Good afternoon.

If you could make your way to a seat.

Ideally not on the floor.

There are plenty of chairs available to you.

The time is now 2.06 p.m.

on February 3rd, 2026, and we will call our meeting to order.

Madam Clerk, can you please read the roll?

Councilmember Corr.

Councilmember Mungia.

President.

Councilmember Alderete Gavito.

Here.

Councilmember Spears.

Chair McKee Rodriguez.

Present.

Chair, we have quorum.

Wonderful, wonderful.

We will start off today.

We have three items in the agenda on the for briefing and possible action.

But first we'll get to approval of the meeting minutes.

I'll entertain a motion for their approval.

Motion to approve.

All in favor?

Aye.

Wonderful.

We'll now move on to item two, which is a CCR by Council Member Menina Aldere Govito.

Do we have a presentation?

Thank you, Chair and Committee.

For the record, Art Reinhardt, Public Works.

So today we're gonna provide a brief update on this CCR that uh came about last year by Councilwoman Aldorete Gavito.

We'll talk a little bit about the background and then how we're planning to address this moving forward.

So just a brief history.

Uh the council consideration request was submitted back in May of last year.

Uh in short, the the council consideration request focuses on creating a streamlined process for proactive communication between us as a city as well as our partners with uh different agencies and telecoms and trying to provide that information in real time and then also holding each other accountable for when we have those hiccups.

So a little bit of background.

So the CCR was submitted back in May, and then we presented to the governance committee and we're referred to the transportation committee, which we're here today.

So, in short, uh we put the the summary of the CCR on the screen, but it really comes down to four four main key points, and that's really to be proactive in our communication about not just plan projects but when we have outages, also require uh setting forth requirements for how agencies coordinate, not just with each other but also residents and our council offices, holding each other accountable when there's a lack of communication, which includes ourselves, and then also coordinating work when possible.

Before I go into how we're gonna address the CCR, just wanted to talk a little bit about what we do as public work, specifically our right-of-way management division.

So essentially we're tasked with managing the city's right-of-way, all of the construction activities that occur all across the city, and also enforcing how those activities are repaired, how the construction is repaired, governing the restoration of trenches and and things like that.

Um a little bit of information for last year.

So we as a city permitted over about 18,000 different right-of-way permits.

Uh, when you break it down by work days, that's about 70 permits a day that are coming out of the team.

And the good majority of those were our utility companies, saw CPS, and our telecoms.

Uh but you can see there we also permit our own projects, and then there's uh special events as well.

The regulations that we have date back uh many years, but really the first main ordinance was back in 2001.

That was the creation of the city's right-of-way ordinance.

Um that really specified how we govern our right-of-way and the requirements for restoring backfill uh trenches and and other things in the right-of-way.

Ultimately, we created the utility excavation criteria manual, and there's been subsequent revisions since then.

Uh the most substantive revision was in 2016 through a process where we started requiring contractors to provide signage for their projects and other advanced notification.

Currently, today we uh you can see on the screen kind of the main requirements that we have.

So we 30 days ahead of construction.

Uh people submitted application, which we call our project information form, which breaks down who's doing the work, what is the work, uh, the expected time frame, etc.

Then seven days prior for our major traveled roadways, they provide advanced notifications, uh digital message signage, uh notifying people in the area of the upcoming project.

Just prior to construction, door hangers will go on there, and then every project should have construction signage describing the type of uh project it is and who to contact, and the workers out there should have identifiable information on their uh out their uh gear explaining who they are and what project they're working on.

We also have regulations in place for violations.

So the current violations are up to six hundred dollars per day per violation type.

You can see here an example, a couple different examples of the type of violation.

So it could be working without a permit if they didn't go through our process, uh traffic control is inadequate, a lack of signage, or if they're running long and they're delaying the restoration.

Just over the last couple years, we've um tallied up over one almost 1.5 million dollars worth of violations.

The process we have in place is really um a coordination process.

It could start up to six months ahead of time for some of our larger projects where the applicant will submit the plans for review, and then 30 days ahead of time, they're starting to complete the project information form, providing information in more detail.

Our team will go out and visually inspect the area, look for conflicts as well as look at the different uh plans that are submitted, and then ultimately we'll issue a letter of provision and permit approval.

So that's our current process.

There's a lot of coordination that goes on today.

Certainly, there's things that we're gonna look at to improve that.

Um but just a couple examples.

Uh, we we proactively share our annual infrastructure management plans.

We share that outwards as well as SAWS provides us with planned projects.

We have a variety of different meetings.

I'll show a few of them on the screen here in a minute, but ranging from weekly meetings focused on downtown construction to bi-monthly executive meetings.

And so there's a lot of coordination going on.

We also uh wanted to really highlight this.

This is a tool that's currently out there, although it's buried in our website.

So this map we call our infill map.

I'm still not sure what infill means, um, but so I don't know how you all would know that either.

But essentially, what this map is is any permit that's been issued shows up on this map.

You can click it and it'll bring up information on who's doing what project, the plan time, and who to contact.

So it's a pretty powerful tool if it's kept updated, which that's uh one thing we work on, and then also promoted, which like I said, right now you can get to it by I think it's three or four different clicks of a button through the city's public works website.

So there's some work there to do, but I wanted to make sure that y'all knew this tool's out there already.

But I think that's an opportunity we have is to enhance that communication.

So I mentioned a little bit on some of the meetings that occur, uh, like I said, ranging from every Tuesday morning, the teams focused on downtown street closures.

We have a variety of coordination meetings bi-monthly uh ourselves uh as executives from public works and capital delivery, we're meeting with SAWs and others to talk big picture coordination needs.

So a lot of activities occurring today.

I think one of the areas that we can improve on is the emergency notification.

So these are um issues that come up, like we had over the weekend in District 6 where there was a water main break.

Um so these are hard to plan, right?

They're they're response activities.

So I think a lot of the coordination we're doing is on our planned projects, but these unplanned projects is where uh we've already identified a couple opportunities.

But in short, what happens is the uh whether it's a resident that reports it or a council member that reports it that uh whether it's SAWS or CPS, whoever has the outage will go out there and start to make the repairs.

Then they'll start to go through the permit process.

So that infill map I mentioned, you won't see that immediately.

It might be 24 hours later that you'll start to see that information online.

Um certainly the site will be made safe as far as uh signage and barricades from a traffic control perspective, but uh not necessarily identifying who's doing what.

So that's something we'll talk about next.

Um, and then after the work is completed, they will restore the right-of-way.

Uh so again, going back to the example over the weekend, uh SAWS went out there immediately and started addressing that issue.

They've made the the location safe, put plates on the roadway, uh, now they'll come back uh at a time to then repair the roadway.

So that's how it works.

Um, one thing usually customers receive text messages.

I know I get some from uh whether CPS or SAWS or even uh my my spectrum as utility uh outages, but that's only if you're a customer of that agency, uh not necessarily someone that may live next door that's not a customer.

So that's one gap that we've identified.

So how are we gonna address this moving forward?

I kind of alluded to a couple things.

So we'll we'll start working on more information on these emergencies, whether it's door hangers that can be put out there quickly, um, just notifying people that there's some emergency work going on and who to contact.

Um, also working with, you know, as an example, like I I get a message when uh my internet's out, but if my neighbor's not using that same company, they might may not be aware of why someone's out there digging in our street, repairing you know something.

So trying to work on those that are directed, uh directly impacted, but not necessarily a customer of that outage.

So little things there, and then ultimately one thing that we've started is to develop this accountability plan, getting back to the goal of the CCR.

Uh so the team's already developed a survey that's been sent out late last year.

It's kind of six key components of that survey, and they started already meeting with the utility companies, but essentially what we're looking to understand is how are these utility companies structured, who's how are they organized, who's responsible for communication, how are they communicating with residents, how are they communicating with council members, how are they holding each other accountable for any gaps in communication?

Do they have performance metrics on their projects and timeliness?

Um, and then just understanding you know how do they coordinate with us and what can we do to improve that.

So that's in short what we'll be doing over the next few months and look to report back this spring time.

Thank you.

I'll turn the floor over to uh councilman Gabita.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh, thank you for the presentation, Art.

Uh I'm excited to see this CCR come to life.

I know we've been working hard on it.

And uh the reason why, and I know it's something that all of us face, my council colleagues and I is that you know, oftentimes residents will say they tore up my street, and now they're tearing up my street again, you know, a couple months later, a year later.

Um, I think in the example we cited in the CCR, there was a resident in a nicer neighborhood neighborhood in District 7, and they tore up the street three times in four years, right?

And it's always something they're impacted by construction.

We all feel nails in our tires all the time because we're driving in and out of construction, and so it impacts their daily lives.

And so um that was kind of the driving force of it.

Um I do have a couple of quick questions on y'all's progress.

Um the right-of-way meetings.

I think it's I don't know what side those.

So it's kind of interesting that like Google construction status meetings are biweekly and ATT and others are quarterly.

What's the reason for that?

And also like SAWs being monthly, because I would say feel that SAWs is one of our biggest pain points in district seven.

Yeah, so I I will say um I'm gonna ask Anthony C to come up here and kind of talk through from a more detailed perspective.

Some of it's just based on volume and activities, but Anthony Hello everyone, Anthony Chudola, Deputy Director for Public Works in Judge of Streets, and I oversee the right-of-way division.

To your point, there are a number of meetings that we have with the various uh agencies that are doing work at various staffing levels.

There's project manager level meetings that happen, some are weekly, some are monthly, depending on what's going on.

And then this is a meeting that happens with a right-of-way division where the company comes in and they sit down and they go through some of the planned projects that they have and address those challenges.

And I know y'all would know best this the frequency of these meetings.

Um, I can tell you probably from uh, and I don't want to speak on my colleagues' behalf, but stuff is not happening frequently enough because we're still filling the pain points, right?

We're still filling the misses in coordination, and so maybe it's not necessarily increasing the frequency, but being more effective with with the communication that they're sharing or that we're sharing, or whatever needs to happen, because uh this is still very much a pain point.

So my ask is that you know, we we not only look at the frequency but the information that's being shared and and kind of do a gut check or come to Jesus of like is this the right form?

Is this the right form?

Thank you.

Just one comment on uh so I think some of the information we're looking to get from the survey is is that communication and um the frequency and then what are we doing, is that effective or not?

So one of the other things that you know, I see that the next well, going to the last slide of phase two winter 2026, that sounds way too far.

Um so if we can um uh expedite that timeline because I mean, one of the easiest recommendations that I know I've mentioned to public works, and I get new leadership and all that kind of stuff, is something as simple as clear signage to our residents, you know, that they understand what the project is, what construction is you know, what it is.

I mean, the Twitter version of what the project is, expected start date, expected end date, you know.

And if they want a QR code or a website to look up more, go ahead and nerd out.

But like, I mean, I even look at SAW's signs and I'm like, I have no idea what's going on, you know, in our neighborhoods.

And so there's no consistent signage.

I know SAWS is its own sign, and and uh everyone else is doing their own sign, but there is no consistent signage with just clear information of what is happening.

They don't need to know the engineering version of what is happening, they need to know street repair or saw pipe repair or whatever, um, and and an expected timeline start and end date.

Something as simple as that.

I don't think we need to wait for winter 2026.

If I may, councilwoman winter is right now, right?

Winter 26 is right now.

Yeah.

So you should be done in the next month or two with the with that phase.

Yeah, we this is uh this is a current.

I thought it was winter like December 2026.

Technically, the winter solstice is December next year.

Got it.

Awesome.

Well, then that's great.

Then I do like that that um that timeline.

Um so you know, I would definitely want to see some of those recommendations come in, and also too.

I mean, I think that this goes to just the bigger point of uh building trust from residents with with the city, you know.

I mean, I know that we've all seen um some construction headlight headaches.

We've been filling them, we're gonna continue filling them with bond projects and and and everything that's coming up, and so the clearer and more transparent that we are with the residents, and also sticking to those expectations, um, I think is is gonna go a long way.

want to see some of those recommendations come in and also too I mean I think that this goes to just the bigger point of a building trust from residents with with the city you know I mean I know that we've all seen um some construction headlight headaches we've been filling them we're gonna continue filling them with bond projects and and and everything that's coming up and so the clearer and more transparent that we are with the residents and also sticking to those expectations um I think is is is gonna go a long way and councilwoman I I don't want to discount your your thoughts because it's clear that there's gaps I think some of the things that there's just a difference in some of the types of projects we do on like a large capital project where everything's joint bid and it's it's all there we do ours almost in waves right so we'll provide SAWs as an example or IMP for that year and then months ahead of time or even Google months ahead of time they'll start moving stuff so those residents will see activity and they may not see anything for a couple months and then we'll come in.

So or even our own like wheelchair ramps as an example as we're um planning out some of our preservation work the year before we're doing wheelchair work around there.

So some there's some of that and again it goes back to the communication and just making sure people understand that.

Well and and that's the thing I mean you know in the business world we call it user experience I think since I've become council member I call it resident experience they don't care what phase or phases or who or what they just want to know what you know what is happening and the timeline.

And I think it that's that's very simple information that we can share.

It doesn't, you know, we often talk about like you know sometimes my team's like well we have to wait for NAMP funding or CIP funding I'm like residents don't care.

They just want to know when the project's gonna get done and that's it you know and so sometimes I feel that we get in our own um way you know we get in our and you know I mean I I know I'm um I'm speaking to engineers but you know we get it we just kind of get in our way and I think that residents we just need to take it back to the resident experience and they want what's happening in their neighborhood and they want timelines.

That's it.

Thank you.

Thank you Chair.

Thank you councilwoman uh councilwoman Dr.

Cor for your presentation um I want to thank councilman other think the drafting and signing the CCR this is something that we've been talking about for a really long time we try to do an MOU with the um SAWS too for SAWs and CPS for our this 2022 bond projects that we've many of us passed to ensure that there's better accountability and communication I know we've also separated the projects out and I'll start with the point that you mentioned we are all very aware that there's different levels of projects right there's a mill and overlay that could take one to two days and then there or microsurface sorry that could take one to two days mill and overlay that could take a little bit longer and then you have your full reconstruction which could take forever I think we've gotten better a little better at communication huh?

Technically forever.

Technically forever technically if you ask the folks on South Alamo they will say forever.

So the uh the the question though becomes is to what is the right level of communication for each of those different types of projects and I don't think that is the part that we have kept fully captured yet is that if a project is uh a one-day project what is communication look like versus if a project is a three month long project or a year long and I think to what councilwoman is saying is regardless of even if it's just a mill and overlay we should still have some level of communication even if that's just a sign.

So I'm gonna double down on her request for signage.

There can never be enough signage even if it's just a sign in the right of way.

So saws says the the Saws ones that I've seen are like they're bigger but the font is small and it's still like it I think we just need to have someone who is a design professional look at what good easy signage can look like.

I personally think we should look at investing in digital options that would allow us to change what is actually being done that way that you know we're not wasting dollars to see if there's options that say like you know SAWs very clearly start date end date project manager phone number I think if we put those four things down it would at least help people and we could invest in that I know many of us would support that for a bond.

And John and I have talked about digital signage for a really long time to see like what's possible there.

So I think we should look at that as an option.

As far as the NFL map my God when I saw this I was like I had no idea this existed the problem it's great it's great because it's actually really not an in-fill map it's that we should rename it but regardless the the problem with the map is it's based on when you when you're at applying for a permit.

And so DSD gets the data from SAWs that says okay this project is going to happen in the next year.

And so when we went and looked on it it's there's construction happening that's not actually reflected that the construction is happening because they will apply for a permit six months out.

And so I think we need to figure out a better way to and I don't know what that looks like but we have to figure out a different way to input data that's more real time.

And it has to include start and stop dates because when the challenge for our offices is people will call us and say what is this construction happening and we don't know and then we have to try to like go you know decipher and we can't if we should just be able to filter by like current uh a dates says current projects like active construction and see all of the active construction.

I know it might be a little bit hard harder to gather, but if we can find a way to have um them report when they're actually starting.

The other problem with SAUS project, sorry, this is not only meant to be SAUS projects.

But the other challenge with SAS projects is they'll do multiple streets in like one package.

And so it'll say like three or four different streets are happening in this one package and they get a permit for all of those.

And so you still don't know if which street is happening when so I think we should figure out how to wait to track that.

Um that's communication on the violation side.

So we've had a lot of situations where we have folks that um have not completed the work.

Do we the are the fines fixed at 600 or not not completed the work, but like done a shoddy job on them?

Um are the fines fixed at 600?

So that's set by ordinance up to 600, and that's per violation per day.

I feel like we should feel like we should look at that.

Um if there's I mean the nature of the beast is we have to go low bid contractor.

And we we should I think look at scalable accountability.

So that's for a fine of the right-of-way.

So you mentioned low-bit contractors.

So in in construction projects that we own, you know, we'll certainly have liquidated damages, which is a different thing.

Oh, so this is just for a resident doing right-of-way uh any.

This would be like uh Google Fiber or an ATT who's using the right-of-way if they're not following the right-of-way ordinance and there's an issue that has to be resolved, the fine is up to six hundred dollars a day.

But we can definitely take a look at it as a part of uh you know the okay the work we're doing now.

Yeah, so it saws SAUS contractor, those folks.

So for example, if a if Google tells so tell me what will qualify as a violation for from Google in that instance.

Yeah, so it could be uh I had a few examples, but anything from working with it, so if someone just goes and starts to dig in our right-of-way without pulling a permit, we can find them.

Yeah, okay up to $600 a day until they're in compliance.

If they have inadequate traffic control or or any of you know, there's a variety of factors.

So again, this is for right-of-way permits.

So we so if we updated what were required for signage and then they did not follow that, that could be a violation that would be.

Correct.

Yeah, right now that right now they're required to have signage based on what what's uh in the ordinance.

If we modify that and they don't follow it, then what's exactly in the ordinance for requirements for signage?

Or can you follow up with me on the text?

But yeah, in short, it's uh contractor name information, contact information.

And does do we do we clarify how many or where exactly they need to be?

I believe it's just at the project limits.

One thing we're talking about, like Capital Avenue is long projects like that for our own, we need to have multiple signs throughout there.

Yeah.

Okay, I'd like to see that yeah, if you could send us as a follow-up the language for that, so we could take a look at the signage thing.

Um you didn't have a slide in here on liquidated damages for contractors, did you?

Uh no, this is strictly for the right-of-way ordinance.

Um I'm sure Mike Shane will be happy to talk about that when he comes up.

But okay, yeah, I know he's been working on that.

But if you have any if you have any information about how we track liquidated damages and which contractors and then which projects they're receiving, just like I have never even seen I haven't seen a graph like that shows that.

So if we could look at the yes, I'd like to see that.

Um then uh for the data accountability, you mentioned a survey.

Is this the construction survey that we were looking at?

It's uh it's a survey that we sent to our utility partners.

Okay, uh stakeholder survey correct, and so they're starting to populate it.

Uh we're having meetings with them, and then uh kind of the the gist of it is we will document what we heard from them, regroup and then with them and then present that information back.

Okay, well, then I'll just plug the survey that you gave us feedback on.

So we um wanted to do a survey of constituents across the city and ask them how they want to learn about construction projects, and so we asked Art to help give us like some draft language, and we're gonna post it on SA speak up and thought everybody could send it out to constituents, so um, I'm sure that uh a CNE will send that out when it's ready, but just wanted to share that.

Thanks, Chair.

Thank you.

Uh, real quick, can you go to slide nine for me?

Um so these are meetings in which city staff are present.

These are meetings we're leading.

We're leading.

Um, and so does somebody keep notes related to all these meetings?

Like, is there information available from these meetings as they happen?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Is it possible that should I I don't know that council members necessarily want to be inundated with a bunch of information they don't really want, but perhaps for some of these, especially if if districts are uh are particularly concerned or impacted by things that are discussed at these meetings, I think it would be really helpful if you guys could share those uh in advance if you could share those after you know, once those notes are made.

That just stuck out to me because I didn't know that all of these meetings were happening at this frequency.

Uh councilmember Mungia.

Thank you.

Uh I'll start off and I won't mention SAUS because I think my colleagues have done a good job of talking about that.

I'll say a couple compliments.

Uh I get really good emails from Genevieve and Marcos on public works about right-of-way uh projects actually in my district.

So you know, I've got one right here, right-of-way project information sheet with the permit number, the title, the scope, the limits, the duration, uh, and a contact for the person who's pulling the permit, which is really helpful.

This one happens to be MCI Metro Brian Gold, uh, it looks like with Verizon.

So that's helped me in the past, right?

When I've had residence call, I I just look up the street in my email, and sometimes that permit comes up, so I appreciate that they send those to us.

And that's for all sorts of permits, right?

Right-of-ay permits that come up.

So I think that is good, and I think streamlining that type of communication to our office is helpful.

Uh so they just put they don't just put me on there, they also put our staff right to kind of keep track of some of those uh right-of-way permits in our districts.

I'll shift a little bit to one issue I see a lot in my district.

It was it's within the right-of-way with utilities, and it's actually more of our uh you know, internet or phone provider.

So you'll see around town some of those boxes that they have in the right-of-way that are just completely damaged.

Uh I had one where a car hit it in my in in an Indian Creek, and it was just left there damaged for months, right?

And luckily my predecessor knew someone ATT they called and they got taken care of.

But I see so many of those words damaged, or you can tell there's been some sort of um you know vandalism, and they just stay there.

And so what resource, what recourse do we have uh within this to look at those issues?

Yeah, so I don't know if we have um a fine or anything like that, but we as we get those inquiries.

I remember in the past we we would send that, you know, we had a big effort downtown to try to um take care of things like that.

So um certainly if they're identified, we can reach out to our utility partners to provide that.

Yeah, I think the feedback at the time we had was you know that whoever that person was or ATT didn't have an active open permit, so there wasn't something in place where we could go and say, before you do before we give you this, you have to fix this.

Uh and so their VP, you know, helped out in that situation.

But I would like to see something like that because I think especially as we move to fiber and other you know, streams of communication, I think those boxes will be starting to become more obsolete and and just you know out there.

Uh and if some of those boxes don't need to be there, then they should be removed because they're just an issue for the community.

Um so if you can look at one also on uh five palms and uh Elm Valley, I think that's uh an issue right there, right across the street from a school.

That's a pretty bad problem.

So you know it's all it's ongoing with saws and construction, so I know y'all are working on that, and hopefully you'll get some good feedbacks for us and look forward to that.

Thank you.

Thank you, councilman.

Uh councilmember Spears.

Thank you, Chair.

Hey art.

Um I want to say uh this is a great CCR uh councilwoman.

This is something that I immediately was hearing about on the campaign trail, and then also um continue to hear about.

I'm gonna double down on what councilman Mungia said, but I don't know what the answer is.

I have an issue where it's paragon cable boxes, and they're defunct.

So I don't know who is responsible at this point for those, but um, yeah, the infrastructure that's just gone and obsolete, and if they're not even a provider anymore, I don't know what we do with that and who's responsible.

I guess because it's in our right-of-way, maybe it's it is this, but I don't know what we do with it.

Um I was glad you brought that up.

So I was thinking a lot has been said that I was already thinking about.

But you know, so here's where I'm thinking too.

When a lot of these projects you're driving when you see them and maybe just a really simple color coding system or something like that, where you know you see blue, it's saws.

You see blue and orange, it's saws the CPS.

You know, like just quick quick.

So I know we need to be able to say all the other information.

I get that.

And um, like we have one going on near my neighborhood, and it is very hard to read the sign.

I appreciate the signs.

Y'all did deliver and go to door to door, and to everyone's happy, but it's just hard to visually when you're you know driving through and they immediately think it's our office, and then they call, and then we've got to try to figure out what they're talking about, you know.

So it's the same of what you've been hearing, but and to the extent we can help in social media.

Um I speak specifically about next door only because this is where I really hear it is next door.

Um and then how we can use it in newsletters, but if we can be a good filter, we want to do that, and or if I know it's hard for y'all to kind of manage something like that, but um I also wanted to say I'm aware that weather affects a lot of these projects and extends the time, and I've had to help residents really understand when it rains, then no road work for two weeks, or if it's cold or um no studies in the summer and that then we get you know the stuff the logistics that we we do understand, but our residents don't.

So having all out to talk to neighborhood associations more is super helpful too.

And if we have a bundle of projects, maybe we schedule these things a little more frequently to talk to some of our bigger groups would be nice.

Um I know, so you said, did you say you give them like a your year yearly plan at the beginning of the year to everybody, and then y'all just follow up with these meetings?

Is that how it works?

That's correct.

So as we're programming our IMP, we're communicating that.

So as an example, uh SAWs or CPS typically for our reconstruction projects, a joint bid.

So they're we're telling them a year ahead of time at least, so they can plan for that.

Um so there's a lot of planning for the coordination for the planned projects.

I think it's for these unplanned projects, whether that's an emergency or or maybe you know, maybe we don't do good enough with an AMP project communicating, hey, this has been funded now, we're gonna go do this work.

So um someone may have just finished doing something on a street there.

So there's things like that that we got to get to.

And ultimately going back to the point, um, you know, I think most of our our residents know about through one-one, right?

So we need to make um that same awareness for who's digging on my street, right?

So whether that's through through one or some other method, um, just knowing that if they see construction when they get home, they can go check real quick and figure out what that was.

I like that.

That's a good idea.

And I agree that the um infill map is great, but to the extent we could improve that that the way that that's used just to make it more simplified would be nice.

Um then.

Oh, on the okay, so I don't know.

Do y'all have uh issues with the line locating as being between like your partners with Google or I mean, are they doing that really well?

As far as locating underground lines, I mean I think for the most part, certainly there's uh with any project you often uncover things that you weren't aware of at the time, but um I I haven't been made aware of any big issues to to bring forward yet.

Okay, I just didn't know if there was a fine structure for that if they're not like if they don't it seems like that happens maybe a lot out in my district where they hit a line that they they're off by like three feet on the line, and that creates a whole new problem for all of us, right?

And I don't know if it's USIC or whoever it is, but um I don't know what recourse we have there when those errors happen, they are uh devastating to the project.

I know, right?

They will really ruin it.

So um yeah, I think that's it for me.

But yeah, we'd love to help on our social media side to push out um as much as we can in information and any other ideas there, but I was initially with the color coding.

I hear about the digital too, but if they could just know it's these three or just this one by color, we could educate them on what these mean, and maybe even logos like Google could put their logo on something.

I don't know.

But that's it for me.

Thanks.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Any additional comments?

Okay, well, just I have one question.

Okay, uh Councilmember Core.

I wanted to double down on that color coding idea.

I think Councilmember McKee Rodriguez brought it up a couple of meetings ago, and I was like, this is actually a great idea.

Remember when you got so mad at me because I said actually.

Um sorry, there I just had one more quick question, and then that rant just made me lose my thought.

Um, I wanted to talk about the meetings because uh council uh both Councilman Aldeta Gabito and Councilmember Mugia mentioned it, and I agree, right?

Like if you read the book, Death by Meetings, meetings can be great unless they are facilitated with purpose and efficiency.

And I think what happens as like we were and the reason why I know this is because we all talked about this one project that didn't actually get communicated one way to the other person to from one entity to the other, it's because of those small projects.

It's always it's often it's not the big core uh projects that you don't know what the other person is doing, it's the small one off projects that lack the coordination.

And so, how do we make sure that in that slew of meetings every time we're meeting, it's not just talking about the the South Alamos and the zonas every time, but we're also thinking about in the urban core are we milling and overlaying the same street three times?

And so that's just the thing that I wanted to double down on to use your face.

Thanks, Chair.

Thank you.

Any additional comments, questions?

Okay.

Um, just let me know that uh y'all will be back to present again sometime before the summer solstice, as long as it's before July, I think we're fine.

So by June 21st.

Yeah.

I said you said it.

Okay, so we'll go ahead and we'll move on to item three.

We do have one member of the public sign to speak, uh Herschel Boyd the third.

Herschel, you here?

Okay, we'll go ahead and go on to the presentation.

All right.

Good afternoon, uh, Chair and Council members.

Um before I get started, the councilwoman has mentioned South Alamo twice already, and I haven't even started my presentation.

So that's all right.

That's all right.

Some good news coming.

Um, we're gonna talk today.

Uh, I have a couple items.

The first item I'm gonna talk about uh the new department, capital delivery.

Uh we've been uh formed since October 1.

I got started uh about a month before that, so I have a few things I want to update you on and uh talk about uh some things we've already accomplished, uh some things we're gonna get accomplished, and certainly would love to hear some feedback.

So uh want you to meet our team.

Uh we'll go over some focus areas and uh I just said the other items.

So this is the I was gonna use um some old uh high school yearbook photos, but uh we chose these.

Uh this is me, Luis and Christy are here, uh, my executive team, and I just broke that down.

Um, and uh, you know, I've I've been blessed.

Uh Luis and Christy have helped me.

They've had a lot of experience with our capital delivery prior to the split, and um, you know, we were able to hit the ground running.

Uh so thank uh thanks to to Luis and and Christy and all of our team, really, the 188 people that we have uh in capital delivery.

Um I do put a coming soon.

Uh we do have a new assistant director that we are uh close to sharing the news on, uh hiring, and that was one of the first uh changes we made here at Capital Delivery.

Um one of the things I looked at when I came in was uh look every every project is super critical, and we do different types of projects the large-scale capital projects and and and uh throughout the city.

But whether it is a horizontal street drainage project that is downtown or 410 area or outskirts of town, those are super critical and super challenging and have a unique set of design and construction issues uh that we deal with.

But we also have vertical projects, uh new fire stations, police stations, um ACS vet hospitals that were groundbreaking uh just yesterday, and uh and other important uh community centers, senior centers, et cetera.

So um I chose to uh reorganize a little bit, bringing on a new director that will handle the vertical projects.

Um I think we've already had some conversations about uh the bond and the next bonds about facilities that we need, along with additional focus on that.

So uh anytime you look at an organization, we we start up a new department.

Uh we don't make changes just to make changes, but I think by focusing a team on the horizontal projects and a team on the uh on the vertical, um, we'll certainly uh allow us to execute and deliver projects better.

And Christy uh on our support services, she gets to help out both.

So um so let's talk about our focus.

I shared this during our budget presentation uh when we talked about the department and and what we were gonna do, but it really focuses we are focused on um delivering on time and within budget.

That's really all I've been doing with our team is talking about what we're doing, how we're doing it, how we can do it better.

And uh, but the other item, and you already heard a lot of it in the previous presentation, but uh not just communicate and outreach, but we have to over-communicate.

Uh, overcommunication is our standard.

Um I'll say that we're not there yet.

Uh, we've added a few things uh already.

We're gonna continue to add um to our uh communication SOPs and resources, uh, but overcommunication, we've established that as the standard, and uh I think that will help us through these large-scale construction projects.

Uh so far in the five months, the neighbors uh that I've talked with, the business owners that I've talked with, you all and your staff that I've talked with, most of the issues deal with what's going on, how we're gonna get through it, what has changed, how can we get through this disruption, and how can we get it done quicker?

Uh so that communication needs to happen often, often often, and in many different forms, and and we've started that already.

Uh, we're looking at ways for improving cost estimating.

We're gonna talk about our future bond, right?

Uh, part of that is estimating uh scoping and estimating our future projects so that when we establish a budget, we stay within that budget.

Uh so I think I've talked about the strategies already.

So again, an overview is 188 positions were taken from public works, uh, 250 million dollars, about almost 230 of that.

Um I'm sorry, 220 of that is the actual capital money for the projects, um, you know, a little under 30 million dollars is the staffing component of the 188 positions.

Um but again, here's our focus on time within budget, and again, going along with the communication or overcommunication is our our delivery of projects um has to be aligned with public expectations.

Uh Art and I were actually at a meeting this morning with the greater chamber uh talking about this, but uh everyone agrees uh in the development, uh design, construction.

Uh our our public is more engaged than ever, and that's a good thing.

Uh, but there's a lot of expectations that we we uh we get from that.

We have to uh uh uh set those expectations, and then we have to we have to deliver um uh towards those expectations.

So that's a that's a key focus.

And uh as well, uh we're planning for future bond programs.

So think of that conversation just under two weeks ago uh in this room.

So a little bit about our current portfolio.

Somebody mentioned active projects.

We have 208 active projects uh with capital delivery right now.

Now, uh a few of those are still from the 2017 bond.

I'll talk a little bit about those in the next presentation, but um we do have a few left over.

Uh nine of those are in construction, three are in design.

Uh we have 151 projects from the 2022 bond, and we have some non-bond projects.

So some of those projects that are funded from not the bond, but from maybe a fiscal year capital budget, uh, we're gonna build a fire station or something like that.

Uh so we have several of those, 45 of those, excuse me, currently active.

I just kind of uh also put in the budget amount that goes towards those.

That's our 2026 budget.

I mentioned 221 million dollars uh of capital that we're gonna spend this year on these projects, so I just kind of divvied that up for you.

And then uh the 55 total projects that were advertising, you know, in FY26.

It's all about designing, then advertising, uh you know, to get contractors or or or even design professionals, but advertising getting partners on the design and contractors out.

I listed a few projects that you're all familiar with or you should be familiar with that were advertised in quarter one, moving them towards either a design or construction phase uh coming shortly.

So let's talk about a few major changes that I've seen in our first quarter of the fiscal year with the new department.

Um tractor incentives and accountability.

Uh it's incentives and accountability.

It's carrots and sticks, right?

So I think there was some questions about uh liquidated damages.

Uh so yes, we use we use LDs on projects when they go over the timeline, and there's no good reason for it.

There's no weather, you know, extreme weather delays, uh, extreme uh unforeseen circumstances where we all agree that that did uh it wasn't the contractor's fault, but uh we have several projects that are on uh that that we have issued LDs uh and that costs the contractor money uh for being late.

Uh I already have an action item on my notes to develop some of the information on that because I think you're gonna ask me that based on the last conversation.

However, one of the important tools we've started instituting already in our contracts, you have all approved several contracts in the first quarter that offer an incentive to the contractor to finish early.

So whether you're building a new facility for us or a new street for us or new drainage project, if you finish significantly early, you will get more money.

And we're having those conversations with the contractors.

Uh it's really important that they know what significantly early is.

So a three-year project gets delivered a day early.

We're happy it's not late, but we're not that's not that's not what we're talking about.

But if you can deliver that 18-month project a month or two or three months early, then there should be an incentive for that.

And I've talked to several of the contractors and some of the contractor groups that I meet with.

They're excited about this.

They also told me to be careful.

Be careful and watch that because you don't want you don't want the schedules to artificially get exaggerated so that they can deliver it, quote unquote, early.

Uh I totally agree that I understand that.

We have a lot of data on that.

Uh, and I actually asked for help from the from the uh contracting and design community to help me watchdog that.

And uh so that's something that we'll be watching and reporting back to this group uh because I want that tool to be successful.

And I want to I want to hire those contractors, right?

I want to score them better on when they bid uh if they deliver projects early rather than uh late.

Now on time is still real good.

Um I'll talk about SAWS for a second, and uh we we actually executed um and came up with the first major project under the SAS MOU.

So a year ago, uh last month, uh the council adopted the uh MOU with SAWs that had a lot of things in it for those joint bid projects that that said, like, hey, we need to do more subsurface utility engineering work in the design phase, right?

No surprises when we dig up the street.

So that's one.

Escalation and uh quick resolution of issues in the field is two.

Um major resolution issues with contractors, whether it's a SAWS or or or a city uh contractor, is time is uh of the essence.

So I'm happy to say that we just um approved the CMAR contract.

You all approved the CMAR contract for the Marbach uh street and drainage project in District 4.

So a much needed bond project under this new MOU where really it increases that partnership with SAWS and the city.

And I think we've always been pretty good partners, but this is uh really I think the next evolution of us working together for the for the kind of the greater good.

Let's get these projects done well up front and quickly.

Uh side note, uh, we're having conversations with CPS uh to execute uh an MOU with them, so we'll have that over the next several months because you know we have some utility coordination issues with them as well.

And then uh lastly, I I will just say uh executing on overcommunication and outreach.

Um we actually have a few test case projects where this has been much needed, and uh we'll we'll look at the downtown projects that the councilwoman already mentioned, which was Santa Rosa and Zona.

Uh we just had to get out in front of uh the business community.

Those affected the most uh in those areas.

Uh those projects are late.

There's no there's no question about it.

Um but we were able to increase the the amount of time we're in front of them, both as a group and individual uh walkthroughs of the site communications.

Uh we have a better communication system with them, they have more information as things are happening, and we're getting close to finishing LMO and zona.

I'll talk about that here in a second.

I talked a little bit about accountability again.

This is liquidated damages.

We use project scorecards.

We have that responsible bidder ordinance where we have right now eight contractors that are precluded from uh bidding on our uh projects.

Um that's that three-year timeout for for uh for whatever reason in the ordinance says they weren't performing in the manner that uh was acceptable to the city.

Um and uh so we'll continue to use that uh and have more conversations on that uh as we go forward.

I have a couple slides here just to let you know, we use all different types of project delivery types.

So this is not new to CDD, this was happening in public works and before them, uh transportation capital improvements and all that stuff.

But what I did want to highlight here is we have to find the right um procurement types for different projects.

I just mentioned we're doing a CMAR project, construction manager at risk for a pretty complex project over there at Marboch Street at 4 you know, 410 and uh drainage work, so a lot of coordination, a lot of complexity.

We're bringing the contractor in with the design team to make sure we get it right during the design, uh we get the guaranteed maximum price, and then we can just execute.

Using things like design build uh is another another way we can do it.

Uh, and even using qualified low build bids a little bit more.

We have we we can put a few qualifications on that low bid process, but again, finding the right one, uh, each one has its pros and cons, but I'm a firm believer that the more that we can have the the the contractor available on those long those long lead time and complex projects, bringing them in earlier on is beneficial for the overall project delivery.

A few others that we use on-call contracts, job order contracts, joint bid utilities.

Sometimes there's a quick project that's not that that not that complicated, maybe a lesser uh of uh the project's uh scope and and and uh price.

We can use these already contracts approved by you all to just get started.

So some of your projects are actually utilizing those right now.

We'll continue to do so where it's appropriate.

So a few other items uh to finish off the presentation.

So this is one of the bigger items that I've noticed in the past uh three or four months.

Uh we need to think like uh the businesses and have more business focused strategies as we are disrupting um maybe a business corridor.

And I I think uh we've all seen and heard of the challenges.

Construction is disruptive, whether it's in and around a neighborhood, certainly in a business corridor.

Uh we've we've done monthly meetings uh with some of these projects, the business leaders and stakeholders.

Uh, it is well received if you're giving them good effective communication project updates, what we're doing to help.

Uh we've actually dedicated some project funded towards helping them market and outreach.

Hey, we're still open.

Here's how to get in and out of uh the corridor uh so that you can come enjoy our business, shop there, eat there, have a beverage there, whatever it may be.

Um we've added some uh business-centered scrims and wayfinding sidewalk stamps downtown.

Um actually we've changed those up a little bit.

Um you'll see the quality of those with the help of the council office.

I'll use councilwoman, uh Dr.

Core on this one.

Her office and our office helped uh create some really business friendly, uh, exciting business scrims so it doesn't look so much like a construction site and tells people that they're still open, ready for business.

And then uh the the last one is in the is in the photo there.

Uh we've utilized a couple of businesses as a pilot program.

We just kind of did it.

Um helping uh with this.

This is the this is the company called the local.

We've used uh the old town trolley service as well as a shuttle service in and around downtown uh to get conventioner uh convention uh folks uh to La Vietta to Southtown uh to Market Square, just to get easier in and around during those major events.

Uh now that's a pilot that has been uh pretty successful.

We've used probably uh half a dozen times.

Uh I think that's also uh giving us a little bit of information and data on what to do after the project is finished, how we can help get people in and around downtown uh with different alternative um mobility uh systems.

Real quick, when you say half a dozen times, so six times meaning six individual days or I think about six weekends, yeah.

So maybe it's a combination of one or two days.

We are on those ones, we are uh we're we're working with the businesses, visit San Antonio to find those conventions that bring in a lot of people, maybe 10 or 12,000 people, and we try to uh we've contracted out on those days, whether it be a Friday, Saturday, or Saturday, Sunday, or maybe just a Sunday, where uh those going to the convention have nothing to do, and they're looking for something to do or looking someplace to go to enjoy uh the great amenities in that area, even though there's a lot of construction happening.

So thank you.

Yep.

Some of the challenges we're gonna continue to face, utility coordination, coordination with our contractors and consultants, uh, external agent agencies, of course.

Uh real estate acquisitions, sometimes it's just hard to buy the piece of land where we want to build the fire station.

Uh that's a real example, okay.

Uh citywide major event coordinations.

Well, what if you're having construction and it's Fiesta, or it's New Year's Eve, or it's uh a huge concert uh at the Alamo Dome.

All of this is real stuff.

Uh those are our strategies on the right that we've already uh been working on since uh uh quarter one, but uh we're meeting with the partners, uh associated builders and contractors, associated general contractors, centro, tech saws, etc.

We've brought in some broker services to help find property where we're where we're having those challenges, and uh we really are working uh with our downtown or other uh partners uh when we coordinate around those large events.

Those become tricky when you're running a marathon through a construction zone.

So our next steps, this is what's coming.

Uh we we need to continue to develop some key performance measures.

Right now, we've been very focused on a start to finish of a project.

Uh we're really starting to dig down and looking at our data about performance measures on the design part of the process, the procurement side of the process, the actual construction phases.

So all of those are integral pieces.

And if one gets elongated or delayed, it really affects the others.

So we will be developing those key performance metrics based on some past data and some goals that we we want.

Uh additionally, we're shooting to have 91% of our uh bond projects uh under construction by the fall or the end of this year.

Uh I think we said something like that at the budget.

Uh, we're working towards that.

I'll have an update on that on the next slide, uh, next presentation.

And then, of course, 90% of our jobs need to be complete and on schedule.

Uh that's a that's an overall arching goal.

Uh, we're not there right now.

We're gonna work towards that.

Uh and we have some strategies to hit it.

So finally, uh a couple of things.

Uh really what's coming that I'll be working on the rest of this year.

Um, here's some highlights.

So uh I have an additional internal restructure that I'm working on.

Uh, one of the items that we we do right now, and the way that the department has been set up for a while, and and and it and it works, um, but I think it can work better.

Right now we have on our horizontal projects, so our streets and drainage.

Uh, we have a team dedicated to the design process, and they do a lot of engagement with our community, what is design gonna look like, what are we focused on, etc.

And then that all gets done, and we're ready to build it.

We hand it off to a totally set, totally different set of uh project managers, and they focus on the inspection.

And there's some pros and cons to that.

However, um, it's football season, so I'm gonna, it's still football season, Super Bowl week.

GoPats.

Uh, I'm from New England.

Um, so uh with that handoff can be some fumbles, right?

These are three or four-year projects from start to finish.

Uh, I think there's a better way to do it.

It was actually one of the recommendations uh that we got in the uh Robert Kishner study that happened last year.

It was move towards a cradle to grave.

So that project manager team will have that project once we restructure from the start of those community meetings when we're talking about the design of the project and what to consider all the way to the execution.

That's something that I'll be working on probably and be able to execute in quarter three of this year.

But I'll be working on my team to uh not only figure out the projects that are currently in our process, but really it's the the next bond cycle needs to be set up this way as well.

But I think that's gonna be a more streamlined, uh more effective way to deliver projects really from start to finish.

Uh we'll be maximizing our uh CPO team.

CPO is capital project officers.

They do a lot of the uh communication outreach with businesses and neighborhoods.

Um we have a team of seven of them right now, which includes the supervisor.

We need to add more resources to that.

So I'm looking to within my my group prioritize some resources to add to that team because I just told you that overcommunication is the standard.

Uh we need to do more, and therefore I need some more uh resources as we streamline to be more effective.

Uh I think the team does a good job right now, but I think hiring like a dedicated public relations manager, which I'm actually in the final stages of uh selecting.

Uh more residential neighborhood and more business outreach is needed, really from start to finish on these projects.

Uh something we've already started, but I can I can see being uh being uh much needed.

Uh regular bond updates, councilman.

Uh we we've had some conversation on this, but this this needs to be normal for me to be up here talking about our bond process.

The next slide, the next presentation will we'll give you the update of the bond.

But uh whether whether it's every quarter or every every six months, it should be I I think uh you know, reporting back to you all what's going on, what the project statuses are, uh, where some of the challenges are, where some of the successes are, and looking for that feedback.

So uh we'll be doing that, certainly working with our streets and and stormwater advisory boards, and then uh you you guys touched on it already a little bit, the bond dashboard, or really an infrastructure dashboard.

We have a pretty good bond dashboard.

You can go find the status of a bond project right now.

Uh we stood that that's been that's been uh on the website for a while.

Uh what I think I've heard, and I've heard some more of it uh earlier was um we're really looking for an infrastructure dashboard.

The resident doesn't care where the money came from, who's paying for the project.

They just know there's a bunch of orange cones in and around their neighborhood or on their way to work or into their business.

So I think there's opportunity there.

So we'll be working, I think, in uh the next couple of quarters.

So give us three or three or three to six months, I think, and we'll be back with some ideas.

I'm really gonna be looking to engage you and your communications team with my communication team, arts communication team, and then the CD CNE department on this.

I think there's a good opportunity there.

So zona.

I just threw it up there because we just uh just this week.

Uh again, this is this is a project that is when it's done, it's gonna be amazing and show you what we can we can build in San Antonio uh to really enhance the downtown uh walkability, streetscape, uh bike paths, all that stuff.

This is a late project.

Uh you you you should have noticed if you didn't, if you if you didn't, please drive through it.

Uh all lanes, north and south, are open uh now on Santa Rosa uh as of this weekend.

Uh still not completely done, still a little bit of work to do.

We're pushing the contractor real hard on that.

Uh but a lot of lessons learned on this one, which I'll share, I'm sure at some point with you all.

Uh and then uh we talked about South Alamo, another major downtown project.

Uh we're pushing with the contractor uh to have that one done uh before Fiesta and working with the business community, uh bringing in additional resources, um, meeting other contractors to assist.

Uh, and again, I think we'll really help uh redefine that uh that South Alamo.

It's hard to picture because it's still under construction, but it's getting there.

You're seeing brick pavers, the beautiful sidewalks, you're seeing landscaping be put in, the last uh last amount of concrete being poured, and we're gonna be in the last phase of that project uh just later this week.

Uh a few more high profile projects.

We talked about Marbach, we talked about uh the ACS vet hospital.

We're building a new uh substation uh for the police in District 3.

We had a groundbreaking uh last month.

Uh we have some Ritterman Road grade separation projects that are gonna be at the audit committee uh tomorrow.

Uh that's an overpass uh so that traffic can overpass uh the uh the trains that happen often there, and we're gonna be at audit uh on uh the collabor road uh project.

Uh and again you can see the stretch from General McMullan to 410.

So these projects are in different phases, but they're coming, uh, but they're big high profile ones.

Uh lastly, I'll just mention uh we do have some council consideration requests that we are working on that are related to our trades advisory board, construction trades advisory board, and our prevailing wage code updates.

Um those have been presented to the committees.

Uh a couple of those are going through the um economic and workforce development committee, uh, but we'll keep you posted on the progress uh as we uh work on those.

So uh key takeaways.

Uh partnership, we need we need good partnerships with our design uh and uh contractor community.

We need to be ultra transparent, accessible, overcommunicate, and ultimately we need to be accountable to deliver these on time and with within budget.

So a lot of slides.

I said a lot, I'll stop there.

Well, we'll ask you to do the next set of sessions.

Oh, yes, all right.

And this will be punishment for having so many slides.

All right, I know.

I know we have so I have so much good news I want to share about our department.

I love it.

So all right, can we get up the next slide, Doug?

I'm sorry.

Water and water.

No, no, I'm good.

Okay, good.

All right.

That was a good 30 second break.

All right.

Speaking of bonds, all right.

All right, really, uh, we we need to figure out the rhythm on how often we get here.

Uh, I think it's important, and we'll have a lot of these conversations as we continue the conversation from last uh well, two weeks ago on the next bond.

But let's talk about the current bond projects.

If you remember 2017, 850 million dollars, those were the props and the buckets similar to what we've had.

That was the first time we did the affordable housing bond, 20 million dollars to get us started after the charter change.

Uh 180 projects.

2022 was the largest one, 1.2 billion.

So some of this is uh familiar uh, of course, uh from a presentation a couple weeks ago.

So and then of course that was the history.

So since 2003, uh over three billion dollars worth of investment on our bonds for infrastructure.

That's a lot of investment.

So um kudos to the voters for that.

Uh, but but a lot a lot of need as well.

The need certainly outweighs um the investment every five years.

So uh this slide right here is just to say look, 2017 was a while ago, um, but as construction projects sometimes happen, uh we're almost done with that.

We're 93% complete, another 5% are under construction.

Uh another uh 2% are in design.

Now, 2% in design, uh I get this question a lot.

I've talked to a lot of people about this.

What do you mean you're still designing 2017 projects?

Well, we've had a couple of hiccups.

Uh Brackenridge Park, uh, that project is funded out of 2017, and uh we've had some legal issues on that project, so that's delayed us a little bit.

Um some of that is coming uh forward now.

You'll start hearing about that uh over the next uh weeks and months, and how we're gonna continue with that project.

Uh another couple of projects, Roosevelt and ProBand, uh much needed projects.

Uh those were subject to uh the state.

The state was gonna give those back or turn those back to the city.

So we actually designed them a certain way.

Uh Text thought uh either disagreed with it or decided to not turn them back to the city, so we actually had to uh kind of throw away that design and start start from scratch again.

So we're still in design.

So those are some hiccups that were very unexpected, uh, but we'll continue, those are on path um uh to get completed, even though they'll be uh uh pretty delayed.

Uh and if you look at the 2022 projects, uh about 59 percent, uh 40 uh uh uh under construction, 19% complete.

So as we enter into the fourth year of a bond cycle, this is when uh a significant majority of that uh kind of light blue, if you can, on the on the left of that pie, they start turning into construction.

So we're gonna have a lot of projects coming into construction.

That's the that's the life cycle of a bond.

Uh we do a lot of design in the first few years, and they turn into construction uh so we can get most of them uh uh complete or significant construction by the end of the fifth year.

I just have a little bit of an update here on streets, parks, drainage, housing, safety library, of course, broken up by the props.

You will see that parks projects, for example, uh, those projects are a little bit smaller, so certainly we do more of them if we talked about the number of projects, uh, and then you can finish them, design them and complete them uh a little bit quicker.

So you see a lot more in the red uh that are either complete or in construction, streets a little bit similar.

Drainage actually is the longest lead time for uh design.

Uh you have to go through FEMA, uh, federal government reviews, permits, all that stuff.

So that takes a long time.

Uh even though our design consultants uh and and our teams review them, uh send them up, but it's just a long, lengthy project.

So uh those have several that are still in design, but they're all close to being uh turned over to construction this year, and again, um just uh those are the status by prop.

So this is an important one for us.

So, right now, out of the uh uh the uh 2022 bond program, we call it timeliness.

153 are currently still on schedule.

Okay, uh 34 are off schedule for a variety of reasons.

Uh off schedule uh means it's it's gonna be more than 10 percent over the number of days we anticipated.

So uh for example, think of a three-year project, about a thousand plus days.

Uh so if you're uh more than a hundred days over, uh, that we don't think we'll be able to pull back, uh we we track it as off schedule, and there could be a number of reasons for that.

Uh I will mention our goal uh moving forward is 90% or more on schedule.

I mean, some of those uh hiccups that I mentioned, litigation and working with outside entities, uh we'll we'll try to mitigate those as best we can, but I think 90% we need to set that goal and work towards that uh moving forward.

So uh that's our plan, but overall 82% on schedule of those uh 22 uh 22 bond projects.

Um so in uh quarter one, so I'm kind of just tying this back to our quarter results.

We did complete 10 projects and we did put 10 projects into construction.

Uh that's what that uh first uh column looks like.

And we anticipate uh the next couple of quarters uh that we'll have uh finish an additional 39 and uh projects in construction uh we'll put 48 additional ones.

So all of that leads me to get to my 91 percent uh into con uh into construction or complete uh by the end of the year.

Uh this is a diagram.

Some of you may have seen before.

We use this to kind of just show the life cycle of a bond.

And uh if you look at our 22 bond, uh the lighter color uh histogram uh bars are how many projects are in design.

So certainly we ramp up design, and as uh the designs are complete, we start ramping up construction.

Uh so we're in that period where we're finishing up a lot of designs and putting a lot more into construction.

Uh so uh that's how we kind of monitor this.

We are really pretty much on par with our 2017 and 2012.

So this is a very uh similar type of graph, timeline graph of the cycle of a five-year bond.

So uh a few projects under construction, whether it be the port San Antonio Streets, uh, of course, the intersection there, very important project, AM area streets, uh Texas AM area streets, uh a lot of activity down there, a lot of growth, of course.

Uh, and then uh the West College Link uh Linear Greenway project.

So just a couple of uh examples there um to show you what's going on.

We have a few others in design, uh just a few examples.

Low water crossing over on George Road, Valley High Drainage, Lower French Creek.

So again, some of those uh drainage uh projects take a little bit longer into design.

I wanted to touch on two specific items, uh Ped Mobilities uh and and F streets, just to tell you where we're at.

This is a summary chart of uh in the 2022 bond, um 28 million dollars total uh was allocated towards what we call pedestrian uh pedestrian mobility, and we identify a number of projects in each district based on the funding.

Uh and we work to improve sidewalks and uh any any type of pedestrian mobility project in there.

Uh right now, out of the 58 projects that we plan to do uh with that 28 million dollar total, 25 have been complete.

We still have 33 uh pending.

Uh so we we actually have a little bit of work to do to catch up on this one.

This uh I will say uh we did have a task order contract, the first one actually that was issued, uh, that was terminated.

Um we call it for convenience.

Uh we had some issues uh with the contractor meeting our demands on that.

We had a lot of meetings, kind of start and stops on that, but we had to terminate that.

So uh that did set us back a little bit.

I don't want to say that's the only reason, but uh we did execute uh two additional task order contracts last quarter to help us catch up.

That's task orders uh five and six, but you all approved those uh last quarter.

In the F Street, so I think it was mentioned already, but uh as part of the bond, we had a hundred million dollars of F Street reconstruction.

Uh those are the project counts, and those are the budgets in each of the council districts.

But out of the 147 projects, this one uh a little bit further ahead at 125 have been complete.

So great job uh by our team there in terms of Anthony's team uh uh helping oversee that as well.

Uh but uh 22 pending.

So that one's a little ahead where the pet mobility uh we have to do a little bit more work on.

Uh but I think I think updating you as the progress of this is important and uh and working to expedite uh those completions is is key.

Uh lastly, I just want to remind you this is the slide that you saw two weeks ago.

Uh so I know it's 2017-22 bond, but the next bond we I mentioned this uh at the B session.

One of the things I do want to uh let you know and highlight is the first couple of boxes up there, uh whether we decide on a May 27 or November 27 bond, uh my team is already working on those first initial project identification, scoping, uh priorities internally with departments.

We'll be reaching out to you to identify and make sure we got your projects on the list for consideration.

Uh and then we'll be coming to you with consultant selection for cost estimating for some assistance there.

And again, that doesn't matter if we decide on May 27 or November 27, and that doesn't matter uh how much we can afford uh based on that conversation um from a couple weeks ago.

So with that, I think I'm done and ready for questions.

Thank you so much.

All right.

Um actually the third presentation, if you could start that one now, that'd be meeting adjourned.

Actually the third presentation, if you could start that one now that'd be meeting adjourned.

I'm sorry.

So the real um the the reason that I asked for both of these items one is of course we were overdue for an update on the creation of the department and you guys have already made fast work of that.

The question that I have or the way that I'm thinking about it and that I want the takeaway to be is how is this an improvement overall in for our for our residents and for business owners and for the like who experience these projects and is it uh the strategies that are different or is it the or could it be just that we are dividing the projects by type and that it having that level of oversight make or that makes it easier to provide oversight and communication what is it that make that is going to be the key what's the key difference here what uh if we had to sum it up what's the key difference that can give our our constituents confidence in uh these new in these two different departments now.

Sure.

Yeah and and I think uh going into this I had an idea um but now that I've I've kind of lived it for about five months with the team it's it's the fact that we get to focus on those 208 active projects I mean those are the big large scale capital projects we we can focus on that and only that and it's challenging enough we're setting up the department so that we're not just one piece of a large city infrastructure build and maintain my department is really to build these capital projects um and uh so far uh we we've seen some uh improved results I think time will tell as I set these key metrics whether it's whether it's setting a key metric of a 90% on schedule or whether it's setting uh 91% uh on under under construction or complete by a certain timeline uh restructuring the department to not only focus on horizontal and not be too too uh stretched thin uh to to to lose focus on some of those vertical projects um hey how do we restructure so that we can really build over communication as the standard so I think I'm able to focus on all that while while art and our public works team they can focus on all the traffic signals that they're working on to not only keep on every day but maybe design and install new ones that are needed um traffic calming uh you know mowing the drainage channels uh sweeping the streets etc so that you know thousands and thousands of miles of infrastructure daily that he's maintaining with his 700 people that that's a bear that that that's a that's a tall order right there so uh I think it's the it's it's the strategic focus of my department will I I think it's already producing some better results but over time I'll be able to show it with more projects delivered on time within budget hopefully hopefully several uh under under time and under budget uh based on some of the things I said but I I just think it's that focus I I get to focus on that well you know art gets to focus on the other hard part of the job thank you I'll um so you'll remember because uh council member castillo anguyano was serving in my uh in my absence during the budget cycle um what ended up happening with so the public work staff was one really large department is it now cut almost evenly between both departments what happened with the staffing what is it what it what does it look like now yeah it was almost 900 people total um and uh it was split I I my my department is 188 the remainder is public work so certainly uh um the significant majority of staff um for what they have to do to cover the city for all those daily operations um so they are much larger department um and uh but uh the 188 is focused on uh the project delivery for those either either it's a bond project or it's one of those non-bond projects but a large scale capital project uh and the support services needed for those like contract compliance and and stuff like that so uh we're smaller than them um as good as them right art okay thank you we have a little competition going but that's just amongst us good as long as it's uh healthy competition that very healthy and you guys are fighting to be the best I can always appreciate that we're gonna push each other um do to do doop too so I will consider it our role especially in the early developments of this new department uh to continue to provide feedback and as as we as we identify issues or problems or gaps or areas for improvement uh that we'll we'll have those policy solutions ready here and we uh definitely encourage you to continue thinking about you know hey this is a problem I'm saying how do how can I resolve this or is there truly a gap how can we fill it um regarding the bond will also this was one of the things we discussed as you mentioned is we haven't really received bond updates in the past several years now not consistently and so wanting to at least at this committee say hey this is how many are on time this is what's going on are there any problems that we're seeing that might be trends uh are there ways that we can improve uh the bond process moving forward especially as we get ready for the 2027 bond uh because we want to make sure that we're uh that we're delivering for our constituency and so that does bring me to one one question and it's gonna be a uh something I think we're gonna have to continue to work through but I've brought up a few times how uh several of the district two projects specifically facilities uh

Um, and so wanting to at least at this committee say, hey, this is how many are on time, this is what's going on.

Are there any problems that we're seeing that might be trends?

Uh are there ways that we can improve uh the bond process moving forward, especially as we get ready for the 2027 bond?

Uh, because we want to make sure that we're uh that we're delivering for our constituency.

And so that does bring me to one one question, and it's gonna be a uh something I think we're gonna have to continue to work through, but I've brought up a few times how uh several of the district two projects specifically facilities uh are you know really pushing it on the budget and looking like they're gonna have to be phase you know, phased into additional phases, and that's gonna eat up very quickly at uh the capacity that we have for our bond.

And so I'm wondering how do we prevent or how do we minimize the amount of money that will be needed from the 27 bond to complete these projects?

What can we do now to get the to finish those projects without having to dip too much into the 2027 bond?

Sure.

Well, I think one of my slides and one of my key focuses, because I heard that as I was entering um into this role and and certainly talking with some of our team members and you all, you're right.

When we when the project budget gets not estimated properly, and and uh we we have to you know value engineer or cut off certain things that we'd like to do.

That no one likes to hear that.

Uh but we are we do have a certain amount of money.

Uh so uh we've already started internally, and I've actually uh started externally looking at ways how can we cost estimate better?

We have a way that we've done it in the past, which I think has served us well for the most part, but now that we have a few examples, I know the one you're you're referring to in your district and a few others like what could we have done better to not only one uh estimate uh the cost, you know, to see if we have that amount of money, and then two, if we if we know we're not gonna have enough money to do everything, let's let's let's set expectations early on.

We don't want to promise the world and have to come back and say, Oh, sorry, we don't have enough money to do everything we said.

That's not a that's not a fun conversation.

Um it's a combination of things, but I do have it as one of my three major initiatives.

I think there's gonna be some outside assistance along with some internal um review of our previous uh cost estimating tools.

Um so I think that's something that I still owe uh this body or we really the city uh or we owe it, and um that's something I'll be working on.

But uh so I don't have the full answer yet, but I do think there's gonna be some outside assistance because I have asked I I probably a dozen um design and contractor firms that exact same questions.

And you know, everybody says it's challenging, costs have been crazy over the past five years with you know um just construction costs overall, but everybody seems to have a different uh tool that they've used uh to try to keep up with it.

So I think we need to take some of that.

Councilman, if I could just add uh something Mike and I have been talking about as well.

As we move through the public portion of the bond process, often budgets for projects will change, right?

And by change I mean they get smaller.

And so we need to be explicit at those points in those committee hearings about what is changing about the project if that budget changes, right?

I think often we we might change the scope uh or sorry, the money allocated to a project, but not speak very clearly about how it changes the scope of what is possible.

And so we're gonna try and figure out how to do that as a part of that public process when that happens.

Gotcha, that makes sense.

So, for example, if um it's a committee of 30 some odd people from all the different district, all the different uh districts, one district has a 12 million dollar project, they say, hey, can we take two million dollars off, do a different project?

They may not understand what that two million dollars is coming from.

Right, and that's a common occurrence, right?

Sometimes there'll be uh a solution that um you know everybody gives a little bit of this project budget, so we just need to be explicit about what happens um to each of those projects as that sharing is happening amongst the committee.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

Uh I know council member core is itching for this one thanks, Chair.

Um I wanna first just start off by saying that Mike has been an absolutely incredible partner to work with over the last four months.

Uh believe it or not, I'm gonna And before that.

And before definitely before that, he knows.

I told him last week too.

But um, after our last meeting for South Alamo, so let's come back to like April of this year.

We met with this group, and they were it the entire stakeholder group that we are meeting with is literally an outreach.

They were writing us letters saying that we weren't doing enough, we weren't hearing them.

Um, the first meeting that uh, and I'm gonna be I'm super honest, everyone knows that.

The first meeting that Mike presented at, no one from our team could answer any of the questions they had on schedule.

They had no idea.

And Mike was like, all right, let me let me take a stab at it.

And then since then, he has literally met and walked the corridors with every single person that wants to.

He's talked to every single stakeholder, heard their ideas, and implemented them within the span of four months faster than I've ever gotten a response from from anybody at City Staff.

So I mean, I just I think this is like a prime example of leadership matters because at the end of our last meeting last week, a very unassuming individual that literally started a small business pack to tell the city how much we suck at helping support our small businesses told me.

She's like, Mike Shannon is the best thing that we've ever seen that come out of City Hall.

And so I I say all that.

Yeah, I mean, we could clap for you.

Is your mic on?

Can you say that again?

And I I'm not trying to like seriously blow smoke.

I just think like when we are responsive to what folks are telling us in the community and deliver results, they appreciate it.

And so I I just wanted to all that stuff that he listed on the business things.

I think we should do that for every project.

And how this idea came up was because when the zoo did the gorilla, I know I'm bringing up the gorillas again, but with the gorillas at the zoo, they had the really pretty signs saying like gorilla exhibit coming, and the folks in Southtown were like, we want those signs, they're like prettier, they're inviting, it tells you what we're doing.

I mean, it took it took Marcos and I multiple iterations to get that right because we tried and they were like that wasn't good enough.

And so we went back and forth a few times on it.

But eventually they came around and they're like, okay, yeah, thanks for doing that.

Like we appreciate it.

And and if I I okay, I'm gonna stop my rant.

Um, I just have a couple of comments and uh questions on uh overall CDD planning.

I think um one thing for sure is when we're going, can you go to the block walking slide?

I think it's on 12.

I think what would be a good strategy also is creating boundaries for which boundaries you're going to use for communication and block walking, and kind of like what we talked about in different scopes of projects, it would be good for making sure we're clear on what we're sharing.

And the reason I bring that up is because for and Hildebrand's not a bond project, but we've been working a lot on Hildebrand, and I felt like we notified really far.

Like we went at least six, seven streets up, but then folks that were closer to Bassi, um Bassie, but still came back and were like, no, we should be notified too.

So, anyways, just thinking about notification radiuses, I think would be really important.

I love that you're hiring uh PR manager.

I think you should call it PR and community engagement manager, just because that's one of the things that I think would uh be important in that individual to make sure they know how to do some of the things that you've seen as successful and not just comms around it, right?

But actual work.

Um for the Rabba Krishna study, I think that's great, but my same kind of thought here was we have to make sure we have the right PMs in place that can go from start to finish, that can do the community engagement, and then also execute through the projects for that.

My question on that was how do we um what's the internal do the the current teams that are separate use the same uh project management tools?

Yes, yes, they do, but still things kind of get dropped.

Um yeah, I I I think um I think they're like I said, I think we do we do some of it really well, and I think you know, we we've just seen some opportunities where you know the conversation that was really important two years ago at a design, a design meeting with the community or business community, um the new project manager that's focused on inspections that has to make decisions that day to keep the project moving, maybe didn't realize how important that conversation was because in in the field you're making decisions as uh the inspector or the inspection supervisor.

We need those decisions made.

So without that historical knowledge, it's just we've seen some we've seen um some of that drop.

Now, again, it's not all.

I just I just think you know, keeping that knowledge on the team from start to finish is gonna deliver a better project.

Yeah, so one of the things that the reason I'm asking is because sometimes when you talk to contractors, they'll say, like, oh, we're waiting on city staff.

So I think one of the metrics we could also um look at is not just timeline to completion, but how long it takes response times on both sides, right?

So when they send a change order, when they send a you want this instead, how long is it taking us to get back at and have a metric for our target?

Like we should be able to get to every comment made on a project in a week.

I don't know what the appropriate time is.

And then we can see how many, what percentage on projects are hitting that amount.

Yeah, I think our project management software allows us to do that.

But I think even you know, looking at those reporting them out and even bringing it as part of our does it automatically send out reports that show you like I don't think it's automatic, but I think we can pull that data.

Those are those are uh those are entries into the system that they would pull out some reports, and if we need to build some moderated reports, maybe that's that's part of it that helps us get it.

I'd love if we could look into that, and maybe that along with the so to council member point, and I know I'm jumping to bond, but um we used to have monthly meetings, but they were just going.

Uh and John remembers there were just so much information and so many different things, but I do think we have to come back to a space where we can at least and our monthly reports that we get from public works are really helpful, but it would be um it would be great to be able to at least target communications on bond.

Um sorry, you could go back to the other slide.

I didn't mean to jump you.

Um last thing on I have lots of ideas on this infrastructure dashboard.

I feel like I've talked about it.

I talked about it a lot.

And we do have, like we were just talking about the info development map.

We have a lot of core pieces, so I think there needs to be two separate, right?

We need to have an active construction that's uh very clear, includes everybody, it's a partner, and then I think we need to have uh a dashboard that shows all of our city projects, the different ways that they're where what's funded, what's not funded, and what is like in a user-friendly way.

So right now, when you open the IMP, um you basically uh it's very small font.

It's really hard to figure out what to filter and what not to filter, and it takes forever to load.

So I I don't know, I don't know if we can look at something else aside from ArcGIS, but I think we just need to make the data that we have one better updated because it'll just say like IMP 2027, um, which actually could be in summer of 2028 because it's based on um, you know, and or whatever.

So I just think we need to update the timelines on that as we get them projected and then figure out um a way to make that more user-friendly.

I I'll buzz back in.

How much time are you giving us for our first round?

Seven.

Yeah.

Councilmember Mungia.

Thank you very much.

Uh and to my colleagues' point, I'll just say that uh, and this goes into both departments, right?

Uh, design is so important to be sensitive about.

Um, and so you know, we have a big project Rockwell, and we decided to do a public input even before the money's even been allocated from us, right?

Because I want some input on design ahead of time.

Perfect example, we did a sidewalk project a couple years back.

Uh, and the engineer had moved everybody's mailbox from one side of the driveway to the other.

And I had you know, like 10 calls.

And once they knew that I was the one that could get it, they were like, I need to talk to Edward and get my mailbox on the other side.

It's been there for 33 years.

Why would you move it to the other side?

So something as simple as that on a sidewalk I am um project, but also you know, some of these other things, especially we do large medians and and all that.

So I think that all has to be uh really sensitive and and maybe some input ahead of the final of the design.

Because once the design is finished, I think it's a little too late to go back and change some aspects of it.

So I think um it's important.

And everyone does a great job.

Once they know what the problem is, they they really do try to find a solution within the project scope to accommodate that request.

So I have to commend y'all for that.

Uh, but I think getting in a little earlier sometimes is helpful before design is complete for those projects.

Um also what I would encourage you to look at too is I know we did the the F streets for the first time.

I'm interested in what that lifecycle of those streets is going to be, uh, since they're F streets and we did them in the bond.

I think I have a perception, I think generally people have a perception that if it's an F if it's a bond project, the livelihood of that project should be longer than an IMP project.

And I'm curious in five years after these F streets have been completed, what their grade will be compared to an IMP project.

Um and so if it's just a matter of we just needed capital dollars to supplement this, but we're not expecting a longer life span.

I think we need to hear that from you all.

Um same with some of the other streets, right?

Zarzomora, I talked a lot about that with you all, right?

2012 project, currently failing.

Um so you know, within 10 years of that project being completed, um, it's no longer it needs another work, basically.

So I'm just you know, interest in what the lifespan of that is for some of our bond projects.

And then if we can go to slide 11 on the second presentation, or the first presentation that you had.

So uh this is really important, and you and I had a conversation about this.

I think some strategies are gonna work or be more applicable in the downtown core than let's just say Marbok, for example.

But I want to make sure, and hopefully you'll track this where we're using some of these extra strategies because if it's mostly downtown or district one, um that's a little bit problematic for me, only because it what we're saying is that project in district one or downtown is going to cost much more than what's on the listed price.

So you have a bond project, it's a million dollars, right?

But we're doing all these extra things and it's mostly concentrated in downtown, then we ought to know that a downtown street is gonna cost you know 20% more, 10% more than the listed price because of these extra things.

That the the amount of density is very different.

Um, and the amount of businesses and tourism is is obviously here and not in other parts of town, but I do think we need to know a final tally, right?

It just costs more to do work downtown.

We should be prepared to have that conversation.

I think that's that's an important comment.

And I, you know, as you and I uh talked about the other day, this is I put this up here, and we were using the downtown projects that I've you know, the local downtown and stuff.

This needs to be implemented on those large-scale uh business corridor projects, no matter where they are.

So we had the conversation about Marbok and 410.

You're right, it's probably not helping um visitors to San Antonio get from the convention center or downtown hotel to a cool spot to eat and shop and play or whatever.

Um but the idea of how do I get people uh that are in that area of 410 and Marbok to the businesses with limited disruption, things like marketing and outreach for the business, monthly meetings with them to know what's going on, what's changing, how it's changing, answer questions, whether we need a uh contracted shuttle service or not.

That that to me may sound a little more downtown specific.

Um but uh wayfinding uh scrims, those type of things, or other specific to that business corridor.

That's the concept that I wanted to put up here that that needs to be built into our project.

And then you're right, we need to know how much that's gonna cost the city to do that.

I think what we're finding with the projects that that we talked about already is I think this just needs to be part of our normal business moving forward.

Yeah, that's good.

And then uh I'm curious to see when we do these other projects coming up.

You know, most of these ones coming online are not gonna have um you know financial assistance, those businesses, other projects did.

I understand there's there was complications and that everybody was pleased with that, but we also need to have a formula of when to utilize that or when we think we need to have that.

Uh because you know, St.

Mary's a great example, but even before that, you know, there was a street um, and do you want to forget what it is, but you know, that one also, right?

It it started, uh it was being done, and then everyone had issues with access, and then the city came back and said we'll help with your utility bill or something like that.

It was several years ago.

Is that you referring to?

Okay, it's kind of where you have your a lot of antique shops uh blanco, yes, it was one of the streets with blanco.

That was when um yes, when councilman Bernal.

Blanco, yeah.

Blanco.

Um, but you know, that was again that that was these where we've put the money in has always been after the effect has happened.

And again, when I tried to do it before with Marbok, right, my colleagues did not agree with that, and I understand that, but again, we're gonna have a problem at some point where we're gonna be doing the project, and then we're gonna need the financial assistance, and then it becomes more difficult to prove your um you know your disadvantaged with your receipts and billings and all that.

So, my point is we have to find a way to have that money up front and let everybody know what the expectation is of that uh before it's another situation where we have to do it after the fact, and then it becomes well, I didn't know how to apply for this program, it didn't work for me, so that all happens after the fact.

Uh so something keep in mind.

If you can go to slide 12 on the second presentation, and maybe it's uh a couple before it's the one before this.

Sorry, this is different.

Um, so I'm very excited about that middle project right there.

That's gonna remove a low water crossing in D4 right in front of an elementary school that I happen to have attended, actually.

And um, if you maybe we can get with Via on this bus stop right here.

Um that is it is a horrible bus stop.

And so if there's any way, since we're doing money there, project there, we have fun funding, and uh so should they.

Maybe we can coordinate that.

Thank you.

I for one like my bus stop slanted yeah, that is that is absolutely crazy.

And by the way, this is across from the military base from across from Lackland.

So if we can work on that, I know a guy at Via I can call.

Thank you.

Uh Councilmember Spears.

Thank you, Chair.

Um, really great presentations.

I appreciate the camaraderie the two of y'all have.

I think that's important moving forward, and I like the the friendly competition.

I think that's good.

Um this is really what we were I was looking for.

I talked a lot about this on the campaign trail when when we talked about how we were gonna divide this department up, and this looks like the beginnings of really of greatness here.

Because my hope is that, and and kind of this is kind of a question too.

As you're moving forward in the capital delivery projects or the bond projects, as we see um things that come up that maybe we need to call in public works on and how we can collaborate there and say, hey, can you do this now?

How quickly can we pivot?

Or hey, put this for next year, how we're planning through some of those sorts of things.

But again, like we've been talking about you don't want to tear up the road again, or whatever it is.

So looking at the flexibility there to inject um, it's really savings in the in the long run, but maybe we have we should just do this because it makes sense.

Those kind that kind of thinking is I think where we started with on wanting to separate the two because it's just so overwhelming to try to do it all in one.

Um I agree that you that's a great idea to have a new FTE for the vertical um the buildings and parks.

And uh I do love this cradle to grave model.

They use it at Text Dot.

It's very helpful.

Speaking of Text Dot, they uh will appreciate your emphasis, as do I on completing on time, because they've been stressing get it on time.

I mean, I see them, and that's like they say it just as I'm leaving, beyond time, you know.

So um, I really appreciate that you're paying attention to that as well.

Um so you mentioned we're gonna get some bond updates.

Do you maybe we can get some more information from you, or you can start to lay out a consistent uh model of what we're gonna see, what level of detail, what metrics we're gonna be able to see so we can track every time and and keep track of how things are moving through.

Um what can you do you know what may some of the main reasons that city projects fall behind or offhand, or is it just different all the time or uh well it's um there's a number of of reasons.

I'll I'll look to my my experience so far.

Um we have we have one one project where we're behind because we haven't been able to find the the right piece of land for a fire station that we agreed that we needed to replace.

Uh so I had it up there at real estate.

Now that's not too common, but that's that's one, right?

So the project is well behind just because we we don't have a piece of property to build the needed improvement.

Uh sometimes design, which includes permitting, um uh can get a little uh slow or behind.

Uh it's it's the design teams we can hold them accountable pretty good.

Um we have a few that were stuck in uh the FEMA process for uh you know the letter of map revision process or conditional letter of map revision Clomar process.

Uh and then in construction, you know, it could be that the contractors are not you know meeting their deadlines with no real reason, and we're not holding them accountable enough, but many times it's some unforeseen things that maybe we didn't do enough design work or utilities upgrade um you know analysis, the designs we were gonna design it a certain way, and then we ran into a pipe that you know that we didn't know was there, whether it's sewer or water or CPS ductbanked or or something.

So I think there's a lot of them, it'll never be quite perfect, but you know, the team you know that we're that we have is we're looking at those ways to try to mitigate as much as possible every single one of those scenarios, including our own process, which is how do we how do we procure quicker?

How do we put it out on the street for bids?

How do we uh you know uh analyze and score the bids quicker uh so that we can get it to you to approve the design professional or the contractor uh to get started.

So there's a lot of those pieces.

Uh I think my team and I identified like 10 big steps, and we're really trying to attack all 10 of those to shrink each one.

Um but but that's a long answer to your short question, but there's a lot to it.

It answered a bunch of my follow-up questions, so that's good.

Um I want to uh double down or echo which one y'all like.

I want to Matt double down on councilman Mangia's point about the design, because you mentioned the mailboxes that have the same thing.

So there, I don't know, they just talk to us or you're at a meeting and they tell you something and it locks into our brains, and we know this something about a project, and there's no way for you to know, or maybe just different reasons.

I I agree that if we can kind of get in on some of this earlier to you to your point about design, um there's just stuff we know about our communities that you know you wouldn't necessarily hear just because we have conversations or coffees or whatever it is that we get this information that doesn't seem super important at the time, even necessarily, and then we find out about it later and go, oh no, no, you can't because XYZ, whatever it is.

So I appreciate that.

And I um I I also agree with this infrastructure dashboard.

I think that that is a really good idea.

And as much as we can integrate everything into one space so that we can really push that out and use it.

I I like that a lot.

Um I do hear you on the red tape with the drainage.

I hear you, but I like I do understand the importance of the drainage projects, but um yeah.

And I think that's that's it for me.

So oh wait, no, the incentives.

Um I loved I love seeing that.

And I I am aware and see how the exaggerated schedules could be an issue, but and then also like quality control, right?

You want them to really follow through.

But I am glad to see you took that, and um, I think it's gonna be great and very helpful.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Korn.

Thanks, Chair.

Okay, just a couple of things.

I'll be really quick.

Um, I was talking to someone over at another entity the other day, and they were mentioning when they used to be here, there was talks of a bad actor dashboard.

Do we have something like that for contractors?

Well, yeah, we have the responsible bidder ordinance, right?

Yeah, but that's the but it's not published to the world, right?

If that's what you're suggesting.

Yeah, the only reason I'm asking or wondering, I don't know how we do this in a way that doesn't want contractors to not do business with us at all.

Um, but at the same time, you know, they're facing something with the contractor that I was like, well, we should know that so we don't ever have to work with that when they come for a bid.

And so I I didn't know if there was a way to track like uh to we were you guys were talking earlier about um the damages, the liquidated damages, sure, and how we could show like you know which contractors had to do how many times of rework, etc.

Again, doing that while still wanting them to bid, I get buttons.

Well, we can I mean we can we can take some of that feedback and see what we come up with.

I mean, you know, the bad actor list online.

Um we do something similar with that when we developed the apartment inspection program back at development services.

Uh so but there was some concern with that, and we were able to get over that hump, but it was useful for that purpose.

It's a little bit different, but let us take that back and see what we can kind of come up with.

But you're right, we want to let other entities know that you know we've had some challenges with this contractor, so either at least beware, and vice versa, too.

Yeah, and vice versa.

That'd be great.

Um, and so for the bond, the biggest question that I have, and I always get this when I'm knocking on doors is we people get really excited when the bond passes and they have a project on that bond, and they have no idea how long it's gonna take for that project to be done.

So they're like, this vote we voted, it passed, where's my project?

Yep.

And and I remember previously I've been it's explained to me now, there is a reason everything it's not supposed to all happen in year one.

We pay phase it out over the five years that it's theoretically supposed to take.

I would love if when we do pass the bond, like when we put it on the on the actual um ballot as much as possible.

I know it can't be a science, but we at least tell them like the phase in which your project is going to be planned for.

So if there's like we have a phasing, obviously, we're gonna design these projects in these years, and so that way at least they can understand that timeline that you send us because I remember the first year I got elected after the bond, it was like everything was just in design forever, and I was like, this is gonna be really hard to explain to community.

So um, a way to phase out, I think would be great as you look about planning this upcoming bond.

And then I just want to double down on what councilwoman spears said about incentives.

I do think this could be a way to um help get us through certain projects.

And I'm gonna again, I I know these contractors are gonna love me, but Mike came in on this project for South Alamo and brought someone else in, and they basically was like, I'm bringing your competitor right next to you.

And I every time I drive by there, I'm like, look at how many people are on that site.

And it's like spurring competition, right?

There's a reason why competition gets a little bit of action, and I I think that's a great decision.

So, anyways, as much as we can do incentives and um to try to to to to gauge, and I feel like our team knows when someone is like, oh, that project should not take that long, you know, theoretically, but sure anyway.

So I wanted to double down on that.

All right, thanks, Chair.

See those quick.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Councilmember Mungia.

Sure, I'll go again.

Uh, you don't have to.

I just one small thing.

I was looking at the map.

Right, that one small thing uh at at the you know bond map here, and I think there's a little bit of an issue with the 2017 map.

When you go to click on a project, it'll go back to the map in generally.

2022 bond map works, right?

If you click a project, it'll tell you all the details.

You might just want to double check on the 2017 map.

Looks like there's some issues with that.

We'll do.

I wish I could say we did that on purpose for this meeting to see if anybody's using it, but um we'll we'll take a look at it.

Yeah, so it's downloading it right now.

I can see.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Uh thank y'all both for the presentation.

Uh thank you.

Uh hearts, this is your first time at the Transportation Infrastructure Committee.

Uh welcome.

I'll say that uh Mike is known as Captain Save a Department, and so uh the competition will be uh immense, I'm sure.

So you set me up, but Mike's heard this joke a couple times.

But no, I'm really pleased to to be here and part of the team, and I think it's a perfect combination.

You've you've got brains and good looks.

And then you've got Mike Shannon, so yeah.

Wonderful.

Well, the time is now 352.

We will call the meeting adjourned.

Thank you all.