City Council - Regular Meeting

table this until September we will be back where we were last year doing this rigmarole over and over again and what hasn't changed is that you as a governing body haven't put pressure on the industries that use up 65% of the water in the area to curtail even during drought residents have for the past couple of years saved up water, doing all kinds of stuff, rain barrels. Everything we've saved up, Exxon has used. Exxon shouldn't even be here. That company was lured here by water that we didn't have, and everybody in that council at the time, not everybody, but a lot of people in that council at the time were very assured that, well, you know, we've got this nice little scheme going here where we've been giving kickbacks to these corporations, so why wouldn't we keep it going, right? But all of a sudden, all these folks showed up, you know, in support of their community, but in support of Hillcrest, in support of what has been happening to this community, and to stand in solidarity with them, because at the end of the day, None of us are free until we're all free. If you can do this to Hillcrest, you can do this to any of us. The governor has a vision for us that includes industrializing the entire coast, up and down. The governor has stated in his plan that he wants to pursue uranium mining in our state. Uranium mining has never been done without contaminating the surface water. The governor doesn't care about that, okay? The governor wants this project done. He doesn't care how we pay for it. If he wanted it done, he could pay for it. He'd get federal funding to pay for it. But it's not happening. It hasn't happened. It's not going to happen, all right? Because these corporations were lured here under the pretense that we're gonna give them kickbacks, and that's not right. That's not how us young folks, as we've been reminded of how young we are, we don't want that, okay? We want offshore wind, all right? We want solar. We want clean jobs, okay? We want manufacturing, real manufacturing in this area, okay? Petrol refinery, plastic, that's okay. Those are necessary products that we need, but we don't need to manufacture them at the scale that we do. We need rail. We don't need to be driving our little singular vehicles everywhere. We need community spaces that allow us to walk to and fro so that we don't have to be dependent on cars. We need to completely rethink all of this. Nobody has taken the time to do that. That's why we're in this situation and why every... Single meaning we are saying the same thing over and over again. We don't want you to do this to the neighborhood of Hillcrest We don't want you to put us into more debt at the cost of certain. We don't we don't have libraries And we don't have anything we barely have roads Okay, it's it's not no no no no no no

Okay, whatever. Laramie, Fane, District 2. Look, man. I really don't like this argument that's being made that at some point you have to take action because action was taken back in September. And this thing got shot in the back of the head. So... Nothing about it has changed. The location hasn't changed. The amount of water that's gonna be produced hasn't changed. Sitting here and listening to y'all deliberate for however long that was doesn't sound like any of your positions have changed. So I really don't see the point in tabling. Just take the vote and accept the outcome. It didn't go the way you wanted it. It didn't go the way that the governor wanted it. It went the way that people wanted it. It went the way that the majority of council wanted. Take the vote. It's all right. There's other avenues to pursue water, so.

Thank you. You're very welcome.

James Perkins, District 2.

We're doing this again, and y'all want to table this?

On my birthday, y'all want to table this for my birthday? Y'all want me back here all night, all day again? I got up at three this morning for work because I work for a living. I got to go punch in. I got to go clock out. And then I got to go to work again today at 5 a.m. All right? So I'm going to be up for 24 hours today just to make sure that y'all understand the people don't want this. I'm putting my health on the line so y'all understand that people do not want this. Hillcrest don't want it. I don't know how many people up here have been saying it. I bet you five bucks that none of these cops want it either because then they're going to have to sit here again and do this all over again because again, like so many people have said it, nothing's changed. Your opinion hasn't changed. Your opinion hasn't changed. Your opinion hasn't changed. Your opinion hasn't changed. Nothing's changed. Why are we doing this? Why are we tabling it? Kill the damn thing. We don't need it. All right. Y'all are going to say, oh, but growth and growth and growth in the economy. The economy is going to be tanked when we don't got water anyways. The economy is going to be tanked when the desal plant fails because a hurricane fucking hit us and we don't got water anyways. The economy is going to tank because we are so driven to driving ourselves into the ground for oil and gas. And we cannot survive doing that. We got to learn how to pivot, people. Why are we doing this? All right. Y'all owe the economy and jobs and jobs and jobs. I'm hiring. Send people my way. I need workers. They come in, they sit for two days, they decide that's not what they want to do, and they leave. So if the oil and gas industry, they're people there. There are 10,000 jobs or something for 300,000 people in Corpus Christi. By the way, they're providing jobs for people in Port Aransas. They're providing jobs for people in Aransas Pass. They're providing jobs for people in Alice in San Patricio. They're providing jobs for people who aren't in Corpus too. So it's not just us. They're not helping just us. And it's not going to hurt just us when it goes into the ground. We're doomed if you keep trying to put this on a docket. I don't know how many hours we spent today on this. An entire day of our lives. We don't get this back. We don't get this time back. The people have decided. They've told you repeatedly, kill it. You're for the people, kill it. You're for the people, kill it. The people have said it time and time and time again. And like, I don't know, I don't know what you want. And all these people up here saying, oh, we're pro-decel. And oh, okay, they got paychecks for it. That's their jobs. Their jobs is this. Their jobs is to make the water. Their jobs is to have these things built. And you know what? I can't fault people for wanting a paycheck. I like to live. I like nice things. I'm not going to lie and say I don't. But how many lives are you going to throw into the grinder to produce the oil and the gas? How many people are you going to sacrifice to get this stuff done? You know, even if we don't do it in Hillcrest, even if we do it in Padre Island, that's still marine life out there that we're throwing brine on top of. You know, it's not the far field study isn't done. We have a model. The scientists haven't gone back and reviewed it. The modelers haven't gone back and reviewed it either. They tested it once and said, okay, we can package and put it out there. That's what they said. Kill it. I got to go to work.

Oh God. Um, Maggie Peacock, District 2. I'm also really tired. I just like kind of just want to stay in here and fucking laugh. Like, it's just so insane. And yeah, I also have to be at work in like three hours. So I've been like on and off on naps back there. But it's just so... We're just beating this dead horse over and over and over and over again. And like Laramie said, it was shot in the back of the head already. Like this was, it died. Let's kill it. Like stop tabling it. Stop pushing it back. Just kill it. And they're so, so... a vast majority of people who are coming up to public comment and they are saying they don't want this. And y'all still have the audacity to be like, yeah, this is what the community wants. Obviously not. And I still just can't get over how like, people are coming up here and they're spilling their hearts and souls about how this will impact their livelihoods because they're fishermen or because they live in Hillcrest and y'all are not moved at all. Like I, this was, another DSAL meeting weeks or months or however long ago, and someone asked Roland, are you not moved at all? He's like, no. Like, that's evil. That is evil. If you are not moved by these community members' stories of, like, this is their lives. And I... What y'all are doing is just giving into the needs and the desires of corporations and capitalists, and not the people. Yeah, I had a comment right now, but my brain is just complete mush, and like I said, I'm so tired, but it's just like, Every time these capitalists are going into production, they are taking something from the earth, right? This is why we are in a water crisis. We are in this crisis because heavy industry keeps taking and taking our water to make more and more profits and because y'all view water as a commodity and not something that we have a deep historical intimate relationship with. A capitalist system on a finite planet makes no sense. The logic is evil and it makes no sense. And why do we keep beating this dead freaking horse? Like it's dead, kill it, stop tabling it. Obviously people do not want this. Capitalist greed knows no bounds. And that's just when I think of, like I said, all of these people who care so deeply about our home. I was not born and raised here. I was born and raised in North Texas. I moved down here for college. And I fell in love with it here. And I moved away for a year and I was like, fuck it, I need to be back here. This is my home. These are my people. And... And y'all have no hearts if y'all are not moved by this. Thank you, Ms. Peacock. Don't table it, kill it.

Alejandro Benavidez, District 3. I think that your debt rating sucks because you guys keep giving away money, losing money, giving contracts that don't provide your money back if you don't get anything for it. If I was a creditor, I'd be like, why would I give you money? You keep just blowing it. You literally keep blowing it. Some people here are for water justice. We're here for water democracy. And if we don't get it, we wanna shut it down, we're gonna shut it down, okay? Some people vote, here they advocate They advocate for the issues that we have. Some people are crooked. They advocate for personal financial things. They make things for contracts for themselves. Some people, even throughout this whole thing, have started advocating for political gains instead of financial gains, as some of you guys have. I just wanted to say that that's the same thing. If you're trying to make voter for political gain over financial gains, then It's still crooked. Just vote—represent the people and stop looking for gains for your own personal selves. So whether you vote to advocate for finance gain or whether you vote for political gain, like I said, it's crooked. It's crooked. And with that being said, the elections are coming up. Be careful who you listen to. So many of you guys, through the money, can't see the bay through the water. So many of our people can't see the trees through the forest. And what's going on is because this is such a nonpartisan issue, We have a lot of us that are communicating. Republicans are saying the same thing. The Democrats are saying the same thing. But then we have some people that are coming in and trying to play both sides, and they're like, I was there. Okay, but did you speak? I know where Armand stands. I know where so many of these people stand, and I don't have to question them. But when you're like, oh, I was there, what does that mean to me? Speak for the people. And if you can't, I don't know, just freaking give you dirty looks for voting against us or something, I don't know. But to be honest, I want everybody to just be careful. Everybody's trying to be the same. We got shirts out, and then they put out blue shirts, coastal band voices for billionaires or something like that. It's a bunch of BS. They used to put out a bunch of green stuff and call it green and healthy for our environment, right? Well, now these snakes are wearing the shirts for the billionaires, and they're putting their worms into our grassroots community, and they're trying to influence us So don't be influenced by these people just because they're not necessarily a Republican because they're paying everybody. They're paying everybody. Hide your politicians, hide your mayors because industry wants to pay everybody.

Thank you. Oh my God. All right.

Good morning, Mayor, Council, Bob Hollison, Executive Director, Colspin Industry Association, and Corpus Christi District 4 out on the island. I'm going to try to bring us back around to where Nick started us off quite a while ago. We've been in receipt of beneficial rains all throughout the month of May. That was great. And the lakes are filling, but they're still far from full. And we are far from being out of the woods, given our water situation. I'm very grateful for all the activity and all the actions that you've undertaken on the groundwater front, but we still need to continue to build a diversified water supply and seawater desal is truly a drought proof source and we need to incorporate it into the system. The Inner Harbor Desal Project provides the opportunity to do that. You heard earlier about The cost, $8.26, 1,000 gallons. You know, waiting will make it more expensive, you know, and compared to other projects that are available, it's a very attractive supply to pursue. And I think that's one of the reasons why it will not just go away, because when you put it up against all of the other projects that have come through over the years, it's a good project. It's fully permitted. It has a majority of its funding. It's got support from the state. It's an incredibly important project and an excellent opportunity for us to diversify and strengthen the water system. And as Councilman Barrera mentioned earlier today, add some degree of certainty to our current situation, which is critically important. Certainty is key and we need to take steps to improve the certainty of our situation here as it relates to our water supply. The association supported the project for many years and we still do today. If you don't support it tonight and you decide to table, we ask that you support it in the future. We look forward to seeing what takes place here on the far-field model exercise. and uh... you've got a great team uh... here with uh... ccd cell partners not the owner and uh... we support adoption stats recommendation to prove the contract

What to say, right? I hear blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. The suits are here, mad at me, looking at me with a death look over here because they want their water. You know, you four up there, you right there doesn't even look at me. Look at me, mayor. So we're on the phone looking at your comments. But Jesus, guys. Like you hear everybody here give you so much information. And you guys meet a scientist. I'm not a scientist, but you know what? Every day I have to look for things because you guys don't. So let me go look for more stuff on the toilet bowl. Look at my Google. But I learned so much already in this past year. And Ron Bata knows everything because he's a scientist. Like... You guys are going to run Corpus Christi to the ground. You know, you guys are trying to bring industry and all these people in here, but you guys are so tired. Look at you guys. You can't even look at you. You're so tired. I was all day long working. I worked two jobs. I went out with my wife tonight, and I was watching this thing, and I had to come talk because you guys just don't listen. Like, you guys have all the answers, but you don't listen. You know, the people don't want this. You know, let's try this a different way. I want desal. Let's do desal. Let's make the best desal plant in that world. Let's put it out on the island. Let's put the brine to recycle. But putting it in a cup? Y'all talk about the river a lot and the lakes. None of that goes into the harbor. The harbor's a cup. Now, how much can a cup hold? 30 million gallons a day? Can y'all even count that high? 30 million gallons of brine a day in the water. Oh, it's not going to hurt anything. It's bull. It's not even real. What scientist does a time-lapsed study over three months? How are you going to know in three months? And they don't even know what fish are in there. They don't even know there's clams. They don't even know what's in there. It's just, oh, it's water. And we're going to put oxygen. Well, we're going to buy oxygen now and oxygenate the brain? We're going to spend that money oxygenated to put it in? That's going to make a difference, Mayor? It's not going to make a difference. It's in your pocket. Problem is, y'all spent the money they gave y'all. And now you got to give it back. That's the problem. Somebody here is getting paid. There's no way that everybody can be against this. And y'all keep pushing the same narrative, the same thing. The lakes, the lakes aren't getting full because the gates are broken. That's why it's not getting full. Tell me about that. I live on the lake. There's no, there's no, there's no gates there. Mary, looking everywhere but me. Look at me, I'm right here. This is us. This is what we think. You sometimes swing back and forth, I like you. I saw you at the gas station the other day too, remember? I wish I knew what you were thinking. That's it, I'm just here to kind of shine light at this because we're fighting for the same thing. We all want water, we need water. I can't drink alcohol, I can't drink jet fuel. And you know what, if we're providing for the nation and the world, shouldn't they pitch in? Shouldn't they pitch in?

Anyone else?

Christina McKay, District 1. I have to say, when I hear all this talk about money and defeasance and credit ratings, I hear the consequences of your actions. I would so much rather deal with the consequences of your actions than this desal plant. We'll all deal with them together. I heard a really great quote the other day by Barbara Brown Taylor. She said, the only clear line I draw these days is this. Jesus never commanded me to love my religion. I'm asking you guys to choose your neighbors. We all know that the Inner Harbor is a bad idea. You guys know why. It's expensive. It's bad for the Bay. It's a manifestation of the systemic racism that this city is built on. So please, where money is involved, where power is involved in all circumstances, choose your neighbor. Melinda asked earlier, and the voices for billionaires were mentioned before. I want you to know that I got one of those calls. And they asked if I would answer a question about water. It sounded like a survey at first. And then it was a long, I'm talking long ad for DeSalle. And they were talking about hospitals. They were talking about schools. They were talking about little babies and water and stuff. I would have been a monster to disagree with them if I didn't know that they were fucking lying. an absolute monster, but you know, luckily I do know that and I got to educate the person calling me. Also happy pride. We don't need this water. Inner harbor desal will be low yield, high cost, detrimental to our neighbors. The council has already secured all this water. We've already talked about this. Industry is the only reason why we need it. Industry who exploits our community under the guise of economic development yet provides 2.7% of the jobs in exchange for 50 to 70% of the water. Also, how many of those jobs are filled by men that live in fifth wheels and man camps up by industry? It's not a ton of Corpus Christi actual citizens that have these jobs. Industry is not our neighbor, absolutely not. Industry gets special sweetheart deals to avoid paying taxes. They get special sweetheart deals on their water. And we get to subsidize them. Please, choose your neighbor. I appreciate you, Gil, wanting to take a breath, but please don't table it. Please just kill it. We're done, we're done, we're done. We were done a year ago. We had the same five votes, I think, I hope. Just stop. Do something else. Have a little bit of character. Thank you.

Okay, oh Jesus, my things are so greasy. All right, so I, God, holy shit, y'all. First of all, I'd like to say shout out to the mayor again for trying to sick her dogs on me. That was cute. It just solidifies, I gotta keep coming. I sort of had something prepared, but like, Fuck, it's been a long day, so I just wanna reiterate what everybody said. Kill it, what's the point? Why are we here? It's a waste of time, y'all wasted so much time. I think having to pay four cents per thousand gallons is much better than the rates going up by a whole, almost $15. That's insane. 32 million is less than a billion. I'm not a fucking mathematician, but anyway, I'll end it there. Yeah, kill it. Don't table it. Stop wasting your time. Stop wasting your time. Like, there's no point.

Bye.

Armond Alex, I'm a resident here of Corpus Christi. For the love of baby Jesus and Texas pecan pie, pecan, not piss can, do not table it. It's time to ditch DeSalle. And when folks in the audience are making noises, stop staring at me like if I control them. I don't lead this group. They're independent. If you want them to stop messing around with you, stop sucking at your job. I'm here today to urge this council again to reject inner harbor desalination because I oppose sacrificing communities and ecosystems in the name of that guy's profit. of that guy's profit, of that guy's profit, of billionaire's profit and corporate expansion here in Corpus Christi. For years, residents have been told this project is necessary, necessary for growth, necessary for economy, necessary for our future. But again, whose growth? Because it's not residential growth, it's not growing. Whose economy? It's not our economy because we're still struggling out here to make do, to make rent. It's not our economy. Whose future? It's not our future. But again, as a scientist, I am also deeply concerned that we are being asked to make a billion dollar decision based on science that members of the far-field committee themselves have said is incomplete and deserving of independent review. I studied water quality and jellyfish. Talk to me about jellyfish another day. But water quality especially. It's not rocket science what dissolved oxygen is. It's not rocket science that salinity impacts the things that live in our water. Come on. Scientists and committee members have publicly raised concerns about those missing variables. That alone should give this council pause. And as a black resident of Corpus Christi, I cannot ignore where this project is being Hillcrest has spent decades carrying burden after burden that other communities where some of you live in, you wouldn't want to take on these burdens. My goodness, have some decency. They have never asked to bear those burdens. Highways, industrial development, displacement, pollution, at some point a pattern becomes a routine and at some point racism is no longer an accusation, it is an observed description of your behavior. And as an eco-socialist, I remember the words of the Black Panther Party, who taught us that people have a right to clean water, healthy housing, self-determination, and dignity. Those principles are no less true today. Water should be treated as a public necessity, not as infrastructure for commodity, like Roland Barreta likes to say, for private accumulation or corporate profit. You have an opportunity to do the right thing again today. Fab Five, stand against, de-sell, do not table it, ditch, de-sell.

Anyone else?

All right. I have a lot I could say, but I'm going to read my prepared remarks just to spare anybody any emotions, any more emotions this evening. My name is Eli McKay, and I live in District 1 on the historic north side. Today, I have the honor of speaking on this item as a coordinator for the Coastal Action Network. The honor of my lifetime to serve as the coordinator of the Coastal Action Network, actually. We are a coalition of six community groups that unanimously oppose the Inner Harbor desalination plant. What I've passed out to you to the dais is a copy of our coalition's online petition so that you all have a copy. It has been signed by nearly over 1,500 Coastal Bend residents over the past just a couple of weeks. These names are a representative sample of the tens of thousands of area residents who strongly oppose this project for a variety of reasons. So on behalf of our coalition, I urge you not only to vote no on the Inner Harbor plant, but also, specifically, direct city staff to discontinue any further effort to develop a facility at this location. I know in the past to get rid of the permits that was led by Chispa Texas. Those are not just numbers on a petition, those are human beings. The negative impacts on the Hillcrest neighborhood, the environmental risks to the bay, and the huge cost to the residential rate payers are each sufficient reasons on their own to permanently shelve this project. Again, taken altogether and along with the fact that you have already made over $1 billion in investments to solve our immediate water crisis, thank you for all that you've done. this year. It is perfectly clear that the time has come to finally, once and for all, put out this dumpster fire and move on. Thank you for your time.

Okay, is that all our public comment? Okay, we're going to close public comment. You can come up front. Whoever else is going to speak, if you'll come sit on this front row on my left side.

Tina Butler, District 2. I just want to end. I know we're all tired. We've been here all night, all day. Just wanted to reiterate that Hillcrest is a neighborhood. Hillcrest was the only neighborhood where African Americans could obtain land. Hillcrest has historical graveyards in it. Hillcrest had a park, Dr. H.J. Williams Park, a.k.a. Hillcrest Park, which still has not been renovated. It's been bulldozed down, but it has not been put back up. Hillcrest is on this side of the freeway, which used to be called the cuts. That freeway was put there to cut the African-Americans off. away from town. Everybody was on this side of town and now Hillcrest is the place that everyone wants to be. Some of the residents that still live there do not or should not have to uproot and move somewhere else and start a new mortgage all over again after their homes have been paid for. We know that the poor, to whoever it is, wants the land. They don't care about their homes or anything like that. They want the land. But the residents should not have to move. The residents should not have to endure any more cancers and so forth. I live right down the street across port on Winnebago Street. After my mother died from breast cancer, I realized that everyone on our row, every female on the road that I lived in in public housing died of breast cancer. And that's because of the wind. They don't need any more industries in their area to cause any more cancers to this neighborhood. Yes, we need decel, but this is not the location. Pick another part of town, but let Hillcrest be. That's all I have to say. Thank you.

Oh, go ahead.

Beatriz Alvarado, District 1. I'm going to stick to my script. I'm here to oppose the Hillcrest desal plant. I'm also here to oppose any desalination plant that would enable further industrial expansion in the coastal bend. It's deeply unpopular, in case you haven't noticed. We don't condone your panic buys that will raise our water rates and make Corpus Christi unaffordable. A lot of us have decided to stay, and we're not going to stop coming to City Council. You've helped industry prep for climate change while leaving residents behind and it's catching up to you. It's really, really awesome to see. You have some of us praying for a hurricane to solve your political problem and it's disgusting. I really wanted to say that out loud. Last thing I'll say is that we've never asked to be on this very expensive sinking ship. I'm here to urge you to figure out a way to cut them off. If not now, then when? This is the only time you will have any leverage. Their stocks are down, oil and gas, fossil fuels are done for, and they're looting cities across the United States, and you're just letting them. We don't belong on the sinking ship. We need water to live. Thank you.

Thank you. All right, we're going to close public comment on item number 11, and we have a motion and a second to table to September 1.

Councilman Scott yeah, yeah, I waited I got my last I'm gonna wait for my second mirror Those are left in the audience. I think it is catastrophic to walk away from this project now I think the impact of defeasement is something we cannot totally comprehend I think there's opportunity for federal monies if we move forward because it is We finished the feasibility study and it's eligible for beer of rec money. I do think the federal government ought to help us on this but only if we can go forward on it. I think the other projects that we like to pitch, sorry, I mean peanuts, it's cheaper, it's $6.50, I think Camille's left us, but he's shown the data that they're more expensive than Inner Harbor. So I think it is a, and I do think, by the way, that Fitch did make comments, at least when they downgraded this, and included that it was in part because the city had canceled plans for a new desalination plant management already expected the water supply to reach critically low levels prior to the cancellation but the desal plant would have provided a more definitive time timeline for conservation and curtailment before supplies became available so there is evidence that it did impact some of our credit ratings um i just think it's i think defeasement is a terrible thing i think the fact that the texas water development board hadn't done it before is catastrophic and i think this is a really big mistake if we walk away from that project tonight thank you yeah i was going to quote the same thing peter yeah i'm going to send you that article and i'm going to share it with the council and it isn't

And that was on the, if I can, Mayor, I asked Michael who was here, but that, right, and that was in the outlook. It's not the rating. Right. Councilman Scott said the rating. What we just read was the outlook, and that's what I said earlier. None of the ratings, there was no citing of the decel in the ratings, but the outlook was. It's still bad.

It's still bad.

It is, but the question was asked about the ratings.

When you came here, our credit rating went up five, three?

Four times, three or four times.

I think maybe four. So a lot of work, I'm preaching to the choir, a lot of work went into you accomplishing that. And that didn't... may have had something to do with the council, but it had everything to do with you and your team and what y'all did behind the scenes to do that. So I am taking, I don't care if it's an outlook. I don't care. I do care if it's a downgrade. I realize that's worse, but there is an effect and it is not good. And so I, I'm, I am, I'm vowing now this last one to go meet with them. Cause I've researched them, researched it to appeal it. And I'm gonna request, I'm gonna put some on the agenda next time or when the next few meetings. We need to know what this means. what the impact of this is. And that's a presentation on what it means for all of these outlook ratings to go down, what it means to the city, what it means to the taxpayer. I mean, this is what we care about. So anyway, that's coming. But I would also add, that Moody's downgraded the Port Authority because of the cancellation of Inner Harbor. This is the kind of thing I'm talking about. We have to be aware, and I'll send you this article as well, because it's from them, that our actions trickle down uh... who was it at the NRA it affected their credit rating of their projects or something wasn't it?

I'm not sure about that but the local governments like uh... the uh... what is it called, San Pat Water District, they were put on negative watch as well, Portland.

Right, it was the NRA, it was their, not NRA but their, one of their projects, something that falls under them. My point is the effect trickles down. And what this reads is almost all of POCA's customers obtain their water from the city of Corpus Christi, which recently canceled plans for a seawater desalination project at the inner harbor. An array of short and long-term solutions are being developed by the city and local industrial users to navigate. They were downgraded. Anyhow, I think we really need to know what the detriment is of being downgraded or whatever, all being dropped from where we were and worked so hard to be. I am echoing the Councilman's remarks. I don't support this and I wish that my colleagues would have seen this differently. I know this has been a council that has been extremely mixed in terms of what's enough water, what projects provide certainty, what doesn't provide certainty, what matters in the short term and the long term. And I wish that today we would have moved this forward for a thousand reasons. And it all has to do with certainty for the people of this city and for this region. I know there's a table, I mean a motion to table on the floor, but I would ask that you would reconsider that motion. Okay, all right, I've tried. I just want to put that on the record. Okay. Please submit your vote.

Well, can you clarify your motion? Is it just 11 or 11 and 12?

On the voting button?

Yes, because he, so I just need to know, because you mentioned that to me, so I just need to know for the record, is it 11 and 12?

It shouldn't be, if I can here, we should, we want to pull 12, we're not sure if the consultants still want to work by that date. Yeah, we'll pull 12. We have to talk to the consultant. We're not sure if they want to work.

So we're going to pull item number, I'll say staff's going to pull item number 12. Yeah, we'll pull 12. All right, so make your vote on item number 11, please, to table to September 1. Okay, the item carries. Okay, there being no further business, this meeting is adjourned.