City Council - Regular Meeting

I know you got that in your office.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for being here with us this morning. We will now call this meeting to order. Our invocation this morning will be given by Pastor Matthew Morse with Parkway Presbyterian Church. Good morning, Pastor.

The Lord be with you. And also with you. Will you please join me in a word of prayer? Thank you. Gracious and loving God, we give you thanks for the city of Corpus Christi for all it is that represents who we are as citizens of your kingdom and citizens of your United States. We are grateful as we move into the off season that we've had a successful summer welcoming visitors from far and near to enjoy our beaches and enjoy our waters and enjoy everything of the culture of Corpus Christi that offers. WE DO PRAY THIS AFTERNOON FOR OUR COUNCIL MEMBERS. WE THANK YOU FOR THEIR GIFTS AND WHAT THEY BRING TO OUR COMMUNITY AND WE PRAY YOUR WISDOM BE BLESSED UPON THE MAYOR AND ON OUR MAYOR PRO TEM AND ON EVERY SINGLE MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL. WE GIVE YOU THANKS FOR OUR CITY MANAGER AND FOR ALL THE EMPLOYEES THAT WORK FOR THE CITY, BOTH Dave Kuntz, Employees that work on a level that supplies our daily needs and for those who are always ready to step up for emergency needs, so we do play pray for and ask blessings upon and your safety upon our police department and. our EMS services and our fire department and all of those who are first responders. As we are now into a new school year, we give you thanks for those who are in leadership at the Corpus Christi ISD and for administrators and teachers and counselors as they welcome in new students and old students. But always that would be a place of learning and opportunity so that what is brought out of Corpus Christi ISD would be one that would supply future leadership in our community. We thank you for this day, for this wonderful weather, and continue to bless us as a city and as a community. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Amen. Thank you, Pastor. The Pledge of Allegiance this morning and to our Texas flag will be led by John Pena, a senior at Premier High School. Good morning, John.

Good morning. 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. Now for the Texas Pledge. Honor the Texas flag.

I pledge allegiance to the Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.

John Pena is enlisted in the United States Air Force. He's currently a 12th grade senior at Premier High School, and he plans to pursue a degree in aviation. John, thank you for your leadership in your classes, for your willingness and heart to serve our country, and for being here this morning to start our meeting. We wish you all the best of luck.

Thank you so much for having me.

Miss Rebecca, if you'll call roll.

Mayor Pro Tem Kaylin Paxson.

Present.

Council Members Roland Barrera. Here. Sylvia Campos. How are you doing? Eric Cantu. Here. Gail Hernandez. Here. Everett Roy. Here. Mark Scott. Here. Carolyn Vaughn. Here. City Manager Peter Zanoni. Present. Interim City Attorney Buck Bryce. Present. Mayor and Council, a quorum of the Council and the required charter officers are present to conduct the meeting.

Thank you, Ms. Rebecca. That moves us into Section E of our agenda, the city manager's comments. Mr. Zanoni.

Great. Yes, ma'am. Good morning, Mayor Pro Tem and members of the council. I want to take a few moments this morning to provide a comprehensive update on capital improvement work that's currently underway at North Beach. We know North Beach is one of our oldest developed areas of Corpus Christi. It has served as a destination for residents and visitors for over 100 years, and there's a lot happening on North Beach, so we want to highlight that today. This area does suffer from drainage problems from three different types of events. We have drainage issues when there's tropical storms or hurricanes. There's tidal inundation when there's a high tide, extraordinary high tides. Water can seep up from the ground. And then there's rain events that cause flooding. And so a series of projects that we'll go over this morning are intended to mitigate drainage and other issues on North Beach, and we'll go over them today. So you can see here on this slide, there's a lot of work happening at North Beach. The first three, the first two, I should say, are connected and the same contractors working on all those right now. SO NORTH BEACH DRAINAGE IMPROVEMENTS, BEACH AVENUE RECONSTRUCTION, GULF SPRAY AVENUE RECONSTRUCTION AND THE ECO PARK ARE ALL AS A COMBINED PROJECT. WE HAVE A BOND 2022 PROJECT EAST SURF SIDE BOULEVARD RECONSTRUCTION AND WE'LL SHOW YOU SOME PICTURES OF THOSE IN A MOMENT. WE HAVE A HISTORY PLAZA THAT YOU'VE HEARD ABOUT AND MORE WORK IS BEING DONE THERE AT NORTH BEACH. OF COURSE NORTH BEACH WOULDN'T BE THE BEACH WITHOUT THE BEACH AND WE HAVE A BEACH RENOURISHMENT PROJECT. We're going to show you and talk a little bit about some surplus properties under the former Harbor Bridge. This is quite a big area, and TxDOT's improving some of that area, and then others will have to be disposed of, bought by entities that are interested in redeveloping it. And then our most recent project is a pedestrian project, the U.S. 181 Frontage Road that will help connect residential communities to the eastern part of North Beach. So let's start with the North Beach Drainage Improvement Project. You can see the pictures here. If you haven't been to North Beach and if you did go, you're going to see a lot of this work. So North Beach has historically experienced flooding during rainfall because of its low elevation and really lack of drainage infrastructure for this type of geographic area. This project is the first phase of a larger effort to improve drainage across the entire peninsula. And the project that we'll talk to you about right now is a $25 million investment. It's underway right now, $25 million. Substantial completion on this project is expected a year from this fall. So it's about 40% done today. 100% will be done by next fall, by 2027. You can see here an architectural rendition of this drainage canal. We refer to it as a linear park canal. It's about 4,600 linear feet, and this is just the first half. This takes it from the northern part of the peninsula heading towards Portland to about midpoint in the peninsula, and then phase two would be from the midpoint to the Texas State Aquarium. About another $25-plus million still has to be invested. But that 4,600 linear feet is about one mile in length, so it's a pretty big section. You can see that the canal is being built to collect and temporarily store and then convey stormwater to North Beach. And we've seen many, we haven't seen it in recent times because of the drought, but anytime it would rain on North Beach, water on the roadways would be ankle or even knee height, and people couldn't even get to their houses or to their jobs without walking in water. The project also includes a peripheral ditch system, a ditch system along the roadways where additional drainage relief is being designed and engineered. This is going to be a great destination. We talked about it last week with the hike and bike trail, but persons coming across the bridge can do a lot on North Beach. They can include hiking and cycling in this linear park canal as well once it's complete. And you can see here some additional scope, you can see the blue line in the middle is the linear park and now the first half. But this project also includes reconstructing beach avenue, which is the first red line, you can kind of see it midpoint and the slide. beach avenue reconstruction will include additional self bound lane from the causeway to time and. And just to remind us, Beach Avenue is the exit. So if you're coming off, if you're coming off Harbor Bridge, the way to get to North Beach is exiting Beach. That's the only way. And then Beach will take you to the peninsula. Reconstructions includes upgrades to signage and pavement markings. There'll be ADA compliant work, stormwater work and sidewalks as well on Beach Avenue. And then you can see to the left a little bit is Gulf Spray Avenue and other east-west roadway on North Beach. This is being improved or reconstructed as well as part of this project. It also will have a multi-use path, pavement markings, and ADA improvements. Also, you can see in the far right before we go to the, actually we're gonna stay on the slide, but on the far right you can see the Eco Park. That is the red hatch marked area. This is an important project that is that came to fruition from community engagement and the state and federal park system. And so the Eco Park is approximately 30 acres of property on the northern end of North Beach. And the Eco Park will include shade structures, access roads, boardwalks, and wetland mitigation as well. So I don't know what happened to the PowerPoint. Yeah, you guys there we go. Okay, because we got to show you several pictures. So these are some pictures here. What I just talked about, you can see roadwork on Gulf Spray Avenue, between Surfside and the beach. And then you can see construction of the sidewalk or boardwalk going over the Eco Park man to the left of that in that dirt area. That's the road Sandbar Avenue is being reconstructed as part of the Eco Park. And then a few more pictures here. This is work right now. These pictures were taken just, I think, last week or so. You can see the bridge that would be under Gulf Spray or the drainage system that would be under the bridge at Gulf Spray. And you can see some finished work that's being done by the contractors. And then these are some great pictures of the Eco Park. And so you can see that beautiful boardwalk there. You can view birds of all different types. There's probably fish in the water as well. There'll be grasses and vegetation that could be viewed as well. The picture to the right is part of the linear park canal. And this is at the northern portion of the peninsula. This is where we'll terminate ultimately into the bay back there. And then this is Beach Avenue reconstruction. Beach Avenue is going to be an important avenue to get to North Beach. As I mentioned, it comes off Harbor Bridge. And so all visitors coming to North Beach if you're coming over Harbor Bridge would use this roadway. So this is an important road. It's being elevated. There's wide sidewalks that are being added. We're reconfiguring the bus stops to make sure traffic flow is better than what it is today. So that was that one big project, 25 million, there's more. And so this next project is East Surfside Boulevard. This is closer towards the Texas State Aquarium. And this was a voter approved bond 2022 project. It's about a $2.4, $2.5 million project when you include design. It's been 100% design and council already awarded the contract to Ortiz Construction, a local firm. We're holding off on the construction until these next couple of weeks. It's been held off just to mitigate the amount of disruption on North Beach by design, by both the community and destinations like the Texas State Aquarium. But there will be a kickoff meeting on the 8th next week to talk about the construction. This next slide shows you the length of it. We're going to advance that. There you go. So the red line shows this $2.5 million project. The roadway is in pretty bad shape. It's one of those roads that has had numerous patches. The work will include new five-foot sidewalks on the road, ADA-compliant ramps, new signage. One of the most significant things is a change in the traffic flow. Right now it's a one-way road, and so based on community input, it will now be a two-way road after the reconstruction and the conversion, making traffic circulation better in this almost in the center of the peninsula and especially leading towards the Texas State Aquarium. And so this next project we want to highlight is one that really came from the community at North Beach and then the city participated as well. The city bought this vacant piece of property many years ago. and it was always envisioned to be a history plaza. And we have several of the phases complete already. We do have though a next phase that I wanna talk to you about. And this phase would be about $400,000 funded through the North Beach TURS. The TURS has approved it. And we're gonna show you on the next slide what will happen here. And so this phase of the project will include a monument entry sign archway to give it more definition. There'll be shade canopies. You can see the blue-green are new shade canopies. There'll be ballers with some rope and some thermoplastic work done on the pavement. You can see kind of to the left. This history plaza, if you haven't seen it before, documents the history of North Beach. Those panels that are under the shade structure has the history over time of North Beach with a lot of photographs and history documentation. This was all done by the local community. And we want to thank Dr. Barbara Welder, Kerry Meyer, Ron Graben, and many other volunteers that assembled all this history. And we put it on these panels. I forget the total number of panels that are there, It's a great way to capture and memorialize the history of North Beach. And so these improvements will continue. The improvements there at that plaza, it's a destination for locals and tourists as well. We're looking forward to this next project of about 400,000. And then, as I mentioned in the beginning, North Beach is North Beach in part because of the Great Beach. It's a really unique view. The waters are tremendous. And like many of our coastal beaches, though, erosion is happening. And so I think it's been over a year since, or maybe even longer, that we began to try to get state money. And we did. And so we have $6.5 million coming from the Texas General Land Office to re-nourish a big section of North Beach. And the grant has been awarded. The next step is to just assign the documents, and also by design we delayed the work to begin so that we could get past the summer season, the tourist season. This shows you in that orange kind of line there, it's 3,500 linear feet, and it's pretty close to a mile as well, of beach re-nourishment. There'll be a total of about 80,000 cubic yards of beach quality sand that will be added to the beach by the Texas General Land Office, and that will provide more beach space, obviously, but also protect the properties along the roadway and in front of the beach. And so this is a great project, and it's one that we'll begin to apply for every two years. So we're on the cycle of every two years. It'll be the rest of the beach or back to this section that we'll apply for. for state money, so the $6.5 million is the state's funds, so that helps us out tremendously. Okay, so if you were to take the Harbor Bridge over to North Beach and you look right, you're going to see a lot of vacant land where the prior bridge used to be. And the state is quietly finishing up the removal process and, more importantly for us reconstructing roads at their expense. The list, you can see here, so if you do right after you come off the new bridge or not even come up, but as you begin to come down the new bridge look to the right. there's a substantial street network that's being reconstructed by text at their expense. If you can go back one slide here, I just want to read off those names. It includes Plum Street, Breakwater Avenue, Seagull Boulevard. There's East and West Surfside Boulevards being reconstructed completely from nothing that was there before. Historic Seagler and Walnut Streets and then a small segment of Bridgeport, Coastal Avenue and Elm Street. This graph here, this next chart shows us an aerial view. All the green, if you look to the left, all the green and the blue is where the bridge footprint used to be. And that's it's all being or has been removed and is being reconstructed. The orange is where the old bridge was. And then on the mainland side, you can see the orange and the green area. But we want to focus on North Beach on this next slide. It's just a pan in view. And so all that blue, those are all streets that are being reconstructed by the state at the state's expense. And that's tremendous for circulation, traffic, mobility, General improvements what has to be decided in the near future once the entire once the entire bridge project is completely done and All the bills are paid the telling us then they'll go through the disposition process. They be in TxDOT and so all those green areas would be up for disposition and the city has to Finalize our plans to see did we want to try to acquire some of that or does the Texas State Aquarium? I want to try to acquire or does the private sector? I want to try to acquire some of that And then the final project here to highlight this morning is our one 81 frontage road mobility project. You've heard many residents come to city council and both at council and the tours. And I think this is the first time I was seeing a decent picture of it, but that red line, uh, you can see kind of in the middle, that is the, the project that, that has been discussed. And so to the far right is, is the lighthouse point, which is a multifamily community. And then to the left of that is called the harbors and that's a single family development. Those folks have no pedestrian accessibility to the beach. If they want to go to the beach or if they want to go to the new linear park canal or go to the eco park, it's real tough to get there because there's no sidewalk. And heavy haul traffic is what they have to try to mitigate. Working with the North Beach community and a grant opportunity that is available, the city will apply and will bring something to City Council on September 15th for a $1.6 million grant to construct that sidewalk so that there'll be connectivity. It'll connect folks from the lighthouse point, the harbors, to Beach Avenue. that will have a brand new sidewalk system and then Beach Avenue you can walk or cycle all the way to the beach if you want to. So about 1 million of the 1.6 million would come from TxDOT and then about 600,000 is going to come from the city in this grant. And the TUR has already approved that with TUR's funding as part of the budget that they recently approved so this will provide a a continuous and accessible pedestrian route along this portion of north beach and provide safer connection for residents and visitors and pedestrians especially at those communities that i mentioned so in closing as we look at this collectively i think it's in excess of 30 maybe 35 and we don't even have the figures for the state so it's probably closer to 40 million dollars of investment in one single area of our community. Last week I mentioned in our park system and the bridge mitigation projects, it's probably the single biggest investment. I think this is one of the single biggest investments in a community, in our city, right here at North Beach. And it addresses very different needs, but collectively they improve drainage, they improve the road system, utilities, a lot of underground utility work is being done for water, wastewater, and gas. It's improving pedestrian infrastructure. It's improving shoreline protection and public spaces. And it's not done by one or two folks. It's done by a lot of different city departments, our contractors. We want to recognize our engineering services department. Uh, Joey Johnson, our assistant director is, I think he's there every day, uh, even on the weekends, working the projects, uh, public works has done a lot parks and recreation, even our Corpus Christi water with some of the line and lift station relocates. And, uh, in our private, uh, private firms, I know LA is here, uh, the, the design firm, uh, we thank them for being here. Uh, I did want to though highlight, especially the North beach community. Uh, because you, especially the city council, we know that, uh, without strong community members, it's really tough to get things done in any community. And, uh, North beach is represented by a very robust community organization. Many of you have gone to their meetings as of I it's called North beach community association. And they have a board of directors, I want to recognize that board this morning that includes Ron graven the President carrie Meyer and my happy Lynn frazier he's on the board. Shelly problem now. Are ariana Jones Dolores Bella Bob can Alano and many patel oh so that's the board of directors, but the association is pretty strong, I think they average 30. PLUS ATTENDEES ANY TIME THEY HAVE THEIR MEETINGS THAT WE LIKE TO GO TO. SO WE'RE GOING TO CONTINUE TO PROVIDE SERVICE TO NORTH BEACH. I THINK IT'S A GOOD REVITALIZATION STORY FOR THIS COMMUNITY AND FOR NORTH BEACH. AND WE'LL PROVIDE THE COMMUNITY CONTINUAL UPDATES AS WELL AS THE CITY COUNCIL. AND SO WITH THAT, MAYOR PROTEM, I'M GOING TO TURN IT BACK OVER TO YOU TO SEE IF THERE'S ANY QUESTIONS.

Thank you, Mr. Zanoni. Thank you for highlighting such much needed investment and the team's efforts for that North Beach community. It's really spectacular to watch these projects unfold. Council Member Roy.

Peter, great presentation. You know, I wanted to just take a moment. Way back in 2017, 2018, when you first hit the ground running, I THINK WITHIN TWO WEEKS WE WERE OVER CHECKING OUT NORTH BEACH AND MEETING WITH THE COMMUNITY. I WANT TO THANK THERE'S SO MANY PEOPLE AND YOU'RE RIGHT THAT HAVE BEEN PART OF THIS AND AS A COUNCILMEMBER FOR THAT DISTRICT IT'S MADE MY LIFE A LOT EASIER BECAUSE THERE'S NO WAY WE COULD ACCOMPLISH THE THINGS THAT WE DID WITHOUT EVERYBODY COMING TOGETHER BUT I WANT TO THANK I SEE SCOTT HARRIS OUT THERE I WANT TO THANK HIS GROUP And he's had so much work that he's put into making sure that we understood the elevation and did all the things that we needed to do to be able to, to hopefully, uh, preserve, uh, North beach and, and city staff, uh, how many days we've, we've basically got out there in golf carts and toured. the area and looked at things in continuous ways to improve. So I appreciate the city staff. I also want to thank the police officers because when I first got involved in North Beach, it wasn't a family environment for the most part. And looking at it today and the work that they've done in terms of policing North Beach and making sure that it's safe has been unbelievable work. And again, the North Beach Community Association, very lucky to have an organization like that that has vision and they listen. And it's nice to have a community behind you when you're trying to do things. Our partners at the Lexington and the Aquarium, you know, the Aquarium is now a world research and emergency preparedness for marine and animals across America. the United States and they continue to grow and we're so proud of that organization. And I want to thank council because this council has worked diligently in supporting North Beach and getting those things happen. And a lot of us were involved. We had the vision of the Grand Canal and then that didn't come to fruition. But we came up with another idea to be able to service the same things. So this council, a lot of times we get caught up on the things that are going on right now. And we forget, and I appreciate this presentation because it makes us remember the hard work that we have done in order to be able to champion that area. The 181 frontage road, there was many nights that I thought, okay, are they going to make me end up being a liar when I say we're going to get sidewalks over there? And I know we work together, so I want to thank TxDOT to be able to make that happen. The safety is so important because of the families and the kids there and not having a way to be able to – across the traffic in a safe way. But the other thing is, again, District 1 is such a unique district that we have the $27 million bridge mitigation project, which is going to change the face of how that area looks in the Williams and Coles area and interfaces with North Beach. So those are things that I'm very proud of that we've been able to accomplish and this council, city staff, and the community as a whole. So because a lot of this was done with bond money and so it takes the community to be able to vote those things in So to the community, I thank each and every one of you so for supporting those projects. Thank you very much Thank You councilman Councilman Barrera Thank You Mary poor Tim.

I you know Peter I a lot of that I won't try to re-echo but you know also there are four council members that serve on this body that were part of the tours and And, you know, that was part of the vision that it ever brought to us in District 1. And I think that's where a lot of those funds come from. I think back then, it was before your time, But in 2019, this council chamber was full of people that were either advocates or against the canal. And, you know, also kudos to Scott and his team because they came up with a compromise to kind of fulfill that vision as much as possible. But, you know, I really want to commend your team, more importantly, at all the matching dollars that you got from either TxDOT, you know, or for the state of Texas. I mean, I'm thinking it's somewhere in the neighborhood of, what, $10 million, not counting the stuff from the Harbor Bridge. I mean, the $6.5 million for the beach renourishment, man, you know, the team that worked on that, I mean, that was two grand slams, you know, to get 100% free money. And I just want to say how committed your team is and what a great job that they've done to be able to get us to this point and to serve a community that was really, really underserved. But good job to you and your team.

Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, Councilman.

Okay. Thank you for that update, Peter. I think that wraps up our questions. That puts us right about at noon. So we will go into Section F, which is our public comment period. Before we begin public comment, I want to remind everyone that the City Council has adopted rules of decorum to help ensure our meetings remain orderly, respectful, and productive. Copies of the rules of decorum are available at the City Secretary's office across the hall and are also available on the City's website. I ask everyone to please conduct themselves accordingly. We are here to do the people's work and we would like to proceed in that spirit. When you come forward please state your name and the city in which you reside before beginning your comments. In-person speakers will have up to three minutes for callers and Webex participants. Corpus Christi residents will have up to three minutes and non-residents will have up to one minute. The timer located at the city secretary's desk will help keep everyone within the allotted time if you have a petition or other materials you would like the council to receive please provide them to the city secretary before you begin speaking and i do want to thank everyone for the last several weeks for the constructive and positive feedback that we've been able to share across the public comments so thank you for that positive participation Our first speaker this morning is Mr. Bradley Bartleson.

Good afternoon, y'all. Brad Bartleson, Corpus Christi. Emotions can be the motivation. Can you stop? We're not showing. There we go. Can you restart? Emotions can be the motivation to advance our understanding. Emotional intelligence is seen in self-checking. This is particularly poignant in a crisis. So have you become desalphobic, aquiferphobic, droughtphobic? Studies find emotions more persuasive than logic. For example, reduce unemployment by 2% is less impactful than understand the struggle of hardworking families and will fight tirelessly to create jobs. Consider in our case, oh, we need drought free. We can't rely on rain anymore. The only option left. We're emotionally wired. to respond to narratives and stories. For example, quote, our candidate's mother struggled to pay for doctor's visits. That's why she's continuing to improve healthcare access. In our case, the narrative and story became that of incompetent leaders failing to act. Fear and hope are emotional drivers. Everyone has been pushed by marketeers with the last minute to take advantage of this opportunity. In our case, we've heard that quote, we become a national spectacle over our inability to decide that we should just do something. Manipulation of emotions can lead to erosion of trust. We see that in the quiet dismantling of Hillcrest, falsified sanity, excuse me, salinity modeling, threatened study members, loss of the city team, and a bloated price without pushback. Triggered emotions can lead us to overly simplified positions, as in I'll pay anything for drought free. Then later stating, well, I didn't mean one hundred dollars more a month or I don't care. I don't fish in the bay or swim. Then exasperated when family comes and it's disgusted over the stink of rotting fish. How do we use our emotions productively that we find in the pursuit of data and logic in evaluating all options on risk, reliability, cost and benefit cost benefit analysis does this bringing forth all the factors of each options in this we look at new water options evaporation control of our excuse me on our lake stands Premier why this well it's free to us as the developer capitalizes on generated power and power is added to our grid. The lake level is maintained. Fishery and recreation improved. Everyone wins. We must have a strategy, capacity, and sales plan. We'll get to 200 million gallons that way. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bartleson. Stephen Klepper.

Steve Klepper, District 2, Morning Mayor Pro Tem and Council. Transparency, accountability, those are words that I've been hearing from all the candidates. And in fact, the Chronicle's questionnaire for the candidates had that in number three. And without transparency and accountability, we have what we have today, which is a lack of trust in government, a lot of confusion, A lot of conspiracy theories and whatever. Transparency and accountability mean different things to different people. Two examples I'm going to give you and what it means to me. With regard to water rates, we have a major lack of transparency. And this I spoke of on July 28, I think it was, when I showed you a chart that we used back in the 90s, financing the Mary Roads Pipeline and redoing the rate structures. Everybody wants to know who pays does everybody pay their fair share Is one rate class subsidized at another rate class and all of this? You don't find those things out From financial statements you find them out. It's a cost accounting exercise you find out in this case by the city's rate model and for some reason The city, CCW, and our consultants is not willing to show you simple little straightforward charts. Yes, it's a complicated process, but it can be straightforward. Are refineries being subsidized or whoever? And you have to look at rate classes as a whole, not individual customers, because it costs different amounts to serve different categories of customers. My other example is the budget. total lack of accountability so we have transparency and accountability why do i say that well as most of us know the government is not a business the government is a service yet you won't see service levels defined much less measured in anywhere in the budget the budget is not built around levels of service or services it's built around dollars dollars are component But it's really important and I pointed out to various other meetings that the city doesn't provide in the budget performance measures. Yeah there's a lot of inputs but what's happening what's the impact what's the results and what's the effect and in conclusion my opinion. Life would be a lot easier for you and for the public if they had good information if there were more accountability. and more transparency, and I really do think it's up to you, the council, to demand that from the city manager. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Mr. Klepper. Vidal Conde.

Good morning, City Councilor. Good afternoon. I'm here today. Usually, you know, I don't ever read from a script. I usually speak from the heart. And I'm from District 1. And I know today we're kind of in the middle of some crossroads in reference to how we're going to vote for the Inner Harbor. Correct me if I'm incorrect. And so anyway, with that being that I'm in District 1, I have concerns about the construction of that desal plant in the inner harbor. I've been communicating with ID technology, which is the same technological company that is doing the desal at South Padre Island. And they stated that they have never done any type of a desal company or constructed one that is designed for large capacity like we're planning on utilizing it within an inner harbor. They've all been built IN THE EDGE OF LARGE BODIES OF WATER, THE GULF OF MEXICO, WHERE THEY ABSTRACT THE WATER AND THEN RELEASE THE BRINE BACK INTO THE GULF, OKAY? SO THAT IT CAN DISSIPATE WITH THE FLOW OF THE CURRENTS, OKAY? SO NOW, IF WE PLAN ON BUILDING THIS INNER HARBOR PLANT, THIS DESALT PLANT, WE ONLY HAVE A FOOTPRINT OF ABOUT 13 ACRES. AND WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN IS WHEN WE WANT ROOM TO EXPAND, We're only going to end up expanding further and further closer to Hillcrest. That community has already been through enough already. They don't need to be subject to some type of a growth like that. Plus, I think that it's going to be an eyesore right there. And it also releases about 90 decibels into the community. So there's other avenues. Look, a while back, we all got together and we prayed for rain. We got together at Cole Park and our prayers were answered. I THINK THAT'S NOTHING LESS THAN A MIRACLE OKAY AND WHAT I SHOULD WHAT I THINK IS THAT THE FAB FIVE AND I DON'T DISCRIMINATE AGAINST ANYBODY HERE EVERYBODY HAS A RIGHT TO TO DISAGREE AND AGREE BUT I THINK THAT THE FAB FIVE SHOULD GET TOGETHER AND AGAIN PUT A RESET ON THIS PROJECT THERE IS NO RUSH DESPITE THE PRESSURE THAT YOU FAB FIVE ARE BEING ASK FROM THE COMMUNITY THAT THERE'S NO DECISION, AND THERE'S NO PRESSURE. WE'RE GOING TO BE RECEIVING MORE RAIN. WE'RE IN MONSOON SEASON ALREADY. LET'S DO A RESET AND LET'S LOOK AT DOING THIS BARNEY M. DAVIS WHERE IT'S A SAFER LOCATION AWAY FROM THE CHEMICALS FROM THE REFINERIES THAT ARE BEING RELEASED INTO THE INNER HARBOR. NOW, ASIDE FROM Hillcrest, you also have North Beach. North Beach has a lot of great communities, a lot of great leaders. Carrie Myers has her kayaking business there. There's Lexington, as stated earlier, and all these beautiful things going on in North Beach. The last thing we need is from year one or year two, if we construct this desal company, I mean, this desal project in the Inner Harbor, the last thing we need is in year one or year two have dead fish floating around the water. So each one of you has a responsibility to vote no against Inner Harbor. And we can reset it and we can find another location and maybe even less expensive. Vidal Conde, District 1. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Conde. Dale Sotila.

Dale Swetella, District 1, a history of Hillcrest and the Inner Harbor desal. In about 1924, my family moved into Hillcrest, and in 1926, the Port of Corpus Christi was built and opened. In the 1930s, a sewage treatment plant was built in Hillcrest. In the 1980s, refineries expanded all around the neighborhood, and there had been several refinery explosions. Residents sued the refineries and won a settlement to establish a two-block buffer zone between the homes and refineries. Both the city and refineries promised that nothing would ever be built in the buffer zone. And after myself and several other residents said this land would probably be used to put more giant oil tanks. This buffer zone was later used to put refinery offices buildings and now a proposed desal plant. In 2003, the city applied to TCEQ for desal plant discharge permit at the corner of Broadway and Oasis Bay Boulevard, and were given a WQ number on June 5, 2003. Some people don't believe me when I tell them the city was planning this since 2002 or earlier, but that paper I've given you proves that it was, and TCEQ doesn't just hand out WQ numbers very quickly. The top line shows the WQ number that they still use today, the same inner harbor name, and the current location, all the same as today. In 2015 to June of 2019, the Port of Corpus Christi ran a voluntary buyout after scaring residents, telling us the benzene coming off that new harbor bridge would be toxic to us. That program took out about 350 houses. and cheated residents because we didn't know that the city had plans to put a desal plant and the value of land would be worth much more than the chump change of $7,500 for a 50 by 150 foot lot they offered. What's the price of a vacant lot in Kings Crossing today? 2022, city public admits Broadway and North Bay Boulevard and Hillcrest to build the Inner Harbor desal plant. I didn't hear it because I didn't watch the news that day. October 2022, Hillcrest residents and other groups filed a Title VI civil rights complaint against the city and the desal project. The late Reverend Adam Carrington said the city was, quote, sacrificing Hillcrest yet again to support industry's need for additional water. citing the area history of the land as designated industrial buffer zone. HUD investigated and violations were tied to putting the plant in a historical black Latino neighborhood. Closed the probe and two years later reopened it. December 2023, residents held a protest march from proposed plant to Brooks AME's work subsidence. And one last thing, Inner Harbor will only average 20, 24, 25 gallons and all of it will go to Exxon. Not a drop will be used for watering your lawns, like you're told.

Thank you, Mr. Switila. Carrie Meyer.

Good afternoon, City Council. Carrie Meyer, North Beach, District 1. Today, with Peter's great presentation, we got to see the culmination of years of advocacy planning on the city's part, funding, and work. And it's not done yet, but if you go over there, the first place to check is Gulf Spray Avenue. That's the one coming off of the Harbor Bridge shared use path. So pretty soon, I think within a week or two, they're actually going to have that open. So Mark, when you're riding your bike, get on over there and turn on Gulf Spray and you'll get all the way to the Corpus Christi Beachwalk. So all of this really came from the master plan or the development plan and the CIP project list from 2018. And so we'll have Gulf Spray be a prototype for streets as we move into the future because it got elevated as well, meaning with dirt fill and re-sloped and that brought it up out of that that zone where it would often flood. So now I think we're going to see a lot less flooding as it's like three feet or four feet in some places or even a little higher. And, you know, the tides come in at two feet or two and a half. And so it's going to get a lot of stuff up out of the flood zone. And that will make a huge difference. The next thing they're probably going to start on is Beach Avenue. And that is like Peter saying, will be the main entry point for North Beach. It'll be the gateway to our city for many visitors, and it already is. But it doesn't look very good right now. One thing is we have semi trucks parking all along the sides of Beach Avenue. We have RTA buses stopped to pick people up at real inconveniently located bus stops. And that street should be a thoroughfare, should be a quick and easy way to get off of the bridge and off of the frontage road into North Beach and onto our major streets. So I'd like to ask the designers and the council to please remove the semi truck parking and the bus parking for RTA on Beach Avenue. As Peter said, these bond 2018 street projects were folded into the drainage project. And I thought that was a really good idea as well as the eco park, trying to put it all in one big project. And that means you have the same CONSTRUCTION COMPANY THAT'S DOING ALL THE WORK SO THEY DON'T HAVE TO RECREATE THE WHEEL. THE TERS 4 HAS SUPPORTED THE NORTH BEACH HISTORY PLAZA IMPROVEMENTS. THANK YOU FOR THAT, FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT PARTICIPATED. AND AS WELL AS DISCUSSING A NEW DEVELOPMENT PLAN. SO AS WE MOVE FORWARDS, I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE COUNCIL ALSO SUPPORT A NEW DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR NORTH BEACH IN ADDITION. just like you've done with the island and the south side. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Meyer. Tony Martinez? Bruce Swatila? Oh, I'm so sorry. Yes, Tony Martinez. Go ahead. Yes.

Good afternoon. Tony Martinez from District 4. I run the Crush Media House, from which we own and manage the Corpus Christi events calendar, and I host a local podcast called Calendar Connections, where we recently sat down with leadership from Corpus Christi FC for an episode about the team, the new sports complex, and what it means for this community. I'm not here today as an investigator. I'm not here to make accusations. I'm here because that episode opened up a set of questions that, in my opinion, this council and this city owe the public real answers to. Since that episode aired, I've learned there are serious concerns being raised, concerns about a warrant issued against the team's ownership during the drought for using water the city itself had authorized for the new fields, concerns about immigration enforcement action against workers connected to that project, and concerns about how and why type B funding, $1.85 million this team was promised and was relying on, was pulled, and whether that decision was influenced from outside the normal process. I want to be careful here. I'm not the source of these concerns. Others tonight or today are better positioned to speak to the specifics, and I'd ask this council to listen closely to them. But I will say this. Concerns have been raised about the mayor's office being connected to these actions, And if there's any truth to that, the public deserves to know it. And if there isn't, the public deserves that cleared up too. I'll also say plainly, in my opinion, What's being described here raises more serious questions than what we saw recently with the downtown hotel situation. That alone should tell you how seriously this needs to be taken. This team, this complex, and the people working there are part of this community's future. They deserve a straight answer from the city, and so does the public. I'm asking this council to open a real inquiry into what happened here, and I'll be watching and reporting on what comes of it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Martinez. Bruce Switila. I'm so sorry. One second. Yes, sir. Councilman Cantu.

Peter, my understanding that that is going to be on the agenda for next week.

Right. We have a briefing with City Council, an executive session next week.

Okay.

I took a review of everything that took place with the Type B and some of the water issues that were discussed. Okay. It'll be next week at City Council. Okay. Thank you.

Mr. Swatila.

Bruce Swatila, Hillcrest, Corpus Christi. There's many ways to tackle our water problem. The newspapers had numerous articles on it, and from President Johnson signing a 1965 bill for desalination research for the whole country and other relief for the northeast sector of the United States to our city councils looking at it for over 60 years. It happens during droughts. Then it rains. Records are forgotten, so we do this dance all over again during droughts. Carlos Truan said as a prophet in March 1985 when he and State Representative Ted Roberts amended each house's Texas water plan bill to include money for desalination, he said, because our area, quote, may face more droughts in the future, unquote. All I want when solutions await is cheapest and quickest. Water for Life Corpus Christi logically presents desalination alternatives with best versus worst value. a group of choices. Some are old, some are newer, like cost-free floating solar panels to prevent evaporation, which takes away millions of gallons of our water. Anchoring those solar panels could be more dangerous, however, because our late Corpus Christi's dead tree killers, they are in fresh water that's not clear beyond about 12 to 18 inches. That's where our agenda item 14 comes into play, as our rescue team's scuba helmets and underwater communications may need to be either borrowed by installers or used to find the poor drowned workers from another killer tree. God willing, we can prevent that. Please vote against desal in Hillcrest, my family's neighborhood, almost 100 years. Thank you, and God bless you all.

Thank you, Mr. Svetila. Incarnacion Serna.

Yes, my name is Incarnacion Serna. I live in Portland, 105 Lost Creek Drive. Telephone number 3619035774 if anybody wants to talk to me. I read the City Council agenda for today. And what caught my attention was item 22 and item 23, referring to certain steps to take for continuing with the desalination project at Inner Harbor. Items 22 and 23 are scam proposals written in vague shysters language to skim money from public funds. That's all it is. Take it from an engineer. What's $77 million? Somebody's wanting $77 million to do a 60% design? I've been in the industry over 40 years, 60% design. You don't do cost estimates until you do 100% design and sizing of whatever it is you want to do. So they want to do a 60%, and then they say demonstrate and verify GPMs. Well, that sounds too vague, too much of shyster language. Now, why do you want to do that? That already has been demonstrated. There are desalination plants out there already completed, finished. And I'll give you those examples. Inner Harbor, Corpus Christi polymer, a plant that was built, never started. It's right there. Companies went bankrupt. I don't know how many, two or three. So you got that. In Brownsville, you got a desalination plant in the ship channel. Built and started, but never stayed on line because they could not overcome the turbulence, the turbidity problem. Too much money invested. They are highly experimental projects with very low yields, very high investments. And for somebody to have picked up that site, Inner Harbor, It's even worse, not to mention how many violations and lack of respect for dignity and the health and the safety of the people that live there, the Hillcrest people. Then there's item 23. In item 23, somebody's wanting $9.5 million to do a cost estimate. He already gave you a cost estimate that you threw in the trash, whatever. An engineering firm, Andura, or Ardura, has an estimate. I think it's very low, but you got the estimates out there. Why do you want to keep on spending money to continue something that is going to be a catastrophic boondoggle? I have a lot more to say. Maybe I'll get another chance later on, because I want to talk about the sighting, and I want to talk about the explosion. that took place in there, August 21st, the 20th. And pipelines buried in there, 53 pipelines, who knows what. And so you're putting an investment in there that is totally asinine. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Serna. Sarah T. Tindall.

Good afternoon. Sarah Tyndall, District 2. I'm here to support your vote today to continue engineering on the Inner Harbor desalination plant. I want to take some time today to remind everyone how we got here because the discussion about our water supply did not begin last year or five years ago. It began more than a decade ago with people from this community trying to answer a very simple question, where will our next reliable source of water come from? In 2012, after the devastating drought and during a period of significant economic growth, local leaders had already been meeting for months about future water supply. The effort was formalized in a regional water planning interlocal agreement. and here's everyone who participated the city of corpus christi the port of corpus christi the san patricio municipal water district south texas water authority water district serving nueces county the cities of alice and mathis beeville water supply district the violet water supply corporation and port industries of corpus christi ccre dc administered the contract with naysmith engineering to help get this local group to evaluate the regional water supply options and develop an implementation plan These weren't the only people who showed up with a predetermined project to sell. That's not the purpose of that group. These were people who lived here, operated our water systems, represented our communities, and employed our residents. And they didn't immediately say build a desalination plant. They looked at alternatives. They looked at surface water. They looked at groundwater. They looked at brackish groundwater desalination. They supported completing phase two of the Mary Roads pipeline. They looked at seawater desalination. In 2013, another local group, the Mayor's Blue Ribbon Task Force, continued that work and included former Texas A&M Corpus Christi President Bob Ferguson, former city manager Bill Hennings, Jim Naismith, the Ports, Frank Brogan, representatives from local industry, and others from A&M Corpus Christi. The recommendation was not desalination at all costs. It was an all-of-the-above-water strategy, and the work continued. There were engineering studies, feasibility studies, and years of analysis. Eventually, the region concluded that seawater desalination could provide something our other supplies could not, a source of water that was not dependent upon rainfall. Even then, nobody simply pointed to a map and chose the Inner Harbor location. More than 19 potential desalination sites were evaluated. Field data was collected for more than a year. And ultimately, the two sites emerged, Inner Harbor and La Quinta. Inner Harbor made sense because it was close to existing infrastructure. close to the area of greatest demand. That is a process that began locally in 2012 and continued for years. So today, when we talk about stakeholder engagement, I think we need to remember that history. Stakeholder engagement did happen. It happened extensively. It involved communities, water providers, industry, engineers, universities, and local government. And importantly, it was led by people who had a long-term stake in the future of this region. In recent years, organizations and voices from outside our region have become increasingly involved in this debate. They certainly have the right to participate, but their participation should not erase more than a decade of work by the people who actually live here. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Tindall. Bianca Perez. Fatima Gerarashidi.

I recently attended a See Youth Rise Up advocacy training event. Such events offer a platform for youth who want to protect the ocean and are interested in spreading new ideas that can work for our home that we call Earth. My fellow peers and I do not want industrial greed and continued expansion to ravage our land, water, and rob us of our future. We know the effects that oil and petrochemical plants have on the environment. I've mentioned before several times that big industry expansion is the main issue that has everything to do with the proposed desalination plant. Yet, a desalination plant has never been located in a mostly closed bay. To make things worse, the proposed desal plant would be located in a neighborhood, willingly disregarding the residents of Hillcrest who are already separated only by a buffer zone from the refineries. I've already said previously that the Farfield study did not provide the evidence needed for proof that the desalination plant would not harm the Bay. It talked more about salinity levels rather than the impact of marine organisms. I actually know scientists who have looked over the Farfield study and have said this would not be good for the Bay. Let's ask ourselves this question again. Why are we in this problem? Big industry has been depleting our water supply for years, perpetuating our drought because we had sold to them water that we do not have, and still the proposed desalination plant would indirectly provide water for them. I acknowledge that some companies are using recycled wastewater, and I hope they continue finding alternative solutions. Thankfully, we are on stage one drought restrictions. Yet, their continued expansion and reliance on our water has been the cause of our persistent drought. In essence, we are treating the symptoms rather than the disease. Thank you, and God bless you and your families.

Thank you, Ms. Girarashidi. Miriam Girarashidi.

Hello, thank you for the opportunity for me to speak to you today. My name is Miriam Guerra-Rashidi, and I reside in District 1. I would like to reiterate what I've said previously at other meetings. We are all in this together. I am good friends and have many family members who support industry and the Inner Harbour desalination plant, and they have their reasons. They rely on jobs that refineries provide. I truly get it. This is why I stayed away from fighting for our bays for years. I didn't want to ruffle any feathers. But last year I decided to take a side for the sake of protecting what remains of our city's natural beauty. for the natural habitats of animals with whom we share our earth, for the sake of our bays, which directly affect the healthy balance of our estuaries, for the future of our children. All this being said, I don't want to ramble on. We must give a resounding no to desalination in our inner harbor. Thank you, and God bless you and your families.

THANK YOU, MS. GUERRA RASHIDI. RON GRABIN. JAKE HERNANDEZ. MS. REBECCA, DID YOU GET THAT? I THINK HE MAY BE JOINING US VIRTUAL.

OKAY, MR. HERNANDEZ. OKAY, GOT IT.

CHLOE TORRES ON THE ITEM. OKAY. Arman Alex.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. My name is Armand Alex. I'm a lifelong resident here of Corpus Christi and a proud member of the Corpus Christi Democratic Socialists of America. We are one of the fastest growing chapters in the United States. Here's a reality check for folks. People in Corpus Christi are watching their every dollar. We're conserving water, we're paying more for groceries, more for housing, electricity, for insurance, and increasingly more for our water. And yet somehow when industry wants to expand, working people are told that we have to accept that debt. And we have to live with those consequences. That's incredibly backwards. Our economy should provide for human needs. Human beings should not be organized around the needs of an economy built on endless industrial expansion. And now the city's own presentation shows where that kind of logic leads. Nearly a billion dollars for phase one of Inner Harbor desalination, followed by a proposed expansion that brings the regional project concept to somewhere between 3.6 and 4.2 billion dollars. Tell me how that's what's best for the pocketbooks of working class people here in Corpus. You're being asked to advance the 30 million gallon Inner Harbor plant today while being shown a future phase two that expands production to 80 million gallons builds more pipelines and moves the discharge to the Gulf, that project isn't even what you're voting on today. So if moving the discharge out of the Inner Harbor is supposed to make this proposal more acceptable, then don't use this hypothetical future project to sell us the current project that still has the same problems today. We're asking you... not allow this process to continue on for another loop we've been before staff advises councils will consult but you were elected to actually decide make the decision you have an opportunity to put the final nail in the coffin of inner harbor desalination and show voters that when affordability and industrial growth come into conflict, you know who you work for, and that's the people of Corpus Christi. We do not have to keep choosing between corporate expansion and household security, between industrial growth and healthy communities. We can actually build a city where development serves the people instead of asking the people to serve unchecked development. vote no on items 22 and 23 and ditch Inner Harbor desalination or make a motion to postpone indefinitely plans for the Inner Harbor desalination plant so that we can actually move forward, move on and focus on democracy and affordability and something that actually works for the people. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Alex. Amanda Breland. Jared Suarez. It's good to see you walking, Mr. Swartz.

Jared Swartz, District 2. Council Members Vaughn, Hernandez, Campos, Vareta, Mayor Pro, Tim Paxson, Council Members Roy, Scott, Cantu. I respectfully ask for your nomination and vote to serve on the Corpus Christi Type B Board. I believe public service is about responsibility, accountability, and putting the citizens of Corpus Christi first. Serving on this board means accepting the trust and scrutiny that comes with overseeing the people's hard earned tax dollars and making sure those dollars are protected from fraud, waste, and abuse. When we are entrusted with taxpayer money, we have an obligation to ask questions. Is this a responsible investment? Does it truly benefit our community? And can we look taxpayers in the eye and explain why we supported or opposed it? If appointed, I will do my homework. I will study the numbers, listen to all sides, ask difficult questions when necessary and make independent decisions based on what I believe is best for Corpus Christi. My vote will not be influenced by pressure, politics, intimidation, or personal interests. I have literally stared death in the eyes. I served our country in the Army and in combat in Afghanistan. That experience taught me courage, duty, and what it means to serve something greater than yourself. Before this council, before the people of Corpus Christi, and before Christ our Lord and King, I give you my word. I will serve with integrity and will not be bought. I am simply asking for another opportunity to serve, not in combat arms this time. but in protecting taxpayers' hard-earned money, demanding accountability, and working to ensure that what is fair is fair. Give me the opportunity to serve this city, this community, and I will bring accountability, fiscal responsibility, and a voice for the taxpayers to every meeting. I respectfully and humbly ask for your nomination for the Type B Board. September is the National Suicide Awareness Month, a month that is near and dear to my heart. May we include in our prayers that those who are in contemplation of taking their own life may seek help, come to know the love of God. Don't forget to pray your daily rosary and go to Latin mass at the corner of Carolina and Gallagher. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Suarez. Captain Dave Heasley.

The Ballard Pits is a 296-acre state Superfund site. It's located about 5 and 1 half miles outside of Cal Allen, Robstown, right on the Nueces River. For years, it was a toxic waste dump for refinery and oil-filled chemicals, acids, phenols, PCBs, all kinds of waste disposal. Soil and groundwater were found to contain soil and groundwater, were found to contain hazardous substances, including volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds, heavy metals, PCBs, I mentioned that, and TPHs, which is total petroleum hydrocarbons. It's still an open Superfund site, but Y'all decided to drill four of our city water wells right on top of it, didn't you? And then you had those water wells pumping into the Nueces River, didn't you? And then not long after that, arsenic levels started spiking in Robstown water. It wasn't being reported in Corpus Christi water. There's no way it couldn't have been. Now you want to put a billion dollar inner harbor desal? project on these citizens, you want to pull their drinking water out of the Corpus Christi ship channel, petrochemical ship channel. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of all different types of chemicals have been spilled in that channel over the years. Less than 75% of those chemicals have been recovered. They don't know where the rest of it went. I have a good idea where it went. We have four refineries here that make asphalt. Nearly all of South Texas is completely covered in limestone-based materials that we use for road-based materials. And we still have shitty streets all over the city. You want us to trust you with a billion dollars of our money and then three more billion down the road? to put this Inner Harbor desal plant in. You want to put it in the backyard of people that have been for years crucified by industry and they finally got a break. And now you want to take that away from them? Several city councilmen invest in data centers. And then you stand in this room and you lie to people. You lie to these people and you tell them that they're not going to use water. They only need a two-inch line. Once they fill the data center, they're not going to use any water. But you do not tell the people that the power plant down the road is going to need an eight-inch line to make up water to their cooling towers to supply power to these data centers. You're being dishonest with these people. And it's going to stop. And it's going to stop today.

Thank you, Captain Heasley. Councilwoman Vaughn.

Mr. Sinoni, I've had a couple of calls about the Ballard pits, and I looked it up. They actually existed. So can we get a report on where we are, if we are on top of them, or where we are? I don't know if you know the answer now, but on the next council meeting, could you let us know that?

Yeah, we can let you know, Councilwoman.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Peter. Mr. Follow-up?

Good afternoon, guys.

Ready?

Thank you. So I have a speech about your policy manual, the Corpus Christi policy manual. But first, we had a citizen up here September 23rd, 2025. His name is HBO Matt. He got up here and had a speech. He said verbatim, fuck your decorum and fuck your mayor. Then this council had him escorted out under force, gunpoint, by the cops who took an oath to the Constitution to protect his very word. Every single one of you up there took an oath to the Constitution. Not one of you hit that pretty little green light and said, statement of fact, he has the right to criticize the government. So either you don't care about the Constitution or you're all cowards, one of the two. 10 months later, what happened? Corpus Christi, Texas arrested this man for that speech 10 months ago. He's gonna win. So what will happen is you're going to waste his time. He's got to pay for all this and he's going to get it all back from the citizens sitting behind me for criticizing the government and piece of shit cops like this are going to come right up here and do it again every single time because he's a traitor. And y'all allow that. I expect y'all to fix it. If not, y'all keep getting sued and I'll help everybody that comes up here and criticizes the government and they come after you. You call me. Fuck them. I reviewed Corpus Christi's policy manual for the police. 111 pages he gave me out of 600 and something. Do you know why? Why would you have to block data off of a policy manual? Shouldn't the citizens know what's in the policy manual for these cops to adhere to? He's blocking me. He's trying to go through the AG. But out of the 111 pages, he's basically telling him that cops, I don't really give a shit about you, but other cops, You're not allowed to go to the courts and say that you need a protective order without getting the chief's permission. That's a constitutional right violation. Let's think about that for a second. I'm going to get hurt and killed, but I got to get the chief of police's permission to go get a court order to protect it. Because that guy's not going to protect you. You know it, right? Employees can face restrictions on communication, such as photos, pictures, videos, and speaking. They're not allowed to criticize. That's a First Amendment right violation. They're allowed to talk and praise Corpus Christi, but if they criticize it, gotta get the chief's permission. Think about that one too. So who is this negative to? The chief, the city manager? What happens if the negative information is true? Are they not allowed to talk about it? Who cares about their First Amendment? How do you expose misconduct if they're not allowed to talk about it? Maybe that female officer that was there when Officer Martinez beat that woman and the chief still hadn't came clean about that one. Maybe she wanted to say something, but she wasn't allowed to unless Chief Merkel let her. I don't know. I got to skip some of this, but that's okay. I'll be back to talk about it. I just want you to know that the First Amendment is protected by speech. It protects criticism, petitioning the government, et cetera. You earn public trust by making the government worthy.

Thank you, Mr. Falwell. Mark Munster.

Mark Minster, District 4. Starting off because it's this week, Art Walk, there should always be enough funding to close the streets. Whenever there's less streets closed, it's really obvious and it makes for a sucky Art Walk whenever you're waiting for the cars to pass. And for some other things that are funded, there should always be funding for that, something that you can't measure the value of money, of the enjoyment. One of the nicer events in Corpus, So yeah, and then I just want to say the damage that's being done by our suspended mayor is clear. It's clear examples of corruption and how wealth and money is able to indirectly control and exercise their power in our so-called democracy, in our council format. And I think it's clear that this form of democracy is failing. It's not representing regular people's interests. And I'm going to save my thoughts for Inner Harbor after the presentation. But it's clear with how our city staff recommends projects and how they allocate funding that they are not working for the interests of regular people. And they're working for the interests of those with money that already have power that are protecting the status quo. our government should be working for the people. And more and more people are going to come as they're realizing that that's not the case. And you're not going to be able to stop that from people just realizing what's happening. And it's obvious at all levels of government.

Thank you, Mr. Munster. Alida Vasquez. Yes.

Hi, Elida Vazquez, District 3. In my opinion, it is a waste of taxpayer money to be here once again to kill Inner Harbor desalination. The people of Corpus Christi were successful in convincing their elected representatives to vote against a false solution for a manufactured water crisis, and yet here we are. It's very telling that the proposal for this desal disaster was updated yesterday with some pretty outrageous numbers. The price tag for this plant has ballooned to at least 3.6 billion. Last year's price tag was 1.5 billion, just to remind you. They heard our concerns about the brine being piped out far enough, but do not have a permit for the pipeline. Who's to say that they actually construct it? They say that they can put out 80 MGD, but their current permit says only 30 MGD. Industry does not do for us what it once did, and industry does not do for the people what it does for some of your pockets. We are lucky to get 80 jobs from a new industry in town compared to the 800 or more that they used to bring. They're not going to pick up their sprawling plants and leave. And why should the citizens of Corpus Christi that already suffer from health problems caused by the pollution of local industry have to foot the bill for their excessive water usage? The people are tired of following water restrictions while industry continues to guzzle down our water. Valero and Flint Hills have worked on wastewater reuse. Why can that not be asked of other companies? Why hasn't every avenue been explored before investing even an ounce of money into a plant that we do not have the funds for? We are already in debt and are short quite a bit of funds for next year's budget. It will cost 35 to 50 million a year just to maintain and operate the plant. And who's gonna foot that bill? the people. Why is Inner Harbor desalination the only resolution to some of you? We asked for so long why the Mary Rhodes pipeline wasn't being utilized and now it comes to light that the lakes were drained rather than utilizing that water? Was it done purposely to push desal through? I gotta tell you, I think so and I am not alone. The facts of the matter are as follows. Far field studies have not shown enough evidence to say that this plant would not harm the bay. there's been more than enough time to produce a complete far-field study since the last time this item was on the agenda we need to see the permit for the pipeline before the plant is constructed to guarantee that the brine will be piped out far enough the permit needs to correctly reflect the output of the plant it was previously set at 30 mgd but was updated yesterday to 80 mgd there are much cheaper options that would put out more water the barney davis option is in the right place to disperse the brine so TODAY I ENCOURAGE YOU PLEASE VOTE AGAINST ADVANCING THIS FALSE SOLUTION.

THANK YOU, MS. VASQUEZ. REVEREND HENRY WILLIAMS.

MAYOR PORTILLO, CITY COUNCIL MEN AND WOMEN, CITY MANAGER, CITY SECRETARY. I would like to speak to item number 22 when it comes up on the agenda later on today. I would like to speak concerning the importance of faith and the importance of prayer. With regard to the drought situation that we were having, two prayer meetings were initiated at Cole Park. one on April 17th, the other on July 8th. Ministers and pastors came together to pray for our city, for our state, and for this nation. And we prayed for, indeed, that the drought would be broken. The drought was broken because we prayed We must, in our city, understand and know who we are as a people. We are the body of Christ. We must make our decisions based upon our faith in God and Jesus Christ. Then we will become a successful people, a successful city, and our neighborhoods would be lifted and built to what they should be. Whether it happens to be North Beach, or whether it happens to be Hillcrest, or Molina, or even Ocean Drive, we must see ourselves as a people, a people of faith, a people indeed who can come together and solve their problems. by seeking common solution in faith. And we must be a people of faith. 2 Chronicles 7.14 says, if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. This is what we're asking him to do. Thank you.

Thank you, Reverend Williams. Hannah Leach.

good afternoon my name is Hannah Leach from District 2 and I'm going to tell you why I oppose the desalination plants and why you should too In case you haven't noticed, it has been getting hotter and hotter, not just in Corpus, but all over the world. Just this week, Nepal suffered a glacier breaking off a mountain and creating this cement river that ruined everything and everyone in its path. There are homes that are gone forever. There are thousands of souls taken away from us. That was preventable and I cannot be told otherwise. Not with what our scientists have been telling us for decades, not with what they've been pleading and begging for their lives. Climate change doesn't need you to believe in it in order to exist. Humans are not a disease on this world. I don't believe that. I don't believe that all people are bad because the natives before us who lived here, they cared for this place. They cared for the land and they stewarded this land for thousands of years before colonialism. They loved the land like family. And I believe that humans are not the problem, exploitation is. And that's what desalination is really. It's not going to give the people water, it's going to give the corporations water. And you guys know that in your hearts. They want water for profit, not for the people. I'm annoyed by people who either denied climate change altogether or say, well, it's too late for us because there's nothing we can do anymore. What a privileged position it is to be able to give up, to throw responsibility away. If you are not Christian, you can tune me out. That's fine. But if you are, I do want to ask, who do you think you are to sit back and ignore this? What has the Creator told us about His nature? I am the God of the orphan and the oppressed, the God of the widow. And now here are the widows and the orphans. They're begging for their lives because it is getting hotter and it is getting awful. If God were to ask you, Christians, fellow Christians, what did you do to take care of my creation? And you say, sorry, there was, sorry, God, there was money on the table. Sorry, God, the corporations, they would get mad at me if I didn't listen to them. I'm not cherry picking the Bible right now. I'm just not worshiping money because you cannot have two masters. You cannot serve God and money at the same time. I'm not worshiping the idol that is capitalism. Vote no to the Inner Harbor desalination.

Thank you, Ms. Leach. Scott Barraza.

Good afternoon, Scott Barraza. Y'all asked why I want that mitigation plan and writing so bad? Accountability. It's not my idea. It's not my want. It is my wish, but it's not my wish imposed upon you. It's a requirement, not an option. In five to ten years, staff will likely be gone. The council will be different. We need written guidance to reference for all parties. Currently, we're being slapped on the back and told we're covered. Are we? In March, I met outside council chambers with Nick and he took some notes. We met again more formally in June. And again, more notes were taken by Nick. Met again in July and nothing more was said about the plan, just data sharing. No notes or outline was ever shared with us. Nothing to show work was being done on it. Now we're being told by Nick that it's the Aquifer Storage District's responsibility to form and manage it. However, CCW is CCASRCD. Esteban Ramos is the Assistant Water Resource Director. He's also the district general manager. He's regulating himself, literally, and it shows. Why is CCW avoiding the rules put forth by the district? Why is the district not enforcing them? Is it because of self-regulation? At the meeting to approve those permits, the district made it clear that it's CCW's responsibility to form the plan. It's not the district's responsibility. But since it's one and the same as CCW, does it even matter whom at this point we point the finger at? It'll be city staff that writes it regardless. So why hasn't one been formed yet? Back to your word, we'll be taken care of. Why should we trust you? We were told the wells were temporary. Now at stage one, they're still pumping with no signs of slowing down. Peter told everyone that the groundwater is why we could move to stage one. Is that why we have groundwater? So people can water their yards now? We are told no more new wells, and then the ERF came about. Even when 54 people contested those permits, you're still moving forward with drilling. Yes, 54 people contested it. Those permits are not postponed, like Nick says. They are contested. But just like Evangeline, y'all keep moving forward before any cases are settled. Are you planning on running over all the rural residents? Because it sure sounds like it. The district would not have included that mitigation plan if they did not expect to actually need it. We're constantly being told about the responsibility to the ratepayers when it comes to mitigation approvals. What about your responsibility to the environment and rural communities who depend upon that groundwater, the ones who are bearing the consequences of your actions? Why are we an afterthought here? Your actions prove you don't care about us. So tell me again why we should not hold the city accountable and just take you at your word, especially when your word has proven to be worthless. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Barraza. Councilman Hernandez.

You know, I've been hearing Scott come and say this a few times and we have not seen anything. What I'd like going forward is if this if this can't be provided, then it might be something the council votes on to move forward. So if you can put this on the agenda for the next for one of the next two meetings for us to discuss and maybe even vote on the policy, I want to make sure that we're being good neighbors and we're not just taking

that there is some assurance for them to you know something does happen to them we do help with mitigation okay so like i said if if ccw is not doing it we'll we'll need to do it ourselves okay i hear you on that one and i just didn't want to mention that we are reducing pumping at the well fields so we're going to six mgd this week um the team's working on that now so i just want to make sure i make that okay thank you

Councilman Vaughn. The same thing because we brought it up last week about the mitigation plan and also putting some of them on this board. And I was hoping that within the week we could get an update. And we do know that there is a well that did drop. We know that because I called that in. And so I'd like to have an update on that because that's a big concern for us because we told them we wouldn't keep drilling and we keep doing it. and our word has to be worth something. We have plenty of water. I do not understand why we're doing this. So I'd like an update, council.

Julian Hernandez.

I was hoping you wouldn't call my name after him. Julian Hernandez, District 3. I just got a few outline notes, but the main thing is the corruption. Roland looks up on that one. The corruption, when do we stop as a city? For those that are listening on the web, via internet, those folks out there, If anybody's for Inner Harbor, they're corrupt. They're eating from that fruit of that tree. Yes. I'm so glad to go out there and petition with some of these folks to bring the Fairwater Amendment to the people for the voters. And then there's more corruption to try to stop it. And it's, I don't know, I've heard that we got desensitized to it, but enough is enough. With social media and everything out there, folks do not get desensitized to it. Have it stop. And those that are for it, they're part of that tree, the bad tree. These streets and everything else that the more they build, I don't know if they're getting kickbacks. They just want to try to build all the streets and everything else. And I've talked about it before, the foundations, the subgrade and everything else. But it's just it's in a bad way. And we're doing so much. And then we have to hire more people just to keep up with these things. And that's not how we're supposed to just throw money away. And then I see on the agenda that we're raising property taxes. But when I did my property taxes this year, we heard from the Texas that, hey, we're lowering property taxes. But my land value doubled. And I went to argue it. And they brought my value of the home down. But they didn't change the land value. There was one time I was here, there was a lady that griped at me. I would assume she was part of the crony of the mayor. I looked up her land value because she gave her name and she gave her address. And my house is an R2. Hers is an R5. And she was paying less taxes than I was. And I brought that up to the, whatchamacallit office over there, and they said, well, we don't know how that is. An R2 to R5 house. And she's paying less. I'm from Motown. She's from the south side over here. And I wonder why that is. It's just the corruption. Stop the corruption and vote no.

Thank you, Mr. Hernandez. Sarah Dolson.

Hello, Sarah Dolson, District 2. This is my third time taking off work to give public comment about this. It's still terrifying to come up here and talk about it, but what's more terrifying is knowing that we're still having to fight off an Inner Harbor desalination plant in the Hillcrest neighborhood. This time I thought I would remind us about a tidbit from the past. Back in the 70s, ExxonMobil hired a team of scientists to test the impact of the oil industry on the environment, and they actually quite accurately predicted human-caused global warming. But then they did something pretty nefarious and hid their findings from the public. They even went as far as planting the seed that global warming was a hoax because they didn't want their profits to be interrupted. And then in 2015 when it was discovered that they misconstrued their findings, dozens of cities, counties, and even states began to sue. But not us. We decided it would be a good idea to let that same company team up with another company from Israel and open Gulf Coast Growth Ventures here in 2018, a petrochemical company that needs an insane amount of water to run. We are already seeing terrible human-made global warming events like what happened in Nepal last week. Over 1,000 people died. With Corpus being a leading oil exporter, awful events like this can be directly linked back to our city. Everything's connected. We have a moral obligation to oppose this desalination plant, not just for Hillcrest or for Corpus, but for everyone around the world. What we decide here affects lives everywhere. There has to come a point where we finally come together and decide it's time to stop expanding industry. When they are strong-arming our city to provide them with more water, putting us in debt and causing even more pollution, that should be a wake-up call for all of us. And to the same point of Mark Munster's comment, when you consistently put industry's needs first, you create passionate people in the community who are going to push back. So for a few of you, I guess thank you for helping to fuel people into caring enough to into acting. Hopefully we can make Corpus a more beautiful place to live. Please vote no to desal and put people first. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Stolson. Alejandro Chavera. Kimberly McIntosh.

Hi, Kimberly McIntosh, District two, and I'd like to say, first of all, thanks for stopping having to say our addresses on this, because last time I came up here and I said my address, I got a lot of stuff happening to my house, and I did not appreciate that. So very much thank you for that. I am and remain an unmarried widow of a 100% disabled veteran. This is the only city, the only county, and the only state since my husband died that I have to pay property tax. I went to try to find out because I came up here once before and spoke. Unfortunately, Mr. Zanoni has left, but he was here when I did that. And he said, oh, we'll get you some help. I'm still waiting. Five years, still waiting. Inner Harbor. We voted that thing down three times. What is wrong with you people? Kill it. Just kill it. Stop spending money on it. This far field study you started out is going to be what? $50,000 turned into $300,000. Dear Jesus. And you want us to approve you to have a billion dollars to play with? I think not. Your trust is gone. People. Absolutely. 100% gone. Okay, this type B and the Corpus Christi football club, we're watching that. And we know what the mayor did. And you guys need to pull her back. Because you think the last lawsuit was bad, the next one's going to be way worse. You people really have got to get a hold of that woman. Okay. Bill Witt, the soccer field. If those potholes get any bigger on that soccer field, they're going to eat my SUV. Not a small car, an SUV. One guy busted a tire out there. It's not which pothole you want to fix. It's which one's the least amount of damage to your car. And it's not that I haven't turned it in because I have. Last time you guys messed with something to do with my grandkids, I, it was like Ozo park. You remember how many spam calls you are spam emails you got from that? You let me do that again with bill wit. Can we get that parking lot? The potholes filled up at least the ones that are knee deep. It's ridiculous. I thought, oh yeah, they build bill with pool. They'll fix this parking lot. You didn't, it was literally across the road. Dear Jesus. What does it take? Let's see what else? Oh, Governor Abbott made a very good comment this week. He said, for data centers to be good neighbors, they need to bring their own electricity and their own water. I say that's the same for industry, all of them. Valero, you want water? You bring your own damn water, OK? We're tired of it. We're not paying anymore. Don't come back to me for a raise on my water rate until you people are there paying exactly what I'm paying for water, not a penny less. I'm done. And I have a lot of money and a lot of time. You don't mess with old people. We have nothing but money and time. And we'll make your lives freaking miserable. And I'm just getting started. Have a good day, folks.

Thank you, Ms. McIntosh. Mr. Rodriguez, could we follow up on the pothole situation?

Yes, ma'am. I think Councilman Hernandez has a comment.

Councilman Hernandez. Yes.

SO YES, STATEMENT OF FACT, I APOLOGIZE FOR THE POTHOLES. WE DO HAVE A BOND PROJECT FOR THIS TO REDO THAT PARKING LOT AND SOME OF THE INFRASTRUCTURE AROUND THERE. IT'S STILL IN DESIGN. IT'S NOT COMPLETELY DONE. BUT IT IS, IT WAS A BOND PROJECT. WE ARE WORKING ON TO GET IT DONE. IT'S JUST WE'RE A LITTLE SLOW. WE NEED TO MAKE SURE WE GET I KNOW WE HAD ASKED FOR SOME INFORMATION ON THE BOND PACKAGES AND PROJECTS. WE DIDN'T NECESSARILY COVER THEM DURING THE BUDGET, BUT YOU'RE CORRECT, IT'S SOMETHING WE IDENTIFIED AND WE PUT IN THE BOND 2024 PACKAGE. IT'S JUST MOVING VERY SLOWLY. THANK YOU.

AND MR. RODRIGUEZ, I'VE ASKED IF MY TEAM CAN GET WITH MS. MCINTOSH AND ANSWER SOME OF THOSE QUESTIONS. CAN YOU PLEASE ENSURE THAT SHE GETS A GOOD REPORT ON THE STATUS OF THAT PROJECT?

YES, MA'AM, WILL DO.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Jennifer Gracia.

Good afternoon, City Council and Mayor. Thank you for having me today. I'm on my lunch break again. Today my comment is one, a thank you to the City Secretary's office for working with me this past week, or last week when I thought my dreams of running for City Council were shattered, but they were revived. Thank you to the City Secretary's office. We're working together to be the first write-in candidate in Corpus Christi city history, because it's been in county. So I need you all to remember the name, Jan Gracia, please. Okay, just a quick little plug. But more importantly, the reason why I am here is to, again, please vote no to Inner Harbor. We know there's a gravy train somewhere and not all of us are on it. FOR THE ONES THAT ARE THIS IS JUST SELF-SERVING AT THIS POINT AND I'VE ALREADY COME UP HERE A COUPLE OF TIMES I'VE HAD FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES COME UP HERE AND IT JUST IT JUST NEEDS TO BE A NO AND IF YOU WANT SOMEONE THAT YOU KNOW YOU CAN WORK WITH THAT WILL FIGHT FOR THE PEOPLE FOR THE WIN WRITE GEN GRACIA IN THANK YOU THANK YOU MISS GRACIA JENNY CROSS

Good afternoon, council members. As always, thank you all for wanting to serve and for doing this job. I know it's not always appreciated, but I think you know why I'm here. I'm here representing the United Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce and our membership, and we encourage you all to support the Inner Harper project. You all have done due diligence examining other opportunities and alternative sources, and that's all fine and good. but it's getting down to the wire and I think it's time to move forward with the project. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Ms. Cross. Jessalyn Dixon.

Hi. My name is Jessalyn Dixon, and I'm a resident of rural Nueces County in Robstown. My home as a crow flies is less than five miles from the nearest well. I came here today to ask some questions that I feel like need to be answered clearly. This is why I have printed them off for you to be able to read and remember them to ask. I also came to give you another face to think of when you're making decisions on groundwater. Mr. Barraza comes every week and does a great job But I think the thought of a normal family gets lost. You don't think of us out there. So I wanted you I wanted you to come and see a different just a different perspective. So when do you see someone different that your actions are affecting the actions you have made have already impacted the health of my family. not by being able to drink water from our well, which we were able to do before pumping started. A little personal testimony. My husband has to get a physical done for work every year. And this year in April, his liver enzymes were through the roof that they immediately sent him to get ultrasound done, which showed his liver was okay. Sent him home and said to retest in a month. The only thing we changed was not drinking our well water from our fridge, which has a filter. But In just a month from not drinking our well water, his liver enzymes were back to normal. So we've lived there for over four years. He gets tested every single year. So this is a direct impact from these wells being drilled. I am a Texas A&M graduate and our moral code we live by by Aggies is Aggies do not lie, cheat or steal or tolerate those that do. So this is why I'm here to speak to you today. The concept rule of capture was codified by the drafters of the rule never imagined industrial amounts of water to be delivered off site when wells were drilled. That was created for farmers and ranchers to be able to use for a precious resource to supply commodities, which we use for everyday life. I really urge you to read the parable told in Matthew 25 verses 14 through 30, a master and his three servants. Many have prayed for rain, and it is not used wisely. It can be taken away. If you were in my shoes and lived in rural Nueces County and your water was being depleted or contaminated, what would be your solution?

I would like to read some of the questions I have for you with my remaining time.

With the Inner Harbor desal potentially coming, what do you have... What do you have to have groundwater for as well? Wouldn't the desal plants production be more than the city's supply and demand, even with industrial growth coming? Isn't it enough that there isn't a plan to stop groundwater production once the desal is built? We can skip to number five. I understand that there was a large... But from this impact, everybody talks about financial things. We've had to spend hundreds of dollars a month to buy water for our household, just to drink for my daughter, myself. and i i mean pregnant seven months so i mean mitigation plan really needs to think about that impact as well i can send my bill for the water that the water treatment that we just bought for our house if that's part of your mitigation plan but that's also something to think of for all of us out there in rural nueces county thank you thank you miss dixon councilman vaughn mr rodriguez i think i asked in the last meeting were we testing the water out there

I would have to double check, Councilwoman. Okay, well, let me ask this. I'll double check and get back to you.

Because she's saying something's wrong with the water. I don't know if she would let you. I actually know her. But is it possible that we could test her water if she would allow that and see what is going on?

Yeah, I believe so.

That's what we should be doing now anyway. And I know that some of them have not come forward because they want us to do the mitigation plan first. But we should be trying to get the ones out there that they'll let us test, test. And if she's willing to do that, I wish the city would.

We'll look into it and get back to you. Thank you. Yes, ma'am.

Whitney Chapman.

Good afternoon, everybody. My name is Whitney Chapman, D5. I'm speaking on behalf of Corpus Christi Football Club, the Sharks professional team. We have a USL1 professional soccer team right here in Corpus Christi. When I asked people locally if they knew we have something like this, I received so many shocked and surprised faces. So many don't know or simply haven't heard about this amazing investment in our community. Nationally, there are 17 USL1 teams competing this season, and CCFC is one of them. We are currently 10th place in standings and will likely finish in the top eight that ultimately advance to the playoffs. These stats are highly impressive for the team's premiere season. Getting to this point has had its fair share of obstacles, one being an unfinished soccer stadium on Old Brownsville Road. The stadium sits untouched and overgrown, waiting for renewed permitting. In the meantime, the CCFC Sharks have had to utilize CCISD's cabinist field. The team needs support from both the community and the city. The team has already brought revenue to the city by holding games here, which can be a great economic booster. The games are held weekly where people can come and watch or even stream live on ESPN+. We would love to have the stands filled and give the support that CCFC deserves. The players, coaches, and staff have been showing up week after week, regardless of circumstances. As neighbors, residents, and fans, we need to show up and support. We need community buy-in to be able to complete this stadium and make it fully functional. We are very lucky to have a professional soccer team in Corpus. Community and council, let's play as a team. So when the Corpus Christi Sharks win, so do we. Go Sharks!

Thank you, Ms. Chapman. M. Gonzalez. Isabella Riza. Oh, I'm so sorry. Yes, Mr. Gonzalez.

Hi. I'm Gonzalez. I've spent most of my life here in Corpus. which means I did grow up, spend my adolescence feeling like we had a water boil every few months. Mismanagement of water is not new to me. But this is ridiculous, really. Just a second. We have seen more and more industry expansion, more and more pull on our resources. We've been in a drought now, I hope you noticed. Manufactured drought caused by industrial greed and municipal corruption mismanagement at the most optimistic. Why doesn't anyone trust our local government? Because we have seen time and time again that they have always chosen industry over people, money over people. Your constituents, by the way, your constituents have voted against this Inner Harbor desal plant multiple times at this point. Our time has been wasted. Our water has been wasted. I'm still a student here. I'm still young, I like to think. And I was hoping to continue to live here, maybe raise a family at some point. I'm not going to if this city continues to be riddled with pollution, corruption, et cetera. And no one is more corrupt than city officials that sell us out to industry, sell our water, which we need to live to pollution makers. We are entering a climate apocalypse that is affecting the entire world. We are not exempt from this. We are a part of the world. We don't need any more industry expansion. It is willfully ignorant or hilariously corrupt at this point to pretend to not be aware of climate change. Climate change is not an apt term for it, honestly. If you don't do the absolute minimum of listening to your constituents, you are killing your planet, you are killing your city. If you continue to prove to citizens that you do not care about their voice and continue to poison them, you will lose those citizens. This is why the DSA has seen such a boom in membership. This, it was, I think last year was like the fastest growing membership in the entire country. Do you like socialism is you are creating the conditions for socialism. I see my time. Thank you for my time.

Thank you, Mr. Gonzalez, Isabella Raisa.

Okay, Isabel Raisa, District 2, co-founder of For the Greater Good. I'm speaking to items 22 and 23, and the audacity of the city manager, the water czar, Nick Winkleman, and the peddling behavior of the representative of Ardura and the Desal Pillagers. What I do not understand is how these people can have so much disrespect and contempt for democratic processes and toward the community that has already made it very clear that we do not want the desalination plant to be located in the Hillcrest neighborhood's desalination plant. I challenge you to review every single city council meeting that has ever been posted online and tell me if you ever, and I mean ever, find a meeting where you have seen such a sustained effort at resisting a city project. You will find no such thing. We keep coming back and coming back despite how incredibly difficult City Hall has made it for us who have concern about what's going on. How dare the city manager and the water czar and these outside special interests try to use one reading items to strong arm the city residents to pay for these scams. The people of the Coastal Bend don't need these projects. The local businesses of the Coastal Bend don't need these projects. Heavy industry and those who want industrial build-out want these projects. Local companies that stand to make a killing off of public tax dollars want these projects. We, the residents of Corpus Christi and the Coastal Bend, have paid enough for heavy industry's wants. And I'm not just talking about tax dollars. I'm talking about learning disabilities.

I'm talking about severe birth defects. I'm talking about asthma rates. I'm talking about that guy's liver readings. I'm talking about cancer rates. For the Greater Goods Corps group right now has had cancer affect every single one of us, and we just lost one of our Corps members. It's the second time in two years. Not to mention all the other ones, Reverend Carrington, Jen Hilliard, It's enough. The presentation you will receive from Winkelmann and Leyendecker is a scam. According to item 22, they want $78.6 million for a partial design. $78.6 million.

That isn't even for us. Think about that. How many of your constituents are afraid to drink their own water? And Winkleman and the DeSalle partners are going to come up here and ask you to spend $78.6 million for heavy industry and for more industrial build-out. On top of that, they want $9.5 million to hire a contractor to conduct a cost estimate. Why do you need another cost estimator? You already said it was $978.7 million. Everyone that isn't on this is why Corpus Christi cannot have nice things. We are too busy bowing down to billion-dollar corporations. And finally, to my fellow Corpus Christi residents, pay attention to who the candidates are, because there are people who would vote for this, and our future's on the ballot in November.

Thank you, Ms. Araiza. Tony Reyes.

Good evening, council members. How y'all doing today? Tough, tough day. I'm here today to address how the council, the council chooses to spend taxpayer dollars. We have families across Corpus Christi struggling every month just to pay their light, keep their lights on or their water running. The cost of living is rising. The basic utility bills are putting a genuine strain on working families, seniors, and low-income residents in our community. Right now, $450,000 could make an immediate life-changing difference. $450 could provide direct utility assistance, rent relief, or emergency funding. We took five minutes to make a vote Five minutes. We took five minutes for this council, voted to spend nearly half a million dollars of public money to pay an outside legal representation to pursue internal disputes against one of your own members. That money belongs to the taxpayers. It was collected from the very residents who are struggling to pay their bills. Spending $450,000 on public funds on internal council conflicts rather than directly benefiting the community sends a clear message about where the city priorities are. Just want to let you know that $450,000 would help 3,500 people. 3,500 people could be helped with $450,000. Let me give you an example what y'all did when there was a water crisis. Drew Motley did a water summit and with other partners. They raised $80,000. That $80,000 was given to Mission 9-1-1. We helped 418 people. That's 418 customers that was helped because somebody said, we're going to get some money and help the residents. Mission 9-1-1 has helped to date 1,500 people. $237,000 they have helped. And guess what? They only have seven on staff. That's it. Seven people. But they do it on a timely basis. If you ever want a solution or you need help, feel free to give me a call. I'll give you a solution how to help some of these individuals.

Thank you, Mr. Reyes. Melinda De Los Santos. Councilman Cantu.

Can you answer me this question? The $450,000 that we've given to settle a lawsuit, could we have used that money for the houseless community, any of that, any of that groups?

That comes from our our different money, different money. It comes from ourselves, so we can't use that money now.

OK, my second question is, I really hope that same energy you had today here, Sir, when they wanted us to pay $1.5 million to the to the hotelers downtown, you say the same thing. $1.5 million could help a lot of families.

Miss Taylor Santos.

Good afternoon, Melinda del Santos District 2. I'll be speaking on the inner Harbor and professional services procurement. I was walking along the Harbor Bridge walkway Sunday looking out into the Bay and I was reminded of quote I read in the Coastal Bend magazine. San Antonio turned a dirty ditch into one of the most popular tourist attractions in the country, but we can't figure out what to do with the most beautiful waterfront on the Texas coast. There have been many citizens who spoke on behalf of their livelihood in the fishing and tourism industry. Are they going to bring millions to our community? Probably not, but they are going to bring families and friends to enjoy our brave front. So what did one of the most successful mayors in the history of Texas, Henry Cisneros, who took office in 1981 at the age of 33 as Mayor of San Antonio, what did he do? Further article, his first job was cleaning up self-dealing at City Hall, particularly within city staff and management who were notorious for leveraging their influence within the bureaucracy on behalf or against council members, city contractors, and even average citizens. Does this sound familiar? There has been constant leveraging for the Inner Harbor, harassment of council members and citizens opposed to the Inner Harbor, scare tactics of running out of water, questionable studies, permits and surveys. So how do we change that? We can start by first thanking God for the rain, which pushed level one water emergency to September 2028. Being better stewards of the resources we have by decreasing evaporation and reusing our stormwater. Brad Bartelsen has provided a plethora of information on how this can be achieved. Analyze and understand the cost benefit analysis of the various water projects. Brad Bartelsen can also assist. Hire him as a consultant.

Sorry, Brad.

Improve the management of our water by analyzing the discrepancies of data in relation to the water supply provided by the Mary Rhodes Pipeline and the Western Reservoirs. If the Mary Rhodes Pipeline is supplying more, why are we currently losing more water in our Western Reservoirs? Implement policies that would balance industry growth with residents of this community. Most importantly, let's rebuild the Hillcrest neighborhood into a thriving area, much like San Antonio Pearl Brewery development. regarding the professional services procurement. I recommend implementing a policy that either bans permanently or restrict for a minimum of five years any company, such as Mr. Ramirez, which has used fraudulent practices to obtain monies or agreements from our city. Thank you, vote no to Inner Harbor, and let's rebuild our sparkling city by the sea.

Thank you, Ms. De Los Santos. Eddie Espinoza.

A GOOD TUESDAY TO EVERYONE. MY NAME IS EDDIE ESPINOSA, GREEN PARTY CANDIDATE FOR CONGRESS IN DISTRICT 34. WE OPPOSE THE INNER HARBOR DESALINATION PLANT AND WE OPPOSE FRACKING. TWO WEEKS AGO, I WALKED ALONG THE BANKS OF THE NUESES RIVER NEAR UVALDE. THE RIVER THERE IS SO PRESTINE THAT I DRINK WATER RIGHT OUT OF IT. BUT THIS VERY RIVER AND THE WATERSHED THAT SUSTAINS US IS IN DANGER. To protect our water, we must ban fracking in the Eagle Ford Shell, which stretches from Laredo to San Antonio. When rural counties upriver allow fracking, they pose an immediate threat to our rivers, the Rio Grande, the Nueces, the Frio, the Atascosa, and potentially the San Antonio and Guadalupe rivers. We must avoid the fate of the Permian Basin in West Texas, where fracking and over injection of toxic waters into the subsurface has contaminated three major aquifers and left a toxic 60 acre lake of hydrogen sulfide sitting in the open near the Pecos River, which I have seen personally. Corpus Christi must avoid this fate. So Corpus Christi must lead the charge against fracking and oil and gas extraction in the Eagle Ford Shell to protect our water. It makes no sense to invest in a desalination plant, nor new refineries, nor new export LNG terminals, as it is cheaper and far more effective to power our lives with solar panels and battery storage. Corpus Christi is blessed with Lake Corpus Christi, the Cho Canyon Reservoir, and the Mary Roads Pipeline bringing water from Lake Texana and the Colorado River. The Inner Harbor is a delicate ecosystem that must be protected just like our rivers. Global warming will inevitably cause flash droughts and flash floods and vice versa. To adapt, we must strengthen our flood control and maximize freshwater capture and storage. With global warming, no place is safe and everywhere is vulnerable. We will face more heat domes, heat waves, droughts, wildfires, stronger storms, and crop failures. The eyes of South Texas are upon you. So show ecological wisdom and listen to the environmental experts and vote no to this desal plant and lead the charge to ban fracking. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Espinoza. Amanda Guerra. Jesmyn Evans.

Jasmine Evans, District 5. Despite what our city manager, his words and the actions of some of our council members, the body of Christ is not for sale. Corpus Christi is not a business. The body and the blood and water of Christ is not for sale at all. The city isn't a business. We're a community coming together in opposition of Inner Harbor, closed-door meetings with industry while you keep the people locked out. Having a desal plant by a church, a data center by a school, incoming ammonia plant, there's no limit to these politicians and corporate greed. Come November, when these seats are vacant, think about what a mess they've made of our city. Families and workers leaving year after year, we should figure out how to get them to stay and grow instead of welcoming industrial facilities and plants with wide open arms and pockets. People used to know Corpus for our beautiful coastal beauty, marine life, ecotourism, and Salina, and now everyone knows us as the city running out of water, and weekly reports of mismanagement, manmade drought, water boils due to industrial spills, and a lack of reporting and accountability. Trust in this project and our government is at an all-time low. Listen to the people over profit. No desal. These companies and their CEOs, they are the outsiders. Hillcrest has been fighting day after day for that buffer zone and against desal in our bay. I remember back when the price tag of $700 million made my council member Gil Hernandez pause, and now we're at a billion, three, four, and it seems like it's reasonable to y'all, like y'all are actually thinking about it, and it doesn't make sense. And also a note on the data centers. I had went to the state committee meeting at the capital where they're talking about the data centers and they themselves have said that they only provide their water for cooling, only for cooling. On their websites it says that they only provide water for cooling. So everything else outside of that, their day-to-day needs for water, everything else like that, they still require our water. So when you repeat that misinformation, it either makes you come across as a liar, as gullible, or like you can't read. So I just want to say that no DeSalle, save Hillcrest, save our community. Think about the people over profits and your corporate greed. So thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Evans. Stacy Garrick.

Hi, I'm Stacy Garrick, District 4. I've lived in Corpus Christi for 20 years. I raised my three sons here. This city oversold our water to big industry, and now you're asking residents to fund a minimum billion dollar project. Big industry uses 60 to 80% of our water. Some 30 to 35 million gallons a day while all the residents combined use about 14 million This plant isn't for residents. It's to feed big industries growth and we're the ones being asked to pay If we run out of water, the jobs big industry provides won't matter. From water boil alerts to making national news as the first U.S. city projected to run out of water, this city has mismanaged its water. The Inner Harbor desal is a flawed idea for many reasons. One of those reasons is personal. I struggled for 20 years with a serious pancreatic condition, and my father died of stage 4 pancreatic cancer due to chemical exposure. PFAS, forever chemicals linked to cancer and more, have been detected in our bay above the EPA's recommended limits. And now you want to take that water, put it through reverse osmosis, and discharge millions of gallons back into the bay over and over. If those membranes fail or aren't serviced, you could send PFAS contaminated water to our taps. This is the water we drink and bathe in. 13 scientists from the Heart Research Institute and UT's Marine Science Institute reviewed the city's own model and said, discharging super salty concentrated brine isn't proven safe for marine life. This is where families fish and feed their children. I think about my grandson and the world we're leaving him and every child growing up here after us. I grew up in Kansas City where a public water district owned by the people and run by an elected water board has kept water secure since 1957. Water should belong to the people and be clean and reliable, not a luxury. Corpus Christi should have that same kind of board reporting to the city council. Water needs its own 20 year plan, not a footnote next to roads and budgets. Please don't take Corpus Christi and the surrounding areas health for granted. Please vote no on the Inner Harbor desal. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Garrett. Laramie Thain. I'm sorry? Till the item. Damian Morales.

Damian Morales, District 5, commenting on the Inner Harbor desal project. somehow on september the first we are once again revisiting a project that is the economic and logistical equivalent of wildly coyote suspended midair having run off a cliff there have been zero economic feasibility studies done today the capital cost alone one billion dollars when added to the debt accrued by the pending costs of groundwater and other projects would compound into an even higher even higher rate increase for the median residents This doesn't take into account the costs of operation or daily maintenance, which would surely impose exorbitant costs on residents, such as clearing filters of large particulates in a very muddy, shallow body of water. This water would surely not be potable, considering the pollutants like benzene.

Mr. Morales, I'm so sorry. Could you step closer to the microphone? I'm so sorry. I can't hear you. Thank you so much. Sorry about that.

This water would surely not be potable, considering the pollutants, and would be purely for commercial use, suggesting a separately run water system. And this is all for a measly 30 MGD, far below the amount recommended for maximum desalination efficiency. So far, there have been no good faith, genuine attempts to form public partnerships to cover costs. And instead, the meta has simply been to pass the buck onto Corpus residents. not even with a simulation of grace, but rather with enough scandalous contempt at every step to put Corpus on national headlines. Where will this water go? As if a kick in the teeth, it will go in part to electricity for Bitcoin mining and data centers, products of an already collapsing bubble with low employment. If residents can be asked to absorb a net negative inefficient project that will produce some of the most expensive non-potable water ever seen, can large volume customers even use it responsibly unrestrained? having already given into a cynical paranoia of the short term, even to consider this project above normative decel projects. Consider it this way. Should Corpus residents waste money for no other express purpose than to make a margin go higher? Please vote no on inter-harbor decel.

Thank you, Mr. Morales. Mary Carter.

Mary Carter, District 2. I just wanted to point out that if they have the desal plant, that there's 68 million gallons of salt water per day. And if you multiply that by 365 days, you get 24 billion, 820 million. And if you do it for a 10-year period, it's over 2 trillion. um gallons of salt and i you know i do believe it kills all the fishing and that's critical to um you know future life here and so that's basically all i have to say thank you thank you so much miss carter elita castillo james perkins

Howdy howdy. James Perkins District 2. So I know I put myself on those items. I'm going to see if I'm not going to be here long enough to actually comment when the items come up. Instead I came up to here to kind of talk to y'all and more so the citizens watching at home. to kind of remind folks that Prop B is going to be on the November ballot this year. And what this is going to do is it's going to decide whether or not we allow the industry to continue with their drought exemption program, which currently means they're paying like as little as 31 cents for 1,000 gallons of water. They could be paying as much as $6. And I'm not so hot at math, but I'm going to let the people who say Our city is run like a business, maybe want to think on that for a second how much that huge boost of revenue. could do to actually help our city cover the cost deficits so we're not slashing funds. To anything like libraries or senior centers or any of the things that might help people stay out of the hot weather that's only continuously getting hotter. Um, I know a lot of people are excited for fall, but last year in October, I don't remember it ever dipping below 90 degrees, you know? And so if we, uh, if we can get that prop B pushed through, um, if, if we can endorse that, um, for folks, uh, you know, we'll see a lot more money into our budget for the years to come. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Mr. Perkins, Rachel cover ghetto.

Rachel Caballero D one. Um, and Dean Blair also had a desire to be in the army. Um, and his death was not investigated properly by CCPD. So I am happy to hear that one person on this panel is going to be looking into it, but that needs to happen immediately. Um, CCFC, the mayor's office involved in yet another controversy of picking the winners and losers of this community. She was found guilty. perjury this means lying after swearing an oath on the Bible aiding a fraud against the Corpus Christi taxpayers against us aiding a fraud against the Corpus Christi taxpayers and she violated her oath to office at every turn we are experiencing corrupt tactics from the mayor certain shy city council members and city staff. We are experiencing constant accusations of theft of our tax dollars to political contributors. We are experiencing a few council members that vote against this community at every turn. Thank God. Some of you are timing out. Why are we funding a government that is refusing to provide services to our community first? Why are we funding a government that is refusing to hear what the real shoulder shareholders want? The rear, the real shareholders, the ones that fund every single aspect of this government, this building and everything around it. Depending on today's outcome and today's vote, it might be time for our community to quit funding local governing bodies. I will be the first to say that I will lead the way in that, but something's going to change and these local government bodies are gonna start voting in favor of our community. We do not want to go in the direction of being sacrificed to industry. We do not want to sacrifice our tourism. We're not going to sacrifice our beach lives here. We're fighting. And there's a lot more new people here that are fighting with us. And so we will be the sustained fighters in this fight. So I beg you all to do the right thing and vote in favor of this community so we don't have to figure out a way to defund it all. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Caviero. Jessica Villarreal. James Klein.

Hi. My name is James Klein. I live in District 2 here in Corpus Christi. Thanks for taking the time to listen to me. I'm going to be brief, try to be brief anyway. I still have problems with the desal plant. These are the problems I've had for the last six years. It's too expensive, right? This is what the engineers told us back in 2018. It's the most expensive way to make water. Desalination is the most expensive way to make water. You should try everything else before that. We have not exhausted all those alternatives. We have started looking at groundwater supplies. That's good, although I think we need to do it in the right manner. We should have been doing that long ago already. We should be looking at rainwater capture. I've been beating that drum for a number of years. Others have, Brad Bartleson and others have as well, to no effect. This would solve two different problems, right, because it would reduce coastal flooding at the same time that it would add to our water supply. We should be looking at evaporation reduction. This is no longer just a California idea. There's a company out of Houston that does this. And that would generate electricity as well if you install floating solar panels to reduce the evaporation rate, which is 50% per year. And water reuse, I think that's a good idea that we're doing that now. We're going to start doing that now finally in December of 2026. That should have been done 10 years ago already as well. But again, it also has to be done the right manner, the right way. I have environmental concerns about this, as I have from the very beginning. The far-field model has not demonstrated what we had hoped it would. It's disturbing that several of the scientists on that far-field model committee have left that committee. I hope that there was no coercion involved there. That's a very disturbing development. I'm concerned about the fact that this is located in Hillcrest. This is a very overburdened community, right? I mean, just right down the line. And this is not unique. This happens in other communities as well. But it's happened here now as well for Hillcrest. I mean, I-37, the New Harbor Bridge, the wastewater treatment plant, and then our desal plant, all located in Hillcrest. Those who are proponents of desalination, volunteer your neighborhood. Put forth your neighborhood as the site for the new desalination plant. I heard recently now that there's talk about trying to pump the brine out into the Gulf. That's far better than putting it back into the ship channel. It's not a cure-all, though. It's not a cure-all. I mean, point to San Diego, California. The Carlsbad plant out there, pumps their brine out into the Pacific Ocean, and despite the considerable current out there, they've identified a dead zone almost from the very beginning around that outlet tube. Desal is designed to bring still more industry into the area here, even though the public is being asked to pay for that. Industry has increased in this area in the last 10 years by 70% already. We are becoming a heavily industrialized community. If our goal is to become Port Arthur or Texas City, let's at least be honest about it. And then ask ourselves and the public, is that really what we want? Thank you.

Thank you, Dr. Klein. Michael Miller.

Michael Miller district to hopefully I tagged all of y'all and you're able to take a look at some of the numbers that I was sharing. Because in addition to all the concerns that everybody else has been talking about I'm concerned about the fact that we haven't answered the question how much water do we need. I think that's an important question to ask because if you were you know having a having a dinner party or whatever and you invited 20 people and you went out and bought food for 20 people. and drinks and everything else and then only five showed up then there's a huge amount of expense that's been wasted and or you might have to call some neighbors that you don't really know and you don't know exactly how they're going to act in your home to come and eat some of this food. So I think it's really important that we sit down with our stakeholders that we use this time that has been afforded to us by God and with the rains that he's provided not necessarily here locally but in our watershed But sit down with our stakeholders, really take a look at what the demand is. I know that, I don't know what conversations that y'all have with the Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corporation, but I'm learning a lot about these projects that are just popping up on the news. And this needs to be part of a broader conversation where we all sit down and talk about what's coming, what are the demands going to be, so that we can properly anticipate and forecast our short, mid, and long-term demand. Because how can you plan for water when you don't know what's coming or what might be leaving? Because over this drought, we've seen a lot of customers leave. We've seen Alice leave. We've seen Beville leave. We've seen Mathis leave. We've seen wastewater projects done by Valero and Flint Hills, which is great, but that reduces the demand on our water supply. So we need to take a look and see how much water we have in the bucket, how big of a bucket we need, and answer those questions before we bite off another billion dollar investment. Because, I mean, we don't have any water contracts. I think that it's great that industry comes and supports these initiatives, but The way they could really show support is guaranteeing that they're going to buy this water at whatever price it's going to be, because that's that's what's being forced on the citizens of Corpus Christi. And it's still an unknown. And I wouldn't sign that water contract either. But that's how you show support for this, because I'm terrified that we're going to bite off this expense and then they're going to do their own water deals. And the only ones leaving home the bag is us. So thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miller. Johnny Latham.

First off, I want to speak about the situation with. I think the city are to quit putting everything on the heads of the states. When it comes to violation codes. And people being threatened by tenant tenants being threatened by apartment. The city needs to come up with their own problem. Solving situation with this situation. I had four witnesses that were going to testify today. The maintenance man went and jumped on them, and now they won't testify. All I have left is their phone calls. I was almost killed on the 25th by that apartment complex, spraying epoxy and not making sure that it was not going into other people's apartments. I'm disabled. I fell asleep. If it hadn't been for my neighbor smelling it coming out of my apartment, me and my therapy dogs, all three of us would have been dead. I asked for a meeting with city managers in Cantu. It's been since the 18th. I haven't had that meeting yet. Another thing, I hear these people talking about desalination plants. I served in the Navy, and I guarantee you there's nobody here who can tell me what ship was the first ship ever had a desalination put on it. I can because I served on that ship. It was also the first ship ever nuclearized. USS Enterprise. Yeah, 1966. There are other ways than desalination. I'm going to tell you that. Desalination is not poisonous to the human beings. I drank it on board that ship for 19 years. 19 years. I want to ask City Council... How much water runs off into that bait through these drains? That could be going back into the groundwater because. Y'all don't realize there's a such thing as pervious concrete. That sends water right back into the ground. How many y'all ever heard of it? You know why I have? Because I was in Naval Intelligence. I was in different countries. I seen how they operate things. The United States is supposed to be the far most advanced country in the world, but yet we still depend on stupid ideas. Yeah, desalination on a ship, that brine is being spread over millions of miles to where it's not leaving a trail. My daughter... I didn't have the privilege, but my daughter works in naval intelligence too. She works for the underwater warfare department. Here we are worrying about brine. Do you know how they track the Russians and Chinese ships and subs? The nuclear waste that they leave behind. They knew those ships were coming to Cuba before anybody else ever did. It's it's a pitiful thing. And just like nothing has ever said about. Most people don't even know it's in the fishing game book.

Thank you, Mr Latham. Thank you. Councilman can too.

I haven't got a meeting request from you at all, but I got a question. Excuse me gentlemen real quick, but statement of fact yes, do do we have any authority over the apartment complex?

Going direct authority correct, right?

Okay. I just want to make sure Are we addressing the code of violations at the department complex?

Yes, sir. We had development services go out there to take a look at it Okay, they did do a walkthrough there was some unpermitted work being done But they have been fined and the water problem has been fixed is my understanding.

We can't go back and forth, sir. But I'm going to tell you, first of all, thank you for your service. Second of all, we have no authority on that apartment complex. My best advice to you is move out and go find another apartment complex because there's nothing we can do. We could correct code violations, but that's the most that we can. Thank you.

Thank you. Andrea Puyol. I'm sorry? Okay, thank you, Ms. Puyol. Pete Ibarra.

I really didn't want to come up here and waste my time. I'm an ex-IBEW high-voltage power worker out of Seattle, Local 77. I got my start here with Bodine Electric and Central Power and Light in the 80s. I worked on the Old Harbor Bridge as a labor sandblaster helper. I've got a lot of experience and what I've seen here is unbelievable waste of money being in the power. I don't know you guys drive around here. They put new telephone poles right next to the old telephone pole. And by doing that, it's the old pole is rotten at the base and you put this new pole right next to it. basic physics, it's going to decay, rot, and the new pole, because of the weight and the cables, is going to find that weak spot. And if you go down by, what is it, Motel 6, going towards Flower Bluff, you can see what I'm talking about. There's a new pole, the old pole, and now they put an anchor to anchor the old pole, and the new pole is already leaning on the anchor, the new pole. And so what happens, what's going to happen there, they're going to have to come back out and repair. What do they call that, job security? That shouldn't happen. I used to set poles, rule of thumb. You take the pole and you set it two to three feet away so you don't have that problem. I feel like they're trying to be cheap and not put new wire to try to move that to that pole. And so like I said, they're leaning. And the other thing that I've noticed is that they're doing sidewalks for wheelchair ramps. after the road has already been brand new. You're supposed to put those ramps in before you put in a new road. Common sense. So now they can't match where they jackhammered the new asphalt to make room for this wheelchair ramp. They can't put the same kind of asphalt. They put this real cheap asphalt and they don't seal the seams with the asphalt. Whenever you have two asphalt meeting each other, a pothole. When you fix a pothole, you're supposed to take hot tar and seal it so water doesn't come around and lift it up. I live on Paloma, and it is nothing but potholes. I watch the city come out there with a little vibrator they dig about this deep, throw some stuff on there, and it's like putting a cracker. So as the cars run over it, it cracks, the wind, the wheels. Now you have a bunch of... of gravel in the curb where it filters down into the drain. And what I've been noticing about these roads, they put in this new asphalt on some of these blocks of Cushnet out of Saratoga. And there's another spot there on Saratoga. They put these new roads in, but they don't put new curbs. They don't put new sidewalks. nothing so now you got the all this going around and it's ridiculous it's a lot of money wasted and people need to kind of observe thank you mister and the other thing mr kantu about uh hotels that's uh minimum wage jobs that you're bringing in that's nothing bring in microsoft megan alvarado megan alvarado jason hale

Jason Hale, Corpus Christi. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Good afternoon, council members. Basically, I've been following, you know, our water projects for a while. There's a lot of future water projects that are diesel. They're expensive. Harbor Island, Barney Davis, La Quinta, Inner Harbor. It's a lot of water, and at some point, it's clearly for industry. It's not fair to put that cost on residents. Residents and small businesses in the seven counties that CCW serves use about 45% of the water. It's like 54 million gallons a day. Since 2024, CCW has added about 80 million gallons a day. Mary Rhoads phase two pipeline upgrades that was like, or pump upgrades, that was like 24 million gallons a day. Reuse is like 16 million gallons a day. And then the groundwater projects for emergency drought use, that's about 45 million gallons a day. And we have projects coming here that are 10 to 20 million gallons a day. And, you know, It's just crazy to put the cost of these projects on residents. I feel like new growth should pay the new rates. Otherwise, the cost will be put on residents and small businesses and households. They're going to have to pay $100 to $200 to $300 extra per year. And when you're serving 500,000 people, that's a lot of money. It's not water security. It's a tax to fund industrial growth. It's not fair. So please figure this out. Thanks.

Thank you, Mr. Hale. Raynor Knox. Speak on the item. Got you. Zachary Bornstein.

Zachary Bornstein, District 1. I have a video I'd like to play.

Myself and Gil Hernandez and Dan Sutley, we went and met with two members of the Port of Corpus Christi, the chair and one other member, and we put together an MOU that would have put the city of Corpus Christi in the driver's seat for doing a desal plant on Harbor Island, and the port was going to pay for half of it. opportunity got voted down five to four and and i told everybody i said that opportunity will never come around again don't ever try to do the right thing i have not seen words that said the port would pay for half is that in there it's in there wow that's pretty pretty powerful stuff man

It should not be so difficult for us to work with another entity that is willing to pony up half the expense for this. It should be in our best interest not to put all that risk on our rate payers. This is a good thing.

I'll leave that down. I'm going to say to the listening public out here, this is an opportunity that we're missing. This is an opportunity for us to save the taxpayers of this city millions of dollars with the Port of Corpus Christi helping us pay for this. We're going to sit here today and vote against having that opportunity. We're going to vote against voting for because i know what the outcome is going to be because the mayor's been talking to everybody in corpus christi about this since she found out about it but this is going to be an opportunity that this city council is going to once again pass up for us to be able to save the taxpayers of this city millions of dollars okay thank you one last comment okay no no i'm we're we're gonna you've i've only spoken once okay so

We're going to go and call the vote. Rebecca, take a roll call, please. We're calling vote.

Wait a minute. We still have questions here. I mean, they don't talk to the port that we don't hear things from them as well.

We're going to vote on this and move forward. You guys put it on. We're voting. Rebecca, please take a roll call.

Okay. So just it's a motion to approve the MOU, right? That was attached to the agenda.

Okay. We have a motion and a second. Rebecca.

Okay. So for a roll call vote, Council Member Edmondes.

Aye.

Hunter. Aye.

After waiting for seven and a half years for desal and following five and a half years before that for any progress in desal in the city, I have to vote yes.

Pesely? Yes, okay, no problem. Roy?

No.

Suckley?

Yes.

Barrera?

No.

Mayor Wajardo? No.

Okay, the item fails. Great, thank you.

Corpus Christi deserved a partnership. Instead, our full-time mayor gave us politics. And at the end, the taxpayer is going to pay for it. Please stand with the taxpayer.

Thank you, Mr. Bornstein. Robin Cox.

Hi, Robin Cox district three. And before I get started with Kim, who came up here and spoke, do not mess with a mad grandma. She will get you every time. She's going to protect her children. Good for her. um i've been looking over this desol because this is the third time we're here what more can we say it was a bad location bad price it's experimental so you have to wonder who are the people begging for it bringing it back to the table over and over what do they stand to gain from it they've literally got packs out there with people backing them trying to get it passed Who backs these? Valero, Flint Hills, Coke Refinery. I found one Chevron gas station. I guess that's where I'll be getting my gas from from now on because they're not part of that pack. Everybody is coming up and saying they're for desal. And you have to wonder, like I said, you have to wonder what do they gain from it. You've got previous mayors coming up, previous attorneys, previous mayors that during their time had more water boils than anyone. We couldn't shower. There was feces in our water. But they're the experts now. We've got a previous attorney who can't say whether it's the Fairfield or Farfield and can't spell cesspool, putting in her two cents. everybody seems to have their hand in the cookie jar. So like I said, when you look in that cookie jar, you wonder, you know, look and see whose lips are dirty. One of you's got some chocolate above your lip right now. So, you know, one of you calls herself an industry whore. So we all cried last week when someone used the word rape, but somebody else is calling themselves an industry whore. It just doesn't make any sense at all. But when we have these people speaking up for DeSalle, It's the same people that it would be like Pablo Escobar and Cheech and Chong doing a just say no program. It just really doesn't make any sense. We all know it's bad for the environment. They want to say PFAS, never heard of it. It's got to be good for you. When you go to their house and it's nothing but Voss waters and you see them at the grocery store. all the bottled waters. They're not drinking from the faucet. Like the previous man said, they don't want it in their neighborhood, but it's okay to have it in the people of Hillcrest's neighborhood. And Hillcrest is a historic neighborhood for some of you who don't know it. There should be museums out there there should be um i remember going as a child to have a there was a fabulous barbecues place out there and we want to now put the desal plant right in their backyard i'm going to end this with a dolly parton quote since We all are missing Dolly Parton right now. She said, don't forget, don't get so caught up in money that you forget to be a good person. Remember, God cares about your heart, not your pocketbook. So why don't y'all think about that before you vote for DeSalle?

Thank you, Ms. Cox. Val Harbolovic, I apologize if I said that wrong. Thank you for that grace.

Good morning, everyone. Good afternoon, excuse me. I'm Val Harbolovic. I'm the chair of the sister city committee. It has been my very great honor to serve for the last two years as a chair for this all voluntary board. And I'm here primarily to thank you for your fiscal support in the 25 to 26 fiscal year and to urge you to continue supporting our committee. These are some of the things that we've done in the last year in addition to reinventing ourselves and transitioning to the auspices of the Chamber of Commerce. As usual, we sent high school students to France and Japan and they returned with their host families to Corpus Christi. In addition to that, we added a culinary exchange program between Delmar College and our friends in Agen, France, where we sent two students to study with French chefs and also be exposed to French cuisine, the boulangerie culture. And they returned after two weeks. We also expanded what we did for elementary students. We started a fifth through eighth grade program for email pen pals. We also involved the Federal Postal Service, and they came and gave talks on the history of the mail. In addition to that, we've had various arts and culture exchanges, simple things like just a digital photo to showcase our city and receive digital photos from our sister city. If you ever go out to the airport, you'll see the Japan display. We're hoping to add Vera Cruz to that in the near future. In addition, last month we took a delegation from the chamber made up of all sorts of local business people. But in addition, we also had sister city interests at heart. We were toured through Veracruz for five days. We met with the mayor of Veracruz two times. We met with the economic development minister of the state of Veracruz at a mass meeting. We had three mass meetings with local businesses and other interested parties. I personally have taken on two young students, one who is an astrophysics genius and the other who's very interested in biomedical research to see if we can serve as a connecting factor to help them advance their careers. We also toured the port and customs of Veracruz to see what we could learn in regards to our own issues at home. We toured the general hospital and the pediatric tower. THAT WILL DO IT NICELY. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU, MS. HARPOLOVIC. THANK YOU. MS. REBECCA, I THINK THAT'S ALL I HAVE FOR IN PERSON. DO YOU HAVE VIRTUAL SIGNUPS?

ACTUALLY, THE FIRST PERSON, SEAN MERRITT, MR. MERRITT, IS HERE.

HE IS HERE. WHILE WE WAIT FOR HIM TO COME BACK, CAN WE MOVE ON?

YES, MA'AM. SO NEXT IS SUSIE SALDANA. Ms. Saldana, are you online? Okay, next is Trevor LeBlanc. Trevor? Okay, next is Marisa Trevino. This is Susan Salaya, and I'm on board. Oh, there you are, okay. Do you mind if we go to Ms. Saldana?

Yeah, she can go ahead.

Okay. Ms. Saldana, go ahead, please.

Okay. This is something I'm not so done yet. Sorry. I'm not there in person today, but I didn't want to let this day go by without giving my input and some of the things that are happening within our city, because I'm truly highly disappointed of the actions taken by this council and by especially two members of this council that went ahead and voted to give away almost half a million dollars to Doug Allison and give David Ajit, Ajit David, what he wanted was not to pay the Homewood Suites. You gave all of that to him and then had the audacity to show up the very next day and have lunch with them at a luncheon. That is beyond disappointment. That is showing you true colors of what you are doing with this city. I am very, very disappointed because I agree that hotels shouldn't get one penny, not any of them. But I also know that you have not paid $1.5 million to Homewood Suites right now, but you have paid Doug Allison almost half a million. And it is very clear what you are doing, very, very clear what you are doing to the people of Corpus Christi. Enough is enough. When you get out there and you tell this person because they come up to you and tell you we're rich and we can take care of it, we're rich and we can take care of it. That is absolutely wrong. If those people that come before you and they don't say they're not rich, you got to take care of it. But you can respond to those people that tell you they're rich. What does that tell the people of Corpus Christi? That tells we don't stand a chance at all. And the citizens of this community need to stop, look, listen, and make decisions. As far as the Inner Harbor is concerned, I don't like the place it's at, but we need to have these out somewhere. We need the long range planning somewhere. And let me tell you, whatever you decide, a new council is coming in and things will change.

Thank you, Ms. Saldana. Mr. Merritt, were you going to speak? No? Okay. How about Trevor? Let me go back to you. Okay. Go ahead, sir.

Oh, I don't know if you can still see me.

Yes, we can.

No means no, and fair is fair. The Inner Harbor is the worst place for intake, and that is the first step of the process. Ships and boats never run their water makers in a harbor. It will be the laughing stock of all the sailors who come into our harbor. The maintenance of intaking water from a dirty harbor, because all harbors are dirty, that's why they never run them in any harbor around the world. I should know. I've sailed half the world. The cost will be astronomical and far exceed the maintenance required from a cleaner source of water. How many times do we have to vote this down? You start listening to the citizens, or this can get out of hand. Does anybody recall things like the Boston Tea Party, the American Revolution, all the horrible stories about all the towns doing the coal mines? I don't want to see that in my city. No means no and no to Inner Harbor desal. It needs to be killed today and move on to something in a better location with a bigger output that will cure most of our drought situations and we can stop stealing water from our neighbors. Have a good day and I take the rest of my time in silence for reflection. on how not to mess up the first step in the process.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. LeBlanc. Next is Marisa Trevino.

I am here.

Okay. Go ahead, ma'am.

Marisa Trevino, I reside in District 5. I'm here representing Corpus Christi FC, the next sports complex that has been brought up multiple times today. But I do want to begin by talking about something positive, because despite everything happening around us, there is something truly positive happening here in Corpus Christi, Texas, which is pro soccer. Every weekend, our city is being represented on ESPN+. Corpus Christi, our own little hometown, is now shown on TV, and our players are carrying that quite well. That brings me why I'm here today. We are building a multi-sport complex off of Old Brownsville Road. We came before you about a year ago to show you our progress and share our vision of what the projects could mean to the community. Shortly after, there was some serious miscommunication regarding water. We had been granted what we understood to be a temporary exemption and somewhere along the way, communication broke down. We later learned that a lock had allegedly been cut, although there are still questions about who was responsible. We tried repeatedly to sit down and explain our side. We asked for communication. We asked for answers, but it often felt as though decisions had already been made before anyone was willing to hear our story. At the same time, we discovered that a meter that we had paid for approximately 14 months earlier still had not been installed. Because of that, no one could tell us exactly what we owed. We were given an estimate of approximately $2,500. In good faith, our owner and president wrote a check for $5,000. We carried that check for months because no one could tell us where to take it and no one would accept it. We are not trying to avoid responsibility. We are trying to resolve the issue. Today, I'm respectfully asking that the council please speak to the Type B board to reconsider our refund. This is important because this project is not costing the Corpus Christi taxpayers money. We are investing in the community, creating something that will generate opportunity, jobs, economic growth, and a destination that our city can be proud of. This has gone far beyond affecting just the professional team. We are the youth academy that supplies kids with the most scholarships and have not been able to do it this season since we are having to catch up on funds. We have highly decorated coaches that are representing the city well. many which have appeared at World Cups and coached in World Cups, including the U.S. men's national team and the Egyptian national team. We deserve the opportunity to please finish what we started. We are not hurting this community. We are investing in it. We are creating jobs on a side of town that needs growth and opportunity. I think that's all I have to say.

Thank you, Ms. Trevino. Mr. Merritt?

Excuse me, Mr. Merritt, just one second. We need the podium mic on. There we go. Thank you. OK, thank you.

Go ahead. Good afternoon, council. Yesterday, C3 was invited to the CC Multisport Complex by the young lady that you just heard. She took us through the property, showed us the different areas of the complex, and showed us where the events that we are reporting about occurred. Today, I'm going to show you exactly what we saw. First pictures, gentlemen. Tech boys, you got them pictures ready? As you can see, when you enter the facility, it looks good. They are maintained soccer fields, artificial turf, track, paved areas, substantial infrastructure. This is an existing multi-sport complex with a significant amount of development already completed. Next picture, please. OK, next set of pictures. Then you reach the main unfinished area of the condition changes dramatically. These large portions are heavily overgrown. Construction materials made throughout the property certain around among the weeds is a law bear grandstand framework, which you see there with no spectator seat installed. FC representatives told us project permits were pulled October the 25th and construction stops creep. Keep scrolling please. This is supposed to be the soccer field. This is the other entrance to the cart track area. This is where go-carts would be for families to raise go-carts. FC representatives took us and identified this as the location of the ICE incident. There were three ICE agents waiting there for the workers, and they arrested one of them. Another fellow who was here on OPT authorization by the name of Kevin, he stopped returning to work after that incident, and eventually he left the country. Next picture, please. See these red line markings there? FC Director of Operations Marissa told us FCC Sharks youth soccer operation was required to shut down until these lines were painted. She asked development service why other city parks were not required to meet the same standard, was not given a good answer. Final pictures. This is $4 million worth of equipment that has been sitting out there since last October, baking under the Texas sun, being overgrown. Now, these are conditions, and you may keep scrolling if you wish. These are conditions we personally observed, the functioning portion of a multi-sport complex, unfinished portion overtaken by weeds. Now, consider what representatives have told us alongside what we saw ourselves. who called ICE, who had Type B stop their funding, who pursued an arrest warrant for Dr. K after FC said they had a drought exemption. Why was their permit pulled? And this is an organization being financially pressured until it loses control of an approximately 80% complete private multi-sport complex so the city can acquire the property. Now, there's somebody sitting up here right now who personally told Dr. K and Marissa who put the warrant out for them. And I hope you all statement of fact and ask Peter Zanoni right there if he did in fact tell them that it was the Mayor Paulette that put the warrant out for Dr. K's arrest.

Councilwoman Vaughn.

Okay. Next is Alberto Sertucha. Mr. Sinoni.

Oh, I'm so sorry. Thank you. Thank you, Rebecca. Go ahead, Councilwoman Vaughn.

Mr. Sinoni, there has been a lot of people come up here today, several, with this. And I went and actually viewed it yesterday. It's an absolutely phenomenal place. It really is. It's a great deal for the city of Corpus Christi. And I appreciate the fact that you're going to put it on the executive. But my question is this. Can you answer that question? Do we know that? Did you say anything like that, a statement of fact?

No, a statement of fact, that's not true.

Thank you.

Yeah, I never said that. I read it. Somebody sent me a story over the weekend, but I never said that. Okay, thank you. I did meet with Dr. Kingsley, and there were several staff members there. But I never said that.

some of these accusations out there, hopefully, when we have that meeting.

Yeah, we're going to help get things cleared up for next week.

Councilman Cantu.

I just wanted to make a comment on that. Type B is a very important board, and we're about to do some more, appoint some people to Type B board. I just don't understand how we are giving... giving money to a hotelers and let these people go dry. You know, um, this, um, soccer field is it's in my district. It's a beautiful soccer field and it brings everybody together, families, children. And I've been talking about this since day one, Peter, um, whenever they, they got their funding taken away from them. Um, we got it. We got to bring, bring them back and we've got to help them. I mean, This is a great thing for Corpus Christi. It really is. And Dr. Kinsney has a very, very great vision for this. And I think there's like four different phases, and it's going to be great for the west side. So we've got to figure out what we can do, Buck, next week and try to get us all the answers we can do to bring it back to Type B board and see what we can do with their monies. Thank you.

And Mr. Zanoni, if you could include questions that were raised here just so we have the information, permits, all of those items.

Right, we'll talk about the permits. We'll talk about the water situation.

Thank you.

We'll talk about the Type B and the termination of the contract. That's everything. The city staff supported the project. We personally worked with Dr. Kingsley to get this application in. but the type B took action. That is out of our control. Thank you. We'll go over it next week with the council.

Ms. Rebecca, thank you.

Okay, the next person is Alberto Sertuche.

Can you hear me?

Yes, we can.

This is Alberto Sertuche, D3, owner of Heartlife Spay and Tackle and Team Heartlife YouTube. I'm here to remind the council that we still haven't gotten any of the answers for the questions I've been asking about the experimental inner harbor desal scan. I'm seeing a lot of is advertisement for the inner harbor desal plant by industries who are wolves in sheep's clothing. How about we get these questions answered publicly? How is this experimental inner harbor desal plant in the best interest of taxpayers when we are not the ones who would get the water from this plant since you're trying to make us pay for it? Large industry users continue and historically account for a significant use of the municipal water, yet refuse to pay their fair share while they continue to sue our city for reduced rates and taxes, which the taxpaying citizens then have to carry that burden through IDA. Where are the contracts signed guaranteeing that industries will be paying the same price for the water for the full length of the term and not sue us again to not pay their fair share or incurred costs The project along the way for historical failures and everything else that the city is known for. We, the people demand the truth from the portfolio model from the scientists and marine biologists that y'all have denied the information and or scared off the project. We, the people demand industries to be held accountable for their fair share in everything they are getting discounted for, especially when taxpayers are carrying 90% of the burden of industries, making their hundreds of millions in profit per year. What happens when the energy cell plant fails to supply the salinity of the water because the salinity has grown in that area for so long, creating an ecological and economic disaster? Will we, the taxpayers, have to carry that burden and pay for all of that? Or will we be forced to move out of our homes to create this whole industrial area for them to continue to grow while we suffer? We have seen the numbers of how many total taxes industries pay. It's less than millions than the whole city. The truth needs to come out. We are paying attention and more people are speaking out against this corruption. Go back and look at our growth through the numbers of community members that are starting to take more action as they come up and speak. And also too, still sign up but can't be heard because they are out paying their or working to pay their bills that continue to rise november is coming and we are paying attention we will vote accordingly we have the majority of our voices that will be heard prayer is going out to protect and guide all our community members who stand and fight against this corruption knowing we stand against it we have become the targets for these corrupt individuals we will not stand by idle anymore

Thank you Mr. Zertuce. Next is Taylor Johnson.

Good afternoon. Taylor Johnson, District 5. Could you play the video that was provided earlier?

I don't know. I'm not doing that. I'm not going there. So I can't support this today. Again, this is not about desalination for me. This is about information and this is about as Councilman Haryana said, the process. Sorry, I'm just tired of hearing all this fancy talk about desal and the process and this. It's simple. How much is the bill going to go up? Because that's what the people of Corpus Christi care about. They don't care about, you know, the process of desalination or reverse osmosis and blah, blah, blah. Some people may. Most don't. My parents don't. They want to know What is this going to do? And by the way, DeSalle is a long-term plan. That is not a short-term plan. We will have that plan in eight years. We will not have it in two or three or four or five. I'm going to leave that alone. I don't want to get into a whole other discussion, but it is. Let's make that clear. We're not going to get a DeSalle plan in the next three years. That's an eight-year plan.

We'll call a timeout. We'll quit campaigning, and let's just vote on this issue.

Excuse me?

but the bottom line is is that we are committed to the city's permitting process we want to help you in any way we can if you choose to solicit our help i know that the port worked very well with the city back during the days of the mary rhodes pipeline in fact our our staffs who engineered and built the pipeline So I think there's a lot we can offer the city with their desal plans if you want it. If not, we're here standing by hoping you get your permit wherever you want it. It's that simple.

Commissioner, there is no working together. Again, we are not going to the port and building docks. So we're unclear as to why the port is coming over this side to try to build DeSalle with no customers.

And we're not trying to build DeSalle. We're just going for a permit for the city to use if you so choose. That's all we're doing. Just an alternative. I don't know how we can be more clear on that, Mayor.

If our suspended mayor or Councilman Barrera had voted in favor of collaborating with the port and its experts back then, today we could be inaugurating the first world-class large-scale seawater desal facility in Corpus Christi, Texas. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Next is Jennifer Espino. Ms. Espino, no? Last is Corelli Leal. Ms. Leal? All right. Oh, hold on. Hello?

Hello, ma'am. My name is Kareli from District 3. Hello. I'm coming. Okay.

I'm coming. I'm going to let Ms. Leal go first, and then we'll let the other lady go in just a moment. So Ms. Kareli Leal, go ahead and go, please.

Okay. My comment, is it going to start over?

Ma'am, your time has started, ma'am. Okay.

Thank you. My name is from district today. I'm commenting in opposition to the experimental inner harbor desalination plan. There are many reasons why I oppose this project and a lot of it has to do with our community and our wildlife. I see the residents in Corpus Christi under threat from corruption and greed from our city manager, our elected city officials and our chief city water operation staff. And I believe that we had true leaders that cared about people first versus corporate profits. We wouldn't even be in this route if we had asked our industrial partners and also partners to cut back on production and use less water. But they're not going to cut back and they just want a diversified water portfolio so that they can keep on making billions in profit while us, the regular day citizens, are carrying the brunt with our raising water rates and further pollution into the Gulf of Mexico. This Inner Harbor desalination plant is supposed to be built in the Hillcrest neighborhood where the residents have already been burdened by industry in their backyards for decades. Why does it have to be in the black and brown community? Environmental racism is real and this is a clear example of it. I also believe that the partial model was a joke and anyone can put stuff into a computer so it can say what you want it to say. And there is also parts of that partial model that showed that there is possible zones of hypoxia or dead zones, high fluctuation in salinities. So that area is already very delicate. That right there can cost the baby fishes who are trying to grow up the sea grass that is disturbed by the sale. And then a lot of people brought up the PFAS contamination. Like, that is scary. Cancer is real. People would die. We don't want that to continue growing in our beautiful bay. And I'm also really glad that the water amendment was. That's able to be put on the ballot now, so that we can quit the drought exemption. Because. 355Million out of the 4Billion dollars that the inner harbor dissemination plan is going to cost is chump change compared to these corporations that make billions in profit. So, they shouldn't be getting our water dirt cheap. We. So, and also another thing is that. I feel like instead of just trying to get more water for more companies to come in, we should actually be trying to conserve. We should stop the contract and stop letting big companies come to Corpus Christi, no data centers, no to more industrial growth. Because I mean, you guys wanna say that we're in a drought, but you guys are gonna get more water just to send it to more people. It doesn't make sense.

Your time is up, ma'am. Thank you. Jennifer Espino, are you online?

Hello.

Mrs. Espino?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay. You want to go ahead, ma'am?

I'm Jennifer Espino, Corpus Christi. I am currently in Chicago getting ready to speak about the fight to protect our water out of comfort. So apologies to the beautiful community I love for not being there in person. I'm currently carrying Corpus and the people who repeatedly fill those chambers. to speak up for our communities with me in all that I do. It is a privilege to be able to share the people and the place that we love and have been fighting to protect with people here, people who are sharing and learning about protecting our shared home and water from fossil fuels, AI, data centers, and corporate polluters draining our communities in the interest of profit. I wish I could say the city continuing to pursue a project so deeply unpopular with the public was surprising to me. Luckily, you cannot will public support for the Inner Harbor desal facilities. We've repeatedly shown up to say that we do not want this. Since I'm experiencing some of the most cursed deja vu on the planet and the city will not do their homework and put anything new before us, I decided that why should I? Here's an excerpt from a public comment from September 2nd of last year. I've watched for the better part of the past decade as residents across the political and ideological spectrum beg for city officials and staff to center the needs of the people over giant corporations who will survive with or without handouts from us. We've presented data. It's been dismissed. We brought forward studies, they've been ignored. We've argued against desalination due to the environmental impact. We are called outside agitators as if you people cannot see where we live. We argue against desal on the basis that it's financially reckless. The concerns are disregarded even by alleged fiscal conservatives. Some mistakenly believe that we may be able to appeal to your conscience, to paraphrase Kwame Ture, in order for that to work, our opponents must have a conscience. I will not humiliate myself by trying to appeal to people who have shown time and again the lack of moral compass, who have shown such disregard for, and at times outright animosity toward the people of Polka, people who have already endured the worst of the consequences of the heinous decisions made by those who came before you. You can't change those decisions. But those of you with a conscience have the opportunity to course correct. Don't dig your heels in the way so many before you have. We know more now than we did when DeSalle was initially put on the table. don't treat public comments as a formality to get through in order um in order to carry out your own will instead of the will of the residents down here opposing diesel who clearly outnumber those supporting they know to enter harbor um and i'll just add that i believe everyone but especially the fab five they know to enter harbor um and say no to that deal no matter the cost you cannot put a price tag on hillcrest and you cannot put a price tag on our bays there will be no return from this Stand on the right side of history and say no. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Mayor Pro Tem, that concludes the public comment period.

Okay, thank you, Ms. Rebecca. We will now go to section G2, which is board and committee appointments. Ms. Huerta, if you'd proceed.

So the first board for the council's consideration is the Building Standards Board. There's one vacancy in the member at large category, which is preferred but not required. The board has a practice of requesting the appointment of an alternate member to a regular voting position and of appointing a new person to fill the alternate member position. Lindsay Clark currently serves as the alternate member, and the council could appoint Ms. Clark as member at large to fill the current vacancy consistent with the board's practice.

I would move to do so.

Okay. Second.

Are we just picking one? Councilwoman Vaughn.

Ms. Vaughn. That's for Brian, right?

So what we have is one vacancy. The current board alternate is applying to fill that vacancy, and then we have an option to appoint an alternate.

Okay, I nominate Brian Johnson.

Okay, so we'll first vote on that option. We have a motion and a second to appoint Lindsay Clark as the member at large. All in favor, aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, nay. The motion carries. Did I hear an appointment for the alternate? BRIAN JOHNSON. DO WE HAVE ANY OTHER NOMINATIONS?

SEEING NONE, WE'LL GO FOR A VOTE TO APPOINT MR. ROBERT JOHNSON AS THE ALTERNATE.

ALL IN FAVOR, SAY AYE. ANY OPPOSED, NAY. Okay, motion carries. Very good.

All right, council members, next we have the Type A and B boards. So these are the Corpus Christi Business and Job Development Corporation, which is the Type A, and the Corpus Christi B Corporation, Type B. Historically, the same members have served on both boards. There are four vacancies on each board. Victoria Holland, Johnny Filippello, and Jesus Jimenez are seeking reappointment, and their attendance rates are included in your packets.

I WILL NOW ENTERTAIN NOMINATIONS FOR THE FOUR POSITIONS. COUNCIL MEMBERS, PLEASE PROVIDE YOUR NOMINATIONS.

I'M SORRY, WHAT DID YOU SAY, SIR? OKAY.

HAVE YOU HAD A WORK THOUGH?

YES, SHE'S BEEN NOMINATED.

Do you have a nominee? Okay.

Kevin Neary. I'm sorry, Norma, we're going kind of fast.

We went a little fast. Sorry about that. We'll let Ms. Norma catch up. Council members, if you could check your screen and see if your nominees have been listed.

Thank you so much, Ms. Paxson. Thank you.

I'd like to nominate Victoria Holland, Jesus Jimenez, and Johnny Filippillo.

Okay. Hold on one minute. Victoria Holland, Jesus Jimenez, and Johnny Filippillo. Okay. Okay.

Any other nominees, council members? Seeing none, we'll start from Councilwoman Vaughn's side. We have four vacancies we are appointing to, so please pick four.

Did you get it, Norma? SWAT is? Would you put your light? Yeah, let's turn mics on, yeah.

Javier Huerta. Cynthia Salazar-Garza, and Kevin Neary.

And for the record, Mr. Huerta is not related to me. He's sure.

Yes.

All right. Suarez, Huerta, Salazar-Garza, and Neary.

I'm going to do a little different. I'm going to do Neary, Garza, Huerta, and Suarez.

It's still the same. Okay. Bring some flavor. Councilman Barrera.

Cynthia Garza, Victoria Holland, Jesusa Mena, and Johnny Filippillo.

Suarez. Puerta, Garza, and Neary. Councilman Roy.

I have Suarez, Huerta, Garza, and Filippella. Johnny.

Councilmember Scott.

I have Garza.

Holland Jimenez and Philip hello Councilman can to Swat is what the Garza Mary right Okay, so that's four we have

cynthia salazar garza jared suarez javier huerta and kevin neary okay those are the four appointees thank you thank you and for clarity rights to both boards it's to the type a and b yes sir um when is their next meeting their next meeting they have a special meeting right they have a meeting this thursday at one at 1 30.

Very odd. Okay. Thank you. It's a new day for type a and B board.

That's for sure the terms begin Not until the they run through the end of September.

So the the current board's terms just for clarity I

Okay, so next we have the Corpus Christi Convention and Visitors Bureau. There's one vacancy in the hotel industry category. Appointments are made by the city council from the provided list with consideration of nominations from the CCBB nominations and executive committees and the board. For each vacancy, the CCBB nominates one additional individual as an alternate per category. That's more than the total numbers of positions available. And the alternate nominee is included in your packet. So the CCBB recommends Brian Davis for the hotel industry position.

Council, do we have any motions to any additional nominations?

I'm sorry, what was the motion to approve? Okay, thank you. Recommendation.

Okay.

We have a motion and a second to appoint the recommended Mr. Davis. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed, nay. Motion carries.

All right. Next is the Corpus Christi Downtown Management District. There are nine vacancies across the following categories, five agent, employee, or tenant, three property owners, and one resident. Pursuant. Yes, sir.

I'm sorry, could you put your light on real quick, Mr. Scott?

Mr. Patel is the alternate member. Right. So it's just one vacancy. So there's a contract. By contract, the CBB, they nominate an extra individual for each slot as an alternate. Their main appointee was Mr. Davis, who was appointed. But in case the council wanted to consider someone else and not Mr. Davis, then Mr. Patel would have been an option for you. Okay. Okay. thank you rebecca yes ma'am so going back to so i listed the the categories for the nine vacancies and then also pursuant to the texas local government code succeeding directors are selected based on the board's recommendation and the city council's approval So the DMD is recommending the reappointments of Jamie Barrera, Stephanie Raziel, Robert Charles, Eric Gutschow, Glenn Peterson, Joshua Richline, Caitlin Shook, and Adrian Trevino.

We have a motion for reappointment. Do we have a second? A motion and a second for reappointment. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed, nay. The motion carries.

Okay. So the last board is the Ethics Commission. There are three vacancies. Members are appointed by a two-thirds affirmative vote of the full council, which is six votes. Kimberly Ballinger, Rick Barrera, and Janet Pedraza-Fonseca are seeking reappointment, and their attendance rates are included in your packets.

Do we have a motion to accept the reappointments? Motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Nay. The motion carries.

All right. Thank you very much, Mayor and Council.

Thank you. It is 3 o'clock, and we will break for a 30-minute recess for lunch and reconvene. Thank you. Okay, we will reconvene this meeting. Picking up where we left off, we will begin with our budget related items. Our first item under section I is item three, a public hearing and first reading ordinance adopting the Corpus Christi operating budget for fiscal year 26-27, beginning October 1, 2026. Good afternoon, Ms. Amy.

Making sure I have the correct binder. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem and Council. Amy Rodriguez, Director of Management and Budget. So today is the day we've all been working towards. I want to thank all of you for your support and thank my staff for all of their hard work, as well as the other city departments. The presentation will briefly go over our FY 27 proposed budget and the changes that we're bringing forward to you today for approval. So the FY 27 budget is balanced and the fiscal year 27 budget begins on October one of 26 and runs through September 30th of 27. This fiscal year 27 budget focuses on police and fire streets, parks, and long-term water security and wastewater management. And this is a budget that is consistent with city council and community priorities. As a reminder, the proposed budget total operating and capital is $1.4 billion for FY27. The operating budget is $1 billion, and the capital budget is the $400-some-odd thousand. That will be coming to you also for approval. I believe it is item number five today. So the team, after last week's workshop, the team went into quite a bit of work to bring forward recommended amendments to the budget. This first slide goes over changes to the general fund revenues. These are changes that we knew last week we were going to have to account for. So we reduced the transfer from the TERS funds, TERS 2, TERS 3, and TERS 4, that transfer that comes into the general fund for the administrative services support. So it is a reduction in general fund revenue. We've also reduced the proposed revenue for the proposed citation fee as we learned that that would not be an option for us. We were able to balance the budget and fund grass weed abatements at $450,000 level as well as homelessness services at $200,000. To do that, we're recommending some reductions to expenditures in the general fund. First recommendation would be to reduce the vacant director of communications position. The communications department would be consolidated with the IGR department. The next position, this is also vacant. It's a public information officer in communications. We have a vacant position in the mayor's office, which is the communication specialist position. And then we have a, it's a filled senior management analyst position in the planning and economic development department. And that is directly tied to those reduction in support for the TERS funds. We're also recommending a reduction in our budget for membership dues and sponsorships. And I know the detail's not listed here, but for the record, I wanna go through those. We're recommending to reduce the Black Chamber of Commerce annual gala. at $1,500, the TAMUCC President's Ball at $3,000, the Mayors of Military Communities at just over $4,000, the Sister City Committee at $20,000, the Chamber of Commerce Sponsorship Package at $11,750, a LULAC Foundation Lunch at $1,000, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors membership at $20,000. Additionally, we have two corrections that were identified when we went back to evaluate the general fund budget. We had two operating targets that were higher than they should have been. So those corrections were made here. Um, the mayor's office at $18,720 and the police department at $233,356. We've reduced the transfer that we make to the Information Technology Internal Service Fund in order to budget for some of their vacancy savings in that fund. And then we've reduced the transfer to the Street Maintenance Fund and the Residential Street Reconstruction Fund per the policy. This next amendment is in the street maintenance fund. It is a special revenue fund and it is the reduction of revenue that that fund would receive from the reduction in the general fund for the residential street reconstruction fund. Same thing. This is to reduce the revenue and this fund that's coming out of the general fund. Just a reminder, the street maintenance fund receives 6% of general fund revenues. And then this residential street reconstruction fund receives 1%. And so when we had to reduce the overall budget for general fund revenues, that number changed as well. This slide details the changes to our TERS II fund, and this was approved by the TERS II board on August 24th. So we're reducing the PACRI channel maintenance budget, we're reducing the transfer out to CIP, and we're reducing that transfer to general fund that I already mentioned on the general fund revenue slide. For the TERS III fund, These also were approved by the TURS III board on August 24th. We're reducing the DMD contract. We're reducing DMD right-of-way, reducing park maintenance. Bike patrol was a correction, and then reducing the DMD levy match and the transfer to general fund, which was on this slide we discussed for the general fund revenues. The TURS IV fund, this was approved by the TURS IV board on August 24th as well. We have an increase for a one-time special project for the North Beach Historic Plaza, an increase for TUR's grant match, and a decrease for the Transfer to General Fund. We've also captured the cancellation of the Homewood Suites Agreement, so we'll be reducing the proposed budget and the Type B Fund by $400,000. And just so that for the record, so everyone's on the same page, they were budgeted for $400,000 a year over a time period. And so that was what was included in the FY27 budget was $400,000. We've included the increased appropriation in the Corpus Christi Housing and Finance Corporation Fund at $600,000, and that is to fund demolitions at residential properties that are in low to moderate income sections of the city. And then this reflects that, uh, adjustment to the, uh, information technology fund that I mentioned will be reducing the transfer from the general general fund by $92,000. And that's to account for turnover in that department, basically vacancy savings. And that concludes my presentation, the, uh, budget amendments and our FY 27 operating budget. I'll stand by for any questions.

Councilwoman compost Well, thank you Amy for the presentation I know that it's a Very difficult to try to balance our needs and wants and what-have-you, but I do have a an objection to the sister city the 20,000 is there any Basically the 20,000 They have, I know, moved over to under the U.S. chamber, correct?

Yes, I believe so. Ryan will answer your question.

And I'm just worried that they are not going to have the money in order for them to be successful in the transition. I mean, they just moved over. I'm just trying to figure out because. I'm I'm a big supporter of sister city I think it's something that is you know a value to our city and and and really to the world because it's this is it starts with one city You know reaching out to another city. So again What are your thoughts about the reduction on sister city?

Yeah, councilman Ryan Skrybarczyk director of intergovernmental relations They did just move this last year to the Chamber of Commerce. Under contract, they operate the Sister City Committee. They have undertaken a number of new efforts, as well as some new fundraising efforts. I think long term, the goal of that was to make the Sister City Committee self-sustaining, and they're working towards that. Needless to say, though, we recognize we have to have a balanced budget, so I think in working with the city manager's office, we tried to identify things that were as far from operational service to the community and some things have to be cut. So we'll have to have a conversation with the chamber about what does that look like for this next fiscal year for them.

What is their budget?

I don't recall it offhand. Obviously, we provide them 20,000. I think they had received some money from, if I'm not mistaken, the port and the county as well to help fund. And then they were utilizing the Mi Casa Su Casa events, and the chamber was helping fundraise for the sister city program. Um, it's, it wasn't much in this first year. Um, they may be more successful in growing it as you are probably aware. They just came back from Veracruz, I think a very successful trip. And so I think they're gaining some attention from, um, outside community benefactors that would want to support the mission of the sister city group. So, you know, like I said, I don't have a clear answer. Obviously we need to get direction from council on if this is a, if this is a cut we're going to make, and then we'll have to work with the chamber about what the next year looks like and if they can sustain it.

Yeah, I would like to know what their budget is, just if you don't mind getting back. I'll find that out for you real quick.

Okay. Thank you.

Councilman Roy.

I just wanted to say good presentation. I want to thank the council in my absence last week. You guys did a lot of work and Carolyn, especially on the TURs. So thanks. I knew that I left everything in good hands. So thank you.

We were confident you were here with us with in spirit during this very difficult time. Amy, thank you very much for the presentation. It's never easy. It's never easy when you have to kind of choose what's our priorities versus what's our wants and working with the staff almost daily. I know the team has really put a lot of work to try to to close those gaps and so while there's a lot of things that we do want we've really had to prioritize needs we heard from the community that you know prioritizing demolishing properties and having an abatement fund were big priorities and so these sorts of things have helped facilitate those priorities so thank you for that Two quick notes. One, I did want to say that while there were given a list of sponsorships that we were going to reduce our investment in, that's in no way, shape, or form an indication of a falter in our support for our local organizations. And in fact, we're we've only downsized some of the participation some of the things that could be seen more as a social rather than supporting through business luncheons and things like that those are still going to be supported so thank you for that and then um councilman kentu has a note but i'll come back thank you

Councilman I was just gonna add to that may I pro tem that some of the some of the lunches where we have double budgets for them So to speak there was a budget in IGR but sometimes departments buy tables as well or sponsor buys a table for a city representative so to your point we'll still be attending these events either through a budget from the department budget not the IGR budget or sponsor from the community and

Thank you. And yes, I believe council members have.

Right. And then the council has money as well. Money's in one of the accounts to buy these types of things. So there's several ways still to attend them.

Thank you. This was very helpful information. Councilman Cantu.

Quick question. I was in the, I think I was going to drink. You had a add grass and weed for $4.50. So is that for up to 450,000 that we're going to have to cut grass and stuff on these abandoned homes and stuff?

Yes, sir. That's correct.

Is that enough to?

I think it's better than nothing is the response the department would give you.

Is it going to help with a lot of houses?

Councilman, when we did have the budget, it was 300, and that was for grass and dangerous structure. So now we have 450,000 just for mowing.

And then we have 600,000 for...

Right for demolition. So we have over a million dollars where the last time we had a budget was what 300,000 for all the above 300,000.

Yeah.

So before it was 300 to mow and demolish now because of the council's advocacy, we have a million for both.

Good. The $450,000 will help us clear a majority of the backlog. It'll still leave about $300,000 in abatement backlog. Um, and the 600,000 if approved will help with our demolition backlog. and can help to demolish 48 properties that fall on that low to moderate income area. That's out of the 60 that we have today in our backlog.

Got it, okay, thank you.

Peter, so this is our first reading, so we have to come back and finalize approval at our next council meeting.

Right, next Tuesday will be the second reading and adoption, so there still can be changes to this recommendation between now and next Tuesday.

Okay, so we've heard one comment in question. I would like to bring up that there's been so much work on this and I appreciate that. I think you guys have really worked with council members to make the priorities of the community and council TAKE THAT FRONT SEAT. I REALIZE THAT WE HAVE TO PASS THIS BUDGET TODAY IN ORDER TO MOVE ON TO THE OTHER ITEMS ON THE AGENDA AS PART OF THE PROCESS. BUT BEFORE WE TAKE A VOTE AND BEFORE WE TRULY OPEN THIS PUBLIC HEARING FOR PUBLIC COMMENT, I WOULD LIKE TO SAY THAT WE HAVE RECOMMENDED AN ITEM SIX ON OUR AGENDA TO SET OUR TAX RATE. We could set that tax rate, which technically doesn't change from the rate we previously set, but there's an alternative, which would be setting the no new revenue tax rate. If I'm not mistaken, that is about $700,000. It's a difference from this total here. So I realize we can't act on the tax item here, but I did want to say before we take action that supporting this item is because we need to. That's responsible. We have to pass that. But before we go into the second reading, and as we go into the tax setting, for myself and I think several council members, that is another priority, I think, to visit. So on item six. So with that, seeing no further questions, Councilman Hernandez proves me wrong.

On the operating budget, what you had mentioned about the market rate advancement and then also a COLA, we're not doing the merit-based pay increases or we're just doing the COLA?

This year we're just going to recommend using the COLA primarily because the healthcare increases that take effect October 1. and the inflation that everybody sees out there, we thought we'd do an immediate COLA from October 1.

Okay. Well, you know, we've been through this before where, you know, we ship back forth from COLA to merit base. I think there's, you know, we need to pick one and it really should be the merit base. Pay option because in are you do is still doing employee valuations with nothing tied.

No, we still Evaluations still take place.

So We'll be beginning those in October for the executives and the I just like I said, I struggle with this going back and forth thing It's either you know, we need to make sure that we either pick one or the other I understand the market base Aspect of it and you can you know, that's that's separate from what we're talking about But the COLA portion should really be merit-based. And I really have an issue with it. We need to make sure that we set that kind of culture of you need to be productive, and it should be consummate with what you get paid. I think we're sending the wrong message by not doing that. Thank you.

Okay, then at this time, I'll open the public hearing and ask if we have any public comment on item three, which is the budget. Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion. I'll close public hearing. We have a motion to approve and a second. Ms. Rebecca, would you like an electronic or verbal vote?

We can take an electronic vote. It counts as a record vote, ma'am.

Okay, thank you. Okay, we'll move on to item four, which is an ordinance establishing compensation for the presiding judge and municipal court judges of the city of Corpus Christi beginning in fiscal year 27. Do we have someone for a presentation on this item?

Yes, judge. Let's see who's presenting on this there. Okay, the judge.

Where would I put in the flash drive?

Yeah, the PowerPoint. We're going to put up PowerPoint for this item number four, please.

I'm sorry?

I'm just talking to AB Control to put up the PowerPoint. Oh, you have it on the thumb drive? I have it on the thumb drive. Okay.

Good afternoon.

Okay, good afternoon, Mayor Pro Tem and Council. Jackie Choppa here, Presiding Judge for Municipal Court. And I'm here requesting an increase in the salaries. I do have the PowerPoint. We did request a market study on the average salary of the judges. So for the first slide, it is the full-time judges. The full-time judges' current salary at this time is $131,070.18. The average market salary for a full-time judge with municipal court is $143,196.75. So Corpus Christi's municipal court judge salary falls about 9.3% below the average market salary. For the part-time judges, Corpus Christi, our hourly rate for the part-time judges which work the weekends, um, after hours, the holidays, the overnights after their job is a 49 69. And the average part-time hourly wage is $54 and 20 cents. And that's 9% below the average salary for the presiding judge. Um, here in Corpus Christi, the, Our salary is $158,324.47, and the average full-time market salary for the presiding judge is $187,414.78, and we fall below the market salary at 18.4%. I am requesting an increase for the full-time judges. So for those full-time judges that have been present here working longer than one term, it is a 2%, which would add $2,621.40, which would total their salary at $133,691.58. If the full-time judge has been here less than one full term, I'm requesting a 1% increase, which is $1,310.70. That salary would come up to $132,380.88. That would be for the whole fiscal year a total salary of $665,836.50. If we were to bring up the part-time judges up a full 9%, it would be adding $4.47 to their hourly rate. These are categorized by hours because they're part-time. Their total amount for the year would be $239.396.48 for the presiding judge at 11% increase. That would be an added $17,415.70. And that would bring it up to $175,740.21. If we were to increase the presiding judge and the full-time judge's salary, it would still fall about 7% below the market rate still. The part-timers would be bringing up to market at the 9%. The total budget for physical year 27 is for FY27 is $1,101,898. So the total amount that we're requesting with the increase, that I'm requesting with the increase is $1,080,973.21. That does leave a little bit extra of about 20,925. This money is already allocated. I'm asking for an increase because the last increase that the judges have had is from 2023 so we're trying to number one maintain talent draw additional talent keep them here and also be competitive with the current market we're also wanting to come into the same standards as the city employees so they have had merit raises they were going to have a cola raise but our evaluation is not weighted for the merit raised to apply across the board. I have to come before you all and ask, and so this is what I'm proposing and asking.

Thank you, Judge. Councilman Barrera.

First off, Judge, you know, the excellent business person that you are, managerial, you know, you always come in with such humility with regard to the increase of your employees. I mean, I personally, I'm ready to support this right now, but I just want to commend you in the effort that you have put forward and your team has put forward. And I've always been of the argument, just like when I was running for office the last time, I was justifying Peter's pay. And the reason being is because we had to meet the market. And I think when we gave, I was part of the team or the group that gave the judges the increase back in 2023. And I said, you know, just like any other position within the city of leadership and those we recruit across the nation. And what happens when we just pay Corpus Christi rates, then we're just going to recruit people from Corpus Christi. So I think it's important that we want to be able to recruit the best talent and the individuals that that could better serve our community. And I just also want to comment at I've always been of the belief that the presiding judge should be paid more. simply because one item is that Judge Chapa took over the administration of the administrative side, whereas before the way our policy was is that all they basically oversaw was the judges. And now she's taken on that responsibility, and quite successfully, I might add. I think her first year as presiding judge, she set up an accountability system for her colleagues because basically she's just a presiding judge. And that first year, of course, it was coming out of the pandemic, so we'll qualify with that. But we were up about a million dollars net revenue under the direction of the presiding judge. And then with that, there were several, I think, department cuts that you recommended. And in the first year, I think we saved in a neighborhood of about 500,000. And then when you took over administration, then we probably saved another four to 500,000. So I just want to commend you with what's such humility that you come forward with somebody that's just done an amazing job to only ask for such a nominal increase. So it's been a privilege to work with you. And I really appreciate what you've done for the You know, for so long, municipal court was considered it's never going to get fixed. It's never going to get fixed. And you and your team and the people that you put together have just done an amazing job. I commend you. It's been a privilege working with you.

Thank you, Councilman. But I appreciate that. And all the judges appreciate that. They are very really they are all hardworking. Our full time judges work. Our dockets are ever moving. You can ask the prosecutors. They don't they don't get a break. They also sub in for nights and weekends when our part-timers can't. Our part-timers have a hard job and they do a wonderful job as well. They have a full-time job and then they come and they work nights and they come and they work weekends and they work the holidays. I'm going to pull a 7 to 10 tonight after today's day. It is just what we do, but we all love our job and we love working for the city and being a service to Corpus Christi.

Well, I was going to let the chairman speak before I did something, allow him to do something.

Councilman Roy.

Well, Roland, I think you said it pretty much all, so I'm not going to repeat that. But one of the things I know that as the chair and the committee members, we appreciate your mentorship in terms of because a lot of these judges are fairly new. Their experience levels are different. You're asking them to do a job, especially the part-timers, which who wants to work every weekend and holiday and know that that's what you're going to do? But they do it, and you've done an excellent job. the department, I don't wanna go back and repeat those things, but we appreciate that. And the other thing is, is that it's very apparent that you enjoy what you're doing. And I think that's so important because that enthusiasm and your leadership, it exudes in everything that you do. So again, I wanna thank you on behalf as the chair and the committee members to just keep doing the things that you've done. And the money that you've saved us, the policies and procedures and things that you've put in place, it's really refreshing. So thank you.

Thank you. Councilman Hernandez.

Okay, first off, let me say I don't necessarily disagree with the raises you're proposing. This is more of an issue with how these statistics are brought to us. You know, we're not competing against Dallas, Houston, and Austin, and San Antonio. We're just not. and so when we look at these numbers and i jump all over peter on this too because he does the same kind of crap is that you got to look at the three or four cities above us and the three four cities below us and that you do it so i'm not being there but i i you know we're not you know, we're not paying what they pay in Dallas or Houston. I mean, we're just not. And then we don't include the cost of living index in these numbers as well. It costs a lot more to live in Austin than it does to live here. So their pay has to be consummate with that. So I want to make sure that we're looking at apples to apples here and not just, you know, I don't want to use false numbers to justify a pay raise that really shouldn't be that way. So it's not THE NUMBERS YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT ARE VERY REASONABLE. I'M NOT COMPLAINING ABOUT IT. I JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE LOOKING AT THIS THE RIGHT WAY AND HAVING GOOD FACT-BASED DECISIONS INSTEAD OF HAVING SKEWED NUMBERS. SO I JUST WANT TO BE VERY CLEAR THAT FOR WHEN WE SEE THESE THINGS FOR HR THAT COME TO BRING THESE NUMBERS TO US, THAT THEY SHOULD HAVE THAT INFORMATION. THREE OR FOUR CITIES ABOVE US, THREE OR FOUR CITIES BELOW US, THAT WAY YOU HAVE KIND OF A CLOSE RANGE. I MEAN, WE'RE 300,000, A LITTLE OVER 300,000 PEOPLE. YOU KNOW, WE SHOULDN'T BE COMPARED WITH A CITY THAT HAS A MILLION PEOPLE. RIGHT? you know, what, Arlington that's above us, maybe El Paso at 600,000. Then you have, you know, cities below us like Lubbock, Laredo, you know, that have, you know, somewhere close to us in that range. I just want to make sure we're looking at these numbers correctly. Okay. Thank you.

I'd like to make a motion to approve. Second.

Okay. Thank you very much for your presentation and for all of your hard work and your team. Thank you.

I appreciate it. And the judges, thank you. Thank you very much.

We have a motion and a second at this time. I will ask for any public comments on this item.

Rachel Caballero, D1. I just came up here to support, I saw the faces, but I'm here to support Councilman Hernandez's clarification. That's how we got stuck with a half a million dollar city manager. is that we're comparing salaries to bigger cities and bigger populations. Um, I'm not sure what the HR department is doing or the hiring department is doing, but this is HR one Oh one. is that you are getting the salaries based comparable within the community, not other communities that are four times the size within this community. And it's very disappointing Councilman Barrera to hear you say, we don't wanna hire Corpus Christi people, we wanna hire people that are not from here. I think Corpus Christi residents should be considered for every position. I know that the status quo is you gotta play, ball but if we get regular citizens in here we might not have such a toxic environment here at city hall so we do need to make sure that the salaries are comparable to other cities our size not houston dallas or of course san antonio thank you thank you miss caviero councilman von

Well, I do agree with that, that you've got to be comparable. I do. But we need to take into consideration, I'm sorry, they have not had a raise since 2023. So to me, this is going to make up for that. But I do understand what you're saying, but they have not had a raise. Thanks.

Do we have any other public comment? Okay, seeing none, we'll close public comments. We have a motion and a second. Go ahead and vote. motion passes we'll move on to item five which is a public hearing and first reading ordinance adopting the corpus christi fiscal year 2026-2027 capital budget beginning october 1 2026.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem, City Council. Good afternoon. Amy Rodriguez, Director of Management and Budget. I'm presenting to you the capital budget for FY27. Nothing has changed since our workshop on Thursday, so I'll go just a brief overview. We have our total CIP by program. You can see that water and wastewater make up over half of our CIP projects. Then we have gas, street, stormwater, airport, economic development, parks and recreation, public health and safety, which includes police, fire, and solid waste, and then public facilities. The total CIP is $530,388,875. The funding sources for this CIP program, 71.8% revenue bonds, which is the majority of our funding. And then we have operating funds, grants and other agency funds, type A and B sales tax, geo bonds, residential street fund, CEOs and the tax increment financing district, the TERS funds. We do have one amendment to the proposed CIP. This is an item that I mentioned in the operating presentation where we are reducing the contribution to CIP from TERS 2. So that would be a reduction to the Sand Dollar Avenue project and a reduction to the Packery Channel Capital Repairs project. That is my final slide. I'll stand by for any questions.

Thank you, Amy. Do we have any questions on the capital improvement budget? Councilman Hernandez.

Did we remove the Sunrise, did we remove that project, the Sunrise Beach thing, boat ramp? Did we reduce anything?

We have not made any changes to that project.

Okay, because, I mean, if you look at this, you know, over 90% of this is debt spending, right? And one of the challenges that we have is the more you borrow, the more you have to pay back, right? So what is it that we can, what else can we do to reduce this? Because I thought there was going to be some effort to try and reduce it besides just from the TURs.

Would you like CCW to answer that?

Sure, since it's one of their projects that we talked about.

Nick Winkleman, Chief Operating Officer, Corpus Christi Water. Sunrise Beach Councilman, the project, and we reviewed this, is funded by the increased rates in the park, so we left it as is. The project is fully funded by the rates generated from the park itself.

You never provided those numbers to us. I mean, because I mean, how much are the rates to park your RV there? It's not very high.

So we rate I'm going to let Camille speak to the specifics. But last budget cycle, we raised the rates over the procedure over the next five years. I'll let Camille talk through the details.

We will have to I don't have the immunity code on on On hand, but what was approved last year as I mentioned on Thursday was a five-year plan to increase those rates Proportionally as we add that so those rates are going to be going up. It's part of the ordinance and it's part of the the muni code for that park because the council they have to be approved for council like any fees and

Ultimately, it's about needs versus wants, right? And we want to make sure that we, you know, a boat ramp isn't necessarily a need. And then looking at what the projects we're doing, I've always mentioned this before, that we need to pace ourselves because, I mean, we kind of capped ourselves out on general obligation bonds. That's why we're not doing a bond election this year because we don't have the capacity for it anymore because we've kind of, maxed out the credit card, to use Councilman Barretta's favorite expression. Is there anything else we could do to help reduce some of these costs or spread this out over time?

I mean, like I've been stating for the past few years, we look at this every year. We spread out those projects as much as we can. The projects are currently, most of the CAP that is happening for water and wastewater are projects currently under contract. You have your, you know, chlorine on-site generation. You have your improvements at ONS, which are very large projects. You have your wastewater, I don't think, all of those already signed contract that just spread out over multiple years. The new projects that are coming on are, again, essential maintenance projects lines and improvements to the to the actual treatment plants there really isn't I mean we can delay projects but again that's playing the game can you can you pull up the slide in terms of what how we're paying for this uh we don't have a slide on how yes as a matter of fact it is she just mentioned that one right there oh that one okay okay out of that

Total amount there you look at 381 million dollars is revenue bonds, which is money we're borrowing Obviously we have the leftover from the the general obligation bonds and certificates of obligation But a good majority of that Is debt spending Yes, the AP is right almost primarily that spending So that's what I'm saying. And if you look at how much debt we have from the operating budget I mean, it's a, like I said, we ultimately have to pay that back. And I know some people like to say that our bond rating is tied to us doing an inner harbor desale or not, but it's really tied about revenues and how much debt we have. Right? Yeah. So I want to make sure that we're making these decisions properly not just spending to where we can. We've got to balance the... Because the more we borrow, the more it costs us to borrow that money.

I agree, but again, as you mentioned, what the rating agency also looked at are your facilities operational. Do you have SSOs? Do you have break zones? Do you have, you know, a consent decree on you? There are multiple things that are consequences of not doing projects.

Oh, you're absolutely right. I mean, you know, there's a lot of former council members that, you know, are complaining about us when they got us into the situation that we were in to begin with, with not doing preventative maintenance and letting things go to bad, you know, water boils. WE ARE UNDER A CONSENT DECREE NOW WHERE WE ARE HAVING TO DO ALL THIS STUFF NOW. I REMEMBER GOING AROUND MY OWN DISTRICT AND SEEING YELLOW TAPE AROUND PARK EQUIPMENT BECAUSE IT WAS UNSAFE AND THERE WAS NO PLAN TO REPLACE THEM. I FIND IT KIND OF LAUGHABLE THAT HERE WE ARE NOW BEING COMPLAINED ABOUT AND THAT ALL OF A SUDDEN OUR BOND RATING IS GOING DOWN BUT IT WENT UP. OVER THE LAST EIGHT YEARS. SOMEHOW WE DON'T GET CREDIT FOR THAT. SO I JUST WANT TO SAY THAT WE GOT TO BE CAREFUL WITH HOW MUCH WE SPEND, DEBT SPEND, SO WE DON'T GET TO THOSE THRESHOLDS, SO WE DON'T HAVE A SITUATION WHERE, YOU KNOW, THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THAT WE HAVEN'T DONE A BOND ELECTION, WHICH WE STARTED DOING EVERY TWO YEARS, BUT PRIOR TO THIS, WE WERE DOING THEM EVERY FOUR TO SIX YEARS. Right? This was, I mean, prior to 2020.

Prior to 2012.

Right. Well, I mean, we weren't doing them on a regular basis, is what I'm trying to say.

We had a 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 22, and 24. Before that, it was every three or four years, but before 2012.

RIGHT. SO WHAT I'M TRYING TO GET TO IS THAT WE'RE DOING A LOT MORE NOW AND WE'RE FIXING A LOT OF THINGS THAT WERE DONE IN THE PAST, BUT LIKE I SAID, WE'VE GOT TO BE CAUTIOUS TO BALANCE HOW MUCH WE BORROW VERSUS HOW MUCH WE DO. AND I'VE ALWAYS SAID THIS, EVERY CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN WE GO THROUGH, IT'S ALWAYS ABOUT WANTS, NOT NEEDS. WE DON'T WANT TO BE DOING DESTINATION BAYFRONT AGAIN WHEN WE NEED TO FIX OUR STREETS.

I agree. And as I stated, I do believe because I've done this for a very long time with the city and the foreseeable that the CCW budget for the projects is needs. It's we we have and we pushed out projects and we spread them as much as we could to make sure to not overburden.

OK, so the next question is, and I don't know if Jeff is around here or not. Oh, there he is. In their last, I know we had some trouble making our entire capital improvement plan. How much of the capital improvement plan from last year did we complete?

I think we had a slide on that last week. I think it was 90 percent. Seventy-seven, eleven, so, 80.

88%? 88%.

So, I mean, you know, you're looking at possibly a 10% that we're not going to get to.

Yeah, and what happens on that? Those roll into the next year.

I got you. I got you. So $381 million all goes to the rate payers ultimately. So, you know, we're just trying to find what the balance is. But, okay, thank you.

Councilman Barrera.

Here, I just think that, although I respect Councilman Hernandez more than ever, I think it's a period of ideology. I mean, the debt service includes the principal. Yeah, so, I mean, you could say that the majority of my home goes to cover debt service. the majority of the vehicle that I pay for goes to debt service, I mean, because I have the asset, I own the asset. So I just want to ensure, once again, it's not unsecured debt. Debt service includes principal and interest. So we have an appreciating asset. And I think, I don't think it's necessarily fair to try and blame other councils. And I know I've quoted Lloyd Neil, God rest his soul, what is it, ad nauseum, where he said, Some good people made some difficult decisions that they thought were the best thing, the best at the time. And now we have to deal with the consequences. And I think the situation that we're in now is because of the reluctance to improve our assets. And that's the challenge that we face with a consent decree. So I just want to not necessarily contradict my colleague, but just say that I feel completely different because I know that as a business owner and that supports about 50 of them around the local region with the services that we provide, we find that the most successful ones are the ones that reinvest in their business and reinvest in their assets. including their people and by, and I'm just going to throw us in there by, by offering the ability to recruit from around the state. And that allows our local people to make more money because we're comparing them to the rest of the state in a comparable market. So people are assets as well. So I just want to, I just didn't want to leave it with that. I would just want to, I want to, I want to appreciate the fact that you're doing what you can to continue to improve our assets. And I think that's one of the things, Peter, that when you came here, I think before this last council, the bond rate improved three times?

That's correct.

And that was because of the, I guess the idea is that, number one, we've started to improve all our assets. I mean, we've spent... almost a billion dollars in streets, uh, since you started with us, which was the big, I think the first, uh, the first buck parade I went to, all I heard was fix my streets, fix my streets. Now it's, you know, I need water, but anyway, um, so I, I just at least wanted to convey my opinion. Thank you.

Councilman Scott.

Thanks. Just three quick things. I appreciate you guys developing a business plan on Sunrise Beach. I guess it includes interest in principal payments, right? It's all in there. Good for you. I think the question is going to be kind of where we are next year, right? So we're going to raise the rates. We still think we're going to get 10 people to pay it and all as well. So that's what we're going to be looking for is that, you know, the impact on the the number of people that that that buy permits but thank you for that that makes me happy build a business plan tell me what you need let's fund it then let's go back during the process and see if we're accurate in our projections thank you i think this budget is really more about the connect i so i call it the canary in the mine The coal mine? I think we've got to grow. Our community needs to grow. That's the real issue is that we're seeing stagnated growth. I mean, we can blame it on each other. We can blame it on the state. We can blame it on the feds. We can blame it on world issues. But the reality is we need growth in Corpus Christi. And as I tell people, let's get more people to move to town. We'll take their tax dollars and fix your potholes. That's the humor in it. Last thing is, talk to me about Evangeline debt. How much is in, and I am being very lazy, so be nice to me. How much are we, how much is the CIP, how much is Evangeline in the CIP?

Camille will.

Yeah, so how much, so we're talking about our debt concerns, and I'm curious, how much have we borrowed so far for Evangeline? What are our, when are we going to borrow more?

So the project is 680 million. Plan for this year to borrow is $100 million of that $680. We have spent right around $89 million, $86 million to date on that project. I presented it during our workshop, but there's $100 million this year, $250 million the following year, and then the remaining the third year.

Okay, seeing no other questions, I will open the public hearing. Do we have any public comment for item number five, our capital improvement budget? Seeing none, I will close the public hearing and entertain a motion to approve.

I move for approval. Second.

A motion and a second. Please submit your votes. That brings us to item six, a public hearing and first reading ordinance setting a property tax rate of 0.599774 per $100 valuation, which is effectively a 0.50% increase over the no new revenue tax rate and approving the tax roll as calculated. Good afternoon.

Good afternoon. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. This item before you again is a public hearing on the fiscal year 2027 proposed property tax rate and also the first reading of the 2027 property tax rate. Staff is recommending the proposed tax rate of 0.599774 per $100 valuation. This tax rate is slightly above our no new revenue rate of 0.596985 per $100 valuation. And as well below the voter approval tax rate of zero point six five four five five two per one hundred dollar valuation. Just to highlight where how our tax dollars spent. So for every tax dollar we collect fifty four percent of that tax rate goes towards our general fund which funds our public services such as fire police our library and park services. We have 36% that goes to our interest in sinking fund or our debt service fund. And that fund was debt we've issued to fund capital improvements to public safety facilities, park improvements, library improvements, and streets. And then we have 4% that is dedicated to the tax increment reinvestment zones. And 6% of our tax revenue goes to residential streets. That concludes my presentation and the staff is recommending the adoption of the 0.599774.

Seeing no questions, I will open the public hearing. Do we have any public comment on this item? Seeing no public comments, I will close the public hearing. And as a matter of administrative completeness, I will read that during today's City Council meeting, The City Council will vote on the first reading of the proposed property tax rate of .599774 per $100 valuation for fiscal year 2027 and at the September 8, 2026. City Council meeting beginning at 1130 a.m. At City Hall the City Council will vote on the second reading of the proposed property tax rate of point five nine nine Seven seven four per hundred dollar valuation Mr. Bryce Could you advise on language should we wish to make a motion to approve the no new revenue rate? We've all been provided the language to approve the recommended rate.

So this magic language is just required to adopt a rate above the no new revenue rate. But if you did want to do the no new revenue rate, it would be a simple motion to adopt the no new revenue rate.

And I would make a motion to adopt the no new revenue rate of 0.596985 per $100 valuation. Is that the correct one that was in our packet?

It would be, but we would have to reduce the general fund budget by $860,000 in order to achieve that.

That's correct. By adopting the no new revenue rate, we would have to cut the M&O or maintenance operations side of the budget by 860,000. And then that's further divvied up between general fund and streets. So the streets impact is roughly about 77,400. So that would be cut out from streets and 782,000 from general fund approximately. And I would advise council. So, uh, if you go down to the known new revenue rate, coming back up is, is, is the difficult thing to do. Uh, I would look at the past, uh, at least since 2022, our appraisal values have remained flat and have not grown significantly. And so that is why we are so compressed to the no new revenue rate. There is not really no new additional revenue coming in. And not only does that affect your M&O side, you also have to consider your INS side. If you look at your proposed budget, due to values being kind of stagnant, you are dipping into about $200 million of fund balance into your INS, to your debt service. So if you come down, so let's say the next year you have a flat property growth. If you leave the tax rate the same, you're able to shift between M&O an INS to make up any shortcomings, or you continue to dip into your debt service fund balance. So I would just give counsel that advice. And I'll stand by for any questions.

Thank you, Sergio. Councilman Hernandez.

OK, so in your presentation, you said how much of that went to debt service of our property tax, right? That was your last slide.

Yeah, it's approximately $61.5 million on that last slide.

Just for reference showed okay, so they're on the on the top on the bottom right correct your interest in sinking Yes, sir. Okay, so this is and how much of it is thirty thirty six percent your tax dollar or how much of that in actual? cost on a Since we have roughly sixty cents how much of that sixty cents is is INS?

thirty six percent of that sixty cents I'M SORRY, 22 CENTS.

22 CENTS. SO WHEN THE PROPERTY VALUES DIDN'T COME OUT TO WHERE WE THOUGHT THEY WERE, THAT'S EVEN LESS MONEY GOING INTO THAT INS OR INTEREST IN SINKING. SO WE EVEN HAVE LESS MONEY TO SPEND TOWARDS THE DEBT SERVICE, CORRECT? CORRECT. RIGHT. SO, I MEAN, THIS IS WHY I'VE ALWAYS BEEN HARPING ON DEBT. I've always harped on that, on how we do it. And Peter, I mean, this seems like every budget cycle, I talk about how much debt we have. Well, this is kind of the challenge when you don't have the revenue that comes in with your property values, this is what you end up having. We're skirting the edge here, right? So I just wanna be very cautious that the reason we're at this cap is it because we have debt spent. And like I said, I've always said, We may not need the new car. Maybe we get the used car, right? So let's be overly cautious with this. Thank you.

Councilman Barrera.

Well, even if you have a used car, you have debt service. So, you know, once again, I think, you know, it was brought up, and once again, this is a different ideology that happens to contradict You know, once again, I want to caution my colleagues that the argument was brought up that the consent decree, we had challenges because we didn't handle our obligations. What is it? I know several of us are running for office. I'm not being one of them. What is it? And I know some people are excited about that. There you go. And so what is it? More than one. Anyway, I said some. So that's one thing that I think that right now that It's not responsible to shortchange our obligations simply for the sake of what that no new revenue rate would have. What kind of impact per household?

I don't have the exact dollar amount, but for roughly a one cent tax change. Gosh. A one-cent tax change on a $250,000 home, that's $25 a year. So $25 a year. And then what is the no new rate that you hit? It is .596985. It's a drop of .002. It's less than a cent drop. .002798. So what we're doing, in essence, is that...

What is it? We're going to save the taxpayer $25.

Probably a lot less than that.

A lot less than that. So $12.50 over the course of the year.

Point two is 20% of $25. Okay.

Amy might add. Like $5 for the year. $5 for the year. And it's going to have a budget of impact of about $800,000. Well, right now, we've increased funding to homelessness. We've increased funding. to basically for abatement and mitigation. And, you know, I just and I personally I mean, I'm a supporter of sister cities. I'm a supporter of being part of trade associations in the mayor's office. I think so. I mean, I'm I'm a supporter of trade associations in my own business. So I think it's important that we do that. However, I understand the pulse of the council. but I think for the sake of trying to save each homeowner, you know, and then several of those, I mean, we have the homestead exemption at, what, 100,000 now?

It was doubled recently, and that's part of the issue with the bond program. It's 20% of the value, so it used to be 10%, and it was doubled to 20%. That's the real reason why we can't do a bond program.

Yeah, and see, I supported that, so once again, you know, that's the real reason why we don't have bond capacities, Once again, we increased our exemption. So there are several factors with what we increased our exemption. So I just don't see that it's going to have to be cut from somewhere. And I mean, we didn't include, I see now how IGR is going to take over communications. Right. And I think he makes less than the communications officer did. You know, and so and kudos to him. He's a team player. I'm very, very proud of him. And, you know, he's willing to take it on. I think he's great. So as Mark says, when you go to Austin, he's the man, you know. So I obviously don't support this. And I personally think it's just rhetoric to be able to say, say, I save a homeowner. I saved you five dollars next year. And but you know what? I'm going to have to cut back on I'm going to have to cut back somewhere on know policing downtown i mean that's that's a poor example but we're going to have to cut back somewhere and we had this happen last year when we didn't want to attach a fee to vacant lots that weren't compliant i mean vacant homes that weren't compliant and then there was a fire in flower bluff because we didn't abate a home and then there were people that almost got killed next door so there's a consequence associated to our action so i don't support uh i i don't support uh the no new revenue rate thank you

Councilmember Scott So the number would be eight hundred and sixty total. Yes, sir And what would you say be a reduction in the street fund?

So the total is eight hundred and sixty thousand and for the street fund approximately seventy seven thousand It's going the wrong way, but I get it's it's what it's got a huge budget.

No, it's a large budget. I

It would be quite a significant, we'd have to come up with some pretty significant.

Oh, I guess that no, the eight 60, but the seven, I'm not a fan of cutting streets, right? I've been talking about this.

Yeah, that would be a right. 77,000 out of the streets operation would be significant. Got it. Thanks.

Councilman Vaughn. I always hate when we have to do this right here. It's so confusing. So what was the budget last year for the city?

The total budget was 1.4 billion was a total operating capital. This year it's 1.4, it's the same, 1.4.

Same, so we really didn't cut anything in the budget for this year. We cut stuff, but I'm just saying we didn't cut our budget.

The general fund increased slightly and some of the funds decreased. Overall, it stayed the same.

Okay, I want to see if I've got this right. So if we adopt... the tax rate of 0.59974 per 100 evaluation. We're going to save them $25. Is that what you said, Roland?

No, we're going to save the average home, the home set with the average home value, we'll save $5.

$5. So you'll save something. It's not much, but it's something. So if you do the no revenue rate, it's going to increase.

I think you have them flipped

I got them flipped.

Yeah, the .59774 is what's built into the current budget.

Okay.

So any change to that number, you would have to decrease the general fund budget.

That's the decrease. Well, I've got that written down. I just looked at it wrong. Okay, so you'd have to decrease it to $860,000. Right, correct. And where would you do that at? What would your thinking be?

I didn't recommend. You're not recommending anything. Of course you're not.

I'm having a real struggle with this because that's a lot of money you'd have to save. I know that we cut $700 and something, wasn't it?

Right. Just to balance the budget for more mowing and homelessness services, we spent the last week coming up with new ideas. But at this point, you're probably talking parks positions, library positions, co-compliance.

And what we need to remember is this. I don't like any of this, having to cut anything. But we did not get here overnight. We got here through the years, and one of the reasons we're here is because there were not things done over the past 20 years. We ignored the streets, ignored all those things. So we can't do that again. We have to do something every year to the streets, every year, to our water infrastructure, everything. I don't know where I'm going with it. But I'm just saying, I don't like raising any kind of tax at all. I'm a conservative. I do not like doing this. So we need your help.

Well, what I can say is an Amy's going to have to help me out with this. The city council in the last couple of years has reduced the property tax rate by over 2 cents. Okay. We have doubled the homestead exemption to be comparable with the rest of Texas. Uh, we've increased the senior senior exemption and disabled exemption. And then the state and the voters have approved it, have given property tax relief to businesses like business personal property. There's $125,000 exemption on all business personal property. So between the state and this, this city council, there's been extreme property tax relief given to the community, both the residential and commercial accounts. Uh, but where we're at in our budget is we've cut 20, nearly 22 million out of the operating budget. And these are recurring reductions. And so the next set of reductions, as we've said to this budget process, are the ones that the residents would now see. So it includes parks code library, we don't want to cut police, we don't want to cut fire, we're not recommending that we're not recommending cutting streets. So what's left of the some of these services that would be more ideal, not ideal, and we're not recommending them. But those are the ones we'd look at to reduce.

Well, the public has short memory, as we know. So I hope they remember the things that were done in the past where you cut homestead extension, all of that.

Well, it took us eight years to restore the library cuts that compost bought for. Animal care, we've talked about that. That budget, we've doubled, more than doubled, and we still need probably to double it. We still need more work in our streets. This year is a little bit less, and this budget coming up, it's less than the current year. So I think when you look at our, and Amy showed this during the presentation, when you take the average homestead value across eight major cities in Texas and apply that tax rate from those cities, this city has the lowest property tax payment to the city of all Texas cities that are in population from one to eight with the eighth largest. So we have the lowest tax bill when you look at the average homestead value in that community times the tax rate. Um, so we're trying to balance both. We, we support property tax relief, but we support infrastructure development, public, public safety and quality of life amenities. And we just can't do those if we don't have the revenue.

No. And the good thing is we're not raising our budget. It was 1.4 last year. It's 1.4.

It's the same budget.

We're not raising it.

And the general fund, the only increases are from contractual requirements. Yeah. Con we're required to do them. The contractual requirements. Uh, some of those are bond programs. So we have to, staff's park facilities with positions, so. Okay, thank you.

If I may, our first presentation included a few slides on the property tax rate. We have decreased that property tax rate between FY22 and FY24 by 4.6 cents. Sorry, almost 5 cents.

Almost 5 cents. Not 2 cents.

And for the last four fiscal years, we have kept the tax rate flat. And so the proposed tax rate that's before you for approval today is the same tax rate that we've had the prior three fiscal years.

So that's an important point. I said 2 cents, but it's 4.6, nearly 5 cents. And that has an impact on operating and the debt service side or to be able to do bond programs. You need value and you need a tax rate. And when both decrease, then that's when you can't do bond programs.

Councilman Hernandez, okay.

I just want to clarify a few things because Streets is 1% of the general fund when you reduce the general fund it reduces the street Funding automatically because if you reduce your so I just wanted that that Wanted to answer councilman Scott's question on that and why that gets reduced that way the other side of that is yes, we did increase the Homestead exemption from 10% to 20 to 20% and that applied into this fiscal year from 25, 26. This is the first full year that we got it because we instituted the previous year.

It's the second year in a row. It's the second year? Yes, sir.

Yeah, it was. That's right. That's right. Puzzley was still here, but I don't, I think we didn't, when we first voted on it, it didn't happen right away. Then we had to reduce our tax rate because the state instituted that no new revenue tax rate where we couldn't go above 3%. ON THE INCREASE SO WE HAD TO DECREASE OUR TAX RATE ON THAT THREE YEARS AGO. I WANT TO SAY THAT WAS WHEN THAT HAPPENED. SO, YOU KNOW, THIS IS, YOU KNOW, SOME OF IT WAS FORCED UPON US, NOT NECESSARILY THE CASE, BUT IT'S, YOU KNOW, THESE ARE THE CHALLENGES WE FACE, RIGHT? Ultimately, I think we need to fund the streets completely I know I thought about going going to the voters and seeing if they wanted to look at you know more increasing funding towards that but You know, that's something I think we should ultimately go to the voters to or for Because I mean they got to tell us You know, to me, I'm like, Councilman Bond, I don't want to raise taxes at all. If we don't have to, I'd rather cut expenditures. But, I mean, we've cut a lot here recently. Okay, thank you.

Councilman Roy.

So, you know, when you look at the perfect storm, and that's really kind of what we're at right now, when we cut Well, when we increased the exemption from 10 to 20%, I think it put a burden on us about $10 million. So it was $10 million of a burden. It was a little over that, but right, 10 to 12 million. So that was one of the things. And then I'm not going to repeat again what Council Member Hernandez said, but then some of those cuts that we had, it was mandatory. And so we put this whole entire premise based on what we think that the property tax are going to come in and recently our property tax in terms of the evaluations didn't come in what we thought it was going to. Right. Which could happen the same thing next year. I mean it could happen. And so we go we do our best to try and put together this budget but unfortunately based on the global market, based on the local market, and there's things that we cannot overcome. And that direct effect, in terms of where we're at with our property evaluations, even though it's nice for some people not to have to pay the taxes because in the past they've had some significant jumps in their value. So we have to take all that into consideration. But I want to make sure, number one, that I understand that if we go ahead with the recommended 0.599774, then basically what that will do is that that will prohibit the average taxpayer from saving $5 a year. It's a year, right? Right. $5 a year, which is essentially somebody's gonna have to do the math but how much is that that's uh what's that a year that's a starbucks it's not a lot of money i say that it's five bucks a year um but it's about 40 cents and we heard earlier today in public comment one of the things that we heard a couple times is that they were talking about our street you know we're going we've put so much time and effort on water so much time and effort on some of the other things that we're working on our ids agreements and all those type of things where you know we've our streets uh i can't remember what street it was the day where the guy somebody said that yeah it was like they could lose their entire car it was gill's district with the it was in the park it was the bill wet

The swimming pool area. Yeah. It was in Beloit Park.

And we've heard these stories on and on again. So it's important for us to keep the streets up because if we lag and it doesn't take a lot of time, we're going to be in a lot worse shape. But again, it's because we're trying to chase a number that at the end of the day, we don't have control over anyway. And so I know people... i don't i'm not dealing with an upcoming election but for those people that are to sit there and say i didn't raise something but to cut we just went and and um houseless uh we hired that administrator for for the homeless and uh that was something that was we heard that repetitively out in the budget meetings that they wanted somebody and they wanted more staff we only we only hired one right right But they wanted more staff to help combat that. So I understand that it, but I hope that the people would understand and take a look at the whole picture. That's why I stand by at the .599774, keeping at that point, because I think it's crucial. I think trying to go ahead and cut another $860,000 out of this budget is going to be detrimental because we need every penny that we can get to continue to champion streets and champion our safety, you know, all the other things that we're doing. So I'd like to – I'm not in favor of decreasing that. Thank you.

Councilman Campos. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Okay. No one likes to raise taxes. I mean, you know. But there comes a time where, you know, what is it? Do you want to help the homeless? Do you want to take care of your abatements? We've cut so much and again the evaluation like what we expected was not there. I mean this is no one wants to do that, but I agree. I am going to be supporting it and I hope my fellow council members change their mind and support it as well. I mean, I know some of us are running for office and it looks great, like you didn't raise taxes, but at the other flip side is, you know, did you provide essential services that is needed in order for a city to function properly? I mean, look what happened last year. We cut the code enforcement by I mean, 600,000, I think. And we had so many people calling us and telling us, hey, why aren't you taking care of this? This is what city government is for so that we, and that's why we get elected, to make these hard choices. And, again, I hope that they agree with me and support this. Councilman Barrera.

Yeah, and I want to add, we're not raising taxes right now. We're just, it would basically be cutting them. We'd be saving the public $5, and then we'd have to cut back $860,000. I know I've already spoken before, but when you said nobody likes to raise taxes, we're not raising taxes. We're just keeping them flat, and we've done so for the last three years. I think that would be considered fiscally responsible. Anyway, that's it. Thank you.

I just want to make a quick comment. It's been mentioned a lot. in this discussion as far as a reference to this being campaign season. I think whether it's been an active campaign season or not, Many of us on this dais have shown the public that it's our top priority to try to work with our government entity and keep costs as low as possible, to defend lowering tax rates as possible. I don't think that's tied to an election year. I think that's a principle that we've all built up. This is a small community. We know each other, whether it's this term or not. The no new revenue rate has a fiscal impact on the overall budget of $860,000 in the last week, maybe two weeks. Mr. Zanoni, I commend you. I have watched you and your staff really pull together what was it, $1.6 million between the cuts and then finding that $600,000 in the Corpus Christi Housing I have watched this team take these priorities and really be able to identify what is savings to the ratepayer ultimately and the taxpayer. My confidence in this team doesn't falter, and my expectation isn't that this team is solely responsible. It is rolling up our sleeves and saying, let's look at the budget together and let's find what we prioritize. It is not fair, in my opinion, to throw very little feedback for new mandates at an organization that is working to serve the city. If there's something that we think, let's try, let's put this bar here and let's try to reach it. We're talking less than a million dollars to set the no new revenue tax rate. That's all that was being said here. Again, I can't underscore enough. This team, Mr. Zanoni, you and your team have worked hard to cover a $1.6 million package of priorities that this community and the council has set as initiatives. Thank you for that. In this term, I've seen you find $15 million to fully fund a project, $800 million. The list goes on and on. The team has always been able to take these initiatives and find a way to serve this community through the priorities. I personally don't feel this is that much different from that. If we say, let's look at this, let's see if we can find this in the budget. My experience is that this team has been able to step up to the plate and find it. I'll leave it at that. Council Member Roy?

So this is the second time I've spoke. And with that being said, Mayor Pro Tem, so if that is the case, then I challenge every council member during this election season, don't send out a pamphlet that has in big letters that I was a council member that didn't raise the tax rate. because you get about six or seven of those every week. And so I understand that we're saying, and let's take our rose-colored glasses off, and say that that's not used as a position in terms of campaigning. But I guarantee you right now as I sit here, because I see it almost at every level of government, were the first thing that people are going to do. And they'll use that against their opponent. They'll say, oh, my opponent levied to raise taxes. Then don't do that. Don't get caught up in that. If it's the right thing to do and take care of us in terms of making sure that we have the streets and the necessities in terms of making sure that we take care of the people, then let's do that. But shame on anybody that sits there and the first thing they do is use that on a pamphlet in the mail. So thank you.

Councilmember Scott so so I would I'm gonna support the the five five five nine nine seven seven four and just I think that's good public policy personally but if we do the other rate the first thing I'd recommend you do is begin to back out the stuff that we've added at the council level I think that's I think that's that's where I would start um so if you're asking if we're all supposed to roll up our shirt sleeves and I didn't mean that that came out wrong. If we all should be, if you're asking us to, or if we're being asked to tell you what we think, that's what I think. So, uh, but, uh, I'm going to support the 5 9 9 7 7 4. I think it's a good public policy. I respect other people's opinions, but I wanted y'all to hear mine.

I think of council member Scott comes, we'll move on. I actually agree with Mark, which is very unusual, but I do. I think if we're going to cut, because we had to cut to find the money that we wanted for the things that we added. So if we don't have the money for those, and we obviously want to do those things, and we need to cut another million, or 800-something, 60,000, then I think we have to look at the things we just cut. And we may just say we can't do it if that's what the vote's going to be.

Okay, seeing no more comments, I believe we have a motion and a second.

We seconded the motion, ma'am.

Councilmember can't you can't you did okay?

Okay, so we need to yeah If I could never pretend if I can just crack back I believe to accomplish what your motion is the proper motion probably to amend the ordinance to adopt the no new revenue area and Then and then adopt the ordinance as amended and then a top what? Then then pass over then vote on the ordinance as amended.

Okay So we'd need to change the moat

So the ordinance before us is for the .599774, but if the will of the council is to approve the no new revenue rate, then you would amend the ordinance to adopt the no new revenue rate. So you'd amend the ordinance and then vote on the ordinance as amended.

Okay. So we would be first voting on an amendment, and that'll get voted up or down, and then we'll go back to the language of the actual ordinance. Okay. Does everyone understand that? All right.

I'm sorry.

So the motion that was made is going to be an amendment to the ordinance. So rather than a motion to set, it's a motion to amend to the no new revenue rate.

You ready, ma'am?

The amendment fails. Do we, so now we would just vote on the ordinances as stated?

Yes, that's correct. I would move that the property tax rate be increased by the adoption of a tax rate of 0.599774 for $100 valuation, which is effectively a 0.50% increase in the tax rate. Second. We have a motion and a second.

Please submit your vote. Okay, the motion carries. That moves us on to item number seven, which is an ordinance amending the code of ordinances, chapter nine, aviation section 9-35 parking rates by revising the parking rate for long-term parking.

That required, I'm sorry, that required six votes, I believe. Yes, and that was just five votes. So if you're going to go over the no new revenue tax rate, then that requires six votes to pass. So there were just five votes. Yes, the right right the final vote to pass the revenue rate will require the 60% Now you need six votes for For this it's a point five increase over the no new revenue. So that requires six votes.

So we have to read cast a vote Well, I mean if someone Do you need someone on the prevailing side to request recall?

No. Well, yes, we do need to reconsider. We're going to need to reconsider it to vote it again. Do you feel the vote would change at this point? Oh, they're conferring. Let them confer.

I would say the 60% to adopt it, yes, to reading. Okay.

Okay. So it'll be six. So then that would give us the six vote threshold. Thank you, Mr. Hernandez.

Do we need to go through the vote again or you can just change the record?

I'm okay as long as everyone's okay with that. If we just note for the record that, well, you know what? It has to be a record vote. It has to be a record vote. So yes, we are going to need to vote again.

Okay. Hail Mary. Councilman Vaughn.

Mr. Sinoni, so basically what we're saying, if we don't vote for this, we're not going to have enough money to cover the budget, right? So anybody up here voting no for political reason or whatever, you're going to have to vote no on covering the budget because you didn't vote to fund the budget. That's right. It's an FYI. They can also find the $800,000 and don't pay somebody more. I mean, it's the same thing.

I mean, find $800,000 a year.

miss huerta do you have it queued up yes ma'am we do okay if you'll please submit your votes um okay moving on to item seven ordinance amending the code of ordinances chapter nine aviation section nine dash three five parking rates by revising the parking rate for long-term parking at the corpus christi international airport i move for approval we have a motion and a second for approval council member scott your question yeah i do this is one of those where you wake up at 11 there like what really uh

I'M GOING TO HOPE YOU PRESENTED THE ONE WORKSHOP I WOULDN'T HEAR. SO WE'RE ONE OF THE FEW AIRPORTS THAT HAS FREE PARKING. WHAT'S THIS, PAGE 4 OF YOUR SLIDE PRESENTATION? IS THAT WHAT THAT IS?

YES. WE PROVIDE MAYOR PROTEM AND COUNSELOR SCOTT, WE PROVIDE THREE HOURS FREE PARKING FOR ANYBODY WHO COMES TO THE AIRPORT.

YEAH. I'VE USED IT. BUT I DIDN'T REALIZE OTHER AIRPORTS DON'T.

There's a few comparable in McAllen and Harlingen. They do about 30 minutes and one hour. So there's some that still give a little bit across the nation. But those are the closest ones, and they provide it.

And that's why our usage, is that the purple? Is that based on, I don't know, because it's free, right? So free parking. in in that we weren't able to show hourly but yeah that's showing the three hours compared to uh McAllen and Harledge and let me look at it and the new revenue goes to I'm working on my uh my my my my luggage uh walkway that's that's all that's all I'm focused on is a smooth walkway for people to carry drag their luggage from long-term parking

so this is a five-year plan it's been forecasted and everything and we had to do a reset because the numbers were showing that we weren't meeting it this year we forecast that we'll make 3.5 million dollars is that the 27 that's a year-to-year year-over-year change of a negative 142 000 um yes because of the the shift they were really aggressive on what they forecasted out and so we really need to go back and adjust the numbers and everything and that's why you see that major drop we were just weren't hitting the target that they had uh expected and that's a revenue target yes and so the answer is to raise the rate Well, so what's happening is on that is that you see the reduction in some of the flight operations and everything and the employments and all. But we're still getting the vehicle traffic and everything in there. We're still filling in about 65% to 70% in all the areas. So we're still maintaining it. But it's just when you look at the overall flow. So does this mean you're going to need to raise it again next year? we will take a look at it because we're at the end of the five-year plan so over this next year we'll do a review do a comparison to the other airports comparable to our size and we'll look at that right because it needs to break even right i mean that's yes so it is what it is i'm fine i just saw it and

Just start now paying attention. I apologize for late notice, but I Found it interesting.

Thanks a big thing for us on this is that you know We just spent six hundred thousand CIP for a project and then this will do for the walkway and other capital project for the expansion the Long-term parking area, which would be about 2.5 million. So this will go towards that helping with that.

I Don't have any questions. Do you need to briefly maybe highlight your presentation? Is there anything pertinent? I

through it real quick real briefly so we're looking at the current is ten dollars going to eleven dollars which is comparable to both mcallen and harlingen if you look at the rates this was the five-year plan before this rates hadn't been raised for over four years we'll be right on target with the other airports and then as a comparison look at it just from a bar chart

and really that is it okay well thank you very much thank you so much at this time i will open for public comment does anyone have any public comment on item seven okay seeing none i have a motion and a second i believe rebecca if you want to go ahead and everybody can cast their vote Okay, we'll move on to item number eight, an ordinance amending various sections of the Code of Ordinances, Chapter 21, solid waste, by revising applicable charges related to mulch and composting and amending disposal rates at the transfer station for commercial loads and implementing volume limits on residential bulk drop-off.

I move for approval.