City Council - Regular Meeting

Well, good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us in person and likely online. We will call this meeting to order. We will start this morning with our invocation being given by Pastor Don Lavelle with the Corpus Christi Christian Fellowship. Good morning, Pastor.

Good morning. Thank you so much, Mary. Thank you so much. Let us bow our heads in honors to the Lord and let us pray. Jesus taught us that men ought to always pray and never lose heart, and this is where our success comes from. Let us pray. Dear Father God, we thank you for you and for what you've done, knowing that you are the immutable, the unchangeable God, and what you have done can never be undone. Therefore, we come to you this morning asking for your blessing of favor and grace, For this council, thank you for them. Thank you for each one of them. No matter what their positions are, we thank you that they are willing to serve. We're grateful. We ask that you would manifest yourself in this meeting and that your presence would be palpable, that peace and harmony would be a sign to us that you are present. Please order the steps of each council person while present or absent. We pray that this city, Corpus Christi, would be a model city for our desperately frayed nation and that this council and city, our city, would be a model for how the nation and even the world should conduct its business. Do this for us in this uniquely named city, Corpus Christi, the body of Christ. Give us peace and wisdom as we manage every crisis, natural and human. Thank you for your hand in dealing with our water crisis. You have the best hands in the universe. Teach each of us through the movement of your hand, through mercy and grace, that when the righteous rule, the people rejoice. Therefore, cause each of us to conduct our lives in a manner that pleases you. Your hands are the most secure in the universe. Therefore, we command this counsel into your hands, and we pray these blessings In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you.

Amen. Thank you, Pastor. Our Pledge of Allegiance this morning to the flag of the United States and to the Texas flag will be led by Leah Moore-Torres, a senior at Incarnate Word Academy. Leah Moore Torres is a vase art state medalist and two-time regional medalist in visual arts. She's won multiple gold and silver awards in taps, state visual arts, and ceramics as well. Thank you for being here this morning, Leah Moore. 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 thee, Texas, one state, under God, one and indivisible. Thank you, and best of luck to you. Thank you, ma'am.

Go Angels!

Yes! That leads us to Section E, our city manager's report.

Well, ma'am, I do need to call the roll.

Oh, I'm so sorry. No, that's okay. If you would call roll first. Yes, ma'am.

Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem Kaylin Paxson. Present. Council Members Roland Barrera. Here. Sylvia Campos. Here. Eric Cantu. Here. Gil Hernandez. Here. Everett Roy is absent. 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. Mr. Zanoni, the city manager's section.

Yes, ma'am. Great. Good morning, Mayor Pro Tem and members of the council and the community. We do have two exciting updates for you this morning on two quality of life projects that we're working on, totaling $35 million. And these are significant park improvements in our north side, Hillcrest, Washington Coles neighborhood. Councilman Scott mentioned one of them just this week. as well as development of Commodore's Park, the first time ever really on the island. There was a small basketball court there, but a $5 million project underway right now to activate that park space. Both of these projects or all of these projects will be done nearing this fall. And so the community is going to have brand new assets never had before, both in the north side and the island. So Jeff Edmonds, our lead engineer, is going to walk us through a presentation that has a lot of pictures. We'll have some slides as well. It's in the north side, about $29 million for four parks and a brand-new aquatic center, a swimming pool similar to the one in District 5. And then on Commodores Park, close to $5 million, $4.76 million. of park space activation. That piece of property is pretty large. I think it was donated to the city. But in my time here, and in everybody's time here, it was never really activated. Like I said, there's a small basketball court, and that was it, and I think one bench. So this 4.7 million at Commodores is phase one of several phases. Ultimately, there'll be recreation center buildings where seniors and youth can have programming. And so what we'll see on Commodores is phase one, just to put that into context. I did want to recognize Reverend Williams, who's here. Reverend Williams, thank you for being here today. Watch this and please tell your community, we probably should have gave them a notice to have them come in because as we said at the groundbreaking, this $30 million investment in the Hillcrest-Washington-Coles area is the city's single largest park investment. That's the single largest. We've never done... an investment of $30 million in one area. But we're doing it here at Hillcrest, Washington, Coles. And so I'm going to turn it over to Jeff, who will walk us through the slideshow. There's some great pictures here. And we also have some video as well. And so both of these, as I mentioned, will be in operation or open to the public later this fall. So we're really excited about this. I'm going to turn it over to Jeff to walk us through the presentation.

Good morning, Mayor Pro Tem, Council Members, Jeff Edmunds, Director of Engineering Services, We've got a lot of slides here. I'm going to try and get through them as quick as I possibly can. So this slide lists the areas where all the improvements are occurring with this really group of projects we're calling the Harbor Bridge Parks Mitigation Project, and there's work going on at each one of these areas.

And we have some video.

If we can cue the video. No sound, sorry. You wouldn't like it. You would not like that. Okay. Thank you. So I'm going to go through and talk a little bit about each one of these elements. So, um, uh, this project, uh, construction started, um, last November is projected to be complete and, uh, September. And the total budget on this project is just over $20 million. And we're a little bit under 60% complete. Um, half associates was the design engineer and, uh, J services is the construction, uh, contractor. And I'd also mention we got a contribution from the MPO for $4.9 million of that total.

And we did, Jeff, can I just, we do want to give a shout out to JE Construction. They're a local company who this city helped to grow to be able to do this project. They started out as a smaller company that did some structural work and then moved to big road projects. They've done some of the city's biggest roads like Eberhardt. And then they bid on this and was a low bidder on this project. So JE Construction, James Edwards is the owner, but this is a good success story for locally grown companies and they're doing that work here.

They're probably our most prolific contractor right now. So this is the Washington Coles Park, and it's going to have an amphitheater with shade sails where you have the events, performances. There's a covered pavilion with restrooms and a 200-acre parking lot. A 200-acre? 200-space parking lot. Excuse me. Washington Coles Park. There's a photo under construction. That's the covered pavilion. This is the parking lot, which is taking shape.

TC airs park and before you get to TC air so the pavilion if we can go back to the slide that showed the aerial ring So we know that this is right across the street from where the hike and bike trail over the bridge or the multi-use path Customer Scott talked about walkers and cyclists So today when they if there's an event like we just saw breast cancer awareness, but there's things like the heart heart awareness month where this walks across the bridge and And so big groups of people meet before they take this walk. And there's no place to organize, right? And after the event, there's no place to recognize if there's a competition who's first place or just recognize. So this park has parking to, one, get to the event. And then, two, the pavilion, which is covered, could be used for things like eating after the event. The amphitheater that's there, the stage, would be for award ceremonies or speakers. So it's going to be a community event. Engaging atmosphere that provides amenities like restrooms a decent place to eat or have a drink in the shade And food truck areas you can see the little boxes on there and color and kind of in the middle is food truck designed as well So this is going to be a place where our community can come together in a big number in a big way and then enjoy that Harbor Bridge and come back here to have some concluding ceremonies and We've never had anything like this before, so this is a tremendous asset.

Yeah, that shared-use path from the Harbor Bridge connects right in the center on the bottom of that photo.

Right.

Okay, T.C. Ayers Park is going to have a softball field and a loop trail around the softball field. Okay. The area that shows green there is actually parking that was constructed by TxDOT, so that'll be convenient to the field. And something, you might have seen it, it just barely showed up in the bottom of the video, but TxDOT has done something really cool at that parking lot. They've taken one of the precast sections of concrete and that is being used as a shade structure there at the parking lot. H.J. Williams Park. That's going to have covered basketball courts, playground, parking lot, restrooms, picnic tables, and concrete paths connecting in their landscaping elements.

And this is right down the street, literally from Reverend Williams' home. I don't want to call it where he lives, but it's right in the heart of Hillcrest, this park. So a tremendous upgrade here for this facility.

So these are just construction photos. Those are the new restrooms. Moving on to Ben Garza Park. There's gonna be a new entry, a new playground, an expanded parking lot, and you got trail and sidewalk connections throughout, landscaping elements being added. This is a photo of the entry. That's the parking lot going to have 42 spaces when we're complete. If you make that out, there's going to be connections with five foot wide sidewalk that will accommodate shared use traffic that will connect all of these elements.

And Jeff, keep it there if you can. So Lamont Taylor, who I don't think is there, but he was Lamont Taylor. As we know, he was part of the community action group that helped to define these these four parks. One of the things that he and his community members wanted was what we call the Freedom Trail. And so we knew there were four parks, but we wanted to connect them. So if somebody wanted to show up to the Washington Coles area, they can go to three other parks on top of that through this designated Freedom Trail. And so the trail over time will have markers, will have historical markers of some of the leaders of Hillcrest and Washington Coles. But a parent or family can spend a whole day really going along that Freedom Trail, going from one park to the next, making it ultimately at the far left as you look at it to what Jeff is going to show you, the Aquatic Center. So this is, again, something very new. It picks up from what Councilman Hernandez is helping him do in District 5, which is connectivity through trails. So this singular trail will connect four parks in a historically black community. with historical markers on leaders of the time, and really providing a lot of different park amenities that one can participate in, hiking, biking over a bridge, playing ball, swimming in the aquatic center. And so Jeff's going to continue, and you'll see the aquatic center here momentarily.

So this is a rendering of the aquatic center. It's going to have a six-lane, 25-yard lap pool. There's going to be a zero-entry beach and a children's play area, bathhouse, administration building. There's going to be a parking lot with 92 spaces, and we're going to have shade structures on the deck. There's rendering from the parking lot direction. It's early in construction. I don't have any real good construction photos. It's mostly just trenches and pipes. But they're about 20% complete with construction. And there was a $9.1 million budget. And the contractor on that is South Texas Building Partners. We're expecting completion on that by May of 27th.

And on this project here, so just for some quick background, we initially recommended a splash pad, but the community said, no, we want the swimming pool that was promised. And so the state TxDOT helped by contributing $5 million so that we could afford this. So we need to thank the state, TxDOT, what was the former engineer's name, Vicente or Valente?

Valente Olivares.

Yeah, Valente Olivares went to bat for us. He was the regional engineer for many years here. So he got state money. So this is a grant. We don't have to pay it back to contribute to the construction of this pool. And so if anybody's been to the Bill Witt pool, this is It's pretty close. It's not as big. It doesn't have a lap pool, but a very similar setup for the community to enjoy. And you don't have to live there to use it. Anybody can go there and really take advantage of all those amenities now that are there in that hillside, Hillcrest area.

Okay, we're going to shift gears now to North Padre Island and Commodores Park.

Mr. Edmonds, can I take a quick comment from... Sure, absolutely.

Councilwoman...

I can't stop the video, but... I'm sorry.

No, I really do love all this, you know, this presentation, but I just wanted to make a statement on when you showed the pictures of the parking lot. I think on the older one, the Ben Garza, it already has some trees already embedded into the parking area. Is there a way that we could hopefully maybe embed also some trees into that big parking lot that you have on the new pool that's going in? Because it's just huge. And, you know, we need shade. I'm just saying, do you sporadically put in trees among those trees? parking lot. Can you include that?

Ma'am, I will look into that.

Did y'all hear that? What does that mean? That means no. So, no. That doesn't mean no. Okay, I'm telling you, okay, I will get the trees donated. I just need, you know, your department, your, to work with us. So, anyway.

We will work with you.

It's the best I can get from you, Jeff. All right.

At the podium, yes.

Okay. I'll move on, but I want the public to hear this, that we need more trees, and we have an opportunity because of these new facilities that are going up. We need to be more inclusive of trees. That's all I'm saying. Thank you.

Acknowledged.

Council Member Barrera.

Here, and I want to say over the course of the last eight years, I'm proud to be associated with this project.

Yes.

Um, very much so, um, and to bore everybody with a little bit of role in history, I won't use my whole three minutes, but, um, I actually played basketball with, uh, Lamont Taylor's son there at Ben Garza 50 years ago. And, uh, what is it, uh, along with, uh, TC airs as I got older and, you know, I'm just really glad to be a proudly associated with it. I mean, it was a neighborhood, both of us went to a sacred heart elementary school. of which uh and you know it was just down the street and back then walking distance you know which still is but um anyway just truly proud to be associated with it i was really excited i remember i advocated for the aquatic center versus just the splash pad um what is it i remember the pool there as i got older we took boy scouts out there on a regular basis And, you know, my father, what is it, if you just, where actually the Crosstown Expressway breaks down into a fork, my father's home was there, and they were displaced basically by the freeway. So, I mean, we've just got a strong and long attachment to the region, and I'm just proud to be able to say I was part of it. Thank you. Thanks for all the hard work.

That's incredible. And I think it's important that we thank the neighborhoods members in this area because they really have had to be very patient. They've worked alongside the city contributions for input and ideas and collaboration and the fact that they've maintained as partners through this whole process, I think definitely needs stated. But Mr. Zanoni, I think especially if there's a potential for there not to be a huge cost to the city, I think I would love to see a commitment that if we can make that request along the lines of compost requests, a commitment to that, making that possible, I think that would be good to see.

Yeah, we will. I think the reason Jeff's a little hesitant is it's 100% design. So we have to see, are there wells in the parking lot, as they call them, where the trees could be put in? So we'll have to look at the designs. Or there could be periphery along the side.

Peripheral, yeah.

So he's not answering because he's not looking at the blueprints or the drawings. But we'll take a look at that. And on Thursday, we're going to talk to the council about trees as a budget amendment. We know one of our community members has attended just about every budget workshop. And community meeting is advocated for trees. So we're looking for a couple hundred thousand. We'll show the council on Thursday on trees. So yes Thank you Okay.

Well, I had one one more a couple more slides we go back to Commodores Park update so this is phase one of a series of master plan improvements we have for Commodores Park Construction started in January, and the contract completion date is November, but contractors ahead of schedule, we actually think we're going to be able to open next month. And this is close to a $5 million budget for this first phase, and we're reporting that construction is 90% complete. So these are some of the elements that are included. We're going to have covered basketball court. There's two tennis courts and four pickleball courts. We have a nautical themed playground. There's walking trails, a picnic area, and we have an off-street parking lot. And these are some of the photos of construction. That thing on the upper left, that's a bird observation station. Picnic area and the if you look behind the equipment there, that's the the playground with the nautical theme And that concludes my presentation Thank You mr. Edmonds councilmember Scott Can we get the presentation emailed to us?

It's not in my shirt. Okay. Yeah, we'll email that to you We'll put it on the we'll put it on the system as well I just want to reiterate that the number of people I see on the Harbor Bridge when we cycle on mostly Sunday mornings is really extraordinary. And when you activate the base that you showed today, that's really going to be a community gathering point. I think that's going to be something. And thank you for the work that you all did to get it to this point. And then I think the work that We are all doing, or you all are doing it, on North Beach to activate that North Beach experience. It's going to make that bridge walk something unique in Texas. I think tourists are going to come. I think it's going to be written about, and you all should be very proud of yourself with the work that you've done. And thank you, because I get to ride a bike over it every couple weeks. Right. Thanks. Anyhow, thank you. And is there a bird's eye view of all the parks around? On the south side? There is, yeah, we'll get you that.

Thanks. Yeah. And can I add to that, Mayor Pro Tem? So to Councilman Scott's point, often when a governmental entity invests money, the private sector follows. So we anticipate economic development being generated from this, both in this Washington Coles area as well as on North Beach. People know that when there's a big gathering, they're going to want to buy something at the convenience store, maybe gas up. We expect some economic development ripple effect from the city's investment on this. And then next Tuesday at City Council, we're going to do a similar preview of all the work being done on North Beach. We'll highlight the other side of the trail because there is some amenities on North Beach as well, including a parking lot that's covered because I believe it's under the bridge somehow. It's covered somehow. And then there'll be some facilities there as well where another gathering can take place on North Beach when you go across the bridge. So that's all part of the design. We didn't focus on it today, but we'll show it to you next Tuesday when we show you all the improvements that are happening at North Beach as well.

Thank you, Mr. Zanoni. Councilwoman Vaughn?

Well, these are great projects, well-deserved. It's about time, and I appreciate the fact that TxDOT basically kept their word, and they're helping with that pool, so that's awesome. I love trees like anybody. I think it's great, but we need to remember we have been in a drought, and we will be in a drought again. So before the city goes and puts trees in our properties, we need to make sure our citizens get to put trees in theirs where they can water them as well. And we need to be conscious of the fact that we do need to start talking about cereal landscape for the future because this is not one drought. We've had them before and we will have them again. I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer, but hey, thanks.

Council Member Hernandez.

Jeff, city manager mentioned it about the bond for trails on the south side, but it wasn't in your presentation. I was wondering what the issue was. Why didn't we include that?

Focusing on just two areas for right now the Hillcrest and the island, but we can bring that to show you what it was a bond project So I was assuming that it'd be part of that, but that's okay.

I don't feel left out in any way We're continuing with that it is a connection to connect those trails that are separated by gaps and And then also have the safe route to school to Caffey and Fay Webb and some of the other schools there. We'll bring that as a separate item, Councilman. Okay. Thank you. And also, you know, I'm glad that we're having the swimming pool and more facilities for us to enjoy. I think the Bill Witt pool with the 60,000 visitors this summer was evident that we, you know, the community really is starving for that kind of wellness and recreation. Thank you.

Councilwoman compost Okay again, I just wanted to mention about the trees that you can plant trees during droughts By the way if everybody can look it up it only takes 10 to 15 gallons per week So that's a drop in the bucket people we can still have trees in and still be in a drought, and still, I'm gonna even mention today, climate change, because I don't know if y'all have heard this, there is actual climate change happening, and trees are the workhorses of the environment. So there, I'm off my soapbox.

As soon as I go back here, I'm gonna talk with Sergio and Robert about putting some trees in over there.

Well, thank you, Mr. Edmonds and Mr. Zanoni. This presentation certainly encompasses the city from one end to the other and talks about some great projects that the community has really been looking forward to, and I know they'll enjoy. So thank you for the presentation.

You're welcome. Thank you.

Okay. Seeing that it is now noon, we will move on to Section F, which is our public comment period. During our public comment period, all of our in-person speakers will have up to three minutes to speak. Our call-in guests or video-in guests will have three minutes for Corpus Christi residents and up to one minute for non-residents. And we do ask that everyone participating in public comment is mindful and courteous of our business meeting this morning and our decorum policies. So with that, we'll go to our first speaker, which is Miss Robin Sanders.

Robin Sanders, District 1. Greetings, everyone. I was not planning on talking about this subject, but now I have to. I live across the street from Westchester Park, which is a spitting distance from all these projects that you have done. And we've had this property since you were two years old, Mr. Zanoni, 55 years. Twenty years of that, I have wrestled with the Parks and Recreation Department to save our park. At one time, it was two acres of St. Augustine grass. There's an irrigation system. It's the second oldest park in Corpus Christi. Irrigation system kept it watered beautifully, had trees everywhere, and it had a playground, but we didn't have crime like we do now. Constant degradation of this park has destroyed our neighborhood. Families can't go there. They tore up the little covered pergolas that had picnic tables. None of the trees, they're mesquite trees. They only last 80 to 100 years. That park is 80 years old. Trees will not be replaced, and you're wrong about the drought. Parks Department tells me we can't plant trees during the drought, and they didn't. I donated a tree. I paid $300 for a live oak tree. And what did I run into at the Parks Administration? You have to pay us $300 to plant it. And we want people to donate trees to help the parks that are in our neighborhood. Parks Department wants $300 to come out and plant it. It took me a month to get that resolved. It took four years to get a working water fountain next to the basketball court. The management of that is disastrous. And Mr. Zanoni will pay attention to this. Not only have the trees died and not been replaced, They're cutting down living trees with leaves on them. They cut down three, and I live there, I'm watching this go on. Then they headed over and I went, as I have many, many times, and talked to the people that are working on the ground. Who were they? They were the people who mow grass. Why are you cutting these trees down? Well, it's faster and easier for us to mow the grass without trees in the way. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Thank you, Ms. Sanders.

Can you clarify what park she's talking about? Westchester. Westchester. Yes, sir, it's Westchester.

Yeah, we got it. No, we have it. Thank you. We're good. Yeah, Westchester Park.

Mr.. Can we can we get some clarification on the different okay?

When I stopped them from cutting down the trees a maniac with a chainsaw dangerous person he goes up the chain of command and called our city manager to spank me and

Mr. Zanoni, if we can have a staff member talk with Ms. Sanders so that we can get a report of what she's talking about and have an answer to what took place. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Sanders. Sondra Meyer? Vidal Conde? Bradley Bartleson?

You know, stormwater has a lot of nutrients. Could use that. Brad Bartleson, Corpus Christi. A strategic plan must precede investments. The shown plan sets forth 180 MGD by 2035. Currently at 130, we're looking for 50. Our having a plan allows businesses to make theirs. Well-established costs are highest for seawater desal than brackish water and lowest from surface water. Evaporation control on our lakes peak flow capture from streams and stormwater are three affordable surface water options two of the three would exceed our needs Cost benefit analysis the accepted method for city governments puts numbers to cost benefits and risk weighted factors yielding a net present value or NPV for each option The NPV of existing and new resource options are shown in this simplified view. Free evaporation control on our lakes has the best NPV and delivers water at 84 cents a K-gallon. Stormwater reuse has a slightly negative NPV, delivers at 357 a K-gallon, adding the Guadalupe River to the existing Mary Roads Pipeline, adds 65 MGD at 221 a K-gallon, and Inner Harbor displays the most negative NPV, and is at 1339 at Kegel. EVAP control benefits include power, improved fishery, and recreation. With EVAP control on the reservoirs, we had two years of water security. Drought resilience of streams running under the Mary Roads Pipeline is assured by 40 years of rainfall maps, adding that Guadalupe puts reliability at 99.8%, That's drought resistant. Guadalupe peak flows will render 65. This works by drawing water from the river at the high mark and pumping that to Green Lake. Add this to the MRP along with the parallel pipe allows us to push water both ways, moving water amongst reservoirs as conditions afford. Cost for this is $500 million, $800K a year in operating expense. We're already paying for storm water, so why not use it? Water quality will be improved in our bays by not dumping it there, and we can feed our trees. EVAP control and MRP addition present the best cost benefit to get our 50 MGD. Together, they have the capability of providing over 100 MGD at service water cost. Opinions are easy, and they divide us. Working on numbers together can unite us.

Thank you, Mr. Bartleson. Alejandro Chavera. Susie Luna Saldana. Okay, we'll come back to her. Noah Cantu.

Good afternoon. Thank you for allowing me to speak with you today. The internship programs represented before you today, both Delmar College's internship program and TAMOCC's JDIP program, have been a true blessing in my life. They've allowed me to continue to my education while also gaining professional experience in the workforce. These programs are special because they allow students like myself to gain real workforce experience while also continuing our education, taking the skills we learned in the classroom and applying them to our local communities. I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO CONTINUE SUPPORTING THESE AMAZING PROGRAMS AND I THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT YOU'VE SHOWN TO THESE PROGRAMS THUS FAR. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU, MR. KENTU. CORAL CARRY?

HI THERE. GOOD AFTERNOON. CORAL CARRY. I'M THE CURRENT PRESIDENT OF THE COASTAL BEND ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS AND I AM HERE ON THEIR BEHALF TODAY. in response to the amendment to the ordinance involving short-term rentals in Corpus Christi. Just a reminder that our association is against city ordinances that restrict property owners from using their properties as short-term rentals and our association leadership remains and is always available to city council and city staff in developing policies and procedures that allow and manage short-term rental properties. Consistent with our larger Texas Realtors Association, the Coastal Bend Association is opposed also to registration fees to administer to any new short-term rental programs. In response to today's amendment to the STR ordinance, The Coastal Bend Association of Realtors urges the City Council to postpone action on the proposed STR ordinance amendment to allow for meaningful public input in a comprehensive impact review. There's no current operational urgency to push this through. The annual STR permit renewals do not incur until December, and there is zero operational justification to rush in a permanent code change through the council on a single vote at this time. Developing major regulatory changes through narrow closed-door meetings while excluding the broader real estate industry and housing stakeholders produces unbalanced and unpredictable policy for our community. Redefining core short-term rental categories directly impacts private property rights, active housing transactions, and local investments across our Corpus Christi community. A policy shift of this scale warrants a transparent review of its broader economic and legal consequences before a decision is made. We sincerely ask council to table this item, to reject any push to fast track these changes in a single meeting, and to bring all community stakeholders into an open and collaborative discussion before altering our municipal code. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Kerry. Rudy Garcia.

My name is Rudy Garcia, owner of Growth Lawn Care, LLC. I'm going to take a couple notes from what I wanted to say, just so I get it right. Madam Mayor, pro tem, and council members, I started my lawn care business, Growth Lawn Care, because I wanted a better future for myself and my family. Lawn care was something I already had experience in. It carried less liability, and I knew I could offer reliable quality service to our community. I wanted to build something steady, something honest, and something I could grow over time. During a men's Bible study group, one of the members mentioned the Small Business Development Center. That same day, I reached out for a consultation, and that's how I ended up meeting with Del Mar College at Apex Accelerator. I was interested in city and federal contracts. I just didn't know how to go about securing them. Apex helped me start with the Texas Hub certification and from there guided me through registrations with the City of Corpus and the Port of Corpus Christi. They walked me through the process, explained what each requirement meant, and helped me understand how to position my business for government work. My first award after becoming an Apex client was as a subcontractor at a calibration facility for the U.S. Department of Energy. I serve clients in Corpus Christi and Port Aransas, and I'm continuing to grow. Working on adding a second crew to increase output and giving back to my community is one of my non-negotiables. As my business grows, I want my impact to grow, too. I've been invited to different equipment expos, opportunities I've never imagined when I started mowing lawns to build a better future. The Apex advisors have played a huge role in helping me move forward. They've helped me understand registrations, requirements, and the contracting process. Their support has given me confidence and open doors I wouldn't have reached on my own. My business would not be where it is today without the Del Mar College Apex Accelerator. Their guidance has made a real difference for me, my family, and my future. Thank you for your time and for continuing to support programs that truly help my small business owners like myself. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Garcia. Susie Luna Saldana.

Susilio Saldaña, Corpus Christi, Texas. I come before you today because of all the things that have been coming up concerning the rental properties and what's going on about all the rental properties that are being rented out for short periods of time. Having a problem with the fact that somebody's contesting it, because you've got to look about what's good for the neighbors and what's not. However, I do have a problem with some of the characters involved, because it seems like David Ajiv, Ajiv David, is also involved in that, about filing a suit. I hope we're not making special preferences for these people. I hope I'm wrong on it. doing the research on it and i will come back to you about it but i do want you to consider that corpus is a tourist attraction place i just don't want people jumping out of buildings and doing those kind of things so i would hope that you temper with who's bringing it and for what reason thank you thank you miss saldaña christopher monroe

Good afternoon. My name is Christopher Monroe. I'm speaking on short-term rentals. Given how my life began, I could easily be dead or in jail. Instead, I'm standing before you. At three years old, my mother left me with a woman I was raised to believe was my grandmother. Years later, I learned she was not blood family at all. She had been the longtime babysitter. When she died while I was 16, I finished high school couch surfing among more than half a dozen families over two and a half years. I'll never forget the profound feeling of shame and embarrassment when the liaison for homeless students at CCISD drove me to TAMU CC with a letter identifying me as an unaccompanied homeless minor because I had no parents to list on the FAFSA application. A dorm was the first place I felt safe. Most of my classmates looked forward to the semester ending and going home. For me, that was just another obstacle I had to overcome to find reliable shelter I could afford until I could move back into a dorm. I decided those circumstances would not define me. I stood myself up and decided, whoa, was not me. I graduated from TAMU CC with a bachelor's, then went on to earn my master's at Harvard University, graduating fourth in my class. And since 2018, I've been teaching staff to more than 35 courses at Harvard. I've come a long way. I came back to Corpus Christi to the city I call home to raise a family and build a business that would attract tourists to the sparkling city on the Bay. I worked hard to build my own American dream. I worked diligently with the city to ensure we were following the rules. I disclosed my plans and followed the written, repeated guidance the city explained to me multiple times was coming directly from the city attorney's office. The city issued and renewed permits repeatedly confirmed were lawful more than half a dozen times in writing over the course of many years. I've made very intentional choices in my life to be an ethical business leader. I've done everything in my power to be the hometown boy this community could be proud of. Now, multiple senior officials have informed me that judges Missy Medary and Judge Bobby Galvan pressured city leadership to revoke my lawfully issued permits. I've been told that pending permits I filed with the city's written guidance was still published to the city's official website are being held because Judge Missy Medary's attorney, John Bell, wants the city to adopt a different interpretation. Judicial titles do not make private interpretations law and a private attorney does not get to veto over city permits. This abrupt reversal puts more than $20 million of real estate and my ability to service its debt at risk. This could force bankruptcy and cost my wife, my three-year-old sweet baby girl, and my innocent baby boy their home. I never imagined following the guidance from city officials could force me to confront the possibility of homelessness again. I survived homelessness once. This is not about whether you support short-term rentals. It's about whether citizens can rely on the city when they're being told this guidance is coming directly from the city attorney's office. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Monroe. Michael Schaefer.

Good afternoon, counselors. Michael Schaefer, Precinct 3 of Corpus Christi. I'm a practicing attorney in Corpus Christi with about one-third of my practice concerning real estate, both in transactions and in litigation. Leasing law, both short-term and otherwise, is something I have been practicing for about a decade now. As this council may not know, the city's interpretations and enforcement of the SDR ordinance have become confused to the point of being schizophrenic over the last six months, primarily concerning what properties should be considered type one or type two, which impacts which properties are subject to the 15% block face rule in its own fragmented interpretations. Official guidance was posted to the city's website less than a month ago, a position that the city now seeks to invalidate. The change being pushed today as an emergency appears more to do with politics and pettiness than any analysis of the law. Today's vote is yet another whipsaw reaction, which this city is likely to regret. Homestead requirements for STR applications have been struck down in the Fifth Circuit for violating the Dormant Commerce Clause protected by the U.S. Constitution. Quoting Hegel Stark v. City of New Orleans, the residency requirement still discriminates on its face against interstate commerce. And our conclusion that the residency requirement is discriminatory puts it on death's doorstep. Recall that a discriminatory law is virtually invalid. The city's memo for this meeting seeks, quote, the elimination of owner-operator ambiguity. It is that very ambiguity that the Fifth Circuit approved in 2025. New Orleans allowed operators to show residency via utility bills, IDs, other information. The Fifth Circuit allowed this because, end quote, the code does not require an operator to reside at the property permanently, which is what a homestead requirement will do. Taking this vote today, making any other changes to the enforcement of STR under the current documented and approved schema is going to drag the city into a lawsuit that it will lose very expensively. The harm to investors will be eight figures at a minimum. The city will lose non-trivial hotel tax revenue. And when the city's wiffle waffling positions come to light, everyone is going to be very embarrassed. The city should vote against or at least not carry a vote. to change the STR ordinance now. Nor should there be any change in current enforcement practices. Millions of dollars of real estate investment have already been made and would otherwise continue to be made based on the city's documented interpretation of its ordinances in the form that they are currently in. A change now would be ruinous to current investors, will discourage further investment. A vote in favor of this change or any other change is in effect a vote to drag the city into expensive litigation. How short-term rental should be handled is a continuing conversation in Texas. I urge that this council be practical and prudent. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Schaffer. Dr. Devin Moreno.

Good afternoon, City Council and City Manager. Thank you for allowing me the time to speak. My name is Dr. Devin Moreno. I'm the owner of Paradigm Wellness here in Corpus Christi, Texas. So we do acupuncture, we do massage, chiropractic, physical therapy, and primary care. And I would not be where I am right now if it wasn't for the SBDC as well at Delmar College and Lift Fund. So when I first started my office, I was in a 97 square foot office. I was in one room and I worked by myself. Over the years, we've grown to So many, many different employees. So now we've hired 12 different employees. that have worked with us and that are working with us. But again, we couldn't do that without the funding from Lift Fund. So Lift Fund has helped us, gosh, so much. In the beginning, it was me putting my grandma's Nissan Rogue as collateral to get the loan, right? I think it was $8,000. We recently just got $350,000 from them. And that helped us expand our office into a beautiful 5,000 square foot office. So right now we're doing great. And I just want to reinforce that fact that we do need places like the SBDC and Lift Fund to help us because as you all saw with Rudy as well, when he was giving his presentation and his speaking, it helps his business. So please don't forget about them. So that's all I have to say. Thank you all so much.

Thank you so much, Dr. Moreno. Cheryl Martinez.

Hello, Cheryl Martinez at District 2. I am first wanting to say from the last time I was here, nobody has reached out to me about the concerns of animal control. And I've spoke to some of the vets at Oso who do work for me and said that they're averaging sitting there for about four to six hours, and we're paying for that with our tax dollars. So, I'm here today about the proposed zero euthanasia policy. I want to be very clear from the beginning that I do support the goal of preventing unnecessary euthanasia of healthy and treatable animals. It's the mission of PAC. It's what we do. I've spent years working to reduce shelter intake, increase spay and neuter, and provide veterinary care to those who cannot afford it. And we want alternatives for euthanasia. But the concerns about it are some of the wording that is in it. So it does sound very compassionate, but without a plan, then there's going to be unintended consequences that are anything but compassionate. And if you look right now at the animals that are sitting in animal control, there are some that have been sitting there since March. How many people are trying to get animals in off the street? How many of you have gotten phone calls from people saying there's packs of dogs in their neighborhoods? Has that stopped? So what is the plan? A municipal shelter does not control how many animals enter the community. Dogs get loose, owners die, become hospitalized or evicted. So what happens when the shelter reaches capacity? If euthanasia for capacity is prohibited under every circumstance, there's so many alternatives. So when a municipal shelter stops accepting animals, the problem has not been solved. It's just been moved outside the shelter. Those animals remain in the neighborhoods. That's not zero euthanasia. That's what you call a displacement of the problem. So do we want to do that or do we want to be more proactive? Also, be very careful with healthy and treatable. Who makes the determination? A veterinarian? You still don't have a full-time veterinarian. Shelter staff, administration, at what cost with what resources? And I have offered, again, for years, to help you with the programs that you need to do this. You've got to get those in place. We used to do it before when we had the previous director of Mr. Skidmore and also when we had under PD. And we went out with them. We offered free spay and neuter instead of them picking the animals up. it was a very proactive approach. We are also the only group in town that has outreach people that go door to door with a proactive approach. So I would ask that you not adopt an absolute under any circumstances. A proposed policy that I'm going to say is an alternative No euthanasia of healthy or treatable animals for space except as a documented last resort after defined life-saving measures have been exhausted with veterinary qualified behavioral review, written justification, and monthly public reporting. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Martinez. Kelly Segura.

Good afternoon. My name is Kelly Segura and I'm the director of Casa Segura House of Hope here in Corpus. We're a local based animal rescue. And I'm here today to speak about the banning euthanasia for space without first addressing what is causing the lack of space. And please let me be clear. I do not want healthy animals to be euthanized. No rescuer does. Um, I want euthanasia for space to end because we have made it unnecessary, not because we banned it while animals continue pouring through the shelter doors. A band does not create another kennel. It doesn't create another foster, and it's not going to bring in another adopter. It does not prevent the next unwanted litter from being born. We cannot rescue our way out of an animal overpopulation crisis. Yes, our city provides spay and neuter for free in certain zip codes, but we need more education and outreach, especially in underserved and low income communities where financial transportation or educational barriers may exist. So we need to go into these neighborhoods. We need to educate, provide resources, make spay and neuter available to more zip codes than what is being allowed right now. and hold irresponsible breeders accountable. A small breeding fee of $50 is not a deterrent. It is not. I believe we should consider increasing that fee dramatically, even as high as $2,000. and enforce the ordinances we already have. I also see animal care services being bashed continuously on social media. So to all of the keyboard warriors that love to go and say things about them without actually getting in there and helping, I have a challenge for you. Get off your keyboard and go to the shelter. Adopt a dog, foster a dog, volunteer to help. I just want people to know it's so easy to point fingers. It's so easy to bash people. But it's much harder to open your home. And before you vote, I ask you one important question. What is the plan when every kennel is full? When animal care services is full? When rescues are full? When fosters are full? Where is the next stray going to go? I'm going to tell you. That stray is going to be out in the street. It's going to be in all of your neighborhoods. It's in my neighborhoods because I'm in the one one. They're everywhere. They actually come to my yard. I think they know where to go. So if the shelter doesn't take that dog, the dog's not gonna disappear. It's gonna stay out there and it can be hit by a car. It can die in this Texas heat. It can be picked up, abused and killed. It can be used for gang fighting for the dog baiters that they come and they take them and they hurt them. So a full shelter doesn't mean that we've solved the problem. It just doesn't. It may simply mean we've moved the problem from inside the shelter back outside. And that city council is not success. And I think that's what you're aiming for. We all are because we want it to go away.

Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Segura. Jeffrey Brown.

Good afternoon. Um, I was asked here to come with Ms. Compost. My name is Jeff Brown. I'm a district two person. I want to let you know that I am an animal guy and I want to echo what both these ladies just talked about as far as the no, you know, stop euthanizing. I had a lovely Saturday here at the animal care facility. I found a dog on my block. We've had three cats killed on our block by stray dogs. I was feeding the animals. I turned around and here's this large dog. So I captured them. I put them in a yard. I watched them Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I call animal control to come and get them. No response. Friday, I call animal control. No response. I had it on Facebook. I had it on the Nextdoor app. I had it on Craigslist. I had a sign in the yard saying, found dog. I can't get rid of this dog. Saturday, I've had it. Go to the pound, talking with three of the ladies there. They won't take the dog. Why? Because it's owned. I told him that the owner had called me finally Friday, but he has some mental impairments. The caretaker can't come and get it. So I said, I'm done. I'm taking it in. Animal care will not take the dog from me. It's an intact male, not been chipped. And it's a big dog that could harm a child, could harm another animal. And here I'm taking care of it. They wanted me to take the dog to the owner, because I know the owner. I only talked to him for 15 minutes. And me to get the paperwork from the owner to do their job. I told them, you guys put it in your truck and get the paperwork and take it to the owner. Why am I doing your job? But just like these two ladies said, as far as the no kill, I am an animal person. I've worked at the Brookfield Zoo for three years, Cincinnati Zoo for eight years. I'm an animal guy. My background, I have a master's degree in biology. The problem is people, not pets. We need to have every male and female dog fixed in this town. Every animal should be chipped. I could get these dogs back to their owners in five minutes if they had a little chip in them. We need all the animals chipped. You're not going to fix the problem if you don't fix the source. The source is people and an intact male dog roaming, killing critters, and possibly attacking people. The problem, you know, again, they say you're going to have to build bigger kennels because you're going to have more animals to take care of. Why are we not evacuating? You can watch the news and they will take an animal from here in Corpus and ship it to Maine, ship it to Wisconsin, ship it to other areas. Why are we not doing that? Why are we not trying to get the animals out of our city because we have too many of them? There are programs. There are people. But I wanted to talk to the director. Oh, wait a minute. You guys don't have a director. How many months have you guys not had a director? Hire me. I'll get shit done because you know how to fix the problem. It is the people and getting every animal neutered unless they have a breeding permit. That's all I got to say. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Brown. Matthew Rankin.

Okay. Matthew Rankin, HBO Matt. I said those words a year ago, first time I addressed you guys about First Amendment issues and your decorum rules. Let me read from that day some more. Mr. Rankin then states the use of profanity cannot be criminalized and proceeds to state that decorum rules are unlawful and unconstitutional. In his three minutes, Mr. Rankin says, F the mayor and F your rules. All right. Based on his conduct, Rankin not only violated the decorum rules of counsel, he also offended the mayor with his vulgar remarks. What am I reading from? The police report that your PD used to put a warrant out for my arrest for disrupting a meeting a year later. Yeah. So I don't know what the plan was. They used a pocket warrant. I say that because I wasn't told about it. My lawyers weren't told about it. Didn't get an email, phone call, anything in the mail. Didn't get an officer showing up to my house or a constable. So I guess the plan was just wait for me to show up for another council meeting and arrest me in front of the cameras, make an example for everybody else. Only thing I can make out of it. But that didn't work out because I found out San Antonio at their city council meetings are running people that show up for the meeting for warrants last week. Yeah. You guys have joined the ranks of Aransas Pass in Tarrant County now. If you offend the mayor... You go to jail. Just like if you offend Judge Tim O'Hare in Tarrant County, you go to jail. Or you offend the mayor or the police chief of Aransas Pass, you go to jail. You're the same now. And notice I said F the mayor because I don't know what will happen if I actually use the same protected words the Supreme Court ruled on 50 years ago that I could say here. Tarrant County has a reputation of stacking false arrests to violate people's bond, especially for activists and journalists like me. So I don't know if the police chief is hoping I drop an F-bomb right now so he can go put another warrant out for my arrest and keep me in jail instead of letting me bond out. A little bit of good news, Jason Falwell's trial for disrupting a meeting was supposed to be today, got dismissed because former police chief Blanchard and Mayor Guajardo ignored their subpoenas and didn't show up for trial. So the case was dismissed. So that's done. Word is that by the end of the day, Mayor Guajardo will have a bench arrest out for her for failing to appear. So she might want to get on that. I'll remind you what else happened in Aransas Pass after BS like this happened. The entire city council, the mayor and the police chief were run out of town. Every one of them lost their election or were shamed and quit. So change your decorum rules before something else worse happens. This escalates. Get rid of the police chief too.

Thank you, Mr. Rankin. Councilwoman Vaughn.

Mr. Sinoni. Would you give us an update on what he's talking about when you can and find out who requested the arrest? I would just be curious to know who requested it. Because we have people come up here all the time, and they say ugly things to us. All of us do. And I don't think one of us has ever requested that. I would just like an update on why that was done and who requested it.

Yeah, we'll get you that, Constable.

Thank you.

Can we add to that the details?

Excuse me?

Could we add to that the details? He read off a few other items.

Yes. Yeah, we'll respond to everything he said.

Thank you. Selena Obregon-Benevides. Amanda Guerra. Mindy Inman.

Hi, Mayor and Council. My name is Mindy. It's Mindy Inmansin, and I live here in Corpus Christi. I'm an operator for a short-term rental. This proposal directly affects me and my income. I spend about 80% of my year here in Corpus. My routine is four weeks here, one week home with my husband in Alabama, and then back here for another four weeks to work. Corpus is where I live and work most of the year. The property I rent is my physical address, primary address, primary residence, and short-term rental income helps me pay that rent. The rule requiring titled owners homestead exemption for type 1 status would disqualify this for me and facially is not lawful. My husband carries a homestead exemption on our home in Alabama, and as you know, a married couple can only claim one homestead, even if they effectively live in separate states. There's also a serious constitutional problem. The city attorney's office must be forgetting why they adopted an ordinance that provides for an operator. Well, let me remind you, in Hignall v. Stark, the Fifth Circuit, held that an owner primary residence rule enforced through homestead exemptions unlawfully discriminated against interstate commerce. A federal court later applied that ruling to Austin's homestead-based short-term rental restriction. The city has neutral alternatives. Require an operator on the site, enforce the noise and occupancy laws, impose penalties, revoked permits for actual repeated violations. And therefore, I require that you preserve the operator-occupied Type 1 permits. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Inmanson. Sam Blanton.

Good morning and hello, Mayor and Council. My name is Sam. I live in Corpus Christi, and I'm a managing real estate broker for Gulf Coast Realty Services. Our firm has over $100 million in residential real estate assets under management in Corpus Christi. I am a 55-year-old woman that came here and started a business and learned to love Corpus. So our owners are alarmed, not only by the proposed Type 1 and Type 2 definition, but also by the city's apparent adoption of a new block face calculation. That method has not been clearly published. It conflicts with years of guidance from development services and is inconsistent with how the ordinance was presented to council. The owners I represent relied on the rules the city gave them. They purchased homes, they financed renovations, obtained and renewed permits, paid hotel occupancy taxes, and operated openly. They asked how the ordinance worked and followed the answers that they were given. The city may change policy prospectively, but it should not reverse its methodology after investments have been made and then use annual renewal of denying permits that still comply with the rules under which they were approved. We are not asking for permanent permits or immunity from safety or nuisance standards. We are asking for fair treatment. We urge the city to follow the law and grandfather existing lawful permits, apply any new definitions and block face calculation prospectively after it is clearly adopted and published. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Ms. Blanton. Melinda de los Santos.

Good afternoon, Melinda De Los Santos. I think it was two weeks ago when Mr. Zanoni had mentioned about child safety, going to the schools and everything for everybody to be aware. Well, there's more than just that, the traveling to schools that we need to be concerned about. Just for instance, well, the vaccines. I know I've been a big proponent that I do not like vaccines and all I'm telling parents is please get educated and inform yourself. A lot more is coming out about these mRNA vaccines and a lot of parents are actually waking up to this. I have a friend in Harlingen who they told her daughter that she couldn't go to a Catholic school because they weren't gonna accept any type of exemption, the religious exemption. And it's funny how, if you want vaccines, it's like, okay, well, then you get your vaccines and you should feel safe that you have these vaccines and you're not gonna harm anybody else. I mean, no one's gonna harm you because they have these vaccines. I'm letting you know that these mRNA, they're allowing, it's encased in a nanoparticle and it's allowing it to cross the cellular membranes and the blood barrier membranes. I really am asking parents Do what you want, but please get informed. And I really think we need to look at the exemptions. And that's my next steps, talking to the Catholic schools about not allowing a religious exemption. The second thing is technology. There's a lot of push ever since COVID came about. There's been a lot of this technology that continues to grow in our schools. And what I'm reading is that 96% of the EdTech applications share your children's personal data with additional third parties without your consent or knowledge. In a sampling of 25 mandatory apps, there was 56% were scored as do not use, and an additional 24% were scored as high risk, meaning only 20% are safe. 75% of EdTech applications expose your children's location, usage, and personally identifiable information. So I think this is another area that we need to, you can look under, there's things that parents can push back against schools using these texts, so an unplugged EdTech is a good thing. Last thing, as you know, I went to that course, Human Trafficking, People, I think Governor Abbott, they're just starting to look at a 10-year sentence for these teachers. Parents, look at Texas Scorecard, Bad Apple's archives. There are so many teacher inappropriate relationships in our schools, not Corpus itself, but along Texas. Please go look at Texas Scorecard, Bad Apple archives. There are a lot of pedophiles out there. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. De Los Santos. Angela Porter. Roberto Del Cristo.

Honorable council members and Mayor Procter, my name is Dr. Robert Del Cristo. I'm an ER physician here in Corpus and have been so since 2013 in 2018 I Decided that I was going to become a permanent member of you know this community, and I bought a home at 5825 Ocean Drive I've heard some people come up here and tell us why this is not a pressing problem First of all from the realtor the reason that it is a pressing problem for us homeowners that are adjacent to these SDRs is that In my personal case, and David Ajit, who I saw someone or heard somebody trying to disparage him, we're homeowners. We live in that community. The total amount of houses in my little cove in that community is five houses. If you average three people from home in those five houses, it would have been 15. These people in the SDRs, which are not the small owner-operated ones that have six or eight and basically support somebody's income, these are people who are bringing 20 to 30 people per house. I am personally surrounded by 60 people possibly at one time in my little community that can only take 15 or so. That to us, to the safety of my wife, who has people coming back and forth, running through our yard, basically at all hours of the night, who we have called police on several times, have gotten no action. To us, that is an emergency. And we're not asking for any special thing. All I want you guys to do is to enforce the STR rules as they are. You know, the STR2s and STR1s, we have, you know, they have broken what the block face. I have two of them in our face block, which is about 40% of the face block. That's unconscionable. Not only that, but then he rents or he bought another house right behind me which is adjacent to our tennis court, so I am surrounded on three sides by his house. If any of you guys want to go ahead and buy my house, I'll be happy to sell it to you. Let's see if any one of you wants to move in there. And I'm telling you, you don't. The small homeowners that decide to rent out, no problem with that. As a matter of fact, I think that's fantastic. Supplement their income. But people like Chris Monroe... who comes up here and gets an incredible story, tries to sob his way out of this. At first, I admired him for the same story. Later, we found out that it's not exactly what it seems, nor is he going to die poor. I mean, the guy has money. He's got people behind him who have money. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Del Cristo. Did I see Angela Potter? Yes, thank you. Sorry about that.

Hi, my name is Angela Potter. My husband and I have lived on the 5800 block of historic Ocean Drive since 2001. For many years we knew our neighbors and we looked out for one another and our properties. This would include returning escaped pets to their home as well as checking on elderly neighbors when they had security concerns and supporting each other during weather emergencies. These were people we knew and trusted. Everyone on my block felt secure in the fact that we were a community. This sense of community started eroding in 2022 when a real estate change the makeup of our neighborhood from trusted permanent neighbors to a constant flow of strangers every weekend with the introduction of short-term rentals. This developer's reconfigurement of our single-family unit neighborhood into a commercial hotel district has stripped our sense of community and security. These new 48-hour neighbors have no regard for the homeowners' right to peaceful enjoyment of our property, nor do they respect boundaries. As a result, my husband and I are constantly dealing with trespassers on our property. The listing on Booking.com of the two STRs across the street show a picture of the empty lot next to us, and the description reads, Direct Beachfront Accessed. He does not own that lot, and there is no beach. We reported the misleading post to the city's STR complaint line with no action taken. Because of his false advertising, we've had to endure trespassers who gain access to our backyard by the way of the lot next door. Our no trespassing signs have been torn down four times in the past year. This has created an unsafe environment for my husband and me, especially when these strangers, who may or may not have been vetted by the STR operator, get confrontational with us when told to leave. They say no, they won't leave, or that they have permission, which they don't. My elderly husband has also been shouted at and physically threatened. When renters aren't busy disregarding physical boundaries, they are crossing other boundaries by disturbing the peace with late-night music and fireworks. This STR situation has not only destroyed our neighborhood community, but has also created real safety concerns for us and caused a great deal of stress and anxiety. I hope City Council can help rectify this horrible situation and keep it from happening to other neighborhoods. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Porter. Suzanne Harold? Joseph Coniglio? Suzanne Harold, thank you.

Good afternoon, mayor and council members. My name is Suzanne Harold. I grew up in my house on ocean drive. I, uh, the original owner of the home next door watched me grow up. The second owner watched my children grow up. And now I have unknown individuals that cycle cycle through that home. Um, it's advertised for up to 33 people, um, each visit. It's been difficult to watch my neighborhood change. When I drive home, I used to see beautiful front yards, people walking. Now I drive home to parking lots, circle drives put in, loaded with six, eight, 10 cars, including the house next door to me. But on occasion, I've arrived home to find a school bus parked in front of me, in front of the house next door, I'm sorry. Children, teenagers coming out of the school bus. So I'm sure they're supposed to be supervised by their coaches, but we all know how that goes. The weekend ends with a student jumping off the roof into the pool, which I know is not deep. Another student jumping a wall into a neighbor's property. It's just not a safe environment and it's causing the neighbors and I to always be supervising what's happening at these houses. There are eight houses on our block face. Three of them are STRs. So if you can imagine each weekend or even each week, 33 plus another 30 down at the other end, 60 people or more invading what used to be a peaceful neighborhood. Of course, there's music at night. There's horrible karaoke. I can be asleep and hear ice chests being dragged across the driveway next door, conversations. There's just no quiet and no peace. I've heard today that people think This is a sudden thing that has come up before you, but I and my neighbors have been working on this tirelessly since October. We started with meetings directly with Mr. Monroe that went nowhere. Then we went through development services. We've met with council members. This has been going on for a long time and we have finally made it to you to voice what is happening and going on in our lives. And we are asking you to take action and not put it off. The amendment to this ordinance at issue today is designed to clarify the current ordinance. Please take action today.

Thank you, Ms. Harold. Joseph Coniglio.

Good morning. Good morning. First of all, I'd like to remind the council that we are not trying to change any laws or regulations. We're just asking for enforcement and clarification for what was intended and what is written statements of the SDRs. I am a resident of Ocean Drive. I've lived there over 20 years. I have the background of being a principal in a construction company that has constructed residences on Ocean Drive and commercial also. The reason I bring this up, because these homes that we're talking about were designed as single family residences. You can't just change a few walls and then call it multifamily or still single family. There's differences in the zoning regulations, there's differences in the construction, and mere changing of a wall or two can't turn it into a occupancy, high occupancy of 33 people and in some homes 40 people in one single family residence. This is the problem here. This is not right. This is actually would be illegal if you look at the Zoning regulations and construction resolutions. It's not safe for fire safety There's It shouldn't be this should not be happening even With the regulations the way they are the net result is we're we're in a very dangerous situation for the people that are in these homes and and the people that are around these homes as a result of it. I wonder if the fire marshal's ever been in one of these homes that are 33 people or 45 people. We have been told by the developmental department of the city that we need to report to them violations and it will be taken care of because there's strict rules. Well, there is, according to my records, we have had 36 violations reported. Nothing happened.

Thank you, Mr. Coniglio. Sylvia Whitmore.

Good afternoon, Mayor and council members. Thank you for allowing us to be here today. My name is Sylvia Almendarez Whitmore, and my husband and I live at Palmetto Street and Ocean Drive. 25 years ago, we bought our forever dream home in what was a quiet, safe family neighborhood. I'm here today because that neighborhood is under immediate threat. And by the way, lots of us were really poor when we were growing up. We're from Palperius, Texas, and you learn to work hard and go to school and work your way up, right? Lots of people in our neighborhoods are just like that. I tell you, we are watching our community transform into an unregulated business district. When single family homes are converted into frequent short-term rentals, the core fabric of our neighborhood fractures. Our children and older adults are forced to live alongside constant, heavy, unfamiliar traffic, lots of late night noise, overflowing trash and zero operator accountability. The burden has somehow completely shifted onto us. Long-term residents shouldn't have to act as neighborhood police spending our evenings, losing sleep, documenting disruptions and filing complaints while investors operate many hotels with total impunity. We love Corpus Christi. This is our home and we support responsible tourism. but commercial interests should never outrank the safety and stability of local families. You are considering critical updates to chapter five of the city code. I strongly urge you to vote yes on closing the type one loophole by requiring a true owner homestead exemption. Please do not let investors bypass our safety rules by using proxy tenants to run commercial operations in our quiet residential zones. Please help us protect our home investments, safeguard our children, and put the residential neighborhoods of Corpus Christi first. Thank you for your time and for your service.

Thank you, Ms. Whitmore. Potter Allen, or Allen Potter. Okay, thank you. Missy Maderi.

Good afternoon. My name is Missy and I live in district two. About a year ago, we started noticing that the short term rentals in our neighborhood were becoming increasingly noisy and disruptive. We started to reach out to others in the neighborhood and discovered that many felt the same way. We now have over 60 people in our organization. Our group has been trying to get help since October of last year. We have met with developmental services and city staff over the last eight months. We raised concerns, asked questions, and tried to understand how the city ordinances was being applied. We even met with Chris Monroe to talk about our concerns and to ask for help in controlling his property. He basically said he had permits and he did not care. I had told him I would not move into my house now and he did not care. You know, when he calls me out here and says that I'm trying to do undue influence, it's taken me eight months to get in front of you all. If that's undue influence, I hope I don't get a speeding ticket on the way home. Two weeks ago, we finally got a meeting with the city manager and Carolyn and Gil. We laid out our coalition's objections and concerns. We believe there are loopholes and flaws in the ordinance. When the ordinance says it shall not be more than 15% of a block face, it shall not be more than 15%. Mr. Monroe has permits for 22, 25, and 50% in a block face. It's more than 15%. Mr. Monroe has now changed 5401 Ocean Drive to 201 Ponish because it is on the corner, front door and driveway face Ocean Drive. No one changes their Ocean Drive address to a side street unless you're looking for another loophole. I don't live on Ocean Drive. I live in a house behind Ocean Drive, and our houses are split by an alleyway. There are eight houses on our block. Three of them are short-term rentals. Almost every weekend, these homes are filled with transient renters Not four or five people, not 10 people. We routinely see 40 or more people occupying these houses. Sometimes all three of them are rented in one weekend. Our neighborhood is a residential neighborhood. We bought our houses because of that. We understand and recognize that property owners have rights. However, we are also asking the city to balance those rights with the rights of individuals who live in the community. I'm not here as a developer, an attorney, a judge, a person with 35 properties on ocean drive, or a person with financial interest in these properties. I'm just someone who is affected by these every single weekend. All we're asking is that the city listened to the residents who actually live here, close the loopholes, enforce the rules as was the intent of the 2022 council. Some of you say that this is, can be handled by law enforcement, right? As Dr. Coniglio mentioned, we've called 36 times to not only the police, but to that 3-1-1 number. There's not one enforcement action that has been taken on that. None. In regards to the ordinance change of ensuring there are actual owner occupied, we need someone with a homestead and not an LLC. I actually called five of the council members of the 2022 that passed this. They all agreed with me. We have corporations owning our houses. Please help us. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Mederi. Jill Reed.

Good afternoon. My name is Jill Reed. My husband is Marcus Rodriguez. It's taken us approximately 10 months to get here with our already having met with the city five times. In 2019, my husband and I purchased our home on Chevy Chase. It was a quiet cul-de-sac until about a year ago. It's now become a nightmare. We share an alley with the 5400 block of Ocean Drive, which contains eight homes, three of which are STRs, all owned by Chris Monroe. There's two owner-occupied, STRs and one STR2. If you look at the various booking sites these STRs are marketed on, you'll see that they advertise to large groups for reunions and graduations. 5445, Ms. Sands Home, who she works for Chris Monroe, is owner-occupied. It's advertised as sleeping 33 guests with no mention of a possible owner-occupant to share their vacation rental with. I'd also like to say that Ms. Blanton is also an employee of Christman Row. As a result of these STRs, our neighborhood regularly faces disruptions from 60 or more transient guests at a time on any given day, which includes groups in school buses and passenger vans. On several occasions, we've actually witnessed people go onto the roofs of the supposedly owner-occupied, one would be Mindy Sen's house, and then jump into the pool. I wonder if she knows about that. It's only a matter of time before someone gets really hurt or even worse. We also have damage to our alleyway from the sidewalks to the sidewalks and heavy-duty equipment used to install three swimming pools in these properties during our Stage 3 water restrictions. Chris Monroe has used the loopholes in the ordinance to try to circumvent the 15% block density limit by changing the addresses on two Ocean Drive properties. He changed 5401 Ocean to 201 Ponish. Why would he do that if it was legitimately owner-occupied as the permit states? He also changed 4243 Ocean to 202 Circle Drive. To make matters worse, Chris Monroe recently viewed the home for sale directly next to me and my husband. It has been bought and sold by investors three times in the last two years. So why the sudden interest in the home next door to me? Because we're making waves, and this is difficult. This is really difficult. I've cried many times thinking that my next door is going to be at SGR. I would like to point out that 5401 Ocean has an advertisement that states it sleeps 54. I believe this violates UDC codes. Are they ADA compliant? Are building codes met for this type of occupancy? Are there sprinklers in every room like hotels have? I believe this puts the city at liability. God forbid something like a fire were to happen. I don't believe it was the council's intent to allow money hungry, irresponsible developers to infiltrate our neighborhoods and deny us of a peaceful quality of life, which is what has occurred. I ask you one question. Would you like living next to one of these SDRs? I know Chris Monroe doesn't because he doesn't. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Reid. Janice Washington.

Good afternoon. I'm Janice Washington. I'm a representative for one of the owners that owns on Ocean Drive. And it's regarding to what mostly everyone already here had mentioned on the STR rentals. And what there are is that they're planning to become a future permanent and residential owners in Corpus Christi. They want to express strong support for stricter regulation on short-term rentals, and to formally request that the city take decisive action to protect the integrity of our single-family residential neighborhood. Commercial high-turnover rentals do not belong in area zone excluded for quite stable single-family residential living. While they appreciate the Developmental Service Department's recent effort to enforce the 15% dignity cap on Type 2 non-residential occupancy, Rental and the current decisions surrounding tightening the definition of type 1 homestead exemption. These actions do not go far enough to realize whether along Ocean Drive, Flower Bluff, or any other residential community. It is an investor-owned commercial property or active operating as unhosted hotels. And as that on here. they concerned, uh, as, uh, a lot of the permanent residential owners that stare now and their, uh, complaint, I warning as opposed to single family. Once we get everything built there as this could be an ongoing problem regarding to the STR rentals. And like there was acts of anyone would like to live next to where this HIGHLY VOLUME OF SHORT-TERM RENTALS WOULD APPLY TO ANYONE. SO MOSTLY EVERYONE PREVIOUS THAT DISCUSSED HERE IS SOME OF THE PART THAT THEY'RE CONCERNED ABOUT. SO WE APPRECIATE IF THE CITY COUNCIL WOULD CLOSE ALL ADMINISTRATORS LOOPHOLES COMPLETELY ESTABLISHED ZONING ORDINANCE THAT EXPLICITLY phase out unhosted commercial short-term rental within single-family residential neighborhoods. Please prioritize the quality of life, safety, and long-term stability of Corpus Christi permanent residents over out-of-state and corporate investment portfolios. We thank you for your time and leadership and your commitment to protecting our local communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Washington. Robin Cox.

Hi, I'm Robin Cox, District 3, and I'm here to speak about the dog problem that we have, the loose animal problem. I see animals dumped constantly, and nothing is done about it. And I realize we don't have enough space at the shelters, but we really need to start educating the public. And like many people have said, going after the dog breeders, not just dog breeders, the people who just don't get their dogs fixed. Litter after litter. I have picked up so many stray dogs, found homes for them, paid for their vet care. The other day, Trevor and I saw some loose beagles. I told them all, well, Gil Hernandez lived. I don't know if they made it to your house or not, Gil, but... I have a shirt on that says Save the Beagles because I'm adamantly opposed to animal testing. When we go to the grocery store, it's no longer just picking up a few things. It's going to our app and seeing if they're beagle friendly. Beagle friendly is by the Bunny, by Leaping Bunny, and it shows what products are tested on animals. We don't need to buy Venus razors, Gillette razors. There's no need to shave dogs over and over with these products. Do we spend a little bit more money? Yeah, we do, but I don't buy expensive purses, don't live lavishly. I would rather my money go to some saved animals. We need to maybe also give a few kudos out to the people who in their home privately do dog rescue. We have many, many foster parents. I can't think of the lady in Flower Bluff who takes in as many as 20 animals with her own money. It's more than just putting a picture on Facebook saying you're doing it. It's more than right now I've heard about all the people going to the Humane Society that are running for council, taking a picture with some dogs. Well, that's great, but why don't we try going to the... doing some stuff and not posting about it. Just doing it out of the goodness of your heart. People that really care for animals. My dad used to always say, you know, it's a doggy dog world and I've got milk bone underwear on. And that's kind of how I feel right now. I feel like we are doing over and over. Last year there was a man who dumped six golden retriever puppies on the beach. A local worker out there found these puppies and rescued all of them and found homes for them. The man, we have his address, we know where he lives, yet he has not been prosecuted. People have reached out to me and I said, we can't even get the DA to prosecute murdered children, let alone go after dog hunters, dog killers. So we've got a real problem. We would just prosecute a couple of these people. They would know that it's a crime to do this. When we used to go as kids to Progreso and buy our medicine, we'd see the loose dogs everywhere. But now we look like that. We look like that here. You can judge a community by the amount of dogs. And like the man back there said, they have programs to ship them to California, to other places that are looking for dogs. So instead of shooing them away, why don't we help, try and get some fosters, and see about sending them out. Thank you. Gil, those beagles will be at your house real soon.

Thank you, Ms. Cox. Rachel Caballero. Oh, I'm so sorry. I've made a mistake. Mr. Hernandez.

Statement of fact, I own a beagle. The last three beagles I've had were rescued beagles, so I understand the sentiment. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Rachel Caballero, D1. Thank you, Secretary Huerta, for getting me the information regarding the mayor's even though it went through the legal department and we will definitely be watching to make sure that the 30, day suspension is being followed. Whether you guys do it or not, we are going to make sure of that. Very, very quickly, it seems like we come to the meetings and we talk about the same things, STRs two years ago, pets, euthanasia again. We can't fill the position and we have to go back to where these problems are initiating and that's a city manager that does not care to actually accomplish anything. They're here to collect a paycheck. Otherwise, these issues would have already been resolved. And I am hoping that this council has been through a lot already. I understand that. But it is very imperative community that we elect a council that is ready to make changes on every level to make sure that this body and the city staff is working in favor of the community instead of against it the way that it has been for the last 30 years with the same people behind the dais. I'm also in favor of the ad hoc committee to review the procurement process. We are seeing a steady flow of certain council members, certain city staff, and the city manager of picking and choosing the winners and losers of our community. And that needs to come to an immediate end. We should all be against the flock cameras. This is an absolutely unconstitutional violation and invasion of our privacy. Why it even exists is alarming because anyone who has done any type of research on the flock cameras knows that it is 100% a violation of our privacy. My question today is why, after three guilty verdicts, aiding a fraud against the Corpus Christi taxpayers, perjury, and a violation of oath, the developer that actually forged and modified federal information to receive a $2 million tax incentive that was never truly approved by counsel because it was changed at the second reading, Philip Ramirez of Turner Ramirez, and he admitted to changing the information. And we are still considering giving that money to somebody who lied and forged federal documents. That behavior is illegal. This is not brain surgery. It is illegal. We need to say no to the 1.5 million or the 1.8 million period, and we should cease doing business with this company for modifying federal website and for being dishonorable and willing to lie to this community.

Thank you, Ms. Caballero. Ms. Rebecca, that concludes what I have for in-person. Do you have online public commenters?

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

Hello, hello, hello. Can you hear me?

Yes, we can.

All right, they can't see me on there. Anyway, a lot to cover. First, animal care services. I support today's move toward a no-kill. I've been consistent about what that should mean. Adoption, rescue partnerships, foster programs, responsible spay and neuter, giving healthy, adoptable animals every reasonable opportunity. No kill needs to be policy, not another shiny city hall bumper sticker. Let's also think of the voluntary utility bill roundup for targeted areas to help pay for these kind of things. Second, flock. I oppose flock cameras at Corpus Christi. I don't want government recording where ordinary people drive and store it in a searchable database. We already have enough government databases without creating one that knows whether I went to the HEB, church, or Whataburger. Vote ban. Third, Corpus Christi FC was not able to finish its stadium. What was supposed to be roughly 8,000 seats stopped around 5,000 without the concessions and amenities needed to generate revenue. Games were diverted to cabinets where they can't sell beer and without a functioning home stadium, they lose sponsorship opportunities. You can't Tanya Harding a business and then wonder why it's limping. We've been told suspended Mayor Guardo pulled support for Corpus Christi FC because the city wanted its own soccer complex. If that's what happened, explain it. Government sabotaging somebody else's stadium so it can build its own, well that would be one hell of an economic development plan. Then there's HBO Matt. Rankin came to this podium. He criticized the mayor and these decorum rules. Calmly, bluntly, political speech aimed directly at the government. Mayor Guado then pursued a complaint that resulted in a warrant being issued for his arrest. And now let's get to her suspension. Scroll those screenshots if you would, please. On August 8th, the day her suspension began, Paulette posted from the Facebook account link to her mayor page. On August the 14th, she posted there again and later deleted it. Then her personal page added mayor, city of Corpus Christi, linked directly to the city's official mayor webpage and continued being used to campaign. Apparently rules in Corpus Christi come with a volume knob. When HBO Matt says something the mayor doesn't like, crank it all the way up to an arrest warrant. When the mayor is ordered suspended for 30 days, suddenly somebody turns down the knob to a gentle whisper. When a cop is suspended, you don't hand him back his badge on Friday so he can go shoot beer cans on the weekend. When your driver's license is suspended for 30 days, DPS doesn't give it back to you so you can get groceries on a Saturday. Restart the clock. 30 consecutive days, no city devices, no official access, no mayoral counts. You found her responsible on three counts. You imposed the punishment. Now you need to enforce it. 30 days means 30 days. Thank you for my time.

Thank you, Mr. Merritt. Next is Alberto Sertuche. Mr. Sertuche, are you online? There you are.

Yeah, give me just a second. Sure. Can you hear me?

Yes, we can.

This is Albert Sartucci, District 3, Hard Life's Bait and Tackle, Team Hard Life YouTube owner. Well, it's been two years plus now that I've asked a lot of questions and still haven't gotten them. And yes, this is about the Inner Harbor desal plant scam. The reason why I keep bringing it up is because they are continuing to still advertise wolves in sheep's clothing on Facebook. They're spreading false information, and we are out here trying to learn everything behind the scenes so we can put it up. Mr. Merritt, man, I almost can't follow after you, boss. I was laughing too much, but nailed the facts on so many levels. Where is it written that the suspended mayor can act and speak in a capacity as mayor when she has broken her suspension in that shape or form? What are the rules for her using taxpayer monies to pay her cronies to attack other taxpayers who are trying to bring the truth to light? Because I know I didn't vote for her to use our monies for her citizens' attacks. How can we strip her of this money expenditure that continues to spit our community with false narratives? How can we, the taxpayers, get the monies back into those community enhancement areas and schools since industry's monies isn't there anymore? I want these questions answered publicly so everybody can see it. How is the experimental desal plant scam in the best interest of taxpayers? We are not the ones who will get the water from this plant, but you're going to make the taxpayers pay for it. Large industry users continue and historically account for a significant use of municipal water, yet they refuse to pay their fair share while continuing to sue the city for reduced rates on taxes, while taxpayers and citizens have to carry the burden through IDAs. I run several small businesses in our city, and I can see how the numbers work or don't work, and I move accordingly. The city needs to remove corruption and industry lobbyists sitting in a conflict of interest and interest. It's no different than insider trading if you really look at it. They refuse to pay their fair share in natural resources, yet taxpayers are forced to pay top dollar with increased costs per year. We, the taxpayers, need to see the real numbers through the cost of 30-year term, interest included, and it's almost $2 billion alone without any of the fines or any upgrades or rework, which we are known for here in Corpus. Are the industries going to sign guarantees that they will pay the same price for the water for the full length of the term and not sue us when they have to pay their fair share? And the incurred costs along the way of the projects? We, the people, demand truth from the Farfield model, from the scientists, marine biologists, and yet have been denied to that information. We, the people, demand industries be held accountable for their fair share in everything they are getting discounted for. And when this happens, will they close shop, leaving us with an ecological...

Thank you, Mr. Zabuchay. Your time is up. Appreciate it. Mayor Pro Tem, that concludes the public comment period. Thank you, Ms. Rebecca.

Okay, that wraps up all that we have for public comment for today. And at this time, I'm actually going to do a little bit different order. We're going to move up really quickly to item 15. Our city manager has requested that we share that at this time. So we're going to review the water supply update from Nick Winkleman.

Right, great. Nick Winkleman is here and he's coming out. We're going to do, I appreciate this, Mayor Pro Tem, for allowing us to bring this up first. I made a comment to one of our media outlets that's kind of gotten ahead of us. Thank you. So what Nick is going to do is walk us through the normal briefing, but he's also going to update us on the new forecast for our water model. He just got it finished yesterday with our modelers, and this information is going to help us to make a declaration on Thursday that we would be able to go into stage one water restrictions. Right now we're in stage two. We know that managing this water situation has been a team effort with the city council who has done tremendous work in approving signature projects to bring on more water. Some of that will be reflected in Nick's presentation. And so moving from stage two to stage one is not done lightly. It'll be an act on Thursday. Today is to brief Council on the facts that help demonstrate why we can go into stage one. But it won't be official until we do a little more work with the Council today. And then tomorrow we have to talk to some of our wholesale customers and some other folks that were required to in the drought contingency plan. And then Thursday with the City Council at 9 o'clock here in the City Council Chambers, we'll make the official declaration. And so it doesn't become official and we don't move from stage two into stage one until we actually make that declaration. And we're not doing that right now. We're going to brief council right now on the facts of how we can move to stage one or why we can. And then we'll do a little more work tomorrow and then Thursday with the city council here at nine o'clock right ahead of the budget workshop. We'll make that declaration in a formal way.

Excellent. This was unexpected happy news. Well, thank you, gentlemen. Mr. Winkleman.

Good afternoon, Nick Winkleman, Chief Operating Officer, Corpus Christi Water. As the City Manager stated, today I'd like to review our typical water supply update, which will include a couple of slides from the National Weather Service, a quick update on our ongoing water supply projects, a review of the Barney Davis project, and then we will conclude with the updates to our water supply dashboard. As of this morning, our surface water supply, Lake Corpus Christi is 90.2% capacity. A year ago, it was 18.1. Cho Canyon Reservoir, 23.7% capacity. A year ago, it was 12.2. The combined capacity of the western reservoirs is 42.2%, and just a year ago, it was 13.8%. Lake Texana, is at 92% capacity as of this morning, as reported by the Lavaca-Navidad River Authority, versus 91% a year ago. And there are no restrictions from our water rights on the Lower Colorado River. On August 11th, just an update on our agreed order request, the City of Corpus Christi, Nueces River Authority, and Three Rivers, submitted a request to CCQ to suspend environmental releases under the 2001 agreed order. Currently, the executive director is reviewing that request. And once that decision is made, if it's approved, it will go to the TCEQ Board of Directors meeting for a decision whether to approve it, deny it, or modify it. At that same meeting, the TCEQ Executive Board may decide to send the decision to a SOA hearing, State Office of Administrative Hearings. As you know, we meet with the National Weather Service on a weekly basis. This is a nice slide they put together for us showing the hurricane season outlook. The Atlantic hurricane season or tropical storms, the number of forecasted storms have been decreased. The likelihood of us seeing positive impacts from a tropical storm or another kind of event FROM THE ATLANTIC CONTINUES TO DIMINISH, LARGELY IN PART TO THE EFFECTS OF EL NINO. WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT WITH THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IS THERE'S STILL POTENTIAL FOR EASTERN PACIFIC STORMS THAT POTENTIALLY COULD CUT ACROSS OVERLAND MEXICO AND HIT PORTIONS OF OUR WATERSHED. THE SEASONAL OUTLOOK FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS US WARMER THAN NORMAL. AND ALSO IT HAS EQUAL CHANCES IN TERMS OF PRECIPITATION. SO WHAT THAT MEANS IS EQUAL CHANCES OF EITHER BEING ABOVE NORMAL PRECIPITATION OR BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION. CERTAINLY IN THE FORECAST, IN THE NEXT THREE MONTHS, THERE'S NOT MUCH OF AN OUTLOOK ON positive inflows to our western reservoirs. In fact, there was no precipitation last week and none forecasted this week. When we look at our ongoing new water supply projects, the Nueces groundwater program continues. Currently, there's 1,788 linear feet of conveyance line installed. That's the conveyance line to take the water from the western wellfield directly to Owen Stevens. The brackish reverse osmosis treatment plant is approximately a 90% design. The expectation is that plant will start treating water in March of 2027. The production is determined by various factors from the well fields. That includes the TCQ monitoring protocol, operational decisions, and system requirements. CCW continues to provide data to our hydrogeologists so that they continue to update their model for the new ACES well program. This week, we are expecting to actually decrease production in the western well field. We'll decrease it by about a third over the previous week. And to accommodate that, corresponding releases will be made from Lake Corpus Christi to account for that difference. In terms of wastewater reuse, the Greenwood Wastewater Treatment Plant, which would potentially provide 3 million gallons a day to Valero, Valero has installed the majority of the 9 mile, 24 inch line, and they've also begun working on the 10 million gallon storage tank at Greenwood, doing some site work. Again, those improvements are fully funded by Valero. The Allison Wastewater Treatment Plant, Flynn Hills Resources, is moving forward with their improvements at their property located adjacent to Allison. They expect to start taking one to two MGD later this year. In the Oso Wastewater Treatment Plant, there's approximately 10 to 11 million gallons a day of wastewater effluent that we will be moving from Oso to Greenwood. That water would go into the 10 million gallon tank at Greenwood that Valero is constructing, and then therefore makes it available to other users. That project is on their way, and there is actually pipe in the ground, and there's work being done at Oso on the associated pump station. Additionally, we're working with other entities to negotiate contracts for the Broadway wastewater treatment plant. In regards to the San Patricio Groundwater Program, also known as Evangeline, we have the seller's attorney has submitted an order to establish dates for the contested case. We have had feedback from the other entities involved in the hearings, but we don't have firm dates yet back from the administrative law judge. Construction on the site continues with 28% of the pipe complete. That's about 45,279 linear feet. of the 116,000 feet required. The pictures to the left are of the Evangeline project site. Additional water supply projects include a groundwater project on Chapman Ranch. This is with the Seven Seas Water Group. Seven Seas has constructed a test hole to 3,500 feet They've identified target zones for production testing, and currently they are drilling a test well that will be used for the hydrogeologic analysis. That test well will have a target depth of 2,300 feet, and it will target the Evangeline Formation. CCW&C staff met with representatives this week to talk about... THEIR PROCESS AND A POTENTIAL WATER SUPPLY AGREEMENT. OUR NEXT MEETING IS SCHEDULED FOR AUGUST 31ST. REGARDS TO HARBOR ISLAND, THIS IS THE NEUASIS RIVER AUTHORITY SEA WATER DESALINATION PROJECT. THE UPDATES HERE ARE THE SAME AS LAST MEETING, EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT THE NRA WILL MAKE A BRIEFING PRESENTATION BY THEIR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR NEXT WEEK AT THE NEXT COUNCIL MEETING. But again, the NRA has selected IDE as their development partner. And then they've executed task orders with LAN and HDR for design of the conveyance line and to provide program management services. Additionally, they were awarded a $7 million worth of funding from the Texas Water Development Board just yesterday. CCW met with representatives of Aqua Tech. This is for the CC Polymers Aqua Tech project to discuss potential meeting for both design considerations of that plant and also a future water supply agreement. There's actually a meeting this week on Thursday to move further down that path. In terms of Inner Harbor, the modeling report was completed. We did receive a recommendation from the Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries this morning of an independent modeler to review the far field model. So the Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries said that they would coordinate and make introductions with this independent reviewer of the model. Next I'd like to talk about Barney Davis, which is the seawater desalination project located at the Barney Davis facility. Barney Davis is owned and operated by CPS Energy. CCW and city staff, along with the city manager, met with the interim CEO of CPS Energy on August 10th to discuss the next steps. CPS Energy made it clear that the discussion should revolve around a potential land lease agreement for an identified track of land, which they have identified approximately 30 acres of land. Currently, CPS Energy is developing a scope of work for a site survey, and CCW has discussed the potential of a cost share agreement with CPS Energy to move forward on that survey work. The survey work is important. as we work through the requirements with the Army Corps of Engineers and potential consideration for wetlands. The next meeting with CPS Energy and staff is scheduled for mid-September. CPS Energy informed us that based on the current intake permit, there's an excess of approximately 150 million gallons a day under that permit, which if you take into account the treatment process that may lead to approximately 65 million gallons a day of treated water available from that site. That's if you use their current intake permit. The existing discharge permit cannot be utilized, so a new discharge permit would absolutely be required. Again, there will be Army Corps of Engineers involvements as potentially there's wetlands, We'll have to deal with other regulatory requirements. CPS Energy will not provide power directly to a potential partner on site. However, there is an AEP substation on site. And then if we were to move forward with a potential private public partnership agreement, also known as a P3, the adoption of Texas Government Code 2267, which covers the P3, would have to be adopted. And then the process on how to manage that, the whole approach to a P3 would have to be further delineated. Next, I'd like to talk about an update to our water supply dashboard. And before I get into this, I do want to thank Corollo Engineering. They've been with us for quite some time. They developed the dashboard with CCW. They've been updating it with us. They've been working very hard to make sure the data is correct and properly presented. So the assumptions on this dashboard update are the contractual water is available from Lake Texana. That's 31,440 acre feet per year. Full water rights are available from the Colorado River. It's 35,000 acre feet per year. THERE'S A LOW INFLOW PROJECTION BASED ON OBSERVED HYDROLOGY. SO IT'S A LOW INFLOW, IT'S NOT NO INFLOW, BUT THERE IS SOME INFLOW PROJECTED. GROUNDWATER PROJECTION IS DETERMINED BY THE MONITORING PROTOCOL AND OPERATIONAL DECISIONS We have included a two-day shutdown of the Mary Roads pipeline that will allow for LRA to conduct some maintenance and do some valving work at the pump station in Edna, Texas. There's a four-week operation of the MRP at Schedule 3. to accommodate upgrades at the Woodsboro Pump Station. So that includes the permanent installation of the spare pumping equipment, installation of the variable frequency drive, and other electrical upgrades. During that time, the Woodsboro Pump Station would be completely taken offline. There's a three-week operation at Schedule 2 to accommodate those same upgrades at the Bloomington Pump Station. And then additionally, which we've challenged Carollo is to take a hard look at our demand curve, to take a look at historic data, new data, to come up with a better estimate of water demand going forward. So that has also been changed in the dashboard. This is an outlook. Before we get to the dashboard, this is an outlook of our percentage of our western reservoirs. As you can see, Lake Corpus Christi, in terms of percentages leading the way, Cho Canyon still has a very low percentage level. Please remember, Cho Canyon Reservoir is approximately three times larger than Lake Corpus Christi. But you can see how the reservoir percentages continue to diminish. And I want to use this slide to just mention now is not the time to stop diversifying our water supply efforts. Now is the time to continue to proceed with the groundwork that we have prepared and the groundwork that this council has approved so that we can better handle significant drought conditions in the future. You know, one of the issues previously was we never really fully recovered from the previous drought of record. And if you talk to the National Weather Service, there really isn't much recovery projected for this calendar year. So it's very important that we continue our efforts to diversify our supply. And those efforts are beneficial. They're beneficial in this update to the dashboard. And if I could just walk through it a little bit. So the top curve is the demand curve. And then the solid vertical bars are the different water supplies. The orange, brownish orange bars at the bottom are the Nueces groundwater program. The light blue bars are the Mary Roads pipeline supply. So that's water from both Lake Texana and the Lower Colorado River. The dark blue bars are our western reservoirs, Lake Corpus Christi and Choke Canyon. And then we have the pink bars, and you can see that's our reclaimed water, our wastewater effluent program that is coming online slowly. Some other things to note, in October, at the end of September, the last couple of days of September and October and November, is when those upgrades to the Mary Roads Pipeline happen. So you'll see an increase in the groundwater supply at that time. And then you can see how that will fluctuate depending upon need and supply. One thing to remember is that when you get into 2027, this is not a firm operational plan. Things will change and operationally it will be adjusted. But the purpose of this dashboard is to project when we will be at certain reservoir percentages and when supply, and to ensure supply always meets demand. So if you look at the callouts, by the end of September of this year, we will likely be back below 40%. So that'll happen some point in September. Currently, we think it'll be towards the end of September. The drop below 30% reservoir percentage is projected to be at the end of April 2027, so it's end of April, early May 2027. Currently, the drought contingency plan says when you drop below 30%, you would go back into stage 2 water restrictions. The drought contingency plan also says when you go over 40%, you can go back into, you can come out of stage two and go into stage one. So essentially, the movement to stage one water restrictions, if the assumptions hold, then we would be falling back into stage two in the end of April or early May 2027. Those are some of the trigger dates from the drought contingency plan. One thing we do know, and it's nice to see that demand curve come down, is that all customer classes have been doing their part. We know some of our wholesale customers are bringing on new water supplies, especially our partners Alice, Mathis, and Beeville. We know that there's been significant conservation efforts. by our residential customers and our wholesale customers. And we know our large volume users are doing two things. They're bringing on additional water supply, and they have enacted their own conservation measures at their own facilities. All of that was done in an effort to meet any drought contingency plan restrictions. So we're thankful for all of the hard work there. And with that, Mayor Pro Tem and Council, I will stand by for any questions.

Thank you, Nick. Really quick, the dashboard, slide 10 is the assumptions on the dashboard. Does that include, that's just for average anticipated rainfall? That doesn't take into account whether or not we may see increased level of rainfall throughout the period between now and April 27th?

Yeah, yes, Mayor Pro Tem. It's really low levels of rainfall and stream inflows. So it's not zero, but it's historically low. So any potential inflows that we see that are normal or slightly above normal would be beneficial, and that would have an impact on these states as well.

And does that assume for regular water releases as well?

Well, what we're assuming is we're using the demand projection, and then we're assuming the Mary Roads Pipeline at a consistent rate. We're assuming the wastewater reuse, when it fully comes online, will be very consistent. And then what fluctuates is both the western reservoirs and the groundwater program to meet demand.

Okay, thank you for that clarification. Councilwoman Vaughn? Well, that was going to be my first question, but you got that answered, thanks. Mr. Sinoni, so you said there's a possibility of going to stage one. but the news has already gotten information about that. My question to you is how are they getting that information? Have we got a leak in the office?

Yeah, no, it's from me, so I made a comment.

What were you thinking?

Yeah, it was in an interview where there was a series of questions, and I alluded to that today we'd be talking about Stage 1.

You had a brain fog, didn't you?

It was my bad, yeah. That's okay.

I was just curious.

No, yeah.

You know, I'm a conspiracy person. I'm thinking there's a leak in that office. You need to find out who it is.

Right.

Okay, I've got several questions for you. The first one I'm going to go with, I'm going to come back to Evangeline. The well fields, the eastern and western, what did you say you were getting ready to do?

So we're going to decrease production by about a third. This week we're anticipating an average daily production of about 8 million gallons a day. And then we have to increase the releases from Wesley Seal Dam to correspond that so we can meet our demand.

Okay, so you're going to decrease it. Are you talking about the Ed Rochelle and the river?

So we're talking about the eastern well field and the western well field. On the Ed Rochelle property, we only have temporary drilling permits. We don't have any production permits.

You're not doing anything there.

There's no production there at the Ed Rochelle property. We're drilling. We have temporary drilling permits.

Okay, that's my question. So you are drilling?

Mm-hmm, yeah.

Okay. So the question that I get all the time, and you know it, is why, if we have water, we said we were going to stop it when we had the water. that we were going to only use it in an emergency. I'm big on keeping my word. So that's what they've been told. Mr. Sinoni was there when that was said. So why are we not doing that?

The one thing that I feel that we've been very consistent is The addition of groundwater helps us to have more supplies to manage, which is what we're doing this week and what we've done previously is to cut back production from the wells. And then, for instance, in October, November, when MRP is being decreased, we're going to have to ramp up production from the well. So what we're doing right now is we've got a good understanding of how much inflow we'll have into Lake Corpus Christi. It's done. We don't have any more inflows. We're managing the well field, understanding production and outputs, balancing those two along with not only the demands of CCW, but also the demands of our wholesale customers, which includes San Patricio Municipal Water District. So, for instance, they're taking water today from the river. They'll take more tomorrow. So we've had to adjust the releases, and then we modify the well production.

Okay, so you said that you were decreasing it to 8 MGDs.

That's right.

So what was the current before you did that?

So last week averaged about 12 to 13 million gallons a day.

Okay, have you had any readings from any of the wells? Have y'all checked anybody out there, any of the farmers, the ranchers? You know, you started that program. Are y'all continuing that? Have y'all been doing that?

We have started the program. There has been... A couple of things have happened. We have gotten some public information requests where people have got names of people in that program. And I think there's been some negative comments made to the participants. But to answer your question, Councilwoman, we haven't seen any negative effects to any wells. We have a series of monitoring wells that we do track. We have taken water quality samples at a number of wells to provide homeowners with baseline numbers. One of the things that we found is residential wells are certainly much smaller in diameter. Sometimes it's very hard to get accurate water levels because a residential well driller may not always equip the well pump with something that's called an airline so that you can measure water levels. So the team's doing the best they can. But we haven't seen any ill effects to any private wells to date.

Okay. Who is responsible? Because I know that Scott Barraza comes up here all the time and he's asking about the written mitigation plan. What's going on with that? The district is responsible. Are we the district? Right?

Yeah, so I can clarify that. So I've met with, we have, the city team has met with Scott Braza multiple times. We've shared with him a lot of information. One thing that I've been adamant about is I was not in favor of committing the city and our rate payers to no fault mitigation blindly to anything that can happen that would have a significant negative impact to our water rates. CCW has proposed to the Corpus Christi Aquifer Storage and Recovery Groundwater Conservation District that they manage a mitigation plan. In fact, CCW has included money in the budget, next fiscal year's budget starting October 1st, into the district for them to manage that plan. In other words, to deal with any potential claims and then the district can impartially look through them and determine if it's indeed caused by the city well production.

Okay, they're telling me that on the special conditions on page four, blank space has been deliberately left out. Is that correct?

You know, and I met with Scott Braza about that. I believe there was a typo there. There's nothing nefarious going on.

So when's the last time that CC Aquifer board has met?

They met, I would say, less than a month ago.

Okay.

They've got another meeting scheduled for mid-September. I can't tell you that.

And I understand that the city has to be in control of that because that's our – I understand that. But I also understand that they want to be involved, as they should be, because if we don't start working together with everybody, we're not going to get anything done, and we're more successful when we do that. So have you all reached out to them to put any of them on the board?

The – I can comment on that. So board appointments are made by this council. And I know the last appointments were made, I believe it was in January of this year or so.

So we could actually bring that back and y'all could appoint some of the members or they could apply if they want to do it. At least you put out the olive branch and they can apply or they don't apply where they know what's going on and they have a say.

One thing I can't comment on are the current terms of the existing board.

And why not?

Because I'm not on the board.

Okay. Mayor Sinoni, can you comment on that?

I can. So there are terms. So the next time a term is open, we can entertain having them apply.

So let me ask you this. How many do you have on the board?

Five.

You have five.

Five. The council just appointed two or three.

So can you not modify that and add two more names? Sure you can. Ms. Rebecca, can you chime in on this one?

Yes, I think it's created by resolution and also it's a state law creates it as well, correct?

Right, we have to review the state laws to see if there's any limitations on the number of members.

State law says there's five.

No, I said we'd have to review that to determine the number of, see if the state law prohibits more than five.

Would you do that? And I just want us to start trying to get along. He comes here all the time, and you know that.

Well, I know. So we'll look at that and get the full counsel, the information. I do want to add, though, that we have sat down with them in person here at City Hall. About six. And we told them, come and visit us any time. Yeah. So, unfortunately, what's said here sometimes doesn't match up to what we talk about with the folks. And we told them several times, come and visit us. We've spent a couple of hours with them. Nick and I did most recently. And it wasn't just Scott Barazas. It was several of persons, some we had never met before. So we're very much about that, about being open. I know you are. And we want to work together.

And I want us to keep continuing. For me, I hope that we keep continuing working with the rural areas out there because they're involved too. And you can understand why they're worried about their livelihood for water. That's all they got.

We totally agree.

And I'm hoping that we eventually stop. I wish you'd stop right now pumping at the river because we're not in an emergency. So I don't get that why we're continuing, Nick. I just don't. Let me go to Evangeline. Do I have time? Oh, sure. Okay. How deep are we drilling those wells out there when we get to drill?

So they're approximately 800 feet or so.

Okay. Someone said this to me the other day. Have you thought about going 400 feet? If you went 400 feet, would you hit the Jasper aquifer?

The Jasper is generally deeper than the Evangeline. So it would be deeper than that. It would be deeper? Yeah.

So that information is incorrect. She sounded really smart.

Yeah.

Obviously not. I hope she's not listening.

There are upper layers, though, but we would prefer to be a little deeper.

Okay. All right.

All right. Thank you. Ms. Rebecca, could we, working with legal, of course, could we get a summation report on the bylaws, additions of members, and what... the process and options are for board assignments?

Sure, yes ma'am, we'll work on that. And also, the terms for the members, two of the members' terms expire on December 31st of 2027, and then three of the members' terms expire on December 31st of 2029, just to answer that question as well. Thank you.

I think it's been a consistent theme, and Councilwoman Vaughn's completely correct. We've talked about adding more community members, and I think it would be a great step. Thank you for that. Councilmember Scott.

Just a random thought. I'd be okay adding members. I do think they need to be residents of the city of Corpus Christi, though. So isn't there money in the budget to fund, I call it the Good Neighbor Program, that if we did find that our wells impacted somebody else's well, we could lower the pump?

Yeah, so what we've done is in next year's fiscal budget, we've identified money to fund that. That's correct, Councilman. Cool, man. And if something would happen this year, we would have to allocate the funds. It just wasn't budgeted at the beginning of the year.

But the budget we're going to vote on in a couple weeks will have funds in it. Correct. We do find that our wells have impacted somebody else's well. Yes, sir. So by reducing the wells, western well fields, and bringing more water down – From the lakes does that improve the water quality the raw water quality?

that our our customers are drawing Yes, and so one of the things because Lake Corpus Christi has recovered We've seen a improved water quality coming out of the lake if you remember once it got below 10% you had some higher you had higher TDS from the wells, but you also have poor water quality and coming out of the lake, which exasperated the circulation.

So one of the things I think is interesting, I don't know if I heard it from industry very recently, that they're having to use more water because the water quality, the raw water quality was so poor, they had to blow the water. I don't even know what that means, but they had to do additional things to their facilities. And so that's another reason to encourage us to use lake water, river water, and not well water, right? I mean, so, because what good are we doing if we...

Yeah, we've been talking with industry, and we've had the same comments. I'm sort of anxious to see the water usage for August because the only customer class that reduced water usage in July was the large volume users.

So these charts, one time we were using no new rain, right, no new flows. Now we're changing to low flows.

Well, we... Let me back up. We always did have some inflow, but it was, you know, it might as well have been zero, right? So now we're utilizing the 2024 hydrology, which is still pretty low, but it was better than 2025. Okay.

I always had a heartburn because I always thought it is going to rain. It may not be 30 inches, but it won't be zero. And by the way, fret not, Corpus Christi dove season starts next Tuesday. And we all know that God loves doves more than he loves humans, and so the rains will come to ruin dove hunts. And so I think all will be well starting next Tuesday. Hey, when was the last time we were at 43%? Somebody said it was June of 23.

The last time we were at what percent?

43% combined capacity.

You know, Councilman, I don't have that data. We can get that to you.

And the point being that it took us three years to get from there to here, so we need to keep our eye on the ball because if all things continue the way the previous three years, we're going to be in the same mess three years from now, with some exceptions because of the work you all and the councils have done adding new supplies. A couple more things. What is the average total... usage total raw and treated in the summer and in the winter, because this looks different than I recall. The total usage raw and treated is, I thought it was 135-ish, right? Because that's what we have in July, 135.

Right. So what we've done is we've lowered that demand. So going forward is that new projected demand in the future. So if you look into summer of 2027, you can see that increase. It's roughly 125 MGD or so next summer.

And why is that reduced?

So it's reduced for a number of reasons. We took a really hard look, and we really challenged Corolla to look at our historic data and usage. If you recall, the previous demand uses We had largely using 2024, so we looked at the historical baselines, and then we took into account the new water supply projects that are Some of our wholesale customers are bringing online.

Ah, got it. So for our purposes, we're going to move from 135 being the peak demand in the summer to 125. 125, yeah. But I thought the winter went down to like 92 MGD. 107?

So if you look, yeah, I would say it's about 110 or so. We're utilizing the same methodology. I mean, we're looking at seasonal, but we use the same process that we did. And the modelers came up with these numbers. We vetted them, gave them a sanity check. So you gave them the sanity check. That's right.

I trust you. But that just seems higher. I thought it was 92, 94, and now we're saying the winner will be 110. I don't understand the difference, but you can just call me or email me or text us. That's fine. I will do that. Two last things. I just want to say publicly I continue to have heartburn with the ongoing Evangeline construction project due to the fact it's a two- to six-year permit. and we're not we don't have a permit we assume we're going to have a permit but that's that's it two to six years and that's an assumption that we believe in but we don't have it so just don't say anything just wanted to make sure i put that you know out there the last thing do you guys have any concerns about the with the impact of going to stage one on our requested temporary suspension of the greed order sure councilman one thing that i can say is that we we've

And I do want to just reemphasize, we looked really hard at the numbers. Our modeler has been working simultaneously to put this information together. And then we have our approved drought contingency plan. And what the numbers have shown is that we're above 40%, and we'll be above 40% for most of September. But the drought contingency plan says once you go over 40%, you can go into stage one. And then once you don't go into stage two until you get back below 30%, and that's not projected until the end of April or early May. So we're following the plan, which was approved and also submitted to TCEQ.

But we don't have an opinion on its potential impact on our requested suspension of the releases.

The... You know, I can't comment on that, but what I can... Maybe it's better you not. Yeah, I do want to say that TCQ has been very gracious. They've met with us, and they spent a lot of time with us to talk through the nuances of the request, and we're thankful for their time and their effort and their support, not just on this request, but on all of our projects.

I'm not arguing going to stage one. I totally get it. I just was questioning... It's a potential impact on our request to our friends in Austin to get some relief on our releases. I get it. We want to keep that out there. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am.

Yeah, can I add to that, Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem? So today the executive director of TCEQ is supposed to be delivering an opinion on the request that we have, right, Nick? today there was that the thought we have a reading for sure but we think we understand that today that uh... twenty-fifth is when the executive director will make her recommendation and of course uh... that recommendation if it's approval would go to the full tcq commission and september so people advise the council as soon as and if we hear anything from commissioner from the chip from the from the executive director should say thank you guys that was a good question councilman compost

Thank you, Mayor Pro Temp. Wow, so we are gonna be going to stage one. Well, thank you, Councilman Cantu. I think he was the one that was actually pushing it. I was a little water shy. Instead of gun shy, water shy. But I'm glad that you had Carollo look at those numbers and can assure the community that we'll be safe. Because people were telling me, don't do it. We don't wanna go back to how we were. But I also wanted to ask you about the water since we do have at least 42% combined. I'm still going to be pushing for the floating solar panels now that we have water. Could we look into the solar panels to see if we can hopefully move into or at least investigate that project? I know that you have have said it before that it's something that you have to of course get permission from the state and from I don't know who else, but still I think now is the time to be looking at this since we have water. Can we get an update and see when that could be a possibility?

In councilwoman one thing I do want and we've talked about this a couple of times I know and we'll talk we'll definitely talk more. I just want to just remind the council that The city does not own the property surrounding Lake Corpus Christi or the property underneath it So typically those solar panels need to be affixed to something in fact the majority of the property surrounding Lake Corpus Christi is private property and and their lots extend into the lake now. It wasn't into the lake a couple of months ago.

Well, just like we are doing the same thing with Evangeline, I'm sure we can do the same thing with the solar panels and some of the property owners, especially if they know that we're saving water for them as well. So, again, I think it's something that we can work together with some of the property owners. I still would like to advocate and ask that you bring back Some some information more on the solar panels the solar floating panels I think it's something that we have not seen I think in about two years Wasn't it like the last time that there was actually a presentation from a company? Yeah, I don't recall yeah It's been a while so I'd like an update. Thank you Councilman Hernandez Thank you

In your report, you don't really go into actual numbers, but let me let me ask some questions here on the Chapman Ranch thing. You have a hydrological report that you're waiting on. And just for description, that's how much water we can actually take into the south side pump station and ground storage tank or what? Is that what you're referring to?

Yeah, so there's two pieces to that. In the hydrogeologic report, I'm actually referring to the report Seven Seas is doing into the groundwater, the potential amount of groundwater they can produce from the site. But simultaneously, CCW has also used our hydraulic modeler to understand how much water will go into the Staples pump station.

When do you think you'll have that finished?

We have a draft, and it's approximately 10 million gallons a day. But we have a draft, and we're finishing that up. We're vetting that with our modeler. I've shared some of that information when we met with Seven Seas this week.

So about 10 million gallons a day from that spot. And you said that you dropped from 12 million to 8 million on the wells and the alignments.

Yeah, last week it was a little over 12 million gallons a day on average, everyday difference, and then this week we're targeting about 8 million gallons a day.

Okay, but on average going forward, what are you looking at? Somewhere between 8 and 12?

Well, for instance, it depends on what's happening in the system. When the Mary Roads pipeline goes down, I've got to fill the gap to make up the system, right? But I would say it's... You know, the other thing is we're working with our... modeler with our hydrogeologic modeler and as we continue to drill wells we'll have more information and then there's the request if you recall we've requested to the district to be able to spread production out across the Ed Rochelle property we don't want to produce any more water but we want to spread it out we know And the hydrogeologist knows it's a much more efficient way to produce the amount of water. But the district has provided temporary drilling permits so that we can drill and test the wells and then come back to them with more information.

Okay. And ultimately for the wastewater, we're going to see that it's supposed to be completed by the May of next year.

Yeah, middle of next year.

And you're expecting 16 to 18 million gallons a day?

So there's 11 million gallons a day under contract, eight with Valero, three with Flint Hills. We're currently negotiating with Citgo and also Howard Energy, and then there's some other potential users as well.

What do you predict is the maximum that we can get out of that? I'm hopeful and I feel pretty positive it'll be around 16 16 okay so just in those three project we're looking probably at about 36 to 38 million gallons a day the three are you talking about those things we just talked about okay and I didn't talk about cc polymers which is another nine or so right in there right the first phase of cc polymers is 9.4 million gallons a day So we're talking somewhere in the neighborhood about 45, 46 million gallons, somewhere in there?

Right. So 7Cs and CC polymers, we haven't really even gotten into water supply agreement contracts, but that's what we're working toward.

But I'm just talking about what's possible, right? Okay. You can only accept 10 million gallons a day via hydrodynamic modeling for the south side pump station and storage tank. You know, you would have to build infrastructure if you take more than that, right?

That's correct, yeah.

Okay, so just looking at what is not counted in Evangeline, because we are familiar with the issues there, but you're looking at about 45 million gallons a day, right, from those four projects?

Yeah, if you had approved water supply agreements with Seven Seas and Aquatech.

Okay, I just, you know... I think for future reference, can you include potential or a minimum and a maximum from those water sources? That way you can see what we're actually looking at for our future water supply and diversification of that water.

I can and I will do that. Those details are largely in the memo, but I'll add them to this presentation as well.

This is televised on a regular basis, so sometimes people don't go into emails and get to the details of that. I do, but not everybody does. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Winkleman. Real quick, did you send us a text recently, or maybe we've received some information in the last few days updating us on the Harbor Island permit requests, the status, timeline?

Sure. So on the Harbor Island permit, yeah, there was information on their discharge permit, and we believe that's going to be on the TCQ agenda, I believe, in September.

Right, so... The CEO, Kent Britton, notified me I think Friday of last week that TCEQ executive director has acknowledged that they're gonna recommend approval of their discharge permit for 100 million gallon facility discharging into the Gulf. And so that's administratively being recommended. And then in their September board meeting, the TCEQ commissioners will consider the application.

And that would be the final.

That would be right. They would have, they already have an approved Gulf intake permit approved. And they also though have a temp, they have an approved discharge in the ship channel, but they don't plan on using that one. I think that's a 50 MGD one. So this one will replace the ship channel discharge so that it would be a permit potentially approved in September for discharge into the Gulf for a hundred million gallon facility. That's going to be the same day that our item will be considered by TCEQ on the temporary reprieve of the discharging water for environmental purposes. So we plan to be in Austin for that and also to support the port on their application.

Excellent.

I'm glad to hear that. Thank you very much, Peter. Councilwoman Vaughn. I forgot to ask you, are we still testing the wells for E. coli?

For our wells or the residential wells? All of them. So our wells are tested. The testing requirements for our wells are dictated by TCEQ. Some of the residential wells we have tested for E. coli. Some we have not because that test isn't always as representative of the well environment. It could be representative of piping within the system. We can't control the residential piping. Partially, I guess, is the answer, Councilwoman.

Okay. The mitigation. Do you all have a copy of what you have for the mitigation plan? Can you send that to the council?

Yeah. We've provided it multiple times, and it's on our website. I don't remember getting it. But we'll send it to you.

But let me ask you this. Why do they want that mitigation plan so badly? Talking about the rural areas. There's a reason they're wanting it.

So then the mitigation plan is important to CCW as well. It's important to the city. We want to reassure residents that we're there. The goal has always been to properly manage and responsibly manage the well field. The biggest thing that I wanted out of that, the program, was to open up communication with our With our neighbors, you know, admittedly, there's been a lot of negative press where some people are discouraging communicating with the city and with CCW. What I can do is and what I really want to do publicly is just assure everybody we're here to work together and work with them. You know, the proposed district, I mentioned multiple times, I really want to share data with them. CCW shared a lot of data. They're working on it. They said they had to take a vote to see if they could share data with us. But I think in a recommendation from our hydrogeologist, which is extremely appropriate, the goal is to set up a monitoring network within Nueces County. And that, that is critical to understand what's going on in the aquifer. And in fact, at the San Pat groundwater conservation district Friday, I brought up the same thing, how it's important to have a network. In other words, just not have monitoring wells on our site or someone else's site, but throughout the entire county to understand.

And that's fair, Nick, and we should be sharing data on both sides, but I think one of the reasons they're not is because there's no mitigation plan. So do you have any idea when that plan is going to be done?

So I've brought it up to the district. They don't have an agenda for their next meeting yet, but I'll bring it up to them again. Certainly, they know the budget and all of those ramifications. And I'll see if the district and its board feels any differently on how to manage that program. My thought has always been it'd be best managed by the district.

Yeah, and if you could put some of the others on there just to give them a voice would be good. That's a fair thing to do. Most boards have that. And I appreciate all the work that you do. I'm not trying to hound you up here. I just know it's important to that rural area that they feel confident that we're watching out for them too, and I want them to know that. And so not knowing when we're going to quit drilling, all of those things, pumping, those are concerns for them. So thank you.

Councilwoman Campos. Thank you. Nick, I did find out when we had that last presentation from the solar floating panels, and that was March of 2025. And I also wanted to point out that during that, because I looked it up, I'm like, okay, so during that time, we were looking at the wastewater reuse, but it was going to be potable. And then we switched to industry. So again, things can change. That's all I'm saying. So please, we want a presentation on this. Thank you.

Okay. I think that's all the questions we have. Oh, except I see Sergio.

I just wanted to respond to Councilman Scott's question on when we were last at 43%. It was April of 2024. You were close.

Yeah. Very close. Okay.

All right. Yeah, Mayor Pro Tem, just to kind of recap, especially for the media. So we're still in stage two, and we're going to have an event here Thursday morning. to announce the declaration of moving to stage one, but that won't be until Thursday at nine o'clock.

Okay, excellent. Thank you very much, Peter. Thank you, Nick, for the presentation and the great news. This has been a long journey. CCW has been wonderful and we really appreciate the help of the team, sincerely. Okay, council, really quick, we will skip back to section I, our consent agenda. We have items two through nine. Ms. Rebecca, The note on item two, I believe that we have two out of those three minutes to approve, so we could pass as amended.

Yes, ma'am. We can just, the August 18th minutes will appear on the next agenda for approval.

Okay, so we'll pull item two, so we can vote on that separately. Do we have requests to pull anything else between items two and nine? Two is already pulled. Seven.

And Mayor Pro Tem, we're going to, staff is going to, pull nine to be put on next week's agenda. There was an issue with the contract that they needed a little more time. So we're not gonna consider nine, item number nine. We'll put it on next week's agenda.

Okay, thank you, Peter. Anything else, council? We have item two and item seven pulled. Do I have any requests to pull any other items on the consent agenda from the public? Okay, seeing none. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Would you like an electronic or voice vote?

We can do electronic, ma'am.

Thank you.

Yes, and that's two and seven, right, that were pulled?

Two, seven, and nine.

Yes, and nine was withdrawn. Mm-hmm.

Okay, perfect. Before we go into each of these items individually, then we'll recess for, we will recess for and also the council will go into executive session on items 16 through 19 per Texas government code sections 551.071 and 551.072 and we will return. Sir?

Mayor, I believe there's three executive decisions. Did you get all three of them?

16 through 19. She listed all of them.

Double check.

Okay. We will reconvene in open session and return to our consent agenda where we have pulled items two and item seven. Okay, so what we need is a motion to approve item number two, amended, so we're approving July 22nd and July 23rd special meeting minutes. I'll entertain a motion. We have a motion and a second. Did we complete that one?

No. What's the matter?

Did it not show?

I didn't get a tally screen, did it? Okay. Did it finish? Yeah, the motion did pass 7-0. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Then we'll go to item number seven, which was pulled by Council Member Scott.

Thank you, ma'am. I just think it's a feel-good story, and maybe it's been talked about enough, but I thought it'd be worth circling back around again that we're going to recognize one of Corpus Christi's own. I've got two thoughts. One, just talk about where it's going to be again, and two, we've got to make sure all those folks that became friends of Farrah Fawcett's group get together and have stories about her because one of the young men, he's older than I am, but one of the men, part of this, said that he knew he was going to be an all-district football player, but for watching her on the sideline every time he went in on defense. And so he blames Farrah Fawcett, and you all know him well, by the way. He blames Farrah Fawcett for him not becoming an all-district football player at Ray High School. And then there's the iconic poster that most of us are aware of, and there are stories about one of those guys that's part of this ended up being an NFL football player, and they were in L.A., and he went to see her, and she goes, Hey, do you have a minute? And he goes, Sure. And she goes, I've got these posters I have to pick from. Which one do you think I should pick? To do the poster, and he was one of the ones that picked that poster that most everybody in this room knows which I'm talking about. So we've got to get those guys together, and girls if they're a part of it, to talk about those stories because I think it's A, it's fun, and it's positive, and B, we're going to recognize Farrah Fawcett. And then lastly, if you haven't heard, you know, Dolly Parton passed away today, right? So that's a big deal to all of us over 12. Well, okay, 50, maybe 60. But anyhow, I think it's important to recognize some good people that have significance to Corpus. And I just wanted to thank you for your work. this what you don't know is this man this went on and on and it was place a then it was place b and then half of them wanted c and then a third of them wanted b and so good for you all peter and you got everybody in a room you know about a month ago and you worked with the location and thank you uh for your work and getting this location set which is um on the sea wall close to the art center so that's going to be a great day when that happens

through the finish line.

Yeah, good story, sir. Thank you, ma'am.

Councilwoman Vaughn.

Okay, I love Charlie's Angels, so I'm glad that's happening. Good job. But one thing that we need to talk about, we never do whenever we get things donated, maintenance. What's it going to cost for maintenance?

Under the contract, the Friends of Farrah Fawcett will take care of the maintenance, and we will also, in our engineering study, we mentioned an engineering... engineering study in the PowerPoint. There will also be preliminary assessments on accessibility, parking, safety, lighting, maintenance, as well as the visitor experience.

Okay, just making sure because it would be an added cost, which I think is great. I'm not saying don't do it. I'm just saying we have to be realistic, but that's good. They're going to take care of it.

Yes, ma'am.

Good. Thank you.

Okay. Do we have any public comment on item seven? No public comment all right council members We have a motion in a second Okay the motions approved that concludes The consent agenda, we will move on to section K, which is public hearings. Item ending the Corpus Christi Code Chapter 5 to amend short-term rental regulations, including modifying the definition of type 1 and type 2 short-term rentals.

Good afternoon, Mayor Pro Tem, Council, Yvette Wallace, Interim Director, Development Services. So just for a little background, when we adopted the short-term rental ordinance, June 28th of 2022, the last time we made adjustments to it. The intent communicated during the public sessions was as follows. To restrict owner-occupied short-term rental properties with the homestead exemption, ensuring these units were truly lived in by their owners, and limit non-owner-occupied short-term rental activity to multifamily zoning districts, preventing commercialized short-term rental operations from being heavily in single-family neighborhoods and preserving residential character of those neighborhoods. The policy direction aimed to support the neighborhood's stability, reduce nuisances associated with investor-driven STRs, and ensure that owner-occupied rentals remain tied to the owner's legal residence. The ordinance for you today is just changing the clarification for Type 1, the actual legal definition in our ordinance. And so the clarification and tightening of Type 1 owner-occupied is the definition would strengthen the alignment with the original intent by explicitly requiring a homestead exemption for single family type one STRs and accessory dwelling units. This removes the broader residency criteria that is currently found in the ordinance, which allows a leasy or an operator as defined by ordinance to operate as an owner occupied with proof of a valid lease and with a voter registration or a driver's license that has the same address as the property being rented. Additionally, for multifamily units, the new language allows Type 1 status only when the owner occupies the unit or an operator occupies it under a valid lease with the owner's permission. This maintains flexibility for multifamily properties without opening loopholes for Type 2 use in single-family areas. So eliminating the owner-operator ambiguity. Right now, again, the definition allows an operator to claim owner-occupied status simply by residing on the property under a lease and providing proof of residency with a driver's license or voter registration. This created enforcement challenges and allowed investor-owned properties in single-family neighborhoods to operate as Type 1 short-term rentals without being true homesteads. The definition removes this and requires the single-family context by Type 1 eligibility directly to owner occupancy as a homestead exemption. So that means that we have Type 2s left, and that is non-owner occupied. So language to a Type 2 to basically say if you don't qualify for a Type 1, the owner occupied with the homestead, then everyone else is classified as a Type 2. The updated definition simplifies the determination by doing that and says that you're automatically a Type 2 if you don't qualify for a Type 1. This avoids the complicated residency verifications previously used and better supports the original policy intent. Having all non-owner occupied be considered a Type 2 will also prevent commercialized non-owner occupied short-term rental operations from infiltrating those single family neighborhoods and preserving the residential character of the neighborhood. The difference between the two are very important. A Type 1 today is allowed in single-family residential areas without limitations, so owner-occupied today. A Type 2 is bound by a density limitation. So if you are a Type 2 and non-owner-occupied, there's a 15% block-based density that exists today in single-family residential neighborhoods. There are no restrictions for densities in multifamily, so it's not going to affect any of the multifamily zone properties, which are a lot of properties in the island. There are some properties on Ocean Drive that are considered multifamily that would not be affected. There's some in Flower Bluff. They're throughout the city. But the main change is the owner occupancy, and that's what we're bringing forward today. And I can go into some of those numbers on what that change looks like if the ordinance were to be adopted today.

Thank you, Ms. Wallace. Mr. Zanoni, could you clarify for us, with any action taken today, when would this proposed ordinance go into effect, and at what point in time would that impact any current... Yeah.

Current permit holders permit. I'm gonna have buck talk about the ordinance, but our intent is any changes to The type 1 or type 2 definition would only impact new permits to be issued January 1 2027 so what's important to point out here is that all permits for all STRs regardless of type are only for a year or less and so depending on when you apply through the year and they all expire at the end of the year, at the end of the calendar year. And so each year, an STR owner, if they had an operation in year one, they have to reapply and get a brand new permit for what would be a year two.

But that's primarily with intention to renew, should there be any changes with the facility or any major changes, it's not really where we would insert differences of our policy necessarily. That wasn't the intent behind those annual renewals.

Right. Well, the annual renewals were...

So I can just speak to that.

Yvette may want to talk a little bit about it, but there could have been a case where because of circumstances happening in the neighborhood that they may have approved a permit one year, but maybe in year two they deny it based on input.

We run into this issue, especially along Laguna Shores quite often. There's a lot of short-term rentals on Laguna Shores that are type 2s. And it is first come, first served. So at a renewal, maybe somebody who has been denied in years past because they exceeded the density, they could be the first to apply in, let's just say, 2027. And they would be the first one to get that short-term rental permit. And let's just say the block could only allow for three. Once we hit that number of three, then we would issue a denial for that density. So it is an annual renewal. and it is processed in the order that we receive those renewals. And yes, you're right, you could make changes. We have seen some go from a Type 1 to a Type 2 or a Type 2 to a Type 1. We've seen some that have closed their permit out and then a new operator or a new owner takes over, and that would require a new permit as well.

So what I'm seeing in Type 1, one of the key changes being proposed is the term homestead.

It is the requirement for the owner to be homestead and removing the operator, which is kind of a leasee, right? So an operator is a leasee. So removing that current language that would allow someone who is renting a house to act as an operator and qualify for an owner-occupied.

So in essence, what this does is across all residential neighborhoods, you cannot apply to have a short-term rental on your property unless it's your homesteaded property where you reside.

That's only if you're going to declare type 1. A type 1. A type 1. You're still allowed to have them as a type 2, except for the area in which they're prohibited, which is in Padre Mustang Island in residential areas. But the remainder of the city that has residential... you're still allowed to have them as a type two. They're just bound to a density limitation.

So we had this years ago. It was a huge discussion topic on North Padre Island. You were seeing individuals using their properties in our six neighborhoods for short-term rentals, and it was incredibly disruptive. We had a horrible, horrible time trying to get enforcement because of the after-hour noise, nuisance, ruckus, et cetera, which We were handed this well-prepared pamphlet today, a collection with photographs of things that we would experience there commonly. We were told time and time again that there could be no real enforcement of citations because they were happening in the middle of the night and code enforcement worked daytime hours. So after many conversations with the city, we were able to get some enforcement over the night. And ultimately what that ended up looking like was a parameter that was set in the code for the island where much of that R6 neighborhood was carved out of the short-term rental pool. I see that this has become a horrible issue for the residents in this area. Absolutely horrible. I would hate to go home and have the feeling that I can't even sleep at night. I'm still out on the island. There's still occurrences where people are, you know, sometimes I'm wondering, is that my neighbor or is those guests next to me? It's not comfortable. We didn't buy our homes. Our community didn't buy homes to go live next to something that they would expect when they're on vacation. They're not in those areas. I believe what this boils down to is we created codes, we passed ordinances, we set a standard, and then we didn't really stand behind a commitment to ensure that enforcing these to protect the neighbors was there. That's kind of what this boils down to. Yes, it looks like certain short-term rentals are not abiding by the code, but that's why we have those codes, is to protect the entire area and the entire process. Mr. Zanoni, I think that's one of the biggest failure points here. We set speed limits knowing that people are gonna drive cars, and we know what's gonna be safe for everyone around them, and then we enforce them to keep them safe. I don't think that happened here. I've asked, you know, where's the actual citations? Where is anything that says that these complaints that these community members have called time and time and time again, whatever became of them? There's nothing material. So we didn't hold up this end of the bargain. And so now we've got our real estate professionals saying, if you pass this ordinance, you could substantially be changing the property owner's rights around town. We have the community saying, will you please hear us? Will you please protect our properties and our neighborhoods? We wanna live in our homes again. We're at a bad spot right now because we didn't follow what we set to protect both parties. I have a problem with that. And I see the changes. I sympathize with these property owners. I'm very disappointed that they're even in this position today because we shouldn't have let them get here. We have to take our own accountability here. Believe that what we need to do since none of this is going to take into effect until January 1 essentially It's not going to affect anybody We need to have these voices considered We've got to first take immediate action to be able to enforce these items We need to bring the right people to the table and then we need to make policy That protects our residents and observes these property owners my time's up councilman Vaughn.

I Okay, well, I think there are some loopholes and that they have just figured out what to do. And as for me, I think we give them some kind of relief today. We don't let them walk out of here without giving them some kind of relief because their home should be a sanctuary and they should have rights. They should be able to go home, enjoy their home, not worry about parties, screaming, hollering, people jumping off roofs. They should be able to let their kids walk outside. I don't think they can do that now because of all the people that they do not know in that neighborhood. So, Mr. Sinoni, I'm not sure what we need to do. Gil was on the council then, so I'm hoping he can give us some insight because he wasn't for it. I cannot believe in my mind that they even passed this. And I'll say this. This is not only Ocean Drive, which is a beautiful part of our city. It's been there forever. People come here to go down there on the beach and look at those beautiful homes. That was a horrible place to put short-term, long-term rentals in. It was. I understand the ladies that came here earlier, that they had these small, we looked at one of them, it looks almost like an apartment. But this, I don't understand, because a corporation has come in there and taken control of that, and they're making a bunch of money. And to me, I don't care about the money. I think that citizens are the most important thing, and it's not about the money. And this city council should not let them walk out of here today without giving some kind of relief. It is obvious that it's not being followed. And if they had 36 violations they called on, where were the police? I think we have to ask that from Chief Markle, what is going on there, if this was reported and why it was not, something wasn't done. I'm not getting on you. I'm just looking at you because you're in charge. So I'm hoping I get something over there. Okay, I want to keep some of my time for later. Thanks. Councilman Barrera.

Okay, so anything that we do today won't be affected until January 1. Am I correct?

Correct. We wouldn't be looking at any revocations. All permits would be set to expire that are existing today on December 31st.

I supported this after... I think when did we pass this? Was it September of 20?

June 28, 2022 was the last change we made to this.

Yeah, so I started in January. I remember being approached in January of 22. I went back because I had an individual that originally, that found out about this and originally called me and wondered what the consequences were. And, you know, there's a balance. And one thing that I said back then, by the way, I just want to make it, I want to make the record known that I'm disappointed that the Honorable Judge Madiri did not reach out to one of the five that voted for this, meaning myself. I thought we had, we could communicate about it. But, and I'm really disappointed that, I wish somebody would have reached out sooner that, because, you know, we're almost coming up on, I mean, we're 10 months and, you know, we haven't been to resolve this. And I'll go into a little, A woman that works in my office, it happened to her next door, and I remember the address, St. James Court. Everybody knows. And every Monday morning I was going to hear it. And their garbage, yeah, right? She didn't get any response from her district council member. Anyway, and so their trash was picked up on Thursday. So when the weekend would come, you'd have all this garbage all over. And they had a pool. And it was a lot of loud noise. And what is it? Her husband even was feared for her because she would go knock on their door at two in the morning. And, you know, a lot of that happened and it took a lot of time. I remember Peter even authorized a warrant out for the rest for the property owner who was in San Antonio. What is it? It took a while, but it was finally fixed. You know, we kept hammering at the at the property owner who wasn't even putting it on on. I think at one time they weren't even permitted because they weren't putting it on the average site. So we had been talking with code enforcement, talking to the police, knowing that we had a bad actor, and going out there on a regular basis. And so it finally got to the end. All the property owner did, or all that individual did, was just raise his prices. Because then all of a sudden they could afford, but we had to make it more of a nuisance for them. So I'm well aware, and it's personal, because obviously that individual's been working for me for 10 years. So it's very personal. But on the other side, when we dealt with all the items on the island, we determined that they were all nuisance issues. It's a nuisance problem. And the only way we can address the nuisance problem is with resources and our regulatory authority to be able to dictate what can and can't be done. Now, I know there's resources available, and I think that's one of the things that had I been involved in October, then I probably would have engaged and said, okay, what resources do we have available so that way we can move forward, so that way we can protect the residential homeowner. Now, I remember specifically stating, and if I recall, You know, I think there was a discussion about an individual that was ready and that was subletting, you know, and that's how we came that we did. And, you know, once again, it was a while back, you know, four years ago. So, I mean, we wanted to address, and obviously the realtors weren't an uproar because they don't want anybody to mess with them with their property owners. And then what we did is that we mirrored the San Antonio policy. Am I correct in assuming that? And that's where we came up with the 15%, you know, up to a minimum of one. So that, and I recall, I was sent the presentation and it says that specifically. So I think it's important that, and I'll come around again, but I think it's important that we went through a very public process. We had a committee of how many? 17. 17 individuals. We had individuals from all You know, people that own short-term rentals, people that were with the Padre Island Business Association, you know, people that understood, people that, particularly the neighborhood where the nuisance was, we engaged the community so that way we can make sure this is resolved. So I think it's kind of, I think it's a knee-jerk reaction for us to move forward on an item that, once again, we can't address. But we still need to address the nuisance issue. I mean, the problem would have been solved if we would address the nuisance issue. Now, I don't know if it's resources or what. I know at that time I knew the code enforcement individuals on a regular basis and I called them personally and I said, we're having this problem. And so it got to the point where the ACM said, have them call me directly. So I think that's what really needs to be addressed.

So if I can address some of that for a minute. So of course we've had budget cuts over the years, but we're still very actively involved for code enforcement. When it comes to nuisances, we've had a lot of calls for loud noise. And the processes PD is usually the one that goes out for us because it's usually at night or over the weekend. And they do take their decibel readers and they are reading the decibels. And more often than not, they're not exceeding the allowable decibel readings. for the time period as in adopted immunity code, right? We have a noise ordinance and they're not exceeding that. So what some of us may think is loud, and it could be loud, doesn't exceed the decibel readings when they're going out and taking readings. So of course there wouldn't be a citation issue if there was no finding. There could be other other issues that arise and of course just like code PD also wants to give people time to cure right unless it's something very egregious But if you're maybe parked the wrong way, they're gonna say hey, can you relocate your vehicle? And if you don't want to relocate your vehicle, then maybe there could be a citation issued But we try to educate before we just cite people and and so a lot of times they're taken care of by education All right, I'll come back

Councilwoman Campos. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Okay. This is very enlightening because when the short-term rentals first came about, I was not on council, but I do remember the Padre Island folks coming and complaining about some of these things that are happening now to the Ocean Drive residents. And so at the time, I think there was a committee formed, but then at the city did not include any of the residents, which I found ridiculous, but finally they did. And I think they finally did hash out what they needed for their area. So I was not aware about the type two. I'll be honest, because I don't, I mean, it just, I always knew, I always thought, I always thought that it was just, it had to be, you had to be a homestead owner to have that dwelling or to do the short-term rental. So okay, so that was new to me. So I remember earlier in the summer, I did meet with some of the Ocean Drive residents. And it wasn't because I was invited. I believe they went to the mayor. And I think to Councilman Scott, and then when I found out, I insisted because it is District 2. So I said, you know, I should be included. So I was included, and at that time, I was still thinking only the Type 1. I wasn't even, you know, really thinking about the Type 2. I mean, I had heard about the 15%. Face how did you call it lock face lock face and it did to 15% Yeah, and that's when I kind of started. I'm like okay. This is what's going on is that I believe that the individuals that were saying that he had changed the the numbers and and how he was kind of going around it, so I I I did hear from Mr. Monroe, and he did say that every single time that he bought or I believe that he purchased a property, he would check with you, developmental services. Was he following the process? And the answer was?

Yes. So we were using the rounding methodology that was conveyed to council in 2022, which would give, let's just say you have seven. It's a one point. 1.5 or 1.2, so then we would round up. So there were short block faces, maybe six residential structures or less that would never qualify to meet one. But with the rounding methodology that has been in place since 2022, we were rounding to allow for that one. So if I had six residential units, we would allow one short-term rental per that block. So you permitted him? Some of them. Now, some of them here recently with the address changes, those are finding gray areas within our ordinance that that are kind of questionable. Some of them don't really qualify for an address change or could, and there's still some active permits and there's reasons why we can't just approve something if you have an active permit already. So there is some things kind of moving around that we wouldn't necessarily agree with. We were, since 2022, we have been operating with the 15% with a roundup. And if that is something that we wish to change, which we do think that that needs to change because the 15% just doesn't really make a lot of sense. We did, as a department, say that we do need to look at this. The ordinance needs to be rewritten. There's a lot of areas that have...

Okay, so that's what I'm hearing. I'm hearing that there still needs to be some more things kind of ironed out. So then I believe he applied a couple of weeks ago to change from the Type 1 to Type 2, is what I was told, and that it's still held up by... By our city manager.

They're being led by our department and there's reasons for that So two of them are being held because he still has active Type one permit so you need to cancel the permits that you have today to get new permits That would be number one has that been communicated to him We haven't we just looked into all of the ones that were pending and one of them he changed the address of a street But he hasn't requested a permit with the new address change. So it's still on the street so there's still some permits that need to be worked on on his end and And then again, we were waiting for some direction for today because those conversations just happened last week and we knew this was coming. So we wanted to wait until today to make any changes because we don't want to approve something for it just to be clawed back.

Okay. And the other was the complaints about the police. Okay, that's a big issue for me too. I heard from the residents stating that they had called the police, I don't know, 30, I think, times I heard, but every single time that there was no violation. Is that correct, Chief? on these STRs?

Yeah, matter of fact, I was just pulling around listening to you. I see 39 and going back just a few months. Now, most of those officers will show up and just break up the party, shut it down. It won't rise to a noise violation. It's very rare that that's something we go to bars and they don't rise to a noise ordinance violation. That's something we could look at, lowering the decibel range if we want an ordinance. But patrol officers, when they show up at night, their objective is to settle everybody down and move on and go back to answering calls. So I would have to do research for you, have David do some research for you to see what kind of citations, if any, were written. But we do go out and we do address the issue at hand.

Okay.

I just wanted to make sure that... I'm not sure why they didn't... We met with Ms. Bedary a while back. As a matter of fact, I had a special initiative with officers to address those houses on Ocean Drive. So I'll follow up to see what happened with that also. Okay.

And what about the statements made that, you know, they advertise, well, this would be for event that they advertise for 30, 40 people to be able to occupy the place.

Is that allowed? So again, the ordinance that was adopted in 2022 says that you take the structure of the building, you take the number of rooms and you use the international property maintenance code to determine how many people can be in there. So, Is that a code that we would use for our own occupancy calculations? Not necessarily. So that would be one of the suggested changes that we'd have is that we would have a full floor plan review and we could set the occupant load as a jurisdiction instead of using the property maintenance code, which can set it very high because it looks at living rooms, it looks at dining rooms, it looks at open spaces. where we would probably look more at the living spaces and not just the communal spaces to put beds into.

Okay, so what I'm hearing is that there's still a lot of things that need to be, again, ironed out. That's why I'm not sure what we're going to be able to do here. The other is, okay, so he has, I think I heard in the story, 38 properties, right? Correct. And they're they're under corporations. It's so if something were to happen it whenever there's a violation or Whatever.

I mean if there's a violation, it's not him that is personally What do you call it charged or whatever it's the corporation so so it would be 10 So if it was somebody who was operating a short-term rental without a permit It would be the corporation or if it was a type 1 whoever the the person is that registered for that permit If it is a violation, if it's a noise ordinance violation or, you know, a fight or there's something that goes wrong, it would go to the person that's involved. But for the rental, if you're renting without one and we did a sting operation to catch somebody renting a short-term rental without an active permit, that would go to.

I'm just trying to figure it out because, I mean, you can't arrest a corporation, can you?

No.

So we can cite them. Yeah. So that's the other kind of thing that I'm looking at. Okay, well, these are just some of the questions that I have, so I'd like to hear what some of the other council members have to say. Thanks.

If I could real quick, Chief Markle, we talked about it a little bit earlier that there's so many calls being placed and no citations. I think something you said, and you hadn't walked in the room yet when we said that, was by the time the team gets there, you kind of break up the party, and then no citations necessary to be issued. But perhaps there's a log or something of the sort, because right now we know things are happening. There's not a paper trail of, you know, we cited, but there's still issues taking place.

That's a great point. We do have a log. We have the CAD calls. Lieutenant Harris, Cody Harris, you probably know him with DPOs, has been working with the judge, has keeping track of all these properties. Maybe there's some kind of aggregate we can do with the owners of these properties and combine them together to whether pull their permit or not do something. But certainly addressing the ordinance as it stands now is the best option. Because when you call the police, sometimes by the time we get there, it's a Friday night and we're super busy. It may have been self-contained at that point. There's no action. But we do have records of the calls.

Well, I think for my question is to have that historic data. I feel like what has to happen immediately today is we get some enforcement to relieve the situation that's happening in these neighborhoods immediately. To me, that's the first item. And then I feel like action needs tabled, and I would entertain that motion. But I think that's very important data to use when we revisit this with all the stakeholders in place. So that was, thank you.

And we are meeting with stakeholders. But a lot of it, remember, it's not just parties. It's cars up and down the street. It's taking up your spot. It's people you don't know wandering in your back street, alleyway, house, yard, whatever. So it's a quality of life issue. It's a nuisance issue. may not rise to a significant crime, but certainly something I understand the public being upset with.

Thank you, Chief. Councilman Hernandez?

Okay. I did not vote for this ordinance. I was part of the discussion because I saw exactly what was going to happen. Because none of this is taken into account on the front side of it. Like, is occupancy a part of the permit?

An occupancy is self-declared by the permit.

Okay, but nobody checks it.

It's not verified because it's, well, it's verified against the property maintenance code, but it's such a high number that it's always going to be a very high occupancy.

Okay, but we don't set what the requirements are for occupancy. Okay, parking. Is parking part of the permit? No, it is not today. Okay, so there are lots of things that are here that people just sign off saying, yes, I'm following the rules. Yes, I'm going to be a good neighbor. Yes, I'm going to do this. And no one checks until there's a complaint. And then when there's a complaint, it takes several complaints and almost no enforcement. I'll ask that question. How many citations have been prosecuted in municipal court regarding short-term rentals?

I don't have that number today, but we did have quite a few from 2022 to 2024. And we were doing a lot of sting operations and it was more for operating without permits.

Okay. But that still costs us money because we are reduced the amount of revenue to operate this because of the situation with the, uh, You know the cinnamon shore type stuff and you know there we lost a lot of revenue So we don't have the revenue to do that anymore right for each citation.

We lost about $150 for every Citation issued for operating without a permit because we'd have to upfront and actually book the rental And we did lose about $150 for each one okay, so we have a lot of issues with this because we're not checking on the front side and

We're doing stuff on the backside. And by the time you get on the backside of it, you have a room full of angry residents that are living next to that STR, and we're being reactive instead of proactive. We should have done this in a zoning process where your staff could have looked at the property, where it could have been given a specific number of occupancy, what kind of parking they'd have, and then you could verify against whatever advertisement they have versus their permit. BUT SINCE WE DON'T LOOK AT IT ON THE FRONT END, WE ARE IN THIS SITUATION. I MENTIONED THIS DURING THE DISCUSSIONS WHEN WE HAD THIS DISCUSSION BACK IN HOW MANY YEARS AGO IT WAS. I REMEMBER SITTING OVER THERE SAYING THE EXACT SAME THINGS BECAUSE YOU WERE GOING TO END UP WITH THESE PARTICULAR PROBLEMS. Okay, we're here now. We can we can kind of put a band-aid on it with what we're doing right now But ultimately I think we need to bring this back and have more robust look at these properties on the front side You know that way and then you don't have to maintain a permanent process I get a permit to operate until they move out or they disown the property because I mean we're losing money on these Managing this process. We got to have the zoning for this kind of stuff to where you actually hold them accountable on the front end, and then you can actually write a citation for if they're violating the permitting process on the front, because you evaluated on the front side. This is never gonna, I mean, we're gonna continue to have these issues. And you could always pull their permit if they're not following the thing, and then have them go through the whole process again. Right? But we need to, for now, obviously for now, we'll just put a bandaid on this and hopefully we can get this fixed in a more robust fashion to where everybody's taken care of. And then the property owner, this will satisfy the realtors so they can actually have, what did you say this morning, Roland, that a predictable, reliable regulatory environment?

That's it. I'm glad you said that, Councilman Hernandez, so you know codes are always evolving. STR is your national. It's not just specific to Corpus Christi or Texas. And ICC, International Code Council, which is what we use for all of our regulatory guidance, is actually bringing STR provisions into the residential code, the commercial code, and the fire code. So we will have that predictability because, of course, we would be looking to adopt that here locally as well so that we have guidance on What is the max occupancy? Maybe there's additional egress or additional fire requirements. We don't know because that code's being written today for the 2027 code, but we would look at incorporating that.

Okay, well, I mean, like I said, I said this was going to happen, you know, four years ago. So I just... Well, let's hope we can get some relief here. It's not going to help them until January, I guess, but at least we're going to do something. Like I said, I still think we need to have review of these properties, these STR permits on the front side and put those requirements, the occupancy, the parking, the fire requirements, all that on the front side and not try and fix it on the backside like we're doing now. Thank you.

Councilman Cantu.

Thank you. A couple questions. What's the reason behind them changing the addresses?

So the reason behind changing the addresses is to meet the density requirement on the different block phase. So it's corner lots that are being changed right now. So if I'm on Ocean Drive and let's just say I'm going to pick Montclair, then I would want to change my address to Montclair because my density is more favorable. There's more residential units, so I can have more short-term rentals on that block phase, whereas the Ocean Drive may already hit the max density or may not even allow for any.

Got you. And you guys allow that?

It's not that we allowed it per se. Those permits have not been processed. So GIS is a different department than development services, and anyone can request an address change. And if it meets the 911 intent of an address change, It can be changed. There is one that is a little questionable that I'm looking at right now, but there's one that was actually changed that definitely qualifies for an address change, and at one point in time may have actually had that address, and it was changed to Ocean Drive just because the front face of the house is clearly on that side street and not on Ocean Drive. But it is a process that we have in place today.

So at my residence, how many cars can I have in my home?

There is not a cap on how many vehicles you can have at your home today.

So if there's 20 cars parked there all day long, the city can't do anything about it?

As long as you're parked in the public right-of-way, no.

Well, what about how many residents stay there?

As long as they're your primary family, there's not a cap on the number of people you can have in your house today.

So if I came home, I could have my cousins, my aunts, uncles, everybody living there?

It happens today, yes, sir. Through the property maintenance code it is allowed, but yes, you have to be considered a family.

Can a bus park in my driveway?

A bus? There's nothing that prohibits a bus from parking in your driveway, but if you do go over the sidewalk, of course, that would be a citation.

And commercial vehicles can too, right?

So commercial vehicles today can be parked at your residence. You know, there are a lot of people that work in industry that take their vehicles home.

Correct, okay. So when we come back and look at this, we need to figure out all those questions I asked you for a permit. Because I understand where they're coming from. And I understand the other side. They bought these homes. They've got to make money, whatever the case is. But I mean... Advertising, you know 50 people on our home. That's a lot of that's a lot of people That's a lot of that's a lot of cars. It's a lot of noise You know, I'm looking at some pictures and I see I see a guy on the roof Jumping in the pool and I get it, you know, I think I did that once when I was younger but I just These pictures, you know, I mean that's what these I families are going through right now. And I understand, you know, they're frustrated and stuff and they're expensive homes and, you know, they want to enjoy life and not having somebody next door, loud music and noise and stuff like that. Somebody called me one time and told me that, you know, they had to go rent a room because it was just too loud. And I really like to see a report if you know what we do on PD calls when they call the police department because You know they somebody came up here and said they called the police department so many times, but nothing ever happened So kind of look into that and see you know I think I think another you know another deal is another issue not issue, but I really don't think It's a big difference if you're Joe the plumber or a judge. If you have concerns in your community, you have the right to address them. You are a taxpayer. You are a resident. And so happens you are a judge. And it is what it is. And, you know, I think anybody could come up here and voice their concerns. You know, this lady called me yesterday about the dollar general going to London yesterday. And she's a city employee. She didn't know she could voice her opinion. I said, of course, you can voice your opinion. You know, everybody could voice their opinion. You know, they live in this community. So, you know, I don't think anyone's getting any kind of favoritism, you know, treatment. My understanding, it took almost eight months to meet with Peter. Peter, we got to do a better job than that, you know. But I know for a fact that Peter's office is open to the public. If somebody wants to meet with Peter, if it's Joe the plumber, electrician, whoever, they could go and meet with Peter. So we do need to fix this because a lot of people are having issues not in just the Ocean Drive area, but I hear it in different areas. So I'm not against them. You know, but we got to work together and figure out what we could meet at in the middle and so everybody will be happy and of course patrolling, you know on these on these homes and and Give me citations to the to the property owner, you know, that's that's that's his guest or hers guest You know, they make them as and they they are causing issues and we would give out a citation We should give a citation to the person who rented the home, you know I just feel like they're they're in a bit in a business So sometimes you don't get citations and tickets and fines and whatever the case is, but that's all I got for now Thank you

Councilman Scott.

Mayor Pro Tem, I came into this conversation today thinking that we were going to deliberate an ordinance. And I have a lot of notes. Very proud of my notes. But it's come to my attention that there are some members who think that I have a conflict of interest because some business that San Jacinto Title has done with one particular operator. I have no desire to be involved in a conversation about my personal ethics. I have talked to a lawyer in the last hour who says I do not have a conflict of interest, but I'm sensitive to the perceived conflicts of interest, and as such, I'm going to take my notes, I'm going to take my iPad, and I'm going to recuse myself from deliberating on the conversation today. If there's subsequent conversations about an ordinance, After conversations with legal, I will consider participating in the global thing, but I'm sensitive to people thinking that I'm going to make a deliberation and a decision based on a specific or several relationships, and I don't want to be a part of that. So, Rebecca, if you'd be kind enough to draft a...

RECUSAL FOR ME THEN I'LL GO TO THE BACK ROOM AND I APOLOGIZE I HAD REALLY GOOD NOTES TOO THANK YOU THANK YOU COUNCIL MEMBER SCOTT COUNCILMAN COMPOS UH THANK YOU MAYOR PROTEM OKAY UM YEAH I'M KIND OF HESITANT ABOUT VOTING ON THIS ORDINANCE RIGHT NOW SINCE THERE'S SO UH MANY QUESTIONS STILL AND AND EVEN IF WE WERE TO PASS IT YOU KNOW WE COULD IT'S NOT GOING TO GO INTO EFFECT UNTIL the first. I feel like we still have time to get a few more people involved in this. I would like to make a motion to table it until the 8th, September the 8th. That'll give us two weeks and see if we can get some of the parties together and see if we can resolve some of these issues that have been brought forth and get some of the reports back from the police department and so If nobody seconds it, then so be it. Councilwoman Vaughn.

Well, this is clearly a poorly written ordinance. It really is. I don't think they thought it through, and it's affecting the whole city. It's not just there. Flower Bluff, Laguna Shores, they're all having problems. What I want to know, because I'm not for tabling it, I think we have to do something for them today. And so I know that John Bell's in the audience. I think he represents him. Is there any way, Mayor Pro Tem, that we could ask him some questions and see what it is that we can do to help them today, what they're expecting of us?

When you say he represents them, the neighborhood association?

I think he represents them.

I have no issue. Do you have a parliamentary issue with this, Rebecca?

I do not.

Mr. Bell.

And Peter, while he's coming, is there any way that we can stop all permits now until we resolve this?

We'll have to answer that. I think the council could put a temporary reprieve on issuing permits, right? We seem to be in agreement with that.

Because all we're going to do is make it worse. If they add more on places they're not supposed to, it's just going to make it worse. That's all I'm asking.

You could put a halt on all type 1 permits or both, type 1 and 2.

Okay. Do I need to make a motion for that or are you just going to?

Yeah, we would like the council, it would be some policy direction from the council. If the majority wants to do that, we can easily.

Let's hear from Mr. Bell.

I'm not going to make it right now.

Because I think, hopefully, Mr. Bell has some insight that could bridge the gap. I think what I said earlier, the lowest hanging fruit is the enforcement to restore safety. Quality, you know restore the condition of the neighborhood.

That's immediate relief, but Maybe you have some ideas Yes, John Bell district 4 and I represent many of the people who have spoken this morning Our objective in raising this issue was not to modify the ordinance. Our objective has been to enforce the existing ordinance, which actually is not that bad. I mean, ordinances can be improved sometimes, but it's a very complicated world in which we live. But I have no intention to rewrite the ordinance. I've never said I wanted to rewrite the ordinance. And for the record, I didn't even write this ordinance back in 2022, but I've studied it quite a bit. and would just like to address a couple of issues for you. First, when the ordinance says no more than 15%, it means no more than 15%. That's a hard and fast line. Yes, there was a slide back in 2022 that said you could round up one point. Well, everyone was entitled to get one, a minimum of one and a block, and that you could also round up like a 1.7 to a two. But staff came out with an interpretation on July 31 that said, well, you could round up 1.1 or 1.2 and get two short-term rentals within a block phase, which is a complete violation of the express words of the ordinance. Number two, block phase is defined in the existing ordinance as all the properties between two streets, periods. It doesn't make any difference where their address is. It doesn't make any difference which way, where the door is, or which way it faces. If it is a platted lot between the street, then that's counted as part of the block face. And so this, I'll say it as a scam, to change the address off of Ocean Drive to a side street to try and count it within the side street and not Ocean Drive would violate your existing ordinance because it defines block face as every property between the two corners, between the two streets, period. It says nothing about addresses, nothing about frontage. Type 1 is supposed to be different from Type 2. That was what a task force of 15 people worked for over a year trying to address. And I passed out a slide from 2022. I don't know if they made it all the way across. Does everybody have one? I had quite a few copies. I was trying to get it to you, but it basically defines type one is being an owner occupied residence, which allows rental of a portion of a residential unit while the owner is present. That's the difference between type one and type two. And that the presence of an owner or an operator, an agent of the owner on site in the residence has a tremendous impact on the issues that arise in a short term rental. And the task force in 2022 recognized that difference. And so that's why we have a difference between type one and type two. And the way the staff has interpreted type one has rendered the distinction meaningless by not requiring any presence on the property by saying you can have a lease of the property from a corporation and the tenant can actually be residing in Alabama or someplace or who knows and not be present on site and so all of these what are truly type 1 I mean type 2 types of STRs are somehow getting categorized as type 1s when there's no requirement and that was the basis for this proposed ordinance revision. But the problem is, as it was pointed out today, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Federal Court in Austin, and the State Court of Appeals in Austin have all ruled that requiring homestead alone is the criteria for STR eligibility violates a couple of provisions in the Constitution. Now, I disagree with that reading of the Constitution, but then I'm not the judge. Go figure. And a couple of judges are part of my group, and I've said that to them, but, you know, that's just the way life is. But nevertheless, I don't believe the proposed ordinance change would do us any good. In contrast, I think your existing ordinance says very specifically already Accessory dwelling units will be considered occupied by the owner where the primary residential dwelling is occupied by the owner as Reflected in the title records or a valid lease agreement and with the express permission of the owner Our ordinance already says that it's got to be occupied by there and within that ordinance We could require the staff could require that people be present is a condition and if there isn't a point and they're not present then that's grounds for revocation of the permit. And that's the only way to make a distinction between type one and type two. And another thing that's in the ordinance is a requirement that they have to comply with international code for property management. But I looked at some of the numbers, and I've read the International Code for Property Management. You can't count all the square feet in the house. You cannot count the living room, the dining room. You cannot count closets, although I've talked to a good friend of mine. The closet in my house is much larger than the bedroom in the house that I grew up in, but that's part of life. You know, go figure. But nevertheless, I think we ought to take a look at that and not just accept what people say is the deal. And then the last thing... enforcement. The existing ordinance specifies how this was supposed to be enforced because I love our friends in the police department but it wasn't set up to be their job because they go out there to kind of keep the peace and they write citations on a different standard but this ordinance says if there's a problem the neighbors can call the 24-7 Corpus Christi helpline and the designated representative of that STR operation Supposed to answer that call 24 7 and fix it within one hour and if they don't it's grounds for revocation and Every month a report has to be generated as to how each complaint was done and those Complaints will be considered in any renewal the whole issue about looking for citations issued by the police was recognized in 2022 as not workable in this situation. And so, sorry, Development Services, but the burden was put on you guys in code enforcement in the helpline to have somebody there who's going to notify the short-term rental representative. And if it is not fixed in an hour, they have to explain it, why it wasn't fixed in an hour. And I can assure you that my clients are loaded for bear. when it comes to enforcing the current ordinance. But I would agree that I think it would be premature to enact the ordinance before you. I think it would make the most sense to enforce the ordinance that we have to put aside any consideration that changing the address and get around what the ordinance plainly says, to put aside any thought that 15% doesn't mean 15%, to double check the International Property Maintenance Code, and to come up with a system to actually comply with the enforcement provision by using the tools that are set out in the existing ordinance. And I'm sorry to be passionate about this, but sometimes I get that way. I have some very passionate people You've already heard from many of them.

Was very hopeful that you would come up and have that that golden and Councilwoman Vaughn that was an excellent suggestion to ask for him to come give I'm really smart.

Yeah, really smart.

You may have just turned the entire table to the right direction Mr. Schaffer's comment.

I don't want to rewrite this thing been there done that too many times and quite frankly every time you write something new You create a whole new set of loopholes, you know, it's complicated stuff, you know And I think we really ought to give a shot for enforcing what we have. And if anything is needed, we might add one statement just to make it clear in case there's some uncertainty that occupied doesn't mean occupied. To say that the owner or operator occupying the primary residence must be present in the primary residence. during the time of any short-term rentals. That's what makes it a difference between a Type 1 and a Type 2. And without that, then the differential is lost.

Which I think was the intent for reading that ordinance. So that was an excellent call. Can I talk?

Since I didn't really talk, I just listened. Yes.

Okay, I hope you didn't have the timer on me for that.

Okay. I appreciate that. So we want to keep the ordinance, but we want to enforce it, and we want to improve it, and we want to change some of the things. Some of the things do need to be changed because we have some loopholes. That's what I think anyway. But you're the lawyer. You can tell me.

Well, I really think we ought to look at the presence on the property and then this occupancy issue because 55 people and a single family residence, I mean, I have some hotel clients that operate hotels that don't get 55 occupancy. You know, that's...

And Mr. Snoney, this is the first I've heard about a 24-7 helpline. Can you address that? I can. Because I feel really bad for Chief Markle because they always get thrown under the bus. And I hope I didn't throw you under the bus. I wouldn't do that.

We'll have to have development services talk about the timeline. But the reason you haven't heard much about it is because it was terminated. The service was terminated, so... We need to have them to help us know why we did this. We only had a few calls in the last year of its use, and so we decided to terminate it.

Well, everyone's been calling the police department.

Yeah.

I'm sure you'd love it.

So we could reinstitute that.

But it's a different set of rules, a different set of requirements.

The contract was let to expire or we didn't renew it.

So we probably need to re-look at that, don't we? And hopefully we'll get it straight where you won't always have to have it, but they're counting on that.

Two budgets ago that was cut because it wasn't utilized. It wasn't until here recently that people have been calling. We were looking at it and we had no more than four calls in a six-month period. So it was part of the budget process and that was cut. It was a little over $40,000 a year to maintain that system. So it was cut, and instead we pushed to 311, which is something that we have in-house and we can track.

So really, these short-term rentals are costing us money. They are. They're costing us money, and we should think about that. We need to really review this. The numbers on the houses where they're changing them.

Yeah, the street address.

We need to talk about that. That does not seem right to me. That was clearly done on purpose for a reason. And I think we need to review that as well. Okay, I'm done. I just want to make sure they don't walk out of here feeling like they got nothing.

Well, that 24-hour hotline being reinstated, that's definitely a big action that has to happen. That's a big one.

Yeah, let me ask Yvette for the record here. So is the helpline here? Does it integrate with our system?

It does not. It is a separate system.

We're looking to move it into our operating system. If we were to rebuy the service, does it work with our systems? In other words, I thought there was some issue with it.

It's a manual process, so we have to get reports and then move it over to our current operating system. It doesn't talk to what we use for everything else.

So if we buy it again, it would work if a customer called it, right? We'd be able to utilize it?

Correct. We would have to get a quote to see what that new cost is or if they're still offering it. That company, Munirevs, was just bought out by another company about six months ago, so we don't know if that is still an option that's available with them. Okay.

We have 311. That's a robust platform that we just did some really good upgrades to. I would imagine if we were to do a designation through there, because as Mr. Bell said, the flowchart was simple. 24-hour call line, call that 24-hour by our code. It's mandated they have someone that picks up the phone and resolves an issue.

Yeah, we would have to have a full-time employee. You're talking probably... uh... two to three employees at that point it was twenty four hours seven days a week the the muni rev system was a platform that was shared across entities so it made resource sharing and cost uh... maybe more affordable we could look at that okay

and I want to kind of address some of the line of questions that Councilman Cantu had mentioned about how, you know, if you had your aunts and uncles and stuff, but that's very different from operating a business at your home, okay? So, like, for example, you can have a daycare at your house, right? How many kids can you have in the daycare that's in a home?

You're limited by your zoning, and you're limited by the number of children, or the age of the children that you're...

Right, right, okay, and why is that? Why not 50?

because there's a threshold that's typically some other state or another regulatory agency.

There's a threshold, right? Okay, a group home. YOU HAVE A LIMITATION ON HOW MANY PEOPLE CAN HAVE A GROUP HOME, RIGHT? THERE'S A LIMITATION BECAUSE IT'S OPERATED AS A BUSINESS. WE DON'T HAVE THAT FOR STR'S, DO WE?

WE DON'T HAVE THAT TODAY, BUT THAT IS ONE OF THE AMENDMENTS THEY'RE MAKING.

THAT'S WHAT I WAS TRYING TO GET AT HERE, RIGHT? WE'RE NOT LOOKING AT THIS ON THE FRONT END. WE'RE NOT RESTRICTING IT ON THE FRONT END BASED ON SQUARE FOOTAGE. WE'RE BASICALLY GIVING THEM CART BLANCES. YOU'RE GOING TO FOLLOW THIS PARTICULAR RULES. THEY PROBABLY DON'T EVEN KNOW THE RULES. Look, we need to help the process here instead of just making everybody mad. This is just making everybody mad. It's better to be proactive than to be reactive. And we need to set these policies and rules on the front side, and that can only be done by the staff to see, okay, what is this property? What's the square footage? How many bedrooms does it have? What's the parking available in it? Is it an RS-6? Is it RS-10? Is it RS-4.5? You need to have all those kind of things done on the front side, not the back side. So a good regulatory environment, consistent, predictable, right? So you're not trying to figure it out on the back side. And so I think we need to work on this as an ordinance. It should be, like I said, if you're spending a lot of time and money just managing this program on an annual basis, you know, we're losing money. But like I said, the permit is there and you can revoke the permit just like you would under this program. But you should at least give them the front side. And so when you send an officer out there and he sees 50 people in the house and it's only permitted for 10, there's a citation. But right now there's no citation for that because there's no rule, there's no regulation, there's nothing in paper saying what it's for. So I think we need to help everybody here. We need to help the neighbors, we need to help the STR operators, we need to help law enforcement, we need to help our code enforcement officers because right now it's just wild west. Okay, so Peter, we need to bring, regardless of what happens, you know, enforcing what we have currently, but there's still lots of gaps, lots of holes, and we see them, plain as day. And we have similar things where we regulate daycares, group homes, you name it. We have those things in place in the UDC right now. I know, I'm looking at it right now. I went to read it, like for single-family home, you can have six kids, six. Okay, the group home, I think it's seven or eight, depending on the size, how many bedrooms you have. Okay, so I wanna make sure that we have that kind of regulation where I can go to the UDC and say, okay, you can only have this many people. Or I can go to the permit and say, you can only have this many people. And that way, when somebody calls and says, hey, there's 100 people at this house. Okay, all right. What are we gonna do? We this is not this shouldn't be the end. We need it. We need to fix this. Okay.

Thank you councilmember.

Thank you You know, I'm kind of surprised that the school bus Was out there. I mean the public funds were spent to you know to provide some retreat or something I mean, of course that's not us. Do you know how many STRs we have in town?

We have one thousand five hundred and forty seven

How much have we generated in host-tail occupancy tax?

That number I don't have because I don't have access to that. But I can tell you our permit dollars was about $320,000.

The permit dollars are $320,000, but that's the thing. I mean, there is a return on our... There is a return for our resources. Now, part of the problem that we have, it's my understanding... And the only reason I know is because I remember it was part of legislation in the last legislature to try and permit hotel occupancy tax to be used for city services. And it failed, didn't go anywhere. And the reason being is so that way we could utilize those resources to handle issues just like this. So, yeah, I think that's the thing that we need to find out. We need to find out, number one, when we put our legislative agenda together. I know TML is considering it on their policy committee this week. It's something that they're looking at. Because that's obvious revenue. And I think based on the change, how many properties would be affected, all right?

So with the change that we're proposing today, which basically changes the ordinance, and I just want to read the ordinance for Type 1 short-term rental definition at the beginning. Today it says short-term rental owner occupied means a residential dwelling unit, a portion thereof, which is either occupied by the owner as reflected in the title records or an operator as reflected in a valid lease agreement and with the express permission of the property owner, which is what we were describing earlier where an operator or a leasee can then act as an owner-operator. That's our ordinance today, and that's why we were proposing the adjustment to have it changed to a homestead.

How many would that affect?

So that is, today we have 105. Forty-six of those actually qualify for homestead. They're homestead today, so they would not be affected. Fifty-one of the properties could qualify for a type 2, and they don't need any density requirements because a lot of them are in multifamily, and that would leave five properties that would be affected after the new year. and that would be subject to density. They would qualify as type 2, but they would be subject to density requirements in place then.

Okay, and that doesn't offer any relief to the fine folks that came by here, because if you're talking, I'm sure it's got to be in excess of five. You know, I'm wondering, Peter, if we could, and, you know, I'm a layman, and I don't know if this is a possibility, but if we somehow amend the contract with our security company, So that way, number one, it's not taking precious. If it's just somebody to go break something up and tell them, hey, you need to quiet down here. There's somebody that's complaining. So that way, if we can somehow institute the hotline. Hey, sit down.

To clarify one misunderstanding, the way the ordinance goes is it's not the city's responsibility to go break it up. The sole purpose of the person who answers the hotline is to call the designated number of the representative for that owner.

Oh, I agree with you.

And if they don't fix it within an hour, and they have to document that they fixed it within an hour.

I agree with you.

And so we don't need to have the security company to go out there and break it up or the police to go out and break it up. The obligation is put on the property owner.

I understand that. I understand that, and I agree with you. But I think the thing is there still has to be some level of enforcement somewhere.

Well, it doesn't. Keep someone from calling the police when there's a mob or something. I understand, but if we institute. Go out there, but just so far as the existing ordinance, this helps. Hey, I'm trying to help you. Okay, I know. When you're saying that we get our security people to go break it like I said, I'm a layman just throwing it out there I wasn't interested in debating one of my favorite attorneys But I'm just saying the only thing this person whoever it is Has to do is take the list the development services provides it has a name and a phone number for each property address call that name and Make a log of the time that property owner has to give a report.

So who goes to inspect it after an hour?

Well, I have a number of witnesses that will be watching.

Okay, I understand that, but what if it's... And they have to report it. But what if it's not one of your witnesses?

No, I mean, well, whoever complained, obviously... I understand, I understand, John.

I understand, John, but still, the thing is that we don't want it to happen even once.

Well, for police actions, it can still happen. But in order to enforce the ordinances written, it requires keeping a log of these violations.

I agree with you.

And that's enough.

You won't take yes for an answer? No, I will.

Thank you very much. But I just wanted to say we're not trying to get.

I understand. I'm just trying to offer some system in place. And once again, like I said, I'm a layman. You know, common sense is relative, of which I have very little. So, you know. My point is, is that there needs to be some level, just like council member Vaughn, where at least the individuals that come, the homeowners that come have to have some confidence that they're not going to call a hotline. I mean, how, I mean, I would be skeptical if, all right, I'm going to call a hotline and they have an hour to correct it and then they don't correct it. And then an hour later, I'm calling back to the hotline and then they have, they go to correct it. And basically there's a list, but meanwhile, I still got kids jumping off the roof, which is not illegal. You know, what is it? I've still got kids jumping off the roof. What is it? Into a pool or something of nature. We want to be able to grant them some level of relief immediately.

Immediate relief would have to come from PD. Okay. But so far as permanent relief would come from you have a chronic problem at a property, the ordinance specifically provides that as a basis. You know what?

Let's finish this. I'm on your team. Okay. Anyway. Okay. You get the gist of what I'm trying to come up with. And once again, that comes back to why you need to have some public input. And obviously you're going to, I think John Bell is going to be very much engaged. But once again, as I've said numerous times for the past six years, because I didn't learn it my first term, is that we have to have a predictable regulatory environment that not only helps the developer, but allows peace of mind to the individuals that have invested, of which I've said, In the cases, particularly in District 3, I've always said the greatest source of wealth for those individuals is typically their home. And they put all of their resources into that, and so we need to protect their rights as well. And right now, it just sounds like we're not managing the nuisances. And so, anyway, I guess that's all I have for now. All it is is I think what we need to do is that we need to get Number one, we need to make sure that the individuals that came and complained today, that somehow or another we put something in place immediately to address their issues. I mean, give them Gil's cell number. He's running for mayor. Anyway, and then I think we need to do that right now for some level of immediate relief so that way we can ensure that there's no loud noises at night or something like that. But on the other side, we need to protect the investment that the individual followed based on our rules and the the The authority with which we gave him to be able to to run his business.

Thank you Councilman can do Let Karen talk real quick, let me go back to my notes real quick I

the kids that they can jump off the roof. It's not against the law. You don't have any teenagers in the house. Can you get the department to immediately go out to the SCRs and the twos and see if they're in compliance with the existing ordinance because 15% means 15%. Can we get that checked out? Because there's going to be meetings, and so that needs to be clarified if they are.

So I've done that research to see what we have permitted that exceeds the 15% if we're just going strictly based upon 15% and I can tell you what that looks like. So 59 of the permitted properties would exceed a flat 15% cap. Okay. Even if we go based upon the intent of what was presented or the rounding, if we remove that and we just say a 15%, it's 59 properties across the city. Across the city. Across the city out of all of our permitted short-term rentals. Nine of those properties are located on blocks with seven or more lots, so that would have more than one STR. And 50 of those properties are located on those shorter blocks, so blocks that only have six residential units or less.

And you just updated this? I did it this weekend.

You go, girl.

That's good.

I knew it would be asked, so I made sure we had it. So most of it is those short block faces, the six or less, and not really rounding because there were eight residential lots, and it gave us not a whole number, so we rounded to the next whole number. It's the block faces. There are six residential units or less, which we have a lot of in the city.

Good job. Thanks for having that information. I'm going to make a motion to not issue any more type one permits until the ordinance is reviewed. Can I legally do that?

The city council can put a short moratorium on issues of the type one permits.

Okay, if I made the motion, do I get a second? I'm sorry, that's your job.

Councilman Vaughn, would you be amenable to setting a timeline if we could say for all of this, the stakeholder engagement, review of the ordinance, reestablishment of the hotline, and let's say October to come back and review all that work? Hey, whatever floats your boat, I'm good with that.

Mayor Pro Tem, if I may, that is a very... short deadline to get committee stakeholder engagement and rewrite it. It would be a very rushed ordinance that could have a lot of loopholes. We'd ask to push that into at least late November, if at all possible. We'd want to align it with the new permit year, which is 2027.

What's our guidelines on a moratorium, 30 days?

Once we can you can set it for longer, right?

So this we're trying this moratorium doesn't fall under the state statutory Development moratorium.

Okay, so you're recommending mid-november We could probably I mean I hope we can bring a fully vetted ordinance back for consideration My thought process is if we know this was potentially going to change in January to set that timeline So we have time to review it vote if we need to come back and vote that kind of thing. I

Yes, ma'am. It's just October's very quick turnaround to fully vet it with stakeholders and take everybody's thoughts into consideration and bring a well-written ordinance forward.

That's excellent feedback. So in November, you think beginning, middle, end? Throw a date out there.

Let's go middle of November. I know end's hard because we have Thanksgiving, but we would need to push it as far as we can to still leave room time for discussion.

That way the stakeholders can go on their Thanksgiving breaks and be done.

Absolutely. And we could have a discussion with the council.

Okay, amend it to the middle of November.

The middle of November would be, I think the 17th is our last meeting in November.

Okay. Mr. Zanoni, before we vote on this, we have a motion and a second. When we passed the ordinance, when this council passed the ordinance in 22, that hotline was a big portion if you ask me. That was a component of passing the ordinance. So this helps pause any new permits. But to alleviate what could transpire between now and then, what are we going to be able to do immediately to enforce?

Right. So we're going to look at the service that we had before. Do they still exist? And if not, is there a comparable one? We could also look at our own 311 call center to see can we have somebody 24, 7, 7 days a week that would do the same thing. You get the phone call, you call that. You're supposed to call within an hour the goal of that whole system is if the if the identified person of the owner doesn't remedy the problem and you get an Infraction and you get another one then you cut the permit Yeah, and so this Permits not existing it would be applied to new permits.

I'm sorry new permits new system It would we could look at the old system or it's still available. It would be new permits. It wouldn't be existing All right, one more comment. You wouldn't have a moratorium on existing?

Yeah, right. The moratorium's on new permits to be issued. The hotline would be something that we would try to get back in place immediately.

A couple things. How much does a permit cost?