Mayor and Council - Special Meeting

Yes, but it's also in the, if you log on to the website, it's on the notice. You have the agenda. You can get it on there. Go ahead.

Let me log in for a second. Thank you.

Council member. Council member. Council member. Council member. Council member. City manager. City attorney. Here. City Treasurer Alejandro Martinez. Thank you. And also just, if I may, Mayor Pro Tempore, Mayor Grijalva designated for informational purposes Ms. Dillman as Mayor Pro Tempore for today, just to cover the meeting. So he has the authority to designate any council member as his Mayor Pro Tempore during his absence. You may proceed. Yes, we do, Mayor Potemper, and we have Ms. Susan Ann Kramer.

Thank you. is is from the outside . So .

Not . But basically, by standing on the .

but and i don't mean like um um We also have music. We have music. We have music. We could expand things that happen in the summer, or the cloudy night, 50 degrees, downtown, and expand those. But a part of that also is we need to start presenting ourselves outside of the home. We need to see to be shared with the county, and that's . um yes um

Thank you.

Council Member Pedrego. Councilmember Montaño Councilmember Durazo Councilmember Shelton Councilmember Acosta Mayor Pro Tempore-Dillman Motion carries.

Yes, thank you.

Mayor Pro Tem, members of the council. Again, we're coming back to you with this second reading. This is part of our... Our two-port solution expanding of Raul H. Castro Port of Entry. The General Services Administration is acting through the United States government to expand this part of the project. It includes the diversion of drainage and constructing a new drainage channel that will take water directly west and eventually drain into its natural drainage location in Mexico. GSA is requesting an easement over city-owned parcels to construct new drainage channel. So this is the second reading of this, and we recommend approval of the easement, as well as the agreement of purchase of the easement between the United States of America and the city of Douglas.

Councilmember pedregal. Councilmember montaño councilmember durazo councilmember Shelton. Councilmember costa mayor for tempered human. Motion carries.

We can switch our slides if you'd like.

We can switch our slides? Yeah, I don't mind.

Just let me know when. So where am I pointing this to? A lot of help. I was sorry. Hmm. Thank you.

Thank you. And Mr. I'd like to also thank you for your suggestions. I think there's several things that we can partner with fundraising. I like that. And I know that we have an active volunteer program exists, but it's recruiting to those positions that are often hard. So we can collaborate on that as well. Thank you. Renee, do you have volunteer TNR coordinators in other Quidditch County cities, or are they, you're the, they don't have what we have. Okay. And I think funding support is especially important for us to partner with.

OK.

Thank you.

Mm hmm. Okay.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you. Okay. If I may, and strictly for information purposes only, my mother, in the past few years, started with those three kittens that eventually ended up with 17 or so cats in her yard. And she called and contacted. She lives outside of city limits. And initially, yes. So the traps were set. They did the whole program and released back. And initially she was upset because she just didn't want to have 17 cats, but she fed them. But the programs worked. I couldn't even tell you how long because time goes so quickly. And it's been at least a couple of years, but she has no more cats. And... It's been in the last couple years. Yeah. Yeah, we can tell you. But it's been in the last couple of years, and we went through the whole motion. And so I've just seen it. My neighbor also in my neighborhood, when she moved, because she was the one to feed the cats. Can't say that I did, but she did. And when she moved away, she made sure she was responsible and took care of it through that program. And I see very few cats. And it's been, I don't know how long your program works or why my mother no longer has 17 cats. I've just got to attribute it to eventually it works. Right. Or they go somewhere else, right?

Mm-hmm. Bye.

Mayor Pro Tempore, if you can just wait just one second.

Mayor Pro Tempore, if I may, I do have a letter from a citizen of the community that would like for me to read this letter. She submitted the letter today. Dear Mayor and Council, I live in the area of Douglas where abandoned and stray cats are unfortunately very common. I care for a small colony of community cats and I want to express my appreciation for the work Renee and the Cochise County Community Society or Humane Society have done to help our community address this issue humanely and effectively. when one of my community cats had kittens renee responded immediately she provided traps and equipment taught me how to safely trap the cats and arrange foster placement for the kittens since then she has continued to answer questions and provide guidance whenever i have needed help Through her efforts, all five adult cats from my colony have been sprayed and neutered and returned, and five others were placed into foster care instead of remaining on the streets. This work makes a real difference. It reduces suffering, helps control the stray cat population responsibly, and supports residents who are trying to do the right thing for animals in our community. I hope the city will continue supporting and working with the Cochise County Humane Society to address community cat issues through humane programs such as TNR, foster placement, and public education. Thank you for your time and consideration. Sincerely, Kendra Allen.

Thank you. Thank you. Yes. Can you hear me now, Dennis?

We constantly are bringing items to you for whether it's easements or grants or utility corridor components. So all of you keep kind of in the weeds with how that's progressing. But this is more also intended for the community members to hear what our mayor presents at different functions as he moves this project forward on behalf of the community. have to see where my pointing is we'll start with just um a picture of what the uh the current situation is and we've had congested you know uh over time just northbound trucks uh mixed in with northbound cars and not having enough of um space there and As many of you know, we've been working on this for decades through past administrations, past mayors and council, just working through relief here and finding solutions to expand a very, very congested port of entry. And fast forward to... The current situation continues, well, it's not fast forward, but trying to get us to the situation where we will progress into the two-port solution. We continue to have a facility that is outdated, that is congested. is landlocked on the Mexican side. I mean, you just have to drive through and you see some of the sharp turns that some of the big trucks have to make to go northbound. They do cross with many hazardous materials from the mines in Naquasote. It's one of our largest commodity that crosses. And we have trucks that intermingle with cars and pedestrians. So just that alone causes a problem with idling of both cars because of the congestions. We continue to see increases in the port activity. And here are some of the metrics on what we see just in our small port of entry. And that continues to see a very large and busy trade corridor. Again, more of a situation here that shows that 90 degree turn into the compound or the commercial traffic lane. It's very difficult to maneuver, especially when privately owned vehicles are just either behind or ahead or alongside it. So the oversize and overweight shipments also block traffic for hours at a time. The queuing up of that causes problems, the idling, and just an environmental issue there as well. We continue to have major mining, industrial, infrastructure investments in Agua Prieta and the region. So we do see a growth in truck traffic. for years to come. And part of this picture shows his consulate Michelle Ward, which is why the mayor's not here today. He's celebrating her departure back to the Department of State for a new assignment. So we will miss her. She's been a great supporter of all of our cross border commercial projects. are project markers for the two-port solution. This is just on Douglas West for the commercial land port of entry. It's fact sheets that are available by GSA through their website that we try and keep updated on as well for all of our outreach when we go to different events and try and keep also Department of State apprised of our efforts on all matters having to do with our two-port solution. so this budget is almost 330 million dollars for the commercial port of entry the size will be on 80.5 acres which were donated by the city of douglas in september of last year and the completion estimation is scheduled for september of 2028 and we are on schedule with that estimated construction completion timeline There are phases that are incorporated into the design of Douglas West. And we use Douglas West for lack of a formal name of that port of entry. I know in Agua Prieta they refer to theirs as Agua Prieta 2. Currently we're just tagging it as Douglas West, but perhaps later it will have a formal name. But the first phase is commercial traffic only. The master plan does incorporate growth and future phases for cars and pedestrians. So that's being incorporated into future design and space. But when it opens at the end of 28, it'll be commercial trucks only. ADOT is working on some efficiencies with GSA and FMCSA for the collocation of their truck safety inspection facilities and processes. Currently, they start their process. They're collocated at this small port of entry, but they have their formal weigh station and inspection station on 191. And it's very inefficient because once trucks cross here, there's no guarantee that they'll funnel through and back and forth from that station. So co-location has been a key effort and a key efficiency that we've been able to reach partnership on and funding both from the ADOT side along with GSA and FMCSA to allow for proper space for both entities or all entities to work collaboratively for that inspection partnership of all trucks. and as we know construction is underway the commercial port of entry we had our groundbreaking um september of last year i think i said september for the donation it was december of 2024 that was the donation and then september of 25 which was the groundbreaking if you all saw that in my news articles and promotion marketing material and We had to go indoors because it rained that day, but we made it work and it was a beautiful ceremony. We actually had the screen in the back showing the live site and the dirt that we brought in for the shoveling was actually from the actual site.

Great event, lots of

representation statewide. This just shows a few. I know it's hard to see from Highway 80 what is going on, especially because nothing is vertical yet. Everything is foundation and concrete work. But there are, it's just amazing what they've been able to already lay out. Because as they lay out the foundations and the trails and all of the sections here, you start seeing the formation that you see on the design concepts and on the actual site plans. So definitely moving along.

And we are happy to see that they continue to be on schedule.

utilities corridor so this is something that you hear often we have come in and brought phased approaches on grants and funding and contract approvals for all of these different phases for the utilities corridor Under the donation agreement for the city of Douglas, the obligation that the city of Douglas had was to carry 45,000 linear feet of pipe from Copper Road west to Cochise College and then back through James Ranch Road to the new port of entry. Takes a little bit of a different... Access and direction when we talk about the wastewater so the first phase to get wastewater is to the port of entry using kings highway and fuzzy ranch road and a new road that has been named West commerce way and that you can see in the yellow. is the wastewater direction to the port of entry, and then in the pink or reddish color is the initial phase of the water line and broadband conduit going over to Cochise College. The purple shows James Ranch Road, and I'll talk a little bit about that part of the project as well. So I briefly mentioned earlier that about $330 million was reserved for the commercial port of entry. Another almost even amount, or $300,000, is $300 million is designated for the current port expansion. So when you put those together, you have over a $600 million project When you add the road, the road recently completed its gapping of funding through an appropriations at the federal level that was awarded to ADOT. ADOT will have the responsibility for the connector road which is what's in purple that's almost a 50 million dollar project just to get that road and it's fully funded and several of us have just been working together in partnership to find that funding and and it was finally achieved what we still don't have completely gapped is the utility corridor funding it's equivalent to about the same amount about the 50 million range for that entire corridor that you see on the map. We have secured $19.6 million with past funding opportunities that we've reached. We have another $8 million underway currently that's moving along very nicely through NADBank. We just recently had a public hearing for that portion. And so we're inching away towards that $30.7 million gap. And we have other things underway through state legislature appropriations, through a bill, through this legislative session. Don't know how that's going to end up yet. We're hopeful. But we also have some continued federal CDS requests two of which are moving along and sponsored by Senators Diago and Kelly currently. And that's totaling about six million dollars at the current time. And then there's an additional appropriations, just under a million that is being sponsored by Representative Rahal Bustamante. So we continue to work towards that very, very tall lift. This infrastructure and utilities corridor connects, as I mentioned, Cochise Community College, the Border Patrol Station. The Border Patrol Station has been there on Kings Highway without city infrastructure. They have their own well, they have leaching fields, and they're very excited about finally being connected into infrastructure. The corridor will provide opportunity for future investment as well. Even though we are currently funding only what's in yellow, what's in red, what's in purple, the opportunity for expansion from that kind of sets the tone for future opportunity and expansion. And that makes it even more exciting. I think I've already kind of talked through the preferred connector road James ranch road. And we'll talk through the a dot portion of that we've now also. The. We always include this because this shows a cross-section of the five lanes that will be part of that connector road. We had so many... different phases of this because we were so unsure of bridging that gap for funding. And we have the obligation, just like City of Douglas has the obligation to bring the utilities to the commercial port of entry, ADOT had the obligation to connect the road from Highway 80 to the port. It's only a mile and a half long. But we were getting ANSI when we hadn't closed that funding, or ADOT was working. We were working, everyone, all of the stakeholders. Cochise County has been a great partner along with many other regional stakeholders. But we had phased approaches on the design concepts from two-lane to now the fully funded five-lane with the median again. So we... Never thought that that's what a mile and a half road would cost, but that is what we finally have. We always talk at a high level about what's happening on the Mexico side. So this was several months ago in October. We had a delegation visit the state offices in Hermosillo, just really making sure that they knew what our progress was on the two-part solution and making sure that they had every piece of the detail and every grant that we were moving forward and every challenge that we had because we just wanted to in-depth make sure that they knew how important it was that we see the similar activity on their site. Things don't work the same way, we realize, and from the very inception of our project, Mexico and all of our border meetings and congressional meetings where we had binational representation, they always assured us that things were moving along, but very different timelines. So what they had is a Mexican landowner initially donate 60 acres, about 60 acres to Indabin, Indabene is the equivalent of GSA for us, where we donated our 80 acres. But then it became evident that there was additional land required, and that's the part that continues to be delayed. And I understand they're now in final negotiations, and that was the most recent update we had last week. however we did have the state of sonora as their agency called sidur which is our equivalent of a dot that we work here that's producing our road and is a partner to the project fund their master plan which is their Proyecto Ejecutivo for Agua Prieta II. And the contract was awarded, and it's underway. And the timeline for the master plan is six months, so we expect to see the final master plan in December. But there are meetings with Department of State in September that we hope to have a sneak peek at a design concept by then. So things are moving, and after the master plan is approved and stamped by all of the relevant Mexican agencies, it goes to the federal level for direction on funding, comes back to Hermosillo for final funding at the state level, and then we're hoping that construction is slated for 2027. Also, the ,, which is the other leg of the two-port solution, has always trailed the commercial port of entry by a 12 to 18-month lag. And that seems to be right on schedule. We have been working a great deal with the preliminary stormwater drainage design of this expansion and remodeling we have also been working with gsa a great deal on the property owners and land that they will need to negotiate acquisition of land with because this is not just remodeling it's expanding into the current area that is currently known as gaitan the ueta next to gaitan and the city of douglas small park that has a restroom facility adjacent to the ufa so all of that will become gsa property and the real estate section of gsa is working on making those land acquisition offers. Through that same division of GSA is what we just approved a second reading for on the easement, the permanent easement that allows them the opportunity to move forward in their construction and establishment of utilities and everything that they need and we received our offer in excess of $300,000 for them. We are also waiting for acquisition offers for a few other parcels, including the one I just mentioned where we have the restroom facility and two or three more west of Pan American. Other owners are awaiting the same thing. All of that will begin in, we expect fall of this year with the stormwater drainage preliminary work, and then in spring of 27 with the actual construction and remodeling. We continue to partner. It's going to be all hands on deck with stakeholder agencies, partner agencies, because we will have a lot of traffic control to deal with when that takes place and rerouting and working with our commercial trucks through ADOT and their collaboration of those efforts to make it as smooth as possible during that transition. In conclusion, the commercial port of entry is well under construction. It's moving along within the timeline. Connector Road is fully funded and construction will start in quarter one of 27 and completed in quarter two of 28. Sonora through Sidur is leading their master planning process for the port on the Mexican side. And the utility corridor for the new port of entry to be completed quarter two of 27. And we still have that gap, but we're positive about our progress on keeping the progress going. We've already started with the 19 million we have, eight millions underway through NAB Bank and future six, seven million through some federal appropriations for sure. And we're waiting on some other things to fall into place. So the modernization again begins in 2027 for the other section of the existing Port of Entry. And we continue to work with federal and state partners, utilities, engineers. We have for five years now, religiously had a technical team meeting every three weeks to make sure that everything is aligned with all of the federal agencies, all of the contractors, all of the utility areas. And we end up with homework and project and research that everyone breaks away into some subcommittees to bring back in the next meeting within the three-week period to solve some of these issues and continue working alongside any challenges that come up. And challenges do come up, and we continue to work together to see them through. You've seen some of those challenges come through the dais or different direction or different changes. But we continue to support the great investment for the community. And with that sparks growth for annexation, growth for streets and roads, with our new asphalt plant growth, with downtown revitalization efforts that are underway, and all of the policy priorities that are part of the mayor and council's vision 2032. So that is the mayor's presentation. We're on behalf of the mayor. Yes, you may ask a question. Hopefully I can answer the questions. If they're too technical, we'll get the answers back for you. Hopefully we have better news by September and then December to see final action and funding of that master plan. Mayor Pro Tem, Council Member Pedreiro, Opportunities right now lie strictly between them and their private matters between GSA and the property owners. We just are a guide and we allow our office to be used kind of as the central location for their They have some agreements. I forget what they're called. They're not NDAs, but they have agreements that they enter into that we're not privy to. So anything's possible, I suppose. But whatever is going on with those acquisitions is strictly between those two. You're welcome. Thank you. OK. We are partnering on the stormwater drainage component. They work very, very closely with our wastewater plant and how some of the redirection of the stormwater channel is going to impact and reach a different area than it's currently running. So currently, our stormwater drains out into what is known as the jungle. And that will be diverted as part of the new engineering for stormwater access. It doesn't mean the jungle will go dry. I mean, there's still a big percentage of water that will continue to go through there, but much of it will be diverted. And that's the component that we've been most actively working on as an entity. The rest of that, we've not been involved in too much other than just updates as I've provided. Unlike the commercial port of entry where our obligation is the 45,000 linear feet of pipe and carrying that through and that's been a tall lift, we don't have anything at that level yet that we are aware of. We also coordinated initially with their environmental review when SHPO was involved on whether the original custom house was going to be removed or not. So we were more in also the facilitating and coordinating position there. But other than that, there's nothing specific. Coordination later on traffic control, but no funding. Other questions? It will. Big challenge with patrol. Police department always assists in conversations with our port director on how to ease things. And we will continue to do so to try and figure out those traffic pattern plans. We also have issues with taxi drivers that we'll have to assist with, maybe some limited parking areas. We have pedestrian areas that will need to have transit connection opportunities and we are looking at, we have, you know, there's so many things that are going to continue to be partnerships and programs and projects. We're focused so much on the two port solution and our obligation right now with our 30 million for the utility corridor and the stormwater redesign. But we have things in what's called the ADOT Border Master Plan that includes a possibility of reassessing Third Street and reassessing perhaps a pedestrian bridge over Pan American Avenue. And just like 191, Cochise County's very, very integrated on future projects to widen 191 because of commercial traffic and the impacts that one thing's going to cause another. So we can't focus just on we're done with a two-port solution. It just continues to drive more conversation as we continue to thrive on the project at many new levels. which is exciting in and of itself, but more funding requirements and more of the same cycles. Great vision to have, yes. Mayor Motem, Councilmember Montaño, not recently, but what we do know is that we have been engaged with them for a few years now on trying to keep more agents in the community and trying to figure out the challenges on why they don't stay in the community and looking at it from an economic development perspective. And we have been working through our congressional delegations on making sure that the efficiencies at the hiring levels of the federal government are made to be more efficient, nimble, quicker to get through because those background processes often take so long. But I don't have a current number, but I'm happy to look into that. I do know that Border Patrol, only because my son's currently at the Academy, they're just rolling in so many classes and they're kind of stacked. And so I don't know that that's happening at the Customs as well, but I will find out and get some updated information. We also meet with Border Patrol agents in charge periodically, and they usually have a quarterly update for us, and I'll check new updates is there as well. Because, again, just because Artesia is stacking doesn't mean it's for our section here. It's along the southern border, and I would hope that that's a similar case for the Customs side as well. But I will include that in my weekly updates as an update item. They're sparse and being moved, perhaps. But we continue to work with. We did a survey a year and a half ago, almost, at the request of Council Member to find out what keeps you from living here and what would keep you here in our community. And it's all efforts that we continue to work toward. I think that's great questions. Any more questions? Thank you very much.

Good evening, Dennis. Thank you.

All right, have a nice evening.