Please come to order.

I'm gonna ask the mayor pro tem to preside, please.

The chair recognizes Mayor Whitmire for a proclamation to Joe B.

Allen for his incredible public service.

Come on up, brother.

Members, we bring a lot of organizations, individuals before council to recognize them.

But I wish time would allow me to tell the full story of Joby Allen's participation in helping this be a great city.

And I was a state senator for most of Joe B.

Allen's participation.

Certainly was fortunate and honored to become mayor.

And guess who shows up to continue serving this great city?

Joe B has actively worked with my administration on transportation.

Quality of life issues, water.

I wouldn't begin to ask you how many water districts you've participated in creating, but it's provided service to millions of people.

I was a young state rep senator when the idea of Katie Mills came across Houston's radar.

It was in Houston's ETJ, but there was a group that had a concept and a vision, and it is what it is today.

I could fuss at you that we're not getting the sales tax, but uh at that time it was bare land.

Then as we start working together this last year, Joe B can't stand illegal dumping any more than the rest of us, but we have a full plate, with that being one of the items.

Joe B said, let me do something.

So he's organized, keep Houston beautiful, working with Clean Houston, working with the administration, Techstot, got the resources.

And if y'all can just imagine in two months, Joe B oversaw the collection in every corner of Houston, every district.

511 tons.

I'll say that again, 511 tons of illegal dumping.

So what a contribution to Houston.

His law firm probably understands the statutes on local government more than they're the experts, and their mentor is Joe B.

Allen.

So Joe B.

I'm uh I want to publicly thank you for helping me be a better public official.

You were a regular in my Austin office, and uh always understood what we what was possible, what wasn't.

This proclamation describes your long years of public service, your accomplishments, and how you're still you're still in the arena making a difference.

So I'm excited as your friend and as a mayor of this great city to recognize you and declare therefore I John Whitmire, mayor of the city of Houston, hereby proclaimed June 2nd, 2026, Joe B.

Allen Day in the city of Houston.

Congratulations.

Thank you very much.

So I'm gonna recognize.

Go ahead and take the picture first.

Go ahead, Joey.

Um, thank you mayor.

I'm very honored.

Uh when the mayor got started running, I told him if he had run, I'd help him any way I could.

I really didn't think at the time that meant picking up trash, but it worked out, and I think we had a very successful deal.

I want to recognize the Leah Vinson and Alan Steinberg, who are my other two board members who are here on Clean Up Houston.

I want to thank you and the city council uh for funding the demolition projects of abandoned buildings.

As I went around the city, there are literally thousands of them.

And if we could get rid of those and keep the heavy trash picked up, it would totally change the feel of many, many of those neighborhoods.

My wife Helen is here with me.

Uh my son Davis, my daughters, Kimberly and Margaret, and uh my youngest grandson.

So uh, and then a bunch of the ABHR people who still help me when I need it are here today.

So thank you, Mayor.

Thank you.

Stay in.

Don't go, don't go away.

Oh, we got lots of work left.

I'll be I'll be calling you, yeah.

Mayor, I did want to um give a special shout out to Joe B.

Allen because of the work that he did, not only in District K but throughout Houston.

Um many of you know how the city has been plagued with so much illegal dumping, unfortunately.

So the boost that you gave to each of our uh districts was very welcome.

Um so thank you for spearheading that, leading that, and working with Keep Houston Beautiful and everyone who participated, glad to see your family here.

I know it took a lot of time away from them for you to do this for your city.

Um, also want to give a special shout out to Stephanie Ferris who helped to coordinate this with our district K office and several of the um district offices.

Um but the work was incredible, and I will tell you um Councilmember Salinas and a couple of other council members has an illegal dumping uh budget amendment um coming up, and we were able to look at the amount of tonnage that was picked up just from the weeks that you worked um throughout the city and uh mayor, I think that um what they spent um was almost just 200,000.

And um, if we can get that three million dollar budget amendment passed, we should be able to pick up quite a bit of illegal dumping throughout the entire city.

Um but um the the price that y'all negotiated or got from um frontier was incredible.

Um we can definitely negotiate a good price at the at the dump.

Um but thank you for helping to make Houston better and to keep Houston beautiful.

Thank you, Martha, and and uh to Stephanie Ferris, uh who's been working with me for the last year.

She did a marvelous job, as did many of the council members' staff people who helped us get the addresses and work with the neighborhood group so we could find uh exactly where to go.

Like Frederick in your office and Eric and yours were great help, and so thank you very much.

And thank you for referencing the uh priority.

Joe B was at my announcement as I explained to Councilmember Selena, she must have been there also, because along with homelessness, the illegal dumping is a high, the highest priority.

It's just unacceptable, and as the city works on that initiative, Joe B came to and brought in the private sector, and that's another example of how we're getting things done.

Joe B.

Uh, you're right.

We have a lot of work left to do.

Well, I'm here to help you, Mayor.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Um Mayor and Mr.

Allen, Councilmember Pollard's in the queue.

Yes, sir, Mr.

Paul.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tim, and thank you, Mayor.

Uh, Mr.

Allen, just wanted to personally thank you and your entire family and team uh for your contributions to the city of Houston.

I represent District J.

My office has been in touch with you and your team on the work, and I think you were able to see uh the conditions that our neighborhoods were in, and that we needed all the assistance uh that we could get.

Uh so I just want to um give my appreciation to you.

Uh, but for your efforts.

I'm not sure where we would be with trash collection, and on behalf of the constituents of J City, uh, we really appreciate the effort.

Well, thank you.

You had a you had a great staff, they were very responsive in providing us with address and so forth.

So thank you very much.

And I was shocked to think that Sharpstown, where the original astronauts live, could possibly look like that.

Thank you.

So I think you had mentioned it was one of the worst areas you had seen.

We were filling up a 26-yard truck every three to four blocks.

Yeah, that's what we've been dealing with.

Thank you.

Councilmember Jackson.

Thank you.

Um, thank you, Mr.

Joe B.

You know, and I'm thank you for saying that um J City was the worst because I thought you said district B was the worst.

But thank you.

Say thank you so much for seeing the need, and you know, just coming out and helping us out.

Um, my team appreciated.

We were able to tackle a lot in um Cashmere Garden and Fifth Ward.

And I think we were the first district that you came out to.

It was.

We did the experiment in your district to see if this could be productive.

And it would work.

And we're welcome.

And we felt grateful to you.

That first block we did in your district was probably the worst.

Sure.

All right, I could have that note.

Thank you, Joe.

We really appreciate thank you so much.

Congratulations.

Well deserved.

Next, the chair recognizes Councilmember Davis for a proclamation recognizing Bob Nowak's retirement after almost 32 years of service at the city of Houston.

Thank you very much.

Uh, to and our colleagues.

This is certainly uh a wonderful day uh for some and maybe not for many because everybody love Bob and the work that he's done in the city.

Um, and so this is really a great honor for me as a good friend.

Uh, Bob and I have been friends a long time, and we really appreciate his service.

Robert Bob Nowak on Friday, May 22nd, 2026, Robert Bob Noak City Webmaster, retires as a city of Houston employee after 32 years of service, affectionately known as Bob.

He is one of the few city employees whose name alone is instantly recognized by colleagues throughout City Hall.

Hired by Mayor Lanier's co-chief of staff, the legendary Jimmy Schinderwolf, Bob clocked in and began his first day of work for the city on June 14th, 1994.

Bob wrote speeches and handled citizens' correspondence in the pre-internet and pre-311 era for Shinderwolf in his other role as director of public works and engineering.

In 1997, public works and engineering became the first city department to administer its own content on the city website with Bob serving as the public works webmaster.

In October 1998, during the first year of Mayor Lee Brown administration, Bob became the second city webmaster in the city history and has served in the role ever since with the utmost professionalism and friendliness.

He has delivered timely website updates for the cities, uh Mariah departments and divisions through numerous events and celebration, as well as through some of the most challenging periods in Houston's history.

During Bob's more than 27 years as city webmaster, he has served five mayor or administration, five city controllers, 77 council members, have reported to 32 supervisors and has completed estimated 45,000 service requests involving more than 7500 unique web pages.

A constant presence in the workplace, he remains in his 18th consecutive year of perfect attendance.

As he punches, yeah, out for the final time.

You sure?

Okay, for the final time, clothing out his remarkable record of perfect attendance.

The city of Houston proudly recognize Bob for his outstanding collaborative work and commends his public service in ensuring a reliable city website for the benefit of Houstonians and all who depend on it.

He will be truly missed by his many friends and throughout City Hall, especially by colleagues who have relied on his experience to make sense of and make possible that sometimes unclear and seemingly endless requests on this milestone occasion, uh the city of Houston with all its employees, extends its best wishes to Bob Nowak for continued success and happiness as he spends his time tending his garden and enjoying life in the city he loves most.

Mayor Whitmark.

Thank you, Councilman Davis, for this opportunity and the accomplishments and activities you've left out, and you're still young, still nice looking, and has such a bright future in front of it.

We hate to lose you.

You're a role model, you're a friend, and uh you quietly go about each and every day helping make Houston a great city.

You've modernized our technology, you've created the website, and I just you were telling me upstairs how many city employees, how many?

I mean, just the numerical number itself of the employees, supervisors, mayors, council members.

What was the number of council members you brought up?

77.

Remember, 77 council members.

So we don't want you to go very far, because we definitely appreciate your public service.

Therefore, our John Whitmark, mayor of the city of Houston.

Hereby proclaimed May 22nd, 2026 is Bob Novak Day at the City of Houston.

And I do know today is not May 22nd.

But we presented that and we're giving it to you today.

Thank you all right.

You want to share for me.

Are you gonna are you gonna say something?

Because we do have some council members in Ki.

Um well, 32 years go by quickly when they go by well.

There are always ups and downs, you know, but they're they were they were really few in 32 years.

I really enjoyed this.

Um next after me is my longtime director here, Lisa Kent.

She's the longest director I've ever had.

And I really enjoyed the time here.

Well, Bob, I will tell you, um, Marta whispered over to me that you are only the second webmaster in the city of Houston.

Yes.

Uh 18 years of perfect attendance is commendable.

Thank you for your incredible work ethic and all that you've done to keep our web pages up to date to make sure Houstonians had access to us here at City Hall.

So enjoy this next season of life.

Councilmember Pollard.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tim and Mayor, thank you.

Councilmember Davis, thank you.

My brother.

Uh, I don't rush down here for uh these proclamations often.

Uh, but Bob, when I saw that you were being recognized, I wanted to take the time to say thank you for your service.

Uh, since I've been on council.

You've been extremely responsive to my office, very engaging.

Uh, when we first um launched the District J Jobs platform that turned into the More Jobs Houston.

You were kind of working us through how that could work with our own council web page, showing us all the different uh options or varieties that we could uh utilize so that we can put out our programs for J City, uh, the police transparency dashboard that you help with.

Um, but people also don't know that while you have perfect attendance and while you are always here, uh you're a comedian.

Uh you're also a ringmaster, you are an announcer uh all over the city.

I mean, you have so many talents that I know your next chapter is going to be exciting as well.

Uh, but but for my office uh and on behalf of our staff, I just want to say thank you for your leadership, thank you for your service to our city, and uh we hope that you stay engaged with us.

Yeah, God bless you.

Councilmember Alcore.

Thank you, Bob.

It's been a joy to work with you for years as a staffer, and then in this position, you've just been incredible.

Your service to the city is remarkable and 18 years perfect attendance.

I don't know, it's because you have so much vacation, you're gone on Fridays.

But anyway, um, thank you very much.

Congratulations.

I says Mayor Pro Tem Castax Tatum for a proclamation to the National Forum for Black Public Administrators to celebrate their 40th anniversary.

Mayor and Council, I am excited today to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the National Forum for Black Public Administrators, the Greater Houston chapter.

Uh the President Sherell is here with the other members.

Uh, we do have some staff members that are also members.

Um Didi from our office is a member, the former chaplain.

Uh we also have um District F has uh members that are uh in the organization as well.

So Jessica, we recognize you today with this recognition of the 40th anniversary.

So if y'all will step forward, uh Council members, I will present the proclamation and it reads whereas on June 6, 2026, the Greater Houston chapter of the National Forum for Black Public Administrators celebrates four decades as a leading regional organization dedicated to advancing black leadership in public service and strengthening government, academic, and nonprofit institutions.

And whereas established in 1986, NFBA, Greater Houston has cultivated a pipeline of current and future public administrators across Harris, Fort Bend, and Brazoria counties by fostering collaboration, mentorship, and professional development among public servants, elected officials, and community leaders.

Whereas the chapter continues to expand mentorship and career exposure by connecting students and early career professionals with seasoned practitioners and by providing professional development resources, including complimentary headshots, resume building support, and skills-based training that equip individuals throughout Greater Houston for success in public service.

Whereas the chapter's enduring impact has been shaped by the leadership and vision of the 15 presidents who have served, beginning with its first president, Major Brock, and continuing through its current president, Sherelle J.

Duncan, each contributing to the organization's growth, sustainability, and regional influence.

And whereas on this milestone occasion, the City of Houston proudly extends its heartfelt congratulations to the members of the 2026 executive board of the Greater Houston chapter of the National Forum for Black Public Administrators and recognizes their 40 years of transformative leadership, excellence in governance, and steadfast commitment to the advancement of Houston and the surrounding counties.

Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tim.

I think the 40th year is so significant.

I will be a witness of what it was like when you reform.

Because I was already spent 10 years in state government.

I can recall when the black administrators were not running state government and certain city government.

So all you have to do today is look at this horseshoe, look at the staffing, the director, and we see not only the need, but the accomplishments of the black administrators.

So this is a celebration, but also it's a rededication to assist other black women in getting the administrative positions and leadership opportunities.

Therefore, I, John Whitmer, Mayor of the City of Houston, hereby proclaimed June 6th, 2026 is a National Forum for Black Public Administrators 40th anniversary.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Thank you.

As mentioned, my name is Sherelle Duncan, and I have the proud pleasure of serving as the 16th president for the National Forum of Black Public Administrators, the Greater Houston Chapter.

We are celebrating 40 years of leadership, of a time where, as Mayor Whitney mentioned, when our founder started this organization, they were looking for a way to not only just survive but to thrive.

And we have grown to over 500 members throughout our 40 years, and 100 currently, to represent those who sit in these seats to represent those who are department directors, to represent those who are employees.

They are your friends, they are your staff, they are your colleagues, and they continue to provide excellence.

We are in a particular and a peculiar time where the need for organizations like NFBPA Greater Houston Chapter is critical to say the least.

And so we are here.

We are hopeful to continue to partner with the city and to be able to represent not only just City of Houston, but Harris County, Fort Bend County, Presoria County, and beyond.

And so we just want to thank you all today, and we invite you to be a part of our organization, where there's three membership or supporting.

This year, we're going to have a fantastic weekend, including a social on Friday.

They're laughing because we're going to party.

So from the bottom of my heart and on behalf of the organization, I want to thank you all for your support.

And we look forward to partnering with you in the future.

So thank you so much for this honor.

You're very welcome.

Okay.

Councilmember Pollard.

Thank you, Vice Mayor Pro Tim.

Mayor, thank you.

Mayor Pro Tim, thank you.

President Duncan, and to all of those who serve on the board and uh the membership.

Uh, I just want to thank you all for your contributions.

Um, as we all know, uh, the staff and the administrators, the directors, uh, really are the backbone of everything we do.

We may be the ones that take the pictures and make the speeches, uh, but you all are really uh the glue that uh that holds everything together.

We rely on you, your leadership, your thoughts, your ideas, your create creativity, uh, and your organization reflects that.

And there are some organizations that are more about the socials, and they may look good on paper, but you all actually do the work.

And when I come to your meetings and I'm asked to serve on different panels, there's real substance that is being discussed.

There's real matters of importance, uh, and really good turnouts as well.

And so I'll just want to commend you all on everything you do.

Congratulations on your success and thank you for the acknowledgement.

Councilmember Panzerella.

Thank you, Mayor, thank you, Mayor Pro Tem.

Uh, I want to applaud everyone here on this amazing accomplishment and achievement.

I want to give a special shout out to Sherelle, who I know from uh transit advocacy and from you know connecting communities, and I really appreciate all the work that you do in the community, and I look forward to continuing to work with you.

So congrats again to everyone.

Thanks, congratulations, thank you.

All right.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, please bow your heads.

Heavenly Father, we come before you today with grateful hearts, acknowledging that every good and perfect gift comes from you.

We thank you for your grace, your mercy, and your faithfulness that sustains us each day.

Lord, we invite your presence into this gathering.

Grant us wisdom in our discussion, clarity in our decisions, and unity in our purpose.

Help us to listen with understanding, speak with kindness, and act with integrity.

Let everything we do bring honor to you and serve the greater good of those who are called to help.

Father God, our leaders, strengthen our communities and bless the work of our hands.

Give us discernment to recognize opportunities, encourage to face challenges, and compassion to serve others with excellence.

We pray for peace, protection, and favor over every person present.

May your light direct our paths, your spirit inspire us to be instruments of hope, justice, and encouragement.

We ask these blessings in the mighty name of Jesus.

Amen.

Any procedural motions, first, Mayor Whitmeyer, Councilmember Peck?

Here, Councilmember Jackson?

Yeah, Councilmember Panzarello.

Councilmember Evan Shabbaz, Councilmember Flickinger, Councilmember Thomas, Councilmember Huffman.

Present.

Council Member Castillo, Councilmember Martinez.

Here.

Councilmember Pollard?

Yeah.

Councilmember Castax Tatum.

Council Member Ramirez.

Here.

Council Member Davis.

Councilmember McCarter.

Councilmember Salinas.

And Councilmember Alcorn.

Here.

Need a motion to adopt the minutes of May 19th and 20th.

Cast excited to move.

Next second.

Motion made and second.

All in favor say yes.

Those opposed name.

Motion passed.

And then procedural.

Now procedural.

I didn't get any either.

Okay.

Mr.

Secretary, call our first speaker.

Terry Chan.

Terry Chan.

Sophia Proler.

To be followed by William Kelly.

Hi everybody.

Good afternoon, Mayor, City Council members, and city staff.

My name is Sophia Proler.

I'm a native Houstonian, a resident of District C, and I work at Best Friends Animal Society, a national nonprofit.

I also used to work at Bark Animal Shelter, and that's why I've come here to speak today.

Right now, the dedicated and compassionate staff at BARC face a near-impossible task of caring for more than 22,000 pets coming into their shelter every year.

In 2025, BARC was only able to save 72% of those pets, its lowest save rate in a decade.

Without an investment in more staff and proactive programs designed to keep pets with their family, the challenges facing Houston will only become more difficult.

As you review the fiscal year 2027 budget, I hope you'll consider that buildings alone don't save pets.

Let's reduce shelter overcrowding before it starts by getting residents the tools to responsibly care for and keep their pets so that they never enter the shelter.

Not only is this cost effective, it also ensures that the pets who do need to end up in the shelter have a place to go.

Creativity and innovation have fueled Houston's successes in tackling other complex issues in our city, and our animal services deserve the same level of attention and investment.

Cities across Texas are keeping pets and people safe by working together with their communities and investing in proven programs that reunite pets with families and support them.

Houston's residents, pets, and taxpayers deserve animal services that offer proactive solutions and support.

I encourage you to make those investments a priority in this budget.

Thank you for your time and thank you for your service.

Thank you, Mayor.

William Kelly.

To be followed by Cheryl Henderson.

Good morning, Mayor, or good afternoon, Mayor and Council members.

Bill Kelly, on behalf of Environment Texas, and appreciate the opportunity to speak today.

As an organization that has been advocating for a solid waste fee along with champions like Councilmember Martinez, we are very encouraged to see the administrative fee in the mayor's proposed budget.

Moving solid waste under public works, funded under the combined utility system, has the potential to provide more resources for this underfunded department.

Now, to be clear, solid waste workers are some of the hardest working employees that the city of Houston has, getting them more resources like newer trucks, better infrastructure for cleaning those trucks, and transfer stations that can cut down on the miles driven.

We're big part of improving services.

Beyond the financing, we want to applaud the administration for ending the collaboration with chemical recyclers.

Under the last administration, and yes, I bear direct responsibility for this, an MOU was signed with Exxon and Lionel Basel to segregate plastics for a chemical recycling program.

This process, and you can ask the companies themselves, and they will tell you the same thing, incinerates plastics, creating toxic emissions that harm our air quality.

We should not ask Houstonians to pay an administrative fee for services they do not want and have and you have not voted on.

We should instead permanently end our chemical recycling partnership.

Recent developments at the EPA under the Trump administration have added real urgency to this issue.

Under the current interpretation of the Clean Air Act, chemical recycling facilities are treated like incinerators and must meet strict limits on toxic emissions.

The EPA is proposing to regulate them instead as manufacturing facilities, which could weaken those protections or even create a regulatory gap where facilities face fewer enforceable standards.

Now, according to the 45th Kinder Houston area survey, which Councilmember Alcorn's committee discussed this morning, 70% of Houstonians are concerned about the environment's effects on their health.

Back in 2020, we worked within Senator Whitmire to shut down a concrete batch plant in the Acres home neighborhood, so I know of your commitment to protect air quality.

On the other hand, mechanical recycling, which is what FCC does, is what mostonians think of when you mention recycling.

It takes a plastic bottle or aluminum can and turns it into a new plastic bottle or aluminum can.

We do not want a process that pollutes the air while incentivizing the creation of more and more plastic.

With limited time here today, we encourage the mayor and council members to permanently end any city participation on this damaging chemical recycling process with specific language in this ordinance.

Then we can focus on ways to increase our recycling rate, like Councilmember Carter's uh resiliency committee had discussed.

Um, public engagement and public education were a big part of those discussions.

Now we are not naive to think that imposing a new fee, no matter how small, would come without public attention.

At Environment Texas, we stand ready to provide information, context, and our support, just as we've done on the air at Houston Public Media in the pages of the Houston Chronicle, and with our League of Women Voters.

I have one sentence left, if that's all right, Mayor.

Solid waste needs funding, and we support this administrative fee as a very good start.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Bill.

Councilmember Martinez.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh Bill, I just want to thank you for all your work.

I know my team and I have been speaking with you.

I guess since I've jumped into office for the most part, and uh really highlighting what this administrative fee uh ultimately makes a pathway for a trash fee.

Understanding that uh uh we have not been able to fund solid waste department where it should be, and you've laid out you know whether it's facilities, whether it's the equipment or the personnel.

Uh, in order to uh ultimately get to that point, we need to make sure that we take a serious investment in solid waste.

Uh, the other thing that uh you're mentioning, which is the chemical recycling, I think just in general, how we are disposing of our trash.

I know we've had conversations about one bin, what does that look like?

Uh, how do we reduce the the uh landfills as well?

Um we're already looking at another landfill within the next handful of years, and we just can't continue to uh you know really invest in our city when we're on the back and you know, just increasing the amount of trash that we're putting out, um, and then of course, uh what we're doing to the environment.

So just want to just say thank you for the work you've been doing, and I appreciate the collaboration with my team and myself.

Absolutely, and thank you, Councilmember and your staff.

My my favorite thing to tell people is the folks that are probably the loudest voices for a solid waste fee and for funding the department are the two folks that were chiefs of staff members to other council members, because you guys have had those calls and know the discussion and know the area, so really appreciate it.

Councilmember Castillo.

Thank you, Mayor.

Bill, thank you for being here as always.

Did you say that the chemical recycling was suspended?

Currently, the collaboration is ended.

Um, however, there's nothing that says a future administration or uh the companies couldn't come back and start again.

So that's what we're looking for is to be able to put like belt and suspenders that we would not participate in it going forward.

Okay, got it.

That was my uh question.

Thank you.

Perfect.

Very good.

Thank you, Bill.

Thank you, Mayor.

Next, Cheryl Henderson.

To be followed by Karina Bliss.

Good afternoon.

Uh, good evening, everyone.

My name is Sheryl Henderson.

I live in third ward in district D.

I have lived in my neighborhood for four years now.

And before before that, I stayed in Green Greens Point in District B.

In my community, we have ditches, and a few years ago, the city promised to improve the ditches because they were neglected for over 20 years.

We need the city to keep up, keep that promise.

Where my sister lives on Reeve Street in Third Ward, there are ditches.

The grass is growing over.

People study dump doing illegal dumping, and when it rained and have heavy storm days, it floods out, and that water looks so nasty.

We don't know what kind was floating in the water chemical-wise.

And it's where she has her grandbaby to stay there and her kids, and my uh her sister and her babies come over.

They can't go outside and play because we don't know what's in the grass now and in the dirt because you know kids love to play in the dirt and everything.

Um when the water overflows, it looks unhealthy, and it is unhealthy for anybody to go outside in it because we don't know what's what chemicals are floating in there or whatever, and it do bags up into people's homes as well.

We do not know what is in the water, comes out of out into the yards.

We are scared, we're scared for uh for our kids, grandkids, family members, anybody to go outside if you want to go sit outside in your yard or whatever because of the flooding water and and um for contamination.

I'm sorry, excuse me for my stuttering.

I am here today to call on any of you, but hopefully, you council members, Shabbaz.

I hope I said your name right to propose an amendment to increase the ditch reestablishment to spend to 45 million.

So we as the people in the citizens of Houston could live more productive lives, healthy lives, and not flood anymore, having to be stuck in your homes when you're flooded and can't get out, you don't know what's in the water, what's what kind of chemicals, what's floating around, and it's really unhealthy for anybody at these days and time.

And with the hurricane season coming up, we don't know what's going on now.

And I thank y'all for listening to me.

Thank you, ma'am.

Karina Bliss, this is from Sarah Riemann.

To be followed by Rebecca Sale.

Hi there.

My name is Sarah.

I'm an artist and teacher.

All of you serve the people of Houston.

Not the mayor, and certainly not HPD.

There's an affordability crisis here in Houston.

I can't afford health insurance, car insurance, or home insurance at the moment, and I couldn't even afford gas, so I took the bus to come here today to talk to you.

And yet, the city of Houston foregoes 93 million dollars in corporate tax abatements.

There's no measured accountability to track the effectiveness of these abatements and the obligations of these corporations towards meeting these goals.

City Council, you need to hold corporations and cops accountable.

Houston is a wealthy city.

We must tax the rich, otherwise, the people will get so hungry and unable to afford living here that we will be nothing left to eat but the rich, and that includes politicians, corporations, and cops.

Accountability for affordability is vital.

The city says we're broke, but city council created a pot of gold filled with 1.2 billion dollars for HPD, where there's a vulgar lack of accountability with continued police overspending and overtime in raises.

I urge city council to support budget amendments to control the overspending.

We need to discern every dollar given to the largest portion of city budget since we're facing an affordability crisis, and this budget chooses to fatten up cops rather than universal child care or flood drainage.

The HPD overtime spending has historically exceeded budget projections by tens of millions, and this is an ongoing challenge that really needs to be addressed.

I urge city council to support a budget amendment for an additional $10 million dollar reduction in HPD overtime spending in light of the FIFA reimbursements and a public quarterly reporting requirement on overtime expenditures by division.

City Council, you must hold corporations and cops accountable as a part of confronting the affordability crisis in Houston.

Fund our taxes back to us, not co-ops, not cops, and not corporations.

Thank you.

Next Rebecca Sale.

Betty Gregory.

To be followed by Alfredo Dominguez.

Good morning.

My name's Becky Sell.

I'm a co-director of West Street Recovery.

Been coming here the last six years talking to y'all about the same topic.

So I think you remember.

Excuse me, I'm really upset and mad right now.

I spent this morning going out to District B to collect water samples out of ditches to bring here because y'all don't seem to understand the urgency of what we're talking about.

I had two sites to go to, between those two sites, a seven-minute drive.

I passed 10 other sites with standing water in the ditches.

And six days ago it was a light rain.

That means the ditches are not working.

Here's the water samples.

I'll pass them around.

I did y'all the courtesy of putting them in triple plastic bags because they're disgusting and a health hazard.

These we know there's lead in.

If you look in this packet we gave you, and you open to the second page, these are from Dockle Road.

Miss Rivera and other residents of Dockle Road have been coming here for years, calling 311, doing everything we can to get y'all to come out there and do something about the situation.

We finally won the ditch re-establishment program.

On Dockle Road, it says every ditch there is green, meaning it's functioning.

Every ditch on Dockle Road has standing water in it right now.

Every single one.

And you know what?

There's a map in here showing lead contamination.

So here, this water has lead in it.

This water has literal sewage in it.

I can tell because I smelled it, and I had to put it in this many bags so you guys couldn't smell it.

If you look through this packet, you'll see documentation across several of y'all districts of ditches with standing water when it hasn't rained.

The ditch reestablishment program works.

We are not showing you this to say it's a bad program.

We're saying the way it is being operated right now is unsuccessful.

And y'all need to do the right oversight and pay the right attention to it and fully fund it so it works.

If you have a ditch going like this, and it has several segments, if you have one problem, the whole thing backs up, right?

So you do good work on the whole thing, and then you have one problem, it doesn't matter.

You did good work on the whole thing.

You're exposed to sewage, you're exposed to lead.

You have that coming into your house.

We know a couple families on Docker Road that flooded in March.

Was there a major event in March?

No.

Just a rain.

Their homes flooded with kids.

That means lead water into all the kids' belongings.

If you go to the back of this packet, you'll see a bunch of correspondence of us trying to get answers about what is happening.

A lot of y'all tried to help us, and we have not gotten clear answers from public works about the spending in the last year or about the spending plans for this year.

Councilman Jackson.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you for um just the work that you're doing going out into the neighborhoods, um, doing sampling of the ditches.

Did you report the um the locations to 311?

Not this time because we've reported them so many times and it's not working.

So what we're asking for.

So I'm saying have you contacted the district B office with these locations?

Uh before yes, other times, yes.

And we've gotten no answer.

So this is our tactic now.

You haven't gotten any answers.

No.

From district B.

No, and nothing's changed.

Okay.

Okay, so if you can just share that information with us, and we'll share it with public works.

Um, Mary is right there.

We got Jessica right there, but then also I know tomorrow we'll be voting on, you know, paying for some ditch re-establishment projects that was just recently completed.

Because I know we're on a five-year cycle.

And so the only way we know that the ditches are not working, is if you you guys tell us that it's not working.

You know, and we we talk about this all year long, and then when it comes down to budget, is when we come in and say that it's not working.

We need to know throughout the year if things are not working.

And we're not in the I mean, even though we this is the district's office, you guys out there, we rely on you to share that information with us so that we can get it to public work.

Yeah, thank you.

We we super strongly agree with what you're saying, but unfortunately, our reporting has not led to any change.

And in the first year of the ditch reestablishment program under Veronica Davis, there was really good communication.

So we actually had a direct line of reporting problems to the ditch reestablishment program.

So when there was an issue like this, it was very easy for us to communicate, and then they would give us a timeline on when they could come fix the problem.

And they would explain to us, ah, this is a problem we can fix.

Great, it's gonna be a very small thing.

Thanks for catching this.

Totally fair.

You can't inspect a ditch without rain and know everything that's gonna happen, right?

But and then sometimes they'd say, look, this isn't something we can fix with the ditch re-establishment program.

It's bigger.

So we're gonna refer it, and here's the timeline.

We're gonna give you six-month updates reports on the timeline of that.

Unfortunately, we have not had a single update or a single successful communication in the last year.

So that's a major reason we're asking for the program to have 20 million additional dollars allocating to it, making it the 45 million full dollars, because we think it needs the staffing to make that possible, because frankly, it's very belittling to us to say to call 311 or report to your office these problems because we've been doing that tirelessly for so long.

Believe me, I don't want to be here.

Believe me, I didn't want to spend this morning out there putting long gloves on and boots so I wouldn't get sick from taking these water samples.

Like we'd way rather send an email, you know, and I think y'all would rather that too.

So, what we're asking is can you please make the program back to what it was before so it can work?

Like we made something that works that was fixing 20 years of a problem, right?

Like, let's make it work again.

Right.

So let's let's talk.

I mean, we've already with my office is in conversation with um, huh?

With my office is in conversation with Randy.

Um, we don't know if something is not working unless you tell us that it's not working.

We can go out there and we can check it out, but you know, just we'll follow up, okay?

With you.

Okay.

Like right now.

Okay.

Yeah, right now, because the deadline for amendments is in what uh 10 hours.

What nine and a half hours from right now?

So it's a pretty close deadline.

Okay.

And Randy's office, unfortunately, is giving us very answers all over the place.

If you see in the back of the packet, I submitted a PIA request.

Um, I believe it's been 33 days without a response to the answer.

Still, the legal requirement is 10 business days.

So it's not working.

We don't trust that.

So I've asked Randy for a list of projects so that we can see exactly where the projects are at, the time frame, so he's gonna get that information to us, okay?

Yeah, but the problem is that it's not working in the system how it's supposed to work, and the other problem is it's like if they do a ditch reestablishment and there's an error, we need to be able to report that in a simple, low burden way for both public works and the community, and then have the problem resolved.

And that's a systemic change that has to happen.

That's not one action for you to take right now in response to these ditches.

So I would we would love to work with you to do that.

Okay, okay, thank you.

Very good.

But now we're gonna work on that.

Okay, in the next 10 hours.

Next.

Alfredo Dominguez.

To be followed by Perla Garcia, uh, good afternoon, Council members.

Alfredo Lominguez, uh resident of District H, um employee of People's Council.

So I'm here as as I usually am to talk about police spending, and in particular to have a conversation about fiscal responsibility.

So in this budget that's being proposed, that the city's asking for residents to pay a five-dollar trash fee that's not directly going to solid waste, it's going into the general fund.

And what we have seen historically is that anytime this council has gotten more money in the general fund, they've used that money to overwhelmingly increase police spending comparatively to every other service.

The police spending that we're continuing to see, even considering the fact that this council agreed to a CBA proposal that I've said most residents would say that was not a great decision.

Um, even among even considering those raises, police are still getting more money on top of just increasing the salary of every single person.

And it'd be easier to identify that one if the Houston police department's budget presentation had any line items about where they're actually spending money and not just saying we're spending 500 million on patrol, right?

That's not financial clarity, that's not financial management.

Especially when we're considering a department that's getting one point two billion dollars, we should know residents should know, and I hope council members know exactly where that money is going, right?

Because we need to understand that we understand that the city is on the hook for a six point five percent increase in salaries.

We understand that, right?

Because of the CBA.

But what we don't understand is where the rest of the increases are coming from because we're continuing to see over time continue to go up, right?

And when asked about it in breast about it in the police um department's budget workshop, they're told that they're gonna work on it as if that's a real accountable way to address the concerns that this this community has.

When we have Becky up here talking about 10 million or 20 million dollars to a digital, that's almost the same amount the police department went over their police um overtime spending.

Right?

When we consider how much the spending of the police department is cutting into what's possible with the rest of the general fund, like more walkable cities, like infrastructure and rebuilding the city, or like facing the real, real affordability crisis that isn't just hitting Houston with the sitting cities across the country.

We need to consider as as a body how it makes sense to for residents to pony up to cover for what it has been the mismanagement and financial responsibility of this council to continually increase the amount of money going to a police department that we cannot decrease because of SB4, right?

And how that's gonna continue to increase and continue to scale in the years going forward.

These salaries are not just going to impact the cost of this of each person that we work for, it's also going to impact the overtime spending.

We tried to raise that last year, and when we brought that up at the budget workshop last year, police department said they didn't even include the increased raise amounts in their overtime calculations because they obviously know the city's just gonna cover that amount anyways, right?

And this then the residents are gonna be on the hook for that amount.

And so when we consider all these different fees, there are good things that can be done with the general fund.

There are amazing programs that the city can do to make city government work better for its residents, and we're not taking advantage of that, and we can't because of the fact that like we said, it's not just that police departments are getting their raises, not just that they're getting increases, that those increases are out weighing and increasing the proportion of the amount of the general fund they're getting compared to every other department.

When they did an inflation-based analysis of 2017 to now, in which departments are actually have more money than they did in 2017 when you adjust for inflation.

So we need to consider what and how we can build a city that works for every single person.

And not just one department.

Thank you.

To be followed by Brenda T.

Hola, bueno, um council uh I'm going to interpret for Miss Perla.

Uh, for Signora Pella, she's gonna say her speech in uh in Spanish, and then I'll say the whole speech in English.

No, otra cosa menos important para me istean los fundos para invertir in la Copa Mundial, pero no para solucionar los problemas in Australia.

Hello, Mayor and City Council.

I am Perla Garcia.

I am a member of the NA NAC and I live in Northeast Houston.

I have come to speak about the injustice we face in the city regarding our taxes because I have a problem with our system of tax exemptions for oil companies.

I learned through the NAC that we are practically giving away $92.9 million in industrial district agreements via tax exemptions that grow to grow the economy and create new jobs.

Yet we have no way to guarantee that these companies actually fulfill their obligation obligations.

The Northeast Action Collective and I, as working people recognize that rewards should follow good work and not the other way around.

Change the laws so that the objectives are clear to both the public and the companies.

Make sure that any improvements actually deliver the value that the corporations claim they will.

Ensure that they are meeting their hiring targets.

And we want you to publish the results of this assessment so that we can ensure that you, the city officials in charge, are doing the job you are supposed to do, specifically ensuring that these companies do not pollute our land and they are not stealing our money.

And then lastly, um, another very important point.

They have the money to make improvements for the World Cup Bay being city council and not for repairs in our communities like our drainage systems.

You're just trying to block out the sun with your finger.

Thank you.

Next Brenda T.

Arena.

Councillor Merris.

Thank you, Mayor.

Move to suspend the rules to move Ruben Garza from one minute previous list to the bottom of the three-minute agenda list.

Good afternoon.

So you guys received the packet.

If you guys would open to page two.

This is not a one-off situation.

This is an example of what is happening across the city.

It's extremely unfair for the communities to have the most open ditches also have the highest level of contamination.

On page three, at the top, you can see an image of the ditch of the establishment dashboard by public works.

It shows that 100% of the ditches on Dockle Road are rated done.

Yet, as of this morning, Becky just showed the water bottles.

Over 75% of the ditches on Dockle Road in that section have standing water, even after five days without rain.

The images below show the same line of ditch, one full of water and the other one empty because the water is not successfully flowing through.

The bare minimum is for the city to keep its promise to its residents to follow through on the ditch reestablishment program.

That means spending 45 million a year as the people who designed it said it would cost.

We have repeatedly asked of how this program will operate with only 25 million dollars, and we have not gotten our response.

Public works can't do 45 million dollars of work with only 25.

And again, you've heard from all these people.

We've call on city council to put forward the amendment.

Districts B, D, H, and I uh and J have the most open ditches.

Um, so it is on these counselors' responsibility uh to address the those problems for their constituents.

Councilmember Jackson, uh shame on you for giving up on the most important program that you've like supported throughout these years.

Uh you have not given us the courtesy of responding to our meeting requests in the past six months, and this is a betrayal of district B residents.

Thank you.

Brandon Reeves.

To be followed by Aaron Ambroso of Stafford.

Good afternoon.

Uh, my name is Joseph Higgs.

Uh, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak.

Um I am a resident of District I and I'm a public school teacher at a Title I school.

And I'm here to um ask you all to support the trash fee to change it from the $5 flat fee to the $1 fee with a one cent increase in the property tax.

And ultimately, I would like to ask y'all to support a tax fee system that that I think is fair, that where the people who make the most uh pay the most.

And I just want to share a little bit about my experience from working in a school.

Um, this is my 10th year in education, my fifth year at this one school in the East End.

Um, and it's it's been very clear to me, just with kind of some anecdotes about how uh things have been harder for students.

Um, you know, we have school uniforms we ask the kids to pay for, and you know, I hear more and more this year that kids can't afford their uh their school clothes.

Um I've seen, like, for example, field trips.

Um, you know, if 30, 40 dollars for a field trip, um, more and more students can't afford.

And we have um a designation for students about students who've experienced um housing um instability, and it's gone up it's gone up significantly this year.

Um, and so it's it's very clear to me that um, you know, even though it's maybe, you know, relatively you know 40 dollars or so this year, but as as the taxes increases or as the fees increase, um, you know, when it gets to the hundreds of dollars, um, I think about, for example, you know, my mom, you know, her she lives in a house that she owns.

Um, the house isn't worth, you know, more than two hundred thousand dollars, but adding maybe a three hundred dollar tax fee, you know, when she is on a limited income.

Um, that adds up to be a lot.

Um, and so what and when I think like I want to listen to the news about the legislative sessions, you know, there's always more tax breaks for property taxes on the state and the federal level.

Um, it just seems like you know, the the people who are making the most should be paying the most, and so um ultimately I would like you guys to uh consider the tax fee of um one dollar and one cent.

Thank you for your time.

Aaron Ambroso of Stafford.

To be followed by Ruben Garza.

Uh good afternoon.

Uh my name is Aaron.

Um I live in District F, represented by Councilmember Tiffany Thomas, and I I live in Aleaf.

I lived in Houston since 2019.

Um I'm the co-founder of the Houston Climate Museum.

I live in a working-class neighborhood and I have trash regularly uh dumped along illegally along the sides of the road in my neighborhood.

And I also have to regularly call 311 uh because of a lack of pickup of trash and recycling.

I'm also here to advocate against the proposed trash fee and advocate uh for an amendment that would lower the fee to one dollar and include a penny tax to raise the funds uh to support public works.

It's important to see the garbage fee within the context of hollowing out of public services and the increase in the police budget that is that has happened here at the local level, but is also happening uh at the national level.

Uh this proposed garbage fee is disproportionate, asking the poor and the rich to pay the same is similar to things like our high tax or our high sales taxes.

Um it adds to the squeezing of working people that is happening right now.

My partner, for example, is paying almost $5,000 more for health care this year.

Remember also that the environmental justice movement started in Houston and it was focused on the location of garbage facilities and racial discrimination.

It seems like a required fee that will make it more likely that spaces that are already getting illegal dumping will see it more often.

Lowering the fee and using a penny attacks instead would add more revenue and would more fairly distribute the costs.

Um you all have the power to change this budget to propose an amendment and to lead it in the right direction.

Thank you.

To be followed by Eduardo Duran.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, City Council.

Uh hi everyone, my name is Ruben Garza.

I'm a local conversation leader of Strong Towns Houston.

Uh let me first say uh congratulations to a dear friend of mine, uh, Councilmember Panzarello for winning his election on being sworn in.

Um I know the council member advocated for a lot of stuff that our organization agrees with, including the reduction and hopefully elimination of parking minimum citywide.

Get to that in just a second.

Uh um at first, I just want to say uh I support Councilmember Salinas's uh illegal dumping amendment for the budget that is absolutely needed.

I live in Fifth Ward, where is a really bad area for dumping.

The fact that the public uh HPW doesn't have a specific line item to combat illegal dumping is a little disappointing at this time.

Uh next, I was going to be here this morning to testify uh about the open space ordinance amendments.

Uh I'm glad that the city is taking the step that it has with these amendments, but I would like to propose on behalf of our organization and uh like minded individuals a an additional amendment to tie the green space dedication aspect of the open space ordinate to a reduction in parking requirements under Chapter 26.

Right now, developers have to choose, excuse me, developers have to choose between providing green space, but they don't really have a lot of space to provide if they're stuck providing excess parking mandated under chapter 26.

And I do mean excess.

The minimums under Chapter 26 are extremely excessive.

They mirror a lot of problems that cities are facing nationwide with oversupplying parking uh under really, really bad and antiquated parking requirements.

Uh we are we would like to continue our discussions with city council and get an amendment to the open space ordinance to have this one-for-one trade-off for as much green space or open space green space dedicated under Chapter 42.

Uh a developer could get credits in favor of reduction in the parking requirements to then give more green space and to provide more affordable housing and more uh options for developers to choose their own spaces, sizes and whatnot, so that way we can have creative flexibility for development here in the city of Houston.

We pride ourselves on being affordable and being accessible, but currently under Chapter 26-492, which is the table of the parking requirements.

Uh, there's not a lot of flexibility in our housing space, and I can also get to the commercial stuff as well, but I think you guys have heard me go on a tear about the parking required by bars, which hopefully we can get rid of that too.

But um, but for now I just want to kind of leave my comments for the open space ordinance and hopefully get an amendment sometime later this summer or later in the year, and happy to discuss.

Thank you.

Council, our core.

Ruben, thanks for coming.

And I appreciate um, I know we've had a discussion about this.

I think there's some merit to what you're saying, and I I think we will, as we are looking at the fee structure and looking at um increasing the percentage for soft costs.

This is another thing.

I've I've forwarded everything that you've sent me to planning.

Um so we're taking a look at it.

I want you to be part of the conversation as we um you know work on some additional amendments, but I appreciate your uh advocacy.

Thank you, council member.

And I do agree that you know what was it, that fee hasn't been raised since like 2008.

So there has to be some sort of structural change to that.

And I just hope that we can get some additional changes while this ordinance is open for discussion.

Thank you.

Councilman Pandrawa.

Thank you, Mayor Ruben.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you for speaking today.

I just want to comment that uh parking reform has already been implemented both in Midtown and Edo to great effect.

All kinds of restaurants, bars, and nightlife have really come to those neighborhoods due to parking reform.

And so it's something that I'd like to look forward to and talk a little bit more about into the future.

So thanks, Ruben.

If you like cafeteria, it's no surprise that that lovely little establishment, New York Times accolade, uh, James Beard, semifinalist.

It's no coincidence that one of our favorite treasures in the city of Houston was started in 2019 when the city expanded market-based parking to include East Downtown and I think half of Midtown.

So there's no coincidence that scaling back parking requirements short of eliminating them, which we should consider, uh, is going to lead to a boon in business and development.

And by the way, sales tax.

Come on, y'all.

City's broke, need money.

Thank you.

Eduardo Duran.

Mamie Banks.

Shedrick Patterson.

To be followed by Eric Sanchez.

Mayor, council members, my name is Shedric Patterson.

My name is Shedrick Patterson.

I'm here to ask you all to assist me in exposing the felonious behavior of these app companies in our city, as well as the slum lord that I'm dealing with on the property that I live on.

These uh app companies are behaving very poorly, and uh it's really putting the Houston community at risk, and there really needs to be some attention paid to it before somebody gets hurt if if they're not already getting hurt, because the numbers that they're extending these contractors is very low and not profitable enough for them to operate in a safe manner, and when you push back on it, they operate their platform, they manipulate the platform to make it impossible for you to continue to uh do business with them.

But for the numbers that the contractors are are able to generate, the way that they're operating right now is very dangerous and it needs some oversight.

That coupled with the fact, like I say, I need some assistance with this slum lord that I'm dealing with on the property that I live on over in Oak Forest.

So I'm not gonna hold you, but any assistance that you could extend me, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you.

Next, Eric Sanchez.

To be followed by Armando Alejandro.

Good afternoon.

Uh my name is Eric Sanchez.

Uh I mean coming here.

I'm come here today to help.

I mean, to please for the help of the council and the mayor, John Wintmeyer, um, on October 25th, 2025.

Um, the HPD major offenders unit came to my home and broke my door down, took me by force at gunpoint with over a dozen officers, drones, shields, AR-15s, um, put my life and the life of my family in danger.

All over uh alleged allegations of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon from 2023.

Um I was no-billed on that charge after like 45 days, and disturbingly I found that the detective John Patrick Varela knew that I was innocent, and it was all some kind of ploy to try to ruin my life or put me in prison for 20 years over something he knew I didn't do.

And this was done with uh uh a witness named Ryan Anderson, who changed his statements from two years ago from harassment to aggravated assault with a daily weapon.

The videos are being held from me.

I've done TPI requests to get them, and I've been put off for the last four months.

It is clear.

I mean, I don't know how could this happen with they probably spent like 20,000, 30, 50,000 in that operation, and then trying to prosecute me for something I didn't do.

And I do I look like a criminal to anybody here?

I I don't think so.

And it's very, very sick.

And this has affected my life because I can't just have a regular life because then we went as far as Grizzy Hood news, and Candace Matthew started sharing the the story, trying to paint me as a dangerous felon, stalker, harasser.

When the none of that's true, in the interrogation video of my arrest, um the John Patrick Varela didn't even ask me about the crime.

He asked me most mostly about my social media, about Grizzly Hood news.

He asked me about Sam Madama, Rusty Harding, Sylvia Escabetta, these lawyers that I had made stories about on my uh my page that I use that's my friend's page, QX Global News.

And I didn't do anything but this, as far as I know.

And I shared the story about uh a poor boy that was handed in 1976 in Pasadena, and I seen that the they used a flop the flock camera system one day after I was protesting with a sign, and they gave me an illegal ticket citation for that.

That's what Pasadena did.

I've done nothing wrong other than use my first amendment right to advocate for people mostly centered around Joseph Chukimjick, the previous medical examiner for like 35 years, and I found plenty of evidence that there's a lot of uh rulings that he did that were just unjustified, unsupported, and they have gone uninvestigated.

Um I've tried doing everything I can to get enough evidence about this, and I've been put off by the uh the state attorney, the general, sorry, the attorney general's office, by Pasadena, by Houston, by the county attorney of Harris County, everyone.

Thank you.

Thank you, next Armando Alejandro, to be followed by Diana Celestino.

Hi everyone, my name is Armando Lahondro.

Um, Joaquin, I called your office a couple of days ago, but there's an old employee, she's been like trying to put words in my mouth, and I don't say nothing about that.

And she says, Oh, you say those words.

I told her, can you please not be disrespectful?

I'll tell her.

She says, I could do whatever I want, I could do whatever she said.

But the thing that's not no fair how she does that, Councilmember Joaquin.

And I feel it's not correct about that, but well, my point now was here today about the people walk up.

The thing of the road of Sergeant McCarthy Garcia Drive, the road is so bad.

How many people are gonna be dying on that road?

That's why I'm here today, Council Commissioner Agent uh Merrill Whitmeyer.

Is it in a sad story?

People gotta die by this road every day, flip over cars in accidents.

I've been putting on the web for the people in the public to see, but the authorities saying you are the guilty once always, Mary Whitmire.

That's what the officers are saying of HPD.

Thank you.

Thank you, man.

Uh Armando, thank you for coming.

Uh I appreciate you always calling our office and allowing my team to help address the different issues, specifically in McNolia Park.

Um, if you want, I can step outside.

We can talk a little bit and see what exactly on my card you got to see uh uh there's challenges and happy to uh share that with my team and help address it.

And I'm sure they'll give you a call back once we're once we uh get that, get get any updates as well.

Yeah, I actually appreciate that and everything.

Thank you, Mary Waymeyer.

Thank you.

Diana Celestino.

Roger Heard Alexandra, Steve Williams.

Terry Chen.

To be followed by Carolyn Rivera.

Good afternoon.

I'm Terry Chen, a resident of District H and an organizer with Woody Juntos.

Y'all created this problem last year when you agreed to the police raises.

So you shot yourselves or really all Houstonians in the foot, and now we're bleeding out.

Y'all need to stop the bleed.

Do not hire more officers.

By hiring more officers, there's a snowball effect, meaning higher costs and more unchecked, unregulated overtime spending.

You might argue that more officers mean less overtime, but the numbers aren't showing that.

In a year when there wasn't even a major natural disaster, the overtime spending was out of control.

And last I checked, cops can't prevent floods, but they can drain our budget.

Thank you.

Next Carolyn Rivera.

Procedural motion, sure.

Andrew?

Procedural motion.

Just to be next.

Just to be next.

Every great thank you.

Motion second on favor CSPN.

Oh, what do you want to do?

Mandy or Donis.

You are talking about people now.

Good afternoon.

Mayor Whitmeyer and City Council.

Thank you so much for giving me the chance to speak.

If I could have everybody's attention, I have visually impaired.

And I have a question for y'all.

How are we going to increase the public work employees to fix our sidewalks and streets and maintain our ditches?

When we are cutting funds to the ditch reestablishment program, where it can't even work at the capacity that we're giving it to.

So I ask that we increase it by 20 million so that we do have the people to maintain the ditch establishment program, because I truly feel being a visually in per visually impaired person that I have the right to walk down any street in Houston without the fear of wondering are my pants gonna get wet today or am I gonna fall and hurt myself?

So I leave y'all with this.

If we have less money, how are we going to hire more employees to fix the problems that are already existing and not the ones that may come up in the future?

So I'll leave you with this.

When do I get the chance or when do I get the right to have my freedom back?

Very good.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, ma'am.

Councilman Davis.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, suspend the rule to add Mary and Wright.

Yes, do move at uh Mary Wright to the uh last of the one-minute list.

Aiden second on favor, all in favor so yes, I was supposed to get into one minute.

Next, Carolyn Rivera.

Rita Roebles.

Y'all don't know the siege.

I know PC.

You stay over there, J.

Jacob Klemetitch.

I'm having a read.

Okay.

Oh, okay.

Who is that?

Oh, Rita.

Yeah.

Ruben Garson.

No, Arita Robots.

Afternoon, Robeless.

Yes, thank you.

Good afternoon, council members and mayor.

Um, just one thing.

Betty Gregory is here to speak.

I signed her up.

She was called earlier, and if you could put her back, I'd appreciate that.

We would appreciate that.

Thank you.

Um, is Rita Robles and I reside in the Denver Harbor community, and I am very active in my community.

I am the vice president for the civic club, and the Civic Club has been in existence way before me.

Some of you may know my name because your offices were calling me this morning wondering if I was coming in and which way I was voting.

Um I will be speaking on the subject of the city uh budget.

Denver Harbor is the beginning of the Northeast community, and in the past it did not flood in Denver Harbor, but now because of many factors, factors, including DRE from my area, uh the Northeast is uh diverted, and now we have floods, and not just in the ditches, but also in our streets.

Um we have sewers or the manhole covers that the sewage is coming out of the water, whether it rained for 10 minutes straight or 20 minutes straight or an hour straight.

So in the water, the dirty water consists of not just only, you know, biohazard urine and feces, whatever's in the ground or on the streets.

Can I have that in extension?

Just a few minutes.

Okay.

It's also chemicals, oil and gas, or whatever else is in there.

I'm here because I need you council members to propose an amendment and also the other council members to support it.

We this will create more.

I'm sorry, one way we do that is the penny tax and a dollar fee.

This will create more revenue than the five dollar fee.

Uh I have supposedly in your package, you have something like this.

If you can look at it for a second.

Okay, thank you.

This will create more revenue than the five-dollar fee.

It will improve the city's long-term fiscal position better than a fee alone.

This will create some time and implement a more affordable system on a trash fee.

This will also breathe a sign of relief for our low-income elderly, handicapped, disabled residents, and myself.

Thank you.

Rita, it's good to see you.

Thank you for being down here.

I appreciate all your advocacy, uh, particularly for the Denver Harbor community.

Yes.

I am gonna have one of my team members follow up with you on the manhole overflows uh that you're seeing, so we can get the specific addresses and locations.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Next.

To be followed by Jessica Campos.

Kiss but simple.

Stupid.

Stupid as you can me.

And anyway, I want to say this.

Uh and tax free increase is stupid.

And uh, um garbage is more reasonable.

Okay, there was Kith was it.

Now, Shelly.

She might not demand the center, but she's better looking than you.

Do you mind thinking the magazine too just like you?

Now it's Aggie joke time.

Uh Maggie football team was playing against uh um uh Jim and Austin Lumberjack team, and well, the Lumberjack coach said you gotta look at the tree and not the voice, but that is one why?

Oh, it's held on Calveld, and that gives us mowed down the competition.

Thank you, Jacob.

Next Jessica Campos.

Betty Gregory to be followed by Marion Wright.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

As you heard, my name is Betty Gregory.

I live in the northeast part of Houston, near the city gas.

I don't have enough time to say everything I want to say, so you have to be patient when the bell goes off.

But thank you for having me today.

You've heard a little bit about what's going on with the ditches in my community.

And the city needs to protect our communities, not just uh, not just in better class of the city than we are.

This is something that is an issue for all of us by cutting ditch programs by twenty percent.

The mayor wants to reverse a major improvement for racial equality and combating discriminatory infrastructure provision.

He has directed public work to claim that they can maintain the same deliveries with half of the funding.

Pardon me, Mayor, but City Council does not work for the mayor.

It works for the people, and you must demand that major change you made to reverse that major change you made to reverse two decades of racist policy is not done by this administration.

We know there is more to do, and we have already seen the quality of the work for in the last year.

It is no time to accept even less.

Through flooding, through flooding.

Your time has expired.

City Council must stand up and say this quality of work is unacceptable.

A civil rights violation.

And fully fund a sexual program.

Lastly, let me talk a little bit about the workers' amendment.

Public works needs more workers to fill the hundreds of vacancies.

This amendment amendment would increase recruiting in an on-board capacity.

It would allow public works to actually spin down their budgets and get projects moving.

It combines very well with the ditch amendment.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, City Council.

Thank all of you.

That does a good job in our communities.

Thank you, ma'am.

I know, Miss Rod Jackson.

Yes.

Thank you, Mayor.

I know Miss Jackson, and I do thank you as well.

Thank you, Miss Betty Gregor, for coming in.

And it's good to see you.

Um, Miss Betty Gregory has been in the trenches for a very, very long time.

She she led the fight after Hurricane Ike.

Um and after the dollars went to developers, they filed and want additional money to 200 million dollars plus to repair homes that was damaged.

And we um after Harvey, I mean, we've been in the trenches with you for quite some time.

And so, I don't mind saying I'm 75 years old.

It's good to see you and just know you know me.

You know that I'm a I've been fighting flooding every time that our neighborhoods rain, every time it rained our neighborhoods flood, and it has been my fight.

Um, when I authored the amendments for the redistrict the um re ditch re-establishment program three years ago, um I have been monitoring it closely.

Um, I'm not aware of it being defunded.

Um I do know that there needs to be more transparency.

We need to know what projects are happening, whether at on the on the schedule.

Um I'm in conversation with Randy about that.

He will be getting us a map and a schedule on the the um the projects that are down the line.

Um, I encourage constituents every day contact 311 and then contact our office.

That's the only way we know what is not working.

We don't know if it's it's not we don't know if it's not working, we don't know unless they tell us it's not working, and so um I appreciate um not coming in with the the water and the photos.

We're taking those and we've um passed that to public works, but I will this is something that I worked hard for.

We worked hard for, and so I would make sure that the project continually to function the way that it should function.

Um, so just know that we're working, and I'll if you have any further questions about you know the progress, I'm here.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Gregory.

Thank you, ma'am.

And just I also want to add, um, I because I know we was talking about hiring.

Um, Randy is the public works will be hiring over 500 people.

Um, so I trust public works.

I trust Randy that he's that he's moving the department forward.

Um have no reason not to um because he's been very responsive to District B needs since he's taken over.

So um thank you again for coming in for your advocacy.

Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you.

Mary and Wright.

Okay.

You all have a blessed day.

Yes, ma'am.

You too.

Hi, um, Ken, I need to get your new number because I'm from casting you and stuff, and I don't think it's going through.

So I gotta make sure I get that.

First of all, secondly, I know that you're getting ready to go to the I love 11th Street, right?

These are pictures of the um chicken uh restaurant that was at the corner of 11th and Shepherd.

It's the same chicken restaurant that um Amanuel Nunez tweeted.

I hate to say it, but we have plenty of hot chicken and donuts, and then he went on to say about how the street was gonna be better after it was done.

This God don't I mean, the hot chicken place complained that if the project went through that they were gonna probably go out of business, which in fact they did.

So this I took these pictures today, and this is what we have.

So before you and Emmanuel have your party on 11th Street, please organize something to clean up at least that spot.

I mean, it's just gonna be a very, you know, not the kind of place that y'all are gonna want to party in, I don't think.

I wouldn't want to.

Can I please just one more second?

Um, I know that y'all were talking about minimum getting rid of the minimum requirements for parking, and I know that you said that you're gonna make strongtown a part of that conversation.

Please make me a part of it too.

I'd really appreciate being part of that.

Thank y'all.

Have a good one.

And I plan on seeing an 11th Street.

So hopefully you'll get it cleaned up.

If you need some help, give me a call.

Nathaniel Leonard, who was accidentally left off the list.

Nathaniel Leonard.

And this can.

Oh, he's right there.

Yes, sir, mayor.

Uh counsel.

Um, I've just been patiently waiting on you, Mayor Whitmire to see about getting me that help with uh for the uh state there and stuff.

I I don't know this officer's name.

Uh I've just got some bogus name and stuff and told y'all that he could be found through Beth Messiah and Todd and Susan White there.

Um need a real name to them and stuff.

Y'all go home.

I don't.

I go to a spot and I lay down by Westside Police Station.

We're blocked away from it, and uh, United States is mine, Texas is mine, and Houston is mine, just like it's all of y'all's.

And uh I'd just like to have my civil rights and constitutional rights and working rights restored back to me as MLK gave them to me, and have some justice with this matter, and I believe the council knows how to come about doing that justice because this state of Texas and great people of in around the United States have been a part of that uh kind of justice.

And uh I don't want to be coming back here every week, but I'll come back and tell them I get my justice.

And uh anyway, thank you and stuff.

Thank you, sir.

Hopefully, Smith will or someone will help me get that person's name.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Be safe.

Christian recess to nine o'clock in the morning.

LP doing business as Central Market, Cava Group Inc.

Cafeteria, LLC, Costco, Wholesale Corporation, and Sam's West Inc.

Item 8, Teledyne FLIR, Defense Inc.

for purchase of one-year warranty program.

Item nine has been pulled and will not be considered.

Item 10, Automation Nation Inc.

for 16 Dan Foss VLT Aqua Drive FC 202, variable frequency drives.

Item 11, amend motion 2023-409 to increase spending authority on award to M.

Bro Engineering Inc.

Item 12, USALCO L L C for supply of liquid ferrous, iron solution and inorganic metal salt coagulant ferric sulfate, item 13, approved spending authority for inspection removal and repair services for three thickener drive units.

Item 14 ordinance related to the fiscal affairs of the city approving the annual budgets of the city of Houston, Texas for fiscal year 2027, including provisions for future adjustment to certain fund balances providing for the record reorganization of the solid waste management department as a division within Houston Public Works.

Amendment Chapter 39 of the Code of Ordinances, Houston, Texas relating to the Solid waste management department.

Amending chapter 2 of the code of Ordinances, Houston, Texas relating to Houston Public Works, establishing an administrative fee for solid waste management collection and disposal services, authorizing the imposition and transfer of a right-of-way fee from the combined utility system of the city of Houston, Texas to the general fund.

Item 15 ordinance providing for the continuation of appropriations for the support of the city government pursuant to the requirements of Article 6A, Section 1 of the City Charter.

Item 16, ordinance approving and authorizing payment to Houston Forensic Center Inc.

for full fiscal year 2027 operating expenses.

Item 17 ordinance approving and authorizing payment to Houston Recovery Center LGC for full fiscal year 2027 operating expenses.

Item 18 ordinance approving and authorizing payment to Ethan Health LGC for full fiscal year 2027 operating expenses.

Item 19 ordinance amending and supplementing the city of Houston Texas Master Ordinance Number 2004-299 relating to the operations and management of the combined utility system, including the expansion of the combined utility system to include the solid waste disposal system and the solid waste management department.

Item 20 ordinance approving and authorizing a property rights agreement in which City of Houston agreed to grant to MSC family properties LP a right of first refusal on certain real property formerly known as Preston Street, located between 419 Emancipation and 317 emancipation, owned by MSC Family Properties LP.

Item 21, ordinance approving and authorizing amendment number three to lease and development agreement with American Express Travel Related Services Company Inc.

Item 22 ordinance approving and authorizing second amendment to subrecipient agreement between the City of Houston and Avenue Community Development Corporation.

Item 23, ordinance appropriating 1,369,000 and 213,000 for task order contracting program item 24 ordinance appropriating 250,000 and 250,000 for new Walter Rasmus Park Heritage House Project.

Item 25 ordinance appropriating 1,200,000 dollars for Jamail Skate Park Improvements.

Item 26, ordinance appropriating 245,000 and 255,000 for Tranquility Park.

Item 27 ordinance appropriating 31,837,014.

Approving and authorizing First Amendment to contract with Lindbeck Group LLC.

Item 28 ordinance approving and authorizing contract with the American Medical Response of Texas Inc.

Item 29, ordinance amending ordinance number 2025-538 related to contract with Cytech Omni Services LLC.

Item 30 ordinance amending ordinance number 2025-487 related to contract with marine services LLC doing business as North Star Industries.

Item 31, ordinance approving and authorizing contract with Naiverico Biomedical Services LLC.

Item 32 Ordinance Amending Ordinance Number 2023-19 related to contract with Sinagro of Texas CDR Inc.

Item 33 ordinance amending ordinance number 2019-141 related to contract with Signa Health and Life Insurance Company.

Item 34 ordinance approved and approving and authorizing interlocal agreement with Ethan Health LGC.

Item 35 ordinance approving and authorizing interlocal agreement with Harris County.

Item 36, ordinance approving and authorizing interlocal agreement with Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County.

Item 37, ordinance established in the north and south side of the 1700 block of Albans Road between Ashby Street and a dead end as a special minimum lot size block pursuant to chapter 42 of the code of ordinances.

Item 38, ordinance finding and determining public convenience and necessity for the acquisition of real property interest in connection with the public improvement project known as the Lift Station Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Design.

Heather Ridge Lift Station, MC MUD Number 58, Lift Station, Will Clayton Lift Station, Trailwood Lift Station, Shady Maples Lift Station, Lake Village Lift Station, Brookdale Lift Station Project.

Item 39, Municipal Setting Designation Ordinance Prohibiting US of Designated Groundwater Beneath a Tract of Land Containing 5.745 Acre Tact located at 3511 West 12th West 12th Street, Houston Harris County, Texas, supporting issuance of a municipal setting designation by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality at the request of Players 1 Limited and Agent Representing Co-Owners, Player 2 Limited and 3535 West 12 LLC.

Item 40 ordinance appropriating 593,445.

As an additional appropriation approving and authorizing a first amendment to contract with Kaluri Group Inc.

Item 41 has been pulled and will not be considered.

Stay tuned for the next city council session to begin at 9 a.m.

And with that, have a blessed day.

Thank you, Mr.

Secretary.

Thank you, my number one council member.

You say that louder.

My number one council member.

Thank you very much.

Council, please come to order.

Members uh I want to thank everyone for their hard work and collaboration.

Can't say enough about Chair of Finance Alcorn for her hearings and really the members that participated.

Thank you in the public comments.

Um I think it's so important that we give everyone every opportunity to be heard from.

Certainly yesterday's public comments were beneficial.

But I'd also think that when issues are raised, that are not accurate numbers, and I was hoping that councilmember Tarsha Jackson will be here, and she will, because since I've been at City Hall, she certainly has led the effort on the ditch reestablishment.

Last year we heard her please and certainly supported her.

I think she probably has the most just because of the neck neck neglect for many years in her district, but it's not just her district.

I was in third ward day before yesterday, and we were observing where ditches are pretty much disappeared and will have to be re-established.

Certainly, there's areas across Houston that deserve attention after many years in neglect, and most of you know it was not.

The program was not passed in until 23, and then we started in 24.

This year's budget.

This year's budget that we're currently operating under.

Many in the heights, and certainly the Rice Military Area with their little narrow streets.

Need the ditch re-establishment.

This year, members, 31.9 million dollars is being spent a total of 500 miles.

We're on schedule to complete 580 miles, but we did anticipate and knew the size and scope of the project because of our work this year.

If you'll look at the proposed budget, we've already council member Panzarella.

Responding to yesterday's information.

That 20 million that was requested yesterday is in the budget for a total of 50.5 million.

An additional 500 miles will be completed this year.

So we are responding to the needs and certainly those that appear before us with their exhibits.

We appreciate the passion, but we have really worked long and hard with the council staff and members to respond as folks come forward.

So there's an additional 20 million, which addresses the concerns yesterday.

So I just think as we go forward, we need to be transparent, accurate, and encourage everyone's participation.

That said, we have a public hearing today on the proposed budget.

Mr.

Secretary, will you call up item number one?

Item one is a public hearing on city budgets for time period July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027.

I have two procedural motions.

Procedure motion uh councilman Martinez.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I want to move to suspend the rules to add Willie Gonzalez, Kathy Martinez, Damian Allen, and Jason Evans.

Okay, motion made, second, all in favor say yes.

Those opposed, nay, motion passes.

Um and I want to move them in the order to follow Hanni Khalil.

So it would be Hannie Khalil, Willie, Gonzalez, Kathy Martinez, Damien Allen, Jason Evans, and then uh Ray Hunt.

Very well.

Motion made segment, all in favor say yes.

Those opposed, nay.

Motion passes.

Councilman Alcorn.

Thank you, Mayor.

I move to suspend the rules to add Dan Kruger to the top of the three-minute um hearing list.

Motion made and second.

All in favor say yes.

Those opposed, nay.

Motion passes.

Councilman Maris.

Thank you, Mayor.

Move to suspend the rules to add Dana Jones, Astra Nasser, and Twan Wynne to the three-minute list.

Second.

Motion made and yes.

Motion made in second.

All in favor, say yes, those opposed nay.

Motion passes.

Anyone else?

If not, Mr.

Secretary, will you please call out for a motion as well?

I'm sorry, sir.

I have a procedural motion as well.

Okay.

I'm sorry.

I move to suspend the rules to add Andrea Segovia and Angela Baldwin to the end of the three-minute public hearing list.

Very well, motion made in segment.

All in favor say yes.

Those opposed nay.

Motion passes.

Anyone else?

Ms.

Secretary, you call our first speaker.

Carolina Bustos.

To be followed by Haney Khalil.

Hi, good morning, City Council.

My name is Carolina Bustos, and I work for a nonprofit here in Houston, Texas.

We empower uh our community.

Um education and uh different um things of that sort.

Um uh I'm coming here because I'm a bit concerned.

Um, I know the uh five dollar fee that's being implemented um would be um a significant impact to my um monthly uh salary.

So um I would really like you all to um reconsider this uh five dollar fee um because uh I don't make the same income as someone who probably lives um in a million dollar home.

Um uh so uh if you all could reconsider those uh things i would greatly appreciate you all um and thank you for your time today and thank you we share your concern and we'll certainly keep your comments okay thank you very much have a wonderful day thank you ma'am next haney khalil to be followed by Willie Gonzalez good morning mayor whitmeyer city council members many khalil on behalf of the 75 unions affiliated with the Texas Gulf Coast AFL CIO including several here today and the 60,000 union members we represent we're asking you to vote for this budget years ago we realized that the city was facing a worsening gap between its revenues and expenditures and we called on city council to take steps to solve that problem without balancing the budget on the backs of city employees but little was done.

This budget takes long overdue first steps to putting the the city on a sustainable financial footing while protecting the hardworking city employees who deliver essential services to this community other administrations have chosen to balance the budget through layoffs and deep cuts to operations and benefits we appreciate that this budget does not do that it prioritizes maintaining reliable public services without treating city employees to keep the city moving as expendable we support the three primary innovations in this budget declaring solid waste and municipal utility establishing a solid waste administrative fee and establishing utility right of way for the general fund to get to that point we created a process for rank and file union members to hear presentations from the mayor's office and the controllers teams and ask them tough questions and in the wake of those discussions unions representing city employees and firefighters construction trades hospitality workers custodians all came out in support of the budget and last week our board added our collective voice to those unions for future budget cycles city council must ensure that the increased financial burden of funding city services is not borne disproportionately by working people least able to afford those additional costs.

Let's make sure that the wealthiest among us who can and are already not paying their fair share of taxes do that.

We know no budget is perfect this budget is included but we believe this budget is good for Houston's working people both city employees and the public who depend on city services we ask you to support it.

Thank you for your leadership thank you thank you very much tell your board thank you next Willie Gonzalez to be followed by Kathy Martinez good morning mayor and city council my name's Willie Gonzalez I'm secretary treasurer with United Here Local 23 I'm here in support of the budget and let me just tell you how we came to that decision in my union our members are generally low wage workers as you know and we've we've been here before on many other issues and we met with them and we asked them about it.

And they had a free a few criteria and said we want these questions answered and if they're answered right we can support it one of those is does this budget address the deficit and it does and so the second question was is it fair to the Houstonians they're gonna pay it and we had a discussion with them and they understood that there's a deficit and that they got to chip in and they felt this budget this plan was fair with them and the third part of it that was very important was does it protect the public services that they rely on because it's the low wage workers that need these public services and they need those protected and combined with that I'm a union member I'm proud to be here with my other brothers and sisters from the unions does it protect those workers and talking to those unions they said it does.

So we came to the decision to support this budget.

Um, this was done through our rank and file through our members having these discussions.

Um, and again, we we applaud the budget because it's a hard situation.

You know, our members have done dues increases when before we took a strike.

We did the dues increase.

They understand what it is you have to sacrifice, and they felt like those three questions were answered.

And when we talked to our executive board, we talked to our leadership and we talked to the rank and file, they were all supportive of this.

So I'm here to just say that our union is fully in support of the budget, and thank you very much.

Thank you, Andy, for your leadership and thank your members for how they continue to help Houston function, operate, and be a great city.

And uh I'm so proud of the way we all conducted our business during the challenge of not only the Hilton but the George Brown, and now we will be shoulder to shoulder with you at the airport for your workers there.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Next, Kathy Martinez, Kathy Martinez, Damien Allen.

To be followed by Jason Evans.

Um good morning, everyone.

Uh my name is Damian Allen.

I'm the vice president for Hope Local 123.

Um, we believe that the budget takes positive steps um to secure new city revenue.

We also believe that it um shows it sheds a light on a city department that's been historically underfunded, um, and take steps to right size that department um in short hope supports um the proposed budget.

Thank you.

Uh Mayor, I'm I'm sorry.

Um Mayor Protear.

Thank you for being here.

I did wanted to just comment um because you came here on behalf of Hope that I received several calls from um solid waste employees, and they were very concerned about their wages.

Um I've had the conversation with the administration and I know that um y'all will be going to negotiation soon.

So um I want to reiterate that uh we are very supportive of the employees in the silo waste department, and those concerns have been um taken up with the administration, and we look forward to that um conversation about those races.

Thank you, Councilman.

Um, just to reiterate, we did receive the letter, and I was wondering if there were any specific requests that hope had with regards to solid weight wages, solid waste wages.

No, there um there was correspondence that was sent out um via President Um Jason Evans.

Um I believe he's still in communication with certain council members about the details of it, but um at this time I don't have any.

Okay, this ma'am very good.

Thank you for being here, and thank you for your leadership.

Thank you, sir, can be in a city employee.

Next, Jason Evans, Ray Hunt.

To be followed by Isabella Gonzalez.

Good morning, thank you all.

Most of the things I was gonna say have already been said by our colleagues.

We totally support this budget.

We appreciate you uh presenting it to us uh when you did for us to be able to look at it to dissect it to make sure that it's fair.

Don't like everything in there, of course, no one does, but it's a very fair budget.

It's uh a very smart budget.

As far as the five dollar garbage fee, I have a daughter who has six kids, uh, lives in the city limits in Council Member Peck's district.

And uh I asked her about it, I said, they live check-to-check.

I said, Is this gonna affect y'all?

She said, I don't mind paying that, I just want my garbage picked up.

So if this is gonna improve things, is this gonna get us better trucks for the for the garbage of solid waste?

Great.

Um, I can tell you that I just want to thank y'all for giving us the Houston police officers an incredible contract, a five-year contract.

Our second year comes up in July.

I also want to thank you all for what you did for the firefighters taking care of that problem.

Now I want you to say this we have a lot of municipal workers who work for the Houston Police Department.

They do an incredible job, and it's time to pay them a fair wage as well.

We totally support them.

So thank you all for what y'all have done on this budget.

Uh if if we can help you on any way, let us know.

We we know that we're probably some of you see us as part of the problem because of the increase in pay, but we're we're being compared to our comparable cities of Alston, Fort Worth, Dallas, and San Antonio.

And I can tell you, I just went to the academy the other day for in-service school.

I have never seen that academy jump in with so many cadets out there than I did the other day when I went in there, and they're excited to be here.

I've been here 36 years.

I don't think I've seen morale as high as it is now, and I thank all of you for doing that.

And and Councilmember Delcorn didn't mean to point.

Council Member Alcord, I want to thank you for what you did on this budget as well because I know you put a lot of time into it.

So thank you all very much.

Thank you, right.

Next, Isabella Gonzalez.

To be followed by Jessica Flores.

Good morning, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Isabella Gonzalez.

I'm a member of District C.

I'm a fellow with Acres Homes Community Advocacy Group and I'm a senior at Rice University.

And I'm coming here to speak today on behalf of the amendments proposed by the Houston's people's budget.

Specifically focusing on the five dollar trash fee that I'm sure that all you have been hearing a lot about.

I also want to thank Councilmember Ramirez for his support of improving the accountability based on the tax abatements.

But for the $5 trash fee, I feel like the most important thing for me is the equitability of it.

Given the fact that, you know, a fifth of Houston residents fall below the poverty line.

Um I think sometimes we assume that five dollars is not going to be the stall that makes the camel's back, but for those one-fifth of Houston residents, there is no back.

Um the back is broken.

Um, and I think focusing on creating a way to improve city services and focusing on those surgery services in a way that doesn't disproportionately place that impact on low-income residents, residents that I interact with every day in the job that I do, um, I think it's really important.

Um, so I'm just asking that we focus on that five dollar trash fee and find ways to fund and impact solid waste in a way that isn't gonna place that burden on these low-income residents in Houston.

Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am.

Next.

Jessica Flores.

To be followed by Dan Kruger.

Good morning.

My name is Jessica Flores.

I am a staff member with Best Friends Animal Society.

Um, we're a national welfare organization that partners with different shelters across the nation.

Um, but I'm also here as a Houston resident of District D and a member that cares about their uh community.

So over the last decade, I've had the pleasure of working directly inside the shelters, um, through from across Houston from municipal shelters to not nonprofit, and I have seen firsthand what happens when we are able to shift to life-saving proven initiatives.

Um, and last year the city made a great investment in Barks infrastructure to improve the shelter.

But buildings alone don't save lives.

To truly address shelter overcrowding and improve outcomes, we must fund programs to save more pets and their owners, programs that focus on reuniting pets with their families, expanding adoption and foster programs, and creative rescue partnerships, programs like pet pantries that many of you guys have attended and hosted.

And I do want to thank the many council members have been very vocal in supporting animal services throughout the years.

Like I said, many of you guys have you know hosted events, attended um, you know, these programs, and you guys have seen firsthand that impact and that special animal bond between owners and their pets.

And so it's important to note that these efforts, you know, don't just help hats, they're helping their families in creating healthier, safer communities.

So as you consider this budget, I encourage you to invest in the very programs you yourself have championed and witnessed in action.

Houston supports this approach.

Nearly 70% of servitive residents believe that city leaders should increase funding so BAR can provide humane care and help more animals in homes.

Houston's greatest achievements have come from investing innovation and refusing to settle for the status quo.

So I actually bring the same commitment to animal services.

We just have a Houston that is compassionate and effective.

I'm gonna leave behind some handouts that have a little bit more insight and contact information, and I want to thank you for your time and service.

And I want to thank you for speaking for our friends that can't speak for themselves.

If you'll look at today's agenda, we're spending thirty-one million on a new facility.

Correct.

It's gonna be just in the shadows of of City Hall.

That'll be a holistic approach for our animal welfare clients.

And uh I think you'll be real pleased and see that it is a priority in this budget to quick kick a neck can down the road and build a facility that will enhance adoption and uh increase uh barge capacity and and address uh an issue that's been neglected for many years.

Yeah, obviously, we're so thankful for that for that um investment.

So thank you so much.

Thank you for being here.

Next, motion to suspend the rules.

I move to add Jack Velinski to the bottom of the three-minute speaker list, please.

Sure.

Motion made in second.

All in favor, say yes, those opposed make.

Motion passes.

Dan Kruger.

To be followed by Dana Jones.

Good morning, mayor and council members.

I'm here this morning largely for this reason, that on April 28th, five years ago, the city conducted two public hearings, and no one spoke as a public speaker.

Though various despairs were articulated by that council, Houston passed, impact fees that, in my opinion, were too little, and customer rates that were too high.

And I hope you're encouraged by the turnout of public speakers that you have this morning, because certainly you needed, you should have, you deserved more than a void in your decision-making process with all the good hard work that you put on in this issue over the last month.

Of the five suggestions that I've sent previously with regards to my support for this budget, please give highest priority to an A76 public-private competition.

Next in priority would be the establishment of specific subpositions financially for each utility that the city has.

By adding an A 76 public-private competition to the proposal, you will establish the needed structure to guide implementation and to realize that potential.

A streamlined A76 competition is required to be completed in no more than 90 days.

You have most of the personnel you need right here within the city's departments.

You'll need a couple of loaned executives, and I can help you find them.

The competition will not just improve solid waste services, but will improve all of the city's utility services and enterprises, and the changed working conditions that would come from this would be greatly appreciated by our high-performing civil servants, classified and unclassified, and it would also result in improved services.

Your time has expired for our public to be served.

Mayor, may you and all the council be blessed with wisdom, strength, and courage, each and all of you together as you take this on today.

Thank you.

Councilmember Alcorn.

Mr.

Kruger, great to see you, and thank you for your service as public works director and for the city of Houston.

I appreciate your comments.

If you could talk a little bit more, uh, just uh briefly, the 876 public private is that like a managed competition situation where you where a private sector does perhaps a quadrant of the city.

This has been discussed before at City Hall.

There's been budget amendments to this effect.

Is that what you're suggesting?

Like uh you would you would actually have a private company do the trash collection alongside the city collection and just see what can be gained from from that experience.

I'll quickly answer to say it is, and it's available on the web.

Office of management budget is the federal government.

Please look at the 2003 version, which provides the best.

I know that thought was Stephen.

I know that the city has tried similar efforts before.

This has more structure in it and wrestles with the very salient issue of what the city does that is inherently governmental and what it does that may be commercialized.

In our words, that's the governmental versus proprietary activities.

That's what it provides along.

But in fact, it ends up with a most efficient organization, whether that be on the government side or the private side, to that wins the competition and then will provide services to the city to the public for at least three years.

I understood.

I think it's an interesting concept.

Thanks for coming.

Thank you, sir.

Dana Jones.

To be followed by Astra Nathar.

Good morning.

Three years ago, City, the City of Houston made a promise to Histonians like myself who continuously flooded to maintain ditches in our yard.

In 2023, the city of Houston said 20 years of separate and unequal drainage infrastructure was over.

It created the ditch reestablishment program to put proactively maintain ditches with 45 million dollars annually.

This was a major victory, but the city didn't keep its promise.

And what has happened is that the infrastructure now is suffering.

Put that money in to getting the uh to fixing the infrastructure.

We need that money, and I'm just gonna yield my time.

I just wanted to say to the council, people out there, every time it says that the rain is coming, we get anxiety because we know we're gonna flood, and it's just when and how much, and the ditches in our area, the most vulnerable areas, we are suffering, and we need council to know that and to hear us and to react to that, and I appreciate you.

Thank you.

Next astra Nathar to be followed by Tuan Wynne.

The other one.

Good morning, City Council and Mr.

Whitmeyer.

I'm here to ask y'all to help us make help us with understanding this budget.

I need y'all to make it make sense.

This budget fails to address very important issues that impact Houstonians every single day.

This budget fails to address police overspending with money going out the back door with no plan to try to close it.

This budget clearly prioritizes robbing Houston's dedicated water infrastructure funds that we as citizens have agreed would go towards water infrastructure improvements.

This is not a new source of revenue.

This is simply taking my water bill and my trash bill and blugging it into the budget deficit.

Simply put, it's like slapping a band-aid onto an open gashing wound.

Mostly, this budget serves as a model of inequity that has plagued the South for generations.

The five dollars per month trash fee is a direct flat fee, and it does nothing to guarantee an increase in service to citizens.

It does nothing to guarantee the safety of our workers.

It is imperative that you, our city leaders, prioritize our well-being as Houstonians rather than figuring out what the how to resolve this ban, how to resolve this budget deficit while carry having us carrying that on our backs.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Next, Tuan Wien.

To be followed by Louise.

Iguaai.

Morning, Council members.

Um, I'm really glad to join a morning session because I'm a teacher and it's fine.

I'm glad because I don't have to drive here after work only to be skipped by the mayor because there's allegedly too many speakers.

I'm glad to have an actual full minutes to speak to the council.

Um, first I'd like to really thank council member Salinas and Councilmember Thomas and the others to who have stood with the immigrant community in our city who supported the original ordinance and fought against the amendment to gut that ordinance.

I think it took bravery.

Um I think it shows that this city could have stood up to Mayor Abbott to Governor Abbott, but that's not what happened.

Many council members, including Democrats that put on listening sessions that apparently support immigrants, failed to do that, even if they could have voted and still helped the mayor pass the amendment.

They chose to vote with a massive majority instead of even taking a symbolic vote against the amendment.

Um I think it's incredible the work that's been put into this budget.

Many people have been praised for the investments, the time that they put into this budget.

I wish that half of that effort and time was put into my students, was put into immigrant communities because we matter just as much as the budget as balancing a budget.

People are just as important as balancing a budget.

Um, I'd also like to share an experience from this year as a teacher.

When we came back from winter break, one of my students shared, I asked all of them what's your favorite thing that happened over break.

One of them shared that the best thing that happened to her was that her family got food stamps again.

And so this idea that five dollars makes no difference to our communities is absolutely ridiculous.

I know there's not an amendment on the table right now, but I'd like to ask there's still time to put forward a progressive tax fee, the trash fee.

If it's possible for all of us to dig into our pockets, then it's possible for folks that are more well off to dig more into their pockets to contribute to the city.

I'd like to ask, as others have asked, that we fund the Ditch reestablishment program.

I'd like to ask that we invest in our public works so that this year we have more people that can inspect, but next year we have just as many people being trained, and we're not cutting back on staff every single year.

People are losing jobs, people are leaving our district, district F because there are no are no job opportunities in this city.

And if the private sector is gonna fail, then the government must make up for that by investing in jobs and making sure that there are more jobs.

I'd also like to ask support for the amendment for accountability on tax abatements, because if we're giving money away for free that could be invested into our communities, then at least there has to be some accountability measures.

And I want to leave off by saying that I think many of us, many council members think that the fight about ice is over.

I believe watching one council member say that she's thankful that we've finally put this behind us.

I promise you, this is not behind us.

This is going to continue until ice is off of our streets.

And I'd like to again thank the council members that stood up and shame those that failed our immigrant communities.

We're gonna make up for your failure.

Next, Louise.

To be followed by Nathan Kelly.

Good morning.

I'm Lucy Gia.

I have been a bed tech for seven years throughout the Houston area.

Most of my experience that we'll be talking about is from the north and southeast side.

I'm here to have a conversation about Barks's budget, although I do understand the struggle to allocate all the resources together.

I do propose that we put in more funds into a flexible partnership that involves private nonprofit and the city.

With any issue involving animals, the community has always been a strong component for success in live release.

Animals promote community through and through, and I'll be it'll be a failing for us not to support each other.

Houston's one of the most popular cities in the country.

There's context with Bark's decision to make the euthanasia hold from 48 hours to 24 hours because of chronic funding, increased dog attacks, and low adoption rates.

However, the individual day-by-day experience of seeing animals that were bred for companionship with preventable diseases and neglect.

It takes a toll on everyone in Houston, from the Good Samaritan to the animal care worker who's on their last animal on their euthanasia list.

Ultimately, the beauty of Houston is the individuality we have every corner.

If we support the community that brings different skill sets and staff, Houston's trees can be supported by their own people.

Chronic burnout makes the overpopulation feel like a whole that can never be filled.

And I only hope that Houston can support the unhoused animals but the community.

Thank you so much for the support.

Thank you.

Next.

Nathan Kelly.

To be followed by Lindsay Williams.

Mayor Council, thank you for your time this morning.

My name is Nathan Kelly, and I'm here as a trustee on behalf of the Houston Region Business Coalition.

Under Mayor Whitmeyer and this council's leadership, our city's taking very meaningful steps in recent years to improve the operational efficiency and to control costs.

While those efforts are obviously significantly important, achieving long-term fiscal stability also requires sustainable and dependable revenue sources to support our essential city services.

The Houston Region Business Coalition supports the proposed solid waste collection fee and right-of-way fees as practical and transparent solutions to help the city address its ongoing structural budget uh challenges.

Uh Houston remains one of the uh few major metropolitan cities without dedicated funding mechanisms for these critical services.

Uh establishing dedicated fees, in our opinion, creates greater transparency and accountability, directly linking the cost of these services to the provision of these services.

These proposed fees will help ensure continued investment in core functions without placing additional strain on our general fund.

And reliable funding for services such as solid waste collection, uh, infrastructure maintenance, public safety, and emergency response is essential to supporting Houston's continued growth and economic competitiveness.

The proposed fee structure brings Houston more in line with its peer cities while helping to maintain a high level of service for residents and the business community alike.

Addressing these long-term uh financial challenges proactively, uh, as far as preferable to future service reductions, deferred infrastructure maintenance, and increased fiscal pressures down the road.

Uh businesses like mine value uh fiscal responsibility.

Uh we value predictable budget and long-term financial planning.

And so dedicated revenue streams for these essential services will help to uh provide greater certainty to the city, uh, its residences, and and the business community alike.

So supporting this budget proposal, uh including the solid waste fee and right-of-way fees represents an important step towards ensuring Houston remains uh financially strong, uh economically competitive, and prepared for its future growth.

And so, with that, I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to speak this morning and for your consideration of these efforts.

Thank you for being here.

Next, Lindsay Williams.

To be followed by Gloria Zentino.

Hi everybody, my name is Lindsay Williams.

Um, uh, sorry, President of Super Neighborhood 64 and 88, which is Greater Eastwood Laundell Wayside, and also a resident of District I.

Uh, last Halloween we watched children go trick-or-treating in costumes they had made from decorated trash bags.

Whether those kids lived on my street or across town didn't really matter to me.

What I saw were families who couldn't afford store-bought costumes, and children had to get creative with what they had.

I keep thinking about these kids and families as I read the proposal for the new solid waste fee because we are about to charge them even more.

I'm not here to say that the city doesn't have real costs.

We need the revenue, and I don't really hear many people disputing that.

But consider this who lives in the city.

Nearly 80% of HISD's 183,000 students are economically a disadvantaged.

A family of four qualifies for a free lunch at 42,900 and a reduced price lunch at 61,000.

The median household income in my district is about 52,000.

So half of households in district I earn even less.

This fee starts small small enough to feel painless to approve, but it's designed to climb to roughly 300 per year, and that's not the same sacrifice for everyone.

For a household making 200,000, it's 0.15% of their income or about three hours of pay.

For a senior living on $15,000 a year, it's 2% of everything that they have, more than 13 times the burden for the same trash, same truck, and same fee, but not the same pay.

And this fee would not arrive alone.

In the last five years, Houston water and wastewater rates have riven five times every April, like clockwork.

Center point delivery charges have climbed again and again with storm recovery fees locked onto our bills for the next 14 years.

With we aren't even touching rising food and gas costs for a senior on a fixed income or family already having to choose between groceries and the electric bill, this is one more flat cost that they can't say no to.

So before this body passes any solid waste fee, build in a real out, a hardship exemption or discount for seniors on a fixed income and households living in or near poverty or blended structure, something like a penny tax plus a lower month fee.

So low income areas don't take the hit so hard.

Please don't just pass a cost without no without a way out for people who have nowhere left to cut.

The least we can do is not ask them for more.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, Councilor Davis.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'd like to make a motion to move to suspend the rule to add Ethan South Southern.

So the end of the three minute.

Very well.

Motion maintenance is seconded.

All in favor, say yes.

Those opposed name.

Motion passes.

Yes, ma'am.

Good morning, Mayor.

Good morning, Council members.

My name is Gloria Centhenno.

I'm the founder of Body O Dogs, and I've spent nearly two decades in animal welfare.

But more importantly, I'm a native Eustonian.

I was born and raised in the East End, and I do love my city.

I have seen firsthand how the health of our neighborhoods is linked to how we treat our animals.

I am here today to advocate for increased funding for BARC.

As someone who's worked in our communities for years, I know that BARC is doing the best they can with the resources they have.

I want to give a shout out to Shelter Director Jared Mears and his team for their dedication.

I also want to mention another story regarding dog attacks and Houston postal workers that has dropped significantly from 2024 to 2025.

It's the lowest number in years, and the first time in over a decade, the city has not ranked among the top two nationwide cities.

This is an example of what increased public safety investment can do to support BARC.

However, we are still facing a massive animal welfare crisis with our budget.

It seems to not address.

When we look at other cities across Texas, it's clear that Houston's investment in animal welfare is less than other cities.

I understand the budget is tight and that tax increases are not on the table.

But just as the city has explored fees like the waste fee, although not very popular, I'm learning today, there could be some people that might be interested in something like that.

I myself, along with other animal advocates and residents who see this issue every day, would be interested to support a solution that provides sustainable funding.

Investing in animal welfare is an investment in public safety, cleaner streets, and the overall quality of life in all of our neighborhoods.

I am asking for your consideration to help us and how we can help the city find a creative, sustainable way.

Thank you for your time and for your commitment to our city.

Thank you.

One moment, Councilman Alcorn.

Gloria, great to see you, and thank you for your continued advocacy on behalf of animal welfare in the city of Houston.

You have been here year after year.

And my first term, mayor, I was over the regulatory neighborhood affairs committee, which had purview of our bark.

We made a lot of changes to update our ordinance, and every year I put something in the in the budget amendment to get additional funding, because yeah, we are about half of what we should be spending per capita on animal welfare, and it shows um I am really excited about the new adoption um location and I think that's going to be great about getting moving more animals through and getting people to adopt them in a in a place that's more traffic and more people are going going by I think that's going to be wonderful I was excited to see Councilmember Castillo's amendment that he's offering um to increase the budget by a half million dollars I think that's the least we can do um to um and it'll take something big to get um the real money that we need whether that be a revenue cap lift or a property tax increase or something at the state I thought there was an interesting editorial that just came out something at the state of perhaps some kind of tax on animal related goods um that could go towards um towards helping us with our straight population but keep coming keep advocating we hear you we know this is a big problem we know in some neighborhoods this is the number one public safety problem um that they cannot do not feel safe taking their kids to the parks for the stray dogs I thought the article about you know airlifting dogs out that I read yesterday was interesting we have a real problem and I appreciate your advocacy thank you thank you thank you thank you mayor thank you councilmember next rain eatman to be followed by William Papadopoulos good morning good morning first of all shout out to Mr.

Troy limit to make sure I was actually on the right list today I really appreciate you um and thanks again to the council members who have been open to listening to representative of the people the Houston people's budget for the amendments we've been advocating for I want to give a huge shout out to councilmember Ramirez for including um uh an amendment for more transparency on the various uh abatements that are happening and I think that is a great step in the right direction um especially when we're looking at things like IDAs and there are no obligations for them to actually invest or have hiring mechanisms but they're still making all of these uh wealth investments in themselves and not in the communities I think this is a great step in the right direction in terms of transparency and understanding their value um I do want to uh impress once again the importance of looking at an equitable way to address the trash fee issue um according to the Bullard uh Center for Environmental and Climate Justice 21.1 percent of the city of Houston is at or below the poverty level uh we are we have a higher poverty level rate in the city of Houston than Chicago New York Los Angeles we are topping the charts in terms of residents that are um struggling to make ends meet on top of that the Rice Kinder Institute actually uh gave a study back in 2024 that said most residents can't afford a 400 expense just that happens off the random and so if we're taking that into consideration and expecting residents to be okay with a five dollar fee one out of five residents would not realistically be able to actually keep up with that and so we are strongly advocating at least for a more affordable trash fee maybe something along the lines of a dollar fee at the beginning and then increasing a penny tax for property taxes so that way it's not put on the backs of working class residents but the the cats out of the back at this point we do need support for solid waste we do need more money to increase that infrastructure but we have to find a way to not put it on the backs of working class citizens and making the way to actually hold corporations accountable by paying their fair share in property taxes and not making it so the rest of the city of Houston is actually carrying that burden I think you're gonna see a more positive and more excited response uh we hosted a town hall in partnership with Chris Holland's uh controller Chris Holland's my apologies and in that we saw um almost uh 75 percent of the residents in acres homes were not in favor of the fee at any point and if you can understand the demographic where we have mostly renters in the area we have uh residents that are older and on fixed income.

Um, you can understand the hesitation of adding yet another fee on top of everything else they have to uh contend with.

So once again, thank you to council member ramiz for at least considering the transparency on how investments are being made with the tax and uh tax abatements, and please, if it is any way to add an additional amendment, please consider lowering the uh the tax the trash fee.

One moment, Councilman Flickinger.

Thank you, ma'am.

Oh, and thank you for co-signing.

I'm so sorry.

Not sure if you've uh attended any of the hearings that we've had on the tax abatements.

If you haven't, please do.

Yes, sir.

Um, I can be fairly skeptical of them, and I know Councilman Ramirez is as well.

Uh I am glad to say the last couple that we've had, I think are the best ones that we've had so far.

Okay.

So please come on into the hearings and get to see you know, kind of how the sausage is made.

Yes, sir.

I already got it on my calendar for next month.

Thank you.

Thank you next, William Papadopoulos.

To be followed by Chris Bollio.

Uh good morning, Mayor Whitmeyer and members of the City Council.

My name is William Papadopoulos.

I'm here as a board member of the West Houston Association and will speak in favor of the mayor's proposed budget.

Our mission is to advance quality growth across the West Houston Association across the West Houston region through resilient and well-planned and maintained development and infrastructure.

Our members include developers, engineers, business leaders, and community partners who understand that strong public services, reliable infrastructure, and responsible long-term planning support growth.

This budget is not a perfect or permanent solution.

However, it is necessary to address longstanding problem.

Houston has tried to maintain core city services and aging infrastructure without a financial structure, fully matching the cost of delivering those services.

Public safety, solid waste, streets, drainage, permitting, and our existing utilities are not abstract budget items.

They are the foundation allowing neighborhoods to function, businesses to invest, and communities to grow responsibly.

When those systems are underfunded, the consequences appear in delayed maintenance, strained services, and growing uncertainty for residents and employers.

From the WHA's perspective, this budget is a bridge.

It provides temporary stability while the city develops long-term sustainable solutions.

That longer-term conversation should include structural reform, improved service delivery, infrastructure investment, and an honest discussion about how Houston will fund the basic systems to support its growth.

Waiting for a perfect answer should not prevent the city from taking responsible action today.

Houston's continued success depends on its ability to provide dependable public services and infrastructure.

This budget gives the city time to work toward permanent solutions without allowing immediate needs to go unmet.

We encourage city council to support this budget and to continue working with stakeholders on long-term fiscal and infrastructure solutions that Houston needs.

Thank you for your service and thank you for this opportunity to be here and speak.

Thank you, sir, for being here.

Next, Chris Bolio.

To be followed by Amy Erickson.

Good morning, Mayor Whitmeyer, and good morning, City Council.

And it is my honor to serve as the 2026 president of the Greater Houston Builder Association, a trade association comprised of more than 1,500 member companies in the single family home building industry.

The GHBA supports the mayor's budget proposed or proposed budget and appreciates the transparency shown to the stakeholders and the public throughout this process.

This budget, while not perfect, helps to stabilize city operations while allowing our city to focus on long-term fiscal growth.

A strong fiscal future promotes investment, economic growth, and housing opportunity across our city, and our members are excited to continue building and remodeling homes in a Houston that is vibrant, financially strong, and growing.

We believe this budget is an incredibly important first step.

We hope you'll support this budget for the residents who live, work, and invest in Houston, as well as the thousands who will choose Houston in the future.

Thank you so much for your attention this morning.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Next, Amy Erickson.

To be followed by Carolyn Rivera.

Good morning, Mayor Whitmeyer, members of council.

I want to begin by acknowledging the difficulty of this moment, balancing a budget for a city of 2.3 million people while navigating the structural deficits and maintaining services is not easy work.

The effort reflected in this proposal is real, and I appreciate it.

I also want to thank the budget and fiscal affairs committee chair Alcorn and co-chair Castillo for organizing the budget workshops as well as the town halls.

I attended, I listened, I learned.

A phrase that came up consistently was a balanced approach.

Having more time to study this proposal, I want to offer a distinction.

Balance isn't just about how a budget's assembled, it's about how it falls and lands on the people.

Good budgets are measured by who bears the cost.

And District I, where I reside and serve as a neighborhood leader, is home to over 200,000 residents and 70,000 households.

Our median household income is under $53,000 below the citywide average of 60,000.

Our household poverty rate is also above the city's average.

They're not abstract figures.

These are actual financial conditions of the people that this budget will affect.

The proposed $5 administrative trash fee warrants are closer look through that lens of $32,280 owner-occupied homes in District I.

With regards to the right-of-way fee, it's another fee that over time will be passed on to the consumers through utility rate increases.

Largely the same residents that I described previously.

And the proposed transfer of solid waste to public works carries a projected cost of a billion dollars to the CUS over five years.

Unlike a fee, a structural reorganization is difficult to reverse.

It deserves thorough deliberation before any commitments made, and I look forward to hearing those conversations over the next week.

So the administrative trash fee generates an estimated 24 million dollars in the first year.

In that same time, one year, police and fire overtime totaled 113 million dollars.

A council serious about fiscal stability should consider where the larger opportunity lies.

In a single quarter, I mean, if we could uh commit to reducing by 25%, that's 28 million dollars, and that's more than the fee generates.

Um a truly balanced approach pursues both revenue and efficiency.

One suggestion there would be to invest in grant writers to help capture federal revenue that's left on the table.

And then additionally, to turn projected savings into realized ones.

More auditors in the controller's office would bring local government corporations to account.

Um, I think the council has the information it needs.

I think the facts speak clearly, and I trust this body to hear them.

Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am.

Next Carolyn Rivera.

To be followed by Alfredo Dominguez.

Carolyn Rivera, City Glass, Northeast Houston.

I want to thank you, Councilmember Salinas, for proposing the public works hiring amendment.

Thank you.

I do not support the overall budget, because water is absolutely essential for all known life.

Again, who Houston's poverty rate is the highest of major cities like New York, Chicago, New York.

Poverty is 21%, 21.2% adults, and 31.7% children.

This budget adds an additional trash fee into our water bills.

An additional burdens to the poor.

Since 2021, our water bills have gone up every year.

City Council have voted to approve a sewage fee to address our deteriorating infrastructure.

As a result, our water bills have gone up an average of 66%.

It causes hardship on people like me who live on a fixed income.

April 2021, my water bill was $20.

My bill this past month is $60.82, triple.

May seem little to you, but a lot to me.

This is a $25 trash fee.

This trash fee is going up $5 every year until it reaches $25.

Mayor and city council stop our property rate from increasing.

An option is to reduce the trash fee and assess a penny property tax to make this budget affordable and protect our water infrastructure funding.

Tax multi-million dollar cooperations like Gold Star Metal who are trashing our community.

Flooding it, proven, flooding it with toxic polluted water, doing a minor ring, and destroying our song and stormwater draining.

And I wanna say that is as of yesterday, where people and children are living and you ignore it.

Ignore it, ignore it, ignore it, and know and know that we are under your jurisdiction.

You can pass laws to stop it.

Thank you.

Alfredo Dominguez.

To be followed by Karina Bliss.

Back again.

I do have a completely different speech today.

Um, for other than guess, I'm uh employee of people's council and I live in District H.

So I want to continue to think about the the to narrow in on this point of why all roads lead back to policing.

So this year we saw two of the three different call response times go up, meaning schedule one and schedule three both increase in the amount of time and response.

And the answer is gonna be well, we need more officers.

But there were more officers hired this year than we have had in years past.

But once again, the question is always that everything does lead back to policing, right?

When we police officer response time in crime is going down, it's because police are doing a good job so they should get more funding.

When it's going up, it's police officers are doing need more resources, so they should get more funding.

But the question is if HPD's stats are to believe they have over a million contacts, right?

With residents in Houston, but the city of Houston has over two million residents.

That means for the gross majority of people, a lot of them are not interacting with the police officer every single year.

But they are leaving on our roads, going to our schools.

Houston is the highest poverty rate of any of the top 10 major metropolitan areas.

It has the worst almost freeways, I think us in Dallas are in competition for the highest fatality rates of any roads in this country, right?

Why are we not focusing on the issues that directly impact people every single day when we build the budget?

And why are we continuing to make it seem that the only thing the city can do is put money into police and everything else, just get scraps that are left over in the general fund?

We need to continue to ask questions about what kind of document, what kind of city we want to build, because at the end of the day, the scaling of the police department in comparative to the growth of the general fund when we're not gonna get more revenue, right?

It's a city where the the growth of the city is in the suburbs, it's not in Houston proper.

We need to continue to ask ourselves how we're gonna find the money to build the city that we want to live in and that the city and like the residents of the city want to live in.

Because as of right now, that's not what I'm seeing happening, and I support the amendments to decrease tax abatements and to increase victory establishment because of those, those are direct things that we can do to improve the quality of life of people in the city, and I do not see increasing a trash fee and creating a trash fee that funds into the general fund to increase the police spending because at the end of the day, that's what the money's gonna end up going to because that's what we've seen.

Any new revenue in the general fund, the gross majority of it has gone into increases for the police department.

And we need to ask ourselves what kind of city we want to build, and I hope to continue to have that conversation, and I hope that the council members will listen to the residents that are here talking about the issues of affordability and infrastructure and ditchery establishment because those are the issues that impact people every single day.

Thank you.

To be followed by Angela Baldwin.

Good morning, mayor and city council members.

My name is Andrea Segovia.

I use she her pronouns.

I'm the senior field and policy director at the Transgender Education Network of Texas or Tent, we are the largest statewide BIPOC, trans-led, trans focused policy education, and advocacy org here in Texas.

We do a lot of work.

I'm also a resident of District K.

As the city budget is being discussed and will be voted on.

I want you all to hear about how your plans to fund the police department will not give you the results you think.

Before I begin, I'd also like to add that my dad is a retired Bear County Sheriff.

So I do uniquely understand the importance of common sense funding for public servants.

In the last week, the mother of a black trans woman, Persia Amara Conway, has gone through distress and disrespect in our city, the most diverse city in the country, the city I call home, Houston.

Persia, her daughter, was murdered and found naked by the braised bayou as though she was a piece of trash instead of a human being.

She was found by two children on memorial day, and they then called the police.

The police, HPD, who you're giving millions of taxpayer dollars to, called her a prostitute to the media and did not alert her family for days that she had been murdered.

It took the local trans community finding her mom and alerting her on what had occurred.

The entity with seemingly unlimited funds did not begin this case having fulfilled the basic duties of their job.

Persia's mother's calls were ignored for days.

Her questions about her daughter were dismissed, detectives rolled their eyes to her at her request to do their job to help who murdered, to help who found who murdered her daughter, as they met in person.

When presented with evidence and information about the murder that they had collected themselves, the police department responded to the family with what's the point?

What good would it do?

Their mismanagement of the murder case is not from a lack of funding or capacity or information.

Their mismanagement is from the unwillingness to do their job in this case.

I urge members to consider if HPD truly deserves more of your constituents' hard-earned dollars.

If you pass this budget and continue to leave Houston in a deficit, like city controller Chris Hollins has talked about continuously, we need answers.

We need answers to how you're going to help us survive hurricane season with dwindling supportive funds.

We need accountability from city entities like HPD.

We need a thorough investigation and restructuring of the police department's response to trans and LGBTQ violence in the city we call home Houston.

We need established systems between Houston law enforcement and community leadership so that this never happens again.

This isn't about crimes that occur to trans people.

This is about Houston investing in their community and considering focusing on things that matter, like access to health care, housing, and economic security.

The residents of the city deserve a better Houston, not another deficit budget to fund a department unwilling to do the basic duties.

Thank you.

Angela Baldwinsky.

Good morning, everyone.

My name is Angela Bowen.

City Council must pass council member Selena's amendment to support hiring and training with the 500, with 500,000 to fill those vacancies and get votes on the ground.

This will enable the project to be completed.

Thank you, Salinas, for proposing this amendment.

You can start with me.

I have my resume ready.

Thank you, ma'am.

Jack Valinski.

To be followed by Ethan Southern.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

I know a lot of hard work was done.

Mayor, you've done a lot of really good work in making this budget better, but still we've got problems.

I would really like for us to be able to just let's put the whole thing down and do a year study and fixing it permanently.

Councilmember Pollard, your glass, and I'd like to do it here, but this is crooked.

It was a great analogy of what some of our problems are.

But I think one of the things you missed is that there was an extra glass of metro money that was put in there, and there was a glass of deters money that was put in there.

Those money should stay in the agencies that they belong.

The TERS in an ideal world, I'd love to get rid of the TERS.

But it's an opportunity for us to have more funds that we wouldn't otherwise be able to have.

So we need the TERS until everything is fixed.

But we still have problems.

Crossing the street is still a problem in this city with the way the cars drive because there's not enough enforcement.

That's not an easy thing to do.

We're a very spread out city, but we need more enforcement in that.

There's so many other needs like bark.

Let's really try to solve the problems next year.

Get through this budget.

I'm not a fan of this budget, but let's really do it.

I know the studies were great, but it didn't yield, I think, as much as you had hoped it would.

So we need more revenue.

That's the simple fact.

We need more revenue to get this city totally under control.

Thank you.

Next, Ethan Southard.

To be followed by Kathy Martinez.

Hello, and thank you, especially to Councilman Davis for allowing me to speak today.

I'm actually going to be talking about responsible fatherhood month.

So here's my script.

Today I want to talk about uh why it's so important that we declare June responsible fatherhood month here in Texas.

According to the U.S.

Census, one in four American children live without biological step or adoptive father in their home.

Texas is no exception.

In fact, nearly 2.5 million children in their state have lived in single parent households, most of them led by mothers.

Nearly a million households in Texas are headed by a single parent, with over 700,000 households led by single mothers, the fourth highest among all U.S.

states.

These families are more likely to face economic hardship, emotional stress, and limited access to opportunity.

It's a reality that affects not just individual homes but entire communities, driving up poverty rates and increasing dependence on public assistance just to get by.

Why does this matter?

Because fatherlessness doesn't just affect individual homes, it affects entire communities.

Children who grow up without an involved caring father are more likely to struggle with depression and anxiety.

They're at higher risk of dropping out of school, getting involved with drugs or alcohol, becoming teen parents, or even ending up in juvenile justice system.

These aren't just unfortunate outcomes.

They're signs of a larger crisis.

But here's the good news.

When fathers are present and engaged, the story changes dramatically.

Children with involved dads are more confident, perform better in school, and are less likely to get in trouble.

The positive impact of a devoted father ripples outward, strengthening families, stabilizing communities, and reducing the need for costly government programs.

And let's not forget the economic toll of fatherhood.

Fatherlessness.

Taxpayers bear the financial burden through billions spent each year on public assistance.

Educational interventions, and criminal justice costs tied to fatherlessness.

Thus, promoting responsible fatherhood isn't just good for children.

It's a smart investment in our state's future.

That's why declaring June as responsible fatherhood month matters.

It's more than a symbolic gesture.

It's a statement that Texas believes in strong families, involved fathers, and giving every child the chance to thrive.

Let's shine a light on this vital role that fathers play.

Let's encourage men to step up and stay involved in their children's lives, and let's support programs and policies that help dads be strong and steady leaders in their their children's need.

Every child in Texas deserves love, protection, and guidance of a committed father.

By recognizing June as responsible fatherhood month, we take a bold step towards building a stronger family, safer communities, and a brighter future for our great state.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Next Kathy Martinez.

Mayor, uh City Council members, good morning.

Buenos días, I suppose.

Um my name is Kathy Martinez.

I'm the Secretary Treasurer for SCIU Texas.

Here, I'm here to speak and supported the budget proposed by the Mayor Whitmeyer.

Whether we are taking a city train, driving on city streets, or just drinking water, we rely on the city services, and our city services relies on the city workers.

To keep our city running, we need to maintain maintain adequate staffing and pay those workers enough to stay in their jobs.

The budget delivers exactly that.

It step stabilizes the city finances and protects essential services, and it's avoiding cuts to the municipal workers.

Because of that, we encourage the city council to approve the budget.

Thank you.

Thank you.

It completes the list of speakers.

Is there anyone else present that would like to testify?

There's one.

Would you like to come down, sir?

Either one.

Either one.

And state your name for the record, please.

Uh my name is Darren Champs.

Uh I'm with District B.

I'm here advocating for my community as well as other communities that are would probably be mostly affected by a trash fee of five dollars that would some point escalate over time.

In my area, it's about 64th between black and brown population with a meaning will come around for less than 40,000.

Sounds like this can be quite effective to somebody's pockets.

And I realize that the city does come together and does help its people, but cannot put our people under the hole for a garbage fee.

That is something that is our expectation of our city to handle.

I hope that the council will reconsider part of his budget to find a way that our garbage can be handled in a more cost-effective manner as opposed to just tacking a fee on to water bills that uh Mosalawa residents cannot afford that on fixed incomes that have issues that are on government assistance, as uh already.

So, city council, please reconsider that fee.

We consider the fact that that the areas that we're living in right now are still in need of some dire infrastructure um issues, you know, proper transportation, still deal with flooding, especially now during hurricane season.

Now we're gonna be dealing with uh the stream heat and extreme water water issues.

So again, thank you for allowing me to have this time with you all, but please reconsider that fee.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Anyone else?

State your name.

Yes, my name is Mariah Dayaka.

I am a district K resident.

I am here in solidarity with everyone speaking about the solid waste fee.

I don't have anything articulate prepared, but I will do my best.

After attending um city Controller Chris Holland's reality check, reality, yeah, reality check for the budget.

I was very moved by the amount of I was very moved by the amount of time and dedication that's been put into this budget, but I still do fundamentally disagree with the fee, especially after what I've heard today.

I stand in solidarity with a multitude of the advocacy organizations that I've heard from today, because like they've been saying, a responsible budget isn't just about mitigating a deficit, it is about how it is enforced on its constituents.

And after hearing what that lady said about how she has to mitigate her anxiety each time there's a flood, and how she that really got to me.

And I know that got to every single one of y'all too.

We have to be responsible stewards of this budget, whatever kind of revenue that comes in.

And again, I just think um, the solution that people are proposing in terms of something more progressive, that's not a flat fee, something that takes into consideration everybody's level of income is the path forward.

I know you all are responsible elected officials.

I ask that you continue to do so while considering those who are less fortunate.

Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am.

Anyone else?

Oh Mary.

I wasn't gonna talk, but anyway, um, the garbage fee that we're talking about, I believe that you all said, and correct me if I'm wrong, that that five-dollar fee is less than what other cities are charging, even when they take into account the difference in income levels.

I don't understand how, so I mean, I think that we're already at a base level that's less than what other cities are charging for that.

So that's something that we all have to consider.

Maybe moving forward when you go up.

If we do go up to $25, then maybe then there would be a need to readjust for economic reasons.

But I don't know how y'all figure out what the economics are in a household.

I just don't understand how y'all do that.

The taxes that we're paying for property taxes continue to increase, but it's not increasing based on what's coming into the household as far as what they're making.

It's based on what the H, I mean, CAD says that the houses are worth.

So how do you balance that?

I mean, like when you have someone that's on a fixed income that is in a house that's saved up and managed to get into that household and they're living there and their taxes go up every year.

Is it fair to put an additional burden of taxes on them just because they're living in a house that's worth more than someone else?

I don't know what the answer is, but if y'all are gonna figure out a way to make it equitable for everyone, it has to be on income, not on the house that they live in, if that makes any sense.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Cast X take a move to close the hearing.

Second.

Motion made and second.

All in favor say yes.

Those opposed, nay.

You please begin our consent agenda.

Under the miscellaneous category, need a motion for item two.

Cast say to move.

Motion made and second, all in favor say yes.

Those opposed nay motion passes.

Under the accept work category, need a motion for items three through five.

Cast excited to move.

Motion made and second.

All in favor say yes.

Those opposed naive motion passes.

Under the purchase and etabulation of beats category, item nine has been pulled and will not be considered.

Need a motion for items six, seven, eight, ten, eleven, twelve, and thirteen.

Cast X tater move.

Next second.

Motion is made in segment.

All in favor, say yes.

Those opposed, no, motion passes.

Under the ordinances category, item 41 has been pulled and will now be considered.

The following items have been removed for separate consideration: 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26, 27, 33, 35, and 36.

Again, those numbers are 15 through 19, 24 through 27, 33, 35, and 36.

Need a vote on the balance.

All in favor say yes.

Items removed for separate consideration.

Item 14 is an ordinance.

Council members, item 14 is the fiscal year 2027 budget agenda.

Items and 15 through 19 are all related.

We have handouts of everyone's budget amendments.

I'm going to announce the ones I have and let you make comments if you choose.

No, at this time.

Very well.

Councilmember Salinas.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'd like to just speak briefly on the two budget amendments and then the floor amendment we're proposing regarding the administrative fee.

So beginning with the budget amendments, the first, which I've discussed with many of you, is a and I want to start by thanking council members Tarsha Jackson, Councilmember Castillo, and the Mayor Pro Tem for co-sponsoring this amendment.

But what this effectively does is move three million dollars out of the nearly 38 million that have been allocated towards management consultants towards combating illegal dumping.

And in the amendment, we lay out specific things that we hope this these funds are spent on.

And these aren't just suggestions out of thin air, these are suggestions that have been made through extensive engagement with community stakeholders as to what they want to see the city of Houston investing in to combat illegal dumping.

And the three million dollar number is also not a number we just made up.

We you know thought about asking for a lot more, but is in fact the number that the Burns and McDonald's study recommends that the city of Houston invests to combat illegal dumping.

So I strongly encourage you to support this budget amendment, and of course, we're available to answer any questions.

The second budget amendment, and I want to thank the folks of NAC for speaking in favor of it.

Um, is a response to what we heard at the budget workshop from public works that explained that there's there's sort of a delay in our ability to hire more individuals because of the huge amount of vacant positions we have.

Right now, HPW's capacity is we can hire no more than 500 additional workers per year, which is still a lot, and I commend their efforts.

Um, but this budget amendment would transfer $500,000 that's currently set aside for vacant positions and use those dollars to hire additional temporary workers to facilitate the onboarding of more individuals.

This doesn't cost the city any additional funds.

These are funds that are just sitting there right now to fill vacant positions, and obviously once those positions would fill would be would be filled, then we would remove the temporary workers.

Um, but I want to thank council members panzerella and councilmember Castillo for co-sponsoring this amendment.

We think it's a great step forward.

And the last um amendment we have is not a budget amendment, but a floor amendment uh to the proposed ordinance changes related to the administrative fee.

Uh specifically, as colleagues, as we've heard again and again, there are a lot of concerns about the affordability aspects of this fee.

And so what we would propose to all of all of you is that we consider adding the water fund um to this proposed amendment to allow it to be used to provide leaf assistance to those that may need it.

For those that uh are in as familiar with the water fund, I certainly learned about it this year.

It is a totally donation based fund that the city maintains.

And so all this budget amendment does is add the administrative fee to the water fund code to allow people to apply for relief assistance in it for for the for the administrative fee in addition to what they can already apply for.

Again, it doesn't cost the city a penny, and it's just allowing people if they choose to apply for the other utility assistance funds that they can also apply for assistance on the administrative fund.

Um so we'd strongly encourage you to support that as well.

Um I commend Councilmember Castillo for an amendment to hopefully put more funds in the water fund, and we should certainly do our part there.

Um but I think this is a great first step that we can take to respond to the calls from Houstonians that we address the affordability concerns of this fee.

Um those are my amendments.

I appreciate your consideration, and like I said, we're happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you for your work.

Councilman Alcorn.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'll wait and talk next week.

Very well.

Councilmember Peck.

Oh, mayor pro Tim Peck.

I'll wait for next week.

Thank you.

Councilmember Panzerella.

I'll just say uh thank you, Mayor.

It's been a busy first week to say the least.

Um, I want to commend Councilmember Salinas for for the amendment she put forward.

She's been a huge help for us in our office.

Uh looking through some amendments that were interested in as well, and I'll speak more on that next week.

So thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Councilmember Castillo.

Thank you.

I will talk about and lay out my amendments next week.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'm also gonna hold off to next week as well.

Thank you, Mayor Pratem.

The Mayor Pro Tim.

Thank you, Mayor.

Just wanted to um let my colleagues know that yet again we are putting forth the additional code enforcement officers for our individual districts.

I mean, uh representing a community of 95 civic clubs, HOAs, a bedroom community with a lot of neighborhoods.

Code enforcement is extremely important to our residents who are looking to protect their neighborhoods.

I will um lay it out and kind of work through it with public works and try to get um an amendment or some type of work around for us to have that type of protection in our communities um next week, and then another um item that was brought to forth uh by residents is the um 250,000 dollars to be included to discuss um recycling.

We have had lots of contamination in our recycling.

We are looking to allocate some funds uh for recycling education and audits, and we can go through that on next week, very well.

Are there any others?

See none is there are tag on all the amendments in item 14 through 19.

Yes, that's item tag, items have been tagged, Thomas can be.

Very well, items been tagged.

Next on the consent, Mr.

Secretary.

Item 15 is an ordinance, just need a vote.

We take the 15th.

All in favor say yes.

Those opposed name, motion pass.

Yeah, it's already tagged.

Okay, item 24 is an ordinance, just need a vote.

All in favor say yes.

Those opposed, nay, motion pass.

Thank you.

I ain't got nothing to say.

Item 25 is an ordinance.

Just need a vote.

Tag in favor, yes.

Councilmember Castillo tag.

Uh tag back, Councilmember Castillo.

Very well.

Item 26 is an ordinance.

Just need a vote.

All in favor, say yes.

Those opposed name.

Motion passes.

Item 27 is an ordinance.

Just need a vote.

All in favor say yes.

Those opposed, nay, motion passes.

Council member Castillo.

Councilmember Castillo.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um item 27 is uh uh the item that establishes the new bark adoption facility.

And I I do want to applaud um this moving forward and the work that your team has done to find the site and establish a new uh customer-facing adoption facility, expand capacity at BARC.

Uh it's much needed.

We've heard from speakers uh a couple days now about the conditions of the the animal population and the its impact on the neighborhoods.

I do believe uh this is a good step forward.

It is a larger problem that I think we need to continue to look at cooperation and collaboration with Harris County and their animal control efforts as uh what we do and what they do, the animals don't know any difference, whether they're city or county, and and it's also confusing to the residents who live near the county shelter that take their animals there and are told you have to go to bark, and then those animals end up in Melrose Park.

Um, and so we we need to work on that.

And um, I still also believe that the local government corporation option could be utilized, thinking about fundraising, thinking about bringing in philanthropy, getting a board in place.

So uh plenty of work still to be done there, but this is a positive step in the right direction, and look forward to to seeing this uh shelter open and the improvements that are coming to the existing bar campus that are a part of this as well.

Thank you, and thank you for your leadership and your commitment to uh animal welfare, and it's going to make a difference.

And all stakeholders are excited and uh improve adoption and a holistic approach.

Certainly, when we roll out our new location, the final plans are being drafted as we talk.

So, thank you for your leadership.

Next, item 33 is an ordinance, just need a vote.

All in favor, tags.

Councilmember Pollard tags.

Next, item 35 is an ordinance, just need a vote.

All in favor, say Councilmember Thomas.

After Selena's before, after?

Before.

So colleagues, I just want to flag on this item.

This is a uh 35 and 36 are about a 1.5 million dollar investment in additional law enforcement overtime to challenge our to tackle our unhoused population, particularly the efforts being made in the downtown area.

Um I had various conversations with Mr.

Satter White, and I really appreciate his time and engagement on this issue.

I know he's very committed to it, but the concern I had with the ordinance as proposed is that there was nothing in the interlocal agreement that specifically set forth requirements about the kind of training that the law enforcement officers would have to go undertake before engaging in these operations.

Now I've been assured by Mr.

Satter White that all of the officers that will be engaging in this have the same training that our hot teams do.

Um I would like to see in the future that some of those commitments of training be reflected in the actual agreements, but I do appreciate Mr.

Satter White's engagement on the issue, and I think we can all just do our best to ensure that whether it be law enforcement or civil services, are providing resources but in the most humanitarian way possible, and I think more stringent outlines of what those individuals, what kind of training they'll have to undertake will ensure that.

But again, I appreciate Mr.

Sader White's engagement on it.

I appreciate your leadership on this mayor.

Very well, Councilmember Thomas afterwards, after.

Those opposed, nay, motion passes.

Councilmember Thomas.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh thank you, colleagues, for this.

Um I I was gonna defer to Councilmember Martinez, but if you have not taken the time to visit 419 emancipation, I want to highly encourage you to do so.

The item we pass um is a direct reflection of what uh we agreed to when um adding to this continuum in addition to the community feedback of the concerns of residents around law enforcement.

So what you will see at the centers that we have a collaborative operation between Metro, the Constables, Houston Police Department, uh the homeless outreach team from HTP, HPD will be relocated there at 419 Emancipation, which provides targeted assistance to um a community and citywide um to support this facility, and so I if you have not taken advantage, please make it your priority to visit, and you'll see that the conversations that Councilmember Castillo Martinez led, and many of y'all joined those conversations uh that it's living out in a lot of the work and a lot of the ordinance that will that are coming.

Um, in addition, there's an item.

I don't know if we passed it already up, but to extend uh a land purchase agreement so we can have additional green space at the facility um for some um activity for those who are participating, really excited about the soft progress that is happening there, and um I look forward to a bunch of success stories.

And just to recall to many of you about the role law enforcement plays with um those experiencing homelessness and the agreements we've made.

Um the individuals are trained particularly for this.

They do this citywide, they're relocating at that facility.

Um, and it's a collaborative, it's a collaborative effort, so we can be efficient with those dollars and those that time and that resource.

So I think we're gonna see some success around that, and we all know that law enforcement plays a role.

They're not the the totality, but for many of the law enforcement officers, they're the first ones to engage with these individuals off the street.

Um many of them have relationships with um the individuals so excited about what's happening.

Um thank you for support of this item and um looking forward to what's next.

And thank you as chairman of housing and someone committed to the homeless uh population and the residents in the community.

You're absolutely right.

Uh everyone should go to it now that it's operational, it's been open a week with a soft opening.

Thank you to uh Mike Nichols.

Uh council member Selena's mentioned Cider White, but Mike Nichols is there as whereas Harris as well as Harris Health, the Harris Center.

Approximately 60 people are residing there, and three have already left after the program is demonstrated that we will help relocate is not long term residences.

It's to get the homeless off the streets and get the counseling and mental health services and job opportunities that will get them uh a permanent solution.

So it's exciting.

Uh I'm getting nothing but uh positive feedback from the community, and uh it's probably gonna be one of the safest places in town because of the commitment of HPD to the relocate eight members of their hot team there.

Uh 724, the constables, the deputy sheriffs, and uh I'm just so proud, and it's obviously just the first step.

We still have a lot of work to do.

Councilmember Carter, who helped find the location, and thank you for your passion and uh love, quite frankly, to the challenges of being homeless and human trafficking.

Thank you.

You're taking the lead this week as we approach FIFA to have FIFA a zero tolerance for human trafficking.

Thank you.

You continue to uh do the public service that we're all sent down here to do.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

And uh Councilmember Thomas, thank you for your words on this.

Uh certainly 419 emancipation is high on my radar, and I'm so excited about the success, um, not to correct, but this morning there are about 80 have gone through.

Uh, a couple of dogs have entered the facility.

Also, too, just um, you know, I I think it's very important if you haven't been there to go there, but the law enforcement who's on site, this is their second job, you know.

You know, they they work, they work their full-time job, and this is their second job.

So they they are very much committed.

They're trained.

Um, I don't uh after talking to uh um Chief Satter White, you know, the training that they received.

There's there's no more training out there for them, um, because this is their day, this is their day job.

Also, too, um, I'll be over there this afternoon at about three o'clock, and we're s working closely with the Harris Center Foundation on funding and needs and and um volunteers and such, and uh certainly um this past weekend.

If you guys know and if you all know uh Sheldon Thurgood, T Good, as he's known on the streets with the hot team, is a gift to our city.

He hosted an event over at the St.

Joseph Center, and um, you know, they're very excited about this project.

Um, passing through um over in midtown at lots.

If you've been there lately, you know there's a problem, and and the ability to really to uh stand this up and start to put people through the facility and and navigate their space and where they need to be is very exciting and thank you for your support.

But council members, thank you all for your continued support on this because it's absolutely necessary, one of many.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Davis.

Thank you, Mayor.

I want to thank um again also Councilmember Thomas, our chair uh for the work in regarding to our homeless center, uh, people bringing up questions regarding training.

Hot teams have been doing this training, and uh they know that.

And those of us who are stakeholders in the in the interest of what goes on at 419, not only PASS but other people in the general community when council member Castillo had his uh engagement town hall meeting, I was there from the beginning to the end, as well as uh uh brothers out of white Larry, as well as uh our uh housing development director, those people engaged in it.

I mean, the concern from the community, we heard them, we listened to them, we engaged what they were concerned about.

Uh and so again, you know, to I think this is a great plus to add to this to the work of the law enforcement again to things those of us who are concerned about homelessness, uh then we have to certainly trust the law enforcement in order to do what they do in a broader perspective.

So I really appreciate uh this item.

Thank you.

And and I'm gonna repeat the numbers that Councilman Carter said 80 individuals have been removed from the streets, getting a three meals a day.

Safe place to stay, and more significantly, three have already received the care and assistance they need and have left.

Uh ultimately there will be a thousand people a year going through that site, and it's just the first model for what we can do.

Quite frankly, now that we have it in operations, the foundations across Houston are seeing what we're capable of doing, and they're beginning to contribute significant funding.

This is something that is getting the attention of not only our community, but nationally, uh, we're having guests and visitors, HUD, uh secretary and others are using this as a model for other major cities, all of whom have real challenges.

And uh, it's just the right thing to do for our clients, it's good for the community.

It's also maintaining the viability downtown that was always at risk, uh brought to me by corporations that their employees did not want to come back to work after COVID because they didn't want to encounter the homeless population.

And uh so it's just a win-win for all the uh parties involved.

Well, thank you, Mayor.

Uh, may I add to the issue of looking for other spaces and places to do this, and we know and thank you the challenges that the city has council faced in terms of trying to find a facility to to accommodate a homeless uh population, but also I mentioned before we've got to look for other funding resources while we're doing this, and everybody's concerned is that we all know people that know people that know people, and let's go after some of these uh public-private dollars.

As you know, I've stated to you that I had one group who had come to me, and I mentioned it to Director Nichols and Larry Settlewhite about how we can raise dollars uh outside beyond, and one group is already stepped up, and uh we are that is in a planning stage so that we can accommodate and getting more money to accommodate this uh housing.

So we need room and space, but we certainly need money.

Ma'am, emancipation is just the start.

Just the beginning of several.

Uh councilman Martinez.

Thank you, Mayor.

And I was gonna wait until item 36, but uh, since we're speaking on this item, uh, first definitely want to lift up uh our chair for housing, uh, Councilmember Thomas.

She's been very passionate about finding uh ways where we can make sure that housing continues to be the priority.

Uh, but as we continue to do this work, we understand that there are other challenges uh that come with uh specifically those hardest to house.

And so um I'm excited about this this uh opening as well as a soft opening, and you've heard a lot of the numbers.

The soft opening was last week.

Um, the partnership with Harris Health.

I want to definitely make sure folks know Dr.

Wayne Young.

Uh we're appreciative of the partnership that he's bringing to light.

Uh both myself and Councilmember Castillo hosted a community uh um site visit about a week and a half ago.

Uh community were able to come in, ask questions as well.

Uh, and uh and I say that because I think at the forefront of all the work that we're doing, we want to make sure that community continues to stay engaged in this work.

Um, understanding that this is a starting point, and the back door to come out is really making sure that they're leaving with wraparound services, as the mayor mentioned.

Um, there's been uh already three that have exited this facility.

That is the goal, it's not for there to be permanent housing there.

Um, and then we also look forward to other work to be uh done as we identify uh, you know, whether it's folks coming uh being discharged from the hospital.

What does that look like?

Um, what is that respite uh triage care look like for them?

Um and then uh just want to close a little bit off of what uh my colleague councilmember Davis was mentioning, funding.

Um, and I keep I keep mentioning this uh specifically when it comes to unhoused population.

Um there is a local taxing entity that that should be really doing the heavy lifting.

Um we sit in Harris County in the Harris County Hospital District.

Right now, is that local taxing entity that should be leading the charge?

And so, what does it look like if that entity created an enterprise fund specifically for housing um for homelessness?

Um, and so want to continue to have these conversations again.

Uh 419 emancipation, it's uh so it's a great start, Mayor, and I appreciate all the work you're doing to house uh homeless individuals, but then we also need to look for that sustainable funding as well.

Thank you, Councilmember Pollard.

Thank you, Mayor, and good morning to everyone.

Um, when we say a soft opening, are we limiting the amount of people that are able to be there at the moment?

I know that council member Thomas said 60 people, councilmember Carter said 80 people, but the place has over 200 beds, and it's been highly publicized, highly known uh to that demographic and those who want to help serve that community.

You would think that all the beds would be taken from the very beginning when we know that there's about 4,000 homeless people in the city.

So, is there is there a phase in to get to the capacity or or what what is the plan?

Phased in.

Have you been there?

Yes, I've been there.

I would invite you to go see what a soft opening really looks like.

It's exactly what it says.

You will gradually build up staffing, uh, public safety concerns, health care, uh it is a process that I think you would appreciate as the chairman of housing.

Kind of challenge all of us to go back and visit and see for yourself what a soft opening it is.

It's a term that's used very frequently, okay, with complex operations to test it, fail safe, and just look out for everyone that'll be there.

One of the challenges, members, uh, is to work with the lows, not war.

Help me with the term, the across the street.

Bread, not war, uh, to feed to uh, uh, food not bad.

We're not water, too.

All I know is when I leave here about seven o'clock, they're feeding folks at the library, and we're in the process of finding them a location and relocate their clients to emancipation and our future sites.

So we're headed in the right directions.

It's a complex issue.

Uh we're ahead of other major cities, other major cities are calling us.

Funding has always been a challenge, but I can assure you the uh HUD secretary who was a state representative from Dallas for two years, two terms, uh, is visited and they're very interested in sharing our model and our soft opening with other major cities that you read about in the press.

So it didn't get like this overnight.

We're certainly headed in the right direction, and now, as I mentioned, the foundations, corporations are seeing what's possible, and they're uh contributing their resources.

Want to thank the county for their uh assistance, so and when will it be uh really gonna be a model?

When will it be fully open for the full capacity?

We'll let you know.

Okay, it's building up daily.

It was 60 uh earlier this week, it's eighty now, just as rapidly as possible.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Councilmember Castillo.

Thank you, Mayor.

And I want to reiterate, I know Councilmember Davis mentioned the town hall that I hosted from that meeting, there were 10 items the community requested related to this facility.

This what we're voting on today uh goes to that.

Director Nichols, Chief Satter White have been making very sincere efforts to satisfy those items.

One of them was a phased-in occupancy approach that the community requested so that they didn't just go from from zero to a hundred right away, but there was a effort to gradually increase the capacity, make sure that the operations were settled, things were worked out, and that as more folks came in, they were able to handle it, and the community wasn't just inundated.

So that is part of that letter where they haven't been able to meet the full request.

They've been working to get as close to it as possible.

So I want to just give a shout out to both of them and others uh that have been trying to meet the needs of the community uh that rightfully had anxieties about the facility opening, but it is a new approach.

Um I look forward to staying engaged with them to ensure that they're not inadvertently, the community is not inadvertently impacted by having the facility there.

I know Councilmember Martinez is has also been engaged when we hosted that uh community tour, which was another item uh on the list.

So I'm encouraged by that, and and um we'll continue to to be involved to ensure that their requests are met and continue to work with your team on that.

Very well, you know the dynamo corporate headquarters is right across the street.

So they've been a very uh positive influence and a good corporate citizen, and we're actually expanding.

I think Councilman Thomas mentioned there's a easement city easement behind it and abandoned road.

So it's actually going to be enlarged to allow folks to have some green space behind it.

So and we obviously, as you know, uh the reason for the soft opening is to make certain that everything is working correctly, and part of that is also to have an open house for the uh community.

So we'll continue to make progress as that goes forward.

Thank you.

Councilmember Carter.

Just uh wanted to uh add, so last year in decommissioning encampments, just a reminder, you know, it's a process, you don't just take people out and put them in a facility.

You know, 200 were taken off the streets and provided extra resources and and to get them into housing, and that is without emancipation.

You know, so when you think about 200 individuals at the cost of a low end would be fifty thousand dollars per person to the city on an annual basis.

Um, you know, I mean that's the bottom line too.

It affects the budget.

Um, and so uh on a on a soft opening, um, soft opening is not like a retail soft opening.

It's you know, you gradually bring people in because that's how it is to to decommission an encampment.

You it's a gradual process.

Yes.

And further uh demonstrations would be I would invite everyone to go look at the overhang bio place, that you could not walk down the street.

They would actually, I can't find anybody that wants to take ownership, but someone, the city would just do nothing but create loud noises of an animal in distress to try to keep the homeless from staying underneath there.

That is been completely transformed.

Uh I would invite everyone, not only due to the homeless circumstances, but the condition of tranquility part that we just walking back from lunch discovered several months ago.

It is being completely transformed, and the homeless have been excused and relocated to emancipation and other locations.

So it's a complex issue, didn't get like this, but we're doing it in a humane fashion that it's getting the recognition of not only stakeholders but our clients.

They want to go there, and when they get there, they're not leaving because they're being for the first time in many of their lives being cared for.

Next item.

Next item, please.

Item 36 is an ordinance, just need a vote.

All in favor, say yes, those opposed nay, motion passes.

Item 47 is an ordinance, just need a vote.

All in favor, say yes, those supposed nay.

Motion passes.

This completes the items on the agenda.

Very good.

Now, we would like to have a monthly financial report.

I know the controller and Melissa has been patient.

I could care less.

Good morning, Mayor.

Honorable members of council.

Uh, I'm here today to present the monthly financial report for April 2026.

Uh, before diving in, I want to welcome and congratulate Councilmember Joe Panzarella.

Um again, congratulations.

Uh everybody who's up here knows what it's like to be in the throes of a campaign and also knows what it's like to reach that exciting time of finally being sworn in again and so so welcome.

Uh I think we also all understand the feeling of the dog finally catching up to the car, and uh and so know that and I think I speak on behalf of all your colleagues.

You know, we're here uh to support you, uh, get you up to speed, give you any information that you might need, and so that pledge certainly stands from the City Controller's office.

So again, congrats.

Uh I also want to extend continued condolences to the family of Portia Conway, uh Persia Conway, excuse me.

Um a number of the members of this body uh were there yesterday to console her family uh and to extend uh your wishes, and that was from across the political spectrum, and so thank you all uh for being there.

You know, I want to apologize to her family on behalf of the city of Houston, and I hope that uh HPD and Chief Diaz will uh do the same thing.

So now for the report.

The controller's office is projecting an ending fund balance of $276.5 million dollars or 10.4 percent of expenditures, less debt service, and pay as you go for fiscal year 2026.

This is $23 and a half million dollars lower than the projection of the finance department.

The difference is due to a lower revenue projection than finance.

Based on our current projections, the fund balance will be approximately $77.3 million above the city's target of holding 7.5% of total expenditures, excluding debt service and pay as you go in reserve.

There have been no significant changes to our revenue and expenditure projections from the March 2026 report.

We are likewise projecting no changes from the previous month's amounts in the Aviation Operating Fund, the Combined Utility System Fund, the Convention and Entertainment Operating Fund, the Stormwater Fund, or any of the dedicated drainage and street renewal funds.

For our commercial paper and bonds, the city's practice has been to maintain no more than 20% of the total outstanding debt for each type of debt in a variable rate structure, which is in line with rating agency guidance of 25%.

As of April 30, 2026, the ratio of unhedged variable rate debt for each type of outstanding debt remained well below the 20% threshold.

Mayor, members of council, today you're considering and offering amendments to the proposed budget for fiscal year 2027.

Over the last several weeks, our office took the budget directly to Houstonians through the Reality Check Town Hall series.

We educated residents on what was in this budget and what it would mean for their households.

We gave them the opportunity to ask real questions, and we gave them straight answers.

We met Houstonians across the city, from homestead and acres homes to Sharpstown and Golfton, the Spring Branch to Oak Forest, to the Museum District, to Sunnyside.

I want to thank Council Member Tarsha Jackson for sending staff to our first town hall at HCC North Forest.

And I want to thank Councilmember Ed Pollard for joining us in person at the Baker Ripley Town Hall in Gulfton.

I'd also like to thank Director Dubowski and Councilmember Alcorn for joining us every year in a virtual town hall with the AARP membership.

Across the series, hundreds of Houstonians joined the conversation about the financial future of our city.

What stands out most is what people told us once they had the real chance to engage.

76% of participants told us that they were not confident City Hall is using their tax dollars wisely.

And more than half said they knew little to nothing about how the budget works.

That is not a minor communication problem.

That is a public trust problem.

While attendees came from different neighborhoods and backgrounds, the same priorities emerged consistently: housing affordability, economic opportunity, and safety.

We also heard a familiar concern from Houstonians.

What the city is doing and not doing to address flooding and to mitigate the impacts of extreme weather in a city that knows disasters all too well.

People are feeling pressure at home, at work, and in their neighborhoods.

They want to know whether this budget addresses the challenges they face every day, or whether City Hall is asking them to pay more without telling them the full story.

Throughout this budget season, my office has focused on four realities, and I want to put them on the record once more before the budget discussion moves forward.

The first reality is that this budget repeats several of last year's critical mistakes.

Last year we stood right here and we raised concerns about baked-in deficit spending, about under budgeting for overtime, about unrealistic revenue assumptions, and other recurring problems.

Those warnings were ignored, and that willful indifference led to a deficit of more than $180 million that we're living through right now.

The city has squandered half of its savings in just two years.

And now we're moving into a third year, seemingly without learning the important lessons of our previous blunders.

Reality number two is that this budget drains the water fund below what it can reasonably absorb.

Instead of reinvesting in water infrastructure, this proposal shifts water dollars toward trash collection and public safety costs.

That is not efficiency.

That is robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Last year, we began paying for 311, code enforcement, and the Office of Emergency Management with water money.

Now the plan is to subsidize trash pickup, police, fire, general fund debt, and other general fund obligations to the tune of over 200 million dollars.

This should go without saying, but fire is not water.

Police cars are not water, trash is not water.

And if we drain the water fund to pay for these non-water items, that means that a billion dollars over a five-year period will be not available to fund critical water infrastructure.

This plan puts a lot on the line, including our bond ratings and the long-term reliability of the systems and infrastructure that residents depend on right now.

Under this construct, the only way to avoid calamity within the combined utility system is to hike water rates even further than the increases that are already planned.

Which brings me to reality number three.

Houstonians will pay more than what's being promised, both in this trash fee and in their water bills.

The mayor has stated that if we're smart, the garbage fee may not ever have to go beyond five dollars.

That statement is patently absurd.

The mayor's staff has claimed that trash pickup is going to get less expensive over time, ignoring the plain facts that number one, our solid waste workers are significantly underpaid.

Number two, the recently published solid waste study recommends purchasing over 200 vehicles and bringing on almost 300 additional staff, and number three, that we continue to face issues of cost inflation across the board.

I'll go back to the city's solid waste study.

This study was hidden for a year, and it continues to be buried today.

This study projects a cost of $46 per household by year five if we actually meet standards of trash pickup service and a clean Houston that Houstonians deserve.

We need to tell Houstonians the truth about these costs now so that they can begin to prepare for what is coming.

Finally, we have reality number four.

The proposed garbage fee is a regressive tax.

It places a heavier burden on working families who are struggling to make ends meet, on retirees, and on seniors who are surviving on a fixed income.

On paper, a flat fee can sound simple because everyone pays the same thing.

But in practice, this fee will charge the average Houston household three times as much as a property tax that generates the same amount of revenue.

And that may seem minor right now because we're only talking about five bucks.

But in the near future, when the fee is going to amount to more than $500 a year, that's going to be a real strain and it's going to be incredibly painful for a lot of Houston households.

To help residents understand what this fee means for them, our office created the this fee is garbage tool.

What that tool shows is that every household with a taxable home value below $875,000 is going to be hit harder by a garbage fee than by other potential ways of generating the same amount of revenue.

That is not efficiency, that is shifting the burden of the city's financial problems on to the people least able to carry it.

Now let me address one point directly.

Trust.

Trust is currency and public service.

It's all we have.

This budget spins that trust without accounting for it.

The people we met at our town halls told us that all they want is honesty.

Houstonians are not stupid, and we should not treat Houstonians like they're stupid.

They want to know that the decisions made in this room reflect the realities that they're facing, that they're living and that they're experiencing every single day.

Housing costs are going up.

The cost of basic necessities are going up.

And even those who can bear an additional monthly bill, with more on the way, deserve an honest accounting.

And so these realities are documented.

The math is available.

Houstonians have been warned.

You've now been warned.

And now the choice sits where it belongs.

With you, the duly elected members of this council, in public and with Houston Watching.

As you consider amendments and ultimately cash your votes, I urge you to do so with a clear understanding of both the facts and the people behind them.

The responsibility entrusted to you is not merely to approve a budget, but to exercise sound judgment on behalf of those who are going to have to live with the consequences of your decision.

Thank you for your attention, and that concludes my report.

Do you want to be after?

Good morning.

This is the 10 plus two financial report for the period ending April 30th, 2026.

Fiscal year 26 projections are based on 10 months of actual results and two months of projections.

For the general fund, our revenue projection is 12.3 million higher than the adopted budget and about 100,000 higher than the prior month.

The variance from the prior month projection is due to an increase in sale of capital assets to reflect higher than anticipated land sales.

For sales tax, we're not making any changes to sales tax for this month, but uh just to provide some good news on sales tax.

Our receipts for the month of March were 89.2 million, which is about 4.47% higher than the same period last year, and represents about $8 million higher than budgeted.

In order to meet the finance department's current projection for sales tax for fiscal year 26, the remaining periods would need to come in about 3% below prior year, so we remain confident that our projection is still conservative for the rest of the year, but will continue to monitor and report monthly.

On the expenditure side, we're not projecting any changes from the prior month for the general fund.

So with the uh slight uptick in revenues, we're projecting the ending fund balance to be $300 million, which is slightly higher than the prior month and represents 11.3% of estimated expenditures, not including debt service and pay as you go.

On the enterprise special revenue and other funds, we're projecting no forecast changes to those funds as the controller mentioned.

Um, just to touch uh briefly on the FY27 budget, although I know we'll have uh much more discussion next week at council.

Um, as the council members mentioned, and as the public mentioned, uh, we've gone through quite a long budget process this year, thanks to Chair Alcorn and Vice Chair Castillo for chairing those budget workshops where each of the council members got the opportunity to ask the questions of each department director to talk not just about their budget but about their performance measures in the budget and their operations of their departments.

Um we know that uh there's a lot of um detail.

The budget book is very dense reading material, so our hope is that those budget uh workshops really get the chance to provide some dialogue and back and forth.

Um, the budget that we're proposing for fiscal year 27 is a result of a discipline sequence that we went through in the previous fiscal year.

Uh, we tightened spending, we talked to each of the departments, asked them what other additional efficiencies could there could there be, could they find.

Um, we know that those efficiencies that they find in their budget, um, based on these expenditure reduction processes we go through, is important.

We need to make sure we're doing um as much as we can with the resources we have, but we know that it's not enough to tackle the structural challenge that we have at the city.

Uh so this was our year that we really needed to move forward with bold budgetary measures, which we put out as part of the five-year forecast presentation that we talked through in the BFA.

Um, some of those structural constraints that City of Houston has ourselves in really put us at a disadvantage compared to our peers, both on the solid way side and the right-of-way side, we've talked about and laid out in our presentation, and the and the controller's office also did some work on this last year in their presentation to BFA and what some of the other cities around the state and the country are doing.

Um, we know that we were an outlier on solid waste and on the right of way.

We know that on the concept of the right of way, it's something that all other major cities are doing, and the city has truly been behind on that.

It's a new concept for the water and the wastewater system, but it's a familiar concept to all the other utilities in the city.

Um, our electricity utilities that service our citizens, our natural gas, our um cable TV, telephone utilities, they all pay a similar type of fee called a franchise fee.

And so it is new, it is a structural change, but we're at the inflection point in our budget where that structural change is truly needed.

And so we believe that the proposed budget strikes a balance between tackling our structural challenges and also considering affordability for Houstonians.

We know that.

We need to continue to drive efficiencies in the solid waste operations and really try to moderate what's affordable for Houstonians and what's needed to perform those services.

And so those items are really important for us to move forward with the budget without raising the property tax rate.

And I know that was mentioned at the hearing this morning.

That's something that the administration has been clear about is that we're not looking to increase the property tax rate with this budget, and so really trying to take a measured approach.

And that concludes my uh my notes.

Thank you.

Very good.

Thank you.

Councilman Pollard.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um I have questions for you both, so thank you for your presentation.

Uh Director, uh, would like to get your response to the controllers uh number of a billion dollars over five years related to water cost that will come out of the CUS based on the proposed budget.

Um, then I want you to touch on the five-year forecast, is which what I always try to look at.

In your five-year forecast, you showed that our deficit goes down in this fiscal year but starts to creep back up over five years, and want to know why or what reasons why that can't remain flat.

Why do we go down and then start to creep back up?

And it will that put us in the same position that we've been in historically.

Uh so if you could touch on that, and then finally um regarding the property tax cap.

There's always been discussions about, you know, we should lift the cap.

Um, we're under such a burden, but we're not even reaching the cap this year.

Um, why not reach the cap so that um that additional 20 million that can um come from that can go to the general fund for services that go right back into the community?

I think you had mentioned before that it would only be one penny to do that.

Um so what's the rationale behind not at least going to the property tax cap because I think the play devil's advocate, if you don't uh utilize that when you can, it's hard to use the argument that you should lift the property tax cap uh when you're not even meeting the maximum uh that we're under right now.

So on the property tax cap, um the administration has been clear that in the last fiscal year and this fiscal year, we want to keep the tax rate flat um at 51 cents.

So whatever um property tax revenue growth we see is gonna be really based on valuation growth or new properties built at the city.

Um, the administration feels it's important for affordability, um, hearing from the constituents that you know property their property tax bills have gone up and have been going up, and so that's really the rationale for for not setting a property tax rate that may you know fully collect the cap, like you mentioned about 2020 million dollars.

Um, on your question about the budgetary gap and the five-year forecast, um, there was a slide in the five-year forecast, um slide 51 that shows what the projection for the budgetary gap by year five was.

Um, absent these structural changes that we're making or proposing to make as part of the FY27 budget, um, you know, that budgetary gap would have been like you've been um asking for for months, uh, maybe longer than months, between five and four and five hundred million dollars by the time you get to year five.

Um, so by moving forward these structural reforms, you're correct, it doesn't wipe out that deficit, but it really resets the baseline to something that's you know something historical that we can tackle.

Um, so looking out at it year five, um, at the time of the five-year forecast, we were projecting without these structural reforms that the gap would be in excess of 500 million.

So now this would drop it down to you know in the one to 200 million dollar range again by year five.

Um so that would put us back in the same situation that we're in today.

So even though you have cut down from astronomical levels, you still we still put ourselves back into today, which today we're in the largest deficit in the city's history.

And I think what we've talked about this budget is that this is not a um or like to say it's not a perfect budget.

I think it's a nearly perfect budget, but um, you know, going out into the out years, we know we still have more work to do, right?

We know that we have challenges with um growth and expenditures at the same time, you know, revenues that aren't growing by as much as expenditures are growing.

That one billion dollar figure that uh controller missed.

Um, I think I'll have to probably connect with his team on that to understand the details of it, but um definitely want to do that before next week.

And for the controller, um what was the estimated deficit uh that was proposed in this year's budget when it came forth?

So uh when the mayor first proposed the budget um last year, I believe the deficit that was baked in initially was around 100 million dollars.

Uh we then got some news uh that would allow us to collect additional revenue, and so what ultimately came before you and what passed had a baked-in deficit of $76 million.

So we're at $76 million in the proposed budget last year, and then we ended up at what deficit number?

Uh, according to uh the mayor, the administration's numbers, it's just over 180 million dollars.

Uh, we have some revenue differences as of the moment that we're hoping to resolve, but right now we're looking at just over 200 million dollars.

So that's over a hundred million dollar difference of deficit spending.

Yeah, um, and so you mentioned it earlier in your report that trust is is the most important aspect of what we're doing, especially when it comes to uh the public's perception of where their tax dollars are going.

The mayor has consistently said, trust me, trust me, uh, we'll get it done.

And even in this last budget, it was proposed that we're gonna have a 76 million dollar deficit, and then now we're seeing that it's over a hundred million dollars more than that.

And so these numbers are real.

These numbers come from uh the residents of the city of Houston.

Um when we don't stick to the budget, and that's been really my main issue, is that we go through all this um process, and then we have a budget in place, and we put numbers next to the line items for those projected costs.

We built we build in contingencies, but then we still go way over budget, and so the overspending is how I think we put ourselves in these situations, and I think the overspending and the culture of overspending has to change if we ever think that we're gonna get a truly structurally balanced budget because if we don't change that culture of overspending, then we go through this process all the time where the numbers look decent on paper at the very beginning, and then at the end of the year, it's a different reality.

I would say to that, the expectation is certainly that the departments operate within their budget.

Um there are times when some departments go over budget, some departments go under budget, um, or they go over in certain line items and under and other line items.

At the end of the day, when we're talking about what is the ending fund balance for the city, at the time we adopted the budget last year, uh we were projecting the fund balance to be around 12 percent fund balance, which was around 305 million dollars.

Um, based on the report today, uh we're projecting around 300 million, so around eleven percent.

So we're really within about five million dollars when we're talking about our total ending fund balance bottom line.

So um, but but your point is well taken on.

I want to thank both of you all budget.

Yeah, I want to thank both of you all for your work um and all that you do to um give us your perspectives on where we stand financially.

Uh truly appreciated.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

And I know we'll be talking a lot about the budget next week, but um, while I have you here, I mean obviously the big stories of this budget have to do with the CUS and and doing the solid waste, meaning the solid waste of the utility and the right-of-way fee.

Um, controller, you sent us a memo uh yeah last night about the right-of-way fee approvals.

I don't see the city attorney here, uh, but I myself would like to learn a little bit more about that.

I I assume, since every other city in Texas is doing these right-of-way payments, that these approvals can be gained.

But if either one of you want to talk about approvals that have to do with the right-of-way fee, I was a little bit confused by that and did wasn't sure that we I didn't know that necessary more steps had to be taken in order to do this.

Certainly.

Uh the I sent you a long letter, and so I was gonna spare you all of that detail uh today, and I'll try to keep it very concise.

Um in short, uh there's a disagreement between the controller's office's view and the administration's view on if we yet have the permission, the the approval of our bondholders to take on this right-of-way fee.

Uh state law clearly allows for solid waste to be absorbed into uh the combined utility system.

I don't think the way we're absorbing it is in line with the spirit of the law, frankly, because the whole purpose of enterprise systems is to pay for themselves, and the way the solid waste is coming into the C US is not paying for itself.

But that's not the issue of the the primary issue of the letter I sent.

The the primary issue is around having uh consent of the bondholders uh to use these monies as a transfer over to the general fund in what's called the right-of-way fee.

Um the administration's position as I understand it is that we can take a first step today of getting this 104 million dollars out, um, but that we need bondholder approval for later moves further down the road.

Um our position is that that's inconsistent and that we either have their approval to just do it until kingdom come, or that we need to get the approval to do it first.

Now, the plan and the controller's office and finance and the broader financial working group are all working together uh to effectuate this plan is to go out and get this permission.

Now it's not just calling them up and saying, Hey, you know, can you check the box and say we're okay?

Um the approach that we're taking is essentially to swap out more than half of CUS's outstanding debt with the new master ordinance that you all have voted on, and once 50 plus one percent of bondholders have that new master ordinance as part of their agreement with us, then that gives us the permission.

But there are several steps that have to take place uh in doing that.

One is conversations with the Texas Water Development Board.

Uh that board reports up to Greg Abbott.

Uh Greg Abbott has been public with his view that water utility money in particular, given the water crisis across the state, should not be used for purposes other than maintenance of the water system.

We're explicitly saying that this right-of-way fee is not an operation and maintenance cost of the system, and so there is some uncertainty there.

Now, not saying we can't get it done.

I'm saying as controller, my job is to focus on the certainty of those revenues, and there's some uncertainty there.

The next issue is that with all of our bonds, we have to get AG approval, right?

Um, normally in a kind of just status quo scenario, uh, you generally assume that that age the approval is coming, although there's been instances where we've been waiting on that very last day and crossing our fingers that that approval comes.

Uh here uh we have an AG who's in the midst of a heated campaign who has made you know political decisions to go after cities and to try and grant stand and so on.

And so similarly, uh, while we're not saying we don't know what he's going to do, but that's essentially the problem is that we don't know what he's going to do.

And that brings uncertainty into the system and and that makes us uncomfortable with the assumption that a hundred and four million dollars would be able to move over to the general fund.

Um, the reason I was able to certify anyhow, and this is in the the Yeah, because we're not none of nothing goes down.

I I read I read the whole manual.

I was mainly just asking about those approvals and would like to ask the city attorney if I if I could just finish.

I do think the last piece is important just for you to know for those who who haven't read the four-page letter.

In that downside scenario, the city does maintain a fund balance above zero, but it would be below the seven and a half percent that is our policy to maintain in reserves for emergencies.

And so that knowledge is important to you, but even in those projections, we would have above zero, which would allow me to certify despite our reservations.

Got it.

Thank you.

And so I guess what I'm I'm getting at these approvals.

Um, I guess I need to ask the city attorney or or the director or somebody that knows more about this than I do.

These approvals uh we expect to get correct.

Yes, we traditionally have.

It's our expectation.

We've also checked with our outside council on this too and our financial advisors.

And I'll agree that this is all bonds.

Okay.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

And um, you know, together with that big story, we're all concerned with the with the the state of the combined utility system and the reserves.

I see council member Peck has an amendment having to do with the health of the uh um regular reporting on the health of the water sewer reserves.

Um, of course, that's a concern for all of us.

Um we want to honor the consent decree, we want to keep our eye on water rates.

We want to uh I've asked for some modeling of the reserves um over the next five years and and getting hopefully we'll be getting that soon.

Um there's some you know we do have growth in the city that adds to that, um, you know, what adds to that fund.

Um, director, if you want to talk maybe a little bit about um the factors that go into you know how we would model uh our that our reserves.

I know we pay our first lien, we pay our second lien, you know, we we honor every project that's on the books, and then there's that third bucket that we have that that we're talking about now, um, where of what we're doing with solid ways down with the right-of-way fee.

So with the right-of-way fee, or when you're talking about the third bucket, I think you're referencing what we call the bottom bucket, the general purpose fund.

Um, so the proposal for the right-of-way fee is to come from the general purpose fund, which is the bottom bucket.

That bottom bucket is something that is um available funding remaining after bondholders have been paid.

Um so I know the controller talked about bondholders and the concern of the bondholders, but the bondholders get paid before any funding comes out of the general purpose fund or the bottom bucket.

Um, to touch on your point about um all the projects and uh what needs to be done for the water system.

We had a really good discussion yesterday, and I know Councilmember Thomas had some questions on it as I went through the presentation for the upcoming financial transactions on the um expansion of the commercial paper program for the water and wastewater system.

Um we know that, and and we're gonna be releasing the capital improvement plan at the end of this week or later this week, um, to look at all of those projects that are needed for the East Plant, for the consent decree, and in order to accomplish all of those large projects, we need to make sure that we have those um financing tools in place.

So that's another area that we're working with the uh controllers team and the finance working group to expand the commercial paper program so that we can continue on with those important projects, uh, council member uh a small bit of minutiae um it is true that most of our bondholders get paid before uh we get to that general purpose fund, that bottom bucket.

However, uh some of the Texas Water Development Board's bonds are paid out of that bottom bucket, which is the same bucket that this right-of-way fee uh would be coming from.

And so they're again we're working uh behind the scenes to try and change that and make it clear and make sure that they're uh you know comfortable and safe in their investment.

Uh, and we still have steps ahead to ensure that.

Thank you very much.

Councilmember Flickinger.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you for the presentations.

Um for the controller, I had a question.

You mentioned that the garbage fee could go up to five over five hundred dollars a year.

Uh the pictures I've seen is five dollars a month this year, five dollars a month next year, and being re-evaluated later on going up to possibly twenty-five dollars.

Did I miss the five hundred dollars?

Uh yes.

So if you pick up the city's uh official uh solid waste cost of service study, uh that was issued, I believe, on May 4th of this year, um, it lays out what it costs to provide these services.

And it gives you a look at what it costs if we just kind of do nothing and don't like fix solid waste, and then it gives you another look if we start to actually invest in solid waste and do things like actually pick up illegal dumping and so forth.

Um on that second group, if we're actually doing the job that I think Houstonians expect, uh that cost would be $31 per household right now.

Now that is our cost, right?

What we charge them is a choice, and you're gonna make that choice here.

Okay, but nobody's proposed billing back the entire cost, correct?

I mean, we don't bill back the cost today, do we?

The way that money works is that it has to come from somewhere.

And so to fund the cost of picking up solid waste over time, we are eventually going to have to charge them what it costs.

Okay, but the money comes from somewhere today, correct?

Today it comes out.

Yeah, we don't charge them the cost.

Okay.

What's the proposed is now it's going to be over in the combined utility system.

So is there a requirement to charge the cost of service?

Can you can I finish, Councilmember?

Sure.

Okay.

The combined utility system, when it sets its water rates, those rates are based on what it takes to operate and maintain the system.

It's not supposed to turn a profit.

Uh, and it's not supposed to come up short.

That's the point of the studies that we do to set the rate.

So if we're operating the water system in such a way that we operate and maintain it, right, and we're spending that money on water, it will no longer have money to subsidize solid waste.

If there's no longer a subsidy to solid waste, we then have to charge people what it costs to serve them.

And so if the cost is $31 today and rises to $46 in five years, we're going to hit the reality that we have to charge them what it costs so that the combined utility system and the solid waste system within that do not go bankrupt.

Does that make sense?

But whether or not the cost is being subsidized through the general fund now or through the water fund, it's the same amount of money.

I mean, we're not charging back the entire amount today, we're not proposing to charge back the entire amount tomorrow.

So previously we have been charging the entire back entire amount back to them through their property taxes and the sales taxes that they pay in the ways that we fund the general fund.

Uh because you've been unable to figure out how to really pay for it, we've been doing record deficit spending for two years.

Now, one of the uh proposed you know, gambits in this budget is to move solid waste over to the government utility system.

So now the property taxes and the sales taxes and the other franchise fees, et cetera, will no longer pay for it, but now water money will pay for it.

So essentially, instead of being subsidized out of the general fund bucket, it's being subsidized out of the water bucket.

It was being paid for with the general fund money, yes.

Now we're starting uh what in year one is a hundred plus million dollar subsidy for solid waste with water money.

That money will run out.

And so when it runs out, you have to charge people what it costs because you can't subsidize it any further when the money runs out.

Does that make sense?

It makes perfect sense to me.

What I'm saying is the money is being subsidized out of one bucket versus another bucket.

And all you're changing is the buckets.

Council member, do you think that well into the future we can continue to subsidize solid waste to the tune of a hundred million dollars without actually charging people?

You'd have the same issue if you didn't move it into the utility system.

I mean, whatever the cost are, the cost still are.

The issue on the property tax side on the general fund side would be yes, you'd have to find general fund sources of revenue to pay for it.

Um we abandoned that responsibility with this budget, and we said now we're gonna kick it over to the water fund.

The water fund money is going to run out.

It cannot sustain the hundred million dollar subsidy because that $100 million is supposed to be going to water infrastructure.

As opposed to the general fund revenue running out.

It's the same either way.

Whether I paid on my checking account or paid out of my savings account, the cost doesn't change.

It was a major problem when we were running record deficits in the general fund, which we are today, and it's a major problem when we're going over to the CUS system, subsidizing it to the tune of 100 million dollars, telling people that we may never have to raise this fee beyond $5 when we know that that's not true because the money's going to run out, and we're going to have to charge them what it cost to cover the cost of service.

So essentially, nobody's proposed raising it to $50, correct?

The facts are that it costs that much to provide the service.

But the fact is nobody's proposed raising it.

We charge them that eventually to keep the system from going bankrupt.

Okay.

I understand what's being missed here.

Councilman Fleckinger, there will be no raise until this council votes it.

And the water fund has $1.5 billion and is growing in large amounts.

So we're using Houstonians' money to solve a problem.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

I appreciate the uh dialogue.

And I could spend the rest of the day correcting misinform misinformation.

And I saw the letters.

The letter is so critical.

And the uh discussion you've had today, it amazes me.

One, you haven't submitted a plan, but you did agree to certify our plan.

So we appreciate you being here.

Uh a lot of hard work went into this, and it's gotten overwhelming support across Houston because it's not the final solution.

We are going to be working with the county, the state, and the federal government for additional resources.

Property taxes, you pay them whether you make any money or not.

So there's a lot of good policy that could be uh brought to our attention.

But I want to thank the council members and Houstonians that have stepped forward to not play politics, but to solve a very needy challenge that has been in existence for as long as anyone can remember.

This is a foundation, and it's legal, it's going to be approved.

Every city, major city in Texas, is using it for your discussion.

Chicago pays and charges $9.

Chicago charges nine dollars because they don't charge the actual cost of garbage pickup.

It is supplemented by their property tax, corporate taxes, and other items.

So it's easy to come up.

Uh we've all said admitted the budget is not perfect, but certainly it's a first start that Houstonians understand, and it's a shame that it is being so politicized because it's literally people's lives and death.

I'm crowded.

We had a lot of five dollars.

And uh I'm ready to move forward.

Mayor, do you believe the garbage fee won't be raised beyond five dollars?

Councilmember Davis.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I just thank you both uh for your presentation.

But I just wanted to, for clarity purposes.

Uh I read your letter um well, the controller and is certifying it, you know.

Thank you.

I just wanted to make sure, but you don't suggest that there's anything as to strategy as you stated in your letter, the strategy concerned that is anything that's not legally accepted under the Attorney General rep.

You know, you spoke of that in the letter, so you're not the transfer of solid waste into C US uh is legally allowable from what I can read.

Um the right-of-way fee and getting the necessary approvals, in my opinion, is uncertain.

Um now, you know, the mayor has stated that you know I can have a legal opinion, you can have a legal opinion, the county city attorney can have a legal opinion, um, but it's the governor's opinion that matters.

Uh, here we haven't got the approval from the Texas Water Development Board that reports to the governor, and we are going to work to get that, but it is uncertain that we will get that, specifically because the governor has called out uh this maneuver of moving water utility money over into the general fund as something that he wants to address as a top priority of his.

And so that's where the uncertainty comes from.

Uh, again, the certification.

I think you all know this, but I'll just state it for the record.

Certification is not approval of this budget, right?

Certification is saying that we have sufficient certainty uh that we're not gonna go broke in this particular budget, that the balance will remain above zero.

Now there's one particular number, which is that right-of-way fee transfer that is major enough that we had an issue with it, but we work behind the scenes, and I'm gonna commend uh the mayor's chief of staff as well as Director Dubowski working behind the scenes to get a footnote in it that called out our our issue while allowing for certification and move forward.

And as you all noticed, I certified the budget.

Uh, I sent y'all a letter, didn't know the press conference, didn't mention it, didn't even have it in my remarks today.

Uh, we're just moving forward and letting you do uh your job, and and that's what we're always gonna try to do is work in partnership uh and try to move forward.

Okay, thank you.

Okay.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, and thank you both for the presentation.

I just wanted to point out that as we're talking about this administrative fee and the possibility of it going over $25 at some point, um, that it is written in the actual ordinance for the proposed budget that it shall not exceed $25 per residential unit customer per month.

And so that was something, Mayor, as you know, I was very concerned about.

Um, I know you said it wouldn't go over $25, but I was concerned, you know, future mayors um and future councils, what that could look like because it definitely should not go over that $25.

We're pricing a lot of people out of, you know, moving to Houston.

So, of course, ordinances can be changed, but this isn't something that just, you know, a few years from now in a budget, we can just increase it to over $25.

It would actually take an ordinance change to make that to break that $25 cap.

Councilmember, you can write down whatever you want to write down.

Um, we just had the conversation with council member Pollard about what we wrote down of our planned deficit last year.

We blew through that plan deficit by over a hundred million dollars.

That's not my number, that's the mayor's number.

You can write any number down, right?

When we called out that overtime was $70 million plus over budget, and instead of increasing the overtime budget, you decrease the overtime budget last year.

Of course, you can write that number down, but what happened in reality?

What happened in reality is that we went over $50 million over budget again.

And so we can say, let's write the number down.

I'll write it right here on my sheet of paper.

Five dollars.

That doesn't do anything, right?

That doesn't bring down the reality of the cost of providing solid waste services to Houstonians.

Our study that we paid 200,000 for, that y'all voted for that got commissioned, and the report was just issued, it says that if we're gonna do the things that actually make solid waste perform and deliver services at the standard that Houstonians deserve, that cost would be $31 today, and by year five, it would be $46.

If you just do the bootleg version, it would be $25 today.

If you ignore the debt with the debt, it's $27 today, and then that's gonna go up as well into the low 40s.

And so we have an issue in just saying it's gonna be five dollars, it's not gonna be five dollars, and then someone else saying, Oh, maybe it'll go up to 25, but we're actually gonna save some money.

It ignores realities.

I don't need to go back to my remarks, but we just heard someone, multiple people saying we're gonna try to pay solid waste workers more.

How do we do that?

That increases the cost of service, right?

And and they they deserve a raise, but it will increase the cost of service.

The study that we paid $200,000 for it says we have to hire 300 additional solid waste workers.

We have to purchase over 200 additional vehicles.

You think that's gonna be less expensive than how we're operating today?

I think you know better, council member.

And so we can write down five dollars, we can write down twenty-five dollars, but the reality of operating the system and what it costs is ultimately going to be passed down to customers.

That's what bringing it over as an enterprise fund is.

It is running it like a business and charging customers how much it costs to serve them.

If I can go over the report with you if you'd like to go over it in more detail, um, but that's simply what the report says, and those are the facts.

Mayor, may I ask the city attorney a question?

May I ask the city attorney a question?

Um section 20 of the actual ordinance for the budget that states that it um shall not exceed $25 a month, that has the effect of a regular ordinance.

Is that correct?

That's correct.

Okay.

So we would have to change the ordinance in order in order to go above $25.

We can take it under advisor.

Uh we got to move on.

Councilmember Pollard.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh, to follow up on council member, Vice Mayor Pro Tim Peck's question.

My question is for the director.

If if we have an ordinance in place that states that we can't go above $25, but the actual cost of the service is $31, and we want to meet the cost of that service.

Where would that additional money come from?

So periodically, the city does cost of service studies and evaluates what the cost to perform the service is.

Um, and the cost of service study can uh calculate the cost that it would to perform that service.

Uh the city can choose to not increase the fee to that full cost.

Um, so that's what's happening all fees.

But in my question is, let's say we got to 25 dollars and we can't go above it based on the ordinance, but the real cost of service is $31 to actually do the work adequately.

Will we then have to subsidize that additional six dollars from somewhere else if we wanted to maintain that level of service?

So the $25 doesn't change, however, the money has to come from somewhere to meet that level of service, correct?

I think that the future figures are speculative, yes.

There are other things that we've talked about though in the solid waste operations, for example, the efficiency of the transfer stations.

So there's gonna be a large capital improvement plot project um that you're gonna see in the CIP when it's released later this week, uh, referring to rebuilding an entire transfer station so that the trucks don't have to drive halfway across the city to understood.

I was just trying to make the point that just because the residents don't pay over $25 for a fee based on uh ordinance.

If we want to maintain a certain level of service, at that price point, the money has to come from somewhere.

Yes, and I think it's incumbent on us to make sure that we are operating efficiently, which I think we can all agree that our current operations are not efficient.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The fact is they're getting the services now at no cost, no fee to them.

So it it does have to come from somewhere just like parks and libraries, which is called government services.

With that said, is thank y'all.

Is there a motion to accept the report?

I move to accept the monthly financial report dated April 30th, 2023.

All those in favor say yes, those opposed, no.

Motion carries.

Pop off members.

I've got a speaker to George Brown, and I'm gonna leave it in good hands of the Vice Mayor Pro Tim.

Thank y'all for hard work.

Councilmember Davis.

Thank you, Vice Mayor Pro Tim.

Uh first, I want to I like to thank Ali Mohammed, uh Frank Monticelli, and uh their staff at the Furniture Bank for taking me on a tour last week of their facility on Mosley Road.

Uh Furniture Bank is truly a hidden gym in the city of Houston.

They have been providing all kinds of furniture to families in need since 1992.

The items they provide for free through assistance with partner agencies, include mattresses, springs, bed frames, dressers, sofas, chairs, and dining tables.

And not only do they accept donations, but they also make some of the new furniture in-houses, learning about their facility and work was truly enlightening.

I recommended everyone to learn more about them at Houston Furniture Bank.org.

Visit one of their three locations to assist their ongoing work.

First location is 8220 Mosley Road in District I.

I mean, North Freeway, suite 127 on the North Side in District H near Gallery Furniture.

The third location is 5402 FM 1960 West in the Northwest in District B.

They have not only refurbished items, but many brand new items are also for sale in their facility.

Next, I want to thank the men and women of Parks Department again for all that they do outside in the field with the summer heat now upon us.

Last Friday, I've selected the north location, the northeast location of parks.

Summertime it'll be more frequently.

Those men and women take on a lot of water due to the high level of heat here in the city of Houston, and it would be a plus to them with thousands of visitors that we got coming over this summer, and very soon for those in the World Cup.

Finally, I want to thank the FIFA World Cup, Houston Host Committee, Chris Kennetti, and Josh Sanders in the Southwest Management District Board members, Kenneth Lee, Don Lee, David Peters from a meeting was held the other day.

I'd asked the host to come because they was kind of concerned about the presence of participation.

They shared goals of the upcoming FIFA Festies and international visitors coming into our city.

And I know Councilmember, my colleague, Councilmember Thomas is already listed to be there in that participation in her district, and uh we hope to be there to support as well.

And I think that's a wonderful thing.

I'd like to recommend it.

Everyone that FIFA Fan Fest starts on Thursday, June 11th.

The festivities are free to the public and are open all 34 match days of World Cup tournament.

Gates open in 90 minutes prior to kick off for the first match of each day.

You can catch World Cup matches live with thousands of fans on giant screens and experienced live performances and unique activities well.

You can learn more by visiting the Houston Host Committee.

Also, my clothing, I'd like to thank Councilmember Cal and Everish Baz for two events that I was happy to participate, led by District D, and that was the uh town hall meeting by the DA Sean Tier, and uh, which was on crime, and also uh thanking her for her um great meeting on last night uh concerning the budget uh proposal, hearing from uh several of the leaders of our city, and I just want to thank um Councilman Shabazz for the invite, and it was great to participate at both her events.

Thank you.

Councilmember Fleckinger.

Thank you, Vice Mayor Pro Tam.

Um, first of all, want to congratulate Atalia Lewis.

Kaya, can you stand up?

Uh, Taya's been with our office for a little over a year now.

Uh she came uh to us through the uh Houston's re-entry network program.

Uh in fact, uh, I was out there, I know Councilwoman Carter hired somebody out there.

I'm not sure if somebody else did or not, but Atalia has now gotten on full-time with the City of Houston 311.

And I am sure she is going to do a fantastic job for them, just like she did for us.

So, Talia, gonna miss you, but thank you very much for coming and uh nothing but the best to you.

Uh let me see uh we're gonna have a Center Point Utility Coordination Meeting Thursday, June 4th at 5 p.m.

at the Kingwood Community Center.

Uh joining Center Point will be the City of Houston Emergency Management, Comcast, Union Pacific Trees for Houston, Trees for Kingwood, Xfinity, and the District E Office.

So please come on out there, uh learn about utility safety, hurricane preparedness, vegetation management, energy efficiency program, local resources and service providers as well, be out there.

Uh the Kingwood Electronic Recycling Event will be held this Saturday, June 6th from 9 to 3, or until the trucks are full at the Kingwood Metro Park and Ride.

And next Thursday, uh week from tomorrow, uh June 11th from 6 to 7.

Our office along with the Department of Neighborhoods and Trees for Kingwood will host an informational session on the city of Houston's neighboring grant match matching grant program at the Kingwood Community Center.

Uh, we had I believe eight uh groups that applied for the matching grants this last year, got a lot of nice things done in the community.

So if you're looking to uh have the city of Houston help you out with something, uh the city will match the grant up to uh five thousand dollars.

So please come on out there and uh learn about it.

Thank you very much.

Councilmember Ramirez.

Thank you, Vice Mayor Pro Tem.

I want to take this opportunity to talk a little bit about some of the budget amendments that I'm offering this year.

This is a very important part of what we do because it gives us the chance to align what we believe Houstonians' priorities are with the budget that we will ultimately pass, and so very vital for council members to take an active role in this.

Two of my amendments deal with uh one priority that Houstonians say we should uh emphasize, and that is mental health.

As part of the your my two cents budget survey, uh almost 900 Houstonians responded to that, and seven out of ten said they believe that we should be spending more on mental health services.

So my first two amendments do just that and also contribute to some smart policy on public safety.

The first amendment would fully fund the operation of our crisis call diversion center.

If you call 911 and you are in a mental health crisis, you will talk to someone at uh at 911.

We want for those folks there to be trained to deal with folks in mental health crisis.

Many of them are, but we don't have enough of them.