City Council - Regular Meeting

Well, good morning, everyone. We will officially call this meeting to order. This morning, our invocation will be led by Pastor Rick Milby with the Corpus Christi Cross Project. Thank you.

Thank you for inviting me today. That little pocket cross I gave you is a reminder of the text I want to read to you this morning. I carry one with me everywhere I go. I encourage you as you reach in your coin purse or your pocket to get your keys or a coin, you fill that little cross, be reminded of this scripture in Philippians chapter 2 and make this your prayer for your own personal life. He reads, So if there's any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord, and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only on your own interests, but on the interest of others, having this mind among yourselves through he who is in Christ Jesus. And I know we all agree that we're a broken city today. We need this verse. We need to come together as a people, as a community, as a council, as a city, as pastors and congregations. and unite our hearts together and ask for God's help and blessing upon our city. Every question we have, that one verse I read you is the answer. Christ is the answer for that. And I'm going to pray today, and I'm going to ask you, I didn't come here to pray a formality. I came to pray to invoke the presence of the Most High God. And I want you, if you would please, to join me and make this your prayer personally, as I'm going to make this my prayer personally. I sin like anyone else, and I strive. And when I go through those things, I have to ask God's forgiveness and repentance is so important. And I ask those who are watching my live stream today that you too would join us as a city and pray this prayer for yourself. And those are in the chambers that you would join me in this prayer. Make this your prayer and pray for yourself as well. And so let's pray together. Most gracious God, how grateful we are to come into your presence this morning where we recognize that you're sovereign. You're the answer for every question. And within your counsel, this verse today, Father, we can come together as a city. We've prayed and we've asked for rain and you flooded our lake, Lord, to 91%. We praise you for that. We pray, Lord, that you would help us in our own hearts and minds, God, to work out this unity, Father, to be of that same mind. As in Christ Jesus. God, lift each council member before you. I pray your blessings upon their lives, on their families. I pray, Lord, for our city, for our citizens, for each one who works in our city. God, for all of our employees and those who serve us. I pray, Lord, that you would bless their lives and help them to come together as a city in unity. And God, we pray that as we leave these chambers today, that we know that for sure, that we've heard from the Most High God. We've heard your counsel. And so, God, may this cross be a reminder to us that you're the answer for every problem. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Thank you, Pastor Milby. Our Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States and to the Texas flag will be led by Adam Black, a senior at St. Paul II High School. And we have a couple of information pieces on Mr. Black this morning. He's a three-time TAPS Division III state swim qualifier, and he has also completed college. 40 hours of volunteer for the U.S. Forest Service in Eli, Minnesota. Thank you for taking your time and being here this morning with us, Adam Black.

Thank you. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please join me in honoring the Texas flag. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to the Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.

Thank you, Adam. We wish you the best of luck in all of your endeavors.

Thank you.

At this time, I'll ask our city secretary to please call roll.

Mayor Pro Tem Kaylin Paxson.

Present.

Council Members Roland Barrera. Here. Sylvia Campos. Here. Eric Cantu. Here. Gil Hernandez. Here. Everett Roy. Here. Mark Scott. Here. Carolyn Vaughn. Here. City Manager Peter Zanoni.

Present.

Interim City Attorney Buck Bryce.

Present.

Mayor and Council, a quorum of the Council and the required charter officers are present to conduct the meeting.

Thank you, Rebecca. We will now move on to the City Manager's comments and an update on city operations. Mr. Zanoni.

Great. Good morning, Mayor Pro Tem. Thank you. members of the council and the community. We do have one item on the city manager's report today, and it's going to be given by Robert Dodd, our parks director. It's an end of summer, unfortunately. Our summer's coming to an end report. And so this will relate to our programming that the parks department does, including our pools and splash pads and the beaches that are managed by our parks department. As most students have returned now to the classroom for the 26-27 academic year, the city's pools have been closed for the summer, and Robert will highlight there's still two that will be open through the next season. Splash pads are still open on the weekends, and they'll be open on the weekends through the Labor Day weekend. And then our Bay and Gulf beaches will remain staffed through Labor Day weekend next month. So at this point, that's just a short introduction. Robert Dodd, our parks director, has a presentation that will go through next that will highlight some of this and talk about some programming that exists even after the summer season in our parks department. So, Robert.

Yes, sir. Thank you, Peter. Good morning, Council. Robert Dodd, director of Parks and Recreation. Again, thank you, Peter. I'm very proud of our department and the work we do year-round. This end-of-summer update is just a snapshot of what we do. And this does not include our day-to-day operations, but it highlights our summer programming. So some important dates. We extended our splash pad season to September 7th. It will close September 8th, the day after Labor Day. Again, we're on a modified schedule, Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. And again, on Labor Day, we'll be open on that Monday. Our summer pool season ended August the 9th. Our fall and winter pool schedule started August 10th, and our year-round pools are Collier Pool as well as the Corpus Christi Auditorium. Our beach rescue remained on lifeguard towers in the Gulf beaches through Labor Day. Some numbers... From our pools, our seven pools, there were a total of 105,000 people that visited our pools this year. There's a breakdown of each one. I would like to highlight Greenwood Pool. There was some maintenance issues the past couple of years. We were able to open that about halfway through the season last year, but this year was a full season, and 6,400 people at Greenwood is a great number. So I appreciate our team and our staff for getting that pool up and running.

And, Robert, I know you highlighted that one, but go back, please. Yes, sir. Just the investment that we made at the Bill Witt Aquatic Center speaks volumes there with 60,000 visitors. Yes, sir. So that was a very strategic move to place a pool in that fast-growing south side area where there's a lot of working families. And the evidence is here. I mean, that's the best-used pool in the city's inventory. So this is something that took some vision and planning and, And I would say that the families really enjoy it. Yes, sir. And it's all free to the public.

Yes, sir. Yeah. Again, our summer season was May 23rd through the August 9th. Some beach safety numbers. There were 40,000 plus preventative interactions out at the beach. We provided medical aid 186 times. We had 84 rescues this year. And again, The most important stat is zero deaths due to drowning. So very, very proud of our staff out there, and I'll continue. Our program and our lifeguards are certified through the United States Life Saving Association. Some of the things they've done is they purchased a weather station that will be located in a windward parking lot for weather monitoring to ensure safety of our staff and beach patrons. Again, we mentioned this, I guess, last week that we are in the process of working, getting a drone and working through that to help with some deeper type long distance rescues and searching for missing people. So that's going to be something that we add in the future. Our beach outreach is to help and educate on safety. So know before you go campaign. is a campaign we ran through Facebook on May through September. It targeted the San Antonio area. This focused on our visitors to our Gulf beaches. Also, the safety beach information was distributed at 13 restaurants on North Padre Island. There's an advertisement at La Primera Mall, and beach safety pamphlets distributed to guests in 18 hotel and condominiums on North Padre Island, North Beach, as well as Shoreline Boulevard. There's been 500 beach safety magnets that have been mailed to short-term rental owners and distributed on the beaches. Our junior lifeguard camp, this is the third year that we've offered that. This year we had 15 attendees. It was coordinated by the beach rescue, beach safety outreach coordinator, as well as our lifeguards. And this gives the youth an insight on becoming a beach lifeguard, and hopefully one day we will transition them to hire those young people to full-time for our Parks and Recreation at some point in time. Our summer camp is, we provided a safe place for children from six to 16, and we had approximately 1,500 participants. This was at Oso Recreation Center and Lindell Recreation Center. Some of these activities of the summer camp included arts and crafts, indoor games, field trips, outdoor sports, and nutrition classes. I'd also like to highlight at the Lindell Senior Center and Lindell Rec Center, We had an opportunity at a time that our seniors and our children participated in programming together. So I think that's a win-win for our seniors and our youth. Senior centers. This summer, June and July, we had over 8,000 registered members at our senior centers. We served close to 13,000 meals in June and July to those seniors at senior centers. We worked with Reliant Grant for our Beat the Heat cooling centers. We had fitness classes as well as special events including theme dances, painting classes, and health fair for our seniors. Our after-hour kid power, we had close to 4,000 participants ages 5 to 13. This is in collaboration with the ISDs around. We have one Cal Allen ISD as well as three CCISD campuses that we use. All sites of these field trips, they visited Billwood Aquatic Center and a movie theater, as well as special events, chess tournaments, talent shows, family picnics, and things like that. In addition to the activities, we offered sports camps that the Parks and Recreation put on at our gyms. And also, our Osceola Bay Preserve and Learning Center had 34,000 visitors, which included camps and visitors to this amazing place this summer. Upcoming special events, part events, our Bay Jammin' series runs through August the 20th. And the golf script here, if you've ever driven by there or been down there on the evenings that they have our Bay Jammin' series, there's so many people enjoying the music, enjoying being outside with their families, and there's not a better sight than down there overlooking our bay. So I'm very proud of our Bay Jammin' series. The last Bay Jammin' cinema event was on August 14th. We will continue at See You at the Seawall, held every Saturday, May 23rd through September 5th for Labor Day weekend from 5 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. along the Miradors No. 6, No. 7, as well as the Great Lawn at Water's Edge. There's a community health fair August 29th at Ethel Eyerly from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. And events are all free, and by all means, everyone is invited to attend. I'd also like to add... On our last slide here, please keep up with our events and our program and on social media. And you can always visit our website at ccparksandrec.com. And that's the end of my report. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Don.

That concludes our presentation this morning. Unless there's any questions from the council, may I pro tem?

Councilman Hernandez.

You know, I was the champion behind the Bill Whitpool. And I remember I got all the jokes about it, Gilly World, Gil Whitpool, right? But, you know, ultimately it was the right thing to do, and the numbers are proving that out. And, you know, it's great to see that the health and wellness and the associated with parks issues is coming to fruition through this project. And it is, you know, at some point, I hope the pool in the Hillcrest area or the Washington Coles area will kind of have some similar aspects in programming. I would like to see Bill Witt be more year-round, especially with the lap pool. Since it is heated, maybe at some point we'll be able to do that. But ultimately, I think it was a great project. Highly accepted by the community. The numbers show it. 60,000 people going to the poll this year in the summer. Only in the summer. So it's a tremendous win for us as a city. Thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay. We have about 13 minutes before noon, so we'll move into our consent agenda. That is items 2 through 12. Do we have any number two, three, 12 that we'd like to pull? Council members, are we?

Okay, we're gonna ask for a public comment during the item, so it's okay if we address it in case somebody was asking.

You'd like to pull number seven?

Number three? Number 11, correct, number 11. Staff is asking, is requesting to pull number 11.

We're gonna make a floor amendment on number 11.

Okay. Any other numbers, council members? Do I have any requests to pull an item from the audience? No, okay then with that I will ask for public comment on consent agenda items two through 12 with the exception of three, seven and 11. Do we have any public comment on the other items? No, then with that we will entertain a motion to approve consent agenda two through 12 with the exceptions of three, seven and 11.

I move for approval. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Please cast your votes. Okay, that motion passes. All right, then we can move on to our, we still have 10 minutes. Let's go ahead and do item number three, which was the first one that was pulled. And council member Contu, I think you pulled that one. Okay, go ahead.

Is anybody here? Peter?

Got my steps in. Yes, sir.

This is the Dollar General, right? Yes, it is. Okay. The notices you sent out to the neighborhood, how many people responded back to it?

For the zoning, I mean, for the annexation, I don't believe I had zero and zero. Zero inside and zero outside responding.

How many notices went out?

We had 23 notices mailed within the 210 outside. Okay.

I've been getting a lot of pushback on it since last week. Is there any way that we can table this until the next council meeting?

I'm very – if that's a motion that we'd like to entertain, that's fine.

I'd like to make a motion to table number –

to table.

I just got some concerns and I want to talk to some people in my district. I got maybe like 22, 23 emails about this store being behind their neighborhood. So I just want to talk to them and see what's going on because they're claiming that they didn't get any notices or anything like that.

Okay. Mr. Dice, is there an urgency to pass today? Okay. Okay, so then we have a motion to table to the next agenda. Is that time for you, Council Member?

Yes, perfectly fine. I just want to have a chance to talk to these people.

Okay. We have a motion to table to August 25th. We have a motion and a second. Council Member Hernandez?

We're talking about the one that's on Weber that's over by the London area? Correct. As I recall, the people that are behind it are not in the city limits, right? Correct. Okay, all right, thank you.

Okay, second. I'm so sorry, who seconded the motion?

Sylvia Carlos, yes. We will go to any public comment on item number three? Seeing none, then we can, Rebecca, if you would queue up the vote for the table, or do you want it to be a voice vote?

Can we do a voice vote on this one, please?

All in favor to table item three, say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. The motion carries, now we can vote on the item.

No ma'am, so we voted to table it, so we'll vote on it next time, yeah.

Thank you, so sorry, so sorry about that. Okay, we will move to the second pulled item, which is item number seven, Councilman Hernandez, I believe you pulled that one. Go ahead.

Okay, I know that Michael Rodriguez had mentioned that he wanted to talk to me about it this morning, didn't get the chance to talk about it, so I want to kind of understand how this all came about, and I only see one location in the city, and then a possible new location a little bit down the road from there, but I'm not sure how that helps with You know all the employees that are spread out throughout the city to go to these one location for their primary care services So kind of try to explain that please Yes, sir.

Rebecca Castillo the HR director. My apologies. I was running down here. I didn't realize they're gonna stop this right now So how we came about this is that a couple years ago We were looking at concentra and really trying to figure out how we can utilize them outside of the city. So outside of being here at City Hall. Unfortunately, that was not something that they were able to provide. So then we went back and started looking at different, actually other clinics that were either be here locally, nationally, Texas, so forth. So we went through the whole process. It came down to four different vendors that went through the RFP process. And we selected Next Level. So as you can see, Next Level currently has one location that's going to be off Everhart and SPID. There will be a second location that's going to be off Saratoga and Cimarron at this time. There could be other locations that will be provided for the city employees. And how we actually came to those different locations was by looking at the zip code of employees. So we first identified how many employees live certain zip codes and then from there we were able to identify or with a help of next level to identify the space provided throughout the city and that's how we came up with those two locations are there going to be more beyond those two like up in the northwest or you know so there is still some thoughts on that sir they are also going to be providing services to two other companies here, so CCISD as well as support. So we do believe probably the next year or so there are going to be multiple locations across the city. I can't guarantee you where that location is going to be at because that's still, I don't have that information with me. It has not yet been provided. But I do believe that they are going to be able to provide additional locations throughout the city.

Okay, and this does not prevent city employees from keeping their current doctor if they want to keep them, right?

So the employees that currently work with Concentra, from my understanding, they're going to continue to work with Concentra. I do know that Next Level did actually conduct some interviews and had some sort of gathering with our current Concentra employees. Unfortunately, I'm not able to speak to if any, who has made an offer or not, going to next level.

Councilman, is your question, this doesn't replace somebody's primary care provider? Oh, sorry, it does not. This is auxiliary, it's like, you know, I don't know how auxiliary, but it's an additional service opportunity if employees want to go to this clinic.

Okay, so you're looking at urgent care, so someone after hours on the weekend or... Right. Something to where they can go if they can't get an appointment right away or something along those lines.

So this is to try and supplement this? It could actually be used for primary care, urgent care, chronic care. It could be used for immunizations. It offers a lot of services. It is seven days a week, nine to nine, as well as having a 24-hour virtual to be able to speak to a doctor in need. So they're not closed for the holidays. Currently with our current vendor today, they are Monday through Friday, normal business hours.

Okay. Thank you.

Councilman Barrera.

Thank you, Mayor Potem. First off, Rebecca, I want to commend you and Desiree and the rest of your team. You know, this is something that the nation is really engaging in. And so you guys here at the forefront in Corpus Christi, typically things happen to us late because we don't have the market of San Antonio, Houston, Austin. We just don't have the numbers. And for an explanation for my colleagues is what this is is that it's a cost per employee per month. And the good thing is is that we just talked about in the budget last week about how we have all those stop loss claims that are below the spec. And so we've had an abundance of all those claims. And what this does is that it relieves the it provides access to care at zero cost.

Yes, sir.

So what it does is it reduces the barrier of blue collar employees from reduces the barrier. And what happens is free is compelling. Free is compelling. So if you do live in Cal Allen and you're going to come to wherever the clinic is, no cost is compelling. I know, I mean, I did something similar to this at RTA on a smaller version of what we could do in Corpus Christi with Spahn. But that's what it was, is that we had several clinics that we worked with where it was no cost. But this one is, the service is so much, so comprehensive now that I, pun intended, it's next level. And I think the things that you've done, it doesn't alleviate the primary care physician. And in a situation right now, if you want to see your primary care physician, you're not going to get in. You can't just walk into your primary care physician. You have to make an appointment. And, I mean, I had to make an appointment for my mom's cardiologist. We had something that delayed. And so it delayed our primary care appointment, and now we're down by two weeks. And so what you have now is that you have this availability, and it's been proven, it reduces hypertension, reduces hyperlipidemia, it reduces, what is it, diabetes? And so this is a great program that, once again, It's the cost of the health plan, but it reduces the overall claims cost. And then on top of that, it reduces our renewal. And most of our employees are in a high-deductible health plan. So what happens if they've exhausted those funds, they have a resource to go at no cost. I know we didn't visit. I looked at it comprehensively. I just can't tell you how proud I am of the work that you and your team have done because for the city of Corpus Christi, for us to be the leader, this is something that I've been, I was very proud of. And I'll say one last thing. One of the things that, and one of the issues that I've dealt with in our industry is for here in the region, you know, we only have two dermatologists here in town. And if you have skin cancer, what is it you have to, what is it, you're going to have to probably go to San Antonio, you know. And so what happens is the challenge is, is you don't have people seeing primary care, chronic disease management, on the front end. So I think it's gonna be long-term, the claims are gonna go down, and you're gonna have happier employees that are gonna come to work, and there's not gonna be a reason for them to miss work. So obviously I support this. In fact, I know there's two other people who wanna speak, but I move to approve.

Thank you, sir.

Next, Councilman Vaughn. I kind of visited with you all yesterday about this. So there's not zero cost. It's going to cost the city, what, $5,700,000? Is that what I'm reading here?

Over a three-year contract. Over a three-year contract.

Yes, ma'am. Yeah, I know, I know. But you definitely need to do something, because if we're $6 million, that's bad. That's so very bad. But my question is this, and we talked about it. Do they have any responsibility as... employees and patients about what they do. Like, I would think that if you go to the emergency room because you're sick, that would cost more instead of going to the doctor.

Yes, ma'am.

So could you tell me about how much money we have spent for emergency rooms? Do you have any idea?

So, yes, ma'am. So, so far, looking at just looking at this current year for the past 12 months, we have spent about $4.7 million in emergency room costs.

And some of them could have actually been an emergency.

Yes, ma'am.

But a lot of them aren't. They go there instead of going to the doctor. So to me, the employees have to be responsible for their own care as well, like most businesses are. I know we have that. You have to be responsible. And I think the police have something different where they have so much, I'm not for sure, so much that they're allocated. And that makes them responsible for their care. I think the fire is the same as ours. Am I right?

So police and fire are both on the high deductible plan. They are responsible for managing the funds and so forth. What we did put in place for the civilians is we did a plan change for fiscal 26 to be able to hold employees accountable and actually did a surcharge of $250. So they actually went to the emergency and it was non-emergent. They would be required to actually pay the city $250.

And I'm not being ugly, but we all have to be responsible because the health care has skyrocketed. So we have to be because it's going to hurt them in the long run if we can't get good insurance because we're not being responsible for our own plan. And I agree, we have to do something. So thank you for your hard work. Yes, ma'am.

Councilwoman Campos. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Mine is going to be quick. Yesterday when we spoke, I wanted you to repeat what kind of savings we're going to have and why this will help the city employees and, of course, the budget. So can you please tell us how much we're gonna be saving using this?

Yes, so when we looked at, when we did our budget for this year, we were very conservative of doing a one-to-one savings. even though Next Level had provided us the 2 to 1, doing our research and looking at different references, they actually did receive the 2 to 1 savings. And so when we looked at our... I'm trying to go to my page where I highlighted all this stuff. Oh, thank you, sir. Sorry, I moved my page. So we're looking at a 25% reduction in spend on emergency room. So for The analysis that we did, we looked at fiscal 25 because we had to look at the whole year and what our spend was. And this is the information that was provided to Next Level. So last year, we spent $4.2 million. And we're looking to save at least, at a minimum, a million dollars in emergency spend. In urgent care, we spent about $87,000. And we are looking to save 90% of that spend because Next Level is going to be able to provide that urgent care with zero cost to the employee.

And that you told us that they were going to offer us a guarantee.

Yes, ma'am. So they are able to guarantee that if we are not expected to receive the savings that they have put out for us, then per the contract, we will actually be able to get that reimbursement from them. Very good. Okay. So thank you. Yes, ma'am. All right.

So I already second this.

Excellent. We'll finish questions. Council Member Scott?

i try not to do a lot of this because we got a lot of work to do but i want to tell you i want i appreciate the presentation you gave it was straight mark scott language small words short sentences a lot of math made sense thank you for the work that you've done and i look forward to next year if i'm here seeing that um that negative going down so i think that's that's the issue i think we're all Anyone that's here next year needs to look at the commitments made today and see what effects they have a year from now. Yes, sir, thank you. Thank you for the presentation. Thank you.

I think Councilwoman Vaughn had some great points about the costs and... the impact of what happens, whether or not the access to the appropriate services are available to our staff. And I think you shared with me that about 6,100 members take advantage of these services. And so that's a large demographic of our community. And so I'm encouraged that with this transition, there's more access to services that can meet their needs more specifically. That is a huge impact to their quality of life, which is very important. But it's also a savings to the city. So thank you for this. And it looks like I have one more question from Council Member Cantu. Thank you, ma'am.

Peter, can we use the clinic for the city secretary's office expanded?

Yeah, right. So we've already, so the existing space that's here at City Hall, Rebecca and I have had conversations. We're going to turn it over to Rebecca for council and city secretary of use.

Perfect.

Yes, sir. And our asset management director knows as well already. So Juan's already been here.

Rebecca's going to be really excited.

Yeah, Rebecca is. Yeah, so no problem there. It'll be a good location.

I really don't like to have our offices on the sixth floor because it's just depressing up there. Shh. So I don't use it, I know Gil uses it all the time, but I would like to have some type of offices downstairs so we can meet with people.

Right, we're gonna recreate it for y'all. All right, thank you.

Added positives all the way around. Thank you, Rebecca. Thank you so much. Okay, we have a motion and a second on the floor. If I have any public comment on item seven. Okay, seeing none, we can take the vote, Ms. Rebecca. Okay, perfect. It is 12.07. We will break really quickly to public comment and then finish our last item that was pulled from the consent. Before we begin public comment, I want to remind everyone that the City Council has adopted rules of decorum to help ensure our meetings remain orderly, respectful, and productive. Copies of the rules of decorum are available in the City Secretary's office across the hall. and are also available on the city's website. I ask everyone to please conduct themselves accordingly. We are here to do the people's work and we would like to proceed in that spirit. When you come forward, please state your name and the city in which you reside before beginning your comments. In-person speakers will have up to three minutes. For callers and WebEx participants, Corpus Christi residents will have up to three minutes, and non-residents will have up to one minute. The timer located at the city secretary's desk will help keep everyone within the allotted time. If you have a petition or other materials you would like the council to receive, please provide them to the city secretary before you begin speaking. And this morning, we have about 23, 24... names on our list, beginning with Dr. Kirsten Stanzel.

Good morning, Mayor Pro Tem and Council Members. My name is Kirsten Stansel, and I'm the Executive Director for the Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program. Our organization has a long history of working with the city on efforts that benefit our community. We're currently working on several projects with the Parks and Rec Department, but this support doesn't stop at public access. We are doing our best to support the city's efforts to diversify the region's water supply by engaging with city staff and consultants on topics like desal and wastewater reuse. These examples reflect the kind of partnership we hope to continue. However, I am here today to state that I strongly oppose any change to the agreed order unless that change is developed, evaluated, and recommended through the process established by the agreed order, including review by the Nueces Estuary Advisory Council, or NIACC. The agreed order includes a process for considering changes, and any proposed modification, even temporary, should be evaluated through the NEAC, where the tough discussions can happen and decisions are made that consider both the water supply and the health of the bay. We now have real-world evidence of what happens when inflows are reduced. Since releases were suspended in 2024, salinities in Nueces Bay and the Nueces Delta steadily increased until the spring of 2026, with the bay reaching 40 parts per thousand and the delta exceeding 50 parts per thousand. These conditions are saltier than the Gulf of Mexico, saltier than the Gulf, and are far outside the historic range of one of our most important estuary habitats. The salinity data provides concrete evidence that the suspension of releases has an impact on our bay, despite what is being said publicly. I also want to make sure you are aware that the public discussion, in our opinion, has not adequately reflected how the agreed order works. The release volumes that are often cited are target volumes. I want to say that again, target volumes, not necessarily the amount of water that must be released from the reservoir. Since 2001, the average target release has been just over 75,000 acre feet per year, but the average required release has actually been 37,000 acre feet per year. This reduction is mainly driven by the provision in the agreed order that is designed to protect our water supply. No required release shall ever be greater than the measured inflow to the reservoir system, meaning as soon as inflow into the reservoir system is reduced, such as following a flood event, regardless of the current combined reservoir level, required releases can be reduced or suspended, and this has been the primary condition controlling the volume of water that is released. So after accounting for spills and return flows, of that 37,000 acre-feet that has been required, the average annual volume represented in actual demand on the water supply is closer to 24,564 acre-feet. This dynamic means that publicly stated target release volumes in the hundreds of thousands of acre feet do not accurately reflect the agreed order's demand on water supply and the potential savings are being significantly overstated. I want to end by saying that CBBP is not trying to fight the city and we are not saying the agreed order should never be changed. In fact, we believe adaptive management is important and we want to work with the city. There are likely opportunities to improve how fresh water is delivered so we achieve greater benefits with less water. Less water. That's what we want. But we want those changes to be based on sound science, transparent analysis, and the collaborative process that has guided the estuary for decades. Thank you.

Thank you, Dr. Stanzel. Bradley Bartleson.

We can use the far field model stuff to help. model and control that. Brad Bartelsen, Corpus Christi. Water scarcity, overpriced water projects, special deals, and a behemoth data center consuming vast resources without public awareness display privileged access. An aristocracy-controlled government, covert groups forging paths ahead of citizen input, deny fair representation and economic development council bias towards all growth is good, pushes tax abatements, bad deals for the citizens. Inner Harbor is an example with over 24 years in the works with Hillcrest residents and property acquisitions occurring without their awareness for many years. The earliest studies of marine life impact dating back to 2011 were negative, yet these were not publicized. All this while the project went from 160 million to a billion. The monster-sized data center surprised the entire community with no opportunity to stop it. Yet there is an aristocracy aware of it 14 years ago. Crypto mining bootstrap energy got a $70 million tax abatement on claims of 100 jobs, no water use, then gets an even better deal. from our city management using 600 homes worth of water during the drought and we ended up with maybe eight jobs, a few thousand in taxes instead of millions. So how do we clean this up, restore trust? Politicians would have us believe it is solved by electing new leaders. Yet those declaring themselves as honest have been bent over to inside deals when facing election pressure and or financial gain. We need process changes that force and enforce integrity. We need reporting at the earliest stages of potential projects. Instead of platitudes, we need cost-benefit analysis performed. and shared on all major projects, exposing all factors and their weights to make good and fair judgment. Our government needs common man representation. Existing paltry pay for council and mayor makes for aristocracy only. We enable the common man to take office by giving fair pay for a day's work, 75 K for a council, a hundred K for the mayor, allowing the common man to leave their job. Secondly, we limit campaign contributions to 50 bucks giving the common man equal influence. We limit candidate self contribution to one K with our time left. This table is an example of collecting the cost benefit of water resource project options with risk factoring, giving the complete picture. Having city management perform this work, sharing it with the citizens before paths are plowed, builds team, trust, and unity. Numbers unite, opinions divide. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bartleson. Vidal Conde.

Good morning, City Council. I'm Vidal Conde, District 1, Corpus Christi, Texas. Good afternoon, actually. I always say good morning, but I know it's noon. The reason I'm here today is I represent District 1. And, you know, District 1 is a diverse district. It stems all the way from north from Cal Allen, Anneville, all down Refinery Row, I-37. We have Westside. We have Hillcrest. And then we have all of the downtown area. That's District 1. And within the downtown area, you have the marinas. You know, you have the Lawrence Tea Heads and the Cooper Tea Heads and so on and so forth. And then further up north, you have North Beach, okay? And recently, I had the opportunity and the honor to meet with the North Beach Association. Actually, it's the North Beach Community Association, to be exact. And they have a lot of endeavors there, you know, and... And in speaking with them, they really want to boost up their tourism. I know that the GLO recently had provided some funds for them to do something with their sidewalk that goes alongside from the Texas State Aquarium and the USS Lexington all the way up north due to the erosion. So I heard and listened, and they voiced their positives and also what they would like to see for their specific community. And with that, we have a tremendous lot of footprint there for the growth of tourism, I think. You know, I think that there's room for a lot, there's a lot of parking space. And I think that in the near future, we might want to consider doing some type of a touristic maritime project there. Maybe, you know, a large vessel of some type that could fit a tremendous amount of people and be able to stimulate the hotel, stimulate the economy, stimulate the tourism, increase jobs for the community. I think that District 1 deserves a lot of attention, but I think that the one that's been overdue for the tourism are the marinas at the T-Heads and North Beach. I know that there's been revamping of the infrastructure there. I've seen the drainage pipes that have been set there. But also remember that with room and growth also comes the responsibility to place some kind, in the near future, a police substation possibly there at North Beach. And also kind of like similar to Anneville. You know, we have a substation there. Also like in West Gooth Park. Now we have a police substation there. And I think that North Beach would eventually, to give it that better ambiance, a safer feel for tourism and for the expansion, to bring in a police substation there. And again, a firefighter substation there. in North Beach. But that community needs to be reached out to. The North Beach community is very receptive. So with that, I'd like to thank you for your time. Vidal Conde, District 1.

Thank you, Mr. Conde. Valerie Robles.

Valerie Robles, District 1. Good afternoon. My name is Valerie Robles. I'm the resource director at Esperanza de Tejas. For me, this work is personal because I know the names and stories of the people who walk through our doors. They're not numbers or cases. They're our neighbors. Some come in directly from the street just needing to cool off. We've even found people outside going through dumpsters, and instead of sending them away, we actually invite them in, see what we can help them with, treat them with dignity, and receive a warm meal. One day a lady came in with hardly any clothing on. She had blisters on her feet and was barefoot. I asked her to come on in and take a seat, and I kneeled down, cleaned her up, cared to her feet, and went to the back to see if I could find her some shoes that would accommodate her feet. I even helped her. I found her some slippers that could accommodate her feet again, and then I went to the back and helped her apply for housing as well. All she needed was the resources to try to get her off the street. Now other women come in and simply needing clothing, somewhere to clean up, feminine products, private place to change, and somewhere safe to cool off. We've even experienced women coming in and sharing their stories about abuse and broken bones they've experienced. Hearing those stories stay with you. We can't change what happened to them before they walk through our doors, but we can show them that somebody still cares. We can give them a meal, clean clothing, help them with the resources that they need right there and then, and help find them benefits and remind them that they still matter. That's why HHSP funding is so important. It will allow us to continue our outreach and keep our resource center open as a safe haven for people who may not yet see the light at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes hope begins with a meal, a clean shirt, a pair of shoes, or someone kneeling beside you and reminding you that you're not alone. Street outreach allows us to reach people who may be afraid to ask for help or people who have been turned away so many times that they no longer believe anyone will listen. Every connection gives us another chance to build trust, meet immediate needs, and guide someone towards shelter, medical care, identification, employment, or other long-term support. We cannot build that trust if we are not consistently present. Please support HHSP funding for Esperanza Tetejas so we can continue to meet people where they are, restoring dignity and helping our most vulnerable neighbors take their next step towards safety stability and stability. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Robles. Sondra Myers. Bridget Vela.

Bridger Vela, District 1. Good afternoon. My name is Bridger Vela, and I am the community navigator at Esperanza de Tejas. I first came to Esperanza as an intern while working towards my degree in counseling. I thought I was coming to learn, but after spending time at the resource center and seeing the realities our neighbors face every day, I knew I wanted to do more. During the summer heat, I watched 209 unhoused community members walk through our doors simply looking for a safe place to cool off. While they were there, they could charge their phones, get a snack, find clean clothing and hygiene items, and sit down for a warm meal. Several told us that the Rotoma Central Library was too far away and the air street station near Ayers was also too far for them to reach. For many, Esperanza was the only accessible place where they could find relief, dignity, and someone willing to help. I have also seen beginning volunteers with us because they hoped a child might come through our doors for a male. That crushed me as a mama. It shows that the people we serve are not numbers on a report. They are parents, children, and families doing everything they can to make it through another day. What has changed me most is seeing how quickly a person's situation can change. Someone can lose housing, transportation, employment, or family support and suddenly have nowhere else to turn. At Esperanza, we do not begin by asking what someone did wrong. We begin by asking what they need right now and what we could do to help them take the next step forward. Esperanza de Tejas is a phenomenal candidate for both the HHSP General Set Aside and Youth Set Aside funding. This support will help us continue serving some of our community's most vulnerable residents with food, basic necessities, guidance, and companionship. I hope you will support both funding recommendations so we can continue meeting people where they are. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Vela. Gabrielle Longoria.

Hello, my name is Gabriel Longoria, and I'm from District 1. Good afternoon. I'm a volunteer and dedicated supporter of Esperanza de Tejas. My work at Esperanza, the work at Esperanza does is personal to me because I have experienced homelessness myself. I know what it feels like to need help, to wonder where you will sleep, and to try to hold onto your dignity while trying to figure out how to make it through the next day. Because of that experience, I understand how much it matters when someone opens a door without judging you or making you prove that you are worthy of help. I have seen that approach in action at Esperanza. I have watched people come through the Resource Center for a warm meal, clean clothing, hygiene products, and a safe place where someone sees them as a person. I have seen families who were separated because they had to stay in different shelters come to Esperanza for help. Parents have found work clothes for their first day on a new job, along with hygiene products and food to help their family make it until that first paycheck arrives. I have also seen parents staying in shelters come in needing diapers and formula for their babies. Esperanza meets them with compassion, and gives them what they need without adding more shame or barriers to an already difficult situation. My family and I have been dedicated supporters because we have seen this impact firsthand. Esperanza does more than just distribute supplies. It helps people keep going, rebuild stability, and believe that their circumstances do not define their future. I also know that stability does not happen all at once. Sometimes the first step is not housing. Sometimes it's a shower, clean clothes, a phone charge long enough to call an employer, or enough food to think clearly about tomorrow. Esperanza understands that small acts of support can become the bridge between surviving one more night and beginning to rebuild an entire life. Esperanza de Tejas deserves both the HHSP General Set-Aside and Youth Set-Aside funding. This support will allow the organization to continue serving families, young people, and unhoused neighbors with dignity when they need it most. Thank you all.

Thank you, Mr. Longoria. Sandra Myers? Yes. Okay, thank you. Mr. Folliwell? Marielena Garza.

Marilena Garza, District 1. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. My name is Marilena Garza, and I'm the founder and CEO of the free store Corpus Christi. We're a 501c3 nonprofit that works directly with people experiencing extreme poverty and houselessness. We provide things that sound simple, shoes that fit, appropriate clothing, hygiene supplies, food, first aid, and a place where someone can finally catch their breath. and start navigating the incredibly complex network of poverty reduction. The idea that houselessness only happens to bad people who made bad choices is a comforting fairy tale for a lot of people. The number one growing group of homeless people are seniors who have never been homeless before. And it's going to get bad. But it doesn't have to be this way here in Corpus Christi. We already have an incredible network of organizations. My organization partners with Just Miss Charities, Junior League, Esperanza de Tejas, Coastal Bend Center for Independent Living, Come Dream, Come Build, 100 Women of the Coastal Bend, Habitat for Humanity, Mission 911, Cinecor, La Amistad, Head Start, Nueces County Health District, and the list goes on. what we are missing is municipal coordination and that becomes even more important when we look beyond corpus christi san antonio is facing a projected budget deficit of approximately a hundred million dollars while other major texas cities are also facing serious fiscal pressures if larger cities reduce housing outreach or safety net services those effects don't stop at their city limits we are part of the same regional system We cannot wait for that crisis to arrive here. We must be proactive. That is why I'm asking council to establish a dedicated houselessness department and a houselessness advisory board. And I want to be clear, I'm not asking for another broken bureaucratic system. I'm asking for infrastructure. We need one place responsible for coordinating our nonprofits, service providers, health care, housing, law enforcement, businesses, and people with lived experience. We need reliable data showing who is being served, where the gaps are, and what outcomes we are achieving. And critically, we need that structure to position Corpus Christi to pursue federal, state, and philanthropic resources. You cannot effectively compete for resources you cannot clearly measure. A dedicated department gives us that coordination, data, accountability, and strategy necessary to move forward. We already have the organizations. We have the people. What we need now is the municipal structure to bring it all together. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Garza.

Cecilia Nasaldana, Corpus Christi, Texas. I'm sorry, the person I wanted to direct is not here. Citizens have every right to come before you in this council and speak their minds. When you are elected, you do not show support just for the people that voted for you. You represent every single person, every single citizen. Public officials should never criticize, insult, or belittle citizens simply because those citizens disagree with them. When you hold public office, criticism comes with the responsibility. Your response should be professional, respected, and accountable. When you go on radio shows like the Larry Elizondo Show and you criticize people that oppose you simply because they oppose you and you criticize them and belittle them, it is wrong. You have five more months approximately to sit in those offices. Right where you are, you have time to take care of business, and I mean business, water. We need a long-term solution for water. You hear about the homeless. You need to take care of some of those. You need to take care of problems that are important to this community. You need to stop thinking of yourself as superheroes and gods, because you are not. Some of you will return to those chairs. Some of you will not return to them. And there will be a whole group of people. My hope is that the people that sit in those chairs are the ones that care about everybody. Everyone that comes before you, whether they agree with you or disagree with you, you should be able to take the criticism. When people come before you and oppose you, it's not disrespect, it's democracy. It's what we're here for. When we bring you concerns, they're from citizens. And unlike the public opinion that everybody gets paid for, it's only the people that oppose you that are supposedly getting paid for. This is a democracy. This is the time the citizens have a right to speak. And it is your duty to listen and to make decisions. Because sometimes you don't get the whole picture. It is brought before you. So I ask you, remember you have time left to serve. And that time should be used constructively and for the right of people to be heard. and not the right of people to be criticized because they express their opinion. Have a blessed day.

Thank you, Ms. Saldana. Scott Barraza.

Good afternoon, Scott Barraza. Merriam-Webster defines rape as one, a sexual assault... Two, an outrageous violation. Three, an act or instance of robbing or despoiling. In terms of groundwater, the city is a rapist. The wells are no longer a temporary thing. We've gone from temporary to water diversification to now we're using the wells to keep the lakes full. Peter Zanoni on July 27th in a presser mentioned using the groundwater to keep the lakes full. Peter's a rapist. Mark Scott, about a week later, went on the radio advocating to use 70 MGDs from the Mary Roads Pipeline and the demand of the balance of 60 MGDs to come from the lake of 40 MGDs and 20 MGDs from the groundwater in order to keep the lakes full. Mark's a rapist. Those on council and staff are either a rapist or an accomplice. Everyone has gone along with the unsustainable pumping levels. you're depleting two sources simultaneously. The evaporation rate from the August 17th pass-through report, Choke Canyon, 287 acre-feet, Lake Corpus Christi, 423 acre-feet, Combined, 710 acre feet per day. Your pumping volumes last week were 6 to 12 million gallons a day. The total acre feet pump was 206.78 acre feet. You averaged 29.54 acre feet a day of groundwater pumped. You're losing over 700 acre feet per day to evaporation, and you think the 29.5 acre feet pumping will make a difference. In terms of groundwater pumped as a percentage of evaporation, it's around 10.3% for choke. 6.9% for Lake Corpus Christi, 4.1% combined. All you're doing is depleting the aquifer, your emergency source. So much for temporary. It's impossible to pump your way to a full lake or even to maintain lake levels. You'd rather the lake water evaporate than be used and drain the aquifer instead. How asinine is that? If we've gone from stage three to stage two, we talk now about going to stage one, why hasn't the pumping ceased? Is it to keep the lakes full? Are we trading low lake levels for low aquifer levels? Out of sight, out of mind? And after, since February, I'm still waiting on that written well mitigation plan. There's no signs of one actually being drafted. And all this time I thought it wasn't going to happen because of liability avoidance. But I've come to the realization it's not because of that. It's because why would a rapist care about mitigating the damage that they cause? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Barraza. Amanda Gomez? Yes.

conversation about accusing council members of rape i don't know if that's somebody just needs to tell me if that's okay because i probably have been called worse along the way but i just just at some point somebody reach out to me and explain that i think that was a little over the top personally thank you mr scott

Amanda Gomez, resident District 5. Good afternoon. I'm here today to thank city staff for recommending Mother Teresa Shelter for the 2027 HHSP General Set-Aside Funding. On behalf of our Executive Director, Kathy Pecker, Sister Rensi, our Shelter Supervisor, our Board of Directors, and our unhoused community, we are extremely grateful for this recommendation. Mother Teresa Shelter received the highest score of the applications reviewed, and we are very proud of that because it reflects not only the strength of our proposal, but our ability to put these dollars to work effectively. At the same time, with all gratefulness, I want to respectfully use this opportunity to advocate for additional funding for the shelter should Council consider making adjustments to the recommended allocations. The reality is that the proposed funds, they will help. They absolutely will help. And again, we're very grateful for them. But it does not fully meet the level of need we are currently seeing or the level of intervention necessary to make room towards the pathway of hope to housing stabilization. Our shelter serves individuals at some of the most difficult points in their lives. Again, we're the largest day shelter in Corpus Christi. And while we do meet every individual where they are providing that meal, the shower, the lockers, respite from the elements, especially right now in the summertime heat, our ultimate goal is to help people move forward from homelessness to housing stability. That takes consistent case management. It takes time to build trust with those individuals, and it also takes financial resources to be put into action, whether that means helping with a deposit, transportation, mental health services, or whatever other barriers stand between those individuals and housing stability. We want to be able to, in full confidence, say we can help you take the next step. and actually have the resources to be able to follow through on that. Again, we are incredibly grateful. I cannot say that enough, especially with city staff just being amazing, reading all the proposals and for all the great organizations that are here. But we, again, also respectfully ask to consider whether greater investment towards our original request is possible, particularly given the strength of our application. Our original proposal stated that we can serve 225 individuals through case management services, although with less funding on that based off of the recommendation, we can serve about 61 through case management. 90 individuals can be served through financial assistance of our original proposal, and as of now with the recommendation, zero. We won't be able to serve any through financial assistance. Additional funding would not simply expand our budget. It would expand our ability to produce the outcomes that we, all of us, the city, wants to see. Individuals, fewer individuals remaining unsheltered, those successfully connected to housing, and so on. Thank you for your consideration and the opportunity to advocate on behalf of our unhoused community.

Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Gomez. Candace Cloud.

Good afternoon. My name is Candace Cloud, District 3 Recovery Program Supervisor with the Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, Coastal Bend. Our mission, first of all, we would like to thank you, City Council members, for the funding and the opportunity to participate in the Homeless Housing and Services Program Youth HHSP 2026. Our mission, the Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, Coastal Bend, is a private nonprofit organization that serves a multi-county region with a continuum of care. prevention, intervention, and treatment of the disease of alcoholism and other substance use for individuals, families, and communities. I would like to give you an overview of the services we provide to the community. Treatment program, we offer intense outpatient treatment services for youth and adults 13 and up. We provide individual and group counseling along with family component and case management. Veterans program, who qualifies? Active duty military, veterans with any discharge status, including honorable, general, under honorable, OTH, bad conduct, dishonorable, or dismissed. Veterans program offers general financial assistance. Project LEAP. Pregnant and Parenting Intervention Program provides caring, confidential support for pregnant individuals and families and children up to age six who have a past or present substance use disorder. PPI helps reduce the risk of substance-exposed pregnancies and strengthens long-term family wellness. Prevention program, we offer two curriculums, life skills training and curriculum-based support groups. These services promote a drug-free community, help encourage youth and families to make healthy choices through education in our school system. Youth recovery community, the program I supervise, works with youth. known by its acronym, YREC, offers aftercare treatment for ages 13 and up. We provide one-on-one peer coaching, group sessions, activities with family component, supportive case management, education, employment resources, and transportation assistance. We would like to thank you for considering the Council for HHSP Youth 2027. Any additional funding would be greatly appreciated, which allows us to continue serving our community. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Cloud. Kristen Heslip, I apologize. I am so sorry.

Good afternoon. My name is Kristen Heslip, District 33. Today, I'm a proud board member of Esperanza de Tejas, and I'm here today to speak about what Esperanza de Tejas is building for families and the most vulnerable in our community. Esperanza's approach is innovative because it does not ask people to overcome a maze of barriers before they can receive help. Families are welcomed with dignity. The unhoused are met with a smile and a trusted place where their needs will be met. Since the Esperanza de Tejas Resource Center opened on May 20th, 2026, more than 790 people have walked through its doors. That number represents parents finding diapers, wipes, formula, hygiene products, food, clothing, and school necessities. It represents young people using the computer and homework lab, children finding books, and a safe place to play. and families being connected to counseling, health services, tutoring, parenting support, workforce resources, and community partners. Our unhoused neighbors coming in to charge their phone, get a warm meal, and change into clean clothes. What makes our resource center different is that it does not operate as a single program with a single answer. Esperanza brings services together and responds to the realities People in our community are living. A parent may come for formula and also learn about health care. A teenager may come in for clothing and leave connected with leadership opportunities tutoring or mental health support. Someone facing homelessness can receive hygiene items clothing. I'm sorry clothing and help navigating the step the next step all while be reminded that they matter. This is what innovation looks like in a community work. Listening first, removing barriers, building trust, and meeting several needs under one roof. More than 790 visits in less than three months tell us the need is real. They also tell us that when support is accessible, compassionate, and rooted in dignity, families will walk through the door. I am asking that Esperanza de Tejas be approved for general set aside and youth funding to continue being a beacon of hope to those who are facing some of the darkest times of their life. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Heslin. Candice Cardone.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon. My name is Dr. Candice Carden. I reside in District 4. I am proud to serve as a board member of Esperanza de Terras. When we talk about health, we often focus on what happens in a clinic, an examination, a diagnosis, a prescription, or a procedure. But a person's health is also shaped by whether there's food at home, clean clothing for school or work, diapers for a baby, transportation, stable housing, access to counseling, and a trusted place to ask for help. These are the non-medical drivers of health, often called social determinants of health. Esperanza de Tejas addresses those drivers in a direct, practical, and deeply human way. Its resource center brings food, diapers, formula, wipes, hygiene supplies, clothing, educational support, mental health services, parenting groups, and benefit or resource navigation into one low barrier setting. Partner organizations also bring family planning, health screening, prevention education, and other services directly to the community. This matters because unmet basic needs become health problems. Diaper insecurity can contribute to prolonged skin use and skin irritation. Lack of hygiene supplies affects health, school attendance, employment, dignity. Food insecurity affects growth, chronic disease management, stress, and family stability. Untreated anxiety, depression, trauma, and caregiver burnout can deepen when counseling feels distant or unaffordable. Housing instability can make every treatment plan harder to follow. From a public health perspective, our resource center and mobile outreach functions as an upstream intervention. It helps address risks before they become emergencies, complications, missed school days, lost work, unstable housing, or preventable hospital visits. It also strengthens continuity of care When a trusted community organization helps a family secure food, hygiene products, transportation resources, counseling, or stable referrals, that family is better positioned to keep appointments, follow treatment plans, manage chronic conditions and care for their children. As a physician, and a proud board member of Esperanza de Tejas. I see supporting this work as an investment in the community health infrastructure. Esperanza reaches people traditional systems often miss and creates a bridge between clinical care and conditions in which our people actually live in. Approving general set-aside and youth funding for Esperanza would help sustain a proven neighborhood-based strategy that advances prevention, health equity, and long-term stability. If we want healthier outcomes, we must invest not only in treating disease, but also in changing the conditions that cause poor health to take root. And that is my statement today. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Carden. Christina McKay.

Christina McKay, District 1. Thank you to the six of you who voted with democracy last week. We are living in uncertain times, and democracy has to be upheld at all levels for it to be upheld at all. So I appreciate you. Unfortunately, there were a few things last week that I couldn't let go and challenge. Peter Zanoni lied to Councilperson Vaughn and to the entire public when he said, quote, the Secretary of the State of Texas says this appears to be a climate change measure. Then repeated, the lead agent in the state says this appears to be a climate change measure, period. When Councilperson Paxson pressed the issue, we found out together that the statement actually just said an argument could be made in either way. Peter Zanoni lied again to Councilperson Vaughn and to us when he said that without the drought exemption fee money, the water system would be short $6 million a year. He heavily implied that residential customer rates would somehow be negatively impacted if the richest entities on the planet didn't get a discount that would never be extended to us. Peter even said that we would need to find that money somehow to pay for leaky pipes. But Peter knows that's not what that money is for. Peter knows that that money gets tucked away separately and does not go into infrastructure maintenance. Dr. Isabel Araiza walked us through the math while standing right here. The water system would receive roughly as much in a month as a drought exemption program would produce in a year. And the money would go into the general water system rather than being earmarked for special specific projects. But the thing that bothered me the most honestly was not Peter lying. It was the way at large council person Roland Barrera demeaned and disrespected his own constituents openly in that meeting. In my role in the FWA, I had the privilege to meet every single person that worked for or volunteered for that campaign. And I would, I'll tell you that I would have any of them in my home. I would give any of them a job recommendation. There was not a single person on that campaign that did not deserve respect, particularly from their representation. Disgusting. I also know who worked what events and who he would have spoken to at the art walk. So I know who he was talking about when he said it looked like they could use the money. I think it looks like Roland Barrera could use the money when he lays down and exploits himself and publicly proclaims to be a whore for industry. I think that's pretty desperate. I'm proud of every single person that worked on the FWA campaign. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Ms. McKay. Bruce Switila.

Bruce Swetella, Corpus Christi, Hillcrest. I just wanted to talk about one thing, and that is that my brother and I first found out about the plan to build in our neighborhood desalination plant around December of 2023, and then my brother found, uh, in the paperwork, the permit from TCEQ was applied for and given a serial number in 2000, in April of 2003. Uh, we knew nothing of this and how that could happen when the neighborhood is full of people in 2003. Um, I don't know, but we were never informed until, um, late 2023. And so that's my issue to go along with Brad Bartleson. That is, we need transparency in the way things work. Otherwise, plans are made, benefits are figured out, and we're left without knowing about it. And even though we talked to TCEQ in their big meeting in April of 2024 and made further appeals in writing, we were told that we don't have standing. Here we are just blocks away from our backyard is the plans for this big desalination plant. And we don't even have standing. Something's going on with TCEQ also. It just... to spread it out not not all that uh the burden is on the city but tceq also so we need more openness and that's the water for life uh mission is to be a source of truth so that's what i'm support here thank you thank you mr sotila amanda guetta lauren cargill

Hi, I'm Lauren Cargill. I'm here to speak on behalf of Mission 911. We're in District 1. I just first off wanted to say thank you for y'all's time and consideration. We are set to receive an allocation of the HHSP monies. We are very grateful for city staff. They've been wonderful in just helping us in our previous allocations and reporting of the fiscal year 25 grant. For those of you who aren't familiar with what the mission does, we used to shelter and we since transitioned to focus on prevention. We realized that if we could go further upstream and catch people before they become houseless, we could have a greater impact. In fact, you will see on the paper or the flyer that I just handed you guys, last year in 2025, we prevented 500 families from being disconnected of their utility services or evicted from their homes. And so... With us, the dollars really do go further. People come to us in crisis. We help get them stabilized, and then we help get them connected to a bunch of the amazing resources, partners that we have here in the community to make sure that they stay in their home and they stay housed. I'm very proud of our staff because we are one of the few low-barrier nonprofits in the area. We don't receive any federal dollars, and so someone can come to us without an ID or a birth certificate and still receive help. So, again, just very grateful. These dollars are impactful and they matter, but they're only a start. They don't go very far, as you're hearing from some of our other partners here. And so I do want to encourage the council to just think of ways that you can continue to support these other organizations and the mission and the work that we're doing to serve our unhoused and our at-risk populations in the community. So thank you all.

Thank you, Ms. Cargill. Johnny Latham.

Mine is a different subject. I'm here. Some of the councilmen have seen the photos that I brought in. I would like Representative Cantu and the city manager to meet with me and look at these photos and see the fire chief or whatever, the ones that do the investigations on fire marshals, I'm sorry, I'm nervous. Last time I spoke in front of somebody, it was for Joe Biden's son when they kicked him out of the Navy. But I have repeatedly had problems with this apartment complex. Like I told those men, they've seen the pictures. I want you all to both see them. But the fire marshal and the codes people, I got a phone call that said they would not come out to my apartment because I carried a firearm anymore, because I had firearms inside my apartment. I'm a very big believer. I served in the military. I'm probably just as well trained, if not more, than most people in this room. That was my specialty when I was in the Navy. I was special weapons trained. It's wrong. that they did not complete the rest of their stuff at this apartment complex and that I'm still living in a fire hazard. I think it was Mr. Hernandez seeing it and this gentleman right here, Mr. Roy. I am adamant because this apartment is connected to seven other apartments. The lady that I told you was trying to get pictures taken and sent to me so I could present them to you guys, she sent them. If you've seen what's underneath her air conditioning unit, this Saturday and Sunday they had four people out there sucking water out. He said he probably sucked out 100 gallons of water. Yeah. Because they refused to glue PVC pipe together. They think that it sticks by themselves. the air-conditioned guy who also swore he was a licensed electrician too. My uncle works for the union. He looked the kid's name up. He can't find that kid's name anywhere. They were allowing a non-licensed electrician and non-licensed HVAC person to do this stuff. But my main concern, is that somebody from the city called me and told me that they would not come back because I carried a firearm. And yes, there's been documented proof with the police department that me and this guy's had problems. First time, he shoved me off a concrete ledge. I'm afraid to do anything because I look at what happened to my uncle who went to prison for defending himself and knocking a guy out. And when the guy hit his head on the concrete, he died.

Thank you, Mr. Latham, and thank you for your service. Mr. Zanoni, could we get with our constituent and get a report on this?

I can, yeah, and just for you and the public here today, so Michael Dice just texted me from Development Services, and they're actively working with this apartment owner. I don't know much about it except for that, but just to say that the staff is listening, and there's work in progress happening right now with the property owner.

Can we get a report sent on the issues and the remediation effort?

We can.

How we're going to resolve it?

Correct, absolutely. Can you say something else?

I'm sorry, sir. I can have our city management team meet you to add to your statement, absolutely. Council Member Hernandez, a statement of fact?

Yes. And, Peter, I want to echo what Mayor Pro Tem is saying. This apartment complex is somewhat notorious and has had a long history of issues. With the pictures he showed me of jerry-rigging, wiring, mold, a lot of things, it's going to be more than code enforcement. You're going to probably have some electrical inspectors and stuff like that go beyond that. I want to make sure that we have, you know, I don't know the exact thing, but we need to have safe living conditions at these kind of things, and I don't know if that's where our role is with development services and code enforcement. I think it kind of falls in between, but we need to at least make sure that the apartment complex is complying with our city codes. Right. Thank you. And we'll do that, and we'll get you to the Council a full report.

Thank you.

Okay.

Sammy Lugo.

Hi there. My name is Sammy Lugo. I live in District 3. I am also from the same apartment. I would like to bring some neglection for health and safety. They promised a gated community. All the gates have been ripped down completely. Just a couple of weeks ago, there was a white Mercedes that was driving by and they had their gun out and they were waving it. And also, I've only lived there for about three months. One month into my lease, one person tried to break in. And during that time, I had to replace the nails or the screws in my front door because they were not standardized. They were only about one inch long. They're supposed to be three inch. And I had replaced them. And a week after I replaced them, somebody tried to break in. So Not to mention, I have asthma. We were trying to find out what was making me sick, and I had looked into our AC unit. Our whole AC unit is completely covered in black mold, meaning something that they did was not right. They did not seal something right. Not to mention, they are charging us for roach infestation control. Not once has my apartment been sprayed, nor has our downstairs apartment been sprayed either. So we have a very bad roach problem with that too. We tried to file a complaint, and they completely blew us off. They just ignored us. They told us that we need to do a paper, and then they never handed us the paper. And we have gone three times, and not once have they handed us a paper to file the complaint about it. And then we had also, when we moved in, completely filed a report about everything that was wrong with this apartment. And it's supposed to be done within seven days. We've been there for about three months, and not one thing has been acted on about it. We are also worried about rabid cats that live there. They have rabies, and our dog was attacked by one of those cats. We are lucky that it had rabies shots, but what I'm scared about is that if it didn't have its rabies shots, and also my girlfriend, too, who was there walking the dog if she got hit by it. So I would like to bring that into light, too, that they're not doing nothing about those cats, and also some dogs also have rabies that roam there. And I am scared about that because it's not just me. There's children that I see play outside. There's people that I see are outside. And it's worrying because if they get sick, who knows if they have the money to be able to help themselves. And there is one other thing. It is that there's been a lot of gang members that have been moving in to said apartments. A lot of gang tags that have been sprayed onto dumpsters, doors, fences ever since these fences have been ripped down. So I would like to bring up that it just doesn't feel like a safe community anymore. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Lugo. Mr. Giannone, this really needs to be a priority. Our citizens need to feel safe and heard, especially in their homes.

We agree councilwoman, and so we're looking into it.

Thank you. Robin Cox.

Hi, Robin Cox, district three. And first of all, I want to thank a few years ago. Well, it's been a while. They put in some awesome walking trails. that you can literally do five miles. They start from Holly Road. You can go all the way across to Yorktown and get a good workout in. There's no lighting, which, you know, you've got to make it home before it gets dark because it's not safe. But the main problem is if you're trying to walk and you're crossing Saratoga, it's like playing Frogger. There's no light, there's no walkway. I see people all the time, even kids on their bikes, and they said, well, because there's already a light at Weber in Saratoga, they can't put another one. But why would you spend all this money and design a walking trail where it comes through four lanes of traffic? And It's great. It's a great thing. They've put in railings and everybody in our neighborhood. And this neighborhood is not just a neighborhood. It's a community. We all know each other in that neighborhood. We see each other walking. And there's many benefits to walking. I'm a runner, but I also enjoy walking this. Walking increases blood flow and oxygen to the head, releases feel-good chemicals like endorphins, and triggers protein called BDNF. Helps grow new brain cells. Um, I know we talk about a lack of doctors here. Well, this is a good way to stay in shape. And I'm, you know, like my grandma said, I live in the South, but I don't want all my body to go South. I want to keep it up as long as I can. And we want to keep these walking trails safe for the neighborhood. I know this seems like something small, but the sidewalks in our neighborhood, they're all popping up and I get from different people. Well, the sidewalks are our responsibility. No one's ever gotten this straight, and especially the sidewalks near Ocean Drive on Southern and some of the neighborhoods where elderly people live. When I was a kid, the best thing we could do is you went out in the daytime and you came home when the streetlights were off and you rode your bikes. Well, even walking, your shoes can get caught in the lip. We've never gotten it straight. I see some residents. Last night I was at a meeting. They said they're replacing their own sidewalks. Well, if they're privately funded, then why do people walk on them? I mean, you can't park your car to overlap them. So I'd love some clarification on who the sidewalks belong to because it's something that everybody enjoys for their health. Cole Park doesn't even have proper lighting. I know not everybody wants lighting in the park at night, but you can see what people do then. But I would like some lighting. I would like a clarification on who's responsible for the sidewalks. so we can get that taken care of. That would be awesome. Thank you. Councilwoman Vaughn.

Mr. Sinoni, can we look at that area she's talking about, about a light or something there, a crosswalk, something?

Yeah, I need to get the exact location from her, but we will. We'll look at that. Ernie can help.

And the other thing is, I ask you that question, who owns the sidewalks?

Right, so I don't want to get it wrong here, but the Unified Development Code speaks to it, and we'll get that as well for Mrs. Cox. But I believe in summary it states that the property owner, and this is what our UDC states, it's not my rule, but that the property owner has to maintain the sidewalk. but many cities know that that's not realistic.

Yeah, when I asked before, I thought you said the city was responsible for it. I thought that's what you said.

No, yeah, the UDC says the property owner is responsible.

Because I'd always heard that, and then I was a little surprised.

Yeah, but it's not realistic, and that's why some cities have kind of abandoned that concept. That's why we recommended the million dollars in the CDBG budget to begin to have a sidewalk program. Okay, thank you. We'll be speaking actually about sidewalks in more depth on Thursday during the budget workshop.

Thank you. Yes, we really have to get ahead of that before, just like we did with the e-bikes, before there's an incident, making sure that's a safe intersection. Statement of fact from Council Member Hernandez?

Yes. The area that she's referring to where Shea Parkway intersects with Saratoga, Saratoga is a state highway run by tech stock. So we have very little authority over what we can do with Saratoga. I think their response to us was we would have to do a pedestrian bridge over Saratoga at that spot. But it's where Shea Parkway comes in and then it picks up again along the channel the drainage channel over on the other side of Saratoga going south, and then it eventually goes all the way to Yorktown, and then you're supposed to catch it on the other side of Yorktown all the way to Oso Parkway. It's kind of what's intended, but there is some gaps in those areas. Also looking at it from the perspective of where else we have these hike and bike trails that cross Rod Field, that cross Cimarron, that cross some other of our major roadways, Now we have some authority over where Rod Field is and Cimarron is we could put lighting and crosswalks Same thing with Yorktown. We put one in right where Oso Parkway crosses Yorktown So there there are some things that we can do but with Saratoga since it is a state highway It makes it a little more difficult for us to be able to do anything and it's six lanes of traffic So makes it even more

Okay, thank you. That concludes my in-person list. Ms. Rebecca, do you have anyone online?

Yes, ma'am. We have two individuals. The first is Sean Merritt.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes, sir, we can hear you.

Sean Merritt, live from D5, baby. Channel 361 exclusive expose on Wayne Dolcefino. Roll that beautiful beam footage.

Hi, folks. Wayne Doodoo Frodo here again with Diarrhea Frito Investigations. And I wanted to set the record straight on something. I know a lot of you think that I'm sitting down right now. But really, I'm standing up. Look at that. See, I'm such a little hobbit that you all probably did think a normal person would be sitting down, but not me. And why am I here this time? Well, because last week I got so drunk at 1248 in the afternoon, I had to call the world's greatest reporter, C3, and celebrate because I thought I finally had him. But he got me again. And how did he get me? Well, He went and pulled up all my court cases like this. In 2020, I was contempt, arrest, jail, probation, and fine. I was held in direct criminal contempt after confronting Judge Darrell Jordan. I was given six months confinement and a $500 fine. Whoa, but that's not all folks. Check this out. In 2023, I ambushed a father at the bus stop while he was waiting there with his kids. What kind of POS am I? A very big one, obviously. But that's not all, folks. In 2026, Mark Coe, I used the Pinkerton Detective Agency, which I haven't heard of them since the 1880s, but we tried to extort $10 million from this guy and his church. And how did we do that? We falsified sexual harassment documents. Falsified documents. Oh, I learned that trick from my buddy Mayor Paulette. But that's not the end of it, folks. There is case after case of libel, of defamation of character. Look at all of those. So many of them that C3 pulled up and put on his page because he really is the world's greatest reporter and I'm still the world's biggest butt wipe. Ta-da, folks.

Okay, thank you, Mr. Merritt. Next is Brianna Davis.

Hi, can y'all hear me?

Yes, we can.

Hi, good afternoon, City Council. I'm Brianna Davis. District 1 is where I reside. Esperanza serves all of the districts. I want to thank you for this funding recommendation and for recognizing the work that Esperanza de Tejas is doing. We're grateful, but gratitude should not require silence about how great the need truly is. Esperanza has learned to move mountains with crumbs. We stretch every dollar, diaper, and food bag as far as it can go. But we should not have to keep performing miracles with crumbs while families are barely holding on. Last year, Esperanza served 10,000 Nueces County residents, including 300 plus of our unhoused friends. Since opening our resource center, more than 790 people have walked through our doors. These are not just numbers. These are proof of how many people in our area are struggling and how much trust Esperanza holds and how these families trust us with their most vulnerable moments. Many reach us after being turned away somewhere else because of missing documents, eligibility requirements, or limited capacity. Esperanza receives that overflow. But the overflow has a face. The overflow has children. The overflow is someone who has heard no so many times that they no longer believe that kindness will last. One woman who was unhoused came to us for food, water, and a place to charge her phone. We welcomed her with amor y dignity. She returned because she needed to know whether our kindness was a one-time thing. She let us know that some of these places who claim to serve unhoused individuals are not so kind when they go to receive services. She realized that our kindness was not a one-time thing. We remembered her. We treated her like she mattered. After several visits, she trusted us enough to ask her for help completing the housing application. She wasn't asking for a luxury. She was asking for a chance to be safe. When she was put on the housing list, the glimmer returned to her eyes. She could finally see beyond where she might sleep that night. We also serve young parents who choose to keep and raise their babies and were kicked out because of that decision. Imagine holding your baby and realizing you no longer have a home. They need diapers, formula, but they also need someone to say, you're not alone. You and your baby still have a future. This is how Esperanza breaks down the social determinants of health. Housing, food, hygiene, education, safety, and human connection determine whether someone can truly be healthy. A food bag can help someone make rent, a computer can become a housing application, consistent kindness can rebuild broken trust. Esperanza spent approximately $200,000 on diapers and hygiene products last year alone. More funding means more supplies. It means helping more people apply for housing, supporting more young parents, and turning away fewer families. Thank you.

Thank you very much for your comment. I appreciate it. Mayor Pro Tem, that concludes the public comment period.

Thank you, Ms. Rebecca. With that, we'll resume the final item on our consent agenda, which is item number 11. And I believe, Mr. Zanoni, was it staff that pulled that item?

Right, yeah. We're just going to do a clarification on the recommendation due to a change in one of the agencies. So Jennifer's going to...

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Jennifer Buxton with Planning and Economic Development. One of the organizations that had been recommended for funding has withdrawn their application. So the allocation has been reconfigured among the other recommended organizations. I believe in front of you, you have the new math and the new list of organizations. with individual awards of $51,072.25 each to Mother Teresa, the Salvation Army, 911 Park Place, Doing Businesses Mission 911, and Esperanza de Tejas. And the youth set aside of $26,903 each to the Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse of the Coastal Bend and Esperanza de Tejas.

Thank you for providing this for everyone with short notice so that we can see it this morning. Really quickly before we go to questions, were you able to determine this was the extent of the applicants or were there any that were not being recommended for award?

In your agenda packet, you can see that there were additional applicants. In the general set-aside, there were a total of six applications. We had recommended five. One has dropped out, so now there is a recommendation of four. And on the youth set-aside, there were a total of five applications. We were recommending three, now we're recommending two.

Okay, we'll go to some questions. Council Member Cantu.

Thank you. Out of the six, who's local?

Well, I would say that they are all local. Some of them, one of them is a national organization with local chapters, but they serve local people. They have an individual. The group that is national has a local advisory committee, and they operate locally, and they serve local people.

I think they all do great. I think... My only concern is that we have a lot of local people with groups that are doing a lot in this community with a little bit of funding. I think the last person said crumbs, and it's the truth. And I'm not knocking nobody down. You know, Salvation Army, I mean, that's a pretty national... deal that I'm sure they get a lot of money from a lot of people and especially from the government. I don't know, possibly, I don't know if they do or not, but I mean, they're all over the place. And I really like to see a lot of local people that are doing a lot for this community to get more money. And, you know, for example, few months back and how I know this works is a few months back a lady called me and she had no other hope she was like 73 74 years old and she said that you know she couldn't make ends meet everything was too expensive and she was behind on her rent for like three or four months and she found another location to move to with the housing authority but they wouldn't let her move in there till she paid off the three four months that she owed in rent and And she was in desperate need. And I could just hear it in her voice. And I felt so bad for her. And she's like, I'm going to be homeless in a week and a half. I have a job. I'm trying to do my best. I got medications to pay for. I mean, it really messed me up. And so I remembered... approving something on council over mission 9-1-1 so I reached out to mission mission 9-1-1 and um told them about this person and they caught her within a few hours and I think maybe like four days later I'm getting chills the lady calls me and she's crying and she's in tears but she's happy and relieved that she won't be homeless and um It's just little things like that is why I sit on this council, because I can help people like that. You know, every little vote that we do, it does something for somebody. And I read this, behind every number is a story, and that is the truth. Behind every number is a story. And you don't know what people go through. You know, I've been through a lot since I was 17 years old. You know, there's times I didn't know how I was going to eat. I had to go buy TV dinners, and TV dinners are great with lemon pepper added to it. I've been there and done it, and I feel for people, and I feel like we're doing a great thing with this money. I just like to see more funding because at the end of the day, and the truth is the truth, the city is limited of doing things, and it's people like her and her that are doing incredible things for Corpus Christi with the people that are in need. And we need not to forget about them, and we need to help as much as possible. You know, I always say we overpay for a lot of things in the city, and I wish we could stop overpaying and give back and give more money to these people because I just, their system works, you know, the programs work, and I'm stuck with this behind every number is a story, I mean.

to truth and she was a number and she was about to be homeless and they came through and she's in a better spot now so thank you councilwoman vaughn so which organization dropped out timmons ministries okay do you know why i think they have some housekeeping things that they need to take care of to get their house in order Okay, and then you said there were six that got no money. Is that what you said?

No, there were a total of six that applied for general. There is one organization that we did not recommend for funding. And on the youth set-aside, there were five applications, two that we didn't recommend for funding. Okay, how do you grade them? There's different competencies that include the services they're offering. Hang on, I can tell you exactly. Did Rising Tide?

Rising Tide did not apply. That's such a great organization. I can't believe they didn't apply.

Some of the reason why they don't apply for HHSP is HHSP is strictly for homeless prevention and literal homeless, and they do some job training and some different categories. So HHSP is not necessarily the best fit for them.

That's a shame, because that's such a good organization out there. They do such good things. They do do good work, yes.

Jennifer, I'm sorry to interrupt, but can they put up the PowerPoint slide? Let's start with slide, I guess, three, that just shows the list of agencies. Sure. Keep going, sorry.

There we go. So the applications are scored. There was a 30% score on the ability to provide. There's a 10% score on length of time serving the homeless, at risk of homeless. Then there is the 10% of the points go for the amount of homeless, at risk of homeless adults and youth served annually. There is 10% of the scoring goes for the ability to provide service the ability of the provider to expand the capacity to serve more folks, 10% of the score goes for need and justification, 5% for an implementation plan, 5% in efforts to secure other sources of funding, and 20% for cost reasonableness, effectiveness, greatest need, positive impact on the community, and project timeline.

Do we have any accountability on how the money's spent? Yes.

Then that's part of what has weighed into some of the decisions for not recommending.

I would be curious to know how much you actually spend on administration.

Administration is capped for very few thousand dollars. Okay, that's my question. It's honestly for they still have the same administrative burden. So when we divide up the grants like this, they still have a high administrative burden. But I don't know. I can't think of if there's a

hat but for example I don't have it I'm sorry it's very little okay couple thousand dollars and the other question and I think they're all deserving I'm not saying that the one that stuck out to me those alcohol and drug abuse everyone thinks they're just the best because they're and I'm sure they all are great but to me that is the root of some of the problem that we have homelessness and I would love to see them get a little bit more which I know you're not going to do that but that's part of the problem And until we address that and really give them help, we're just going to keep having more of it.

I agree. Mental health services and alcohol and drug abuse services are both really important. I do think there's a pretty good network among the organizations where they refer to one another. And I hope that that continues. But you're correct. That is a segment of the population that needs direct assistance.

Thank you.

Council Member Hernandez?

Thank you for everybody that came out in support of this effort. I'll go ahead and read the motion to amend. Motion authorizing recipient grant awards of $51,072.25 for each to Mother Teresa Shelter, Salvation Army, 911 Park Place, Doing Businesses Mission 911, Esperanza de Tejas, from the City of Corpus Christi State-funded Homeless Housing and Services Program, HHSP. General set-aside allocation provides services to individuals who are homeless or at risk of being homeless for fiscal year 2027, and authorizing subrecipient grants, awards of $26,903 to each. The Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, Coastal Bend, and Esperanza de Texas, from the City of Corpus Christi State-funded Homeless Housing and Services Program, HHSP, youth set-aside allocation to provide services to youth who are homeless for fiscal year 2027 contingent upon receiving executed agreements from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs and effective September 1st, 2026 or the effective date of the state agreements, whichever is later.

Council member Cantu real quick.

Um, so this money is from a grant, correct?

It is from an annual allocation that we received from the state of Texas because we are part of the largest cohort of cities in Texas.

So we're not matching or nothing like that. Nope. Okay. Um, Peter, what's on our budget right now for the house of this community?

Uh, we have in the general fund, a coordinator position and, um,

and a small operating budget, small operating budget.

And then there's a little bit of a budget in the police department.

They do some, they have an officer in the homeless resource officer in the police department. And then there's one staff member in a small operating budget.

So, um, do you know, do you have that total?

I don't.

Any of that money going back to these groups?

Uh, no, no, there, there, there is a small amount of say like professional services, but it's less than $30,000. But we, um, that would be the only like what I would call flexible spending in there. And we keep that for emergencies through the winter.

Um, we got to do better in this budget to fund things. I mean, you walk out these doors and you have all these people on the sidewalk in front of city hall. I mean, we're not doing anything about it. We're just sitting here, and not worrying about the houseless community. It blows my mind that we're not doing that. We don't have money to tear down houses and cut people's yards that abandon their homes, and we don't have money for the houseless community. I mean, we gotta do something. I mean, we cannot pass this budget, Peter, with zero money. I mean, these people are doing our jobs, the city's job. This is a city's problem.

We're going to be bringing, based on our last workshop, we'll be bringing to council some options on where we can redirect money. We have to do something.

We have several options. Even if it's a start, we've got to start somewhere. I mean, I encourage, you know, what you talked about today, Carolyn, what's that group of people that raise money for the mayor's... State of the city or state of the whatever.

Sponsorships.

Yeah, chambers. Call the chambers. Tell the chambers to help out with this. I mean, call people. Let's have a fundraiser. Let's do something on the utility bill. Add a dollar. You know, you want to add $5 for the houseless community, for programs or whatever the case is. We've got to do something. We cannot do nothing. I mean, we've just been doing nothing, and we've got to do something. So, I mean, I just feel like we have to do something, and And I just, I just, this is a lot of money, right? But it goes by quick, quick. You know, one person could be closer to an eviction. They owe $2,000, $3,000. Electricity bill, $1,500, easy. I mean, we can't help big numbers. We want to help big numbers, you know? I know we have a program for the – well, we don't have a program yet, but the utilities – I know there's help for the utilities and stuff like that, but, I mean, it just – I hear the stories out there, and it just hurts me. We've got to do – we've got to be better. We've got to do better. And I'm more than sure this council wants to do much more than this. So I really encourage you, Peter, to figure it out. how much we could put in that budget for that. If it's $100,000, $200,000, just start somewhere. And let's give these groups that are helping us some relief because, I mean, the cold fronts will be coming in. We're going to see bonfires over there in the sidewalks. I've seen it. It's sad. I drove around one day when it was really, really cold, and I just don't know how they do it. It's sad. And most of them don't want to leave because they have their animals. The only ones are faithful to them. So it just bothers me. And I just feel like we need to do more. And we've got to put more in our budget for these two issues. Thank you.

Councilman Roy.

Thank you for the Thank you for the presentation.

You know, one of the things that, Peter, the city of Corpus Christi, we're the largest employer.

Is that correct? I think the school district might be, CCISD. Okay, but we're close. We're close. We have 4,000 employees. Yeah. I know that the United Way campaign is coming up, correct? Correct, yeah. We've been big proponents of that.

And one of the good things in terms of, listening to the organizations today is that i'm familiar with a lot of the organizations but not all of them um and i i think it's important i want to make sure because a lot of times in the past and i know how much money has the city raised uh for its employees for the united way campaign 70 was it 70 000 yeah we used to raise like less than 10 000 and we've

We brought it up to $70,000. $70,000.

Okay. But I was just thinking how important it is to make sure that the local organizations, because we can designate what we give to that campaign. And so I know that that's one of the things I'm going to do, because in the past I'll be one of the first ones to admit that I'm guilty when I've given the United Way. I didn't really go into detail and mark who I want to have those funds. But one of the good things about the presentation today is I'm going to make sure that, you know, whether I'm involved through the city or my company or whatever the case is, is that we designate for locals. I think it's the things that they're doing and the understanding that they have in terms of taking care of our needs is important. And I do believe also the ones that are national that have local chapters, we have to focus on that. And it's such a shame. And I do believe that... Homelessness, unfortunately, is tied with mental health. We've talked about it before being a veteran. I know that as I go out, and I probably talk to veterans at least once or twice a week that I come across that every time I see somebody in need, it's usually related because of mental health and PTSD. It's a real thing. It's terrible. It's crippling our veteran community. So again, I just want to encourage everybody to make sure we give locally. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Roy. Councilman Hernandez.

Yes, thank you. And Peter, I just want to make sure that whatever we do, it doesn't replace what these organizations here are doing, right? We should support them. And I'll say this directly because I've had this, we've talked about this before, whatever we can assemble, whatever we can do, whatever coordination we can do, it's, it's all should support these organizations. Yeah. These individuals for what are committed to helping the, those that are homeless or have these issues. For us, it is a line item in a budget or a budget line item. So I wanna make sure that whatever we do, we don't try to replace them, we try to support them. They're there because they care and they want to help people. It shouldn't just be a job for us. It should be supporting them that care and wanna do it. So whatever we do, just keep that in mind that we should support what we have, not replace them. Yeah, we agree, Councilman. Thank you.

And I do want to extend our sincere gratitude both to your team and to everyone who came today to advocate for these vital services. Not only did you take your time to come in person or to call in and share, a snapshot of your day-to-day experiences helping the lives of our community, would you dedicate your time and energy to providing those services with love and dignity and care, so thank you for taking that time. Mr. Zanoni, I think this was great dialogue. I'm looking forward to hearing some of this carry over into our workshop next, so thank you for your notes. Seeing no other comments here, if anyone has not spoken on this item previously and would like to speak from public comment before we cast our votes, now is the time.

Monty Linegarza, District 1. It is crumbs. It is crumbs. When we're looking at $40,000 to us folk that are not facing eviction, disconnections, $40,000 goes really fast. And people ask, why aren't the free store applying for this fund? Why aren't certain entities not on this? The level of paperwork. that I need to stay compliant to make sure that we're good and that the city is good is astronomical. It's going to take me time away from actually doing the work. I'd have to hire somebody with what budget? I have been doing this work since 2021. That's when I got my status. I've received zero dollars. Zero dollars. I'm doing this work here today for zero dollars. Instead of working for my for-profit business, I'm here advocating for zero dollars. I can't apply for those funds just yet. We're working on it. And these funds are very strict on what you can spend it on, what you can't spend it on. But what I'm going to talk very quickly on is that when we're looking at funding as nonprofits, it does make a difference if we have a large corporate backer like Catholic Charities or Salvation Army. You know that Salvation Army is so large that they have their own IRS code. I would know. I'm the one that did my paperwork for IRS. They have their own IRS code. That's how big they are. So when a banker looks at us and they look at the free store or they look at Catholic charities, who do you think the banker has more faith in when giving that loan? I'm opening a large community center here, and people's first ask on me is, how are you going to pay for it? It should be the taxpayer, the federal monies that are already being allocated for combating houselessness used for things like that. I need a roof, and I need an HVAC. So get ready, Jennifer. I'm going to be applying for that block grant funding very, very soon. OK? So when you're picking on who you're going to give this to, you need to look at who is not going to be able to take out that bank loan later. There's two people, there's two entities on there that are not corporate, and that's Esperanza and that's Mission 911. They don't have a large corporation behind them saying they're good for it, loan them the money. We get told no. We're having to battle giants to get the little crumbs. And then you wonder why we don't want to even waste our time up here. How can I battle the Catholic Church? Seriously? Come on, man. Give the little guys a little bit more. We're all doing this hard work. I'm just saying that the guys that don't have the corporate backing, it's harder for us to find other types of money. The bigger guys can apply for higher risk loans that we are not even afforded to. We need to diversify where we're getting this money. There's money in the state and regional buckets that we're not even touching. Talk to House District Representative Denise Villalobos.

Thank you, Ms. Garza.

Susie Luna-Saldana, first of all, I want to thank Councilman Cantu for putting a name to a number. That is very important that we actually see what's happening to people. All those people come here and depend on you to give them what they need, and they're not getting very much like they say, but if you do what you're saying now and actually put something in the budget that'll help them, every little bit is going to count. And I know that that is true and that you have to have experiences that what they're going through to be able to do this. You know, when you're poor, you're poor. And when you leave from paycheck to paycheck, you never know if the next paycheck is going to be missed and you're going to be one of those that is homeless. So I thank you for considering it. I thank you, Councilman, for bringing it forward. And you know, while we're at it, you all have done some marvelous things with people. And I also want to take a special thanks to thank the Cattery for helping out with what they're doing with the animals. I went over to the Cattery and they are doing a marvelous job. So I hope you keep them in mind because they're doing fantastic. And I thank you for it.

Thank you.

Michael Miller, District 2. I'm the son of a homeless man, so I have heart for this. And I think that the city could be taking more of a leadership role. in coordinating the various organizations. I've worked with many organizations over the years, battling, helping or working hard to end homelessness in our community. And I see a lot of duplication of services. I see everybody fighting over the same dollars every single year. I see those dollars getting limited as each year goes past. And right now the city's got Amanda And she's fantastic, but she needs help. But I think one way the city can work towards what Councilman Cantu was looking at from a funding source would be possibly from the crime control and prevention dollars that come in. Because this is a prevention effort dealing with the homeless issues. I've talked to Sheriff Kalen. I've talked to Sheriff Hooper. If you ask them what percentage of their jail is occupied by folks that are battling mental illness, drug abuse, or houselessness, you'd find that it's pushing 80%. So the calls for a new and larger jail, jails are very expensive to build. Addressing the situation is probably less expensive. So some coordination with the county and with other partnering agencies is and working together with the various different organizations that are providing services, making sure everybody's using HMIS. Does everybody know what HMIS is? You know, making sure that, because there are certain individuals that know how to work the system, but we've got to make sure that the limited resources are being distributed equitably among the folks that need it because there's not a whole lot out there. So I think there is work that could be done. It's budget season. I think that y'all could have some really good, meaningful conversations, but it's going to take partnerships and not just you guys telling the organizations what they're going to do. It's going to be working with them and then also working with the county and other agencies to make it happen. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miller. Anyone else for public comment on item 11? Okay, seeing none, there's a motion and second to approve as amended. Correct.

Yeah, it's just the amendment. Okay, would you like to take a voice vote?

No, we have it programmed so we're good to go. Okay.

Okay, and now we'll do it as amended.

Second. We have a motion and a second on the item.

Okay. Okay.

With that, we'll go into our next section, which is a recess for lunch, where the council will go into executive session on the items 16 through 19 per Texas Government Code Sections 551.071, 551.072, and 551.087. We will return. Do we have for item 13? We have staff.

Just one second.

Okay, we will reconvene this meeting in regular session and move on to Section K, Public Hearings, Item 13.

Oh, ma'am, we have action on one of the executive sessions.

Thank you, Ms. Rebecca. Council, do we have action on Item 19 from the executive session? Council Member Hernandez.

Yes, make a motion to set the expiration date of September 30th, 2026 for the City of Senton and St. Paul Water Supply Corporation to approve agreements authorized by the City Council under Ordinance 033784.

We have a motion and a second.

Can we please do a voice vote, please, when you're ready?

absolutely um all in favor aye any opposed nay motion carries thank you now we'll move on to section k public hearings thank you and this is a zoning case number zn9265 roads development inc and district one

There we go. Good afternoon, Mayor Pro Tem, Council, Yvette Wallace, Interim Director, Development Services. The zoning case that we have today is located along the south side of Northwest Boulevard, east of County Road 73 and west of Farm to Market 1889. The subject property is in District 1 with a request to rezone the subject property from the RS6 Single Family 6 District to the RS4.5 Single Family 4.5 District. The subject property is 69.28 acres in area and is not currently plotted. The purpose of this request is to allow a medium-density residential subdivision that will contain 226 single-family lots. The properties are part of the Northwest Area Development Plan adopted on January 9, 2001. Rezoning from the RS-6 to RS-4.5 allows for an increased density. However, the developer is still proposing to maintain 226 lots averaging 9,790 square feet and is seeking the reduced zoning to decrease the required build line from 25 feet to 20 feet. allowing for density flexibility, and that was mainly based upon an easement that was needed by CCW for the western wellfields that shifted their design. The properties to the north, the subject property, are outside of the city limits and have a residential estate and commercial uses. To the east are property zone general commercial, multifamily, and single-family residential, and have varying uses including agriculture, residential estate, and medium-density residential. To the south is property zone farm rural and used for agriculture. To the west is a small property zone general commercial that has a use of commercial and property zone farm rule whose uses are residential estate and agriculture. Regarding the required public notification, 44 notices were mailed inside the 200-foot buffer. Two notices were mailed outside the 200-foot buffer. One notice received an opposition, and zero notices have been received in favor. Staff recommends approval from the RS 6 single family 6 district to the RS 4.5 single family 4. The proposed amendment is consistent with the City of Corpus Christi's comprehensive plan. However, it is inconsistent with the future land use maps designation of low density residential. Despite this inconsistency, staff considered that medium density development will be maintained through the RS4.5 single family district, similar to the RS6 district, and that the request represents an infill development with some infrastructure already existing. The amendment is compatible with the existing zoning and conforming uses of surrounding areas, and the property to be rezoned is suitable for uses permitted by the zoning district that would be applied by the proposed amendment. And I stand by for any questions.

Thank you, Yvette. I have a comment here. If you'll give me just a moment, my dig pad is frozen and I cannot activate Council Member Roy's question. Ma'am, we've had some technical difficulties.

We need a recess of about five minutes, please, to take care of that.

Forgive us, we will recess for five minutes. Okay, we will resume. And we are going straight back into Council Member Roy's comments.

Okay. Thank you. So, District 1, Kyle Allen, is growing tremendously. And I think it's important that we grow the right way. This particular builder... I've had the opportunity in the past to sit down with them and I, and in terms of how they lay out a community, it's wonderful. A lot of the amenities that they do, the plan community is it's, it's, um, I think it's going to be a great addition and look for that neighborhood. Um, I do believe, and right now we have a motion, but I, uh, I, okay. So, so he's withdrawn his motion. But what I would like to do is make a motion that we go with the RS6 with an SP that includes a 4.5 deviation. And what that's going to essentially do is leave us at the R6, but it will give the necessary setback that you're looking for. And I think this project's going to continue to go forward and be successful.

and that's all i have okay council member hernandez so yeah yeah the special permit rs6 special permit to allow for a 20 foot setback as opposed to the the 25 foot required for r6 uh it's a good solution if they're going to keep all the lots the same and just need some deviation because of the uh of our of stuff that we're doing as a city we'll give them the the opportunity to make those necessary requirement changes. So I agree with Councilman Roy. Thank you.

Okay, I see, did you have another comment?

Okay, then at this time I'll open the public hearing and if there's any public comment on item 13. Seeing none, we'll close the public hearing. And we have a motion and a second. So please submit your vote.

Yes, it's a motion and a second to amend. Is that correct? Amend the ordinance to include an SP special permit for a 4.5 deviation. Is that what I heard? 4.5 deviation? Whatever that means. But yeah, okay. I'm just like, okay.

Yes, this is a... Do you want to hit your mic?

Okay, for a setback. Okay, got that. Setback deviation. Gotcha, okay.

I think if we just right now say deviation because this is a two reading. So in the second reading, we'll have the appropriate language.

Oh, I see. Okay.

Thank you.

So it's a motion to amend and it is, did you prep, were you able to program it? Okay. And it's programmed for you if you'd like to do an electronic vote.

Thank you ladies. I think. Okay. Council, this is on the amendment.

Thank you.

We have a motion and a second to approve as amended.

Okay, that's ready also. Okay, now it's ready.

Okay, and it passes, thank you. Now we'll go on to section L, individual consideration items, and this is item 14. It's a resolution authorizing the 1525 North Shoreline Boulevard Property Acquisition Program project of the Corpus Christi B Corporation for economic development of tourism, convention, concession, public events, and or parking facility.

Second.

Motion and a second. Seeing no questions from the board, do we have any public comment on item 14? Seeing none, Ms. Rebecca, we can go ahead and vote. The motion passes, thank you.

Real quick, I just want for the record to correct my response to Councilman Cantu during item three, the annexation. I said that there were 23 notices mailed out. There were actually seven. I read the wrong sheet, so I just wanted to make sure that that's correct. And we'll talk to you further about our neighbors.

Thank you, Mr. Dice. At this time, we will go to section M, which is a briefing, and we have our water supply update on item 15.

Good afternoon, Nick Winkleman, Chief Operating Officer, Corpus Christi Water. First, I'd like to give you a brief update on where we are in terms of our surface water supply. Lake Corpus Christi, as of this morning, is 91.7% capacity. A year, just a year ago, it was 18.4%. Choke Canyon Reservoir is 24.1%. A year ago, it was 12.4%. Our combined capacity today is 42.9%. And a year ago, we were just at 14.1%. Lake Texana, as reported through the Lavaca Navidad River Authority, this morning is 94% capacity. And a year ago, Lake Texana was at 92%. Additionally, all of our requested water from the lower river authority is available, and we've had no curtailments on the Colorado River. To the right is just a snip from our main website at the city. I want to bring this to your attention just so that you can see there are links to our stage two drought restrictions, but you can also see the reservoir percentages. Additionally, there's a new tab at the right that is our daily pass-through reports. That's a cooperated effort now with the U.S. Geological Survey, and this link will take you through to the daily pass-through reports. So looking at the inflows into the western reservoirs, if you look at the three inflow locations or stream monitoring locations, above Choke Canyon Reservoir. The Frio River at Tilden today is zero cubic feet per second, so it's zero. The San Miguel Creek near Tilden is also at zero. And then the Atascosa flowing in just north of Choke Canyon is also at zero. There are no more inflows going into Choke Canyon. We feel Choke Canyon has peaked, barring any additional inflows or rainfall events. There is a gauge on the Nueces River near Tilden. It's currently at 284 cubic feet per second. Of course, it was just a couple of weeks ago that was 5,000, 7,000 cubic feet per second. And then the Nueces River gauge near Three Rivers is 340 cubic feet per second. This just shows that the inflow into Lake Corpus Christi has dramatically decreased and is certainly leveled off. The ongoing new water supply projects I would like to discuss. First, we'd like to talk about the Nueces Groundwater Program. Construction continues on our conveyance line. That is the conveyance line that will connect the Western Wellfield to Owen Stevens. Currently, there's 1,460 linear feet of pipe installed in the ground. That will be completed under multiple contracts using multiple contractors. The goal is to have that conveyance line installed by the end of the calendar year. The brackish RO treatment plan is currently at 90% designed. Working with our contractors and the equipment providers, Aqualia, The expectation is to start treating water in March of 2027. And again, that'll be, it's a phased implementation plan. The first phase can treat approximately four million gallons of water a day. With the full build out would be at 24 million gallons of water a day. There was a request made to the Groundwater Conservation District to aggregate production across all wells associated with the western well field. That's the original 250 acres and the Ed Rochelle Foundation 2,500 acres. The Groundwater Conservation District provided temporary drilling permits, but they have withheld any formal action on aggregating the production permit across the full extent of the well field. Again, no additional production was requested. We just wanted to spread the approved production out across more wells and across more property. We continue to work with our hydrogeologists on updating the model and submitting and providing additional information, including the construction of additional monitoring wells so that we can better monitor the aquifer. Wastewater reuse, first we'll talk about the Greenwater wastewater treatment plant. The line from Greenwood to Valero is approximately nine miles long. That is the line that is fully funded by Valero. The majority of that line, I'm happy to say, is installed. Valero is definitely ahead of schedule. And this week they have contractors mobilizing to the Greenwood wastewater treatment plant to begin site work on the 10 million gallon ground storage tank. We fully, I don't have any definitive dates, but we fully expect Valero to start taking 3 million gallons a day of wastewater effluent later this year, possibly as early as the fall. At the Allison Wastewater Treatment Plant, Flynn Hills is currently still in construction with their treatment that will treat the wastewater effluent and then they will pump it into their conveyance line. That project is proceeding and we're looking at a fall start of that as well for approximately 2 million gallons a day. And then we have the city project, which is we're constructing the line from the Oso wastewater treatment plant to the Greenwood facility. That line is in construction, including site work at Oso, which will include the construction of a pump station. Then we have additional entities looking at wastewater effluent from the Broadway wastewater treatment plant. The Evangeline Groundwater Project in San Patricio County construction continues. We have approximately 25.94% of the pipeline installed. So that's 41,846 linear feet of pipe of the 119,454 linear feet of pipe. So 41,000 is installed. That accounts for about 25% of the total pipe for the project. We are still waiting with the administrative law judge and the other parties to get some firm established dates for the contested case hearing. The attorney for the seller has submitted an order to establish the date for the contested case. The first proposed dates were early March, but it appears the administrative law judge is not available at that time. So we will continue to work to try and identify those states to continue to initiate that process. The Seven Seas Water Group is working on a groundwater project located at Chapman Ranch. They have completed a test well and geophysical logging of a 3,500 foot test hole that is complete. A hydrogeologist is looking at the geophysical logs and the formation samples to determine and identify target zones for production testing. Currently at the site, they are in the middle of drilling a full depth monitoring well. The monitoring well will be utilized along with the pumping test so that they can get a better characterization of the hydrogeology of the area. This week CCW and city staff met with representatives of seven C's and we are recording another meeting to discuss a water sale agreement. And then CCW is also conducting a hydraulic analysis to determine how much water can enter, can be inputted into our system, potentially at the location of the Staples Pump Station. The Harbor Island Seawater Desalination Project, that is the project that is being facilitated by the Nueces River Authority. The NRA development partner, IDE, is currently working on 30% design and also developing a cost of treated water. The NRA has informed us that that process would take about 90 to 120 days. At the NRA board meeting, which took place just last Friday, There was approval for the Executive Director to execute Task Order 2 with LAN for program management and design services associated with the conveyance line of the Harbor Island project. There was also an approval to execute Task Order 1 with HDR for design services associated with the conveyance system that would include piping and pump stations. The TCQ Intake permit, of course, is approved. The discharge permit is expected by the end of the calendar year. The estimated project cost is $6.2 billion. CCW continues its hydraulic modeling and other efforts to coordinate with both LAN, HDR, and the Nueces River Authority to discuss the location of the conveyance line and the potential costs the city would bear to bring that water into our system. Additional projects, as you know, the city and CCW are working with Aqua Tech. Aqua Tech is completing an existing seawater desalination plant located in the ship channel at the CC Polymers facility. The city executed a letter of intent that was executed on August 6th with follow-up meetings to be scheduled. In fact, the next meeting is scheduled for August 27th. So that's next week. The purpose of that meeting is to begin discussions on a water sale agreement, but also to discuss engineering and technical approaches for the project and the delivery of treated water into the city system. the Inner Harbor seawater desalination project. The modeling report was completed and posted to the city's website. There was also a request to the Texas Water Development Board on June 18th to restructure the loan commitment. The next TWDB board meetings are August 24th and September 10th. We do not know if our request will be on either of those agendas, but we're watching that closely and working closely with the staff at the Texas Water Development Board. The Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries is reviewing potential independent modelers to review the effort completed by Spheros Environmental and Hazen and Sawyer, and we are waiting on their recommendation for an independent review of that model. in terms of the Barney Davis seawater desalination plant. The city manager and myself and staff met with the interim CEO of CPS Energy on August 10th to discuss the next steps. A follow-up meeting will be scheduled within the next two to three weeks with staff to talk about the potential site location at the facility and to look into some potential opportunities to conduct surveying of the site. The site survey will help delineate the exact location of a potential land lease agreement with CPS Energy for the location of a future seawater desalination plan. That information will be utilized to open discussions with the Army Corps of Engineers who will help us delineate wetlands and any other potential permitting requirements. CPS Energy has informed us that a discharge permit will be required. We will not be utilizing the existing Barney Davis discharge permit. I discussed already that we'd have Army Corps permits required. And then, as previously stated, CPS Energy will not provide power directly to this facility. It would have to go through a service provider, as is their normal course of business. Do want to provide an update on our environmental releases associated with the agreed order in our western reservoirs. On August 11th, the City of Corpus Christi, the Nueces River Authority, and the City of Three Rivers jointly submitted an application to the TCEQ to temporarily suspend certain conditions of that previously approved agreed order. The request would be to suspend environmental releases for a period of 180 days or until the western reservoirs exceed a 50% combined capacity. The TCQ executive director and staff are in the middle of the review process. The executive director will then make a decision on whether to approve or deny the request. If the request is approved, the request does go, we're told it would go into effect immediately, but then it would, the request has to be confirmed by the TCEQ board, and the meeting could potentially take place in early September. When the request goes to the TCEQ board, the board has a number of options. They can approve it, They can deny it or they can modify it. Additionally, the board can choose to send it to a SOA hearing, that's the State Office of Administrative Hearings, in which time the city and Nueces River Authority and Three Rivers will have an opportunity to state the case on why this request is needed during these, to deal with our ongoing drought conditions. The SOA hearing was brought up by TCEQ, and we do know that the last time a request like this was made by the Lower Colorado River Authority, the TCEQ did send it to SOA at that time as well. The pictures at the right are some letters of support for our request, so I'd like to go through those and share those with you. I understand they're small, but I wanted to get the... Just to get the snip of the letter out there. The first letter on the top left is actually from Representative Hunter, Representative Villalobos, Representative Guillen, Senator Chewy Hinojosa, Senator Adam Hinojosa, and Senator Serafini. Saffarini, excuse me, Saffarini, excuse me. And then additionally in addition to that letter we have support from the San patricio municipal water district, we have support from the city of math is and we have support from the city of beville so we're thankful to both our delegation and also our partners. To support our efforts to deal with this this issue in this crisis. So, again, there's quite a bit of support, and we're thankful for our partners and our teammates working together with us on this. The last slide I would like to show today is just a renewal that we are in Stage 2 drought restrictions. You can go to stage2.corpuschristi.tx.gov. From that site, you can enter your... Your street address, you can look at maps to determine when your watering day is, and there's quite a bit of other information available as well. This should be a great stop for anyone who's interested in the stage two restrictions or any other bits of news associated with our water situation. With that, I'll stand by for any questions.

Nick, thank you very much for your commitment to this process and your presentation. Truly, you've been really a great leader through all of this. Our first comment is Council Member Cantu.

Thank you. Thank you, Nick. The wastewater we use It's a total of 18.

It's you know, councilman, we've we've said clearly 16. It could ramp up to 18, but we are working on contracts with partners to purchase that water.

Okay.

Currently, there's 11 MGD that's spoken for.

Okay. So how many MGDs per day does the residents use daily? more or less.

So the residents the residents use roughly will say about 15% of our water supply and yesterday we treated about 15% of our treated water excuse me yesterday we treated about 90 million gallons of water. So 15% of that is 13.5.

And how long do you think this project in the wastewater reuse will be done.

So it's going to come on in phases. We expect Valero and Flynn Hills to take combined up to maybe about five MGD this year. And then they both combine, they'll take another six MGD next year. So all together, how many years do you think? About two years, more or less? I would say a year and a half from now. A year and a half? By the end of 2027. Okay, and then...

How long do you think it's going to take us to go to under 30% on our reservoirs if we do not get any water, any rain, any floods, anything? We just stay hot and dry. How many... How long would it take to get us down to 30%?

You know, Councilman, I asked that same question to our modelers just last night, and I'm waiting on the information from them. So I don't want to give you...

There are some water experts in Corpus Christi that I believe in, and they average about maybe 18 months or so, more or less, a little longer. So my question is... And I know you guys told us that we will be at the 42, 43 range of combined water levels with the two lakes that we have for like a couple of weeks. We've been, I think we've been, I could say at least a couple of weeks we've been in the 40s and we're still pretty solid. I just don't understand why we cannot give the residents stage one of water restrictions. Why do we have to be stuck at stage two? And then I also was told by looking at it, my understanding, I'm not the smartest guy in the room, but my understanding is is that if we go to stage one when we're in the 40s, early 40s combined, we cannot go to stage two again until we hit 30%. Is that correct? That's correct. Is that the reason why the city does not want to go to stage one because of the fact that we have to be in stage one until we hit 30%? Because... If we're going to get this wastewater reuse online in a couple years, I mean, why is our residents getting screwed all the time? Like, they cut back for industry, which I'm okay with industry, but why do we have to let their residents suffer? They want to water their grass every week. They want to do things. I just don't understand why we haven't made that call yet. We have it under policy. Once we're over 40%, you know, we could go down to stage one. And we're still not at stage one. And the last thing you guys said was y'all didn't want to go to stage one because it's only going to be for a couple weeks. No, it will be longer than a couple weeks because the policy that we approved says 30%. I just don't think it's fair for the residents. They cut back enough already, Nick. I mean, they've done their part. Give them some relief. Like, let them water their grass every week. Let them use the water so we could get paid. You know, like, I just don't understand why we can't go to 30%. Do we need to counsel vote for that? I mean, what do we need to do?

Yeah, Councilman, if I could share some rationale to all of that, and I certainly appreciate your comments. The first point I'd like to bring up is the outlook, the weather outlook, because we continue to be largely surface water dependent. We meet with the National Weather Service weekly. The National Weather Service predicting from now through the end of October is saying that we're in a period where it's going to be hotter than normal and much drier than normal. Their comments were we could see some potential increased rainfall in the winter, but really that's still not a lot of rainfall for us, and really that's not until like January or February. So say we typically get three inches of rain in January, say it got doubled to six inches, it's still not that much rain. So the weather outlook continues to be challenging for us.

But then we still have all these other water projects that we're doing. I mean, the water reuse is going to be online in a couple years. I mean, we're going to have enough water for industry.

So I do want to bring up the other water projects, and that was my second point, is the Mary Roads pipeline. If you recall, we are going to be installing the spare, permanently installing the spare pumping equipment at the Woodsboro and Bloomington pump stations, which means we will be going to schedule three, or 55 million gallons a day on the Mary Roads pipeline from 72 for a period of three weeks, and then we'll have another two weeks where we will be at schedule, we call it schedule 2B, so that's 43 million gallons a day. So we need to make sure there's a sufficient supply to handle those situations.

I agree with that, Nick, but Lake Texana is not even in our combined water levels. If we combine all three, we'd be way over 50%, 60%.

In Lake Texana, remember, we have a contractual amount of 31,440 acre-feet. of water from Lake Texana. We will use all of that water this year. It's not like there's extra water. And we certainly, councilmen, we can't account for the full volume of Lake Texana. And the third point that I wanted to bring up is the status of the agreed order. We don't know yet. We don't know if TCQ will approve it or deny it. Certainly, if that's not approved, there's certainly the environmental releases that we absolutely have to account for.

I feel very confident that they're going to approve it. I mean, industry needs the water, and I don't think the state's going to do that. You know, look, our residents... are not second-class water customers. I mean, industry matters, jobs matters, but at the end of the day, the residents matter too. Like, we need to give them relief, you know? We made national news. We gotta give them relief, okay? I mean, whatever it takes, I wanna go to stage one. We gotta put a memo out or whatever the case is and put pressure on Peter, on you, somebody, but we gotta go to stage one. And I hope my fellow council members agree with me. I mean, let's give the residents some relief, please.

Yeah, Councilman, I think it would be prudent to stay where we're at and to continue all of our effort, like you said, to diversify the water supply and then continue to work with the state regulatory agencies like we've been doing to continue to work through this situation.

Thank you. Councilwoman Vaughn. You know what my question is going to be. Are you pumping at the river?

We are okay. Yeah, we, we absolutely are. So we do have, uh, uh, we have the supply needs of our customers, uh, both our residential customers and our wholesale customers. As I stated earlier, we have certainly seen an increase in, uh, treated water production and, and we're, we're pumping, you know, anywhere from, uh, I would say 10 MGD to 15 MGD a day. That varies every day depending upon the needs and how much water we need to provide.

Do we need it? Because my understanding, what we were going to do if it was an emergency and we had to have it, and we've got the lakes, we've got the merry roads, so why would we be doing that?

It's important to continue to balance, Councilwoman, all of our sources so that we are maximizing the status of our western reservoirs, preparing for potential work on the Mary Roads Pipeline, and then we're also balancing the water that we have available from the lower Colorado River and Lake Texana.

Well, you know, I disagree with that, but does it matter? It doesn't. The other thing is Harbor Island. So it's my understanding they had a very good meeting. I guess it was last week. And is it correct that IDE is going to build the desal plant?

Yeah, they are termed as their development partner for the Nueces River Authority. So they would both design and construct the seawater desalination.

So that's really good news because it doesn't go Nueces River Authority's books. But they would do the pipeline, is that correct? Do we know that?

So the IDE contract does not include the conveyance pipeline.

No, I knew that. That's what I'm saying.

It would be a separate contract. They have right now two design firms to design segments of it, and then there would probably be a bidding process for the contractor to build.

So their thinking estimate is $6.2 billion for both?

I think that's just, we get, it's not always clear what we get for an answer, but next week, September 1st, John Byram and IDE will be here at City Council. Oh, great. Yeah, the Mayor Pro Tem asked that I get them set up. Yeah, we've been asking for a while. Yeah, we asked them to come in to give Council an update. So John Byram, whom I spoke with last Friday at their meeting, has agreed to come in and give Council a briefing. Um, but so the 6.2 million, I think the answer is that it's just the plant to the gate to the, like the fence line. There is a pump system and some, a little bit of pipeline from the plant to the fence line of the property. And there is a pump system and that's all in the 6.2, then the conveyance line off the property to Corpus Christi and beyond that separate beyond that 6.2 million.

Okay. And, um, on inner Harbor, we don't have the modelers yet to review.

The what, I'm sorry?

You said Coastal Bend and Estuaries.

Oh, correct, yeah. So in a harbor of the, we know Spheros finished their report and that was made public as planned by the end of July. There were the, uh, Dr. Stanzel who was here today was to help us and is still in the process of helping us pick, um, a modeler peer reviewer who will review the model, uh, that Spheros used. And Nick, as of, we don't have it yet, right?

We don't have it yet.

We don't have the, the, um, uh, yeah, a peer reviewer of the model.

Well, that's taken a while in it. How hard is it to find a modeler?

Well, they had like six or seven, but I, they gave Nick one recommendation, but there was a conflict in that, uh, in the independence of that modeler.

So, so we, we need to move on that on the stage one. I, you know, we want our residents to be able to water, but I know we're going after the agreed order. So I guess that would be dependent on is if it was an emergency or we needed to make sure we kept that water in stage two. Am I correct?

The agreed order absolutely makes a difference. Earlier today, it was mentioned that the average regulatory releases were 37,000 acre feet a year when we were releasing. Just as a reminder, our water right on the Colorado River is 35,000 acre feet, so it's more than that.

Yeah.

And then our contractual right at Lake Texan is 31,440 acre feet a year. So those environmental releases are more than that as well. It's important. It's an important part of the equation, which is why we're working so hard on it.

Okay.

Thank you all. Thanks. Council Member Hernandez.

Going back to that, the Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries is confusing as hell because they come to us with the issue about the water releases. but then they're not really complaining about brine into the inner harbor. I'm not really sure what they're saying. It's confusing what their position is. Maybe we can get some clarity from them as to, I mean, because they're opposing this because of salinity levels in Noises Bay. Well, the power plant was going to push all that water into Noises Bay anyway. I mean, it just...

That was a paper they handed out today, Nick.

Do you have a copy for you? Yeah, I don't have a copy of that.

No, I have it for you. Okay, so, I mean, I don't know. I'm confused by their position, but I don't want them opposing us on, you know, the water release issue, but apparently they are. Anyway, maybe we can get some clarity from them because it's confusing as to what they're really trying to accomplish. I had another question here. With regards to some of these projects, I'm hesitant to say it. You know what, I'll get with you and Peter after the meeting, because I want to ask something a little bit differently that has political ramifications, so I'll just hold off the question until afterwards. Thank you.

Councilmember Scott.

So you're saying if the general manager of TCEQ approves it, it goes into effect?

The executive director. If the executive director approves it, it goes into effect.

Which means, okay. And then either the board affirms that decision or... Or they deny the decision, which means it goes away, or they send it to SOA. And when they send it to SOA, does it remain in effect?

It will remain. Our legal advisors have told us it would remain into effect until it is relinquished.

And how long is it? At that point, I guess we'd like a long SOA process.

Well, what we've been told is that if there's a SOA process, it could be immediately. When the LCRA went through this, their SOA hearing started the very next day after the TCEU board meeting. I can assure you the state is taking all of this very seriously and working very hard on it. We're appreciative of that.

I would agree. I would agree. But if it does go to SOA, it's generally a very quick turnaround.

It could be the same day. It could be the same day. We're preparing, and we've been advised to be prepared for a potential, if they choose the SOA route, for that same day or the next day.

Well, thank you for being prepared for that. Hopefully we won't need it. I do think there's a conversation we had between Stage 1 and Stage 2 as we make the request of the TCEQ. I think it's probably questionable policy. to be going to the TCQ to get some help at the same time we move into stage one. So I agree that being at stage two is prudent as we seek this waiver request from the TCEQ. If we are talking to the NRA, may I add some questions that I would ask? I'd like a definition about financial liability because I heard that It's my understanding that they are on the hook once they go to some next phase.

That's correct, yeah. So the phase, what the board approved this past Friday was a phase one development, and they made it, they stated it as part of the motion, which is that there's no financial liability to the NRA. John Byram told me that the next step is a phase two, and then when that happens, there would be a more of a liability or a liability to the NRA.

Right, pretty significant. I think it's like... You put your full faith and credit behind. You know what? I don't. But I'd like to know what that means.

Right, yeah. We'll have to get to that when he comes here on the first.

And is it $6.2 billion for how many acre feet?

I think it's 100 MGD for that price. That was my understanding. Yeah, 100 MGD.

I was brilliant writing these down. That was five minutes ago. Can somebody tell me the total cost of the design of for the transmission line, right? So the NRA is paying engineers to design the transmission line.

Right.

How much is that engineering expense, and how much of it is under financial commitment? Because I think they're asking for $7 million from the state.

Yeah, right. They've been told by the state that they're going to be awarded $7 million, so they awarded $7 million contingent upon receiving that grant to two companies, LAN and HDR. And so they'll each design a segment. And their two contracts total $7 million. I just don't know what percent of the design that is. I'm just curious, right? Because it sounds like a lot. We'll find that out for you, though, when he comes here.

And if they do get the $7 million grant, is there some ability to get affirmation that it's going to the engineers, not to overhead?

The council awarded $7 million in contract dollars. So overhead being like NRA? NRA overhead. You know, because they have contractual obligations with $7 million to the two companies. Okay. I don't know how you can spend $7 million twice.

All right, if you say so. Yeah, I'm going to disagree with Gil that the power plant's pushing the inner heart of the brine into Nueces Bay. We can argue about that another day. I would ask the Coastal Bend Bays Foundation, or whatever they are, an opinion about the brine that's going on. I'm curious if they have an opinion about the brine going into the ship channel from CC polymer since it's not using a diffuser.

Well, we asked them that question, and they were hesitant to answer.

Okay. Yeah, and I totally get it. But it's good to ask them on all that. I do have a question about the basin estuary letter. I think that's interesting. I think it's a bellwether of the conversations to come. But if you guys could digest it and kind of tell us what it means, right, little words, short sentences, and then your opinion of it. Because I think as we want to move forward with amending our agreed order, I think that was a shot across the bow, frankly. And I'd like to know how big a shot across the bow that is. And I'll read it again tonight, but if somebody could give us some... Nick's going to help. We're going to read it here. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am.

Councilman Cantu.

When do we get confirmation on what their decision is for the releases?

Well, if we... The short answer is I don't know. It's up to TCQ and the executive director. Potentially, you know, initially they said it could be a couple of weeks for them to... review the completeness and the validity. You know, the city, we prepared with our outside legal counsel a complete legal brief, so they have to get through all of that. I would hope we'd have an answer by the end of the calendar month, end of August, Councilman.

So if we get an answer and they say that it's okay, stop the releases, and we're still over 40%, are we going to go to stage one?

What I would recommend we do, we have to get through the entire board process and the potential SOA hearing to reaffirm that before we can actually count on it. But again, Councilman, I think it's at this stage, knowing what we know with the weather forecast and how dismal the outlook is...

Didn't say we're going to get all this rain and this floodwaters. They didn't know that was coming. I mean, you know, you can't predict the weather.

Yeah, it's the staff opinion is it's not recommended to loosen the restrictions at this time.

So we make policy and we're not going to follow our own policy. So what's the purpose of making policy? We can't follow our policy, Peter. I mean, it's telling the public, hey, we make policy on this dais. Don't don't worry about the policy. Break the rules because we break the rules. I mean, I just don't understand. Why is it so hard to give the residents water? Let them have their water. Why we protect the industry so much? I mean, that's what it comes down to. I just don't understand why we're not protecting the residents I don't I don't you know.

Councilman if if I could say it's it's it's protecting the our entire system we have multiple classes of customers in fact if you look at the water uses from July to August the only customer class that decrease its usage was the large-volume users.

It doesn't matter. We made a policy.

We're all in this.

I get it. We made a policy, though, you know, and we need to stick with our policy. I mean, you guys are the ones who recommended the policy. We approved and voted on it, and that's our policy.

You know, and Mr. Esteban also told me that the ability of Stage 2 to hand water is every day of the week. Of course, we always recommend it to be before 10 a.m. and after 6.

But the problem, Nick, is that for so long... industry and all these groups of people told the world that Corpus Christi is running out of water. We made national news. We did all this stuff. Let's tell the people we're not running out of water. We got water. We always had water. We had Lake Texana. When are we going to combine that lake to the combined lake levels? I mean, the people don't know that we take a majority of our water from Lake Texana. They think we only get it from our two reservoirs that were really low. But no, we get like 70 million gallons a day from Lake Texana.

Yeah, and the Colorado River combined. Yeah, it's about 40 Lake Texana, 32 Colorado.

More than 50% of our water comes from there. You know, it just. I just feel that, you know, we need to go to stage one. It's our policy. And then why make policy? We're not going to follow our own policy. You know, that's why we lose the public's trust because we don't even follow our own policy. It just, it disturbs me and we need to do something about it. And I'm really surprised that nobody's on the dice right now talking about going to stage one. It's our policy. Thank you.

All right, with there being no further business, unless Mr. Zanoni, did you have more to add?

Sorry, I think that's it for today.

Okay, then this meeting is adjourned. Thank you.

Thank you.