All right.

Is she running late?

Okay.

The time is now 10 01 a.m.

on December 16th, 2025, and the meeting of the Economic and Workforce Development Committee is now called to order.

Madam Clerk, please call roll.

Councilmember Gadban.

Councilmember Spears.

Councilmember Castillo.

Chair of Drone.

Here.

Chair, we have quorum.

Thank you.

The first item on the agenda is approval of the minutes.

Are there any corrections to the minutes?

Can I get a motion and a second to approve the men the minutes?

I've got a motion and a second.

All in favor say aye.

All opposed say no.

Motion carries.

So if you signed up for two items, you will be speaking on both those items.

We'll go ahead and get started.

Lauren Mandel, you have, and then next will be Michelle Davis, if you could get ready.

And you Lauren, you have three minutes.

Thank you, Madam Chair and Committee members.

Good morning.

My name is Lauren Mandel, and I have the honor of serving as president of the San Antonio Chapter of Associated General Contractors.

Our mission is to continuously advance commercial construction, empowering our members through education, networking, and advocacy to meet the needs of our community.

On behalf of our 275 plus member companies, thank you for all you do to ensure that we are building a community that sustains our rich heritage while preparing for the exciting future projects ahead of us.

Regarding the creation of the Trades Advisory Board, San Antonio AGC and other members of the San Antonio Business Coalition are here today to ensure that the board is reflective of all members of the commercial construction community.

We believe everyone involved in commercial construction should have a seat at the table.

Our industry is diverse, and this board should reflect that with both union members and those who represent open shop contractors.

It should be filled with those who are boots on the ground on active job sites as well as companies leadership.

Balanced representation ensures that no one's voice is louder than another's.

On the trades advisory CCR, I am here with members of the business coalition and the respective members, including AGC, ASA, RESCA, the Metro Chamber, San Antonio Visitor Alliance, SABOR, IEC, and Centro.

We are unified in requesting equal representation that reflects the entire construction industry, including both open shop and labor.

In Texas, 98%, again, 98% of the industry is open shop.

And any advisory board should include all workers who build this city.

We also want to ensure this board remains advisory in nature to avoid legal conflicts.

And while no data has been presented showing a need for this board, our members who work in the field every day stand ready to serve and provide meaningful and productive feedback.

Thank you for your time and for allowing us to be a part of the process.

Thank you, Michelle.

Next up, we have uh Thomas Frund, and then after that will be Chris Morales.

Thomas.

Thank you for uh saying my name correctly.

Appreciate that.

Most people screw it up.

Wow.

We just want to make sure we didn't hear.

Okay.

Can you hear me?

Um my name is Tom Friend.

Uh I represent American Subcontractor San Antonio, an association with over 230 members, various trades, uh all across the board.

And uh wanted to come down here and talk about item three or uh with regards to again equal representation uh at the table on this advisory board.

We've been dealing with real world problems, open shop labor shops over the last 40 years.

I've been doing this 33 years in a family business that's over 61 years old.

So we've been looking high and low for anybody who wants to work, and we we find a way to get it done.

This is not something that's new.

I know it's a new thing right now with the advisory aspect of it, inclusion, but real world problems call for real world answers, and sometimes you got to train in-house to get the job done.

And I think all of us in AGC, ABC, uh ASA, and various different construction entities uh been doing a good job, uh doing the job correctly.

All the members within these associations are doing it above board.

And really quite honestly, uh, we think we could already start seeing the bridging of the gap with the efforts at the state level here uh just to get more kids, more people involved in the trades.

We don't need a small percentage to dictate how uh this progression should go.

And uh we work well, open and uh labor shops in the field every day, and we should carry on that uh cooperation moving forward, not singularly worrying about the who's gonna get all the glory for it.

So I hope y'all consider us uh to uh equalize the table uh so we could all get a voice in because I think ultimately I think those who do know how to fix the problem.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um morning, chair and members of the committee.

My name is Chris Morales.

I'm a local president of CWA Local 6143 in San Antonio.

I appreciate the opportunity to speak in support of these items.

We respectfully urge your support for the council consideration requests establishing the San Antonio Trades Advisory Board and the enhancing local construction trades.

The proposed trades advisory board represents an important step toward formalizing worker input and city workforce economic development.

This would institutionalize worker input and city decisions involving major projects, uh jurisdiction jurisdictions that have adopted similar work center advisory models, have demonstrated improved public accountability and more equitable outcomes, aligning publicly funded projects with clear workforce expectations, promotes transparency, efficiency, and job quality.

We also respectfully ask for your support for the CCR on enhancing local construction trades.

This represents a strategic investment in San Antonio's workforce by strengthening training standards and expanding access to high quality career pathways in the construction sector.

The city can ensure the economic growth translates into stable family sustaining jobs for local residents, prioritizing scale development, safety, and workforce readiness contributes to more efficient projects and helps set a higher standard for publicly funded work.

Together, these initiatives reflect a responsible approach to the city's economic development.

I respectfully urge the committee to for their support.

Thank you for your considering consideration.

Thank you.

Charles.

Good morning, uh Chair and members of the committee.

I'm Charles Fuentes of CWA, Communication Workers of America Local 6143, as well as the San Antonio Central Labor Council, AFL CIO.

I'm here in support of the Trades Advisory Board as well as the enhancing local construction trades CCRs.

So too often worker input depends on goodwill and or informal outreach.

And that means voices are heard unevenly, and many workers are not ever heard at all.

The Trade Advisory Board is different because it intentionally it's an intentionally worker centered uh board.

It creates a formal, reliable space for the voices of working people, including both organized and uh those workers who have yet to be organized to inform the city on decisions.

If uh it recognizes the expertise exists on the job site, not just in the boardrooms, and that workers understand how policies affect safety, scheduling, and workforce stability.

By embedding that perspective into city planning, the board ensures worker input is consistent, not optional, and inclusive, not selective.

The enhancing local construction trade CCR supports the same goal by setting clear expectations for training and workforce development on publicly funded projects, helping translate growth into real opportunity for local workers.

Together, these measures strengthen accountability, improve project outcomes, and ensure the San Antonio's growth reflects the needs of its working families.

I respectfully urge you to advance both items.

Thank you.

Thank you, Charles.

Next up is Melina and after Melina, Dale.

Good morning, Council members.

Um, thank you for the opportunity to speak today.

My name is Melina Espiditu Asocar, and I am here today in my role as second vice president of San Antonio AFL CIO Central Labor Council, representing thousands of union workers across our city.

I'm here today because the trades advisory board is not just a policy idea, it's a long overdue step towards ensuring that workers finally have a real voice in the decisions that directly affect them in our city.

For far too long, major decisions about construction, workforce, investments, and project standards have been made about workers, not with workers.

And when that happens, we all know who pays the price, the people on the job sites, the people who keep our city moving, the people who deserve dignity, safety, and respect, and that is the working people of San Antonio, not the management, the working people.

The TAB changes that.

It creates a formal, consistent way for workers and unions to give input on how projects are planned, how workforce needs are addressed, and how public dollars are managed.

This isn't about slowing anything down, it's about making sure things are done right.

Workers know what they need to stay safe.

Workers know when timelines are realistic.

Workers know where the workforce pipeline is strong and where it needs support.

The tab brings that frontline knowledge into the room, so the city isn't making decisions in a vacuum.

And today, as a labor movement of San Antonio, we strongly urge the committee to support the creation of TAB as outlined in the CCR, brought forward by Councilwoman Terry Castillo and Councilman Jalen McKee Rodriguez.

They have championed it, championed a proposal that respects worker voice and builds a strong, more accountable planning process for our city.

At the end of the day, this is about making sure that our public dollars support our local union workforce right here in San Antonio.

When we invest in local workers, their families, and the skills they bring to our community, that investment comes right back into our neighborhoods, our schools, and our local economy.

The trades advisory board is a smart step towards transparency, fairness, and partnership, and it reflects what the people of this city value, respecting workers, and listening to the people who build San Antonio every single day.

Thank you for your time and your commitment to the working people of San Antonio.

Dale Hansen.

Then Daniel Vaguetta Junior will be after that.

Good morning, members of the of the committee.

And I rise in support of items one and two on today's agenda.

Speaking on items one, on item one, excuse me, I've noticed in my experience, there's a clear difference between people who are in a registered apprenticeship program and those who are not.

So in a registered apprenticeship program, you get a nice mixture of practical and theoretical components, which is critical whenever you're building the infrastructure critical to a city.

And from my own interpretation, those who go through a registered apprenticeship program, and it doesn't necessarily mean union or non-union, but those who go through a registered apprenticeship program where there is an insured education, both in the classroom and on the job site, that typically yields a superior result when it comes to craftsmanship.

You know, once again, speaking from experience, there's a dreadful practice right now where journeymen will take on apprentices, but they won't teach them everything they need to know.

They'll teach them just enough to do this or that.

And it's not the idea of saving time, it's this idea that oh, well, if I teach my apprentice everything, then I might lose my job.

You know, totally in contrast to the reality where there's a huge demand for skilled workmen of all different trades.

And uh I feel that by having this uh this item one here that would actually do a great deal to remedy that.

Is it gonna be a silver bullet?

No, silver bills don't exist, but it is one tool in the policy toolbox that we could use to remedy this ever present problem.

Speaking on item number two, um I think regardless of political ideology, I think we could all agree that having fair representation where workers are on the tape, where workers are at the table, where decisions are being made about their livelihood, their job site conditions.

I think it only makes sense.

And I think if you were to take a reading from Federalist number 56, where you want to have ambition countering ambition, that is one step you could take towards the continuous path of power equilibrium than the dynamic between workers and management.

So I think it's just common sense personally.

That's really all I have to say.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Daniel Morning, Madam Chair and Council members.

Um, my name is Daniel Vagueda.

I'm an IBEW uh local 60 union member also.

I am for items one and two also.

Thank you.

Thank you, Daniel.

Uh Alijandra and then Lopez and then Brady Williams.

Uh good morning, everyone.

Um, on hello.

That's okay.

Oh, thank you.

Okay.

Good morning, um, Chairwoman Via Gran and members of the economic workforce and development committee.

This is not strapped down.

My name is Alejandra Lopez, and I serve as the proud president of the San Antonio AFL CIO Central Labor Council, and today I'm here to respectfully ask for your support on the council consideration requests on the creation of the San Antonio Trades Advisory Board and enhancing local trade local construction trades.

The trades advisory board is envisioned as a worker-centered advisory body tasked with providing formal input on city projects, workforce policies, and economic development initiatives.

We strongly believe that all initiatives benefit from input from those who are not only experts but also represent the thousands of workers necessary to complete projects.

Its aim is to protect labor standards, ensure fair wages, and prioritize local workforce development.

In our local, the San Antonio Alliance, which is my home local, the one that represents teachers and support staff in SAISD.

We have a saying, which is nothing about us without us, which means that those that are directly impacted by decision should have a seat at the table and be involved in decision making, and that's what the formation of the tab does.

It represents a best practice approach already being adopted in other jurisdictions such as Harris County, Texas, and Durham, North Carolina, where worker-focused boards have strengthened public accountability and equity.

Additionally, we ask for your support for the council consideration request on enhancing local construction trades.

As a teacher, I'm a firm believer in providing our students a wide array of postgraduate opportunities and apprenticeship programs give working class students like those in SAISD the opportunity to earn while you learn.

We see this initiative as an opportunity to provide a meaningful career pathway in the construction trades for community members and ensure that the City of San Antonio construction projects are completed more efficiently and safely using highly trained workers.

It would also strengthen the current apprenticeship and workforce development landscape in our city and leverage the growth we're experiencing as a city by creating additional opportunities for committed and qualified workers.

Through these two initiatives, the City of San Antonio would take a meaningful step towards ensuring that publicly funded projects benefit the local workforce and that public resources are spent in ways that reflect the city's values of equity, accountability, and inclusion.

Again, we strongly urge you to support these two CCRs.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Brady Williams, good morning.

Good morning.

Members of the committee.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

My name is Brady Williams.

I'd like to suggest one practical way to improve construction efficiency, reduce costs, and strengthen our workforce structured cross-training for construction workers.

A major source of delay on job sites is not poor effort, it's waiting.

Crews wait for another worker with a different trade, a certified worker who can take that task to the next step because that task is considered not my scope of work.

Those small delays quietly add up to days or weeks on a project and significantly add cost.

Cross-training helps solve that.

I'm not talking about making everyone an expert at everything they do in every area.

I mean ensuring workers can completely perform two or three related tasks when crews are cross-trained.

Work keeps moving even when one specialist isn't available.

Foreman gain flexibility and schedules become more reliable instead of fragile.

This also benefits workers, multi-skilled workers who are more employable, more adaptable, and better positioned in a changing labor market, especially as the industry faces shortages and retirements.

There's a safety benefit as well.

Many job site accidents occur during handoffs between trades.

When workers understand the work before and after their own task, they make better decisions and fewer unsafe assumptions.

Training does cost money, but waiting costs cost more.

Idle labor, extended schedules, and rework are expensive, even if those costs are less visible.

If this committee wants a high return workforce investment, I encourage support for cross-trade training through contractor incentives, partnerships with community colleges or unions or funding for modular certifications.

Cross-training is one lever that improves productivity, safety, and economic resilience at the same time.

It allows us to do a lot more in a shorter period of time.

Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you, Brady.

Thank you, all of the all of you who came out and spoke on these items.

We appreciate you taking the time to do this.

We will now take item two and three.

Um the presentations together.

The CCR from Council uh members Castillo on enhancing local construction trades.

Item three is the CCR from Councilwoman, Councilmember Costillo and Councilmember McKee Rodriguez on the San Antonio Trades Advisory Board.

And to have that presentation is our newly formed, well, it's not that new form, but our director of the newly formed department, which I can't capital delivery department.

I was I was just gonna call it the bond department, but it's capital delivery department.

So Mike Shannon, if you'll please uh present items two and three.

Thank you.

All right, thank you, Madam Chair and committee members.

Uh, first of all, happy holidays.

Um, thanks for having me here today.

Uh and again, Mike Shannon, Capital Delivery Department Director.

So I'm gonna go over to the two CCRs uh for items two and three.

Uh they're different, uh, but as you heard from some of the speakers, uh, they're in the same uh kind of ballpark.

So I think it's appropriate uh we'll go through two.

So uh first we'll talk about the enhancing uh local construction trades CCR that was submitted uh by Conswoman Castillo uh back earlier this year, April.

And really what this is looking for is for the city to enact or look at enacting an apprenticeship apprenticeship program, uh, a requirement policy for city construction project projects where we have a certain percentage uh of workers or graduates uh that are in certified uh USDO DOL, Department of Labor, uh registered apprenticeship programs, uh, or a certified bilingual training program.

So the idea is uh what can we add to our city contracts uh to incentivize this more or require it?

Uh a few of the elements in the CCR for uh to get us started, uh that probably uh smaller projects, those that are less than 10 million dollars, uh, could should also carry a trainee requirement uh that we would scale.

Uh so the idea of looking at our construction readiness pipeline, including our ready-to-work initiatives, uh, but looking at approved organizations to provide uh uh pre-apprentice, apprentice readiness, et cetera.

And um the DOL registered apprenticeship programs, uh, certainly those must be paid uh as part of our prevailing wage uh ordinance, uh which we already have on the books, but there's a requirement for those type of pays uh that they get paid a certain wage, uh no less than the city approved minimum wage rate.

So that was all in the C CR.

They wanted us to take a look at this and see what we could develop or should develop.

We went to governance uh just uh a month uh well, a couple months ago now, and uh they directed it here uh to this committee to look at.

Now, stepping back a little bit, uh the city already has an ordinance that deals with some labor protections, right?

We have our labor compliance office that was created uh really back in 1990, the ordinance that was updated in 2008.

I talked a little bit about this at uh the transportation committee because there's an additional CCR asking us to look at that that that ordinance on the books and some enhancements uh uh that that uh that could or should be looked at.

Uh so we'll be working with the transportation committee as well on that.

But uh in the CDD department, we have uh some staff that look at uh on every project uh labor compliance, uh, where we review um payrolls uh for all of those weekly, and we make sure that everyone is meeting the prevailing wage uh requirements that are in our ordinance so that everybody's getting paid the right uh amount of money.

Uh now in that it also has some language about apprenticeship standards, right?

Uh so it's not a requirement in our current labor uh compliance ordinance, but there is uh there's a section that says that of course apprenticeships are permitted, it's not a requirement.

However, uh, if you do have apprenticeships, you certainly can pay them at the apprenticeship level, and those are spelled out.

Uh we need some documentation uh in order to put those uh in our uh system for that project.

Things like the DOL apprenticeship uh registration forms, certifications, et cetera.

Um and uh again, those are apprenticeship wage or uh percentage of the typical journeyman uh classifications in the different trades.

So there is an element already in there, but again, not a requirement, but it is permitted.

So I'll talk a little bit about the ready to work.

You know this, Mike's here uh, of course, uh, but ready to work is already uh certainly on the books, a lot of action there, uh a lot of great work there.

But uh construction, of course, is a target industry in our ready to work.

Uh there's approximately 20 training programs there.

Uh several of the top employers in town um have uh ready to work graduates, some of them are listed there, of course.

Uh we've had over 350 participants trained.

Uh most of them uh were hired, 300 or so uh were hired.

And um we have a ready-to-work advisory board, uh, we have two individuals there uh work in the industry uh to provide uh pathways uh for training, et cetera, for more employment opportunities there.

So uh we just threw this up here because this is certainly if we talk about an apprenticeship requirement or program, uh the ready to work initiative uh and program will will uh definitely be part of that conversation.

So we'll work with Mike and his team uh as we move this uh forward if we do today.

So I just wanted to throw up there um a couple other comparison cities, and uh as mentioned in the CCR, uh the city of Austin has some requirements uh in there.

We we uh summarize some of them.

Uh if you have over half a million dollars or more construction project, uh projects greater than 10 million requires a 15% of the contract labor are from a registered apprenticeship program.

Um trainee requirements are based on the total solicitation, et cetera, uh, and a few others.

So uh city of Austin developed something uh in this realm.

Um we also found uh you know, not Texas, but still uh uh big cities, Chicago and Denver have done something in this also.

Chicago is more of a bid preference uh requirement or ordinance that they put together.

You can get some extra points in the bid uh selection process, for example, up to one percent on a city funded construction uh who have uh previously uh a certain amount of union apprentices enrolled in or graduated, uh so five to ten percent um of labor hours, you can get a half a percentage point, more than that, uh maybe one percentage.

So that's again not a requirement, but more built in as a you can get more points in that bid preference uh process for Chicago.

Denver, though, uh another one uh we found has some uh target higher apprenticeship utilization goals.

So uh vertical construction requires 15% of ours must be from a registered apprentice, and then uh for horizontal, they have some additional uh requirements or the 3%, 4% as you see up there.

I show those only as it as we will do likely moving forward, we'll look at what other cities have done.

Uh but as we do in San Antonio, if we develop something, we like to develop something uh that's right for us here as we uh bring something back to you.

So uh the staff recommendation for this, and uh this slide will probably have to the next one is as you can tell, there's a lot of people interested in this, and there's a lot of great knowledge uh on in the construct construction industry, uh, really, whether it's labor or non uh labor or open shop, uh I'm really all the trades.

So uh my recommendation is for us to uh establish a diverse stakeholder group that's balanced so we can have conversations as to what what it would look like to create an apprenticeship requirement in city contracts if that's what we want, uh, and then bring that back to you after we've had those conversations uh maybe in quarter three of this uh fiscal year, so that uh maybe in the April to June time frame.

So I think that'll give us enough time to you know kind of or wrestle through this issue a little bit, learn a lot, and then maybe bring a consensus consensus recommendation back to this body.

So I'm gonna just jump right into the next one.

Um so again, similar.

You heard uh you heard this mentioned.

So this is our trades advisory board C CR.

Um so this was also submitted by uh council district uh district five.

Uh in addition, was Council District 2 as well back in April.

And this one actually requested the creation of a trades advisory board uh to serve as again, I think worker centered advisory board was the key uh in the language of the CCR request, and uh to help ensure publicly funded projects um you know benefit uh not only the local uh community but certainly uh the construction workers and all involved in that construction project.

So I also asked us to look at maybe launching if we do this, uh create the advisory board uh a one year pilot program, uh focus on city construction to see how it affects that, um, and then uh creating a public compliance task board uh if we do this uh to look at public uh compliance on those construction projects.

Uh we also went to the governance committee.

Actually, this one went twice because we did have to clarify uh something uh that was in the CCR, and we were able to do that through the governance committee.

So uh in the CCR, the CCR recommended um we called it this attachment A, uh, the structure and membership of the advisory board uh that was recommended in the CCR just to get us started.

Uh there was some questions on whether there was it was truly an advisory board or it was maybe uh a board with uh legal authority.

Uh that was really all uh discussed, wrestled through uh working with the city attorney's office, certainly working with the author uh of the CCR, the authors of the CCR.

So uh what we have here is clearly an advisory board example makeup.

It did give us some direction to start with.

Um, and if we move forward uh in discussion with the stakeholder group, which will be my recommendation, uh this will be kind of our launching point.

So I did want to just throw up here uh I think it was mentioned one of the speakers, and it was also noted uh noted in the CCR that we we there are a couple of jurisdictions uh just right up front that have a uh you know a similar type of board.

Uh one in Harris County, uh Texas called an essential workers board.

They developed a mission and purpose.

I put them up there on the screen, it's about 13 members, and uh, you know, protecting communities, workers, and businesses, whether it's during health emergencies, occupational safety and health hazards, um, you know, protection on the job, uh, all that stuff there.

And then City of Durham, North Carolina has a workers' rights commission.

Uh, they developed a mission and purpose, um, exploring issues, workers' rights, worker pay benefits, etc., workers' conditions, uh, and some others there.

Another 13-member board.

Uh just so happens they're both 13 members.

That's not we don't have to shoot for that if if we go that route.

But I think one of the things I put this up here is to say that it's important.

I think a couple of the speakers said if we go forward, we should be very clear.

We should bring back to you a recommendation as to what the mission and purpose uh and kind of the guardrails of that trades advisory board could and should be.

I think we do that with most of our boards and commissions.

They have a kind of a uh a mission and purpose, so we would develop that um with the group.

Uh I threw this up here again.

Uh this is just uh uh just to remind uh everybody.

So we do have some uh an ordinance right now that talks about uh labor protection, wage theft, all those other things.

Um so I think I'm just repeating myself there.

And uh a couple other things I'll just mention we do have uh economic development incentive guidelines.

So our EDD office if if we do issue some economic incentives, there are some requirements in our current policy, uh prevailing wage reporting, safety program requirements, uh local hire requirements.

So those are initiated, and I think many of you have seen those before.

We established those uh through Brenda and her team uh at EDD, and uh again, we have some of those there.

So again, uh my staff recommendation here again.

I think it's important to get a group of stakeholders together uh to look at this issue, uh work on what this trades advisory board could and should look like and bring back a recommendation.

And I think it would be uh I'll just say it out loud.

I think it's really should be one group uh tackling these issues.

It seems like again, these are similar um uh issues in terms that they're different, but they're in the same ballpark.

So I would recommend that the group be established and then we tackle these issues, and it may be uh the same group that tackles the transportation item for uh the labor compliance ordinance.

Uh that's the general thought, but I'm open to those uh conversation or comments from you all.

And with that, I'll be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Mike.

Um can I get a to have discussion?

Can I get a motion for items two and three?

And do I need to separate them?

Uh or can we we take them together?

It depends on whether we want the one board or not.

Uh okay.

So can I get a motion for items uh two and three to approve the proposed establishment of a diverse stakeholder group consisting of industry representatives to further elevate an apprenticeship requirement policy for COSA construction projects and the triad advisory board?

Uh motion to approve the board is recommended.

Okay, we've got a motion and a second, we can begin discussion.

I'm gonna go first um as chair and then as um I I want to preface this and we'll have go around 10 minutes the first round.

Well, for the council colleagues, but um, because I think we have a lot to unpack here, but let me set my expectations for uh this board, this committee, and those of you that have come.

If we are going to establish a new committee, we want to make sure that is this is done right.

And I have been here for four years and watched Mike do this job in other aspects, and what we have seen is we have seen some things sunset, some some things come back.

So I think right now what we have in front of us is a lot of work coming to EWDC and the opportunity to create what I like to call a working board or committee and a working advisory board that is really gonna look past the my four years and as we move into the future with construction here.

So I really appreciate your thoughtfulness, Mike, in bringing together a stakeholders because in terms of goals and expectations, I think for San Antonio moving forward should be that we create something that is a model for us nationally.

That when people are get those presentations and they see City of Durham, County of Harris, that they see City of San Antonio also in that aspect.

So that's what I want to kind of set forth as we do this.

We have two, we have quite a few CCRs here to discuss, and then we have a few in the queue.

And because I sit in governance, I know what's in the queue and is coming down this way.

So the one thing in terms of goals and expectation is one making sure we understand what that advisory role is, and if we are looking to the future to make sure that they have more decision making process, how do we do that?

And that's gonna take time because as Mike knows this, we do this through a part partially through UDC when he was in charge of the other group.

So he knows how to do this.

The other is the legal contact, and I'm very pleased with our city attorney teams that here is because they work very hard not to get us into trouble and making sure we are not leaving anybody out of the conversation.

The other thing is I think we need to eliminate redundancy.

There are some uh slides that Mike brought up that says we already cover that.

What can we do in the city to make sure we're communicating that, or we can reinforce that, or we can create our own policy?

The other uh aspect as we move forward is understanding we are going to need to go to the state, and it'll help me if I can go to the state as a city with an agenda with both my labor unions and my associations and contractor and business associations working for policy to address this issue as we build in the state of Texas.

So that's what I want us to look for.

That's in the future, what I think we can do with an advisory board like this.

Um here's one thing when I talk about a working advisory board as you take this to the stakeholders in terms of what it looks like.

Because yes, I want to hear your goals and expectations.

But as city council, I need as we go around this um uh as we go around this committee.

I need to hear your goals and expectations for this also.

Is one I I expect San Antonio solutions.

I expect solutions that fit the city of San Antonio, which you understand is today it is 45 degrees, we are all bundled up.

Tomorrow it could be 75 degrees, and we're we're there.

Understanding that our heat waves, our rain days, our flooding possibilities, and what does that mean when we are constructing things?

So I need San Antonio solutions.

The other is I need if we're going to do the registered apprentice program, and if the unions are going to be involved, I need to see the plumbers in the pipe theaters.

IBEW, thank you for being here.

But I need to see the International Union of Elevator Constructors.

I need to see the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Jointers, and I need to see the International Association of Bridge Structural and Ornamental Iron Workers here too, as well as the United States workers, but I'm not sure what to that extent.

I need to see those union members here.

Because if I'm going to ask workers that have that spend an eight to ten hour day out on a construction site getting things done, and then you ask them to come into a two-hour meeting, and we just talk in circles, we're not going to do that.

And it's the same on the construction side.

If I ask you to send a foreman in to tell me to what the workers are thinking on that project, I want them to have a clear task in front of them.

I don't want them to be sitting here and going over minutia because people can't get along.

I do want to hear from the workers on the ground, but you know what?

I can do that having office hours also.

So I want to make sure that we understand what the representation is we want.

And I can give you specific examples, but I'm not because legals here.

But there are projects that we need to see where I'm like, where if the worker had come to me sooner and said, This isn't gonna work, councilwoman, it's not gonna work here because of X, Y, and Z.

We could have made those changes.

So I do want to hear from them, but I need every stakeholder at the table because not everybody is a union member.

And I need not to waste their time.

And we have had, and Mike, you can attest to that, we have had committees that have come in and have met for way too long when the question I asked them was, you know, is flooding a problem.

And we we went in circles on that.

So I really I really think that we have the opportunity to get this this right, but we need everybody at the table.

And I want to thank my council colleagues who sit here who are about to share their ideas with me.

I want to thank the team with Brenda and Alex and Eric and everybody that is has helped to put this forth, this effort forth.

And I know some of you, Terry has authored a lot of the CCRs, so you're gonna know what is coming that we would we want this advisory board to take a look at.

So this is what I want to hear in terms of your goals and expectations, and then we can I I'm I'm fully happy sending this out to Mike and have him bring the stakeholders, but again, when we get into the actual board, the the booths on the ground, people that are working, I do not want to waste their time in the meeting.

I want it to be clear.

I believe that a meeting can be done within an hour and a half to two hours.

Um, if clearly stating the roles and responsibilities of that, and and um the city clerk will be happy that we'll make sure they go through parliamentary procedures also in Roberts Rolls.

So I thank you.

Thank y'all for uh entertaining me.

I'll go around.

You have 10 minutes.

Uh, who would like to start?

Councilman Castillo.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Mike, for the presentation.

We all know that the construction and uh uh the construction industry is the economic engine of the city of San Antonio, and with one small project, small but large project, Project Marvel, the sports district in particular, right?

That's nearly a billion dollars of publicly backed investment, and that's just talking about downtown, right?

We still have the 2017 bond, the 2022 bond, and then of course, conversations around the 2027 bond.

Uh, and these are public investments that deserve high quality work and a long-lasting product, right?

And when we talk about bonds and or large-scale investments, the concern that I hear from San Antonio residents is will it be done on time and will folks have to go back out to reconstruct five years from now?

And when we look at the two council consideration requests put today, we know that when we hire and folks go through apprenticeship programs, the data shows that it's higher quality work, better wages, and more longevity in terms of the quality of product.

Um, but most importantly, we know that these are quality jobs, right?

That provide upward mobility, opportunity to move within the ranks, uh, and of course, ensure that their families have uh a hard earn earning uh to go home with, and then of course, spend in the city of San Antonio's economy.

Um, but with that, I'm extremely grateful for uh both labor and industry who gave public comment today in terms of ensuring that we have an include uh a robust board that is inclusive of all stakeholders.

Uh that's a vision that I share as well, and was uh highlighted within the council consideration request that was submitted.

Uh and I'm going to point to some of the more successful boards that uh Mike Shannon has led, right?

For example, the apartment, the proactive apartment inspection uh that was led through a board.

Uh, and then of course the auto metal recycling enhancement uh to the that that code was also led under Mike with robust stakeholders from both industry and community working towards a product that passed unanimously unanimously at council.

So that's my goal and expectation here.

Uh I know Mike has the experience and leading and providing results in terms of policy.

And this count, these council consideration requests did come from open office hours and speaking to labor folks, and here we are today, right?

Taking action on those conversations uh with San Antonio constituents.

So uh, you know, at its core, right?

The goal is to ensure that we are being inclusive of all industry folks and of course going above and beyond.

Someone mentioned that, and as the councilman mentioned, when other city councils are given examples of what they're doing, I I would also like to see the city of San Antonio being that city that went above and beyond because that's what our constituents deserve, and that's what San Antonio residents expect as well.

Um so I'm supportive of staff's recommendation on both items, and I would like to work with you uh similar to the auto meta recycling task force where uh we convened on who um the stakeholders could be for that committee.

Uh and then, of course, uh I trust uh the formula, and I would recommend what you know you've done it as successfully uh in terms of how to ensure that we are inclusive of both labor and the construction industry to get towards a shared goal.

Um, and I'm looking forward to the robust discussion, uh, but ultimately taking action to just improve the overall quality quality of life uh for San Antonio residents.

So extremely grateful, of course, for the workforce, labor who's here today, and then across, of course, industry for your leadership as well.

I'm looking forward to updates as this moves along the process.

Uh, and of course, as always, please reach out to set up meetings if there's anything that you feel uh should be emphasized and/or missing.

Uh, and I also, again, uh, to land the plane, uh, also um expect that it's a board that produces results, right?

And I know um, as a facilitator, right, you can only facilitate so much.

Um, but uh ultimately the goal is that we do have a robust uh committee that can help shape um what council does in terms of uh our construction industry.

So just thank you, Mike, and I'll probably chime back in in a bit.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Uh Councilman Galvan.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you, uh Mike for the presentation, as well as Councilman Castillo for bringing this CCR forward and Council for both of the CCRs as well.

Um really appreciate the work that was done uh on the back end looking into this.

I'm grateful to have been part of the office when we were doing some of this work.

Uh, grateful to the offices for doing that work and being able to see you know what the kind of folks we were talking to internally, making sure that we had folks at the table uh to see what things were kind of pushing for here and to make clear in the policy itself, particularly within the well, actually both of them.

But uh I'm reviewing, of course, the trades advisory board TCR right now and attachment A while needed some edits in terms of the legality um some components there.

Overall, I think the the goals and expectations are very clear and making sure that we are looking at how do we make sure that our projects are delivering with our tax dollars, quality benefits, quality pay, quality workplace environments, um, and of course, delivering the projects all the same time, as much as possible when we are uh funding these projects, whether it's an infrastructure or buildings or whatever it may be that we are delivering on, that we have those folks at the table to help make those decisions and make sure that we are identifying wage too within our own policy, within our own framework, within our own contracts that we uh are addressing issues of wage that's or addressing issues of paid sick leave, we're addressing concerns of uh quality pay and benefits and all the same within every level of contracting.

Like that's the most important part to me.

Um the component, I think, for both, right?

The advisory board and for uh the enhancing local construction trades component, um, working with our workforce development team, of course, with Mike and his office as well as uh the entire ready to work program, but also looking with our education partners as well, whether it's Almo colleges or other entities that do this kind of work, seeing what ways that they can align with this work as well.

So that way we are almost steering the ship a bit.

I think it's helpful when we have as a city to be a facilitator of this kind of conversations.

I think even the education opportunities committee, we are often talking about ways that not for the city to weighed in in such a way to where we are prescribing um actions for the entire industry or community to do, but we are bringing folks in to then address the issues that we are seeing, we are hearing, we're experiencing, um, and that they also are seeing experience because they're experts in the field as well, whether it's workers, industry alike.

I always think it's a critical that we have those folks at the table to ensure that we are doing this in a um in such a way that is actually effective.

I think when we do things without it, it becomes tough.

And so I'm grateful for both of these CCRs uh having that kind of that kind of uh stakeholder group already in mind, uh, already at the table in a way when forming the policy, and even more so when we're looking at creating it formally at the city.

Um at the citywide level.

A couple quick questions I had though um for it number two.

Uh I think it's on slide four.

There was some kind of points about uh apprenticeship work that's been done so far.

Um I wanted to ask, I guess who were those those with specifically and uh how many folks were were trained through those uh registered apprenticeships and pre-apprentipog programs as well.

Yeah, the right work participants we have a robust number of pre-apprentices that are in the program, several hundred of them in various areas such as plumbing, electricity, pre-apprenticeship programs, with connections to uh lone star strike, long star trace construction training is a largest provider of those pre-apprentipog programs.

Got it.

And how many of those folks were were hired or are they still in the process of training?

Forty-seven pre-apprentices have been hired.

Got it.

Does it include during the apprenticeship as well?

Second?

Does that include with the four registered apprenticeships as well?

We have very few actual registered apprentices that have been hired.

That's the kind of growth and opportunity.

Got it.

Thank you.

Um then also on slide four, I know that there was a point about some of the folks who are hired who are ready to work overall within the construction industry.

Um do we know what the starting wages were for or are for Altaman Electric for IBW and Williams Brothers construction?

In the construction industry overall for our participants, it was about $18 an hour for construction.

Okay.

Um we can get you more specifics on each of those employers directly.

They're perfect.

Thank you.

Um I appreciate also in the presentation to kind of look at other um other cities and what they're working on.

Um but I wanted to, I guess, ask were there any conversations with Chicago or Denver or Austin about uh what their programs look like, what some of the the drawbacks or the quality benefits are, or is it some of the results overall were from each one of their Yeah, uh not yet.

I mean, certainly that uh as we move forward and we we uh we get the stakeholder group uh together.

That's some work that my staff will do.

Uh not just not just to give them the ordinances and some of the uh written stuff, but we'll have conversations with each of those.

Um so we typically will have a Teams call or phone call with those uh lessons learned, what's working well, why did it happen, what are some of the struggles you see because we want to we want to bring that to the stakeholder group so they know.

Uh and then as we think about San Antonio solutions, we try to massage that um moving forward.

But that'll be part of the next step for us.

Okay, great.

And I think that'd be and it's up to the stakeholder group once it's formed and everything, but I think it'd be interesting to see if those conversations could happen with the stakeholder group uh in tandem.

That way folks can ask those questions directly with the folks who have done it before in different ways.

I'm very interested in the uh the vertical and horizontal construction components.

I just I'm interested to see what that looks like and what the results are because to me it immediately feels like well, there could be some some barriers there and making it hard to say like get an actual contract in that way.

But what is it would be interested to see how effective it has been and what kind of results have come from it for Denver and of course at large for all these ones.

Sure.

Um for the last thing on the stakeholder group I wanted to ask for both of them, I suppose.

Uh do we know exactly who would make that up at the moment, or we come back around um and one-on-one's with us to kind of figure out who we're looking for?

Yeah, so uh right now it's open, but as you can tell, there's a lot of interested parties and uh the the key issue is to create one that is uh diverse and balanced so we can hear from everyone uh so they can weigh in on how we develop either the trades advisory board or an apprenticeship requirement.

Uh so uh right now I just have an idea, you know, 10 to 10 to 20 works about good.

Okay.

Uh I think that was asked at governance, how big this could be.

Uh we've done we've done some as small as you know, 10 and some as large as a little over 20, but that's about the sweet spot.

Uh we'll be working with the council woman and any of you all just to say, you know, I think these are the ones that I'm gonna recommend that we have uh on the stakeholder group.

Uh the other key important piece is that when I have stakeholder meetings, they're open, they're open to everybody, right?

They're not even if you don't sit on one of the 10 or 15 or 20 seats, we always encourage a lot of participation.

We usually have some public comment and those type of things.

Uh, but that'll all be taken out as we start.

Got it.

Perfect.

That'd be great.

Um always feel free to connect to my office as well to make sure that we have uh some points there.

I'm also grateful for the points about um some of the folks in building trades who uh aren't present today.

I trust AFL CIO will be able to bring out some of those folks as well and ensure that folks are properly advised or recommended to be on this stakeholder task force.

Um my questions for now.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Councilman Spears.

Thank you, Chair.

Um thank you, Councilwoman Castillo for for addressing this issue.

I know that this is something that has is really important to you, and I'm I appreciate you bringing it forward.

Um I I think I'm I'm glad to hear that you're focused so much, Chair, on what our needs are locally in San Antonio.

I I completely agree it needs to be tailor-made for us.

And I'm glad that we're looking at what other cities are doing, and I agree with Councilman Galvan that we need to talk to them about how it's working, how's it going, and that it can inform us on our makeup and how we move forward as well.

I think the apprenticeships are it's refreshing to see this coming back.

It's an old tried and true way of doing things, um, and it can be expanded into a lot of industries.

Um I do have some questions.

Um, but I also want to say, you know, we really need to consider and make sure we're talking to our construction industry, uh, the businesses, because I think there's two sides to everything.

We don't want to negatively impact them and their ability to do business here because that's that's that's that's how we keep moving forward as a city.

There's a shared interest in delivering well for San Antonio and for our workforce and being on time, and they take on a huge part of the risk.

So we have to acknowledge that and make sure that while we're serving our workforce and and really um making sure that everything's um that their their wages are fair, that that their labor practices are are all um workable, that we're also meeting the needs of the industry itself.

And um, you know, I'm excited to see where we can take this and really include everyone at the table and and make sure that we're meeting everyone's needs really well.

So I have a few questions.

Um let me go over to this one.

So how do we know the cost impact of putting the 35% apprenticeship requirement on our construction projects over to 10 million?

We don't.

That's something that the stakeholder group, I mean, the cost of anything we do is is always part of the discussion.

And um, so I think that'll be all uh worked out, whether it's 35% or another number, uh, one is it physically doable, and then two, what that cost would be, uh, two the project specific overall, etc.

So I expect that'll be a that'll be a good part of that conversation.

Okay, so that's where a lot of my questions lie is on cost.

I care a lot about where our taxpayer dollars go.

And so um I'm excited, I'm glad that you're I know you I know you well enough now to know that you'd be looking at that.

So I appreciate that you're gonna deep dive on that.

Um I was thinking a lot about ready to work as well.

So do so, would we would we have the capacity to fulfill a lot of the apprenticeships there as we move forward and pushing this forward?

Is this something we can expand on and ready to work more effectively?

We absolutely want more apprentices um through the ready to work program.

Apprenticeships are the gold standard for workforce and for our participants they get trained and they get earnings and great benefits.

So we definitely want to expand those pathways to ready to work participants.

So you think you can meet that capacity to can we meet the 35% capacity through ready to work?

No, not ready to work alone through apprentices.

We only have a very few that are apprentices right now.

Would there be a path forward to increase that your impact on the capacity then?

Absolutely.

Okay.

If we can look at that, that would be helpful too as we're doing this analysis further analysis.

Um, then also what is our staffing and admin costs again with the labor compliance office to move forward on the apprenticeship program.

That's something I'd allow.

Yeah, that'll be something we look at depending on uh, for example, you know, this was discussed a little bit at the governance was uh well if we create a new advisory board, city staff generally provide some support.

Um, so that would add uh some staffing levels, whether we could absorb that with our current staffing uh or not, depending probably on the scope, how often they meet, uh the needs, uh probably a little bit more needs, getting it up, you know, and running.

But uh so we will put that package uh together that that cost estimate with whatever we come back with a recommendation, uh you know, this trade's advisory board would need X amount of FTEs at a cost of this uh to stand up.

Uh and then I would imagine the same thing towards your question on the apprenticeship programs.

Uh, if we need more compliance staff because we're checking more things on every contract, uh, or could we absorb that with our current staffing level?

So it would kind of depend on probably where we land, uh, but I'll be part of that conversation with my staff so that when we have these conversations with the stakeholder groups, we can talk about different options.

Uh, this will cost more, this will cost a little bit less uh at the staffing and admin level.

So uh that's already something that we'll we know is we'll be discussing, uh, and again, a little bit of it came up at the governance when we talked.

Uh so uh it'll be something we bring back to you.

Good.

Um, I neglected to mention too that our firefighters union wants to be is supportive of this as well.

Just I I meant to mention that earlier.

But um so then I want to ask a few questions about this the tab uh directly.

Do we know?

Let's see.

Do we have any idea what kind of metrics we'll use?

Um I mean, we're gonna do the one year pilot, right?

Uh do you know how you're gonna measure success here or or have some have is that something we're gonna look at?

Well, I I would say this no right now because we don't know exactly what their mission, purpose, goals, and what we give them.

But uh like any of our boards, we have to have some metrics, and we have to have some.

I think the councilwoman said it, it has to be a board that does that provides uh good advice to the policymakers and staff.

Uh but uh so I don't have any right now, but we'll we'll have to build that in uh because I don't think anyone, I don't think the intent is just to create a board uh and that they just meet and then they meet again and nothing gets done.

So I I think we'll have to develop that.

Uh that may be something that we have with our recommendation in a few months, or it may be just as part of a new board, their first you know, quarter or first year, they have to develop something and bring back to you all.

So but uh I I agree with your concept that we need to have metrics uh for the board if we come up with it.

And and I need I just needed a little extra clarity.

So the the advisory board will be advisory in nature, they're they're they're not gonna have any decision making authority, correct?

Yeah, like we have other advisory boards where um either staff and uh more importantly you all as as uh the elected officials may have a topic uh that's in their it's in their kind of wheelhouse, and we would ask them to you know tackle and bring a recommendation out of that out of that board or out of that advisory board.

So whatever topics we give them in their in their lanes, um I think that's what we would give them.

Councilwoman, I don't uh yeah, uh, and if we need to pause her time.

So I want to make clear what we're getting together here is a stakeholder group.

A stakeholder group to create a trade, a new board, which would possibly be a trade advisory board, which in our conversation here we're hearing, or what I'm communicating that includes the union that was brought up in the CCR, and our our contracting associations and groups from that board, we would task them from economic workforce development or transportation with giving us advice on something.

So right now the stakeholder group is just coming together to say this is what what this is what this board would do.

We have not formed the board because what I would like to hear from the stakeholder group, what we need to hear from the stakeholder group, and Mike can say that is with this new board.

Do we have a council member appoint each member, or do we have some council member appointees, some at large, which would be chosen by this committee to break votes, basically.

So that's what what we're tasking them to do for Mike to do is to bring home uh a stakeholder group.

So we can get in here as we get the timeline, we can get in here and we can decide.

They can say we want them to have this authority to say no, and we could we can say no, I just want them advisory or we can change that.

But what we need is their opinions, and what the beauty of bringing the stakeholders together is they know what the trends are coming, and as councilman Castillo uh mentioned, they know what a sports and entertainment district is gonna bring in terms of work and what competition it's going to bring from outside of the city of San Antonio and the state of Texas.

So I think that is where the urgency is that we get together, and the other is making sure that we shore up that apprenticeship program to make sure we have the workers locally to do this.

So that is why um and I hope that helps kind of clarify some of the does.

Thank you very much.

I do appreciate that.

That helped me to understand more.

These are just the questions I was kind of thinking through what I would like to see, but I that helps a lot to understand how the next steps before we get all the way down the road.

So well, then I'm excited to see what you bring back, Mike.

And I do appreciate it.

I think this is a much needed board given what we're about to embark on, and um a big opportunity for our workforce and for our businesses here locally.

So thank you.

So, Mike, I'm not gonna expect you to have this at the next meeting, but as soon as you could get it, uh, and Alex, if you all you could send it to this committee in an email, is is anticipated cost, and also uh a preliminary timeline in terms of getting this stakeholder group together.

We know we have a lot of people here.

I don't know that we're gonna do an application process.

I don't know how you did it with the workers, but I do I would like Councilwoman Castillo to be um kind of the subcommittee leading on this, and then she would consult with me, and so I really want you to be the point of contact, not just with our committee members, because you are also point of contacts, but with the rest of the council members that may have uh may want some input on this because again, this is the stakeholders coming together, telling us what would work.

I think what we heard from uh councilman Galvan, and what I want I would also like to stress is which some of you have heard and haven't is vertical is key.

We need to start looking about going vertical, and I need to hear from both groups that spoke.

What are the trends that are coming?

What do we need to be prepared for as we see construction here?

Um not just within the United States, but in Texas in particular.

Uh so I think it's a lot of work to to to do this, but these are some of the things.

If you could get us an email before the meeting, so if we need to meet, if we need to agendize new business for our next EWDC meeting, but definitively by February, I need an update.

Yes, I need you back here with an update with at least a cost and at least a um a preliminary timeline.

I know you gave us a timeline of I think April quarter three, twenty twenty-six.

Yeah, I think um the idea was um, you know, I've worked on a few of these in the past.

Uh I don't want to set us up for a year-long stakeholder group to come up with something, uh, but I think in a few months, uh, we should have uh some sort of recommendations.

Uh, if if for some reason we didn't hit that, we needed a little more time.

Sometimes we would come back to the committee with just an update where we're at.

Uh, and we might be just discussing a a last couple of items that we would then bring the next month.

But I just wanted to give you a time frame that I think this is you know, the three to six month process.

Um, but we can certainly be back uh with some information next month, and if not February with uh, like you say, cost timeline, but I I think that's where that's where my head is at.

Uh so but uh taking some of this feedback today will help me kind of firm that up.

And uh before I see if my councils want another go around, the other is um I know we have um uniform development code committees that we've sometimes activated and they have attendance issue because when we when I talk, and this is what I want the stakeholders to understand it it if you choose to serve on the stakeholders, attendance is going to be key for this committee.

So uh I I do want to see where we have problems in other uh boards and com and commissions that are not meeting their attendance level and not hitting quorum because if we're gonna form a new uh board or committee, I want to make sure that we are um or board or commission.

I want to make sure that we are having them in attendance and having that representation, and that is where I need the honesty.

It's like if you want somebody, if you want to hear from the worker that's there every day and supervising a team, you we can only have an hour meeting, or you have to be used straight.

I need to hear that because I do not want people to get discouraged and then not want to participate in this process.

So I think that's key.

And the other issue we're gonna need to look at, because I don't want us to look at the silos when it comes to the general contracting and our contractors is is what the city has eventually in terms of the stakeholders that we're gonna need to discuss regarding the bonding because that is that is a big hindrance, I think, on some of um some of our construction projects.

And um, and we need to we need to look at it big picture of what we're eventually gonna need to talk about in this uh trade advisory board.

And uh all of your input was insightful, all of the stakeholders that came and spoke, but I think we we really need to look at boots on the ground, trade advisory apprenticeship program, what's really working, what where we who is building San Antonio and who we need on that board.

So I thank you, stakeholders, for coming.

And uh does any of my council colleagues want to chime in again?

All right, okay, we have a motion and a second.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed motion carries uh not for motion two and three, it's gonna be one stakeholder group.

Yes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, next item is item number four.

Let me get my agenda.

Item number four.

Yes, we do, but I'm going to provide.

All right.

Thank you.

Alfred Brewer with the economic development department.

I'm gonna provide a quick intro before handing it off to Heather Hanson, president of Biomedasa.

The City of San Antonio has an agreement with BiomedSA.

We've had a partnership with BiomedSA since FY 2012.

We contribute a hundred thousand dollars to that organization to serve as the bioscience industry liaison.

As many of you know, the bioscience industry in San Antonio provides a significant economic impact, over $8 billion a year.

And in the healthcare and bioscience industry, one in five jobs in San Antonio are tied to that.

Our contribution for the to them in Biomedice A is to have them support us as uh outreach and extension of the city and to support biomed um growth.

Uh this includes conducting business retention and outreach uh growth visits.

Um it also includes supporting foreign direct investment and domestic um attraction efforts.

Um they also do market research and analysis as the experts, and they will this year um be supporting the um update to the economic um strategic framework.

Um before I hand it off, I just want to point out a few highlights of the last three years.

They have conducted 72 uh key business retention and growth visits with uh local businesses.

They've identified areas where they can uh grow uh their businesses and worked with the city and other uh partners in the uh community to support them.

Um they have supported a number of delegations into San Antonio.

Um they have showed um international companies and um international visitors what assets exist here in San Antonio.

They're creating a growing awareness of the community, and um they have also supported advocacy and policy.

They have supported the passage of certain funding that will tie directly to San Antonio and provide a significant amount of economic uh impact here.

Um and now I will hand it off to Heather.

Good morning, Madam Chair and committee members.

Thank you for having me today.

Biomedice is a nonprofit.

We are the hub of the life sciences in San Antonio and your source for all expert information on what's going on in this industry and how this industry thinks, um, not only from my background of um over 25 years in industry, but also those of my um board as well.

We are dedicated, and our mission is to grow the healthcare and bioscience sector in San Antonio, and we serve this role as a neutral convener to bring people together in order to solve big problems and make progress.

We do this by um implementing our mission.

We support organizations that are here, catalyzing actions for growth and um promoting the region and all of its assets.

Um, when you look at the life science industry that we represent, it is the largest economic sector in San Antonio, contributing over 44 billion dollars annually, and it also uh provides the highest paying jobs that are available for people right out of high school all the way to as advanced degrees as you can get.

Um, this uh industry focuses or includes clinical care, research, education, and what we think of traditional industry, you know, making things and providing services.

And in San Antonio, we also have the largest military health complex, which encompasses all of those different pillars that make up what we have here.

Looking at support in the biomedical sector, um, a key component of that is biomedicae meeting with companies to uncover their needs and facilitate solutions.

So while we do um the business retention and expansion visits every year, we also have a lot of smaller meetings to get that information to understand what people's pain points are and um again make make progress toward meeting those.

An example that we have from the last year is a company laid off a significant number of workers.

We wanted to keep those workers in the San Antonio ecosystem, so we connected um through the HR departments of that organization and other organizations in town that would that could hire those workers, and we did that connection, those resumes were transferred to keep those jobs and those people in San Antonio.

Um, and that's an example of some of what we do.

We also created the biomarket SA program looking um at what smaller companies need in the startup space, not having access to commercialization activities training as well as um selling to hospitals.

We've been finding a lot of companies will um either disappear after they get their FDA approval or go to other regions to sell their products and and have their launches, um, which is a disservice to the citizens of San Antonio because we mess we miss out on cutting edge technology, but also for those companies they can't continue their business here.

So we created this program to train them on how to talk to hospitals and what hospitals need to see, and then connected them with those hospitals in a mock pitch scenario so they could present their ideas and their costs and get that feedback before they get all the data and go through the FDA and then find out they miss the boat on commercialization.

We also do a lot of events and other things in order to keep people here and help them get the connections and resources they need.

One of the things that we do is Biofest Invests, which is a pitch competition open to Texas companies only for pitching.

This is important because there's a lot of founders in San Antonio in particular who don't come from money.

There, you know, a lot of first generation college graduates that are starting companies and they don't have the connections to the investors.

And San Antonio doesn't have a huge pool of investors here.

So we created BioFest Invest to bring investors from across the country to come and hear these companies.

And as a result of pitching in the Biofest Invest competition since it started in 2021, startups have raised 85 million dollars pitching, and we're pretty excited about that.

And part of the pitching process is they get a lot of training through the UTSA's Small Business Development Center on how to pitch, as well as all the connections and the prize package and all that other good stuff that happens at this event.

This event isn't underwritten by any particular organization.

It is really driven by community involvement and support.

When you look at catalyzing growth, as we've already been discussing today, workers are a key component of that.

And we were really excited two years ago to put out the Life Science Career Marketing booklet in Spanish and English.

It's about 50 pages, and it communicates to high school and adult job seekers, the jobs that are available again, all the way out of high, just right out of high school to all the different advanced degrees and certs and salaries, and you know, really to inspire people to pick this industry because this is the industry that has the most stable jobs for San Antonio.

It also pays the most and has the best benefits.

It is the most resilient, so we really want to make those opportunities known to people as they're picking out their careers or career changes.

A good example is somebody with an associate's degree can go on the clinical trials path and end up with six figures running clinical trials for a larger organization.

So that career mobility is possible in this industry with hard work and just the passion of helping people with their health care.

We also bring together industry to create a five-year strategic plan for the ecosystem, and we have a lot of different initiatives that have resulted out of that.

Some of those are in lab space, either collecting the data that's 8.5 million square feet of lab space that exists in San Antonio, but also helping organizations who have extra space turn that into space for coworking for industry.

And we've done that with Alamo Biocenter, who had extra space, and they created a co-working space with dedicated labs that don't exist elsewhere in San Antonio with the particular industry segment that they're seeking that they support.

When you look at advocacy, I want to point out DeepRit, which was Prop 14, which is one of the key ones that we advocated for.

The reason why this program is so important is yes, the state is going to spend $3 billion on dementia related research and product development for corporations.

And that is all exciting.

But why that's particularly exciting for San Antonio is that we have the only national research center in Alzheimer's in the entire state.

So when you look at that pool of money, it makes sense that most of it, a good chunk of it, maybe not, maybe not over 50%, but maybe should come to San Antonio.

And that is why we pull together leaders from across the state to help get that over the finish line because it is so important, particularly for San Antonio.

And as a result of that, we hear about that kind of connection, we hear about other opportunities.

And that is how we heard about the biomanufacturing training program that is a statewide certification being run out of Texas AM.

San Antonio did not have any participants in their proposal they were about to submit.

We got together with Alamo Colleges and got them on board, so they are a partner of that program.

Here's why that is so important for San Antonio.

As we look at and Greater SATX talks to large biomanufacturing organizations, which is a very growing industry in our our country in the world right now, those companies ask for what kind of training do you have?

And the answer previously for San Antonio was none.

So if you think of a huge growing industry in our country, and we didn't have the training to support organizations coming here, we did recruit a smaller organization, Scorpius Bio Manufacturing a few years ago, and they had been sending their people to this training at Texas AM, but we didn't have anything here.

Well, now we will, and that is coming online very soon, and that's pretty exciting for future recruitment efforts.

And again, high-paying jobs that are very resilient with good benefits.

Promotion is a key thing that is important for our ecosystem because a lot of dollars in the biomedical space are flowing nationally and internationally.

So if we focus just in our own city in our own region, we will lose out on a lot of opportunities because research dollars and progress do require that national funding emphasis.

So we need people to be thinking of San Antonio as a place to do their research and development.

So at Biomedice, we promote individual companies and our assets that we have here from a talent perspective as well as business dollars flowing into our region.

We do create the marketing materials for the industry for San Antonio.

You can see some pictures of that there.

We also go out and promote it digitally as well as through events.

A key event we attend is the bio convention, which is the largest biotech convention in the world.

And we have the San Antonio booth fair that we put online last year that we again, this isn't underwritten by any large grant or any grant.

We uh put this together in order to promote San Antonio and get the leads that are helpful for our our city and the companies that we have here.

This last year we had nearly 300 leads from support through that uh conference.

And lastly, I'll talk about BioFest Days, um, which is a concentration of bio-themed events in San Antonio.

We have been doing that two years now.

We doubled the number of events for 2025.

And this is an opportunity to again bring that spotlight onto San Antonio nationally as well as within the state of Texas.

The more visibility the um this ecosystem has, the more dollars that will flow into San Antonio from those national um funding mechanisms, as well as the collaborations that happen with uh organizations putting together uh large research grants that we want to be part of, or the industry that is needing their um research done here in San Antonio to support the products and then ultimately manufacturing.

So we have a lot of very high quality, unique assets in San Antonio, and we need to make sure that the rest of the world knows about it as much as possible to um get those dollars to come here.

And one of the key roles we play that um is very different for this industry than maybe some others is that it gets very technical very quick, and our technical knowledge of who's doing what at a very detailed level is what's really helpful to making those resource connections and making those dollars flow to where they need to go.

Any questions?

Oh thank you.

Um thank you so much for the presentation.

I think I was at BioFest Days at the closing reception.

I think I'll have it the Incarnate Word Sky Room.

I was there, and you're right, it gets technical really quick.

But what I want to share, and we'll open up to the discussion.

Um my council colleagues will have uh five minutes, the first round, three minutes if you need a second round.

But um, the one thing is how this is connected to to our health and our longevity here in San Antonio, and um what I appreciated is now that you know because of my health issues, I have been exposed more to just how much medicine has expanded and just how much the technology and the research is key.

So I think as we move forward, I think it's important to try and find a way of communicating that what we're what biomed SA is doing and what this industry is doing, how does it impact the daily lives of the individuals?

And that is if you go in and you get tested for a blood count level, you can go in, they can check your blood, and by the time you meet with the doctor, they have results.

Um the other is is the fact that I and I and this is a hard conversation to have, but um I had Spark that works with the DOJ on on brain uh donations come in and talk to me.

And here I'm sitting there thinking, oh, I'm an organ donor, so of course they're gonna take my brain.

No, you know the the whole thing of taking your tissues for research is different, and I think that's the one thing it's like if we want these industries to expand, we need to be donating uh not just our organs but have our tissues donated for research so that people can understand why it is that um you know Latinos or San Antonians have this proclivity so that they can find solutions.

And I think that's the one thing it's like if we want these industries to expand, we need to be donating uh not just our organs, but have our tissues donated for research so that people can understand why is it that um you know Latinos or San Antonians have this proclivity so that they can find solutions.

So I think there's a a lot of practical level because of what the the clinical research you're doing, especially around uh Alzheimer's and other uh neuro kind of neuro things that happen when they age, you know.

Um it's really important because we have an aging community here and we have a military community here, and we have a community that is going to have issues, so we should actually let them kind of participate in the process, whether it's through a clinical research or whether it's through going into this and being part of the uh infrastructure and network of this um of this industry is is a really interesting thing.

So thank you for your presentation.

I look forward to getting this out and making sure that uh we we highlight that this is something we do here and that we take it into our districts and let them know how they can contribute to this.

Thank you.

Uh any one else, uh Rick.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh thank you.

Is it Heather?

Yes.

Thank you, Heather, for the presentation today.

Um I really appreciate this conversation around um biomedical research overall and uh at large, I think.

So it's very important.

Uh I think to counselor Viergran's point, hit it right on the head, right?

How do we communicate some of these efforts being done are connected to people's actual health care um and everyday treatment, right?

As a chronic asthmatic my whole life, and I just came for the doctor this morning, everything's good.

But it is always right, trying to make sure that seeing the new technology right that uh impacts our health care uh overall is always helpful to understand a bit more to understand our own health and how we can better treat it and understand what we're going through, right?

Whether it's it is asthma or other kind of chronic diseases or regular diseases and uh health concerns that we may have in our community.

Um I I originally struggled, and I'm very grateful for uh the tour we took earlier this year.

My team and I, the Texas Biomed Research uh in District 6, uh being able to better understand a little bit of those links there, right?

But I think there was a bit for me as just someone who wasn't always involved in that kind of the actual health science component of it, but more so in the health care part of it, understanding okay, well, where is the tie-in here?

Where is it when we know our community is facing critical uh barriers to receiving health care, receiving uh insurance, or affording both, right?

Um, what is this tie in?

I think there's a really good tie-in there about not only helping in some ways in the industry make sure that we're getting to people that need the care, but also that we're addressing the actual gap in care itself, right?

That it's not only that when you you if you want to get to the doctor, now we actually have a treatment for you too, right?

That it works for you, works with this person, works for this population, all those things I think are helpful to understand here with it.

So again, thank you for the presentation.

Um I'm always grateful too, Counselor Messi Gonzalez and I often talk about how there's a little bit of an interesting connection between district six and eight on the Northwest side about how South Research and Biomed kind of intersect to them to the larger medical center here in our community to kind of again push that care in our community and overall, even internationally, to your point.

Um I just wanted to ask a couple quick questions.

Um what what are some of the results uh from the business recruitment efforts and side visits that Jelph hosted or had uh had here?

Yeah, um, so Greater SATX takes the lead on the large companies, so they are better suited to speak to that.

Um my understanding is that um on the large company side, they're not as getting as many leads as we would like.

Okay.

Um there's probably a lot of reasons for that that they could speak to.

What I see and what the industry sees is a big lack of market visibility within San Antonio, within the state, within the the country, where people don't understand all of the huge assets we have here, and that is something that we're working on changing.

Um when it comes to most of what we work in at the conferences and other things, because large companies don't come up to a booth and say, Hey, I think I want to move to your city.

Um so we're working with the smaller companies, and um with those smaller companies, it's really about the business dollars coming to San Antonio because we have so many unique research assets, and the idea is we get them in with one and then oh, you can do this here and this here and just kind of keep the money flowing.

Um, from particularly in the biomedical space, they tend to be very closed on what they're doing and keeping secrets and all that because first to market is huge and all that kind of stuff.

Um, so we don't get visibility to the number of dollars on a on a regular basis.

Um I can say that one of our um Biofest Invest winners told us that at the Biofest Invest event where they spoke with people um in the expo area with booths and that sort of thing, that they um didn't realize some of the assets that were here and they had already lined up to spend it in Massachusetts and some other places.

They spent that money here, and that was around 200,000.

But that was one company with one interaction.

So how we can replicate that math to figure it out, I really don't know.

And unfortunately, we just don't, we won't get that data.

Yeah, no, thank you for that.

I think that's always the golden question, right?

How do we get more people understanding what we have here in San Antonio?

Our special traits that are here.

And again, even in different parts of the community, right?

They don't see maybe in the medical center or downtown, it's like, okay, maybe it's not there, but it is here.

And so the largest entities that are here are doing this work in the entire region, entire country.

And so I think that's you got your work cut out for you.

Happy to be helpful wherever I can.

Um but I think uh we're on the same page.

How do we make sure that uh the city, of course, can also support in some ways uh in advertising that and working with other partners across the country that we know that are already in this work if there's other opportunities that seem to make sense with South uh with Texas Biomed and our Southwest or other kind of entities here to work on?

I think that'd be interesting to see how we can do that more collaboratively.

But in any case, thank you again for all the work.

Oh, I was gonna ask um I know you mentioned, of course, work at the Animal Colleges, and I'm assuming universities a bit too.

But what is that like uh with the BioFest and overall the work connected to ISDs or any other kind of educational institutions here in our community?

Um BiobedSA is not directly working with uh high school K through 12.

So you know, we have a staff of four of us, so we have to draw the line somewhere, but um we rely on other partners, encourage others like Alamo Bio Center is doing the biomanufacturing training at the high school level.

So we encourage others and enable them to take that baton and do that work, but we're not positioned to do all that.

Although with our life science um career packets, we did distribute those to um one high school in each of the 10 districts to make sure it was uniformly distributed to the city.

That's super helpful.

Thank you again, Heather, for the presentation.

Thank you, Chair.

And if you would like um more communications that you can communicate to your um constituents, we're happy to have that discussion about what would make sense for you to help communicate what's going on out.

Yeah.

Chair, if it's okay, I was gonna jump in real quick and just highlight the fact that um what Councilmember Galvan was bringing up about um having that connectivity and and how we make sure that these assets are known.

We we've kind of mentioned that several times.

I know Alfred went through slide three very, very quickly, but it's important for us to know what those assets are.

So um, it was really important work that Biomed and Heather led in really having that inventory, that network of what we have in San Antonio, so that when an opportunity comes up, we quickly know this is what we can do, whether it's greater or whether it's somebody that Heather meets or or somebody that's you know at one of the expo events.

Um, we quickly know what assets we have in San Antonio from Texas Biomed to wet labs.

Like we we've we know what we have.

So that was important work that was completed.

All right, any other noun.

I I just think it's really great.

And District 9 wants to help.

And so if you want to send your media kit over, we'll help promote this.

Um, we have what I call mini medical in District 9, and you know, you're right.

We have a ton of assets here, and I understand what you're saying about that sort of keeping it quiet because it's you know proprietary.

So this is fantastic.

I think it's it's uh definitely an industry we should be pursuing in or all these different facets of this industry.

So um thank you for the work you're doing, and we want to help any way we can.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And if any of you have questions that come up where you need that industry deep dive, definitely reach out and we will help answer your questions or prepare you for a meeting or you know, anything like that.

Just let us know.

Thank you.

All right.

Um, then this item, item four was for briefing.

Item five is our next briefing item, and it is on the global engagement activities of the economic development department, and there is a staff presentation.

Sherry will be presenting it.

The floor is yours.

Good morning.

And my name is Sherry Dolat Shohi.

I head up our global engagement within the economic development department.

And I'd like to give you a very quick overview.

I know I stand between you and lunch right now, so I'm going to go very quickly.

Uh so in terms of global engagement and international initiatives, I'm going to tell you that we are a very globally engaged city.

Very proud of it.

We are involved in uh a number of uh areas, and I'm just I'm not gonna go through it one by one minutiae.

You have it on the screen, but we have our official relationships around the world.

Uh we are engaged in diplomacy and protocols, specifically with uh uh uh diplomatic uh and consular corps.

Uh we are involved as a city in international business that involves trade missions, foreign direct investment, BRG.

And we are engaged with our community and our incredibly diverse diaspora that is in San Antonio.

Last year in fiscal year 25, we added two new sister cities, Queretaro in Mexico, and Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, and we added a friendship city, Quebec City in Canada.

So today we have 13 friendship cities and sorry, 13 sister cities and four friendship cities.

In fiscal year 25, I can tell you that City of San Antonio was engaged with 97 countries around the world.

Now, in this map that you see, we've highlighted maybe the top eight countries where we had the highest amount of engagements.

And you'll see that in first place, of course, no surprise, it's Mexico.

And then in second place, we had Spain.

Spain, there's a lot of engagement that's been going on with Spain.

And then, of course, we have Japan, which again is not, should not be a surprise.

And then Canada, Colombia.

And Colombia, I'd like to point out, is a where we have been promoting and cultivating future new relationships, but definitely been very engaged as part of our international business efforts and Latin American task force.

And then, of course, some countries in Europe, including France and Germany and the Philippines.

So what I'd like to point out in this map is that the countries that you see in blue and green is where we've had the highest level of engagement, and so you can see these individual engagements.

And then where you have yellow, it could have been just one engagement in the whole year.

And most of that actually comes through the international visitor leadership program, which is run by a community partner, the San Antonio Council of International Visitors.

Out of their 20 delegations, they brought 18 delegations to the city of San Antonio interacting with multiple departments across the city in technical exchanges.

And this slide also gives you a super high level overview of our unique global engagements throughout fiscal year 25.

We had all together 994 engagements, of which 696 individual engagements were really international related.

And if we kind of boil it down, 406 of those were sister city related.

So we are finding that kind of in terms of the work that we do, just about half of the work is involving our official relationships, our sister cities program.

And then in terms of kind of the types of engagements, we usually classify them as our inbound delegations, our outbound delegations, local engagements, which really involve our diaspora groups here in San Antonio or organizations that may have something going on on the international side.

And then, of course, the staff time that goes into planning a lot of this work.

And then finally, the categories that you see there, I think is also very interesting to look at because when we talk about well, what do those global engagements look like?

You see, we got business and trade, cultural, sports diplomacy, education, technical exchange, and interestingly enough, there's a real balance between business and trade as well as the cultural engagements.

Those were the two top categories.

Now, in fiscal year 26 so far in this in quarter one, uh we've had some inbound groups and delegations that have come in, and in October, we had the former president of Colombia, Ivan Duke here.

We had the Czech ambassador to the United States here with a business delegation.

We had a cultural delegation from our sister city in Guangzhou and South Korea from Quebec, Canada.

We had our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and then we had mayor of Saltillo in from Mexico come in.

Going out, we've had, and right now actually we have a representatives of the US consulate in Monterey, Mexico who are here.

And this is actually the first time a US consulate has come to San Antonio from Mexico with their staff to kind of look at what we're doing.

And their whole impetus was we see San Antonio doing great things with Monterey.

We want to understand it and we want to help promote and foster it.

And in terms of our outbound delegations, in September, October, there was the participation in the Sister Cities International US-Japan Summit, and Greater SATX also had an investment mission to Japan in November.

We had a mission, a road, we called it our road trip to Monterrey in Queretaro, Greater SATX Economic Development, just promoting investment San Antonio.

We had a trade mission to Spain led by you, Councilwoman, focused on connectivity and sports diplomacy.

And then, of course, and that was in Madrid and Lanzarote, and then more recently, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce led a trade mission to Mexico City that was led by our mayor.

And I'd like to point out that was our mayor's officially her first international trip as mayor of San Antonio.

So it was very exciting and a very successful mission to Mexico City, even though it was two days long, had huge impact and caused a lot of interest.

So, in terms of our strategic international business development, what I can tell you is that during fiscal year 25, we undertook a kind of data research to update our information about our priority markets.

And our priority markets are Korea, Japan, Germany, Canada, and have been for since 2019, 2020.

And so this year in fiscal year 26, there will be an updated strategy presented as part of the strategic framework refresh.

So you will be hearing more about that.

But what I can tell you is that we have identified now, not only have we validated that the five countries that we've been working as our top priority countries for the last five, six years, are the same five countries.

So they there wasn't a change or a shift.

The data is still pointing to them.

We have opened it up and we're kind of highlighting now ten countries.

And so again, you can see the order on the on the screen, kind of highlights in terms of uh how we see the data pointing.

And so the countries that we're adding are the UK, Australia, Taiwan, Spain, and Singapore.

And then in terms of Mexico and Latin America, really the focus is international business, trade, and supply chain management and strengthening those supply chains.

Now, for the work that is done in this area in terms of promoting foreign direct investment to San Antonio, there are a number of partnerships that the economic development has primarily Greater SATX.

And so out of the funds that are allocated to Greater SATX, 194,000 dollars, 250 are actually used specifically for engagement in some of our target countries, as well as activations with the Department of Commerce through Select USA, again, all focused on investment attraction from those priority markets.

We also focus on Mexico as part of that, and I mentioned the roadshow earlier, and then for Latin America, we have been continuing to support again promoting investment, lead generation from diverse countries in Latin America.

And this slide gives you some highlights in terms of foreign direct investment.

So as a result, in fiscal year 25, there were 121 company leads that came forward, and of course, most of the leads will be followed up on primarily by Greater SATX.

Five foreign direct investment wins.

There's the 54 million dollars in foreign direct investment that has been reported with the creation of 371 new jobs.

Again, these this is you know purely economic development, but what I'd like to point out is in the work in global engagement, international relations, very often the soft diplomacy work that carry is starts at the beginning of a process, creating relationships, helping us as a community understand how other countries work, kind of plays into what happens down the chain when other stakeholders come in and do the work and then the narrowing down into what ultimately are those big wins for San Antonio.

In fiscal year 26, we have uh some future engagements that we can tell you about.

We know that the month of March is going to be very busy for us.

There's an expectation that the governor of the Aichi Prefecture will be coming in from Japan.

We will have a sports delegation, but a business delegation as well, coming in with the mayor of Darmstadt, our sister city.

There's going to be a friendly game between the San Antonio Football Club and the Darmstadt Football Club.

Uh and then again, the president of Lanzarote, our one of our newest sister cities will be coming back.

Uh the uh HACU, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities is hosting their annual conference in San Antonio San International Conference, and we are going to be engaged with them in that.

And then we will host a uh a uh an event for the foreign and con foreign diplomats and consular corps in the month of May, bringing in consulate consuls and ambassadors from other countries, primarily in Houston, to visit us, learn about us, and we have a program for them.

July, we're focusing on youth and sister city youth leadership development with the involvement of 25 youth from our diverse sister cities alongside San Antonio Youth program is being put together by students of service, one of the our uh international community organizations focusing on youth and service.

And then in terms of travel, I can point to three concrete trips that will be taking place.

Our mayor will be leading a delegation to Taiwan in March, going to Taipei and Kaohsung.

Uh, she's been invited to speak at the Sparts Smart Cities Summit in Kaohsung.

Uh and then uh in the fall, Greater SATX will be organizing their annual uh investment mission, uh, not yet defined whether it's going to Japan or Korea, but one of those two countries, uh if not both.

And then the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has also committed to organizing a trade mission to Spain, specifically to Madrid and Lanzarote, really kind of continuing on some of the interesting exchanges that have been taking place with Lancerote, and again focusing our interest very much in building connectivity with Spain.

And with that, I conclude my presentation.

I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

All right, this this item is for briefing purposes only.

Uh, so you each have five minutes, and if we need a second round, we'll do three to five minutes in the second round.

Sherry, thank you for that presentation.

I think as we continue, and again, is this all works together as we continue to tell the San Antonio story, we need to tell it globally, and we need to kind of gauge what people are saying internationally about San Antonio and what they know about us internationally.

So I think it's important to go.

I think um the one thing when we did our um trip to Madrid and then Lanzarote is what we noticed in Madrid is you have to be consistent with the visits.

Now it doesn't have to be the same person every time, but I will volunteer to go to Spain every time.

Um but we have to be consistent.

Miami was there in Madrid when we were there, and they go a lot, and they develop that relationship and they solidify that relationship, and we're very familiar with it.

So I think as we move forward, and as the economic workforce development committee moves forward, we need to understand.

Yes, we need to find out where we're going to develop those relationships, where we're going to go consistently, and really we all have our assignments, which is great, but we also do need to get elected officials out there and not truly um just focus on one elected uh official in particular or the business community to go.

And I kind of preach into who's getting voluntole right now because I think as part of the economic workforce development committee, we need to be willing to travel and get that that impression of what are others thinking of us.

Because of course, um business community is gonna come in and say, Oh, they love us.

We need to know do they really what what are what are they actually saying?

What are they actually hearing?

What is the actual impression of the city of San Antonio and the region of South Texas and the county of Bear?

So I think as we as we look at the future engagements that she puts forward as we look at what's possibly on y'all's agenda and schedules, we look at opportunities about where we can go and kind of build that opportunity because people are.

Um communicating in and representing our city well because while we are elected to represent uh our constituency, part of that is going out and figuring out what internationally they're thinking about San Antonio, because if not, they're always gonna think we have horses and cowboy hats, and that's not always true.

So thank you.

I look forward to hearing for you for you from you all and kind of getting y'all's perspective.

Who'd like to go first?

Councilman Gablin.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you for the presentation today.

Um I got a bunch of questions, but I'll only live it to a few, and then I'll follow up with anything else just because I know it's getting close to 12.

Something I I well first I really appreciate the presentation and the kind of work that we're doing here.

As I was digging more into it I was really interested in seeing what ways that our city has been doing this work for a while.

Of course a lot of these sister city agreements have been here since the 80s and even late 70s maybe it's the 80s but either way for a while right and understanding what the kind of impact it's had on our community is really important to me at large I think it's really interesting to see how we're building those relationships and maintaining them.

So the Council of Vran's point about uh the kind of maintaining relationships uh and being consistent there something that I really appreciative of uh when the mayor hosted um some folks from Taiwan here in San Antonio uh they visited some sites in district six um and so I was able to join some of those meetings and one of the things that it left me thinking about was that consistent conversation right what does that look like whether it's with uh Taiwan or other uh cities across the the the world um what's the how do we um maintain some of that engagement either with even smaller stakeholder groups that are here locally as well as over there in whatever city it is locally that are there certain groups that we have that are constantly communicating with each other or is it only upon visits what is that kind of constant communication look like well I think that in my very first slide I had highlighted kind of the different areas of engagement right and and so for instance regular communication with the consular corps with trade commissioners knowing who they are when they introducing ourselves getting them to come to San Antonio that regular communication is really important in terms of our official relationships uh the official relationships we have very close communication with all of our sister cities friendship cities but one thing that I always highlight it's not just about those sister cities or friendship cities it's about the countries they represent and so having again our fingers on the pulse in terms of what's happening in those countries and of course here within the community we also have to be connected uh communicating with all the important stakeholders so of course we all immediately think of greater SATX we think of visit San Antonio but we also think about our universities what are our universities doing because believe me our biggest universities are active they're out in the world they're going out uh into conferences going to conferences speaking or even the World Heritage office you know they're engaged in international networks specifically around UNESCO it's about putting San Antonio out there so yes the regular communication and knowing who is there and making sure that they are engaged with us that's a really that's a big driver of what way what why I wake up every day and come to work is how do what can we do where are we falling short in terms of keeping those connections going.

But very as I said before it's not only the external communications and coordination but also internally within our community what's happening here and where in our community do we see these diaspora groups grow I mean the San Antonio the San Antonio that I first came to in 1987 is not the San Antonio we are in today in 2020 it's an incredibly diverse rich community with people from all over the world who call it home.

Yeah no thank you for that I think that's part of what I was thinking too and maybe we can talk about it offline but even the kind of local working groups that maybe uh the main focuses for each city may be difficult at first right maybe the the main ones that we're looking at working with more that who are the main industry folks that are a part of it or organizations that are here I think about like cultural ingua and like ways that they can continue to coordinate with other uh similar cities or places that we're looking at here so I just I think there's something there about how do we maintain those relationships year round even if it's not the elected all the time of course I do think our elected officials and government officials should be a part of it but if there's even just some ties that we can make with folks who are doing the work every single day versus folks who always you know moving at different places different places all the time too I think it's just worthwhile to see how we can kind of foster those relationships and I think y'all are doing a great job at it.

Can I just add to what you just said that grassroots level activity and engagement is so important.

Yeah because it's not just what we're doing at the government level it is what's happening in the business community education community cultural community and again at the grassroots level right and that's why those could the partnerships uh and the working collaborating with organizations in the community has is so important to the the our ability to do our work as well because for instance setting up that uh and you'll hear more about it the summer program about around the youth uh sister cities uh ambassador summit that that's we're talking about reaching out to young people in our high schools I mean it will be a selective process right but we're not organizing it it's students of service right but we are engaging uh I think so far eight sister cities are sending young people here it's the first time we've never done this but this that's a kind of grassroots level collaboration that that does take place.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh Councilman Castillo.

Chair, and thank you, uh Sherry, for the presentation.

Uh, in regards to the strategic framework refresh, um, something that I would like to see is tied to how we are a city of gastronomy, and we have so many UNESCO restaurants.

And when I look at the friendship city, rather, that we have with uh Jordan, I think about the climate and terrain that we have in common with them.

And when we talk about the restaurants here that are receiving this world recognition, many of them uh value uh using fresh ingredients, right?

And I think strengthening uh those partnerships to talk about that asset in terms of cultural capital, uh, I think will help bring uh more tourism to the city of San Antonio, but also help support the industry.

Uh and as you mentioned and highlighting your presentation, right, is that connection and relationship with educational institutions.

Uh, and I think there's just a lot of value uh in strengthening those ties related to uh our culinary arts here in the city of San Antonio, but tying it to our friendship in sister cities that have similar terrains that are working with similar ingredients.

Do you have anything to add to that?

Yes, thank you very much.

Uh totally agree.

Uh again, we're so blessed as a city that we have our UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy designation, and believe me, we all promote it, support it.

The obviously the World Heritage Office is the lead.

Uh and and but we we all understand there's huge huge value in, and not only that, our UNESCO uh uh um uh World Heritage designation, and we belong to the organization World Heritage Cities of San Antonio, and so a lot all of that provides these opportunities, food heritage, food promotion, and so again, I know the visit San Antonio World Heritage Office, they work collectively a lot on this.

Uh I can't speak specifically to the strategic framework I would uh I think Brenda may have some other thoughts on that, but but definitely we I will tell you that we work very closely with the World Heritage Office to do exactly that to identify where those opportunities are.

We always look at our sister cities, friendship cities to find out where the UNESCO Creative City commonalities are, and then when we're looking at new relationships, that's one of the things that we look at the checkbox.

Are they a creative city?

In what?

And so it's been very nice to kind of use that as a filter as well when we're working with uh new relationships.

Wonderful.

Thank you so much, Sherry.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Councilman Spears.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Sherry.

It's a really great presentation.

And um I think what you're doing is truly important for the future of our of San Antonio, and and I agree so much with what Chair Globon um Chair Via Grande said is that um we need to all be as involved as possible because we you know we I might appeal to one sister city and then Councilwoman Castillo may appeal to a different different one, or us together can tag team it and just identifying our strengths within this board and and within um the committee and within our colleagues is gonna be impactful to how we move forward and um as we tailor ourselves and identify those commonalities that we have with the different cities and countries um abroad so that we can bring more growth economically here.

Um I think San Antonio is so special because we are really the melting pot portion of Texas.

I embrace my cowboy boots and horses, but I'm also like love that our our Hispanic culture and heritage here too.

So I I have always heard that they just love our our text and draw.

I don't know if we can all hear it.

I know I have it, especially when I go home to Lubbock and see and I'd come back real West Texan.

But um, you know, I I like to learn about all these different different things in these other cities and what they have to offer and where we have where we cross and where we can really expand on that here.

And I think this is where we will see our opportunities that distinguish us from the rest of Texas.

And um, so I'm really excited to work more diligently with you and yours and your team on how we can be helpful in our office and with my colleagues, and um I just think it's it's truly the important work we've got to be focusing on.

So thank you very much, and um let us know what you need us to be focusing on in particular councilman Gavan.

Okay, last two things.

One of the things I wanted to ask, I know in the Metro Priority Plan, there was a kind of a benchmark of reviewing the plan in 2025.

Uh I know we're at the tail end, but are we gonna do any kind of benchmarking review of that uh with any of the outcomes soon?

Yes, and that and again that will be coming in as part of our strategic uh uh framework refresh.

Okay, got it with economic development under the economy.

It will be one of the chapters under economic development.

Perfect.

Thank you.

And then the last question I have was do we have a breakdown of the uh foreign direct investment, business ventures, um, and specific traded goods between sister cities.

So that that's between specifically to sister cities.

Correct.

Uh so that that's always a good question.

Uh uh many of our sister cities, uh there is no trade and investment directly coming from them unless we talk about say Mexico City or Monterey or places like that.

But for instance, from the Canary Islands, I'll give an example.

We don't have trade and investment.

Right.

Uh and and I think that's what I went alluded to in my one of my comments.

Our sister, our relationships, official relationships around the world, enable us to engage in a given country.

It helps our global fluency, we build those relationships.

That there's obviously a reason why we build it with a particular community.

But in the larger scope, sometimes in countries like Japan, Korea, just to give an example, or Canada, the real economic opportunities may not be in the sister city, but it may be, say, in Tokyo or in Seoul.

Those are capital cities.

And even though we may cultivate relationships, uh if you know on the cultural side, really we focus our economic development uh efforts in the communities where we know those businesses are where the possibilities and opportunities lie.

So I would say that rather than uh talk about a specific sister city bringing in uh trade and investment, uh I would say it we we kind of look at it more at the country level.

Okay, and I think that helps uh helps us with our understanding.

Not to say that there wouldn't be that, but but even with Toyota, that's always a great example given because Toyota is not headquartered in Koramoto.

However, uh Toyota choosing to open up a plant in San Antonio, it was you know, it came after 20 years of that relationship building, which involved our business community and our and different groups here going to Japan consistently to the councilwoman's point repetition, repetition, right?

Showing up every year.

And then, you know, that decision to come to San Antonio because this felt right.

We had a community that was open, engaged, receptive to having this Japanese investment.

And so that is where those connections are made.

Right.

Thank you for that.

That's helpful.

Do we have them by country then?

Those kind of statistics, the FDI and the business ventures that we have.

Yes, there are there are that we could certainly pull those together.

Perfect.

Yeah, yeah, we can talk about that offline.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

So the one thing, and for my new committee members, because Terry sat on this committee with me for the last four years, is um his his in the past, the chair took the opportunity to travel as much as they could with the economic workforce development.

I want to make sure that this committee travels and understands.

So thank you, Sherry, for the presentation.

Uh, Brenda and and Alex and the team will work to get y'all where it is really looking at the country because we you can always Madrid is not our sister city, but we spent time in the Capitol.

You can always spend time in the Capitol and then make it to the sister city.

The other thing is if we're gonna look at visit San Antonio or World Heritage, uh, let's create more work for Sherry and we can turn this into uh a trade mission where she has to come and set up meetings with another elected officials.

So I think part of it is finding you know what opportunities we have, where your interest, and where we can um kind of put you because this is team San Antonio, and we we've got to remember this is a a council city manager type government, and so I need the can we need the city of San Antonio needs the council out there uh because at the end of the day, you can have all the conversations you want, but it comes back to the city council and we make decisions and it and hopefully it'll come back to this committee.

So as uh Brenda, and I know you're here as you get that and you provide the information.

I encourage my uh council colleagues to take the Christmas break and go, where am I going in 2026 to bring a new business to San Antonio?

So um we're looking forward to that, and thank you, Sherry.

I think you're gonna have a lot of work with this committee uh when it comes to our uh our international travel.

Thank you.

Thank you and happy holidays to all of you.

Thank you.

All right.

Um if there isn't any other discussion, the time this was for briefing only.

The time is now 12 05, and the meeting is now adjourned.