirt.

I was born in El Paso.

I was raised in Juarez.

I came to El Paso when I was 12 with zero English.

That's why my accent is so thick.

I went to Mawood Middle School, Mawood High School, graduated from UTEP with a bachelor's in organizational and corporate communication.

And one of the things that bothers me the most in my city is seeing so much animal cruelty.

I went to the budget meeting about three weeks ago, and it was stated that animal services is gonna receive 1.5 more million.

And two weeks ago, I asked if you guys can please hire a team to do that trap neuter return, not only to rely on volunteers, because the load is very heavy.

We cannot do it alone.

I think the volunteers that do everything possible for the animals, but we need someone in uniform to be doing the trap meter return, advocating for our animals, educating the city, etc.

Uh also education about how to report animal cruelty.

And I wanna add that my grandma had a cousin.

My grandma, her last name, I'm sorry, her name is I'm sorry.

Uh Otila Garcia Angeles.

And her cousin's name was Juana Maria Ascarate Garcia.

And she was the owner of Escarate Park.

That's why the park is named after her last name.

And I just heard that they want to remove the duck pound, and I don't want that to happen.

I consider the Ascarate Park to be a historic place where all types of people go, all from all our districts.

I am from District 6, and I want to ask for the duck pound not to be removed.

If you guys can see all of the comments in social media, they are against removing the duck pound.

Please don't remove it.

And also I wanna add that the pigeons are being trapped by clandestine businesses to be shot, to be used for dog dog hunting dogs, and I don't think it's fair.

Yesterday I picked up a pigeon with a broken wing.

I took it from Yorj's deater all the way to Binton to our wonderful second chance wild life.

And this is not the correct way.

They need to be taxed.

If they're making money out of our pigeons, they need to be taxed.

And I want to add that Jesus Christ is the king, and everything that has to be with the data centers is from the devil.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Victoria Giniola.

Her topic is a resolution supporting regulatory reform and expanded market access for independent livestock producers in the Paso del Norte region.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Hi, Mayor and Council.

There are two documents in the packet I give you, which you may find interest in if you're not already in the works of something similar.

The first document is the third in the packet, which is the proposal for the creation of the Paso del Norte Regional Food and Livestock Development Initiative.

The second one is the fifth and last document of the packet, which is cost structure disparity in USDA inspected meat processing and local economic impacts.

Let's get straight to the meat of the issue today.

Barriers on our local meat.

There's a lot at stake.

So let's expand market access for our local livestock producers and strengthen our regional food system.

Here's the cost disadvantage.

Small farmers pay three to four times more per animal for processing than big scale meat companies.

False mark small farmers face limited access to USDA inspected processing facilities.

They pay extra transportation costs and they are forced to plan around infrastructure constraints.

Because of these extra costs, they have to price their meat higher, making local meat more expensive despite the people's strong demand for healthy meat.

Federal records report that large-scale meat companies have repeatedly violated USDA regulations.

Mayor, have you ever had Jimmy Dean?

So they are the same family as Tyson Foods.

Tyson Foods recalled about 8.9 million pounds of chicken products due to a multi-state listeria outbreak in animal welfare investigations over crowding, extreme confinement, untreated injuries, unsanitary conditions, and rough handling and violence, such as kicking and throwing animals have been documented to be in facilities associated with major meat companies such as Tyson and Smithfield.

They no wonder why they price their meat cheaper than local meat.

Food is meant to fuel us, right?

And potentially be medicine.

We deserve the choice to be picky and to be able to afford options.

Local meat is healthier and likely generally processed more ethically than big meat corporations.

Why have our local farmers unjustly faced disproportionate barriers while large industrial systems benefit from economies of scale despite nationwide recalls and recurring welfare concerns?

I respectfully ask counsel to direct staff to expand local processing capacity and opportunities for our farmers to sell inspected meat through farmers markets, food hubs, cooperatives, and other local outlets.

Supporting our local livestock producers would number one bring more food dollars into our region.

Number two, create more jobs for our region.

Number three, strengthen food safety.

And number four, give us consumers transparency in regards to how our regional food is raised and processed, building trust along with truth.

Food should be able to heal us if we must have to take the life of another animal.

What kind of animal are we?

Let's strengthen the trust of our community from within.

Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Rico Velez.

His topic is proposed Piedras Street Modification and Waterline Replacement.

She will be followed by Leticia Diamond, Maria Azale, and Fred Evans.

Good morning.

Good morning, Mayor and members of council.

My name is Rico Vallez.

I've been here a couple of times already.

I'm the owner of Dewey's Corner Pub, and I am part of the business owners of Piedras Street, which I have a majority of them here standing as well.

I've been here several times.

I'm disappointed how confusing and transparent this process has become.

Timelines and info are constantly changing.

I absolutely support infrastructure and public safety improvements, but I have low tolerance for constant changes, poor communication, and doing projects that not hold clear accountability.

This is not about construction project right now, it's about leadership and the lack thereof.

We need that leadership.

We need that representation.

We have invested our own monies, we created jobs, we pay our taxes, our businesses attract visitors to five points.

Our visitors don't come to five points because of nice sidewalks.

They come because the business owners are there daily with good product and warm handshakes and smiles, inviting those people to come back.

I am not in favor of the constant changes.

I've been attending meetings on these improvements for over five years now, and it keeps changing.

We now we have a representative that insists this is needed for us.

We need our streets to be able to handle the heavy rainwater.

And that's not even part of the plan.

We need well-lit crosswalks where families can safely cross the street, but the focus is on trees that won't reach the height in five years and sit under power lines that more than likely need to be moved once they grow to maturity.

We have handicapped sidewalks that will hurl a person in a wheelchair 10 feet in the air like it's the general lead from the Dukes of Hazard, right there on Tula Rosa and Piedras.

I implore you to go look at it yourself.

We support progress, not this organization.

Businesses deserve certainty, not guesses.

Communication has been reactive instead of proactive.

Transparency builds trust.

Organic businesses cannot simply be replaced.

Every closed business hurts the entire district.

Leadership requires accountability, representation requires advocacy.

Governments can rebuild a street, but it cannot rebuild a business that has already been closed.

Please stop this project until we're better prepared and better informed.

I ask for that, please.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Leticia Diamond, and her topic is also five points project.

She will be followed by Maria Asael and Fred Evans.

Good morning.

Good morning.

My name is Leticia Diamond, and I am the owner of international jewelers right in the corner of Piedras and Yandel.

So we're here together with all the business owners to tell you that we're not okay with this project.

Um I've been there 35 years and the area is been doing really, really well.

And for them to close the street for a year, it would definitely kill all the businesses on the street.

So not only on the street, on that five points area.

So we're totally opposed to it.

Uh we don't want it.

And it will definitely kill the businesses.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Maria Asael, followed by Fred Evans.

Also speaking about the construction on Piedras.

Good morning.

Good morning.

And thank you for our representatives, and thank you, Mayor, for being part of this conversation and keeping it active.

Thank you for having us today.

I am representing a business that is family and locally owned in the Piedras area in the Piedras and Pershing.

I signed the lease in November 2023, not having any idea that in 2026, 2027, there were plans to have these construction.

Right now, just for your reference, I have a 1.4 million dollar loan on that business that I trust my sales to be able to pay over the next 10 years.

Um I think the restaurant business has been hit, as any other uh industry in the US right now.

The restaurant industry is really suffering.

Uh, restaurant owners and bar owners in the city have shared their sales and everything.

We are very concerned because of what is happening since 2025, and it's not getting any better in 2026.

We are experiencing decreased sales of about eight to twelve percent already, and it's getting very hard to pay our bills.

If you pile on top of that, uh construction that will last so long and will disturb the whole dynamic of the traffic in the area.

I think that this is the perfect storm, and I think that what is already bad will turn into a disaster for a lot of us.

And maybe at the end, there will be a lot of pretty things around, but all the signs for lease for for sale will not be pretty.

And uh I I really ask you to reconsider.

I am for uh progress, I am for beautifying the area.

I already tried to do my put my grain of sand in my construction and lighting up the alleys and and putting something pretty in the area.

I will continue to do that, and uh if we do uh teamwork here and figure out what the area needs and what we can do to make it happen, I am all for it.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

The final speaker is Fred Evans, also speaking on the Piedra Street Reconstruction.

Good morning, morning, Mayor Johnson, members of City Council.

I'm Fred Evans, the president of the Five Points Development Association.

I stand before you today asking you to reconsider the Piedra Street Reconstruction Project and when you do to vote it into oblivion, never to see the light of day again.

This bottlenecking project will create congestion, confusion, unsafe merging, and will close Piedra Street completely for 10 months to accomplish it.

Five points, Manhattan Heights, the East Side Central Coalition that's north and south of us, oppose this project because it threatens access to their neighborhoods and the very survival of their small businesses.

Let me echo some words spoken in a recent meeting by Anthony Duncan, a successful El Paso Restro Tour for many years.

He said we like cars, we like traffic.

It shows potential customers that things are happening, and they can get in and get out.

We don't need anything to get in their way.

I want customers to be able to get off I-10, get into my parking lot.

I don't want another experience like the four years I struggled in Cincinnati Street before leaving half a million dollars on the table.

Steph Rafai, the largest property owner in the area uh on that street, owns the Stevens building, and he opposes the project in no uncertain terms, saying stay out of city, stay out of five points.

Howard Goldberg, the owner of Supreme Laundry and Cleaners, with his main plan, two blocks away on Yandel Street, and owner of property directly on Piedra Street is opposed to the plan.

You've heard from others this morning.

They're all business people of experience who represent in business businesses in investments in five points, totaling millions of dollars, provide jobs, pay taxes, pay sales taxes that help government function.

Five points was enjoyed its current renaissance because of these entrepreneurs and like them, not with the city, so but in spite of efforts such as the Piedra Street Reconstruction Project that threatens this renaissance and the very existence of small businesses.

In the words of Anthony Duncan, leave us alone.

We're doing okay without you.

This is not the time for you to interfere.

In summary, the city is forcing a project created by city planners who, to the best of our knowledge, don't have wide business experience and have no personal funds at risk in this area.

Win or lose, their paycheck, health insurance, and pension benefits will be there for them.

Why should they have economic life and death controls over the group I previously described?

Who not only have many combined years of business experience but also have significant personal capital at risk and have to provide their own salaries and benefits with no guarantees?

Why indeed?

Oh, by the way, the city's paying for this with certificates of obligation, those pesky debt instruments that city representatives love and taxpayer present because they didn't get to vote for them.

I propose the perfect solution.

Make the business people and residents of Five Points happy by not forcing an unwanted project down their throats.

Make the taxpaying citizens of the entire community, their voters, by the way, happy by eliminating the city's debt for a foolish project no one wants.

We hope that one of you has the courage and good sense to make a reconsideration vote possible.

And when it happens, that you'll vote to this terrible project into oblivion and never see the light of day again.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Council, that concludes call to the public.

Okay.

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.

Prime.

I move to approve the consent agenda with the following revisions.

Page three, item four, move to the regular agenda per representative Chavez.

Page three, item five, move to the regular agenda per representative Chavez.

Page five, item 11.

Delete per environmental services department.

Page 12, item 35.

Revise per representative Boyard Trejall.

And that revision is to strike out the word negotiate and replace with coordinate, strike out and draft, and replace with the drafting of and remove of reference to benefits and CBA.

Second.

Okay.

There's a motion and a second on the consent agenda.

Ms.

Bryan.

Yes, sir.

There's a motion.

Representative Canalis.

Thank you, Mayor.

Can I ask for the reason for the changes on the wording on that item?

Sure.

Representative Trajo.

Thank you, Mayor.

The reason for the changing is we don't want it to open up anything with the previous 380 agreement.

And so we don't want to confuse anything with the language.

So the removal of the word benefits is tied to benefit from the agreement.

Right.

I think that could um attorney can answer that question.

Your question, representative.

The proposed change to the language strikes the word benefit.

Correct.

And I'm asking for the reason for the change.

I believe Representative Dreho explained that that's not the direction that she wishes to have the item move forward.

She explained that it was so that it wouldn't be there would be no confusion about the potential tie to the 380 agreement.

Correct.

So representative, would you like to explain to the representative your conversations with with Meton how you got here?

Yes, so we have uh been in conversations regarding how they would like to support this item.

We got a letter of support.

I don't know if you all got it or not, but uh, you want to make sure that this is not going to be tied back to the 380 agreement.

It that's all it comes down to.

I don't have any other thing else to add to that.

Okay, I'm just not understanding how the word benefit ties to the 380 agreement necessarily.

Like a community benefit agreement is kind of a standard term of uh term of argue, I guess.

Um and so this would not be a community benefit agreement, this would be some other type of agreement.

It's a community agreement.

It's a community agreement.

The word benefit is being removed, but everything else remains the same.

The other one with the negotiate, it was changed.

It was changed to coordinate because it involves other entities like Del Paso Water Pass Electric.

So that's why that was changed as well.

Okay, I understand the explanation.

Thank you, Mayor.

Okay.

Yes, a motion was made and written to the record by Mayor Pro Tem Chavez and seconded by alternate mayor Piero, and this is to approve the consent agenda as revised on that motion, call for the vote.

Representative.

Thank you, Representative Nino.

Thank you.

In the voting session, and that motion passes unanimously.

Okay, Miss Prime, I believe that brings us to page six, the regular agenda for treating ordinances.

That is correct, sir.

These are items 16 through 20.

Item 16 to through 20 are the introduction of ordinances.

Okay, there's a motion to approve.

Is there a second?

Okay.

Ms.

Bryan.

Yes, the motion was made by alternate mayor pro tem Pierre, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Chavez, and this is to approve the introduction of ordinances, items 16 through 20.

On that motion, call for the vote in the voting session.

And that motion passes unanimously.

Okay, I believe that brings us to page eight, item number 21.

Yes, sir.

Did you want to hold off on items four and five that were moved to regular?

Yes.

Okay.

We'll move to item number 21.

And item 21 is the public hearing on an ordinance changing the zoning at 7912 North Loop Drive from R3 residential to SD special development, imposing a condition and approving a detailed site development plan.

Good morning.

Okay, there's a motion to approve.

Is there a second?

Is there a second?

I didn't hear.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Good morning.

Good morning, Mayor and Council.

Luisa Mora with planning inspections.

Uh this item was postponed the last two meetings.

Um this is a well, what's the presentation?

ID, can we have that presentation?

There you go.

IT, we don't see the presentation yet.

Well, really quick, I guess.

Uh so is that resonant for property located at 7912 Norloop?

Again, this was a postponement.

The proposal was to resume.

Luis, if you don't mind holding so the public can see this one.

Give give us one second.

I wanna go back to the Elmo.

And we do have public comment when counselors.

Right.

Louis, are you able to put it on the overhead?

Uh I'll I'll try it.

Let me think.

I'm not sure if it's posted online.

It is.

It is on.

It's in the back of it.

The presentation is online, IT.

It's attached to item twenty one.

IT as we're waiting for the presentation.

Can you share the Elmo, please?

There you go.

Okay.

We'll wait for it.

Obviously, to change later.

So again, this is a rezoning uh request for property located at 7912 Norloop.

Uh the proposal is to rezone from oh, I don't need this yet.

Uh from R3 to SD special development, as well as approval of a detailed site development plan for proposed use of restaurant.

So property is located uh west of YABRO, along Norloop and Duran place.

Uh again, current zoning is R3.

The request is to go to SD.

We have a property zone to the north, uh along Norloop, C1 and C3, which are commercial, uh includes a shopping center, some other retail uh around the to the west and south and portion of the east.

We have single-family home zone R3.

Uh and then further east, we have some other uh retail uh zone uh AO and C1.

So future land use map, uh designate this area as G3 suburban walkable.

Uh this is suitable for the proposed uh zoning district and use.

Uh, it is a major thoroughfare uh which can support commercial activities.

Uh so the here is the detailed settlement plan.

So per the zoning district as D, it does require a binding detail settlement plan.

So the property owner will be uh technically uh binded by by the side plan.

Uh obviously the proposal is to keep the the existing home uh that is proposed to be uh uh converted into a restaurant.

Uh proposed parking uh they require six parking spaces, which they will be providing within the property uh with access through Duran Road.

So they do meet all city requirements for for the proposed use.

Uh so here's kind of a picture of the statute property along Duran.

Uh again, it's an uh it's uh currently a home.

Uh hasn't been converted, but the proposal is to convert to a restaurant use.

And then again, just as mentioned the surrounding uh single family homes and commercial uh uh businesses around the area, especially along Norloop.

There you go.

Okay, yeah, so we the uh the applicant did notify the appropriate neighborhood associations once they submitted the application.

Uh we uh started send notices to all property owners went to underfeed uh once we start public hearings with C Plan Commission and then for council.

Uh at this time we have received a petition with all signatures in support of the request, as well as on our petition with 21 signatures in opposition as well as one email uh opposing this request as well.

Uh I like to know that we have the president of the Roseville Farms Neighborhood Association present at the C Plan Commission, which he spoke in favor of this, uh supporting this uh resurning request.

Uh notice map you can see we send 31 notices to property owners uh notifying of the request.

Um next, there you go.

Uh so with this, the staff and city plan commission recommend approval with conditions of the proposed uh resigning requests to a Z.

Uh the conditions uh first one is involving kind of uh requiring some a landscape buffer to kind of protect and beautify the area uh uh along Norloop and Duran Road.

Uh, next slide.

And then the second condition will be to restrict some of the uses that we know are a nuisance for residential, those are like automotive service station and other moral vehicles, uh uses, and the third one is obviously not allowing outdoor amplified sound because of the proximity with residential, and that concludes my presentation.

Okay, thank you, Luis.

Any discussions for Luis on this particular item?

Let's take public comment, Miss Bryant.

Yes, sir.

We have uh Araceli Rivera, followed by Vanessa Budan.

Yes.

Good morning, you have three minutes.

Good morning.

Um, so I'm the lady that sold the property for the for this burrito place.

Um, what's it called?

The opposition was saying that um there's they don't want it to be done because there's uh children or the school bus drops off kids in the area.

There's no such thing.

Um I live two blocks away.

We've never had kids.

Buses are not allowed to drop off kids without um the parents, they have to pick them up that at the school.

The nearest school is about a mile away, so there's no kids walking out of school.

It's illegal, like they won't release kids.

Also, um I did speak with transportation um with Connie Casas, and she told me um, so the reason why I had to go speak with her is because they're saying that uh their school buses dropping off kids.

There's no such thing, and I got confirmation from Connie Casas and she says that there is no um school buses dropping off any kids in because it's uh it's um it's North Loop, it's a high traffic area, and there's a bunch of businesses, so there's no way that school buses are dropping off kids.

There's hardly any kids, all the kids that are there are huge are big.

Also, the only um buses that are dropping off kids would be in San Jose in front of the fire station, and their high school students from Riverside High School, and uh also um when my dad built the house, um, he built two houses on that lot, and one of them um the people opposing it bought the house, bought that house.

They're renting it out.

Their tenant drives an 18-wheeler, parks it right there.

They have no issue with the 18-wheeler, fully jacked.

I mean, the the trailer is attached to the 18-wheeler.

Nobody complains about that, but then the guy that the guy that bought my my proper my house, my dad's house, the house is uh was specifically made to be commercial.

Might I wanted it to be like um for a keymaker or some notary service, and that's why it's not really a house house, it's more like a business office.

And uh also, um what's gonna say also there's a bunch of businesses in the area, and um, like I said, um it's built specifically, it's the corner lot, so it's specifically built for a business.

And so um the people that are opposing it, the neighbors, um, they try to buy the property off of me, and um, they wanted to give me a lower amount, like because my brother sold them that house, the ones that are opposing it.

And it's only one one neighbor that's doing that.

The whole area is for it, okay.

The whole area.

There's no kids, there's nothing, there's no school buses dropping off kids, and so I didn't sell it to them, and that's where I think that the opposition is from because and the guy that bought the bus the house for me, he's a business owner.

He has a mechanic shop also.

So just wanted to say that.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Vanessa Duran.

Good morning.

Good morning, members of the board.

My name is Vanessa Duran.

I'm representing the owner of this property, Mr.

Yamas.

Um, the reason that I came today is uh I'm the person who was in working with uh floor plans and dealing with the city with all of the modifications regarding for the approval for this uh project.

We have been going back and forward like around six to eight months.

Uh one of the reasons is at the beginning we were just working on the process to comply with the parking so we don't affect the neighbors.

Uh, since it is a commercial um accepting what is the buffer landscaping, which is not required since it is an existing building that we're not going to do any additions or any modifications into the building, but we even like agree to that.

Um, there was a modification years ago on the survey of that property, so they reduced the property lot, so that is one of the reasons that this is one of the smallest on that area.

Another thing is that we agreed to modify what is the parking lot and adding one ADU parking spot, the bike spot, and we have been uh talking also with uh Rosedale Farm from the neighborhood association uh with Mr.

Israel Israel Fuentes, uh, which he agreed to the to the proposal.

Um I know that there is concerns with the neighbors in regarding to the school that is nearing that area, but as the previous person mentioned, it is uh like eighteen hundred foot feet from the property, so it is like a big distance.

There is no school bus stops in that area.

So I believe that at this point, since it isn't a nor loop, it's a street that it's like a major street, same as uh Liter Vino or Mesa, which in that area um we're improving that area with commercial um proposals.

The reason that we are acting like that the access for the property is through the Duran, which is in the corner, is because through the North Loop there is only one-way entrance, so in revisions with the city, we agree that it will be better to use the entrance that is on the Duran since they do have the double entrance and exit, um, and blocking the other one because we don't want to interfere on that main street.

And if you have any other questions for me, I will be here to attend it.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

That concludes public comment on this item.

We don't have anyone by phone, Ms.

Spring.

Uh no, sir.

Okay, any questions for Luis?

Okay, Miss Bryant.

Yes, sir.

The motion was made by Representative Limon, seconded by alternate mayor pro tempero, and this is to adopt the ordinance on item 21 on that motion, call for the vote voting session is open.

In the voting session, and that motion passes unanimously.

Okay, thank you.

The stake item number 22, please.

Yes, item 22.

Is a public hearing of an ordinance changing the zoning from R5C residential conditions to C3C commercial conditions and imposing conditions.

This is east of Desert North Boulevard and north of Trans Mountain.

There's a motion to approve.

Is there a second?

Motion and second, Luis.

Yes, good.

Good morning.

Luisa Mora again for the record with planning inspection.

So this is a proposed rezoning for property located north on along, well, close to north and trans mountain.

It is currently undeveloped.

So again, this is located north of Transmountain and east of I-10.

Currently it is on R5 residential.

The proposal is to resign to C3 commercial for proposed use of public delay facility and retail establishments.

So the feature language map designates the area G4, suburban, which obviously will benefit from missing uh CEVEC and commercial uses to supplement the residential as well.

This is a conceptual plan.

This is not bindings, it's kind of for uh just demonstration purposes.

So the applicant uh was proposing to the back of this property uh to be for uh left alone for the uh passo electrical substation for uh I suppose to um assessing the subdivision uh requirements and then uh at that corner uh with the proposed Tony Condit drive and uh I believe is I don't remember if it's wrestler, uh, but this is our street, uh, so that's kind of for reserve for commercial for retail at this time.

So again, this property is undeveloped, it's still vacant.

Uh subdivision still can under construction.

Um so everything is still obviously empty in that area.

Uh this property does not lie within an inter recognized neighborhood associations, so no one got notified about about the request.

We did send notices to property owners winter 100 feet.

Uh we had not received any communication support or position to the this request.

Uh overall, there were only two notices sent uh because most of it again still under constructions is still kind of under the developers' uh ownership.

Uh with this staff did recommend denial uh of this request.

Uh at this time we had no objections.

We did look at some conditions uh that we weren't gonna were too many uh that we kind of took to CPC.

Uh C plan Commission did recommend approval with some of those conditions, so that's why we don't have objections anymore as a staff.

Uh so the conditions are to the first one uh is to restrict some uses.

Uh those will be the automotive, uh automotive uses, uh industrial equipment repair, those kind of uses because the proposal is to this is mostly a residential subdivisions.

Want to make sure that we protect those future uh owners in there uh requiring a detailed settlement plan prior to certificates of occupancy or completion, so we'll kind of uh make sure that we review what they're putting there.

Uh the detailed side plan as a reminder is a binding document.

So we can uh have them comply with that layout.

Uh we'll review that layout what they're proposing, making sure that uh there's we're still protecting uh proposed uh residential around it.

A third condition will be to landscape about within the property where it abuts residential uses, so it is close to residential.

Uh four uh restricting commercial truck loading and loading.

Want to make sure that we kind of protect from noise and smoke and those things.

Uh the fifth is buildings not to be that close to residential properties as well, uh, just so that they don't impose on the residential.

The sixth is uh prohibit truck uh heavy truck ingress and egress from the south of the property because you have that kind of again along to the south across uh that street that proposed to Nikon, there's supposed to be some residential properties.

Uh the setting condition will be a minimum 500 foot distance from uh establishments deriving uh 51% or more of their income from alcohol beverages for on premise consumption, and the eighth, the no outdoor amplified sound is permitted, and again, because of the residential that proximity.

Uh and with that start uh well that concludes my presentation.

Okay.

Representative Chavez.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Luis, for the presentation.

So I was looking at your backup, Luis, and CPC did approve this uh unanimously.

Is that correct?

Um 6-0.

That's what the backup says.

Yes, that's what it says, yes.

On February 26th, yes, yes, ma'am.

So they recommended 6.0 to approve with the modified conditions that you've just stated.

And this area of the district is growing tremendously right now, but it is uh mostly undeveloped at this point.

Correct.

Okay, so yeah, thank you.

Happy to support it.

Any other questions for Luis?

All right, Miss Bryan.

Yes, a motion was made by Mayor Pro Tem Chavez, seconded by Representative Boyatrejo, and this is to adopt the ordinance on item 22.

There's no public comment on that motion.

Call for the vote.

And the voting session.

And that motion passes unanimously.

Okay, just take item number 23, please.

24 is also related, sir.

Would you like to take those together?

Thank you.

Item 23 is a public hearing of an ordinance changing the zoning from AOSC apartment office special contract to C4SC commercial special contract.

This is generally southeast of America's Avenue and northeast of North Loop Drive.

And item 24 is an ordinance amending the future land use map from O3 agriculture to G7 industrial and/or rail yards.

This is also on the same property, generally southeast of America's Avenue and northeast of North Loop Drive.

Represent Pierre?

Um motion approved.

There's a motion, is there a second?

Okay, there's a motion and second.

Luis.

Yes, Luisa Morgan again for the record with planning inspections.

Uh so items 23 and 24 are related, therefore, the same property.

Uh one of the items is for the future land use map amendment as part of the plan of passo, and the second one is the rezoning request for this property.

Uh so this property is located uh north of Nordloop, uh obviously uh east of ITEN.

Uh, I mean 375.

Uh so it's currently undeveloped at this time.

Uh the future lines map designates this as O3 agricultural.

Uh obviously, this kind of was the former uh kind of uh well for those uses that we had at this property, was agricultural all the time.

Uh we did go through uh a future land use amendment for the the rest of the uh nearby property to the east uh a while ago, some years ago.

Uh this is coming in for kind of the same process.

Uh so we have identified this, obviously, it's not suitable for agricultural uses anymore.

Uh as part of the rezoning, obviously, the the agricultural uh future lunches map designation doesn't support the rezoning request.

Uh so the applicant did submit an application requesting the amendment to the future language map.

So the amendment consists in uh swapping the O3 agricultural for uh I believe G7 industrial uh annual rail yards, which is more uh suitable for this proposed property.

Uh that will kind of also serve as a cleanup again for the rest of the property or the surrounding property in there.

It's already has uh that designation of G7.

Uh and then as well, again, that's that's one item.

The other one is the rezoning.

So currently the property is on AO, apartment office.

Um, so the proposal is to be zone from AO to C4, uh, which is uh one of the heaviest commercial districts that we have that will again serve as a cleanup and kind of consolidate uh match the zoning of of the adjacent properties.

Uh so this is the conceptual map that the applicant's kind of proposing some uh kind of light industrial uh and commercial activities in this stretch of 375.

Uh, again, this is not binding.

This is a concept at this time.

Uh in blue, you can see the the existing streets that are there.

Um so again, property is currently undeveloped, so it's still uh vacant.

Uh property around it, still mostly vacant.

Uh it maybe some of it may be under construction uh in the future, but for the most part, still uh pretty open and undeveloped.

Uh property owner did uh send notices to appropriate neighborhood associations once they started submitting this application.

Uh we have sent notices to property owners with 300 feet as we started public hearings, and at this time we have not received any communication in support or opposition to this request.

Um we did send four notices uh overall, um again.

Most of them they're under probably one ownership.

Uh, with this staff and see plan commission do recommend approval of the amendment to the future land use map as well as approval of the rezoning request.

And this concludes my presentation.

Okay, represent Lemon.

Yes, I have a question.

Um, why is this area uh not usable for agric agricultural business or uses?

And how is that determined?

So I think can you there you go, thank you.

So I think one of the things to know is that um this property uh it was resonant.

Well, the the rest of the property where you see that big warehouse right there, kind of on the left, I mean right side.

Uh all that was really farmland uh long time.

Well uh maybe about seven years ago or ten, kind of lost in time.

Uh it was farmland.

Now what happens is that uh and typically throughout the city, people start selling their water rights, so they don't have access to to water anymore to irrigation.

Uh and that kind of obviously that's one of the issues that we start seeing when they start selling the land.

They they get rid of those uh rights for irrigation, uh and so that kind of makes it how obviously for them to continue using it.

Uh we understand that this area has been under obviously uh a big push just for development, especially because of the uh Saragossa uh entry uh port of entry.

Um so this remaining portion, I think one of the big issues is this one doesn't uh is really hard to get access for irrigation again, can have that lateral uh to the uh bottom left.

Um but it is just not suitable, right?

I don't think anyone, well, the way we see it, we don't think we want this uh freeway 375 right next to agricultural as well.

You have all this smoke, uh, you have the port of entry, so I think that one uh is just kind of hard for us to still see it as agricultural as continuing that, and then especially with again that development that's already under development under developed, and then we know that there's proposed uh development that's gonna occur later on that property to the to the east.

Uh it's just don't we don't see it as suitable for agricultural anymore.

And yet, this little square right there, zero three, that's agricultural.

Uh so I again one of the things to clarify this is the future land use map.

So this kind of the plan from from Plan El Paso, all the area was designated as that.

We obviously plan El Paso was uh adopted in 2012.

Yes, I got confirmation.

Uh so obviously that was the plan back then, but as we started seeing development things change.

So Plan El Paso is not really it's a guy, right?

For for development, it's not really like zoning, which is uh strictly prohibits uses.

Um so that again when we went through the rest of the rezonings and amendments for the rest of that property that's currently on the under development.

Uh it was decided that obviously the owner was only for for the rest, and the owner for that portion uh didn't obviously wanted to do anything with it, just left it alone.

So that's why that's kind of still uh remains as O3 agricultural.

So again, the difference between the future land use map and zoning is zoning is restrictive.

Uh, the future land use map is just kind of a guide that for for us to kind of bet uh rezoning.

If I can as well, Kevin Smith with planning inspections.

To answer your question, Miss Limon, is that property actually I believe is a nursing home that has been in existence for years.

And I would say that as we as we move further away from the comprehensive plan that was adopted in 2012, it obviously was a snapshot in time on how we we looked at the city.

But as with time, as we see is there's been many interests in uh seen development throughout the area, and I I think this one here, especially at O3 that's in there was improperly designated as it was already developed, and there was no farmland there.

And the zero one preserve?

Yeah, that's probably a lateral that's there, and and I I would have to look at it, but um, that might be preserved as part of the development there.

Okay, and the traffic.

So this is um the projection right now is to be what kind of a facility, a logistics facility.

Uh the again, first remind councils.

When you rezone is rezoned generally to the commercial zoning district, which is C4, which is it can be a number of things.

It could be commercial activity, it could be um general warehousing, which uh is allowed in the C4, such as the logistics.

So at that point in time you would determine traffic flow.

Because you're looking at a very, very, correct, and and so as part of that when it's looked at the um the streets and maintenance department looks at the amount of traffic generated under the most intense use under that zoning district because remember the zoning runs with the land, so maybe logistics today, it may be commercial activity tomorrow.

And so they have to look at whatever's most intense for that zoning district to make sure that the um the roadway system can handle the traffic accordingly.

Thank you very much.

You're welcome.

Represent Piero.

Any other questions for Luis on this particular item?

Okay, Ms.

Pry.

The motion was made by alternate mayor pro tempiero, seconded by representative Madonado Rocha, and this is to adopt the ordinance on items 23 and 24.

There's no public comment on that motion.

Call for the vote.

And the voting session, and that motion passes unanimously.

Okay, Ms.

Ryan, sick item number 25.

Item 25 is a public hearing of an ordinance changing the zoning from R3 residential to C1 commercial and imposing a condition.

This is generally north of Vista del Sol and west of Joe Battle.

Probably Pierre.

Okay, there's a motion.

There's a motion second.

Luis, you're still there.

I'm still here.

Yes.

I'm sorry.

Uh Luisa Mora with planning inspections for the record.

Uh so item 25 is a resonant request for property located on St.

Dominic Drive, or close to St.

Dominic Drive.

Uh, it is currently vacant.

This property is located uh west of Joe Battle, uh north of Vista del Sol.

Uh so currently it's on R3.

Uh, you can see here it's that little portion uh in the back of this uh C1.

Uh so the purpose of this is to kind of clean up the zoning, uh kind of consolidate under the same zoning district as the property to the south.

So the request is to resign from R3 to C1 for our proposed um doctor's office.

Uh, and you're not designates this as G4 suburban.

Uh again, this will supplement uh missing uh civic commercial uses uh and kind of assess uh residential uh uses in the area.

Uh, this is a conceptual plan, uh very basic.

It's just gonna proposal of award buildings will be located, funding site, and parking.

Again, this is not binding, so it's just gonna just for illustrative purposes.

Um again, the property is currently vacant, so there's nothing.

Uh we do have uh single family homes to the west.

Uh to the south, we have again uh property vacant that's currently C1.

Uh to the east.

Uh, we have properties on uh I believe C3.

Uh commercial.

Uh so this property does not lie within an inner request associations, uh so no one got notified, but we did send notices to property owners when within 300 feet uh for public hearings.

Uh at this time we have not received any communication in support or opposition to this request.

Uh here's the notice map with its notices to 23 properties of property owners for total 32 properties uh notified.

Uh so with the Stav and C plan Commission do recommend approval with that condition.

Um the condition is just that we we require that the applicant landscape uh the the proportions of the property uh adjacent to residential zones or or uses to make sure that uh we provide a uh safeguard for those residential uses, and with that that concludes my presentation.

Okay, any questions for lease on item number twenty-five?

All right, Miss Prime.

The motion was made by alternate mayor pro tempiero, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Chavez, and this is to adopt the ordinance on item 25.

There's no public comment on that motion.

Call for the vote in the voting session, and that motion passes unanimously.

Okay, Miss Prime, let's try to take item 26 before some metro meeting.

Yes, sir.

Item 26 is a public hearing of an ordinance granting a special permit to allow for a 67% parking reduction at 2928 Pershing Drive.

Representative Acevedo.

Move to approve, all right.

There's a motion and second, just two more.

Um, again for the record, we're planning inspection.

So item 26, uh, uh special permit request for property at 2928 percing.

Uh this is an existing uh uh development.

Uh again, this is on purchasing uh with uh East OP address.

Uh so uh well it's existing.

Right now, the the the issue is there's a portion of this uh development that's still uh vacant, like a unit that's vacant.

So the proposal is to kind of open a restaurant using this property.

Uh one of the issues is that they don't have enough parking, so the special permit is to kind of request for parking reduction.

Uh so this zone is uh this properties on C4 commercial, which is suitable for the proposed use.

Uh feature land use designates as you do traditional neighborhood.

This is kind of one of the older areas of the city that you know typically didn't have parking.

Uh so this is the details at the end plan, which is binding again.

It shows the existing building and the existing parking layout.

Uh the big thing with this uh properties again, the the parking that all meet uh parking requirements.

So the applicant is requesting a 67 parsing uh percent parking reduction for this property uh just so they can meet the requirement, certainly requirement for to continue the proposed use.

They did submit a parking study, uh which uh identify uh uh available parking spaces, so they are required to provide 36 parking spaces on the property.

Uh this is uh this parking amount is due to the proposed business and any other existing businesses in that building already.

Uh so on they only have toll parking spaces, so they're short 31, uh, which did that they did demonstrate that there's enough on the street.

Uh so they they see uh they have 31 spaces on average on the street available.

Um so again, this is the existing building.

Uh we have that dollar tree.

Uh the the unit in question is that one at the end, uh the far end.

Uh and obviously surrounding development is kind of consisting of uh commercial uses, retail, and restaurants in this area.

Uh the applicant did notify the appropriate neighborhood associations of the request, staff did send uh notices within 300 feet to all property owners.

Uh at this time we have only received one letter in opposition to this special permit request, uh obviously citing issues with parking in the area.

Uh we did notify 32 property owners uh from 35 properties, and with this staff and C Plan Commission recommend approval of the special permit request and approval the decide development plan with a 67% parking reduction.

That concludes my presentation.

Okay.

Any questions for Luis on this item?

Okay, Ms.

Prime.

The motion was made by Representative Acevedo, seconded by Representative Limone, and this is to adopt the ordinance on item 26.

There's no public comment on that motion, call for the vote in the voting session, and that motion passes unanimously.

Okay, Miss Prime, can you figure out how to transition us to Sun Metro?

Yes, we would need a motion to recess the regular city council.

Move to recess.

There's a motion and a second to recess the regular city council meeting, all in favor.

Okay.

Ms.

Prime.

Move to reconvene the regular city council meeting.

There's a motion and a second to reconvene the regular city council meeting.

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Anyone opposed?

The meeting is back in session at 11 48 a.m.

Mayor.

And Ms.

Prime, I believe we need to go into executive session at this.

Did you want to take uh yes, items four and five?

Okay.

Is there a motion to retire into executive session?

Will you also be taking the rest of the executive session items at this time?

Yes?

Okay.

Is there a motion to retire into executive session?

So second.

There's a motion.

Represent Acevedo.

I thought we weren't going into executive session for these two items.

I understand we have five items in executive session.

So can somebody clarify if we are going into executive for four and five.

So what was the motion on the revisions to the consent agenda?

The motion right now is to go into executive session for items four and five, and all of the other executive session items is what I understood.

Okay.

Because I earlier I thought Ms.

Neiman's recommendation was not to do four and five in executive.

Representative Travis, when we spoke earlier, you had questions of staff.

I don't know that it's necessary for us to go into executive towns and most of those questions.

I think for expediency, you can ask the questions and then I'll make a recommendation if there's additional information that we should provide behind closed doors.

Okay, pull those out.

Okay, so execution without uh four and five.

So you want to return to executive session now for the executive session items posted on the agenda.

Yes.

Yes, okay.

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

All in favor?

Anyone opposed?

And the city council of the city of El Paso may retire into executive session pursuing to section 3.5A of the El Paso City Charter and the Texas Government Code.

Chapter 551 sub chapter D to discuss executive session item one, application of El Paso Electric Company to amend its certificate of convenience and necessity to replace the existing ED high voltage direct current type.

UC number 59836 utility-90 under 551.071.

Executive session item two application of El Paso Electric Company to amend the certificate of convenience and necessity for a 366 megawatt natural gas generation facility.

PUC number 59076, HQ number utility-74 under 551.071.

Executive session item three, discussion on purchase exchange lease or value of real property in Northwest El Paso.

HQ 26-6662 under 551.071 and 551.072.

Executive session item four, Joseph Pickett versus City of Al Paso.

Cause number 2024, DCB 5250 under 551.071.

And executive session item five, Daniel Villegas versus City of Al Paso et al.

Cost number 315-CB-386 under 551.071.

These matters are taken into executive session under 551.071 consultation with attorney and 551.072.

Deliberation regarding real property.

It is 1151 a.m.

And just for the public that's waiting for other items, we normally take a lunch at 1230.

We will be able to do that.

Okay, Ms.

Ryan, I believe we're ready to get started.

Yes, sir.

Council, is there a motion to reconvene?

There's a motion and a second to reconvene the city council meeting.

All in favor?

Aye.

Anyone opposed?

The meeting is back in session at 302 p.m.

Let's take item number 27.

Yes, sir.

Item 27 is a public hearing of an ordinance changing the zoning at 7321 North Loop Drive from RF ranch and farm to C2 commercial and imposing conditions.

Good afternoon.

Okay.

After good afternoon.

I'm back.

Is there a motion to approve item 27?

All right.

Alright, motion second.

Go ahead.

You have a quick presentation?

Yes.

Again, good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

Uh Luisa Mora with planning and inspections.

Item 27 is a resonant request for property located at 7321.

I think the clickers well.

Ah, there you go.

Thank you.

So properties located on Hawkins on Nordloop.

Uh Northeast Corner.

Uh it is close to uh the PCC by the Verde Campus.

Uh so properties zone RF French and farm.

Uh the request is to resone to uh C2.

Let me confirm, yeah.

To see two commercial uh for proposed development on office warehouse uh development.

Future land use of this area is designated at G4 suburban, which calls for uh adding missing civic and commercial uses.

Here we have a conceptual uh plan of the property again.

This is not binding, just conceptual.

Uh, as far as we know right now, the applicant proposed some office warehouse uses in this area.

Uh the the zoning will open the property to other uh commercial uses as permitted in this area.

Uh it is currently currently uh vacant.

Uh it was an old uh dairy farm uh back in the day that was demolished, so right now it's kind of undeveloped, and subject properties around it.

Well, we have mostly to the north and east.

We have the EPCC by Uberde Campus.

Um to the south, we have some kind of retail uh homes across Nordloop.

Uh and to the west, we have some uh uh general warehouses use a zone M3.

Uh the applicant did notify the appropriate neighborhood associations of this request when they submit the application.

We had notified property owners within 300 feet of the subject property, and at this time we have received uh only two phone calls of inquiry with no communication support or position to this request.

Uh we did notify 23 property owners of this uh application and with this staff and C plan Commission recommend approval with some conditions.

Uh the first one is that we require a landscape offer along uh other ranch and farm zone districts to just still protect.

Um while there's not much uh agricultural happening here, we're still it's still a low density zoning, so we want to make sure that we protect from a higher commercial zoning district.

Uh condition two is a detailed one plan.

Uh at this time, once they submit, uh staff can review the layout.

Uh and then uh city staff will also check if a traffic impact analysis will be required, then we'll make sure to go through that process if needed.

And the third one is to just kind of limit uh businesses that derive their more 51% or more than income from alcohol sales, as well as providing other amplified sound just to avoid uh concentration of these uses in the area.

And with that, that concludes my presentation.

Representative Lemo.

Thank you, Mayor.

Luis, I'm I'm just so concerned that more and more of the farmland is being turned over for commercial use.

This is a pretty busy intersection, yet it's uh residential right down the street.

So we we really don't know what they're going to do.

I mean, it could be a logistics firm, it could be most anything, a warehouse.

Yeah, so I think one of the things to note is a general warehouse, which is typically just the heavy trucks and all day, that's not permitted use.

Uh the office warehouse is a little different because it's mostly dealing with offices in there, and then portion of it is dedicated for the warehousing for storage of those uh whatever items they're gonna sell.

Uh so it's a very different use, similar but still very different from just warehousing, which is just uh typically semi-trucks all day.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Luis.

I know that Miss Via Carana came out and she was in support of this item.

She's from that neighborhood as well.

I had a conversation with Rosdale, uh, I was there about two and a half weeks ago, and that's the biggest concern that they have is that it's gonna turn into um a logistics company.

So thank you for putting those protections in there for them.

Um and just if if if I could ask that you continue to keep them part of the conversation with the current owner to make sure that what they want in their neighborhood is is taken into account as well.

Definitely.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

Alright, any other questions for Luis?

All right, Ms.

Bryan.

The motion was made by Representativity Moon, seconded by alternate mayor pro ten Piero, and this is to adopt the ordinance on item 27.

There's no public comment on that motion.

Call for the vote.

In the voting session, and that motion passes unanimously.

Thank you.

Okay.

Okay.

Ms.

Brian, let's take item number 28.

Item 28 is a public hearing of an ordinance authorizing the conveyance of real property owned by the city of Al Paso to fire development LLC for the purchase price of $87,000.

The property described as lots 15 and 16 block 17 map of Lincoln Park Edition, in addition to the City of Al Paso, Al Paso County, Texas.

Good afternoon, Mary Lou.

Good afternoon, Mayor.

Okay.

Is there a motion?

Uh Acevedo?

There we go.

Okay.

Motion and second.

Go ahead.

So this item is regarding the property sale agreement for 4425 Rosa, also known as property identification number 236416.

This was brought before council in September of 2025.

Council vetted it as surplus property and approved it for its listing.

In accordance with the Texas local government code, the property was marketed via a broker and listed for at least 30 days on that multi-listing service.

The cross streets are Drosa and Mar.

The property is 0.14 acres.

It's zone smart code.

It was listed October 8th of 2025.

The proposed buyer is fire development LLC.

The appraised value is 84,000, and the purchase price is 87,000 plus closing costs.

We received two offers and we recommend selling the property to the highest offer.

Okay, Miss Bryan, I believe we have public comment on this item.

Yes, there is Araceli Rivera.

I don't see her coming forward.

No, okay.

Any further questions on this item number 28?

Okay, Ms.

Bryan.

Yes, the motion was made by Representative Acevedo, seconded by Representative Limon, and this is to adopt the ordinance on item 28 on that motion.

Call for the vote.

In the voting session, that motion passes unanimously.

Okay, let's take item number 29, please.

Item 29 is a public hearing of an ordinance authorizing the city manager to sign a deed and any other necessary documents to convey approximately 330.26 acres of land legally described as Laura E.

Monday survey 234, a portion of track two, Al Paso County, Texas.

Representative Chavez, you want to make a motion on second.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, Council Alex Vidales, Al Paso Water Utility Land and Water Rights Manager.

Uh, this is for the sale of property of approximately acres to the highest successful responsible bidder, which was Hunt.

And I have a brief counsel on this.

I'm happy to answer any questions.

Okay.

Questions for Alex on this particular item?

Thank you, Mayor.

There's no I don't see a presentation there.

No, other than the map that's in your in your backup, which is on page 142 of the legislature or 1518 on the package.

Okay.

Questions for Alex?

Thank you, Mayor.

Okay.

Ms.

Bryan.

The motion was made by Mayor Pro Tem Chavez, seconded by alternate mayor pro tempiero, and this is to adopt the ordinance on item 29.

There is no public comment on that motion.

Call for the vote.

Representative Piero.

Uh I received uh uh campaign uh contribution from Woody Hunt.

Okay, Representative Canales.

Thank you, Mayor.

Yes, yeah, it's the the form is not listed.

I don't know if it's because it's an El Paso water item, but I also in 2020 uh two received a campaign contribution.

Okay, Woody Hunt.

What's this lighting up?

Representative Rocha.

I mean that representative uh Acevedo.

I've also received a campaign contribution from Woody Hunt.

Several.

Representative Trejo.

Thank you.

I have also received uh contributions from Woody Hunt.

Representative Chavez.

Thank you, mayor.

I've also received contributions from Woody Hunt, although I think the purchaser of this item is properties, but nevertheless, it's always better to be safe.

Thank you.

Representative Nino.

Dado Mayor.

I also receive contribution.

Thank you.

Representative Lamon.

I would like to go on the record that I have not ever received contribution from Hunt.

Very proud of that.

I have received a campaign donation too from the Hunt.

So with that said, Ms.

Brian, call for the vote.

Representative Chavez.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'm just um want to verbally express my gratitude to Hunt properties for um eyeing this this site in District One and for um having the vision to develop this area in my district because I think it's gonna be a great addition in the future for all of my community.

So very grateful for their contributions, not only to district one, but to the city of El Paso.

Thank you, Representative Chavez.

Miss Bryan.

Voting session is open, Council.

I went away on the let me let me start it once again.

Yeah.

Voting session is open.

And the voting session.

And that motion passes unanimously.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, thank you.

And Miss Bryan, uh, we're gonna do a little bit of reordering here before we take items number four and five.

Instead of taking 30, let's move 35 up.

Yes, sir.

Representative Trey.

Oh, well, let me let you read it.

35 is discussion and action directing the city manager and city attorney to coordinate the drafting of a community agreement between the City of El Paso and Meadow Platforms, Inc.

The agreement shall address environmental protections, financial commitments, utility infrastructure improvements, rate payer protection, workforce development initiatives, support for the advanced training center, and the community accountability measures, including safeguards related to water and electric utility resources.

The agreement should also include El Paso first hiring commitments on the additional 300 operational jobs associated with the data center located in Northeast El Paso.

Further direct the city manager to continue the series of round table discussions facilitated by an independent moderator with suggested round table participants, including the mayor, the city attorney, representatives from El Paso Water, El Paso Electric, the El Paso Chamber, CAPAR, Meta Platforms Inc., a resident representative and an environmental advocate to assist in the development of the final community agreement.

Staff shall return to city council within 45 days with a draft agreement for consideration and action.

This item was placed by Representatives Boya Trejo and Maldonado Rocha.

Motion to approve.

Alright, there's a motion and a second.

Representative Trejo.

Thank you.

I uh wanted to share that over the past several months I've had ongoing conversations with Meta during the many sharing the very many concerns of our community.

And these discussions focused on areas such as environmental protection, financial commitments, utility infrastructure improvements, rape payer protections, and workforce development opportunities.

I want to be clear that these conversations didn't just recently begin.

For the last 10 months or so, I've been working to identify ways to bring meaningful benefits and accountability measures to our community.

Last August, we hosted a district four community meeting with El Paso Water and El Paso Electric to ensure residents had the opportunity to discuss, ask questions, and share concerns regarding the utility impacts of the data center.

In November of last year, I brought forward an advanced skills development center agenda, which was unanimously approved by council.

This initiative was to explore workforce opportunities and potential meta-grant funding.

In February this year, I brought an agenda council item to develop a data center policy framework and review of 380 agreements.

That was also approved and will be presented to council.

In April of this year, I supported the agenda council item to advance legislative agenda changes and to support stronger transparency, accountability, and standards for data center initiatives at a state and local, I mean at a state and federal level.

Last month I supported another council agenda item, excuse me.

Not to actively recruit, pursue, or incentivize hyperscale data centers, and both of those items passed.

Some have asked why these things were not done before with the original agreement.

And the answer is this this agreement, the previous agreement was approved by the previous council.

I and most of the council members sitting here today were not here when the original agreement was signed in 2023.

I've spent most of my year and a half in this office advocating for the interest of our residents and working to address the concerns that have been consistently raised by our community.

What makes this effort unique is that this initiative that I'm proposing today focuses on creating community-centered agreement, and it's the first of its kind.

This item is not to amend any existing agreement, and it is a completely independent agreement.

This process was designed to bring together residents, community organizations, utility providers, business leaders, labor representatives, environmental advocates, and other stakeholders to help shape the framework of an agreement between the city and Meta.

By gathering input on a broad range of perspectives, we can better ensure that the priorities, concerns, and interests of our community are represented.

The goal is to ensure that all perspectives are heard and considered as we move forward.

That is why this item includes community roundtables discussions with an independent moderator.

Meta has provided a formal letter of support expressing their commitment to this process and working collaboratively with the community.

A copy has been provided to council.

Can help ensure transparency and strengthen trust.

Now I want to be clear that I am neither pro-data centers or anti-data centers.

My responsibility is to do the best for our community with what we inherited.

Again, the focus is ensuring accountability and securing benefits for our residents, and I respectfully ask my colleagues to support this item.

It is an opportunity to establish, is an opportunity to establish a community-driven model.

Most importantly, it allows us to work together towards solutions, ensuring Meta is a responsible community partner and neighbor.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Representative Rocha.

Thank you, Mayor.

And thank you, Rep Trejo, for your words and for the opportunity to come on to this item.

I think that that the thing, the piece at its core is that this is intended to be community driven through those roundtable discussions, which the first one started last week, and you made it available to the public through the YouTube platform.

And so I think that these are great opportunities for the community to be involved.

And Ms.

Mack, I look forward to, you know, should this pass.

I look forward to these future round tables discussions to be very productive and to really bring those community concerns to the table and to be able to have that continuing conversation with Meta to be able to answer these concerns that the community does have.

And we all have them, but just to be able to make sure that those that are at, I think I heard earlier ground zero really don't get affected where we limit their effect completely.

So thank you for that.

And thank you, Rep Trejo.

Representative Chavez.

Thank you, Mayor.

And thank you to Representative Boyre Trejo and Maldonado Rocha for sponsoring this item, and for having, you know, just giving us the opportunity to have these discussions because I know that they're necessary and very much uh needed in our community.

I had the opportunity to meet with Meta a couple of weeks ago when they were in town.

They came to my office and we discussed our ongoing relationship with them after council approved this agreement with them in 2023 and they uh started uh development in the Northeast.

We asked them or I asked them specifically that day to come to the table in a bigger way for our community and to show uh a good faith, you know, and really um show us that they were committed to being a corporate partner in our community, and they were very um receptive to that idea.

At that time, I also brought forth an idea to them in that meeting, um, which is the establishment of a fund potentially that they could contribute towards and that we as a city and as a council could decide moving forward uh how to make the best use of those funds.

We're currently doing that through the TED Fund, the economic development fund that we uh acquired after the the sale of El Paso Electric or during that time, and we use those funds for different projects in our city.

Those uh conversations start at the staff level through the economic development department through our legal department, and then as a council, we vote to uh identify the needs of our community and how to distribute those funds depending on on what the needs are.

And I I told Meta that potentially they could also start a fund similar to that one where we could identify as a council needs in our community um that we needed to contribute towards, and they were very open to that.

Um so I think this agenda item representative Trejo is a good start to to those types of conversations in addition to everything that you've already laid out, um, maybe potentially starting a fund would uh be very beneficial, I think, for our community.

We can't go back and undo what's already been determined in the past, but what we can do is to continue advocating for our community and to ensure that they have uh accountability.

So I would like to offer an amendment, mayor and council that says uh further direct the city manager and city attorney to engage Meta Platforms Inc.

in discussions regarding the potential establishment of a community investment fund for the purpose of supporting long-term public benefit projects and community priorities identified by the city of Al Paso.

Staff shall return to city council with recommendations regarding the feasibility structure, administration, and any proposed framework for consideration and action.

And again, this is just starting the conversation, it's a discussion regarding potentially a fund that they could contribute towards and that we as a council in the future could decide where to best invest that money.

We have a lot of needs in El Paso, and we want to make sure that that we are again having these discussions with Meta so that we can uh further contribute towards those needs in our community.

So I will send you that language, Ms.

Prine, and if you could send it to the council.

I appreciate it.

And again, thank you so much to Representative Trejo and Rocha.

Alright, so we have a motion to amend the main motion.

Okay.

Representative Canales.

Yes, I have comment on the uh amendment that's proposed.

Sure.

Is the intention that this fund would be limited to any particular type of use?

I mean, TED Fund is has very particular limits on uses within economic development within the service territory of El Paso Electric, for example.

Um I'm sure the language is making its way to me digitally, but um I didn't hear anything about any particular uses that the fund would be restricted to.

Would it just be this a fund that the city council could spend on anything?

Yeah, I think right now um I'm keeping the language broad because what we want is to be uh successful in this effort.

So the language says for the purpose of supporting long-term benefit projects and community priorities.

So it's very general and that's intentional.

Okay, I'm I'm interested in the exploration of this.

Um I think it could be incredibly beneficial, for example, if the fund were limited to say funding projects in the climate action plan that the council has adopted.

Um providing a direct counterweight to some of the environmental impacts of of Meta.

Um I'm I we can leave it vague for now, but I think as the if this passes and we move toward the development of that, I think like those are a set of projects that we've already identified and this council has already adopted that we need long term longer term funding sources for, and so I'd be interested in seeing that explored as the potential uh the potential use of of any fund that gets created.

Yeah, Representative Canales, I had originally labeled infrastructure, quality of life, and a lot of things specifically, but again, my intention is to make sure that this is as successful as possible, so I'm keeping it intentionally vague so that um and Meta's open to the idea so that we can continue the conversation with them and hopefully uh be successful with this.

Representative canales.

Thank you, Mayor.

Yeah, it's it's again it's something that I've thought about bringing forward in a different way, and so I I guess just letting everybody know that that's where my thinking is, and I I may come forward with something similar to that in the future, which now may take the place of providing additional guidance on this, um, you know, the creation of a potential fund.

Okay, thank you.

Representative Fierro.

Thank you, Mayor.

Mayor Protein, I I think leaving it vague was very positive.

This allows Ms.

Mack and her team to come back in 45 days, and we're we'll be able to really make it what's really important for our community.

So thank you for your amendment.

Representative uh Trejo.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh yes, I agree also with this community investment fund.

It should be vague since you're having community input.

It's very important to have the community input and what they would like to see from this.

So thank you for bringing this up.

Representative.

I was gonna share the same sentiment in regards to you know the item specifically mentions more community input, the round table conversations, and I think you know, we've heard a lot from different members of our community of what the priorities are.

So even more in these roundtable conversations, we'll be able to hear more about the priorities are and um, thank you for making that amendment as well.

Representative.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, representative Chavez, in your in your comments, it sounds like this is a done deal, like you've already had your communications with Meta.

They're in agreement with this kind of a setup.

Is that correct or not?

I mentioned it to them when we had a meeting.

That doesn't mean it's a done deal.

That's what this direction is intentionally doing.

It's directing the city manager and the city attorney to continue that conversation with them, and then come back to us with recommendations.

Okay, I was just wondering when you when you talk about talking to Meta, is it a high ranking official?

Is it a public information person?

What level are we discussing here?

It's the three officials that have been actively conversing with several people at the city level.

Okay, but we don't know which if it's high-ranking official or a public information people.

Thank you.

It's it's the individuals that Meta has determined should be the front and center people that should be speaking to us at the city level.

Okay, and I'm very grateful that they're receptive, but again, the intention here is to be successful.

Okay, thank you, Representative.

Any further conversation on the amendment?

Okay, Miss Bry on the amendment.

Yes, sir.

The motion was made by Mayor Pro Tim Chavez, seconded by Representative Magonal Rocha, and this is to amend item 35 to add the following statement further direct the city manager and city attorney to engage Meta Platforms Inc.

in discussions regarding the potential establishment of a community investment fund for the purpose of supporting long-term public benefit projects and community priorities identified by the city of Al Paso.

Staff shall return to city council with recommendations regarding the feasibility structure, administration, and any proposed framework for consideration and action.

On that motion, call for the vote on the amendment.

In the voting session, and that amendment passes unanimously.

Okay, Ms.

Brian, let's take the main motion.

We do have public comment.

Okay.

We have uh Ms.

Tara Tara Mitchell.

Tara Mitchell.

I don't believe she's in the room, sir.

Representative Acebero.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, thank you for bringing this item to our attention and our consideration.

I overall am supportive of it.

I think that there is a lot of aspirational things in here.

Just um my trust with Meta isn't at a great place, but I think we should at least try, right?

And and I see this as trying on a lot of different fronts from environment to water, um, to rate payer protection fund, um, localized workforce education pipeline, specifically on that one.

I know that there has been uh commercial that Meta has been airing uh during the news hour, the 10 o'clock hour over the last few weeks on how they're doing stuff with workforce.

So I think that there might be something that can come out of that in terms of training, and that's what they've also told me in conversations that I've had with them.

I I had the the luck of running into Ana Martinez last week, and we had an impromptu meeting, and we confirmed in the hallway that um it is my old classmate that I had mentioned two weeks ago.

And so after we caught up after not seeing each other for years, we we kind of talked through um how Meta has, in my opinion, been um discussing and treating discussing items and treating the city and how unhappy I've been with that.

And so I appreciated the opportunity to kind of let her know.

Um, you know, the the water fund that they created for for people was about $20,000, and I I really want to see something out of Meta that's going to actually help the community.

I'm not sure that I've seen a lot of that so far.

There's been a lot of empty promises, you know.

It's it's hard for me to believe their word when they've gone back on it several times, like we discussed last um council meeting.

The the project is a lot different than it was in 2023.

Um, you know, back then I believe the council understood that this would be for cloud storage, it's turned into a hyperscale AI data center that is 10 times bigger, um, at the very least, 10 billion dollars in in investment.

We've heard from people that that live near the data center and their concerns with it, and and that has really been keeping me up at night on how they're going to be able to handle this.

Um I think that I I want to see what else we can do, anything that we can do throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks is what we need to do with with this at this point, given what has um transpired over the last few months in our community.

But I I also just want to make it very clear that I'm not here to say that I trust Meta today.

I'm not sure that I'm ever going to trust them just because of the track record that they've had in our community.

And I also want to take the opportunity and use some of my time to uh allow the public to know what Meta said to us in their letter data to us that Ms.

Prine shared with us this morning.

Um it says June 23rd, 2026, El Paso City Council, 300 North Campbell Street, El Paso, Texas, 79901.

Honorable Mayor Johnson and members of the El Paso City Council.

Thank you for your leadership in convening the ongoing series of community roundtable discussions regarding Meta's data center.

We are grateful for the opportunity to participate and look forward to engaging in a productive dialogue with you, community stakeholders and our partners at El Paso Water and El Paso Electric.

We're proud to have a presence in El Paso and remain committed to being a good neighbor to the community.

We welcome this forum as an opportunity to listen, share information about our operations and commitments, and work together to ensure that our presence strengthens the community for years to come.

As you know, Meta has made a significant and has made significant and binding commitments to the El Paso community.

Our data center represents an investment of more than 10 billion dollars.

We'll support over 300 operational jobs and more than 4,000 skilled trade workers at peak construction.

We have entered into legally binding agreements with the city of El Paso, El Paso County, El Paso Water, and El Paso Electric that govern our commitments, stipulate taxes we pay, infrastructure projects we must fund, and the environmental protections we uphold.

Beyond these agreements, we will launch our annual data center community action grants program this fall, providing direct funding for local nonprofits to support the community.

Additionally, we have invested in workforce development through partnerships with El Paso Public Schools and other local organizations and through hiring locally.

We are working with Workforce Solution Borderplex to support local community access to America's Workforce Academy, a free skill trades training where participants are guaranteed a job upon graduation with the Meta partner at one of our data center sites, including Meta's El Paso Data Center.

We are so proud to fund water restoration projects that will restore 200% of the water consumed by the data center to local watersheds.

We have worked closely and collaboratively with the City of El Paso, Paso County, El Paso Water, and El Paso Electric on our existing binding agreements and want to ensure the broader El Paso community has a clear understanding of these commitments and knows we are devoted to being good neighbors.

We're supportive of using the roundtable process to discuss with the city further ways to demonstrate our deep and ongoing commitment to the El Paso community.

We believe a collaborative process informed by the voices of residents, community leaders, and local partners can help ensure transparency and strengthen trust.

We look forward to the conversations ahead.

Please do not hesitate to reach out if there is anything we can do to help ensure these round tables are a success.

Sincerely, Ana Martinez, Director of Public Policy and Meta.

So, you know, uh a lot of this is really reading to me in the sense that not much is going to change.

They they remind us that there are binding agreements a few times throughout, and um I I really hope that they prove me wrong.

I mean, they mentioned those grants that are gonna open in the fall, they're awarded in the spring, and they have had that in Fort Worth, like I mentioned last time, 5.4 million dollars in eight years.

It's not very much money.

And so I I'm hoping that I'm wrong, but everything that they've shown me um tells me otherwise.

So overall, I think we need to proceed with caution and not completely trust what they're going to say to us.

But um, with that in mind, you know, um representative, I I thank you for leading the last week and putting that round table together with different people from around the around the community.

But there's still one sticking point that my constituents continue to, you know, tell me over the last few months, and this is bare minimum, at the very least, this is what they want to see, you know, um, and they want to see community meetings.

And what Meta has told me is, you know, they they're not doing that at this time.

Anna last week said, yeah, maybe that wasn't the best way to answer that question.

Um, maybe we could see in the future.

There wasn't a big commitment on a lot of things.

It it does feel like very scripted answers that we continue to get from Meta over and over and over.

And so um just to end this 10-minute block, I do want to offer an amendment um as well after the second paragraph in the item.

I want to say I I moved to um include, in addition, direct the city manager and city attorney to formal formally request of Meta that they hold eight community meetings to solicit feedback from the El Paso community, offer security via El Paso Police Department for these meetings and share information with the public about their data center within the next hundred and twenty days.

Okay, there's a motion and a second, any discussion on the amendment.

And I have sent this over to Ms.

Prime to share with the rest of council.

Represent Canales on the amendment, yes.

Um the language of the amendment says eight community meetings.

Um is there a reason why it's eight districts?

I figured they could go to each um council district.

Okay, but the language doesn't specify each council district, just that they have to have eight meetings.

We could add council districts in each of the council districts.

You want to re repeat that representative?

Yeah, let me let me resend that to Miss Bryan.

Thank you for bringing that up.

And then, you know, it says using the services of El Paso Police Department, or is the intent that they will pay for security for their own event?

I think they could figure that out with the city manager, but one of the things is that that they kept saying is that they they had security concerns, and we could have them um, you know, pay for it, like they definitely could afford it.

Yeah, I just worry about telling a private entity that they have to pay.

They have to hold meetings using the police department and that they have to pay for the use of the police department.

Like they could have a private security.

If they want to figure out their own security, we could leave that part out.

If that makes you better.

Makes you feel better.

Yeah, again, it it really has nothing to do with meta in particular in this case.

I just worry about the precedent of saying you have to hold meetings and you have to pay us to provide those.

Okay, no, then we'll take that out.

That's on there.

Okay, Representative Nino, on the amendment.

No, I mean that.

Okay.

Anyone else on the amendment?

I sent it over, Ms.

Bring.

Okay, Representative Trail.

I wanted to make sure what the wording was on the amendment.

It hasn't come through yet.

Yeah, no.

Okay, I just received it.

Let me forward to council.

Okay, I just sent it to council.

Miss Prime, for the public, can you read that out loud?

Yes, it says that the amendment is to add in addition, direct the city manager and city attorney to formally request of Meta that they hold eight community meetings across the council districts to solicit feedback from the El Paso community and share information with the public about their data center within the next 120 days.

Okay, Representative Chavez.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um I think it's it's a good idea.

I'm just wondering if uh Miss Niman could tell us.

I mean, even if this amendment were to pass, could we legally require that Meta hold these community meetings?

You're simply asking for them to engage with the public as an additional community outreach.

It has nothing to do with the current agreement.

Yes, but Representative Ace Velo just recently told us he didn't want to instill false hope to the community.

So I just want to make sure that we're clear.

Even if this amendment were to pass, we could request it, but that isn't necessarily mean that they're gonna agree to that.

Is that correct?

That's correct.

Thank you.

Yeah, okay.

Okay.

Ms.

Bryan?

Yes, and so this is on the amendment made by Representative Acevedo, seconded by Representative Limo.

And this is to add the words.

In addition, direct the city manager and city attorney to formally request of Meta that they hold eight community meetings across the council districts to solicit feedback from the El Paso community and share information with the public about their data center within the next one hundred and twenty days on that amendment.

Call for the vote.

And the voting session, and the amendment passes unanimously.

Okay, let's go back to the main motion, Ms.

Fry.

Yes, sir.

So this will be motion made by Representative Trejo.

Seconded by Representative Maldonado Rocha, and this is to approve the item as revised.

Representative Canales.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um I still have some lingering questions.

Um again, I I have a you know very solid grasp of what a community benefits agreement is.

I don't know how a community agreement without the word benefits differs from that.

Is the intention that this is an agreement that we would look to enter into formally?

That would be a legally binding agreement with with Meta.

Like a community benefits agreement would be.

So it would be an agreement.

I I guess um Ms.

Neiman can answer the question better, but it is an agreement between the city and Meta.

But it there's also additional agreements possibly from this right.

If we're if they're looking to do infrastructure with El Paso Water, or if they're doing something with El Paso Electric, and so those are things that may not we as a city cannot commit to that, and that's why there's been that change of language because it it pertains to several different things that are being considered here.

Uh, but I would think that would be a question for Miss Neiman to answer.

So I was um invited to attend a meeting last week with Representative Trejo and um Anna Martinez from Meta, as well as uh Prover Meta, who is a BP in Washington DC, along with Holly, and I apologize, I can't recall her name.

They were present on Zoom, and um the conversation that Representative Trejo brought up was about the community benefits agreement.

It is my understanding, based on their representations, that they cannot do a community benefits agreement like they've done in other communities because those are tied to the 380, and they were very clear that they would not reopen the 380 that was coming out of their mouth.

I think that that was why they sent this proposed letter here today.

My understanding is that as a result of these amendments, if they pass that there would be discussions with the public about potential agreements that could be entered with other governmental entities or other nonprofits to achieve some of the ends that maybe the public would like to see.

That's my my understanding of where we are here today.

I don't have anything else to add, and I don't know really what Meta's position is gonna be once the discussions start.

Yeah, I guess I understand that I'm trying to understand our position and whether or not we'd be trying to aim for an agreement that is legally binding.

So from our limited understanding of what they are proposing after speaking to Representative Trejo, is that they have not done these types of agreements in the past, they've only done them as part of a 380, and that they would come back with some proposals.

I'm not prepared to tell you what that looks like because I haven't seen it and I don't know what it looks like.

What we are being directed here to do is to have conversations with the public and then present those items to Meta and leave it up to them to decide how they're gonna propose these issues.

They were very clear that they would not open the 38.

Yeah, of course, but I don't think this is asking them in any way to open the 380 agreement, like there can be a totally separate agreement from a 380 agreement, that's a separate legal binding agreement.

Correct, and I don't I don't have enough information to give you a full legal explanation as to what that would look like at this point.

Once the conversations begin and we have conversations, then maybe we can have a more thorough discussion about what those would look like.

Okay, and so we haven't had conversations with Meta then about the terms that are included in this proposal on the agenda today.

No, sir, I have not.

The proposal was on the agenda last week.

The meeting with Meta was minutes before the item was posted, and they were they've taken that position and then sent this letter.

Okay, and then this provides a timeline of 45 days.

Staff shall return to the city council within 45 days with a draft agreement for consideration and action.

Would that be action?

I mean, I don't know that that could be approval.

It's necessary that's conditioned on Meta wanting to enter into an agreement in the first place and agreeing to terms and what would be the action in 45 days.

It would be just that.

So the city would come back with the draft.

Of course, it'd be what the discussion that we're having today.

Taking an action to move forward or not move forward.

You know, I've asked Ms.

Neiman if 45 days is enough.

Miss Neiman.

I mean, uh Ms.

Mack, if if uh 45 days is enough to be able to put this together, she felt it was reasonable.

Uh this is a conversation.

So now we've added the the item of eight eight uh community meetings in 120 days.

It doesn't state that that would be part of the this agreement, and so that's another thing to take into consideration, but uh the 45 days was sufficient with what we were originally speaking of.

Okay, I guess still what I'm trying to understand is is this 45 days for staff to unilaterally on our side, develop a draft that then comes to the council and we decide whether we want to bring that draft to to Meta for their consideration, or is the idea that we have a bilaterally negotiated agreement in 45 days?

It's a it's a it's an agreement between both parties and agree to an agreement, and so you know, having these these roundtable discussions, they're gonna be receiving input from the community, and that's how this is going to be formulated.

So we have, you know, I have these items that that I brought here on on the agenda item.

These are this is what the community has shared, right?

We we're concerned about resources, we're comp concerned about electricity, the air emissions and things like that.

So all these are the conversations that are going to be taking place over the round table, and in this round tables are gonna start formulating what's what the agreement should entail.

So we're we're, you know, the initial thought was to have four round table discussions with these individuals that have come to the first round table, and then the this can be formulated within those 45 days.

Okay, and only those individuals who attended the first round table will be welcome at the future round tables?

No, we'll we'll adjust the membership based on where we think the conversation will go, but I think um it's clear that this really is going to be driven in large part about um Meta's willingness to um provide some service, and so I think they need to be at the table, and I think we have the commitment to have them at the table.

I think it's gonna be important to understand you know what they're going to bring and then make sure that we're bouncing some of those ideas, you know, off the community to make sure that there's alignment there.

Our thinking was that we could at least have those initial conversations and in 45 days at least bring something back.

It may not be a final, but at least it's a check-in with you all in terms of the discussions that we've had, you know, what are those things that we see, whether there's any gaps or that can be a public discussion for everyone, so we can all be on the same page about where we're going with it.

Okay.

And we as we were looking at these categories, one of the reasons why we changed the language for cooperate is that you know, as the rep said, some of these um elements are not things that are, you know, in our purview.

You know, you may have an agreement, that's what the water utility we've already talked about.

What workforce solutions might be working on.

So as we're talking about those categories, we would certainly want to have the experts who would be um directly involved in those type of agreements at the table so we can all have a good understanding of what the impact will be, and so then we would bring that back to council for this consideration.

Okay, and then it further states that the uh discussions would be pardon me facilitated by an independent moderator.

Are we being asked to uh authorize an expenditure for a the hiring of a moderator or how we don't think we have to.

So part of the discussion that I had with the representative was I understand that the first session, there were lots of questions that were asked.

I think that the first session should be a follow-up to those questions, really sort of putting some structure around getting answers to people.

So the first series should be a follow-up with answers to those questions, and then as we're talking about understanding what the pillars that we have listed here might be, there might be another opportunity for us to have more of a facilitated, you know, discussion.

Um my early conversations with um uh strategic and legislative affairs is that we would love to reach out to partners at UTEF who I think would volunteer to play that role who specialize in some of these areas, and so that would give us another voice, and that would give you know someone who is not you know um regularly involved in these discussions.

So I don't think that we would have to spend resources.

I think this is a uh issue that people really care about, and I think that we will have qualified people, you know, stepping up to really help us through these processes.

Okay, and then I just wanted to be sure like this uh after the first two paragraphs just kind of launches into categories with terms.

Um, are we limiting ourselves to the terms that are listed here?

It doesn't say that it goes beyond what's listed on the agenda.

No, it it's not a limitation.

These were the initial discussions and concerns of the residents, you know, and and this is something that I've uh shared with Meta, the concerns.

I stayed with, I have not strayed from what I've shared with Meta, but these are open discussions, right?

There's a lot that can become from this.

These are I guess you can look at this as a skeleton of what could be, right?

Uh and it's gonna come mostly from the community and the input and those conversations.

Okay, yeah, I just think it's very important that the record today reflect that that we capture that idea that this is a skeleton of what could be, but not an exhaustive list.

Um, you know, I think you know, I'm hearing that this is a reflection of what the residents want, but like I don't know that residents of district eight have had the same input or the same ability to weigh in on what might be included in an agreement.

Um, and I I do think there are potentially different interests across the city in terms of uh ways that the public might benefit from this type of agreement, you know, depending on proximity to the site and the way that they're impacted in different parts of the city.

And so I just want to make sure that we we have the understanding that this is a limited potential set of terms in an agreement, but not an exhaustive set of terms that could be possible.

That's correct.

Okay, that's all for now.

Thank you.

Representative Nino.

Thank you, Mayor.

And thank you, Representative Boyard Trevor and Maldonado for bringing this forward, Maldonado Rocha.

Um, I know I've asked uh Ms.

Neiman a lot of questions, and I've done a lot of research on community benefit agreements, and one of my biggest question has been how do we make this enforceable?

How do we make this legally binding?

And a lot of CBAs are tied to developments or 3D agreements or other types of agreements, which is essentially what I believe um representative Boyartre will remove the CBA language from it.

But what I really want to focus on is on whatever you know comes forward from this is that we create a legally binding enforceable document that holds Meta accountable.

I don't think that uh at the end of this conversation or when this comes forward, I don't want it to just be a one-pager saying this is what we're committing to.

I want it to really be some that both parties really sat at the con uh table, created some sort of agreement, and that we could fully enforce.

So I'm gonna make an amendment as well where it states, furthermore, the proposed community agreement shall be structured as legally enforceable agreement under Texas law, including clearly defined obligations, measurable performance standards, reporting requirements, monitoring provisions, notice and cure procedures, remedies for noncompliance, and provisions binding upon successors and assigns as determined appropriate by the city attorney.

And I think it's important to advocate for that so that we could reassure our community that we are having the best interest of them in ensuring that there's a lot of different community protections overall, and that we're able to successfully have a legally binding agreement that holds them also accountable.

So that would be my motion, Mayor.

Okay.

There's a motion, is there a second?

Second.

Okay, motion and second.

Any discussion on the amendment?

Representative Trehall.

Thank you.

I just want to ask Miss Neiman her thoughts on that amendment and the conversations that we've had with Meta.

Again, I think that these are preliminary discussions with the council.

Meta should be listening to this discussion.

I will wait to see what these discussions look like before we come back with something.

It's too early for me to give you my analysis on your proposal, Representative Nino.

I hear you loud and clear, and it's if the item passes, we'll have to go back and have those discussions and then report back.

Okay.

Ms.

Yes, sir.

The motion was made by Representative Nino, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Chavez, and this is to amend item 35 to add the words.

Furthermore, the proposed community agreement shall be structured as a legally enforceable agreement under Texas law, including clearly defined obligations, measure measurable performance standards, reporting requirements, monitoring provisions, notice and cure procedures, remedies for noncompliance, and provisions binding upon successors and assigns as determined appropriate by the city attorney.

Call for the vote, Ms.

Bryan.

On that motion, call for the vote.

And the voting session.

Okay.

Back on the main motion.

The main motion was made by Representative Trejo, seconded by Representative Maldonado Rocha.

And this is to approve the item as amended.

Representative Lima.

Thank you, Mayor.

Let me begin first by saying I voted no because all of a sudden we've got a motion that's running almost two pages deep on what we have presented to us.

That they're gonna come to the table and even remotely agree to all of these items that have been put forth.

So just as a thought, Meta is worth one trillion four hundred billion dollars.

That's the last estimate that I saw.

And I want to reflect on something that, and I wrote this down.

El Paso Matters reported that through the dig deep, Meta would provide first time homes running water in 28 homes in the colonias.

Not in within the city, but in the colonias.

If we look at that and we think, oh my gosh, that is so wonderful.

Well, it'll be really nice for the 28 homes, but that is equal to one-tenth of one percent of Meta's worth.

Here's a company that could very easily come in and say, Yeah, we'll do all of these things, we'll do all of these community benefits agreements, we'll fund and build localized water recycling, we'll do all of these things.

Future land, we'll do future land, all of these things.

And yet, quite frankly, Meta has not been at the table.

Other than coming here for uh almost a year later, groundbreaking ceremony.

I don't think that we really have had the opportunity.

I'm not sure that the city manager or the city attorney have had the opportunity to do that.

Zoom is one thing, person to person, that's another thing.

I think that this is a making a commitment and saying that, oh, yeah, we're gonna do all of these things.

Quite frankly, it reminded me of just a term that was used earlier.

This is bringing false hope to the community.

If we think that by passing this motion, and I'm going to vote for it, mayor, I'll be voting for it.

I would look nothing to see.

I would love to see this come true.

This is an incredible wish list.

I do not anticipate Meta will be coming forward.

I don't think Meta will be in agreement with any of the things that are put forth.

And yes, I would love to have a community meeting in my district.

For Meta to hear directly how this community feels and hears.

We had over a hundred and eighty people sign up last and two weeks ago.

If anything, that was a huge comment.

Today, we only had a few people that showed up because the feeling is quite frankly, we're wasting our time.

But I'm gonna support it in respect of you, Ms.

Trejo.

Thank you for putting it forth.

I will support it, but I truly question whether anything will be able to come out of this.

Thank you, Mayor.

Representative Chavez.

Thank you, Mayor.

So, yes, there has been a lot of misinformation out there.

I think uh Representative Trejo briefly mentioned it earlier today, when she said why these discussions or questions were not asked in the past, we don't know because most of us were not here in the past.

We don't know.

But what I do know is that you miss a hundred percent of the shots that you don't take.

So this is our chance today to have this conversation to talk to Meta, and if we're successful, then we'll have something to show our community for it, and if for whatever reason Meta doesn't come to the table, then they'll have to do the explaining to the community, but it won't be us, it will be them.

Giving up is not an option for me.

Thank you, Mayor.

Alright, Representative Trejo, one last time on this apple.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

I just wanted to reply to representative Limon.

You know, this item was not to bring false hope.

It was brought forward to bring the voice of the community to Meta.

What this looks like at the end, I don't know.

But they're willing to come forward to the table right now and have those discussions.

And I'm looking forward to seeing what this looks like.

I do see that there's a lot of amendments here, but we'll see what they're gonna come forward with.

I'm not here to speak for Meta, I'm here to speak for my community, and this was for my community to give them the voice and have Meta come to the table.

Thank you.

Ms.

Bryan, yes, Mayor.

The motion was made by representative Boyrea Treejo, seconded by Representative Malonado Rocha, and this is to approve item 35 as amended.

On that motion, call for the vote.

And the voting session, and that motion passes unanimously.

Okay, thank you, Ms.

Prime.

Before we take item 30, do we have executive session items we were supposed to do?

Yes, sir.

That would be executive session item number one.

Mayor Potin.

Thank you, Miss Prime.

Motion made, seconded and carried that the city attorney in consultation with the city manager, be authorized to hire and retain outside counsel and any other necessary consultants and to file an intervention in the El Paso Electric Company's application to amend its certificate of convenience and necessity to replace the existing Eddy High Voltage Direct Current TIE under the Texas Public Utility Commission docket number 59836 and matter number high Q Utility-90, and to take all steps necessary, including the execution of any required documents in order to effectuate this authority.

Okay, there's a motion, is there a second?

Second.

Okay.

There's a motion made and read into the record by Mayor Pro Tem Chavez, seconded by Representative Halona de Rocha.

And this is on EX1.

And this is to intervene and hire outside council and consultants on that motion, call for the vote.

In the voting session, and that motion passes unanimously.

Okay, Miss Brian, let's take items number four and five that were moved out of consent agenda.

Can we do uh the rest of the EX?

Just for the record.

EX2?

I forgot.

No action.

Thank you.

EX3, no action.

Right, thank you.

Okay, representing the I have a question on EX2.

If I could ask Ms.

Neiman, um, you know, also online, I've read a lot of individuals or seen videos where individuals have shared specifically about this EX2 item, and I'm not gonna talk about what gets discussed in executive, but I had alerted Ms.

Nevan that I would ask what the purpose of us going to into executive is specifically when it comes to these CCNs, right?

I think there's assumption from members of the public that we meet behind closed doors and that there's some sort of conversation even with the company, electric company, which we don't sit in a room with the electric company, rather it's legal advice providing information from legal experts as to why we're advocating and fighting for opass wins.

You know, the CCN specifically, we were notified, the filing happened in December.

We were notified in January.

On January 6th, this council unanimously voted to intervene, meaning we voted to take part of the actual filing to advocate for opass wins, meaning we're not just letting it pass, but the reason why we meet an executive is for those reasons is that we all could have the conversations of what is important for us to set community protections, specifically when it comes to such CCN.

So Ms.

Neiman, can you just touch briefly as to the reason why we go into an executive session for such filings?

Uh thank you, Representative Nino.

The reason that the council is allowed to go into executive session is an exception under the Texas Open Meetings Act, which means that the law has determined that there are certain subject matters that discussing them in public would place the entity at risk or liability in discussing those issues in open session.

But you are correct in terms of we discuss these items because there's not it's not prudent for us to have the conversations in open because you are making decisions regarding strategy or recommendations that you're receiving behind closed doors.

But what I think that the public should be made aware of, and this council has been very proactive that we are continuously issuing press releases in regards to a variety of filings that Al Paso Electric is currently ongoing, and in this specific request, you all will remember that we asked El Paso Electric at the request of the council that they come and present this filing specifically to the council in an open session, which they did in April.

And you are correct that we routinely intervene, and that's the technical term we use for joining in the filing of the state.

So again, I hope that answers your question.

We are going behind closed doors for you to receive additional information in regards to recommendations and decisions that you all need to make, but we are routinely keeping the public aware of those decisions, like we did last week in regards to our filing, and many of those filings are all of our filings are public at the state level, and we did have an in-depth press release last week to take a position in the case which you all have read, and the public has been made aware of.

But does that answer your question?

Yeah, and that's perfect, and I'm grateful for you for providing that.

And I think it's important, and I think I'm probably gonna bring this up over and over so that the members of the public understand the reasons why we go into executive sessions.

It's not to have some sort of secret conversation.

Rather, it's really strategizing, and this specific filing shows proof of us advocating for the last six, seven months that we're not just letting this McLeod generation facility be built, right?

As it's what's it's intended for for the meta facility, but I think overall it's really showing to the community that we all have had them in mind and we're advocating for them to ensure that we have any in-haul protections for them.

So thank you, Ms.

Men.

Thank you, Mayor.

Okay.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor.

I just think one other very important thing to clarify is that because I've seen this misstated a lot, especially in recent weeks, there are zero votes that take place during executive session.

Uh the council doesn't deliberate about these items.

The council doesn't vote on any item or anything at all in executive session.

100% of the votes happen in open session.

And so, it's actually not permitted under the law for you to take action, so that's correct.

All of the votes, and miss you just saw that happen right now when the motion comes out of executive and the votes are happening in open in regards to the specific motion that we requested the council consider that's happening in open session.

Yeah, and so I I've seen people saying that votes happen behind closed doors and that there's votes that the pilot public is not allowed to be present for, and none of that is the case.

100% of the city council's votes take place right here in open session.

That's correct.

Um, and then I think just one last last clarifying thing, and that's that these filings that the utilities make before the regulatory bodies, whether that's El Paso Electric filing to the public utility commission of Texas or um Texas gas filing with the railroad commission, those function like judicial cases, essentially, like cases that go through the judicial system, like a legal case.

Um, and so the city's intervention is essentially, and then you know that's a term of the of regulation, but it means that we become a party to that case.

And it means we have typically our attorneys present when that case is heard in Austin.

Um, it means that we file uh legal briefs and uh rebuttals to testimony from uh the utilities.

Uh it basically is the city getting involved entirely as a party in the legal case.

And so um I think when you hear the council make, as we just did on the X1 uh a motion and approve a motion in open session to intervene in a case, um, that's that's what we mean.

It's the city becoming a party to these active uh filings which are function like legal cases before these regulatory bodies of the state.

I think it's important for the public to understand how that functions.

It it gets very complex.

These filings are very long, um, and so it becomes important for us to receive all the information about what's happening in a particular case and then ultimately come out and make a decision about how we want to proceed with the legal advice.

Thank you, Mayor.

Very good.

Mayor Protect.

EX2.

EX2, there's no action there.

EX3, no action.

Thank you, EX4, no action.

Thank you.

EX5, no action.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

We are on we're gonna take items four and five that were in consent.

Yes, sir.

Would you like to take those together?

Sure, okay.

Item four is a resolution requesting that the director of purchasing and strategic sourcing is authorized to notify Trans America Protection Corporation that the city is terminating contract number 2024-0183.

Are more car services for default pursuant to attribute 29, Article 8, Section B of this contract due to contractors' violation of laws and regulations related to the performance of contract number 2024-0183, and that the termination shall be effective as of June 23rd, 2026, and that the purchasing and strategic sourcing department also recommends that Trans America Protection Corporation be disqualified from entering into any contract with the city for a period of three years for default and unsatisfactory performance.

Item five is a resolution requesting that the director of purchasing and strategic sourcing be authorized to notify Trans-America Corporation that the city is terminating contract number 2024-0520 armored car services for default pursuant to attribute 29, Article 8, Section B of this contract.

Due to contractors violation of laws and regulations related to the performance of contract number 2024-0520, and that the termination shall be as effective of June 23rd, 2026, that the Department purchasing and strategic sourcing department also recommends that Trans America Protection Corporation be disqualified from entering any into any contract with the city for a period of three years for default and unsatisfactory performance.

Okay.

Representative Chavez.

Can we see the presentation mayor?

Sure.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

Glad they could say what purchasing and strategic sourcing department.

So these two items are recommending termination for the following contracts.

2024 0183, 2024 0520, 2023 0188 for Armor Car Services for default.

Also we are request, we're recommending that Trans America be disqualified for entering into any contract with the city for three years for an satisfactory performance.

So the base of this recommendation is included in each of the contracts that we are recommending terminating.

The city shall have the right to immediately terminate the contract for default if the contractor violates any local, state or federal laws, rule or regulation that relate to the performance of this agreement.

So in April, the City of El Paso file a petition against Trans-America Protection Corporation and robbing Carol Rodriguez in a passive county court at law for the breach of contract.

And again, just a recommendation.

Thank you, Mayor.

And thank you, Gladia.

I know you did brief me, and I had some questions at the time of the briefing, so I just thought it would be beneficial for all of us to have this discussion.

And I know you didn't have all the answers then either, so that's why I want to thank you for the opportunity.

So on slide three, you said the city shall have the right to immediately terminate the contract for default if the contractor violates any local state or federal laws.

What did the contractor violate in this case?

So uh because of the petition that was uh filed, and I'm gonna ask uh legal if they can uh speak about uh that project.

Okay, thank you.

Good afternoon, mayor and counsel.

Uh rep Chavez uh to answer your question, uh money went missing.

Um, would you would you state your name for the yes, Mayor?

So if you start up with the city attorney's office for the right, uh we had money go missing uh that was collected by this entity from city facilities.

Um additionally, uh we had money that was uh deposited way after uh the date on which it was collected and deposited into bank accounts in denominations that were completely contrary to what uh the city had collected.

So there's evidence of mishandling, misappropriating the funds, and these are all things that we've alleged in um in a lawsuit, so it's public record.

So because of all that, they've violated the laws and they've breached the contract with the city of Opasa.

Okay, how long have we been doing business with this company?

Um I don't know how long we've been doing well, you want.

So we have in our records that we have been doing business with them uh since 2014, based on the records I I have.

And when did we first become aware that there was mishandling of money?

So we were notified on December 2022 and 4.

Okay.

Well, my next question, I guess, has to be since December 24 until now.

I mean, were they given a time to to correct what what was being mishandled, or what happened between then and now to make it yes, the department was trying to coordinate with them to get clarification and to get the funds deposited?

They were trying to contact them.

We also, when notified, tried to contact them too, and they weren't responsive to our uh attempts to resolve the situation.

So it's taken us about a year and a half more or less to come to this decision.

No, ma'am.

There were two different contracts.

So initially the findings were with municipal court, and I'll hand it to Ms.

Cody.

Yes, ma'am.

Nicole Cody, uh city manager's office.

And so the it's important that we identify that there is as the city manager said, three separate contracts.

So the first contract this happened with municipal court.

Um municipal court to file the police report immediately.

Um they also notified purchasing and legal of what had occurred.

They did file, and we do have a chief pasillas here as well.

They did file the police report.

Um, and so that process was the first part of the of the process.

The contract was terminated, or it expired, I should say, on January 9th of 2025.

So it happened in December, and then the contract ended.

They do now have a different armored car services for municipal court.

Each of the departments were immediately notified, and we did ask if there were any current issues that they had with the vendor.

We also wanted to make sure that if they had any issues, if there were any concerns, that way we could move forward as appropriately with the different contracts.

Um at that time, we were informed by the departments that there were no issues.

They had not had any performance issues.

This seemed to be an isolated issue, and the contract had ended on January 9th of 2025, which is within less than a month.

And that contract you're referring to is specifically for municipal courts.

That's why they're not listed on correct on the slide number two.

Absolutely.

Okay.

And so then time continued.

And then to refer to what Mr.

Estrada brought up is in July of 2025.

Then we did have uh specific incidences that were always rectified very quickly.

If there was an incident with international bridges, and we have Mr.

Cortinez to be able to elaborate about those, they the company rectified them immediately and quickly, um, and we had several issues that were leading up to uh finally filing for the litigation that we now have against Trans America.

So uh Mr.

Cartinez can go into um the issues that international bridges has seen that Mr.

Estrada uh provided you kind of an overview of.

Okay.

Exactly.

So in April of this year, I was notified of the allegations or the issues that uh Mr.

Estrada mentioned.

So I met with the International Bridges Department, was notified that there is a recent situation of delayed deposits, so the contract currently calls for those deposits to be made on the same day, and that's the city policy that's uh what's in the contract as well, and some of these deposits were taking weeks to be deposited, and not only that, um, the issue about the denominations being different of what was being deposited compared to what was picked up.

As soon as I heard this, these are serious issues that we're dealing with, and so um I asked Mr.

Tinihero to notify the police department, um, asked him to work with purchasing to expedite as much as we could the termination of the contract based on those issues that we were facing and to move forward with an alternative solution to provide the armor car services.

Thank you, Robert.

So when Mr.

Estrada mentions that there's money missing, how much money are we talking about?

As far as I know from the International Bridges Department, everything that is owed to the city has been uh deposited for the National Bridges Department, and I'll let Ms.

Cody because I believe that there was an issue with the municipal court that's been addressed recently as well.

So municipal court, the amount that I have is 12,654 and eight cents.

As what was indicated in the email that I did provide you all this morning.

Trans America did pay the amount in full yesterday, June 22nd.

Okay, so lastly, I would like to to know, so for disqualifying someone from doing business with the city, I'm I'm assuming that doesn't happen very often, right, Claudia?

It doesn't.

So I and I do think this is an extreme case, so definitely worth it.

But do we have a process in place on how to qualify someone to be disqualified?

So we we went back to our records, and what we could find uh by practice is that we were taking a resolution, I mean an ordinance approved back in 2006, indicating and related to anti-lobbing and kind of silence an active lobbying uh policies.

So according to that uh section of the municipal code, it it indicates that we can disqualify for entering into a contract for set uh items uh for three years.

So in practice, purchasing has been uh including that uh language for terminations, not only for that those items, but also for default, just for consistency purposes.

Okay, maybe maybe we need to revisit it since it's t since 2006.

I don't know if this would be a good opportunity to do that.

We'll add it to the plan.

We have consultants already.

Okay.

Okay.

And if I may add, uh we revised a portion of that ordinance back in 2021, do uh just delete some of the words uh included in 2006, and we still stayed with three years.

Yes, especially because it's not something we do often, and since in this particular case we pursued litigation, we want to make sure that we would be able to prove in a court if needed uh the reason for disqualifying someone if in case that was brought into as part of the litigation.

I'm not sure.

But thank you very much.

I appreciate it.

Representative.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um Claudia, I guess since we're talking about the three years, do you think that's a a standard practice in the industry?

Can it be longer?

Can it be a lifetime ban?

What can you can you tell me how you got to the three years or what the standards are?

So um I cannot speak about what passing 2006 or uh completely on how was that determination made, but I think certainly we can look into it because it will depend on a case by case uh basis of depending on their recommendation or the default that we're recommending for.

Um so that's why certainly we're looking into into that to make that uh uh policy stronger.

Okay, and then let's say they bid three years from now and something, it's a different council at that point.

Will the backup documentation say they were banned for three years, they've met the three years, and now they are the winning bid or something along those lines?

Yeah, we can look into including that uh language for future uh reference.

I think it's important just um similarly a few months ago we had a discussion on we were um giving bids to people that were suing us, and we didn't know that they were suing us, and now we've had documentation that kind of shows us these people are suing us and an explanation as to why so um you know future counsel down the the road could understand that the three-year mark ended and the reasons why that happened.

So, you know, kind of throw throw that at you so positive on that.

Uh the the other thing that I want to ask, um, maybe Ms.

Mac.

Um this is kind of the second time this happens in the last few months.

You know, there was the the security um company that we parted ways with at the airport, and as I'm kind of saying this it's June of 2026, we kind of found out December of 2024 that something was wrong, and then now the council year and a half later is is finding out.

So is there something that you can do to kind of give us a heads up that this is happening?

So we are not finding out for the first time a year and a half later.

Okay, so from from my perspective, we really saw the issue arise as um Robert said in April.

So I really wasn't tracking the the um piece regarding the municipal court.

So we certainly can look at some process so that you know if we're filing suit with somebody.

Um I don't know if that's already on the courts, right so the browsing of the lawsuit was done because the authorities already been vested in the code for us to file collection matters without having asked for permission so we move forward in that direction when we found out about that municipal court missing money issue.

Yeah I I guess just better processes in place um you know maybe some more staff training on kind of bringing it up to your attention you know this just looks really risky from an organization standpoint and I'm hoping we could learn from this to kind of better implement this in the future that we're not going to be in in this position.

Okay I mean I think that the staff did the reporting they follow the they followed the contractual language they did the reporting to legal and others um we certainly will figure out you know our process for making sure that's either included with the details that Carla have or some report to you all if you're interested I don't think it happens that often for us.

Yeah no and and that's great that it doesn't happen often but I I think you're you're right on on what I'm asking and and Miss Cody thank you for sending us that explanation over email it really clarified a lot for me.

I had another thought and it kind of skipped my mind but I oh um had this company had any any issue in in the years before this contract?

Not that I'm aware of not that you're aware okay and if they had any uh performance issues most likely they were resolved at the department level and they didn't have to come to us uh through accuracy process okay and then we're gonna bid this out again yes and so in the meantime what are we doing so in the meantime we uh already uh completed a competitive procurement for a short term contract so we have that in place so if these items are approved then that contract will start uh as soon as tomorrow okay perfect thank you so much okay represent canal never mind I think it was from the last item okay any other questions on item four or five okay Ms.

Bryan yes sir the motion was made by representative seconded by alternate mayor pro tenero and this is to approve the resolutions on items four and five on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and that motion passes unanimously okay Miss Brian there's no nice way of doing this it's the meetings choppy no matter what but we have a Sun Metro item number three we have to go back to yes sir would you like to do that at this time sure because Sun Metro is still here move to recess the regular city council meeting for the Sun Metro Mass Transit there's a motion and a second to recess a regular city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed and the motion passes the city council meeting is in recess at 4 32 pm in other in order to reconvene the mass transit department board meeting I move to reconvene the mass transit department board meeting unanimously okay is there a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn.

Second all those in favor anyone opposed and the mass transit department board meeting for June 23rd is adjourned at 434 pm.

Is there a motion to reconvene the regular city council meeting there's a motion and a second to reconvene the regular city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed and the regular city council meeting is back in session at 4 35 p.m.

Okay Miss Brian let's take item number 30.

Yes sir item number 30 is an El Paso water presentation after action report on the Northeast large scale water main break this item was placed by representative representative trajo thank you mayor hello I um just wanted to give a a little statement here a brief statement from you know, asking the El Paso Water to come and give uh a report.

So the historic water main break that we had in District four in January of this year affected several districts and over a hundred thousand residents.

When incidents like this of this magnitude it's importance uh the importance of transparency and clear communication is is very crucial.

And the primary concerns raised by a residents was the delay in public notification.

Many people didn't learn about the situation until Monday evening.

Many were le were left without uh timely information during a critical period.

Residents also raised questions about aging infrastructure, previous uh pipeline failures and long-term reliability on our water system.

I had shared a quote in the previous council meeting on the water main break, and the quote is you can't hold people accountable for what you have never made clear.

Clarity is kindness and accountability is respect.

Since the incident, I've met with El Paso water leadership on multiple occasions to discuss key actions to strengthen uh preparation, improve communication, and help prevent similar disruptions in the future.

And I've asked them to come today and present uh post-incident action report.

I also want to thank everyone who stepped forward during that crisis, including neighbors and volunteers, businesses, organizations, Fort Blaze, first responders who provided water and delivered uh water assistance and support to those in need and of course El Paso Water for hearing the concerns of our constituents and providing an update today.

Thank you for being here today.

It's my pleasure, Representative Trejo.

Uh good afternoon, mayor and counsel.

Uh Gilbert Trejo, Vice President for Operations and Technical Services for El Paso Water, and thank you for that introduction, uh, Representative Treco.

Uh, we couldn't agree more with the expectation that our customers and the uh residents of Northeast El Paso and El Paso as a whole expect from El Paso Water.

So uh the presentation I'll be giving today is uh some as a summary and uh represents the results of the after action report that was completed by El Paso Water staff, led by our chief of security and emergency response and safety.

Uh, it was a deep dive into the event, and this presentation is gonna take you through uh the event itself, the um performance of our system as a whole, because there has been a lot of questions related to it, but overall it's gonna answer the questions as to why what happened happened, what are we doing to prevent it citywide, and what did we learn from it, and what actions are already uh ongoing and planned.

Um, this presentation was ready for council at the request of uh representative Treco in March due to scheduling reasons and then many scheduling reasons.

Here we are in June, but this presentation was ready in March.

The good thing is that a lot of the actions and improvement plans that were identified even back then are already in motion.

So we we did not wait for this presentation.

We're not waiting for anything uh to make sure that we uh maintain the level of service that our customers um expect from us.

So a deep dive and brief overview of the event itself.

So on January 10th, a 36-inch pipeline broke in northeast El Paso.

Now, this uh large of a pipeline uh represents the backbone of a system and a large part of the city.

Uh this caused for many up to I won't say many, seven tanks to drain in northeast El Paso, which led to the loss of service to up to an estimated to 38,000 connections.

Um, when you look at people affected, we're talking about at the time estimated about a hundred thousand people that were that were affected by this event.

Because of this, a boiled water notice was issued, it was precautionary.

Uh, when tanks uh lose pressure and uh the system as a whole lose pressure, uh it is recommended, and the guidance by Texas Water by the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality for the Protection of Public Health and Safety that we issue a public uh boil water notice, and that's exactly what what we did.

Um, the situation and the event was uh hindered and really escalated due to um many valves not operating uh at the time, and I'll get into a deeper dive related to that.

Uh, but at the end, the event started in June, January 10th, and it was concluded and service was fully restored by January 15th.

The after-action report and the analysis and investigation that was was completed um showed exactly what we thought had happened, which was a severely corroded pipe had failed.

The trigger event itself was a rather routine uh event that happens every day in El Paso in our pumping stations.

There was a power surge, which is normal when we're feeding these types of normal of these types of large pumping stations.

There's nothing abnormal about that.

Pumping stations are designed to be able to withstand a power surge, a breaker tripped, and our staff proceeded to follow their standard operating procedures.

They went on and to turn on the pump station again.

When you turn on a pump station, pump station pumps of this magnitude, it creates a bit of a pressure surge in the system.

Again, very normal as well.

The issue is when you run into a corroded piece of pipe, and depending on the size of that pressure surge when you initially activate a pump, that pressure surge when it finds a soft spar, a weak spot, a corroded spot on a pipe, it'll break.

The image that you see on the screen is the actual pipe that broke that night on January 10th.

Just for comparison purposes, the one above it is what this pipe should look like, and many parts of this pipeline look like the picture above, but uh the picture below was severely corroded.

Um, we did complete a uh a um metallurgical analysis of the pipe to fully understand exactly why did this pipe fail.

Uh again, it's not uncommon for pipes to corrode.

We do have corrosion protection systems on pipes all over the city.

Uh, in this particular case, uh the corrosion that was encountered was external corrosion.

Um, the soils in this area tend to be very moist.

Uh, there is a stormwater uh structure nearby, and we that was what that metallurgical uh analysis of the pipe revealed that it was external corrosion and it corroded through the pipe itself.

A little bit more on this type of pipe because it does matter.

So, this this is pre-stressed concrete cylinder pipe, and this pipe is a problem for the water industry across the country.

This is not an El Paso Texas problem.

This is a United States and um water industry problem.

So, this type of pipe is a very thin steel cylinder, and it is wrapped in a in a with a thin wire.

That thin wire is pre-stressed and it creates a lot of tension on the pipe, and this is the way the pipe maintains uh its internal capacity to withstand those pressures from the water pipe, but it also provides uh external structural stability from when you from when you weight it on the uh from externally from external top loads.

Uh, and then you but you can bury it at deep depths.

Uh, when this pipe was being installed and was the pipe to install in the 1980s and 90s as it was uh here in El Paso.

Um it was the most it's the best of the most affordable pipes at the time.

Um there's many other different pipes that you can install, very thick, robust pipes, whether it's uh ductile iron pipe, but in this case at the time, so it could be affordable for municipal systems.

This pipe was being put in all over the country.

Um, it turns out that that was a mistake.

Uh, this pipe failed and has mailed time failed time and time again all over the country.

Uh there was well-documented cases in Las Vegas, Tampa, Phoenix, San Diego, and a major um failure of this type of pipe, uh, upwards of a six-inch pipeline in Washington DC in 2008, uh, that really caused a lot of damage.

So, again, this is not just us, and this type of pipe is no longer installed anymore.

Once the water industry realized that this material failed often and failed catastrophically, as soon as one of those little wires that that wraps around the steel cylinder pipe, soon as one of the little wires starts corroding, it completely unravels if you can picture a slinky.

So it just takes one little wire to go before the whole pipe goes.

Again, this pipe is no longer sold, is no longer installed in the United States, and and we followed suit as soon as all of this was discovered.

So, some of the things that we're already doing.

Um, so back in March, I would have said we plan to replace this pipeline segment in Northeast El Paso.

I'm here to tell you that this pipeline segment is already under replacement in Northeast El Paso.

So it has been uh designed.

We have a contractor on board.

The pipe is scheduled to arrive in late July and will take approximately 120 days to install once the contractor has everything planned, staged, and ready to go.

Representative Trejo, we are hopeful to let you know that by the end of the year, this pipe segment will be completely replaced.

So we've not waited on anything.

We've gone ahead and started to replace this pipe.

We are using an inert non-corrosive material.

This is typical for large diameter pipes all over the city.

We have a large diameter replacement program where we identify pipes of high consequence of failure and of high risk.

We are replacing it with this high density polyethylene pipe.

Again, inert will not corrode, and it doesn't have traditional joints like slip-on joints.

These pieces of high density polyethylene pipe are welded together.

So when it's all said and done, it's really one solid tube is probably the best way to think about it.

So it really is one of the best pipe materials out there to be done, and El Paso is one of the few cities that is implementing it because it is not, it is not cheap, but it is the best, and that is what our customers and our residents deserve.

So going back to the valves, so when I talk about this event, we can expect power bumps at booster stations that will cause the pump to turn off.

We turn it back on.

We can expect all of this.

We can also expect pipes to corrode.

This is nothing new to the industry.

We have condition assessments, we have ways to identify where potentially pipes are corroding, and then we could proactively plan so we could replace these segments.

All of this can be expected.

One of the things that we expect is for valves to work, and I think one of the things that we did not expect that night of January 10th was when we saw the running water and we dispatch our crews to go work, we expect the valves to close.

Very often, residents, everyone would tell us you close the valves and isolate the line and make it work.

That's what we're trying to do.

What exacerbated and made this situation much worse was not only that the valves on the main line did not close, this line was connected to many smaller lines along the neighborhood, then the neighboring neighborhood.

So now not only are we trying to close the two main valves on the main line, there's also I believe upwards of eight to twelve valves along that that whole segment that were just connected to it.

So until those close, water was just gonna keep coming out of the out of the initial break, which led to the draining of the pipes.

We have 52,000 valves in the city, and we proactively exercise them.

We have a program in place to make sure valves close when they need to.

We have a contractor that their sole job is to go around and turn valves, close it and open it.

Within that, we see that sometimes when we close it, it won't open back up.

We then proactively replace it.

Same thing with our crews.

Uh, this is the thing to do in water utilities.

This is really the only thing you can do other than go one by one to replace them.

But when you're talking about 52,000 valves in the case of of the El Paso water system, that's quite the task.

However, we are proactively have these programs on programs in place to do it.

However, that day, just uh the valves were not closing, the valves were not closing.

Um our crews worked very hard through Sunday and to Monday before they finally got to a valve that would close that help us isolate the system, but by that time it was too late.

The tanks had drained and we had the the escalated situation on our hands like we had never seen uh before.

Other items that we're working on in terms of improvements, so uh again things that we can expect, but it's the reaction, either proactive action or how we react to the actual situation that we can uh improve.

So one of the things is being more proactive with having line stops available to us.

So line stops are critical because when a valve does not close, in one of these situations where our crews are saying either the stem broke or the valve just is not lowering into place to provide the instruction the obstruction in the pipe, the way it's it's designed to do.

Line stops.

Is a way that a contractor can come in and while the line is active, insert a valve in place.

Um, these line stops have to be designed specifically for the pipe.

Um, it is um in some folks, some utilities may consider this extreme because it is it's expensive, but it's the only way to stop a pipe that is running and pressurized while it's live.

So we're looking into ways to have line stops available for us.

Many line stops of many sizes have contractors in town available to install these for us so that to avoid this type of situation.

The contract I mentioned where we hire a contractor to help us exercise all of these valves all over town.

That actual contract is coming up here in the coming year.

We are gonna rebid it and we're gonna put in additional provisions in place, additional metrics to make sure they can get to more valves, additional data collection, knowing what type of valve it is, if it's failed to hold on to it so that we can do analysis on it.

Why are these valves failing?

Is it the actual uh gate or the actual obstruction that that blocks the water in the pipe?

Is it the gears, the actuators that uh that move the stem up or down?

There's so many ways that they could fail, but we're gonna start collecting much more of this data so we could revise your design standards and start making better decisions with all the new infrastructure that is going in.

Upcoming CIP projects, so these are things that um I'll call them short term, but then there's the really long-term actions that we can make in the Northeast so that uh that require budgeting and are longer-term impact.

So there's the initial line that we are putting in uh actively now, the replacement of the segment that failed.

Um there are more lines and large diameter lines that we could put in throughout the same service area to provide more looping in the northeast.

So if something like this does happen, or maybe not the 36 inch, but there's other larger lines, whether it's on dire or somewhere else.

We're going to plan more pipelines to better loop the system in the northeast.

Uh, the question is why aren't these lines already in?

These large diameter lines go in well before any development.

The first thing that goes in are these large lines, and then developers will choose where to develop over time and then they'll connect to it.

But these large lines they go in first for whatever reason.

Back at the time when this part of the Northeast was developing, additional looping was not put in.

I do not have the answers to why.

I can tell you that in new parts of town, we do put in multiple loops as best as we can.

This is just one particular part of town that did not have additional pipes.

We are planning them in our capital improvements program to put in more of these larger lines to better loop the system to avoid an event like this and to lower the risk, the list the risk profile of this area so that uh the residents in this part of town uh do not have to experience something like this again.

Overall, the after action report uh that was completed identified many improvement plans, and many of them are actionable.

Like I mentioned, we're already moving on a lot of them.

Uh, everything from additional uh data that could be available to us, and I have some slides here at the end of this presentation to show the value of the data.

Um, but there's additional uh strategies in terms of in operations, how will they mobilize uh valving strategies as I mentioned, updating of our SOPs, um, all the things that are in that are in our control, uh, they have been identified and we're working on them.

A big part of what you mentioned, uh Representative Trejo was the communications effort, and there's a big there's a whole segment in the presentation here, but this is also part of the after action report.

And here my coming slides are gonna talk about the improvements in the communications part of it.

Um again, all these are actionable.

Uh, appendix H in the report has them all listed with dedicated leaders to make sure that these actions get completed.

I want to bring attention to again the targeted range from six to twelve months, also even beyond 12 months.

If some of these are large um budgeted items, they will be budgeted for and they'll be executed for eventually.

Um, however, 60 days, uh some of these are either already complete or ongoing.

Some of the questions that we've been asked regarding the system.

So, this event was quite the reputational hit for El Paso Water, and that's important.

We it is very important that our customers trust their water system and trust they'll pass the water.

Um, so there could be the perception that we always have breaks, there's too many breaks.

What is going on?

Uh, all very fair questions.

Uh so these are some of the metrics that we track for ourselves, and these are benchmarked nationally.

In this case, this is just the benchmark against other cities in the state or in the southwest in terms of the how good a water system is.

And one of the main metrics is how many breaks does a water system have per 100 miles.

So breaks per hundred miles.

This graph shows the breaks per 100 miles on the vertical axis, but then we show the age of the pipe as well.

So this line, when you draw this line, it's telling you that the older your system, the more breaks you have.

You want to be below this line.

This linear regression really just shows how everyone just fits there.

The older your system, the more breaks you get.

We're well below that line.

We are at just about eight breaks per hundred miles, and the average age of our pipe is about 44 years.

So we're doing we're doing pretty good in this sense.

We can always do better, and there's a lot of things that we are doing to be better, but we just want to make sure from a customer confidence standpoint.

We're we're not bad.

We're not bad.

We are eight breaks per mile per 100 miles, and we benchmark well against the national standard and against other cities in the state and in the southwest.

Here's another KPI.

This one also tracks the breaks per 100 miles relative to the US average in green, the Texas average in red, and then El Paso water in blue.

We rank well against those metrics.

In the middle, against the break ratio, divide the eight breaks per 100 miles by the age, 44 years in that sense.

This is another way to show that graph you just showed.

We're doing okay.

And then the last graph on the right shows that we're pretty much all the same age.

It's not like when you look at the average age of pipes in Texas and in the US, between 44 to 47 years for the national average, there's not a big gap there.

We're all roughly the same age, yet our breaks per 100 miles ranks pretty well within that.

Time to isolate and time to repair is another metric that we track.

Um we try to find this isn't something exactly the American Waterworks Association benchmarks.

Uh, they benchmark um a category that they say average time to address unplanned water service disruption as a water main break falls into that category, but that also means a lot of things.

So AWWA says that uh nationally the median is 4.3 hours to isolate and to repair.

That is extremely quick.

On the high end, some cities are at 23.5 years, point five hours.

I'm sorry.

Um, our goal, so we've separated out for us, there's there's the isolation part, uh, to make sure that the break in the broken segment is isolated and our and as few customers as possible are impacted, and then there's the repair.

The repair, there's a lot that goes into it.

Um, there's a lot of safety considerations, but there's the depth of the excavation, there's a traffic control.

Uh, for example, is it residential or is it on Mesa?

For example, like that that's a big difference in terms of how quickly we can all respond to it.

Is it a small line or a large line?

All of that just gets thrown into this metric right here.

So there is there should be uh a big uh range here, uh, but we separated out on the top.

You could see the time to repair for all Paso water.

This is the numbers that we're tracking.

So after we isolate, uh make the set the site safe, we're around 12 hours to repair the line.

The isolating part of it, we're close we've gone from 4.7 hours to three hours.

That I can tell you needs to get better for sure.

Both of these can get better and will get better.

We're doing a lot of things to to reduce this number as much as possible to reduce the the impact to our to our customers.

One more metric that we track is the OM cost.

So, how much money are we investing into the system to prevent?

So, there's the uh the effort to be proactive in all of this, and let's prevent all of these uh events from happening versus just being reactive to them.

Um, our maintenance budgets for specifically for these types of events to address breaks, and these are annual budgets, uh, has risen over the years again to invest into the system and to prevent these types of of events from from occurring.

Here in the last year, you saw that a small downtick.

That's not that we are investing less into this proactive approach.

That's because we are able and working with our um finance team to capitalize these expenditures so we're not using solely operations and maintenance budget.

Some of the other efforts that we are doing to uh improve on these uh KPIs is to catch the leaks before they become breaks, long before their breaks, it is a leak because these pipelines are buried, sometimes buried uh tens of feet.

We don't see the leak, so they will eventually break.

What we have now uh is a dedicated leak repair team.

While we've had leak detectors, and we have 10,000 leak detectors deployed all over the city.

Uh since 2004, this program has been going on.

It's one thing to have to know that the leaks are there, but when we have thousands of small leaks in the city, it's difficult to get to them.

We have now organized a leak team so that we can get to these leaks before they break, before they turn into these large breaks.

Um, this team is has tackled uh just about a thousand small leak repairs here in the last couple of months.

Again, you can see the time frame there, January to April, but up to this point, we're well over a thousand.

This newly formed leak team, this is all they do.

Um, unfortunately, this means a lot more breaking of the pavement, more steel plates, but we're attacking that on another end to make sure this these repairs can be done very quickly.

Repairing leaks, very important.

Not only does it help with reducing the breaks per hundred mile metric, but it also helps with a lot with the water loss reduction, which is a uh strategic goal for El Paso Water as well.

From an emergency coordination standpoint, what did we learn from this event?

So the Office of Emergency Management first was fantastic throughout this event.

Um Paso Water is no stranger to the Office of Emergency Management.

We've always worked with uh the OEM uh for decades now.

OEM was instrumental back in uh we'll say the uh the freeze of 2011.

So we are no strangers to the OEM.

Um I think what we learned in the OEM was I think when we hear this often, practice practice makes perfect, and the practicing of these events, the scheduling of exercises with the OEM makes a difference.

Uh, in Albaso Water, we have a newly formed office and team of emergency response, security, emergency response, and safety.

Uh, with that team, these are new team members.

Uh, many folks at Al Paso Water worked with the OEM in their career in Al Paso Water.

The folks that we hired with uh and lead our own emergency response and security and safety team.

They've worked with the OEM, however, together this team, the staff, we just hadn't practiced it together, and then that is just the truth.

Um, but we came together, we formed our own OEM or our own um uh emergency command center in Al Paso Water, and we were responding.

We had folks at the OEM, but really some of the things that we learned uh from this event was who we staff at the OEM matters.

We need more technical team representation at the OEM.

We need communications team at the OEM and not just in our own uh team as we're responding to this.

So, this is one of the most important things that we learn.

Uh, we defining roles and responsibilities between us between our board was very uh important as well.

Um now we have established training exercises moving forward to make sure that uh this does not happen again.

Uh we had a debrief with the OEM uh in late January, so again, we did not waste any time.

We debriefed with them, we've already completed one exercise uh with them, and we have two more scheduled here in the coming year.

So, again, this was a major uh point of improvement for us, and we hit on it immediately since January, and we and we're working towards uh getting better.

Uh, one of the good things that came out of the event was um the registry, the the state of Texas uh emergency assistance registry.

So this steer program was something El Paso Water at the time was not aware of.

This is a program that assists a vulnerable customers, whether they're uh unable to, they're they have disabilities or they have limited mobility, they have medical conditions.

So the OEM really brought this to the table in this event.

Uh they had used this a couple times already, they let us know about it.

This was an excellent program, and we too have now uh embraced and built a relationship with STEAR.

We've let our customers know to register for it.

So again, because this is a registry.

We need folks to spread the word that if you know somebody who meets this criteria to register with Steer so that when there is an event of this magnitude or a similar event, uh they're already part of the registry, and uh OEM can proactively and El Paso Water staff can proactively uh use this registry to go and help them and provide the assistance that they need in the in the case of this event was taking them water.

They needed water and many other uh services that OEM was helping with.

So this was one of the things that again we identified as something that we need to start implementing, and we've already begun uh the outreach, established it with STEAR, and we've in uh provided inserts in our bills for our customers, so encouraging them to register to be part of this registry.

From a customer service and operations standpoint, um our customer servicing performed at an extraordinary scale during the event.

So it was not only just responding to calls and adding additional information, whether it was online or through the communications scripts that they had as people were calling in.

Uh, they had to also assist with the distribution of water.

Um, just a couple of statistics from the event.

So we had uh the customer service call center received um 2,322 emergency calls just on Sunday alone.

Uh, through the communication efforts that we did, we we reduced that to 263 uh calls on Monday.

Uh the efforts uh while the call center was called in and remained open and active throughout this entire event.

We had many customer service staff uh through the help of our human resources team also helped with the distribution of water bottles as well.

So we set up sites all over the Northeast.

Uh in all, we distributed um upwards of 48,000 gallons of water, uh 887 pallets of water.

Many water bottles were distributed at the time.

Our customer service staff was also delivering, so separate from the steers program I just mentioned, we were delivering waters to seniors as it was being made aware to us that they needed assistance.

So uh customer service, our customer service team really uh stepped up for this event.

Uh the improvements here from customer service from a customer service standpoint was on the water distribution sites.

So a lot of issues at the sites while we located them and tried to space them out throughout the impacted area.

There was issues with the layout, some of the layouts were not the best.

Uh there was traffic issues, traffic jams.

Um we had to get the right equipment there.

There was an overwhelming support of a water bottle and pallet deliveries, but we needed the right equipment there, we needed forklifts there, we needed people to operate forklifts there.

So these were all things that we learned from, and we have now developed uh plans and will standardize some of the layouts, standardized the locations, the ideal locations that a good uh water distribution site uh looks like, and taking into consideration traffic patterns, lighting at night too.

Uh we need lighting there as well.

So, this is one of the major action items that uh we're working on uh to respond to uh a similar event.

From a communications and outreach standpoint, hitting to the heart of one of your items, representative Trejo.

Uh we we did maintain uh constant communications throughout the event, but to your point, not soon enough, and we needed to get there, get there out sooner, and we do have a solution for that uh that we're working on.

Uh many of the communication strategies that we use were there was many of them, and there's a variety of them.

We pretty much used everything uh that was available to us at the time to provide some some input to us from our customers.

So here's the results of a survey that we did after the event.

So after the event happened, we did issue uh a survey to the customers in the impacted area.

So we sent out uh to upwards of 35,000 customers in the Northeast.

Uh Bill Insert requesting their feedback on communications themselves.

How did they receive it?

How would they like to receive it?

Were some of the questions that they got?

What did they think of the response from El Paso Water?

One of the questions that we asked them was what did they think of the overall response from El Paso Water?

Uh 80% of the respondents said it was anywhere from fair to excellent, 20% said poor.

And the poor, they're very clear as to why it was poor.

Number one, the map.

So we haven't talked about the map.

The initial map that we issued was not up to par, it's not acceptable.

That was uh rectified very quickly after the initial map was was sent out.

Um they did not like that the elderly and folks and in the high-risk population category.

They needed more help and they felt that that was not happening.

And number three, the communications were vague again to your point, Representative Trejo.

Um, they were vague, and the water station rules were not clear to them.

Do they bring their own uh gallons?

Do they bring their own bottles?

What can they bring?

What can't they bring?

So a lot of this is is why they rated uh the response poor at the time.

From a communication standpoint, again, during the event, the majority of the information uh means that people were receiving was the news.

The the local news and any news source was was the majority of the way.

What they told us, here's the next slide was that they wanted by text message.

The majority of our customers want to be able to communicate with us via text, they want text sent to them, they want a push notification sent to them.

Uh, and that's the expectation that they're setting.

Um, the good news is that we are working on the El Paso Water app, and the El Paso Water app is going to address all of these issues that uh the customers that experience uh that week in in January are are asking for.

Not only with the El Paso Water app, will they be able to uh will we be able to send targeted text messages like in a geographic specific area?

Uh we can send push notifications if they allow that when they set that when they sign up for the app.

They'll be able to track their smart meter information.

They'll be able to track usage, all these other things that we're working on right now.

But from a communication standpoint, it's loud and clear.

Text messages, phone, easy to access, that's what customers want, and that's coming their way later this year.

By the end of the summer, we'll be rolling out the app for our customers to sign up for, and that's really gonna solve a lot of issues in terms of communications.

Um, one of the other questions we asked was uh boil the boil water notice.

So, how many how did they know that the there was a boil water notice in place?

90% of the respondents said uh that they did know.

Uh this is very important that the that uh this type of public outreach, it's a public health and safety issue, that 90% of the folks in the in the impacted area didn't know that it was going on.

So that was that was good and reassuring from our standpoint.

Um satisfaction with the water distribution was another question that we asked them as well.

Uh, 50% very satisfied with with their experience at these sites.

Uh 40% said they they didn't even use the water distribution site, and then 10% again not happy for the reasons that I stated earlier.

Generally, the water distribution, the emergency water distribution effort generally met expectations, but as I mentioned in my earlier slide, there's a lot of work that we are doing there to improve that experience if it's ever needed at that scale again.

Some of the additional proactive measures that we're working on as well to make sure this doesn't happen again.

One of the biggest questions is this cannot happen at this scale.

What are you doing to stop it?

So we're doing many things.

Number one, the asset reliability program that is currently ongoing.

So Paso Water is invested in an asset management program to improve the maintenance of all of our equipment.

We have tens of thousands of pieces of equipment, all of them require routine maintenance to prevent these types of events.

This is where the valves will fall in.

This is where even some of the power bumps to reduce some of them.

I said they're normal, but things can be done to reduce them on our side from a design and from an uh emergency or from a maintenance standpoint.

So this asset reliability program is really going to play dividends and gonna pay for itself when we do when we get a program in place to do uh preventive maintenance programs uh of of all the equipment in in our inventory.

Again, I mentioned leak detectors, so we have upwards of 12,000 loggers all over the city since 2004.

We plan on expanding that program as well.

Leak detectors will help us deploy our leak repair team and stop them before they become large breaks.

Um the digital meters that have been uh we've been talking about them for the last year, those are going to those are gonna provide a lot of really good information as well during these types of events, and I have some slides to show you some examples of how the digital meters are going to help us in terms of how we respond to these events, uh valving strategies while the event is happening to prevent something like this from happening.

We also have a team dedicated to process improvement as well.

So, as the operations teams, the engineering teams, customer service, uh, everyone who responds to this types of events, they all uh have process improvement uh plans and updating of their standard operating procedures to inform how we react to these types of events moving forward.

And the last one is our IT and OT transformation.

So we're ongoing a digital transformation right now.

We're taking all of our processes that are manual, anything that's handwritten, anything that is not visual.

We have our operational technology team and our IT team are working towards creating dashboards, making any manual process a digital process and an automated process, so that all this data and information is in our hands, and it is gonna help be very helpful as we move forward to responding to any type of main break event.

Now, my last set of slides here is related to the digital meters.

So, one of the things that we we learned because of this event is really the power that the digital meters are and the information that we can use to inform our decision making is gonna help greatly.

Digital meters they have many codes and uh alerts on them that they can provide us and they provide the customer.

One of them is when the meter is dry.

So if the meter is dry, an alert is given to us, and when the apps are available, it'll give it to you as well saying your meter is dry, meaning no water is in it, there's air in your meter, not water using uh this dry code, uh we went back in time.

So, again, this type of inf this information was not available to us in January.

I want to make that clear.

We did not have this in January.

The um digital meter program is still ongoing, it's still being installed.

We actually are at 88% complete across the city.

That's um 193,000 of these meters installed of 218,000.

So we're not done yet.

And in January, we were not done yet.

However, we went back in time and we went to the company who's installing these for us and the maker of the digital meter, and we said what type of data are we going to have in the event that this something like this happens again, or really for any main break, and they uh mined out the data and they created some maps for us, kind of showing what we're going to have moving forward into the future.

And this answers one of the questions about the types of maps we provide, the type of information as we move forward.

Again, going back in time in the Northeast when this event happened, a 90% 97% of the meters were installed at the time.

And again, it's an active project.

We did not have the information yet.

However, this was an example of the initial map that we sent out.

We quickly took this one down and we connected it to our geographic information system map.