Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The El Paso City Council held a work session on October 12, 2026, beginning at 9:01 AM. Mayor Pro Tem Chavez presided. The meeting covered the adoption of a strategic plan and policy for the El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA), an update on the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, the presentation of the Animal Shelter Advisory Committee (ASAC) annual report, a public comment regarding a neighborhood dispute, and an executive session.
For today. Good morning. This is a work session of the El Paso City Council for Monday, October 12, 2026. It is 9 01 a.m. Mayor Pro Tem Chavez is present and presiding along with Representative Boyatrejo, Representative Nino, Alternate Mayor Pro Tem Fiero, Representative Limon, Representative Rocha will be joining the meeting a few minutes later. And Representative Acevedo, I don't see him on online yet, but he will be joining virtually. Mayor Protem, we have a quorum. Thank you, Ms. Prime. Representative Fierro, can you please leave us in the Pledge of Allegiance? Thank you, Mayor. Under Indivisible Liberty and Justice. That brings us to item number one on the agenda, and this is discussion and action on a resolution of the City Council of the City of El Paso, Texas adopting the El Paso Museum of Arts Prontera Forward, bridging art and community at the border strategic plan for FY2027 through FY2031, providing for implementation and periodic adjustments and providing an effective date. And Representative Acevedo has joined the meeting at 902 virtually. Good morning, Ben. Good morning. And uh Mayor Pro Tem. Actually, items one and two are related, so we probably can take them together. Okay. Item two is discussion in action on a resolution of the City Council of the City of El Paso, Texas, approving the collections care and management policy for the City of El Paso Museum Collections, providing for purpose and authority and providing for an effective date of October 12, 2026. Good morning, and for the record, Ben Fife, Managing Director. We are very pleased today to be bringing you two items related to our current process towards reaccreditation of the El Paso Museum of Art. The El Paso Museum of Art has been accredited since the 1970s. And as we begin this process and as we briefed you, interestingly enough, uh one council member asked the question last week do you think we're going to get it this time? And I said, absolutely. We're in a really auspicious place. Uh this happens every this process takes place every 10 years. And if you'll allow me, I'd like to give you a couple of facts about where we are since the last time we underwent this process, accolades that let you know uh the quality of the work that is happening at the museum and why we feel we are in very good shape for this process. So first of all, in 2018, the El Paso Museum of Art was awarded the National Medal for Museums. That is a federal award that is traditionally given out at the White House. We also renegotiated and codified what had been a very loose gentleman's agreement of over 25 years with the El Paso Museum of Art Foundation into a uh formalized council-approved agreement uh that focuses on clarifying roles, funding expectations, etc. to ensure more seamless coordination, stronger governance and planning. We've completed over 4.25 million dollars in improvements to the facility. Many of those dollars went to infrastructure that is critical to the care of the overall collection, and we want to acknowledge uh the work of the Capital Improvements Department as well as streets and maintenance in helping us to accomplish that. Our collection in the last 10 years has grown by almost 10%, with over 60 uh and 34 new works added, and all but 47 of those have actually been donated, uh, showing how staff has carefully cultivated relationships with donors and art collectors. That represents an approximate value of two point of about two million dollars worth of work entering the collection, and that does not include the six month six million dollar donation of star ceiling. We conserved four old masters at NYU's prestigious conservation lab for free, and that process not only stabilized very fragile works from the Italian Renaissance to ensure that generations of El Pasoans will be able to enjoy them for years to come. It also yielded new insights. So for example, uh the NYU Conservation Lab, while doing work uh was able to determine that one of our paintings, which originally was part of an altar piece uh in the uh in Italy in the 1500s, actually has a companion piece from that same altar at the Yale Art Gallery right now. We secured 53 grants uh over that time, allowing us to amplify our programming without impacting El Paso taxpayers. In the last two years alone, we have held 236 programs for youth and families. We forged stronger communic community partnerships with ISDs, UTEP, EPCC, and other partnering organizations. We've established long-term funding relationship with national funders like the Mellon Foundation, Art Bridges America, which is actually the foundation of Alice Walton, the Walmart Air, and the Toma Foundation. We've undertaken significant work to actually increase accessibility for our programs and our facility at the Museum of Art, particularly for families that have members with developmental or sensor uh sensory issues. Uh this includes everything from low sensory rooms to low sensory hours uh at our programs, and even ceramic potting wheels that are designed to be used by wheelchair users. Um the United States Postal Service debuted the first ever Dia de Muertos stamp in the United States at the El Paso Museum of Art in recognition of the quality of the Dia de Muertos uh program that initiated first from the Museum of Art and now it's department wide. Uh the 2024 border biannual was featured on the front page of the New York Times Museum section uh for the last iteration.