Commissioners Court - Special Meeting

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Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat Hola, El Paso. Winter is almost over and El Paso County is springing into March with everything that is going on across our county. Now, let's take a look back at some of February's highlights. The countyy's second parks and recreation capital improvement bond project is now underway. A

groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Awad Dulce improvements project. The renovations to the park includes a paved parking lot with ADA accessible spaces, a new walking trail, a water fountain, and new shelters which include amenities like picnic tables, benches, and waste receptacles to improve safety and accessibility throughout the park. The countyy's first ever animal shelter is one step closer to reality. As phase two of the facility's development was discussed in a community meeting, the public was presented with new design concepts inspired by the results of the first community meeting. Attendees were presented two options for the building's design and highlighted new kennels separated by a bark wall. The public was able to present their input on the new design options in person and online. The front entrance of the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse was decorated in colorful messages for the third annual Talk About Love event. In recognition of teen dating violence awareness month, the Center against Sexual and Family Violence in partnership with El Paso County Attorney Christina Sanchez and District Attorney James Montoya invited the community to participate. Community members were encouraged to create colorful sidewalk chalk messages that promoted respect, healthy relationships, and love. This interactive event raised awareness about teen dating violence while fostering positive conversations and community engagement. That does it for this month's county connects. Until next time, let's get ready for spring and make sure to stay connected with El Paso County.

Mh. Mhm. a a Hey, hey, hey. Hey hey hey, hey, hey, hey, Welcome to the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office, where we're dedicated to helping families navigate the complexities of family law with empathy, clarity, and a commitment to excellence. As an integral part of the El Paso County Civil Court system, we strive to provide support during challenging times. We are dedicated to supporting parents, guardians, and children in

navigating complex issues such as custody, visitation, child support, and beyond. Whether you are recently divorced, in the midst of a custody dispute, or facing challenges with child support, we stand ready to offer compassionate guidance and unwavering support. Our mission is to assist children and families during what can be one of the most challenging times in their lives, ensuring they have the resources and assistance they need to move forward confidently. We provide services both in person and virtually, collaborating closely with judges, attorneys, and service providers to address each family's unique needs. Our child support enforcement unit plays a vital role in ensuring that children receive the financial support necessary for their well-being. When a court orders child support, it represents not just a figure, but a commitment to a child's future. This unit consists of a team of attorneys, enforcement officers, financial specialists, legal engagement officers, parillegals, and administrative staff who assist with the collection and enforcement of child support and medical support. Domestic relations office attorneys decide what enforcement remedies will be used based on the particular facts of the case. We help enforce court orders by monitoring payments and maintaining accurate records. Working with parents who have fallen behind, helping them understand their obligations and options, filing enforcement actions with the court when necessary, and helping parents modify orders if their financial situation changes significantly. Because we know life happens and fairness matters. We know that every family situation is different. That's why our staff works with compassion, confidentiality, and professionalism, helping both custodial and non-custodial parents understand the process, meet their obligations, and keep the focus

where it belongs, on the children. Another one of our core responsibilities is through our family court service unit where we support the courts in making informed child- centered decisions in custody and visitation cases. In contested custody matters when parents can agree on who should care for the child, judges often rely on our skilled professionals to provide objective and detailed assessments. Family court services social workers or guardian adult items are appointed by judges to conduct thorough investigations and provide reports to the court based on the interests of the children involved. Either party may request the appointment of a guardian adal item for their case. In addition, family court services staff are appointed on some adoption cases to conduct evaluations. Our cooperative parenting program provides co-parenting classes which focus on the needs of children and parents in the aftermath of separation or divorce. Topics include parent, children and the involvement in the court, positive co-parenting practices, impact of divorce and separation on child development, communication, conflict resolution and anger management. Classes are offered both in person and virtually and are open to everyone. No court order needed. Co-parents take the classes separately to ensure participants are comfortable discussing the topics. Individuals may register for classes by either visiting the domestic relations office website or by calling the office at 915-2733533 or by picking up the form inside our office. Class schedules can also be found on the website. Once the registration is received, the individual will be contacted by the program facilitator to discuss attendance and answer questions via email or phone. Class schedules can also be found on the website. Once the registration is

received, the individual will be contacted by the program facilitator. Our office is dedicated to providing essential legal assistance tailored to family law issues. We empower parents to effectively enforce and modify access and possession time with their children, ensuring that their rights are upheld. For those seeking to formalize agreements, we facilitate parenting negotiation conferences that transform your arrangements into legally binding court orders. At the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office, we're committed to helping families find solutions that work. So, please visit our website or give us a call today to learn how we can help you move forward.

Huh? Morning. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Live from El Paso County, Texas, the veterans capital of the USA. From inside the Alicia Chicone Commissioner's Courtroom of the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse, you are watching the El Paso County Commissioner's Court Meeting. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Today is Thursday, March 19, 2026. Commissioner's court is meeting in special open session. Today, we are joined by ASL interpreters Monserat Vasana and James Garcia. Would you please rise for the pledge of

allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Commissioner, would you like to make some opening comments before we begin?

Just very briefly to welcome everyone to another Thursday special session. Um, thank you all for being here. I'm not sure if we're going to have Commissioner Stout um on video, but I believe he may be joining us in a little bit. Thank you. Item number three is public comment. We do have several speakers for public comment. First, we have Mr. Saul Gonzalez. Just as a reminder, there is a fivem minute time limit for public comment. We will be keeping time. Good morning, Buenosas.

Good morning. Uh my name is Sol Gonzalez and I'm an organizer with Sanosansa. So earlier this month you have an item on the agenda item 9A that was removed uh from regular agenda and it's an item that you will be discussing today in executive session item C which is an amendment to the contract with meta. We have been really clear about this data center. We don't want it. The people of El Paso don't want it. Uh we met with each commissioner uh with the exception of the judge and I hope he reach out to us. Um we created a guide that outlines our concerns and we have been involved with different entities trying to cancel uh the agreements with meta. So today you're going into executive session and I hope I really hope you take the right decisions and don't make this worst. I hope you guys are exploring alternatives to cancel this agreement. Meta will not contribute in a positive way to the people of El Paso. Often we talk about economic development. Who's benefit from it? We are not. We're going to inherit. Well, let me let me just go back. Um, right now there's an application at the PUCT to build a power plant for this uh data center, which in 5 years we're going to inherit, which means we're going to have to pay more um more in electricity. uh more in water and I don't think that's fair. I don't think we should be

the ones paying for that. So, I'm asking you to please consider voiding this contract cuz it's no longer practical or possible for us to honor this um agreement. We don't have the water. This is a desert and I don't know who thought that this was a good idea, but it's not. So I'm really really ask hoping that you take this into consideration and also um be more transparent with the public. I don't know why it was changed from uh the public agenda the regular agenda now it's in into executive session and we have a lot of uh questions. We deserve answers and it's sad to see that um these entities are not transparent because of the NDAs. I understand that. So in the future, please don't consider bringing more data centers or at least don't have any NDAs. So thank you for your time and I hope we can continue this conversation and thank you so much.

Thank you. episode. Our next speaker signed up for public comment is Miss Veronica Carvajal.

Morning commissioners. Um, great to see you again. Veronica Carvajal with the San Pansa Coalition. Um, I just want to be I I did sign up to speak about the the um 381 agreement with Worldwide um aka Meta, but I first as a Chana and now an organizer, I do want to uplift who um I know has influenced many of us in this room and um as well as all victims of sexual assault and um sexual harassment, especially at the hands of people um primarily men in power. And I trust that the county is looking into ways to um uh really eliminate uh a problem that has impeded many of our movements um and our progress for for many decades. Um and moving on to the the data centers which I know that that the Dolores would want us to get back to work on is um as um as Saul said, Separansa has been working on this since the fall. Um, El Paso as well as Donana County have joined hundreds of communities across the country that have said no to AI data centers primarily for a few reasons. The consumption of water, the consumption of energy, and the impact on utility rates. We have um been very disappointed um at the fact that the non-disclosure agreements um by META have really impeded our ability to know what is going on. Um and yet we are the ones that will pay for the consequences of a data center that we did not fully understand the impact of especially two years ago. Um in the last two years because of the work of our colleagues throughout the the state and the country we've come to realize just how terrible these data centers are. Um as you know in March just earlier this month um President Trump announced the rateayer protection pledge which was signed by Meta. It's a voluntary pledge in which Meta is saying that they will pay for

all of the infrastructure costs of their energy consumption. Um, and it does not touch, first of all, it doesn't touch the water. Um, so they're not talking about their commitment to paying for future water expenses like the importing of water from Dell City, which will cost us up to maybe upwards of a billion dollars. But going back to the pledge in particular, that is the problem with these companies. They continue to make voluntary pledges that cannot be enforced in a in a court of law. That is highly problematic and unfair to the community because as you know many of us expected them to use renewable energy. Now they're trying to build them a cloud facility. We're involved with that um complaint before the util with that application before the utility commission of Texas. Um they also promised to not use water yet. we spoke to and we've seen the contract they we are committing to giving them um hundreds of millions of gallons of water um every year um and in terms of the Mloud facility going back to that the utility is a bridge plant that is why one of our residents one of our members was allowed to intervene because the commission recognized that he has standing because he along with other rateayers will have to face a rate case involving that facility in 5 years. And so we um ask that you take all of the concerns that you've heard from us. I know that some of you have attended other conferences and spaces where data centers have been raised and that you take those concerns to heart and you take them into these private spaces and executive session. We are asking that the 381 agreement be voided. We should not be incentivizing such a terrible industry. Um and we also ask that you help us facilitate a public meeting with Meta. um El Paso Electric and El Paso Water. Um due to the fact that those three entities are hiding behind the the NDAs and have not been transparent in

regards to this impact, the impact that this data center will have, we've seen our community really rise up against ICE detention centers. And we see these two struggles very intertwined. We're talking about water and we're talking about um industries that do not align with our values. We're a community that um holds our water very sacred, but we also hold each other very sacredly and and we really ask that you think about the byproduct of this industry. The fact that artificial intelligence is not serving us. Um it's actually damaging um our children. It's damaging our ability to walk without being surveiled um etc. And so um please reconsider the 381. We're hoping that that is the purpose of the executive session meeting um and that Meta isn't actually asking for more because the only things that are in writing are actually quite painful to our community. So, thank you so much for your time. We do have new flyers for the data center struggle and so we will provide those to to the um the county administration. Thank you.

Thank you, Veronica. Our next speaker, we have Miss Diana Martinez. Hello. Go ahead, Miss Martinez. Um,

yes. Um, we should not allow the data centers in El Paso or uh in this region at all. Uh, our water supply cannot sustain data centers. It's more important that our future residents and our current residents have water to drink. People will say, "Oh, data centers are drinking money." Well, what what is the use of money? We don't have any water. Number one. Number two, this is a support infrastructure or is it meta shares information with the government who is very much heavily surveilling what people post on social media especially in uh in reference to people who are advocating for marginalized communities and also uh facial recognition surveillance as well. to impact again migrants and people who are advocating for marginalized. So um don't need to have a support infrastructure that bring that will bring more harm to marginalized folks. And that's all I have to say. Thank you Diana. Our next speaker, do we have a Daniel Ria on the phone?

They are no longer on the phone.

Okay. He did submit his comment to be read in from Daniel Ria. Please void the 381 agreement with Meta. Research shows data centers are terrible for the health of the community surrounding them and it is not worth anything else that they may claim to bring that is beneficial for El Paso economy or community. End of public comment. We also received another public comment from Aladdin in which is I encourage the people in this room to reconsider allowing Meta to come into our community. Meta and its subsidiaries are selfserving institution. They have no intention of improving the quality of life in our community. We can see the future if they are allowed to invade based on other cities and towns around the US who have been unlucky to have them. They will destroy our water which is already scarce in our desert community. They will destroy the quality of life with the noise from the plant. They will price out the good people out of this region by placing the brunt of expenses on us. I encourage everyone to truly think about the price we all will be paying if they are allowed to to possess this city. AI exists as an alternate to humans to humanity. do not believe them when they say that this benefits anyone. AI boasts that it can and will replace anything and anyone. We cannot believe them when they say it will benefit anyone but a select few who don't care what happens to the good people of this region. End of public comment.

Thank you. Do we have anybody else in the audience who would like to speak for public comment? This concludes I believe we have somebody else. Yes, Miss Lisa Kurts.

Lisa Kurts, are you available? Lisa Curts, did you sign up for public comment?

I think she's um going to present for the CIT analysis. Okay, thank you. This concludes all the speakers signed up for item number three for public comment. Item number four from the regular agenda pursuant to strategic plan 2026 through 2031 goal five cultivate strategic partnerships and community connections. Action two, strategic planning roundt with partners concept plan direction and county actions. Receive a presentation from emergency service district number one. Good morning, commissioners. Raone Braam Montes from County Administration. Today, we continue uh working toward our goal, which is to eventually have a strategic planning round table with all of our partners throughout the county. Uh as part of that preparation work, we have ESD here number one today. And I do not need to introduce this gentleman because we know him very well.

Thank you, Ramon. Good morning, Chief.

Morning, commissioners. How are y'all today? Uh Chris Menendez, fire chief for emergency services district number one. This morning we're going to talk a little bit about our strategic plan and our strategic plan in regards to what we've accomplished, where we're going, and what we want to do. Uh the plan was kind of based upon our 10-year uh strategic analysis uh that we did uh starting in 2020 to current wellcoming 2030. And so our pres presentation will be a short little PowerPoint to kind of tell you where we're at um with some of the accomplishes accomplishments that we've we've completed and then go into what we plan on doing for the next five years. And so a little bit about our district. You can see here uh kind of the boundaries. Uh we cover 148 square miles from I 10 to the city of El Paso which will be around the Joe Battle area up to the mountain area which we know as Naps Mountain uh through Temperance going further east uh of our of our district here. And so kind of that's a synopsis. It isn't a perfect line by no means. It does kind of cut in and out, but that's kind of the the fundamental part of what our district looks like. uh when you see or when you talk about emergency services district number one. So our mission statement is provide high level of costefficient quality services to the citizens of El Paso County. Everything that we do is based upon that mission statement. And so this mission statement was created when we did uh the strategic plan back in 2020. And this was uh completed uh with uh not only our commissioners uh our administration, firefighters, and we also had some uh people from the community that were also part of our strategic plan. And so how do we accomplish this? Through our vision, which is through community focused ESD services that meet the everchanging needs of our stakeholders um while ensuring a safe and secure environment. And so, uh, to summarize this, we want to make sure the highest level of service is always provided by

the service by the emergency services district number one. So, to talk a little bit about our district, our district data, uh, we have, like I mentioned, we cover 148 square miles. Uh, the town of Horizon encompasses nine square miles of that 148. Uh, current property tax uh, rate is at 10 cents per 100. And then our sales tax is 015% is what we collect outside of the horizon area. And fiscal year 26 budget was 17,867,140 to include a capital budget of $2,486,800. Some of the services that we provide uh include uh ACLS which is uh stands for advanced cardiac life support. Hence the all paramedic program that we facilitate and we have been supporting over the last five years. And currently we have about 70% of our department at the paramedic level. Uh one of the few departments uh in this region uh that is an all paramedic uh entity. Uh we also provide all hazard response to our community. Well, what does that mean? That means that we provide a tactic program to the sheriff's office uh for any type of uh tactical situation that might be required. Uh we also offer training or have firefighters that are trained in confined space high angle. We also are the lead agency for the county search and rescue team and that team encompasses the uh sheriff's office the volunteer departments throughout the county uh the horizon fire department or the ESD also includes state parks and we have other agencies that are wanting to be a part of the search and rescue team that we may look into in the future. One of our biggest accomplishments this year was we joined the tiffas program. TIFmas is the Texas Interstate uh farm mo mutual aid system and this is a uh program that allows us to respond in the state of Texas for wildland firefighting. And so understand that

nothing uh we are reimbursed uh 100% for all uh fees that are added or incurred when we send out personnel to these deployments. And there's times that they're out for two weeks, four weeks, two months. Um, of course, we're doing swaps, but that is all 100% uh covered. And there also we do have a a means of uh obtaining additional funding either through grants from TIFMAS or through administrative fees that allow us to help offset some of the fees that are incurred while we have to set up the billing or um they uh we're able to charge for the apparatus when it goes out. we charge per hour for that truck being gone. And so it is a great program that helps us facilitate um the potential to have that additional revenue stream come in to help with the offset of the cost. Another program that we uh joined this year is the IMT incident management team that's through the office of emergency management. Uh they are also another deployable asset that was part of our strategic plan that allows our fire marshals who are currently uh part of that program uh to deploy uh under um chief Nim kid through OEM to different areas. Perfect example, Kurville was one of them. Uh when the floods of Kurville happened, we had crews uh from Tiffmas, we had crews there from IMT uh assisting with that. And so that was one means or one program that we were able to join as part of it. uh fire marshall's office uh through preventive inspections and fire investigations uh they protect the lives and reduce property loss. We have seen a reduction in fires in our district and it has been proven we've seen the trend over the last three years that shows that they are being very effective. Not only that, but they are also part of the uh program, our public relations specialist uh heads that they go out and we are very active in the public,

whether it be at schools, uh job uh career days, um there's different events, there's different um businesses that are asking for fire safety, extinguisher safety, and we're sending our fire marshals out there to assist with that. And so, they are very proactive. So, it isn't just they're doing inspections or investigations, but they're also assisting and getting out there in the public to spread the message about what we do. So, some of the goals of the district you'll see here. So, we support one, the first one is we support a health and safety well-trained and high performing workforce. This was uh one of four of the items that our strategic plan was was based off of. And so, how do we do this? Well, we provide training. And so training at all levels to include leadership training. Uh one of my major focuses uh over the past couple years was making sure that when we promote somebody to a position of authority or a position that requires management over other employees that they are trained that they know how to handle certain situations. And so uh training in leadership was one of our fundamental um plans to make sure that we made the proper decision and we're able to manage personnel and manage the overall objective of the district. a second objective which was deliver all services to the highest uh qual uh quality as you can see being one of the few departments that is an all paramedic program ACLS again advanced cardic life support um it was one of our pushes to be uh better than the rest give me a little opportunity to kind of toot our horn a little bit um but uh at the end our goal is to provide the best services to the community and so with that also we talk about exceeding the standards Our administrator, Miss Katherine Ames, here will talk a little bit about some of the standards that are coming in and we have by far exceeded those standards through our strategic plan, through our support through the commissioners and through your support of commissioner's court.

So, it's pretty amazing to see all that. Our third initiative part of our strategic plan was to always in the best be to always act in the best interest of the public and provide transparency and responsibility through fiscal management. And so um we are a very transparent department as you are aware. And so uh our biggest or one of our goals or another one of our goals is to make sure that uh there are any questions to be able to provide the solution or the answer to that when anything comes um about through commissioner's court. Uh one of our last objectives or or goals for the district was to ensure the use of resources to maximize levels uh of service. And so this is where we have uh many of our staff from operations to administration to farm marshall office multitasking doing different things beyond what their title uh calls for. And so uh we have been blessed to have that part of our staff. Um they are rock stars I'll say the way it is and they're amazing. They go above and beyond. And so with that all the staff, all the personnel that we have on our department allow us to exceed our strategic goal or strategic initiatives that we have. And so without them we wouldn't be able to do what we do today. So some of our capital improvement priorities ensure life safety and the basic environmental concerns. So when we talk about capital and when we look at purchases that are uh quite expensive. We make sure that these four items are part of the capital priorities. And so uh the next one being maintain the integrity of current capital assets. And so, not only do we purchase the items, but we make sure that we can sustain those items as we go on through the years because we know, you know, usually the first year or two, we're covered on the warranty, but then after that, there's got to be some type of sustainment to make sure that we can maintain and make sure that those those units or the buildings or any type of capital purchase that we uh acquire uh

have a long longevity uh for our department so we're not having to uh purchase uh those items sooner than expected. Perfect example you can see here in the picture is uh our truck uh truck 402 here was one of our newest uh units to our fleet. So when we bought this unit uh four years ago uh and got it delivered a couple months ago. So that kind of puts it in perspective. When you order an apparatus of this magnitude it takes about four years to build and this price tag here is about $1.2 million. In comparison to a car you're looking at about 70 $80,000 and so that's where the differences come into play. And so with that sustainment is huge uh to making sure that you know that $1.2 million purchase lasts per the NFPA standard at least 15 years. That's the average longevity of an apparatus of this magnitude. Um and then from there we go on and purchase another one. When we bought this apparatus here, it was at 1.2 million. New apparatus of this magnitude today is about $1.9 million. So you can see the inflation and what it's taking uh to uh the purchase these items and what it does to our budget when it comes time to purchase these items. So we do have some units in our fleet that are aging that are hitting their end of life and you know through proper planning through the strategic plan we have planned on on replacing these apparatuses and you'll see here in a little while what we're planning on doing in the next five years. Our third item uh service delivery role with uh investments in facilities, infrastructure and new technology by improving existing facilities and adding new facilities. Our head headquarters is a perfect example. Uh before our foreign marshall office was working out of a mobile office, very confined, very small and now we have a wonderful headquarters that allows for our staff to uh work in a uh in an environment that is conducive to uh high expectations and to the public. they can come and do their inspection, have their mobile food units

come in and get inspected. And so this was uh one of our I think largest uh expenditures uh to date uh in regards to providing a better service to our community and to our staff. Uh last item here, providing operating expense savings. And so this we accomplished through purchasing smaller fleet or smaller vehicles. So rather than responding in a $1.2 $2 million apparatus. We respond in what we call QRVs, quick response vehicles. And so a pickup truck costs about 80,000 to purchase the unit by itself. After we outfitted with equipment or what we call upfit, it's roughly around about $120 to $130,000 in totality. With that unit, we're able to respond uh to the calls for service uh that occur uh on the daily obviously and uh medical responses account for about 80% if not more of our response. uh for our response totals that we we obtain. And so this has helped us do a couple things. Helped us reduce cost and fuel. A large apparatus averages about 2 to three miles per gallon. Uh of course a pickup truck, you're looking at about 12 to 13 miles per gallon. So through our strategic plan, we determined that one, we could have a savings of uh several uh thousands of dollars by responding to smaller units. Uh two, they're more maneuverable. Three, uh, if something was to happen to them in regards to maintenance service, it's easier and faster to fix a smaller apparatus than it is to fix a $1.2 million apparatus. And so, and last but not least, of course, god forbid one of them gets into an accident. Uh, we do have one of our units had been on the on the on the streets for about a month, maybe two months. Uh, it was involved in an accident on July 4th, um, almost two years ago, and we hope to get it back maybe in the next two to three months. So that kind of tells you how long it takes to replace a larger apparatus. Um we're going on almost two years and so uh that is part of the strategic goals that we implemented that what is it

going to how is it going to affect our department by being down a pumper by being down an aerial if it was get to an accident. And so that was part of our priorities. And so, um, through responsible planning, we were able to not only save money, but prevent, uh, units from being out of service for a long period of time. some of the rating criteria that we used uh and we were graded by the numbers you see here 43210 uh whether it was required by federal or state legislation or is it required by NFPA uh which is the National Fire Protection Association Dishes Department of Safety and Health Services, TCF or Texas Commission of Fire Protection or did it need to comply with any type of regulatory or agency uh standard? And so um two is is it required by the ESD resolution policy or contractual agreement? And then a one recommended by national professional organizations to meet public p public standards and best practices or last but not least zero no requirement mandate exists. And so those that was kind of based uh the criteria that we utilized uh for our strategic plan to determine the needs of our department from the uh year 2020 to uh year 2030. And so some of the plan objectives, improve community outreach programs. Um I think I talk about this every year. Um this was one of our our biggest pushes. God bless you. Big God bless you. This is one of our biggest pushes uh in regards to just being out in the public. Um at one point they thought we were another agency. They thought we were a paso fire. And so um which was flattering in regards to they thought we're professional services of that magnitude. But we are the ESD. We are emergency service district number one. And we wanted to make sure that they were aware of that and they knew that their tax money, their tax uh property values that they were paying in the community was going to a service that was providing exceptional uh um

level of of uh services uh to them. And so by establishing a paramedic program, we hit that check mark. That was part of our uh strategic plan and provides improved school fire education programs. That was a check mark. Uh we did that by accomplishing uh hiring a public relations specialist that really is uh fundamental in in outreach and getting involved with the community. Um and so uh her division uh has really got us out there and we've really touched a lot of uh uh kids hearts and uh adults and trained them and been able to make a difference uh within our community. Established a fire starter program for troubled youth. Uh thankfully we've had very little um incidents where arson or accidental fires have been started by our youth. But one of our goals is to have a program in place so that when and if this does happen, we have a means of providing uh training or providing some type of of um program that can turn that youth around to make sure that they are a contributing factor to the community and not a hindrance to the community. So, as you'll see here, I'm sorry, got ahead of myself. And so, you'll see here, uh, one of our facilities, the ESD administration FMO building. And so, this was this year that we accomplished this goal. Uh, on average, it takes us about five years from start to finish to, uh, from the time we purchase land to the time we move into a building. And so, again, uh, things take time. Um, I can tell you, my my administrator would tell you I'm sometimes get impatient. And so, uh, but we've been very, uh, uh, blessed to be able to, uh, be able to move into this particular building here. And that was a check mark, uh, on our strategic plan. Facility upgrades. We're looking at doing an upgrade at Central Fire Station. Another, uh, box on our strategic plan. Uh, training academy. Looking at this year, uh, starting or looking at, um, building our own training academy. Uh, we do have land

that we have already, uh, secured uh, several well about a year ago. Um it's 10 acres uh inside of or right outside of Horizon City. And our goal is to have our own training uh facility there. And one of the important uh things to mention here about our training facility is that there are other ones that we've been using. We go to a pacifier all the time at the training academy at Escarat. The problem is when we go out there, we take 20 to 30 firefighters and they leave the community. And so if something was to happen in the community while we're doing this training, uh it makes for a long response. Not to say that we have no coverage, but if a major fire comes in or we have something of that magnitude, uh there will be some type of of delayed response when we're doing the training away from our territory. So, the goal is to uh not only have this facility to train future firefighters, the goal is to be a regional training facility. We are working with Congresswoman Escobar to attempt to obtain grant funding um and and for several million dollars to be able to provide a facility that not only would be able to uh provide training to our firefighters, but also to any type of law enforcement, any other type of agencies that can utilize this uh facility from um you know, all the LEO uh different um uh departments that we have within our area, constables, sheriffs, uh the city, municipality, uh police officers, to the firefighters to all the other ESDs to the El Paso Fire Department. And so our goal here is to make it a a regional response. And so uh the grant's going to open up here in the next couple months. We are working very closely with uh the staff from Congresswoman Escobar's um grant uh personnel and our goal is to hopefully be able to facilitate one get the funding and then two have the facility to provide the services. And again on average it takes us about five years to do this. Hopefully sooner than later. Um but that is one of our goals on our strategic plan. And then of course medical training rooms for assimulations that would be part of this training uh

academy here. Uh we would have facilities that we can do this training here locally. again, keeping everybody within the district because currently we go to Texas Tech to provide any type of ACLS services or training uh through uh Texas Tech, which has been amazing, don't get me wrong, but again, to try and keep people here locally and try and keep it within our our area to make sure that if something does happen, they can break away and respond and do what they need to do there. We talk about equipment and this is one of our vehicles we just purchased this year to replace one of our aging fleet that was older than 10 years and had more than 100,000 miles on it. And so, uh, this this unit here is being outfitted as we speak to replace one of our fleet. And so, again, we talk about quick response vehicles, a four-door pickup truck that has all the medical equipment on it to provide services to our community in a efficient manner. Um, again, being fiscally responsible. Uh, additional replacing the fire trucks check mark. We have a brush truck coming in uh that was ordered uh a year and a half ago and uh it'll be delivered in May. So that'll be one of our our replacement units for one of our brush trucks that's about 20 21 years old and so it's a little old. U but again through sustainment through secession through proper uh preventive maintenance uh we've been able to uh keep that truck running and functional but again NFPA recommends about 15 uh years for an average apparatus. Um, one of the items that we've been trying to work with with Texas Department of uh of Transportation is the preemptive devices. And what this does is basically as a truck responds and comes through the intersection, uh, it turns the light green for us instead of going through a red and potentially not being seen and getting hit. These devices would allow us to go through safely, turning the lights green. They are very expensive. Uh, we've been kind of working with uh, Texttop. We've applied through different grants. Um we have been unsuccessful currently but we hope you know um through uh persistence at some point to

be able to get the uh funding to assist with not only for our fleet Horizon PD sheriff's office and so make it safer for everyone to respond through Horizon and Darington intersection through Horizon I 10's intersection uh for the other ESDs to also be able to uh respond through hight traffic areas and so that's one of our our our initiatives through the uh strategic plan staffing needs uh paid support and administrative staff. We brought on another administrator uh assistant too. Uh one of our uh biggest achievements here was the maintenance employee. I think I mentioned that last uh week when we were here. Um, this uh mechanic has uh already saved us thousands of dollars um by not having to send our unit to third parties to keep them uh one uh the charge being very expensive for a unit to be sent out. Um on average uh I just talked to a representative from one of the third parties uh yesterday and the average hourly rate is now going to be about $220 an hour to fix a unit when you send it a third party. And so now that we have it in house, we uh save those funds. And not only that, but instead of a truck being turned around in two weeks, three weeks, four months, uh the trucks get turned around in days, which is huge, especially down now that we have a fleet, one of our units that's out. It's been out for two years. Hope to get it back. But then as our fleet ages, more things come up. And so by having him uh being able to uh work on the trucks, it provides it makes sure it it allows us to assure that our units are up and running and that we have our fleet at 100%. Uh paid firefighters, we're hiring four more firefighters to um add to what we have currently. Um again, we're one of the few departments that has four to a truck and so per NFPA that allows us to do a two in two out rule and that was part of a strategic plan. And what that means is when a truck rides on the scene, NFPA says that

no one should go into a burning building unless you have two people waiting for you outside in case something does happen. By having the four on the truck, you have your two initial that can go in and fight fire. You have your two on the on the outside. And so that was huge in our strategic plan to make sure that our firefighters are safe. And not only that, uh it has been proven that by having four firefighters versus two firefighters or three firefighters, the speed of getting them on on from the truck to a hose to uh deployed to water on fire uh is increased by about 30 to 40%. And so that is huge in regards to minimizing life uh loss, minimizing property damage. And so that is really what helped us uh justify why we need four firefighters on a truck versus three uh like other agencies in the area uh currently do. Uh increase in FTEES for ESD administration. FTEEs is full-time equivalents. And so through our strategic plan, we were able to account for this and be able to bring on an administrator 3, which is uh an administrator who assists uh with Katherine um who when she's out helps out. But before we didn't have that, so things kind of stop, but now things kind of keep in motion, which is amazing. And so whether she's gone or if I'm gone, we have people that can can keep on pushing and keep on working uh and making sure that the department doesn't stop just because we're not there. uh logistics employee. Another uh important aspect of of what we do, the strategic plan allowed us to bring on an employee that handles now all of the medical delivery uh supplies to the stations. Um it handles the inventory uh control for uniform. So now we have better control on assets and better control on spending. And so that's helped us out also to maintain control and make sure that we're fiscally responsible uh for anything that we have and that we there is no waste uh that is happening. Um our one of our one of my future goals is to have an in-house clinic. Uh we already

have a doctor uh on I want to say retainer, but he's our medical director that handles our ACLS or our paramedic capabilities for the uh uh response in our district. And the long-term goal is to be able to have an in-house doctor, let's say, uh, Monday through Wednesday, 8 to 5, that's able to provide services or a script for our staff if they're sick. Um, and then ultimately for their families uh, down the road. Again, it would not be for the entire community, but again to provide better services to our staff and our employees to make sure that um, you know, they're able to keep on functioning, keep on working, and again, as I mentioned, um, they are truly rock stars and for what what they do for us. And so also on here, that young man right there, he's my future replacement. I gave him 15 years and he'll be up there real soon hopefully. And so that's been pretty amazing, but to see him there. But um that's huge for us as the kiddos that are out there to make sure that they do um they have a future in the fire service. Now I'll turn over to our administrator, Miss Katherine Ames.

Good morning, Katherine.

Good morning, everyone. So, um, as you can tell, we do have a long-term capital plan, but what we do is we determine each year the feasibility of purchasing the items. So, this year, um, I think I mentioned when we did our annual budget presentation, we did a greater look at the strategic plan. Um, and I'll talk a little more about the feasibility study that we did on the on the next page, but some of the things that we're always considering in our annual annual funding considerations, it's also challenges, too. Correct. There's always challenges and good things and bad things when it comes to financial, but five of the areas that we're um assessing for this year is the assessment of our operating costs for the new building. I'm sure you all are very well aware that when you put a new building online, it's not just the cost of the mortgage, right? It's uh many other things. And so, we're in the process of doing a yearly cost analysis of what this building is increasing the cost of operating um facilities. and that includes utilities, ground maintenance, janitorial and building services and building equipment. While our building will be under the one-year warranty until October the 31st, but we are, as the chief had mentioned, we're all about preventative maintenance. So, I already have AC people coming in every 3 months to change filters and all those types of things. just general maintenance so that um we make our facilities last longer because if you let them go on their own without any type of maintenance that's when you'll have much larger costs. So we're um very proactive on those annual maintenance type things. The other item that Chief Menendez mentioned was the cost analysis of the in-house mechanics. So it's a brand new program. We started it from the ground up. We had no tools. um maybe a screwdriver in the building if possible, but obviously this gentleman needed much more equipment. Um so we're looking at the the startup cost of the building of the maintenance program. We had excuse me, we had already budgeted

for a lot of that, but now we're determining now that he's on board too, he can also help us with the budgeting for the next year because we were budgeting without having a mechanic present. Um, so I'm I'm anxious to see too, like the chief said, maybe some cost savings on using those third parties. So now we have a whole year of using third parties from the previous year and a whole year of using our in-house mechanics. So I'm anxious to see what those differences will be. Um, also where we instituted a single hub strategy for distribution and inventory control. So, with the hiring of our logistics um coordinator, we are working to um identify waste and consumables. I'm sure you've probably heard from some of your staff as well is the biggest waste to a budget can be consumable items. And for us, that's medical supplies, janitorial, office, uniforms, um fire gear, all those types of things. When you don't have a central way of maintain um keeping all of your supplies, then you have them at different locations. Some of them get damaged, they get thrown away, they get misused. If I have 10, I can use five. If I have one, I can only use one kind of concept, right? So, our logistics coordinator is really working to one is to analyze what usage is per building and to only provide them what they need versus um what they want, right? There's always that what I need and what I want. So, we're really working on that to identify what some of those cost savings can be. And also, we're um working on making sure that we have vendors that are cost effective to the district. So, even to the fact of um if I buy paper towel from here or I buy paper towel from here, what's the cost per, you know, whatever it is. And so, we're really looking at that because again, those are areas of waste where we could use that funding to other areas. So, that's really um one of our big pushes this year. also um the review excuse me

the review of regulatory standard changes. So we have found in the last two years we've had more and more either legislative or fire changes in rules um regulatory type items and especially in the fire service. So TCFP will will um adopt a new code and we have to become compliant with it. So for example and we have to find the funding for it. One of the biggest ones that we've encountered this year is called the Wade Cannon Act. And what that is is for firefighters, if they've been on the line for five years, they require cancer um a cancer a cancer screening to be included in their physical, which we had already been doing, but the legislative sorry, excuse me, the legislative requirement requires a much more in-depth cancer screening. So, we've already contacted the the contractor who does our um physicals, and we've already determined that per firefighter, it costs $200 more dollars per physical. So, we're looking at about an $18,000 increase in physicals um starting next year. So, a lot of those regulatory standard changes are very important to us. One is is we have to be compliant. And two is is we also want to make sure that um we have the adequate funding because I'm sure you all may have had the situation where a legislative change comes in but there's no funding behind it right well we have to find that funding especially in the fire service and right now the big push is obviously um cancer screenings all those types of things how our gear is stored how we wash it when we get it tested all these different types of things and so right when we think we know the standard they up it one and we have to find other um solutions ions for that. And then the other the last one is evaluation of economic changes that affect our operating budget. So I'm sure many of you have already felt the effect of the fuel increase. Um imagine that in a firetr. So for example, the chief was mentioning to me the other day that it

cost him on a half a tank to fill up uh diesel was about $114 whereas he was $50 $60. Right? So we are always looking at that. So at this point our budget will be under. So I'm already having to find additional funding. So that changes your capital too. Then I have to look at is is we have to fund this daily versus this capital. So these are all things that we take in into consideration when we're looking at those capital purchases. So last year um we had attended um we as we do yearly the safety conference and a lot of our commissioners went to a a class on strategic planning. So they came back with a lot of wonderful forms and those are the forms that we started using last year. We we put together a committee um two commissioners, myself um two and three chiefs. And so we looked at all of the we created these well these capital worksheets were already in existence. We um modified them to our needs. But what we found is is every capital the one of the pitfalls of capital purchases is we never look at what is that going to cost us in the long term. So I'm going to buy this fire truck, but we didn't say um what how it's going to be staffed, what equipment's going to be on it. So just because you buy the $1.2 million doesn't mean that's where it stops. And so um this what we did is we carefully um looked at those items when it came to the training facility. How many what's the utilities? What's the water usage? What is all those types of things going to cost? So, what is that capital project? What is the impact to your operating budget? And so, in one of those things that we did was um Commissioner Booth was very helpful in creating this feasibility tool. And I just really gave you a small version of it there. It's much lengthier, but essentially what we do is each year we put in one is is where we currently are and what we anticipate in revenues from

the tax rate from the sales tax rate or any other revenues that we may that we predict might come in. For example, if there's a grant that we might get each year or such so forth, we add those in. And so then we also put in our total operating expenses. So we break down what is the operating expense to for day-to-day life and we put that in and then we decided in the last 5 years we've seen a 5% increase we've seen a 7% increase well we're putting this other building online we expect a 8% increase or so forth and so we put those numbers in as well and we also in those um operating expenses we also put in the expenses that were predicted by the capital project. So when I looked at those capital worksheets, okay, well now you need three staff to staff this training facility or now you need this and this and that. So we also already put that into the operating expense for that the year that that project would be done. And of course our financial obligations if we're going to borrow money. Um then we put in those loan payments and we work with a great financial uh firm that assists us in being able to determine interest rate trends and all those types of things and what the pro the project would be in the future. For last year we also used SBNG as last Monday um Teao Cabrera was here presenting from SBNG on our audit. We also initiated um with them for them to give us a projection of income because what we have found because our growth is so large is that in property tax and sales tax it's almost just everywhere. Um when you look at a five-year data, you know, one year was was okay and then all of a sudden it flourished. So we want to make sure that we have a great grasp of what our five-year projection is. So what um SBNG did for us is they not only analyzed our income but they analyzed the town of Horizon, the city of Sakoro, county, everybody. They went

to the whole entire region and said this is what typically everybody has been getting and that's how we came up with what our anticipated um um revenue would be for each year. So then we also put in again those non-curring expenses which is those capital projects that firet truck that facility which is can come from um architect fees buying the land so on so forth and then at the end of the day it gives us our total cash flow. So, what we're looking at is, and I I wanted to be very transparent and give you the red years, right? Because no one wants to see those. But, um, the blue years means, hey, you're still doing good, and that's how much money you'd have left. And the red years is is uhoh, we're in trouble. But, I think it's important why we did this exercise is to see that when you purchase this one item, what is the a long-term effect? And is it sustainable? because that's the biggest item is capital projects have to be susta s sustainable especially if you're hiring staff for that project right you no one wants to lay off people at the end of the day when you find that you know what we just don't have the funding so we have always been in that very cautious mode when we proceed through our budget through capital planning anything of that nature because our goal is to make sure we sustain what we agree on today for the future and thus far we have been very successful in that so I'm very proud of that But in looking at this, this is where we then adjust. So for example, this year we only have about a two I think $2.5 million capital or 2.8 million capital. The reason is is originally when we looked at this feasibility, we had more things in the capital. We decided to take a step back. We needed to save some funding because there was going to be a bigger project in the future. And one of those is that the chief had mentioned is the training facility. So again this April which is next month we will sit down again at the table and say okay now what are our operating costs with some of the things I had mentioned in the previous slide and is the training facility feasible

next year where will we be in the next so many years and then we continue to put these numbers in here because now too we have actuals on our property value right last year we didn't now we do and so looking at all of this to make sure that our capital projects can be um sustained and that we can afford them as the years progress. Okay, I'm going to turn over the last slide to Chief Menendez. So, to kind of summarize everything that we've done here because if you give us an opportunity, we'll talk to you all day long, right? And so, but uh the next five years looking at increasing staffing based upon current trends. And so what we've seen in uh our our trending for call volume is by 2031 we expect to be over 6,200 calls. We're currently at about 5,000 calls per year. Uh so in five years right around the corner um we'll be at 6200. So that means we need more staffing. We look at planning of uh the station building of station number three. And as I mentioned it takes an average about five years. So even if we talk about that today it wouldn't be up and running until 2031. That's what we're talking about today. And so currently we don't have uh that budgeted this year but it is part of our strategic plan uh creation of the regional training facility as I mentioned before to not only be able to train our own but to train uh other entities other agencies and even to include the military and so there was some talk about um the military being involved uh with our training and so that would really facilitate uh and allow us to be truly uh one. Um, and one of my biggest uh pushes this year, uh, another one of my uh, pushes this year when I brought in the staff was communication, collaboration, and cooperation. The three C's. We need to communicate more. We need to collaborate more, and we need to be able to cooperate with each other more. And so, by building this regional training facility, we can do that. Uh, fire marshals, I'll talk a little bit about

fire marshals. And so, our strategic plan when we first started this in 2020, we we knew our community was growing. We knew we had some big boxes coming in. We knew we had uh a lot of growth happening within our district. What we didn't account for was the the plan of regards to potential of hiring of other fire marshals through the county or the county court adopting a fire code. So with that, rather than be redundant and have dual services, we have the personnel, we have the facilities, we have the units, we have the training, utilize what's already in place. And it isn't just us in ESD1. there's other ESDs and other departments that have those capabilities. And so rather than be being um having to u for lack of a better word, recreate the wheel here, we have those services already in place. And so um we looked at the potential of hiring more personnel. And so that's part of our plan. And so we can help the court facilitate and make sure that the the building ordinances that are adopted, the fire codes that are enforced, and anything you see that needs to be done, we can incorporate that. We can assist with that. And so that's why we have the trained person that we have. We have investigators, peace officers, LEOs. We're working with the county sheriff's office to get e tickets. We're working um with uh other entities to get us to the point where we have we have it in place allow us to continue and work for you all and do what needs to be done for the community. And so with that also we look at um uh the shop one of our one of my goals is not only to again be a shop for our own but the other the surrounding area because we're not the only ones in this problem where trucks are sitting in yards for weeks at a time waiting for parts. We're not the only ones that are being charged $220 an hour to fix a unit. So, by collaborating with other agencies, um, ironically, we have the uh the city of Alamagordo who is going to

join with us all the way from Alamagordo to bring their trucks to our fleet to our our shop because services aren't being provided. And so, we're going to enter into MOU with them to provide those services barring the approval. Again, this is very preliminary uh the approval of our commissioners to allow them to come in and they'll be able to sustain and maybe even bring on another mechanic to have now we have faster services and trained personnel again to be able to provide uh the services that are needed. One of the talks in talking to the mayor of Horizon City was to bring their fleet over to us. And so again, through collaboration, through cooperation, we can help with that. We can save funding for the city. We can save funding for the county and the court and cooperating with each other. And I think that's the biggest term here if if you know all of our talking today is the cooperation. Uh definitely we're here to really assist uh you all and what the the ultimate mission is and that's the highest provide the highest level of service to our community, right? And so we can do that. And lastly, but not least is, you know, we always say that the ESDs are all the same, but they're not. They're very different. And so we all have different goals and objectives. We all have different trained personnel. We all have different mindsets. We all have different strategic goals and plans. And so, you know, when it comes to the ultimate ESD, emergency services district, we are the same. But when it comes to emergency services districts providing services to the community, each community is different. Each community requires different things. And so, by understanding that, we can provide better services to our community and we can definitely cooperate more with our community and with each other to make sure that those services are being provided to the utmost uh capabilities of the ESDs. So, um, that concludes our presentation. Unless you all have any questions for us, I'm sorry we got a little long-winded. Um, but there's a lot going on in ESD1 and I wanted to make sure that this is our opportunity to kind of shine and and show youall what we've done and we're here to serve the community and to work for the court.

Thank you, Chief. Um, I did want to ask a little bit. You did mention how you've been working with the sheriff's office on the e ticket system and getting you all integrated into that. Can you give us a little bit more information? How is that going?

Sure. So uh we uh we had a meeting a couple weeks ago in regards to that. So one of them is RMS which is the the region regional management system uh that allows us to uh create work tickets if you will or dockets when we issue a citation. It goes to the district attorney and they see everything that's going on with the JP6 and so on. And so u we are currently in the p part or in the aspect of getting pricing for that. It was recommended that we uh establish our own RMS system and not piggyback off the sheriff's office, which is okay. Only reason being is it allows for our agency to have more control over that RMS system, but it will still report to the same as the sher's office. And so, we are looking at that and I spoke to Chief of Spars about it. He's going to start the ultimately the same thing. Once we get that uh pricing down um we will share the quotes and maybe through both ESDs collaborating together we can maybe get a little bit of a discount to uh provide or get that system up and running. Then we talk about the e ticket and so the e ticket system uh we are working on that. Uh one of the I guess the the hardest part is finding the funding for that. each little computer is roughly about $1,500.

And so, of course, we didn't budget for that. And so, um, we might become to the court for some assistance on that, both ESD1, and ESD2, uh, to get us at least up and running. But there's also that sustainment. There's an, uh, monthly fee for that. And then, of course, as the age replacement and so I think if if we can get assistance to get us started, we can sustain and then provide that monthly service that's required of it. But, we are getting official quotes for that. We are working with the sheriff's office, uh, Commander Sodia, uh, and Sheriff Agarth to make sure that we have those up and running. My goal for both of those and to be functional is October 1.

And so that soon. And so seems like it's far away, but Christmas is tomorrow, as I always say. And so we're, you know, it it time flies. And, um, I think, as long as we continue pushing, um, I think we can get to that goal. And then the same with the the fire code and and the building ordinance. We can definitely work with each other and make sure that we do what needs to be done utilizing the services that are already in existence. Great. Thank you. Any other questions, commissioners? No. Thank you, Chief. Thank you for all the information. Thank you, Katherine. And of course, Commissioner Mayberry that's in the back. Thank you all for coming out and speaking to us today.

Thank you. Item 4B, discuss and receive a presentation from El Paso Electric regarding the Texas business solar program. Well, hello commissioners. Michael Murray, the planning and development department. Uh we have with us today El Paso Electric and I'm ask them to come share with you a program that they have, the Texas business solar program. uh potentially I think you might see in their presentation there's potentials to uh further the court's um efforts at renewable energy um climate sustainability maybe even um fiscal responsibility and fiscal um savings. So there's potential in this and I've asked El Paso Electric to go ahead and share more about that program with you today. So thank you so much.

Good morning commissioners. My name is Alejandra Montalo. here um on behalf of El Paso Electric um along with my colleagues as well um to introduce you all and invite you all um to El Paso Electric's newest uh share renewable program called the uh Texas Business Solar Power Program.

It's okay. having technical issues with presentation. Stand by. Okay, thank you.

There we go.

Perfect. Sorry, it is a PDF. I just realized that it's not an actual PowerPoint. So, I was trying to click next. Um so um a few years ago in 2017, El Paso Electric launched their Texas community solar program for residential customers and small businesses, right? And since then we heard a lot of uh feedback from our commercial B uh customer base, right? requesting for a similar program to be um to be you know created so that we could so that the these customers could then join um for various reasons right and so if we could go to the next slide please and so that is when um El Paso Electric uh decided to uh seek this opportunity to uh create a or or built their solar farm our sol our solar farm out in uh Fabins Texas. So we called it the Felina solar facility. It's uh 150 megawatts of solar capac solar renewable energy. Um so if you could imagine 700 over 700 football fields and we have over 300,000 uh solar panels on it. And so 50 megawatts of that solar capacity is going to be servicing this new program, the Texas Business Solar Power Program. What this program allows customers to do is uh subscribe. So, it's voluntary um completely voluntary. So, you would opt into this program in order to be able to offset your energy consumption with this renewable energy source, right? Um like I mentioned, this is completely voluntary and uh the reason why we created that way is because um we know that you know customers are um have different goals in mind, right? And so, um, this program, uh, the technical portions of it are going to be, um, it's

a fixed cost of $10.52 per kilowatt. And, um, each block, so the subscriber will subscribe to this in 10 kilowatts uh, in 10 kilowatt blocks. And um uh and the flexible part of that is that uh you as a subscriber are going to be able to determine what kind of term you want to subscribe for. If you just kind of want to try this out for one year, we have a plan for you. If you want if you already kind of if it if it aligns better with your goals with your whether it's sustainability goals or financial goals right then we have options for a five or 10 year plan as well. Can we go to the next slide please? or the next um the benefits of joining this program are um ultimately this removes any any um capital investment from our customers, right? Because this $10.52 per kW is already encompassing all of the maintenance, all of the investment, right? Um that needs to be um invested when you're putting solar on your premise, right? This program allows you to take this um to assuming right that you had property that you were leasing for your business. It allows you to still participate in the program as opposed to having to own the the the properties. Um the program is completely transferable and so if at any point in time you assume during your term right you assume that uh maybe it's time to pursue something different then we are able to transfer that um that subscription right and as I mentioned it's it's very flexible in nature so we can definitely tailor this program um as

uh to meet the needs of of the county right um next slide please And so what we've done here is we've taken five your top five um highest demand accounts, right? Just to kind of uh give an example about what the bill impact would be had the the county subscribed these five accounts into this program. Um this here on the screen is going to be the El Paso County Courthouse bill impact. And so um when I say that the program is very flexible in nature uh what I also mean is that you as the customer gets to dictate how much of your energy consumption you want to subscribe whether it's 100% maybe just 75% 50% of your energy consumption to be served with um this solar renewable energy right and so what you're seeing here is just an average Uh assuming that the county courthouse courthouse had subscribed to 1,140 kilowatts, what you would see is that there is a subscription charge, right? That's a $10.52 uh per kW um that that would be um build to you every month. However, the El Paso Electric because you're off because you're um offsetting your energy consumption with this renewable program, we are then giving you these two additional credits, which is our base generation credit and our fuel generation credit because that means that we're not we're not um powering you with our traditional um energy uh resources, right? And so so the generation credit and the and the field generation credits are then offsetting the subscription charge. So then your total bill impact had you subscribed to this program last year is

going to be for example a net effect of about $82,000 in savings. Now I know Mr. um Michael Mroy did mention that um there is a potential sorry there is a potential right for fiscal um savings I guess um we do want to make sure that we understand here that it's not our primary focus right um this is all uh estimates currently right um but what we have seen so far since the launch of the program in November of last year is that um we are able to because the solar facility is so large we are able to um capture a lot of this renewable able energy which then in turn translates into at least significant credits being offered to our subscribers. Right. Um the next few slides um are just additional um examples for the other four uh highest demand uh accounts that for the county if I'm not sure if you want to look through them in detail or not but um they're all very similar, right? And so in total it what we've calculated is aboutund um about $180,000 in savings had the program been in place last year and the county subscribed at this level of um of service right for it. Um can we go can we skip ahead maybe like two or three slides please? One more and one more. Sorry about that. Um, I do want to make sure that I show you all what this looks like on your bill, right? Because there will be no change to the service that we provide to you all. Um, this this program will really just be reflected on your actual monthly bill. Other than that, um, there will be no absolutely no changes. There's no installations on your

property. Everything is out at our Felina solar facility. And really, it's just reflected on this bill. And so what you'll see is that it's going to be very clearly delineated in each of your bill statements. Um so you you'll see the first line will be your subscription charge, right? So membership charge um of the $10.52 for every KW that you subscribe to. And then the next two lines will show you these generation and fuel credits that uh El Paso Electric is paying you for um offsetting that solar um offsetting your energy consumption with that solar energy. And so your total net effect is going to be just you know displayed as well. Um the next slide please. And so really here we've just um included some frequently asked questions right. Um this program is on a first come first- serve basis. Currently the program is already about 75% subscribed and so um it's it's been really great to see the kind of a customer base that has subscribed. Right. We have very large customers that have or commercial customers that have um enrolled, but then we also have these very small um locallyowned businesses that are seeing the benefits of this, right? Whether it's personal or, you know, ESG goals, sustainability goals. Um people are or businesses are interested in in adding this kind of a a program to their portfolio. Um the the additional um information that I wanted to share too is that depending on which term that the county should the county should the county you know choose to subscribe with um or proceed with this program um there is an additional benefit for subscribing on the longer term five or 10 years um that is the you you'll be able to benefit from the renewable energy credits separate from the fuel and base generation credits that I previously

spoke about these are um important particularly for businesses or for entities that are doing external reporting on sustainability. Right? So um I'm not too sure if the county is doing any kind of sustainability reporting um annually, but this is where you would be able to display um that you're reaching these goals through through these credits, right? And then our next slide, please. Um, and so really this is just an invitation for you all to consider this program and um, particularly um, try to enroll as soon as possible because we do only have 25% of the program capacity available. Um, and we don't want you to miss out on this uh, opportunity. So,

thank you Alejandra. Commissioners, any questions? Commissioner Algene, may I Yes, Betsy. Um so Alejandra are the credits locked and guaranteed for the term? Yes. So the the credits are the credit rate is um obviously it's dependent on how much energy there's the formula. I don't have a slide on that but it's really just based on your allocated portion of the solar generation right the the credits get um generated and so yes you'll see the rate will stay will remained however that's why there's a variable every month right okay on those examples that I provided

okay and is the um subsidy charge for the entire term or can it change can

no that's that's completely fixed so the commission will not allow us to change the $1050 52 cents. Let me rephrase that. We cannot increase that price. However, depending on um the amount of um subscribers that we end up uh receiving, right, for this program, if we can show the commission um the utility commission, right, that uh there is a long wait list, for example, then um they may perhaps allow us to expand this program, which would then allow us to benefit from economies of scale. and that $10.52 would then potentially be reduced, right? We saw that with our Texas community solar program for residential customers. Um, we were able to decrease the the pricing on that.

And then, um, on the renewable energy credits, is that something entities can sell for other entities that want to offset? Yes. So, there there is a financial benefit to selling those renewable energy credits. Okay. And so you said it's our choice whether you we just let them be retired or whether we want them to be transferred to us and then we would have the ability to sell them. Yes ma'am.

Thank you. So, if the court um we are not posted for a specific action, but if the court is interested in um the county pursuing this uh avenue to uh use for some of our energy consumption, uh we would just need a consensus and then we would work to bring forward um those next those next steps. that I I think for for some of our buildings I think it would be uh advantageous to do this because we can't do our own solar for example on the courthouse uh but maybe other facilities we can take a look at and see what the alternative would be but I'm I'm for looking into it.

No definitely I think it is something that we need to continue looking into. Commissioner um Stout is also online too. Morning Commissioner. Morning everybody. I agree. I I think it's a good idea to to to look into pursuing this brother.

I um I think I think in theory it's a really good idea to look at this. Um I'm a little bit concerned with the fluctuation of the actual savings and not being able to forecast precisely what those savings would be. Um uh you know um it's hard to know the the the benefit without um being able to um have a have a precise number because we know how much it would cost us but we don't know what the savings would be until when exactly. Oh each month each month you'll be able to identify exactly what the savings you'll see it on your bill reflected on your bill.

Yeah. But we can't plan ahead for that. So you could plan ahead because you know what the um um what your fixed charge is going to be essentially right your subscription charge is going to be and then you have the rate uh for your base on our tariff I'm sorry the tariff is also I think included or attached at least to the agenda

um it's you'll see the two the two um rates being uh included as well right and so based on your allocation of of when you decide to subscribe whether it's 100% 25% 10% whatever the case the commission decides to do to pursue um you'll be able to do your own budgeting and planning for that as well to get an idea of how much estimated savings you should be receiving on a monthly basis and I do want to stress though like there is that's the reason why we did offer this one-year term is because it does not lock you in for more than that one year right um at that point if if you don't see the the savings that you would otherwise expect to receive. Um, then nothing happens. You just kind of say, you know, opt out of the program at that point and then and then you can proceed with just your regular traditional generation.

Well, I don't see any harm in continuing to look at it consideration. So then staff um would bring back um I guess estimate estimations just based on past usage looking at the formula,

right? So uh what I what I would foresee us doing is uh they had shared with us uh she presented in depth what the savings could have been uh based on 2025 usage and that was the 82,000 I believe uh they also have data on the jail um they al and some of the other things that we kind of skipped by. So, um I think what we could bring forward is and and just put it down in a very um black and white manner uh options and then extent. So, you know, one building, two building, three buildings and then, you know, this year, this year, this year and just kind of give you a probably a table of what, you know, the options are and then what those potential savings can be and then bring that forward to you. Um, I believe that at that time, should you want to take action, we would probably there's a submission of a interest form and that might be an action that could come out of your consideration at that time or enrollment form.

Enrollment form. Yes. So, the sorry the and this is essentially the reason why we're here, right? Is because the interest has already been just obviously presentation presentation, right? Um, the enrollment form is what would allow you to kind of place yourselves in that queue. uh to be able to uh and subscribe you to the program. Great. Okay. Well, it looks like everyone there is consensus to move forward. Thank you. Question. Did you include the entire facilities only the larger ones? Is No, we were only

Well, I mean I in in in our preparation work. So just to give you a background of what the department level has done uh planning and development and facilities department uh we've been meeting with them on on a lot of things and this came about and we asked to know more and so uh the two departments we we talked about it and so in our discussions with them they prepared us this data about these five specific buildings. It's not the extent of all the accounts we have. It just gives us a a a really probably pretty good baseline of of the program itself and the potentials of the program. So no, we haven't looked at every account we have. We just looked at the five biggest accounts and those are the five accounts that were in the presentation today.

Right. But we are happy to um to subscribe I mean to to you know prepare anything that you need for all of the accounts that you need. Well, what what I would like to see is for the other um facilities that we have that are the smaller ones where we might be able to what would be the cost difference if we do our own solar for the smaller where we're able to do that. I know in the larger buildings it's difficult like the courthouse the jail for us to completely do solar to provide it but maybe some of our other facilities might lend themselves to that.

No, I so I think that's probably it's to me that sounds like a different thing. Uh but certainly we can we can investigate that and then we certainly will. Um I will say that what what interested the department and the facilities department and what appealed to us enough to at least bring it forward to you all is um no investment and then no maintenance which which appeals to the department

and so uh that's why that we found enough but to your point commissioner uh I think it does spur more investigations for wanting to do other things in addition or separate. Um, and certainly that is things that we can look at. I don't have an answer on how we exactly go about that. I I believe it's probably a little complicated, but that's our job to figure out. That's

there's there uh we can definitely we can definitely look at that is part of also what Schneider did was look at like adding solar um but there is that capital upfront cost and then do how long do we want to finance solar over versus the life of the the solar but that's definitely um we can we can analyze multiple multiple utilities that we have because there's other ones too where um there's other utility bills we have where it's spread out along amongst a large area and not one like one general location to put solar on that might also be advantageous to switch to this so we can we can do that analysis and bring some of that back. All right, thank you.

Thank you so much. Thank you. Item 4 C, receive a presentation from the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute regarding the El Paso County Sheriff's Office crisis intervention team program evaluation and its findings related to behavioral health crisis response program impacts in El Paso County.

Good morning, commissioners. Joel Bishop with County Administration. Um, this this study has been a long time coming. It's been in process for uh more than two years now. Um it was funded with ARPA funds and it's really designed to take a look at piggy piggyback off the the work that was done with the city CIT team and the county came in and did it. The court made you know millions of dollars in investments into the into this program and and we wanted to see what the return on the investment was. It ties into the strategic plan goal 1.1 from the commissioner's court. So, I'm I'm pleased to to uh say we're we're wrapping this up and we have outcomes. We have um I I think that are very instructive and helpful to help us know um not only how the program's done, but where it can go in the future. Um me, the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, their researchers are on the line. um very impressive research that was done and not only in what has happened but also their recommendations for us moving forward. I I do want to provide a little context uh as far as what got us here with our past presentation. We just a few weeks ago we did a presentation to the uh to the justice justice leadership council group that focuses on mental health. Um Judge Perez oversees that and there was a deep dive. You're going to get a broad overview today, but there was a deeper dive and the sheriff's office was there. Many of their staff, all of their staff and leadership that are involved in CIT was there and the EHN team and I really want to thank them. Um, we may have some of their representatives on the line, but they were able to already take a deep dive, review this, and provide their feedback. So, what you're seeing today is going to be a final product overview. We will provide the full analysis with within the next few weeks which is probably 80 to 100 pages. Um but we'll provide that in a highlight.

But today you'll get to hear from these researchers. Um and really what they're going to talk about are the impacts the return on investment and the effectiveness of our approach um how and not just the program but how the the system and the program is working together to make this successful. We were also interested on the COVID impacts of the program and if if the pandemic how that pandemic impacted it and how we compared with the city. So some of those findings are here. We're going to hear some of the data driven findings uh from our researchers and the actionable items. So with that I'm going to turn it over to Lisa Kurtz and Kate Reid. And I also want to invite them to to introduce themselves more fully. They have very impressive backgrounds and uh very um I think this was a very successful outcome of this research project for you today. Thank you.

Uh Commissioner, sorry before we go, Joel, did did the state ever provide us the information that we requested related to to the recidivism? Yes. No, they still haven't. They still haven't. what we did the workaround we did was rebooking rates but we never got the the recidivism rates we needed or the recidivism data we would need to analyze right we did look at the through the council look at those rates but I I it'd be you know and and you can kind of make some deductions from that but I still would rather have the actual figures from the state and I think we need to ask our delegation to see if they can provide a time limit on the statute in the coming session to require the state to do that because they've how long has it been over a year? Oh, it's been years.

Yeah, it's been several years. And and the law does require them to share that data. It just, you know, it's the never said when, you know, maybe 10 years down the road. Yeah. So, it's it's very it it's it's been very problematic when it comes to our recidivism. Yeah. That's just Anyways, just wanted to point that out. Thank you, Commissioner. Okay. Uh Miss Curts.

Thank you. Hi, I'm Lisa Kurtz with the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute. Um, thanks so much Joel. Joel and his team have been amazing partners throughout this. I want to say thank you to Joel as well as to EHN leadership and the county sheriff's office. Um, so MMHPI, as Joel said, has been working on this for a couple years. I will uh quickly introduce myself and then I'll hand it over to Rebecca Marolina on our data team who really did a lot of the analysis on this. Um, so my background is in sort of the civilian side of law enforcement. First, supporting the New Orleans Police Department with their crisis intervention team, officer assistance plan, and their academy and inservice training, as well as their groundbreaking peer intervention program, which later launched nationwide as able or active bystandership for law enforcement, uh, which I led for several years, working with more than 400 police departments across the country. So, I've had a chance to see a lot of best practices out there. Um, and I'm excited to bring that lens to uh to this work. Um, but our our real star here uh is really our our data team. So, I'm going to turn it over to Rebecca from the data team to introduce herself.

Well, thank you, Lisa. Good morning, commissioners. I'm Rebecca Marolina, director of population health analytics at the Meadows Institute. I've been at the institute for about 5 and a half years and have been fortunate enough to work on several different projects in the El Paso area. I am an epidemiologist and statistician by training and over the past about year and a half our research and data analytics team which includes data scientists, analysts and health economists at the Meadows Institute has conducted this evaluation of the CIT.

Great. Um, so we can go ahead a slide. Yep. So I will start by just quickly walking us through the goals of this evaluation as well as the approach that our data team took and then turn it over to Rebecca to walk us through the highlights. Um, so we we started this work in 2024 and this really builds on a prior evaluation that Meadows has done uh for the city of El Paso CIT program. Now, that was about 5 years ago, but we did try to use comparable methods. Um, and the main purpose was really to assess the CIT program's effectiveness in improving law enforcement responses to behavioral health crisis and of course also looking at the broader impacts of the county's investment uh in in crisis response. So, we're really looking to evaluate how well the program responds to people who are experiencing behavioral health crisis, including whether individuals are safely connected to care. uh looking at the overall impact of the county's investment including whether this reduces arrests, emergency department visits, and repeat crisis calls and whether it saves money. And we also aim to review these outcomes alongside broader behavioral health trends in the county to better understand the role and impact of the CIT program. Uh an important part of the valuation was comparing the program structure, training, and day-to-day operations with national best practices for crisis response. And then finally, our goal was to provide clear and data-driven recommendations to improve crisis responses and to strengthen outcomes for people in crisis. Um, so we can go on to the next slide. We'll talk a little bit about how we approach this. Uh, so we use both qualitative and quantitative methods, uh, focusing on placing our data within broader c within the context of broader criminal justice trends in El Paso County, assessing the impact and potential cost savings of the CIT program. So there's a broad set of outcomes related to the CIT program. We

drew on data from multiple sources. CIT activity logs, CAD and RMS data, which is police uh sheriff's office data, jail booking data, emergency department records, officer focus groups, as well as client quality of life surveys that were completed with EHN. So our analyses examined a number of different metrics that are listed here on this slide. Um, we employed a mixed methods approach integrating both quantitative and qualitative data. And the goal of that was really just to provide the most comprehensive possible understanding of crisis response and associated outcomes. So the quantitative component identifies measurable trends, patterns, and system level outcomes. While the qualitative component contextualizes these findings by capturing the perspectives of staff, people interacting with the program and with the system. So these insights directly informed our recommendations and they're grounded in both evidence and experience. Um some of these data sets might not directly measure CIT specific activity, but every metric we evaluated reflects an integral part of the assessment and provides valuable context on behavioral health needs, law enforcement response patterns, and related trends in justice and health systems within the county. So collectively, these analyses help position the CIT program within the broader landscape of behavioral health related activity during the evaluation period. And I'm going to turn it over to Rebecca to talk us through some of the key findings regarding highlights of the CIT program. Thanks, Lisa. Next slide, please. As mentioned, there were many strengths of the CIT program. The full evaluation, as alluded to, was about 100 pages long. So this is really just a snapshot of some of those strengths. Starting with the model and operational assets. When we look at the county CIT program, what stands out right away is how closely it aligns with national best practices. First, the training. The 3-week academy

combined with quarterly refreshers goes well beyond the standard 40hour benchmark. This reflects a clear commitment to ongoing learning and skill development. Second, participation is selective. Officers apply, interview, and are formally assigned, which aligns with the best practice guidance that CIT officers should be motivated and well suited for this work. Call triage and dispatch protocols are also strong. Call takers use scripted prompts and keywords to flag behavioral health calls. CIT teams can be dispatched through 911 or selfinitiate when appropriate, allowing them to serve as either primary or secondary responders depending on safety and proximity. That flexibility is consistent with national standards emphasizing clear roles and seeing safety. And then finally, expansion into school-based CIT along with awareness training for new cadets reflects a forwardinking approach supporting specialization. those early training pipelines and a stronger system integration overall. Next slide, please. And then as part of this evaluation, uh we conducted focus groups with sheriff's office deputies to understand how CIT is used in real world behavioral health calls and its impact on both deputies and the community. Deputies shared candid insights on roles, response protocols, decisionmaking, and confidence when engaging in when engaging individuals in crisis. Overall, they expressed strong support for the program and its positive impact on public safety and community trust. The co-responder model pairing deputies with those EHN clinicians was consistently identified as a core strength improving deescaliz deescalation on scene assessments and access to care. Deputies also noted that clinicians help reduce

tension, help build rapport and create a more supportive less enforcement focused response. They also they spoke very highly of their clinician partners describing them as responsive, reliable and missional aligned. Next slide please. Now moving into some of the quantitative I insights that were gleaned from this evaluation. So this chart shows the trend in monthly CIT encounters from when it was launched in April 2021 through August of 2025. Since the launch, the team has responded to over 4,000 encounters. In the early phase, that was about 40 encounters on average per month, reflecting when that rollout period was still happening, when awareness, processes, and familiarity were still developing. And then starting in 2022, we see a steady increase in utilization. This peaked in May of 2023 at 150 encounters per month. And while there is some month-to-month fluctuation as expected, the overall trend is clear that demand increased and then has stabilized at a higher level. And in 2025, that's consistently responding to over 100 encounters per month. Next slide, please. Now, looking at the geographic distribution of those encounters and where they're happening in El Paso County. So over half of all encounters, about 52% occurred in just two zip codes, 79928 and 136 uh with 79928 with 1,364 encounters and zip code 79938 with 741. And then more than half of all top 10 locations fall within those two zip codes alone. This tells us that demand

isn't spread evenly across the county. It's concentrated in specific areas. Other notable areas include downtown El Paso, the Sakaro San Lazario Clint, and in the northwest near Canudio. So in short, while CIT serves the entire county, a few areas for a large share of those crisis activity responses. Can I ask a question on this?

Sure. Um, while CIT serves the entire county, the sheriff's office is only in certain jurisdictions, right? Which is why this heat map looks the way it does because everywhere else is where the city has jurisdiction. Correct. Correct. And we can let Joel speak to that a little bit. There is some overlap that I know happens depending on who is able to respond and proximity. Um but for the most part, yes, there is some differences in the jurisdiction that to consider.

Yeah, we did see that there was there's some teamwork between the county and the city, but this is just to look at the counties and uh they did talk about the city's work, but yeah, this is just the counties and that's good context when you look at this map. This is just where our officers sometimes do go into the city to help with city calls and we we talked about that some, but I can also mention they they respond to all county facilities, right? So that's why downtown is highlighted because it's right and and like a scarity park and sports park and uh any any county facility that is located in the city would also be responded to by sheriffs. Okay, thank you.

Yeah, thank you for that question. And then looking at some of the outcomes, this slide details three outcome areas that help us understand that overall impact of the program. So diversion from jail and hospitals, service linkage, and safety outcomes, which includes use of force. So starting with diversion, which is one of the program's most important goals, we saw that 94% of all CIT encounters resulted in some form of jail diversion or diversion from hospitalization. So more specifically, 88% avoided jail bookings, 72% avoided hospitalizations and 65% about 2/3 avoided both jail and hospital entirely. And even more encouraging, we saw that those diversion rates improved over time, increasing from 82% in 2021 when it launched to 99% in 2024. And then looking at service linkage more broadly across those 4,000 encounters, we estimate about 91% included a connection to some form of service or support. Nearly half or 47% resulted in an emergency detention order. Another 41% resulted ended in a community discharge, typically accompanied by referrals, resources, or additional follow-up information. We also found that arrests were rare, occurring in just 2% of encounters. And then finally, we examined safety and use of force using enhanced activity log data. So this was just over an 11-month period from October 2024 through August of 2025. And we found that CIT encounters were overwhelmingly safe. Officer injuries were extremely rare. fewer than 1% of encounters and civilian injuries occurred in less than 3% with

most happening prior to CIT arrival. Use of force was also reported in only 1% of encounters and of those cases 70% involved low-level soft or empty hand techniques. Only one instance of lethal force was documented over the period. So overall, this outcomes data shows that CIT emphasizes diversion, service connection, and deescalization, deescalation, supporting both community members and officer safety. And with that, I will pass it back to Lisa for some takeaways and recommendations based on these findings.

Thank you. Um so I'm going to provide an overview of our recommendations for incorporating both uh existing and emerging best practices to first of all highlight all the great work that is already being done and of course to ensure that people with behavioral health needs receive top-notch care and support across systems and to ensure that leadership can accurately and fully report on the outcomes of interest. Uh so you see here we have some recommendations around enhancing the program impact and resource utilization. uh to enable more precise analysis of CIT outcomes, support ongoing improvements in safety for both uh officers and other community members, and to inform data-driven resource allocation. So first we suggest uh coordinating with local service providers to develop clear warm handoff protocols uh that will ina that have incorporated a process to reliably track both immediate and long-term service linkages and individual outcomes over time. Uh we recommend that the county pursue a long-term funding strategy combining local, state, and federal resources to stabilize staffing uh and to reach consistent 247 CIT coverage in line with national best practices. We also suggest considering the possibility of regional deployment zones uh especially out in the east around Hor and sorry Horizon City um and to integrate teleaalth protocols to improve response times and to improve coverage continuity u and then we are going to go more in depth on the next slides into some data and reporting but we think it's really important to establish standardized criteria across reporting systems to consistently identify and document mental health calls, diversions, injuries, and use of force in detail. Uh, and then to be really intentional about tracking clear performance indicators such as use of force reductions, diversion rates,

connections to care, and jail booking reductions to clearly demonstrate the program's value. Um so on the next slide we'll talk about enhancing the effectiveness of CIT data systems through standardized structured fields unique identifiers and integration with the public health information information exchange to enable cross agency analysis of outcomes and service use. Um so I won't go through all this in detail. uh you'll have this presentation, but basically we think it's important to embed CIT specific flags in CAD and RMS, the record systems that the officers use to capture which units responded to each call, whether each was primary or secondary and how long they spent on the calls and really just standardized documentation of behavioral health and co-occurring substance use conditions. One way to do this would be through defined drop- down categories uh and just ensuring that all metrics of interest are clearly and consistently captured in the system. A way to help track this is to develop shared performance dashboards across the sheriff's office, EHN, and community partners to track diversion, safety, and follow-up metrics. Uh and then participation in the public health information exchange would really enable secure cross-system data sharing to monitor service utilization, evaluate outcomes and guide resource allocation. So that is something that we recommend that the sheriff's office get connected to if possible. Uh and then our final set of recommendations are around enhancing officer and community support. That'll be on the next slide. Um so we have some suggestions for how to sustain and deepen officer and community confidence in the CIT program. We found that overall the training for the CIT team is very strong. Uh there are a few areas where we think it could be enhanced and one of those is by ensuring scenario-based training that includes content that deputies have actually requested which is motiv motivational interviewing skills and learning to

recognize signs and symptoms of mental health without of course getting into diagnosis. Um but co-training with co-responder partners can really help to strengthen team bonds and ensure everyone's on the same page on scene and fully understands each other's processes, protocols, and areas of expertise. So again already a strong training that incorporates both the officers and clinicians and we think there are just a few steps that could be taken to strengthen that further. Um another step would be to uh ensure that staffing is adequate to eliminate coverage gaps and reduce pressure to clear scenes prematurely. So that goes back to the funding issue we talked about making sure there's adequate funding for 247 coverage. And then finally, increasing intentional and targeted public communication both to reduce stigma and to highlight the successes of the CIT program, especially in areas where there are high volumes of behavioral health communities. Uh there could be a focus on outreach strategies to reduce stigma, to share personal stories of success, and to make sure that community members have a clear picture of what the CIA team actually does and what its goals are. So, with that, we will wrap it up and we're happy to answer any questions that folks may have.

One of the one of the things they didn't one of the details that I thought was important that that they didn't cover here, but but you'll see in the full report is that there there are estimates on how the amount of jail time that was avoided, um, which translates into revenue for the county. And so um that does do that is a cost offset to the program and again their estimates but it is impressive to see um the approach that the the impact that it's had with officers on how they engage and and how impactful that can be into the outcome um and avoiding uh you know using our jail when when other alternatives are available. So that is uh that's something else you'll be able to look at in that larger study. as followup. We're committed to implementing um their recommendations. So, we're going to have work groups and follow up with this, especially building the data infrastructure, but the other things as well. So, the sheriff's office at the last meeting was very open to their help. Meadow is also committed to to making sure that that they're connected with us and EHN and and the sheriff's office and ensuring that the the the especially with the data infrastructure, but the programming and other recommendations get fully implemented from this study. So, I think it was it was well worth it. Um, I I wanted to thank Meadows and um for their hard work on this. It's not an easy project. This was extremely um this is extremely complex analysis to do something like this. So, um we're very thankful for the work they did and the participation from EHN and the sheriff's office. So, if there's any other questions,

not really a question, just a go ahead, Commissioner Stout. No, go go go ahead and I'll I'll go to you, Commissioner Corona.

Okay. Um one of the uh just as a related uh issue that's a little more you know in terms of the continuity of care and the actual health uh mental health care is that we're seeing a shortage of people coming or doctorate um to to treat especially in the area that that's going to really affect the veterans because they're required to have an actual doctorate degree to treat them to be able to qualify for that continuity of care. So when these referrals are made coming up here pretty shortly, we're going to have a reduction in in those kinds of people that treat our veterans and essentially also the the mental health population here. So I think it behooves us as well to make sure that you know as part of the recommendations we make that we try and get with our local u you know uh educational uh organizations uh to try and encourage individuals to go down the mental health careers because we're seeing that that's going to be an issue here coming up. Um, and that that will relate to obviously less care, less, you know, being able to have a continuity of care after these referrals are made. So, I think we really that's another aspect that I think we really need to take a look at. And like I said, it's going to especially affect veterans because to the general population, even people with master's degree can do some kind of uh, you know, uh, care, but for the veterans, they're required to have somebody who's a doctor. So, I think we need to kind of, you know, maybe work with our our veteran uh organizations, our, you know, veterans advisory board uh and reach out to the other educational uh

Yeah, that's a that's a great point. Maybe maybe I can pitch that back as a question to our researchers online if they is that also a challenge you're seeing in other other communities as well? Yeah, I think across the state we're seeing a lot of workforce restraints. It's something a lot of different initiatives are working on, but it's something especially in areas where we're expecting population to grow. That's going to continue to be a pressure point, especially for populations such as veterans, which have a more limited pool of who can serve. It's going to continue, I think, in the next few decades to be a pressure point that needs to be addressed. Thank you, Rebecca. Thank you, I just wanted to point that out.

Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Stout.

Yep. U Thank you, Joel, and and and thanks to the to the research team for um uh putting this together for us. I think it's um it's great to see that uh you know a policy that we've implemented is is um doing what it's supposed to do first of all but but also um the fact that it's it's not only bringing social benefits to our community but um uh economic impacts or or or tax burden impacts um to our to our constituents. And I wanted to to ask Betsy, I mean, it seems to me like this is the type of um uh program or or or something that we should be definitely pushing out through our comm's department. Um making sure that the public understands that uh that that the county is, you know, is doing this. You know, we're, you know, we get hit left and right all the time. Uh folks talking about how the countyy's constantly uh spending and raising taxes and and you know it property property taxes being being out of control when actually we're uh investing in smart programs like this that that bring about um house avoidance and and and allow us to invest in in in other things and and so I think you know this is really something that needs to be highlighted and you know I'm glad that we're having the presentation today. It's a Thursday meeting. There's probably not much press in the room right now, but I can't see in the back of the room if there's any press there. But it seems to me like this this is something that we really need to be pushing out there and letting people know um that's going on here at the county.

That's a great suggestion. Commissioner Butler, I have some some questions and some comments. Thank you very much. can um accurately understand the effectiveness of this program if one of the key findings is that we don't have the adequate data systems in place to to measure the effectiveness of the system. Um so I do think that like one of the first things we should do is try to bolster those data systems and and definitely follow those recommendations. But I also know that that doesn't come at no cost, right? So what are the cost estimates for even

working on integrating data systems and making sure that we have the adequate data available to um ensure the effectiveness of the program is one of my questions.

No, it's a great question and I I'll take a stab at it and see if Lisa and Rebecca have any any comments on it, but um I don't think I don't think there's going to be any additional uh budget needs as far as beefing up the data system for it. Maybe I'm being naive there, but I do think there these things are reasonable things that we can integrate. As with any program that you try to implement, especially something as complex with this, you usually find the data tracking problems are a big issue in trying to understand the impacts and and we did find that here of of the data that we did have. I think we found it the the trends as you saw here were very positive like it is having positive impacts but on the you know one of my comments to the sheriff's team was it's unfortunate we don't have a a larger data set that that's complete because I think you probably aren't getting full credit for the full impacts of that the program has had but we do have samples of data and what we did have showed that it is having a positive impact but we do need to have a make sure that we have a complete data set. So, we're going to have Jacob Miles and Jose D'borah engaging with the teams and I think some of it is just making sure that that there's um that the staff on the front lines are recording it that there's a there's a robust way to make sure there there as they mentioned there's dashboards that are displaying it um and that are updated regularly that we can look like like our justice leadership coordinating council dashboard. I could see this being a another beautiful addition to that to that dashboard. And um and we've done it and we've done it without even our that dashboard. We were able to completely build which is one of the most robust I've seen anywhere in the nation um our justice dashboard um without hiring staff or even we even used free software platforms to make that happen. It's just been that the strategies are complicated

and difficult but we will have some work groups that that address that. But I think you commissioner that question touched on the one of the most important points of the study. So thank you for it. But Lisa Rebecca, do you have a a comment on um or a followup on that question?

Just that I I agree with your response, Joel. And just to echo, I I think some of these data issues that have been highlighted and that you'll see in the full report are not unique to to this program. We see them in many uh a lot of different jurisdictions. Especially when a program is just being launched, there's usually some some quirks to work out with what's being collected, how systems talk to each other. We've already seen some improvements in the data that's being collected. Um I think in 2024 they rolled out a new system that provided a lot more detailed information that we were able to dig into. So, it'll be a little bit of an iterative process, but just getting those different systems to be able to talk to each other and link the data is going to have even just more profound estimates on the true impact of the program.

Yeah. And and to follow up with that, part one of the benefits of doing a comprehensive analysis like this is that in the process of the analysis, you start to realize what our weaknesses are as far as reporting. And and I think um to Rebecca's point starting in 2024 the reason I think one of the reasons it started there was because we had engaged in this study and they were we were being challenged and the CIT team was being challenged to provide data ehn to provide data and they and they were but it it did help to understand here's here's what the researchers are looking for and here's what we need to find and provide. So that's that's a positive impact here, but we also have a very clear understanding of the path forward as well.

Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Um does the full study um because it's not explicit here, at least not that I can see. Um um mention the the full cost that we currently incur for the CIT program, like what it costs us today to operate it. Rebecca, is that is that uh I'm trying to I know I saw the cost impacts, but I was trying to remember if we reduced the expenses from that. I think we did in the full analysis.

In the full report, we did not. We do have the estimated opportunity cost savings. Um and then what you would just need to do from that is to subtract out those expenses. I think you're still going to end up in net positive. Um, but that's a simple calculation that we can help with if that's of interest and you can get us those direct costs of running the program. Yeah, we can we can provide that.

Yeah, I think that would that would help. And and even with the with the assumed um cost savings, I understand that to mean um if we were to free up capacity in the jail, assuming those were taken up by federal um beds basically that we're reimbured for, but that is as we know uh an assumption that we can't um uh guarantee or even plan on in terms of budgeting. So um I think it's important to see the real costs, right? and and what that looks like because a lot of the recommendations in here do involve investment. And so I'm trying to understand um you know what it what is it actually costing us now um and and how much potentially are we being recommended to invest in the program and I just want to read one paragraph for people who don't have the benefit of having this in front of them. Um, it says, "While the CIT program demonstrates strong potential for system level cost avoidance and diversion, limited crisis infrastructure, staffing shortages, and a lack of follow-up resources constrain the program's reach and long-term sustainability. Gaps in housing, transportation, and long-term care contribute to repeated calls and continued system cycling. Deputies face extended transport times due to the absence of east side crisis facilities while uncertainty around sustained CIT program funding places operational strain on the program. So when I read read that paragraph I'm thinking like um uh you know how much would we have to invest as a county um to to make this a long-term sustained program? But then at what point are we also relying on all of the other external factors for this to be successful? Um, which would require

investment from multiple external organizations um and that we really don't have a lot of control over and we know there are major gaps in those systems, right? And so um uh in terms of evaluating the effectiveness of our program, how much of that does how much does it rely on external forces and infrastructure and investment?

That's a that's a great question. I know we we talked about this at the JLC meeting a couple weeks ago. Um EHN the good news to that question is that we they were funded for the crisis center on the east. It is going to be several years, but that's like a $50 million facility that's going to go up out there and it's going to greatly enhance this program programs like this and and help fill that gap, that funding gap. That would seem it seems um almost incomprehensible when you're when you're thinking of especially in a time where we don't have funds to to put a budget to put more money into this. that is coming and we got a huge grant for that and I think that was that that fits one of those key recommendations from the paragraph you just read. Um it's already in progress and so that that's good news. Um and but but there is still the staffing quandry and resources. So we'll continue to work with them on that and do the best we can with what we have right now. But but it is something that we we will continue to evaluate and I do think down the road we'll have the internal capacity to report even more complex outcomes once we truly beef up the data infrastructure. We'll be able to keep coming back to the court with outcomes and needs and and more clear assessments on on maybe what the gaps are.

Okay. And then my last question um or comment is uh we know that um uh the city of El Paso and El Paso Police Department are the ones who um who utilize the jail um at higher levels. Um maybe upwards of 80% of our inmates are brought in by by PD in the city of El Paso. So, um, in terms of evaluating CIT as a whole, um, in terms of impacts to the jail, um, how do we evaluate that without looking at the city's CIT program

and as part of this? So, we do have the city's analysis that was done by Meadows about 5 years ago, okay?

And their recommendations. I'll provide that in a in a follow-up highlight to you. Um, and then there is some in the in the broader more comprehensive uh report that you will receive. There is some talk about the comparisons there. I think that the key challenge and uh not to speak too much for our researchers who are right here with us, but the key challenge with comparing our program to the city's outcomes was um some of it was some of the data wasn't available. there's a different assessment that was used and and we had a difficulty integrating that for a number of reasons. Um and there were other reasons and things that made it very hard for them to do direct comparisons. But the city's outcomes are mentioned in our one of the requirements of the study um was to compare the city study and and how and contrast with the county's outcomes and also we had city CIT officers present at the JLC a couple weeks ago. So there's more interconnection and we want to make sure those teams are are fully connected and integrated so that we're maximizing the impacts because they have a much bigger broader CIT program than what the county does. So um I don't know if that gets to the root of your question but but um it will be that that analysis will be present for what data was available. I don't know Rebecca or Lisa if you have any other comments on that. Um yeah, and and I think just um in terms of next steps, Joel, um if if um maybe we can have a followup to talk more about that. I I would just, you know, um understanding the recommendations are, you know, like more staff, more training, more resources. Um but there's not a lot of like hard data in this and and budget numbers in this to say like yes, go ahead. Right. So I I

don't know what the next step is now.

Yeah. I think and and one of my um I guess one of my comments for my my two cents when I when I spoke with the sheriff's office was that we need to really beef up that data infrastructure and we can do that without further investments before we really seriously analyze what sort of in further investments need to be made to to cover some of this. So, we really want to get that done first and that's going to take, you know, probably the next the next year to really integrate that and also start to get those outcomes before we really could bring forward some compelling recommendations to the court, right? One way or the other regarding where that should go. And we also have to really evaluate how the the huge increase in resources with that crisis center in the east is is going to impact those recommendations as well. Yeah.

Um and just one last thing on that that um facility that that um that center that's going up on the east side. Are you in communication with EHN about what that's going to look like? Is it going to be um conducive to like a diversion center for people who are being arrested or is it going to be more like the psych center that we see next to UMC?

Yeah, I think it is going to be a diversion center. EHN has had a huge emphasis on diversion. They've already got that implemented to some degree. Our sobering center is about to be rolled out, which is an enhancement to their diversion center. They've also I've been very impressed with the HN's um talk with the police department and with the district attorney's office and I've been involved in those conversations not just limiting it to uh mental health and and intoxicated individuals but even other crimes that were that would give officers an option other than the jail booking lower level non-violent type things to where they could drop those off and integrate that into it. But my my understanding and I'm not definitely don't want to speak for EHN. I think we might have a representative Katherine uh Langora uh the director of government affairs. I think she might be on. I I don't know if she wants to talk about that east side uh center but um it they're definitely looking at expanding the concept of the diversion center overall which includes these types of programs.

Okay. All right. Thank you so much. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Joe. Thank you, Rebecca. Thank you, Lisa. Item 4 D, receive an update from the El Paso County Women's Commission on their ongoing progress and accomplishments highlighting key initiatives such as the upcoming domestic violence summit. Good morning.

Good morning. Well, we are before you the third day in a row, but today we're going to talk about the women's commission progress, the update for it. Oh, I should I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Darthothy Bird and I am the chair for the women's commission. Good morning, commissioners. Linda Chu. Morning, Commissioners. Andy Tiscarino Samura.

And our purpose. The El Paso County Women's Commission was created to ensure gender equality in a community where 51% of El Paso are women. The largest demographic living in poverty are women between the ages of 25 to 34. 20% of women are uninsured. Regardless of the educational level, women in El Paso keep earning between 23 to 41% less than men. The background, the El Paso County Women's Commission is a seven member commission that serves as advisory body to the commissioner's court and the chief advisor administrator. The Women's Commission is a coordinating agency for activities, education, special interests, needs, and concerns of women in El Paso County. Each member of the commission is appointed for a term of two years. So, our um previous data data that we've gathered and uh found in the state of Texas, um a 2022 review showed that female uh female victims of domestic violence ranged in age from 13 to 89 years old, while male victims ranged from 22 to 67 years old. domestic violence in El Paso County. Um, back in 2024, there were 25,137 victims of domestic violence who were female and 3,385

were male. Total number of victims served by the uh crime victims unit in 2023 was 2,228. of 2,632 number of arrests made by the sheriff's office, more than half were declined by the district attorney's office. In 20 thou in 2022, four people died from domestic violence injuries and there is no trauma certified court in El Paso County. Uh for the first time since 2019, El Paso had zero intimate partner murders in 2024. So, our findings showed that there's um some significant gaps in intervent intervention and long-term services and resources that we provide for um victims of domestic violence. Um we also found that areas of improvement and need to ensure the optimal application of DIMS. Um we also found that consistent training across agencies who provide victim services should be made more readily available. Um as well as a need for support as expressed by honorable judge Jessica Vasquez for a partial excuse me a pre-trial diversion program for family violence. Linda Chu, uh, Commissioner. So, what you have heard, um, from the other two commissioners was sort of a refresher, uh, of what we presented, uh, a year ago. Um, so, let me give you a little bit of an update. Um, in the state of Texas in 2024, the age uh, remained the same. the age of those

um between 13 and 89 for females and for white males between 22 and 67 that remained the same interestingly enough. And as the commissioner uh pointed out in 2000 uh since 2019 in 2024 we had zero in uh intimate partners um deaths. Unfortunately in 2025 that changed. Um now the district attorney's office uh uh filed 1,776 uh domestic violence cases of of those most of them were uh misdemeanors and then about 400 a little over 400 were felonies and more tragically was that there were six homicide cases filed uh in the district attorney's um office in 2025. 5. Uh however, on a brighter note, the domestic violence unit was resurrected. Um this is one of the things that we had um really encouraged and we thank commissioners for helping with this. This was important because what this does, this unit um provides um contact with the victims within 24 hours. And I think that's just really phenomenal. And makes home visits, which I think is so important. And hopefully um that unit will get um stronger and maybe even bigger so that there will be more outreach. And um lastly, uh one of the things that we are very pleased about is the county court number four, Judge Vosquez, has really done a good job in stepping up to the plate. She she did so much of the groundwork on her own trying to set this um uh court up and I think it has done

um a remarkable step remarkable job. It is one of those things that we will see um as I mentioned on Monday um for change. It's going to happen one step at a time. And I think this is really an important step in changing behavior and attitude. And it's going to be sort of one one person at a time, uh, one program attendee at a time, but one is better than zero. Um, and that victim's unit, we just got an update. Thank you, Michelle Cochran. Uh in 2025, that victim's unit, which was just resurrected, served 2,392 victims. Um 500 I mean, excuse me, 848 were victims of domestic violence. What we're you're going to see next is the um the the goal of we're proposing a summit, which you probably have heard about. One of the things that we learned and we did a lot of data collection. We I think we heard from every I don't know if it was every unit, but we heard from a lot of different folks. And one thing that was really clear over and over was how there were so many gaps. in gaps. In this sense, everybody was working in their own silos and everybody doing a good job with what they had, but no cross communication, no connections. And that was um sort of re that was surprising to us and led us to say, you know what, what is it that we can do that will bring folks together to share what resources they have, how they can help with the sheriff's office or how the sheriff's office can help at Centro

San Vicente or or at the um Kelly food pantry. what what how can those um entities all of them uh help each other and what can we do to facilitate that communication and that sort of resource gathering and so that was the really impetus for this summit it is to close those gaps and so the next slide will show you and I'm glad you all have screens in front of you because this There's a small this is a little bit smaller font but this is sort of the agenda um for our um presentation and and uh we are really excited because um uh the next slide will show you all the stakeholders that have been invited. So we tried to identify as many of those stakeholders, as many of the stakeholders as possible and bring them in under the tent of the coliseum. Again, thanks to Michelle Cochran for putting that together. It's going to be at the coliseum. Um we have this as a part of that and I think this is very cool. um the at UTP the women's and gender studies they're going to send out a survey to the stakeholders um on different topics if you will to the next slide um and this slide shows what those topics are assuming those um uh surveys are responded that they are answered that will help us in really formulating the panel discussions that we have set up for this um event. And I'm going to let um Commissioner Bird finish this off showing you our our

flyer. But I really want to thank Michelle Cochran because she has been I mean she's just extraordinary. Uh really extraordinary in terms of assistance, efficiency. In fact, we've decided that we don't have a meeting without Michelle. We're just not gonna have it because we really really need her. She's been such a not only in um support for logistics, she's sort of our emotional support person, too. We really enjoyed her. So, we're thankful for you all to let her work with us. Commissioner Bird and also Jessica. We we truly um we truly envision her every single time when we have a meeting also because between the two of them they keep us straight. Let's start there. And and we make sure we um we are doing for the good of the women in our community. And I also want to add this part to it. Even the men because when the men learn something, they become better men to treat the women a lot better. I grew up with brothers, so that's how come I know they could be teachable. And our um it's going to be called our women's resource fair is of course presented by the El Paso County Women's Commission. and we want everyone to join us for the special event full of resources to empower, inspire, and uplift women. It will be on September the 10th. And like um Commissioner Chu said, it will be at the El Paso County Commission, I mean uh El Paso County Coliseum. And the panel discussions will be between 8:15 to 12:15. We will break for lunch and then the resource fair will

start from 1:00 to 4. So the community is invited, different um um organizations are invited to please let um the women come out to join us. You don't have to worry about paying for parking. And the great thing about being at the coliseum, it's it's so open. So we can have more people that can come out to learn about the resources. Even though we are active in our community, we have learned a lot. So we know everyone in the community can learn so much more. So we thank you for having us today. If we come tomorrow, I think we need to have lunch. But uh anyway, thank you so much for listening to us. And if you have any questions about our expo, please ask them right now. And if not, you can ask us later.

I do. You have any questions? I do have a question. Thank you so much um to each of you for being here for the third day in a row and uh uh for all of your time on the on the women's commission. Um, so for the the event on the 10th on September 10th, are you going to have a flyer that includes the morning portion or is that like an invite only type thing that you're not opening it up to the public? We'll let Michelle answer that one. Ah, we want to stay within our regulations.

Excuse me. Good morning, Commissioner. The initial portion is the panel portion and so that was initially set up as an invite only because we were going to be here in commissioner's court. We were able to secure the coliseum. So that really increases the capacity that we'll have and so they the commission wanted to make that open to members of the public as well. And the way we haven't set up the schematic specifically for the coliseum yet, but we should be able to have the capacity to open it up to the public. But specifically, we wanted those stakeholders and those entities to be part of that round table, which was the commission's goal of this uh collaboration between the agencies.

Okay. Um are you anticipating uh having like a a registration fee or a cost for people to attend? That is not something that um was required or that discussed at this point. Um, if the court wishes, we could we could look into that. But the intent of the commission was to open it up to all members to to everybody in the public just to get as much as collaboration and participation as possible because during their data gathering and research, it was evident how much it impacts everybody across the county.

Yeah, I agree with that. I just I just know that events at this scale are are not free, right? They're they have a cost associated with them. So, I'm wondering how we're going to cover that. Uh, fortunately, the coliseum cost itself is being taken handled by the coliseum. They're very helpful and willing to help us put the event on. Uh, the other costs associated, which we do have in our budget, includes a lunch for the panel members only, those who are on the panel, the women's commission. Um and then the commissioners will be seeking donations for breakfast pastries from one of the stakeholders, but we've yet to secure that.

Okay. Well, um I would just encourage you to think about those things, right? If you're going to have I I think this is incredibly valuable and I think the more people who could attend and listen to panel discussions about these topics, the better for the community. And the more people you can get in in the morning, you'll probably get them for the resource fair in the afternoon. Um, but people like to stick around over a lunch or like a keynote address or, you know, have a have some kind of of food or drinks provided. And so I would just, you know, um, encourage you to think about those things.

And I think that's a great idea. I mean, the whole idea is really to facilitate communication. that is so what is it that will draw people in and keep them there and letting them sit at a table and say oh I didn't know you all could do this yeah well I didn't know that you could that however we can do that so that's a great idea and we certainly have some time now we started planning this

oh a year ago and so we have a little bit of time that we can sort of do that but I think the idea the concept of making a welcoming environment that encourages people to stay and talk and share and connect and network is really to close the gap. That's how we close the gap, right? Yeah. So, that's great. That's a great idea.

Yeah. And just, you know, I'm happy to sit down with anybody to like talk through these things, but you know, if you have if you want people to stay for a resource fair, but it's like lunch on your own, they're more likely to leave and not stay or come back. Um and and so you know um there's some event planning logistics that might um help to retain people and get a bigger audience but

and and we will look at that certainly I mean I think that was a part of our discussion we always worried about where's the money how do you get the money and you know not anyway there's as you know working with the county there's all kinds of um legal issues with asking for donations. And so we didn't want to cross any of those lines. Uh we almost did, but we didn't. And so we we'll need to um we certainly can explore that and figure out how we can navigate something like that. I I I would love to and I know all the commissioners would love to do something like that to make it even more to be even more an encouraging event that encourages people to stay.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah, go ahead.

Okay. Um, so I I was looking at the schedule for the panel um portion. Um, and I know that there's there's not enough room to include everything we would possibly want to include in the panel portion. I know we're very very limited in time, but I'm noticing that panelist number two is blank. I don't know if that panelist just hasn't been chosen or confirmed yet for the 11:05 session. I know panelist one I see is our um county attorney Christina Sanchez. I just wanted to make a suggestion maybe if we haven't decided yet who that panelist two might be. I think it's really important to have one of our local immigration legal service providers um potentially be there to talk about the immigration benefits and protections that are available to immigrant victims of crime. We have a huge um as everyone knows problem in our community with immigrant victims being afraid to come forward and report the crimes against them because of their lack of immigration status. And that's just something that's a huge barrier that we're constantly trying to overcome. Um making sure that immigrant victims understand the importance of reporting these crimes and that it's okay to cooperate. Uh so that was just my suggestion. Um if if we haven't chosen a palentis number two yet, maybe that might be a good one. Perfect opening. That's it. Okay. And we will work on that. Thank you. That's a great idea.

Thank you, Commissioner Guon.

Yeah. And I just want to thank y'all for uh putting this forward because one of the those are one of the really biggest issues in the justice system, right? We see a lot of the cases that are filed are domestic violence related and it's it even affects the family law cases in the civil side that it's really a joint, you know, handling of those cases. And so, um I think identifying where we have gaps and there's clearly plenty of gaps uh that we can see. But even as a as an aside note, even just forget about the domestic violence, but those even the women that are involved in the justice system, just the resources for them when they're on probation are not the same and they're not available here locally, some of them. So, just down the road, there's some of those issues that y'all may want to take a look at. um you know to make sure that you know it's a statewide issue. It's not just us. So anyways, thank y'all for taking this up.

Thank you. Thank you all.

Item 4E, receive and discuss a presentation and update from the bond performance team regarding the voter approved bond projects in the capital improvement plan. Morning, commissioners. Gia Martinez with the county administration department here to provide you with your monthly update um on the capital improvement bond projects as well as starting off with some brief updates on the administrative and financial management of those projects. On on our end, we've continued coordinating closely with the various departments represented in the powerhouse bond management team. Most recently with respect to identifying and implementing payment processing efficiencies, operations personnel is developing streamlined workflows that would allow county staff across departments to gain deeper insights into the status of payment requests from vendors as they move through our internal process. This should allow our powerhouse team to move to more proactively resolve issues and keep projects moving forward smoothly and on time. Our team is also meeting with members of the powerhouse team to quickly make any financial adjustments needed as our project managers negotiate and finalize costs for new project phases. Looking forward, I did want to uh update the court that we've adjusted our timeline on providing the non-Jeo project portfolio to May for several reasons. The first is that we're currently working with the county auditor's office to review and identify expenditure adjustments from our general fund that should have been expensed using bond funds in order to preserve both preserve our general fund balance and facilitate further appropriate spendown of the county's outstanding debt. We'd like to finalize this exercise over the next couple weeks. Additionally, we are we are very focused on providing the court with the 2026 debt financing plan in April. We've been working with our financial adviser, Stifel, to finalize that plan and share recommended options for the court's consideration. We'll need to finalize

that plan soon in order to meet critical deadlines related to issuing the second tranch of voter approved GOB bond funds. Happy to answer any questions the court may have about these updates. If there is none, I'll go ahead and hand the presentation over to our purchasing agent, Miss Karen Davidson. I do have one question, Christian. Um uh can can we schedule some time to get updates specifically on two bond two of the CO bond projects um which would be Hillrest um the Hillrest water project and also Asencion um to get status updates on those two. Yes ma'am. Absolutely. Thank you. Hill

Chris then as Okay. Thank you. Good morning, commissioners. Karen Davidson, your county purchasing agent.

So, the first project I want to present, first of all, I want to let you all know that the bond projects and the procurement side of it is going wonderfully. And so, we're happy to announce that on the Seymar for the animal shelter, we held a pre-proposal meeting on March 17th, which was televised on YouTube and highly attended. So, we're super excited. We've got a lot of um interest in our construction community and anybody that's interested in jumping in on a Seymour, it's not too late for this one. So, for the animal shelter Seymour, we invite everybody that's interested to get out there, get that proposal, and um you can certainly look at the pre-proposal on YouTube. The second one that I want to present this morning is the Scarity Park Administrative Building. This is our first CSP, guys. And so, this one, all the proposals were due on March 12th. We had an outstanding response with some amazing and hopefully um pans out cost savings. And so this CSP by law has to be evaluated in 45 days. And so this prescriptive um timeline will keep everything on track and we hope to have that in front of you in June of 2026 along with the contract to be awarded which our county attorneys are are helping us with and that's already in there. The next one is our shelter bundle and this one's super close, guys. We hope in the next 30 to 30 days that public works will be finished with it and kick it over to us. This is a cooperative methodology that we bundle together all the shelters, picnic tables, tra, you know, trash bins, all of those type of items together to get that economy of scale discount. And these will be scattered within your different park projects. But we should have that entire bundle to you all. and we're looking to have that to you in the next 90 days for award because it's a cooperative methodology. We found a lot of time efficiencies in this. And the last one that I bring up to you is our skate park bundle because we continue to hold um community meetings on this and get the final input from the community, but these are three of your skate parks. They'll go into three different parks

and so that's moving along very quickly. We were able to cut out a lot of costs by going to directly to a vendor that does skate parks as their niche and there are on a cooperative. So, if all that pans out well with the county attorney and the contracting, we should have significant savings on our skate parks as well. I'm here to answer any questions you might have on any of the other procurements or projects. Otherwise, I'll turn it over to our wonderful engineers. Thank you, Karen.

Thank you. Very good news. Good morning, commissioners. Lee Adas with public works. I'll start off with um a Scott at the park. We have our scheduled uh public meeting on uh it'll be next week at the pavilion and I believe communications will talk about that a little bit more. um the project itself right now we're we're still working through the um the initial concepts but what I really wanted to uh talk about today was a little bit more on the the project elements. Um it was brought to my attention that there was a little bit of confusion on the last bullet point where it talks about the escarat lake enhancements. Um I know that uh we have other funding that's associated to it. So, I just wanted to clarify that the this bond project specifically um when it talks about the lake enhancements, we're talking about the trail that goes around the the lake. Um there are other projects that are running with the same project that talk that are specifically for the lake, the rehabilitation of the lake, the shoring air raators um that that more specific to that. Um and then one more thing and that the um project A19 which is the park headquarters that Molina is handling is completely separate from this project and that's just for the general public to understand. We'll definitely touch on this uh in our community meeting that's coming up on the 24th. And then for S Pilipe Park, we continue with the um right now the the plans are under review with our um planning team uh we're corning with environmental. We think all this is going to wrap up in the next uh two months and after that we will be working on the bid package for

purchasing and we anticipate to have that to them this fall. The next one is the Gygo uh park to river trail. We did receive the revised proposal uh for this uh the trail uh this as as uh you may recall from our previous meetings we had meetings with IBWC EP water um there was a change in alignment not uh drastic it's really to uh to so we don't interfere with the current utility so the path will be meandering which makes it even better as a recreational um amenity. Uh so we we currently have the revised proposal. We're reviewing that and our next step is to finalize that proposal and initiate uh the contract with our legal department underestria. Uh this we we just uh confirmed the date for the first uh community meeting which will be uh April 16th. We're working with our um consultant to prepare for this community meetings. I also did relay the message about the restrooms from our last meeting. So, we're definitely looking into that and we will be providing some options. Thank you. And I'll turn it over uh to Molina on West. Thank you.

Good morning. Uh speaking on Westway, the Westway right now, the way we're showing it as a combined effort. So, we do have part of the shelter bundles in here, which they briefly talked about. Um the current item that's most progressively showing is the walking trail component and that's the one we have the groundbreaking scheduled for April 10th. Um so we'll start advertising that pretty soon and I'm sure communications will elaborate a little bit more. Additional to this we're working on the basketball shade structure. So we are working uh pretty aggressively with uh county attorneys with purchasing on getting that design going. Um, we do have the actual shelter through a co-op, but the footings, the design for the the footings of the shelter is what needs to be designed. So, that's the portion that's going to come in and sneak itself into the middle of the process, get it designed, and then we'll go back into the cooperative. Moving forward on this one, uh, again, just to high kind of highlight, the shelter bundles will be the next step, and then following that one would be the the installation of the the basketball structure. And so, that should be kind of the timeline for Westway. looking at Rising Girl Park. This one we have the groundbreaking ceremony. We're really excited about this tomorrow, so be there. Have a good time. Enjoy the sun. Um, but we do know it's going to be a little hot, so please bring a hat. And we're really excited. It's at 2:30 and we're going to kick off this construction. This one specifically is going to start with the park improvements, which is uh focused on lighting and a water fountain, followed by the installation of the shelter bundles um that were discussed previously. onto Aua Dulce which we had the groundbreaking ceremony earlier this month. I'm lying February. Um all the months are running together now. So at the kickoff we had a really great event. It was windy as we talked about the last uh special sessions update. Currently construction is going really well. We were able to actually close the entire field section of the park. So that gave

the contractor advantage on time. So he was able to actually just de demolish everything throughout the park that was needed to be removed, allowing him to gain a significant amount of time. I want to say it's about four to six weeks that we are saving because uh the entire park was able to be brought in. Aside from that, we did have the water fountain installation and that one's ready to go. I just went to check it out. The kids are already putting rocks in the water fountain. It's cute. Um but it does have a doggy bowl, so it's ready. Go visit it. Take your dog with you. He'll be able to drink some water as well. uh that site. Again, we're scheduled to wrap this up in the next four to six weeks to uh do the final walkthrough on the walking trail. The current um I want to say obstacle or challenges we've had is making sure it's ADA compliant. So, checking a lot of those slopes, being out in the field, checking those levels to make sure that you know we are meeting all the required uh requirements for this site. On to the park administration building. This is the site uh the project that Karen was just talking about. We did just receive all the uh responses to the bid that was out. So, we're happily working with our subject matter experts here at public works to get those reviewed and scored um as she said within the 45day time limit. After that, we you'll see us come back with the award of the of the contract and the bid. Hopefully in the same day so that we can make sure we get this project moving quickly. And county animal shelter, we had our third meeting last night. Uh it was a great meeting at the Coliseum. Again, it was one of those uh meetings that recapped the findings. Very similar to county meeting number two, just in another neighborhood to get more community feedback. The survey for the animal shelter will continue to run for another week. So, if you want to help us spread the word, get a little bit of input from the community on those design elements that we think would be really cute and enhance the facility itself. Uh running parallel to that is as Karen

mentioned the Seymar uh the Seymar bid process and so we just had the pre-proposal as Karen mentioned. Um very successful. Really excited to see how this project will start kind of gaining momentum once we get that Seymour on board. U Melinda, how was the turnout yesterday? It was pretty good. Uh we had I don't want to say a full house, it was a good three quarter house full. Um a lot of the community outreach we saw at the first meeting the the advocates were back again. Okay, good. So, very passionate, very um smart people that were very uh debt passionate about this project. Okay, that's good news. Thank you. Oh, and our final project.

Good morning, commissioners. Uh Fernian Nandis with infrastructure services uh for the uh medical examiners. Uh we are progressing uh the design team has already finished their 95% package. So, we're in the middle of reviewing that right now uh with uh within the the county operations itself. And not to mention, our our Semar contractor is also reviewing the plans uh so he can get a jump start on the GMP package. Uh other than that, uh we're we're still on track and on schedule to to hit the milestones for the uh the initial GMP submittal um uh for the end of uh end of April, I'm sorry. Uh but other than that, that's pretty much where we are on the on the medical examiners. if you all have any questions for me. Not we we like to turn it over to uh communications.

Good morning, Desiree.

Good morning. Early afternoon, commissioners. Desire Gonzalez, marketing uh coordinator with the communications division. Uh and just to kind of highlight of what we've been um up to these last week, last month, sorry, not week. Um last night's uh animal shelter community meeting was a very good meeting. We had a great turnout. Um as Molina mentioned, we did have some of our our regulars from the first meeting, but we all it was great to see that we had some newcomers. Um I want to say the attendance was roughly around 20 people. Um so it was really great to get that information out to a new set of a new group. And we are utilizing a lot of our um signin sheet, a lot of those emails. O were making sure that um people from the first meeting and then the last meeting and in um in Clint was able to still get the notification that we're having a third meeting. Um and they were notified that it was very similar to the second meeting. Uh the survey uh excuse me, the survey flyer did go out uh this morning as a with the new date of the March 25th deadline. So that's already been sent out. Uh the press release will go out today as well, just reminding the public um of that survey. And just to clarify, the survey did go out to the attendees of the meeting. Yes. As well. Okay.

Yes. So, we still had the flyer um luckily from last night. So, we we handed each one in the flyer. Of course, the QR code was up at the presentation as well. And we still have the presentation um on online YouTube. And so, uh the press release has that well online with our social media outreach has the link to the presentation and the link to the survey as well. Yeah, I know that our office um well, we have a lot of those um animal services organizations in precinct one that um we were we were communicating with. So, I just need to know if we should send them the survey or if it would I will I'll definitely send your office the updated flyer with the new deadline. Um so, you can have that as well. Okay. Thank you.

And how are we doing with survey responses? Do we have an idea of how many we've already received? uh prelim preliminary numbers says it's not as high as a ascarate but it is a pretty good turnout right now um without revealing any specifics the results are coming back pretty tied about 53 to 47% like between two options so please help us spread the word so that we can get a bigger distinction between the selected items but it's it's about a quarter or to a half of what was getting back on their survey so we're hoping we will get more definitely. Oh yes, thank you. That's the that is the our our slide. So that is our AB slide that's going to go up um that's going to be going up on the loop with commissioner court meetings and then also on the monitors that are out here in the lobby. So we've been utilizing that and then of course we'll have our web banner up on the website and you'll see it with the Escarete um outreach as well. Um moving on to Scott Park community meeting. Uh we are scheduled next Tuesday, March 24th at 6:00 p.m. We will be at the Escarete Pavilion. Um staff has already been working posters um posters have already been in the lobby uh the pretty much right after the second animal shelter mean. So they've been up posted up in the lobby first and third floors. Uh we also have a couple A-frames that are set up around the park at Escarete. And then of course the AV slide as you see on your screen um at the very bottom and the web banner is already on on our website. Uh social media has already gone out. Uh press release went out this week. Of course, we don't want to go too too early because then people start to forget. So, it went out this week. It'll go again out over the weekend and then we'll remind everybody on Monday. We like to stalk people. Um and again, utilize we're utilizing the the email list from the very first two meetings. I'm sorry, first meeting. This is our second meeting. Um we are also utilizing the the email list from that first meeting to remind the public. And then of course, we have our upcoming uh

events. We have Risinger tomorrow. was super excited. So, we have March 20th on 2:30 and then of course we have our Westway groundbreaking at April 10th. I believe that's at 11:00 a.m. I'll double check the time. Um, and so we're communications has been run around when and we are getting ready to um as Lena mentioned, I'm sorry, Lydia mentioned that um we'll be working with your offices for any upcoming community meetings and of course you have any questions I'm happy to answer. Thank you. Thank you, Desire. Thank you. I I have Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Uh just I was going to ask the team, this is not the same presentation. It's missing one of your slides, Desiree, that's in the backup. If we can be sure to get it uploaded for the public. Okay. Yes.

The one that's on the agenda backup is missing one of the slides. Oh, okay. I will I will double check that. I apologize. Nope.

You commissioners. Eric Rosales, assistant county attorney. Our portion of the update today is executive session. We'd ask if the court would consider just taking it now. We promise we'll be efficient. Um but that way we can brief you. This would be to move this item into executive session pursuant to 551.071. We have a motion by Commissioner Oline, second by Commissioner Coronado. The voting is open. I vote I. Thank you. Commissioner Stout, are you available?

Yes, my vote is I. Thank you. Judge Tomgo is absent. Motion carries. I have a question about the bond projects that's not related to executive session. I don't know if we can talk about it now. Do you want to do that before we go into executive? And then um just really quick also procedurally after we finish this item if the court wants to take a recess um and then we would resume the rest of the items. Is that okay? That's fine. Fine.

Um my question is is more about budget. Um I uh am watching the gas prices. Um I had to fill my tank for the first time this week and paying nearly double just to fill my own tank. And um I know that we built in some buffers and contingencies into the bond projects and then on the CO uh projects as well. I'm just wondering if there's been an analysis or will there be an analysis on the increase not just on gas prices but like I'm assuming supply chain increases across the board uh with the current situation.

So I well I'll defer to Molina on like the construction cost piece. We do have contingencies. So far, nothing is hitting contingencies. It's nothing has come in yet that will hit contingencies. As we continue along, we may start to see some of those those um inflationary um impacts or the impacts from war. Those those may come in, but to date, we have not seen any. Molina, I'll turn it over to you.

Yes, that's correct. So anything that's currently underway and we've already issued a PO for. It's it's on the vendor's discretion to order material, get everything in hand. So, and they do a really good job of watching the market. So, it's very um unusual when they come back and say, "Well, we didn't know it was going to spike." A lot of that comes back with us saying, "Well, we gave you a PO 3 months ago. You should have ordered material." So, that's kind of how we anticipate some of the issues coming up. Moving forward though, we're working a lot with our design teams as well as the contractors are going through co-ops on anticipating those fees and already kind of working it into the cost. So, a lot of this comes into play of them asking and the discussions about how long it takes us to get this project awarded and when we get a PO or a contract for it. And that's really what affects the cost the most. So we constantly to discuss this with our design teams and the contractors to say you know the fastest we can go is in 3 months we're going to have this contract awarded it's going to be on commissioners court blah blah blah whatever those parameters are and that's where they're setting their target for. So they're anticipating some of the costs especially with other projects, other bond projects that are going around the c the city um that affect our labor costs but as uh and but also taking a look at you know those impacts that happen from war from uh gas prices to tariffs anything like that. So they give us a heads up when they think it's something very unexpected um and we do our best to mitigate that as they occur. There is another project too that we've gotten uh there well there h have been some things that have come in under what we estimated. Um we also that's also part of why we're really trying to clean up and look at our other um debt issuances and and sometimes there's savings that the bond order would allow us to cover something else um with. So, we're trying to get that really cleaned up and in order so we'll know what we

have to work with if needed. The other thing is is we have a um uh we there's not a bond project, but there's another project that we have that came in higher than what we anticipated for the full project. But what we're going to do is we're going to bring it back to the court before we just downscale the project. We're going to bring it back to you all for discussion to say how do you want to downscale it? Do you want us to try to identify other funding? Because it it's some of our initial reaction is like we'll get it back in within budget, but that may not meet the needs or the intent of what the original project or funding was for. So, we'll be bringing that one back for the courts for for a discussion.

I think um that's definitely the benefit of of moving quickly on these projects. So, I appreciate all of the the quick coordination on that. I'm wondering if it would be useful maybe starting next month or soon um that we include budget updates to the projects like um uh you know in addition to to hearing from each department actually looking at the expenditure of funds from each project and how those quotes are coming in so we can track those

for the ones that we do have quotes on already. We we can do that. What we're trying to also avoid is advertising a maximum amount for people to bid um on the ones that we have not. But we we can bring forward what the quotes have come in on so far or what our design some of them were they're still in design. They're not in construction. Um so we can bring forward what what are our contractual obligations to date on each one of those. And that's one thing Christian and I talked about working on. um we haven't we haven't perfected it yet, but a kind of a budget meter

um on each one of them and then a collective budget meter. We don't have that uh visual perfected yet, but we will get it. I just I I I I'm worried that we're going to start seeing a steep increase in in costs. Um, and so I want to make sure that we're being proactive and being able to like visualize that now um before those start hitting because I think it's just a matter of time unfortunately. Great. Well, thank you all. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. So, we're moving into executive. Yes. Like to go into um for all items or just for E?

No, for this for this.

Okay. Commissioner's Court will now recess into executive session to discuss item 5 A and five I'm sorry 4E pursuant to Texas Government Code section 551.071. Commissioner Court will recommend to take official action. It is 12:09 Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Hola, El Paso. Winter is almost over and El Paso County is springing into March with everything that is going on across our county. Now, let's take a look back at some of February's highlights. The countyy's second parks and recreation capital improvement bond project is now underway. A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Awad Dulce improvements project. The renovations to the park includes a paved parking lot with ADA accessible spaces, a new walking trail, a water fountain, and new shelters, which include amenities like picnic tables, benches, and waste receptacles to improve safety and accessibility throughout the park. The county's first ever animal shelter is one step closer to reality. As phase two of the facil's development was discussed in a community meeting, the public was presented with new design concepts inspired by the results of the first community meeting. Attendees were presented two options for the building's design and highlighted new kennels separated by a bark wall. The public was able to present their input on the new design options in person and online. The front entrance of the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse was decorated in colorful messages for the third annual Talk About Love event. In recognition of teen dating violence awareness month, the Center against Sexual and Family Violence in partnership with El Paso County Attorney Christina Sanchez and District Attorney James Montoya invited the community to participate. Community members were encouraged to create colorful sidewalk chalk messages that promoted respect, healthy relationships, and love. This interactive event raised awareness about teen dating violence while fostering positive conversations and community engagement. That does it for this month's county connects. Until next time, let's get

ready for spring and make sure to stay connected with El Paso County. He a m Hey a m ah Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.

Welcome to the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office, where we're dedicated to helping families amilies navigate the complexities of family law with empathy, clarity, and a commitment to excellence. As an integral part of the El Paso County Civil Court system, we strive to provide support during challenging times. We are dedicated to supporting parents, guardians, and children in navigating complex issues such as custody, visitation, child support, and beyond. Whether you are recently divorced, in the midst of a custody dispute, or facing challenges with child support, we stand ready to offer compassionate guidance and unwavering support. Our mission is to assist children and families during what can be one of the most challenging times in their lives, ensuring they have the resources and assistance they need to move forward confidently. We provide services both in person and virtually, collaborating closely with judges, attorneys, and service providers to address each family's unique needs. Our child support enforcement unit plays a vital role in ensuring that children receive the financial support necessary for their well-being. When a court orders child support, it represents not just a figure, but a commitment to a child's future. This unit consists of a team of attorneys, enforcement officers, financial specialists, legal engagement officers, parillegals, and administrative staff who assist with the collection and enforcement of child support and medical support. Domestic relations office attorneys decide what enforcement remedies will be used based on the particular facts of the case. We help enforce court orders by monitoring payments and maintaining accurate records, working with parents who have fallen behind, helping them understand their obligations and options, filing enforcement actions with the court when necessary, and helping parents modify

orders if their financial situation changes significantly. Because we know life happens and fairness matters. We know that every family's situation is different. That's why our staff works with compassion, confidentiality, and professionalism, helping both custodial and non-custodial parents understand the process, meet their obligations, and keep the focus where it belongs, on the children. Another one of our core responsibilities is through our family court service unit, where we support the courts in making informed child- centered decisions in custody and visitation cases. In contested custody matters, when parents can't agree on who should care for the child, judges often rely on our skilled professionals to provide objective and detailed assessments. Family court services social workers or guardian adult items are appointed by judges to conduct thorough investigations and provide reports to the court based on the interests of the children involved. Either party may request the appointment of a guardian adal item for their case. In addition, family court services staff are appointed on some adoption cases to conduct evaluations. Our cooperative parenting program provides co-parenting classes which focus on the needs of children and parents in the aftermath of separation or divorce. Topics include parent, children and the involvement in the court, positive co-parenting practices, impact of divorce and separation on child development, communication, conflict resolution, and anger management. Classes are offered both in person and virtually and are open to everyone. No court order needed. Co-parents take the classes separately to ensure participants are comfortable discussing the topics. Individuals may register for classes by either visiting the domestic relations office website or by calling the office at 915-2733533

or by picking up the form inside our office. Class schedules can also be found on the website. Once the registration is received, the individual will be contacted by the program facilitator to discuss attendance and answer questions via email or phone. Class schedules can also be found on the website. Once the registration is received, the individual will be contacted by the program facilitator. Our office is dedicated to providing essential legal assistance tailored to family law issues. We empower parents to effectively enforce and modify access and possession time with their children, ensuring that their rights are upheld. For those seeking to formalize agreements, we facilitate parenting negotiation conferences that transform your arrangements into legally binding court orders. At the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office, we're committed to helping families find solutions that work. So, please visit our website or give us a call today to learn how we can help you move forward. Hello. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

All right. Hey Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. Hey. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Heat up here. Hola, El Paso. Winter is almost over and El Paso County is springing into March with everything that is going on across

our county. Now, let's take a look back at some of February's highlights. The county's second parks and recreation capital improvement bond project is now underway. A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Awad Dulce improvements project. The renovations to the park includes a paved parking lot with ADA accessible spaces, a new walking trail, a water fountain, and new shelters, which include amenities like picnic tables, benches, and waste receptacles to improve safety and accessibility throughout the park. The countyy's first ever animal shelter is one step closer to reality. As phase two of the facility's development was discussed in a community meeting, the public was presented with new design concepts inspired by the results of the first community meeting. Attendees were presented two options for the building's design and highlighted new kennels separated by a bark wall. The public was able to present their input on the new design options in person and online. The front entrance of the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse was decorated in colorful messages for the third annual Talk About Love event. In recognition of teen dating violence awareness month, the Center against Sexual and Family Violence in partnership with El Paso County Attorney Christina Sanchez and District Attorney James Montoya invited the community to participate. Community members were encouraged to create colorful sidewalk chalk messages that promoted respect, healthy relationships, and love. This interactive event raised awareness about teen dating violence while fostering positive conversations and community engagement. That does it for this month's county connects. Until next time, let's get ready for spring and make sure to stay connected with El Paso County.

Heat. Hey, Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Welcome to the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office, where we're dedicated to helping families navigate the complexities of family law with empathy, clarity, and a commitment to excellence. As an integral part of the El Paso County Civil Court system, we strive to provide support during challenging times. We are dedicated to supporting

parents, guardians, and children in navigating complex issues such as custody, visitation, child support, and beyond. Whether you are recently divorced, in the midst of a custody dispute, or facing challenges with child support, we stand ready to offer compassionate guidance and unwavering support. Our mission is to assist children and families during what can be one of the most challenging times in their lives, ensuring they have the resources and assistance they need to move forward confidently. We provide services both in person and virtually, collaborating closely with judges, attorneys, and service providers to address each family's unique needs. Our child support enforcement unit plays a vital role in ensuring that children receive the financial support necessary for their well-being. When a court orders child support, it represents not just a figure, but a commitment to a child's future. This unit consists of a team of attorneys, enforcement officers, financial specialists, legal engagement officers, parillegals, and administrative staff who assist with the collection and enforcement of child support and medical support. Domestic relations office attorneys decide what enforcement remedies will be used based on the particular facts of the case. We help enforce court orders by monitoring payments and maintaining accurate records. Working with parents who have fallen behind, helping them understand their obligations and options, filing enforcement actions with the court when necessary, and helping parents modify orders if their financial situation changes significantly. Because we know life happens and fairness matters. We know that every family situation is different. That's why our staff works with compassion, confidentiality, and professionalism, helping both custodial and non-custodial parents understand the process, meet

their obligations, and keep the focus where it belongs, on the children. Another one of our core responsibilities is through our family court service unit where we support the courts in making informed child- centered decisions in custody and visitation cases. In contested custody matters when parents can't agree on who should care for the child, judges often rely on our skilled professionals to provide objective and detailed assessments. Family court services social workers or guardian adult items are appointed by judges to conduct thorough investigations and provide reports to the court based on the interests of the children involved. Either party may request the appointment of a guardian adel item for their case. In addition, family court services staff are appointed on some adoption cases to conduct evaluations. Our cooperative parenting program provides co-parenting classes which focus on the needs of children and parents in the aftermath of separation or divorce. Topics include parent, children and the involvement in the court, positive co-parenting practices, impact of divorce and separation on child development, communication, conflict resolution and anger management. Classes are offered both in person and virtually and are open to everyone. No court order needed. Co-parents take the classes separately to ensure participants are comfortable discussing the topics. Individuals may register for classes by either visiting the domestic relations office website or by calling the office at 915-2733533 or by picking up the form inside our office. Class schedules can also be found on the website. Once the registration is received, the individual will be contacted by the program facilitator to discuss attendance and answer questions via email or phone. Class schedules can also be found on the

website. Once the registration is received, the individual will be contacted by the program facilitator. Our office is dedicated to providing essential legal assistance tailored to family law issues. We empower parents to effectively enforce and modify access and possession time with their children, ensuring that their rights are upheld. For those seeking to formalize agreements, we facilitate parenting negotiation conferences that transform your arrangements into legally binding court orders. At the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office, we're committed to helping families find solutions that work. So, please visit our website or give us a call today to learn how we can help you move forward. Ah, heat. Ah! Ah!

Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat

Hola, El Paso. Winter is almost over and El Paso County is springing into March with everything that is going on across our county. Now, let's take a look back at some of February's highlights. The countyy's second parks and recreation capital improvement bond project is now underway. A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Awad Dulce improvements project. The renovations to the park includes a paved parking lot with ADA accessible spaces, a new walking trail, a water fountain, and new shelters which include amenities like picnic tables, benches, and waste receptacles to improve safety and accessibility throughout the park. The countyy's first ever animal shelter is one step closer to reality.

Go ahead.

Commissioner's Court has reconvened to special open session. It is 12:43 p.m. At this time, we will go ahead and recess for the afternoon break. Um, Commissioner's Court will reconvene at 1:30. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Hola, El Paso. Winter is almost over and El Paso County is springing into March with everything that is going on across our county. Now, let's take a look back at some of February's highlights. The countyy's second parks and recreation capital improvement bond project is now underway. A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Awad Dulce improvements project. The renovations to the park includes a paved parking lot with ADA accessible spaces, a new walking trail, a water fountain, and new shelters, which include amenities like picnic tables, benches, and waste receptacles to improve safety and accessibility throughout the park. The countyy's first ever animal shelter is one step closer to reality. As phase two of the facil's development was discussed in a community meeting, the public was presented with new design concepts inspired by the results of the first community meeting. Attendees were presented two options for the building's design and highlighted new kennels separated by a bark wall. The public was able to present their input on the new design options in person and online. The front entrance of the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse was decorated in colorful messages for the third annual Talk About Love event. In recognition of teen dating violence awareness month, the Center against Sexual and Family Violence in partnership with El Paso County Attorney Christina Sanchez and District Attorney James Montoya invited the community to participate. Community members were encouraged to create colorful sidewalk chalk messages that promoted respect, healthy relationships, and love. This interactive event raised awareness about teen dating violence while fostering positive conversations and community engagement. That does it for this month's county connects. Until next time, let's get

ready for spring and make sure to stay connected with El Paso County. He eh ah ah hey m hey mm Hey, hey a a Hey, hey, hey.

Welcome to the El Paso County Domestic Relations office where we're dedicated to helping families navigate the complexities of family law with empathy, clarity, and a commitment to excellence. As an integral part of the El Paso County civil court system, we strive to provide support during challenging times. We are dedicated to supporting parents, guardians, and children in navigating complex issues such as custody, visitation, child support, and beyond. Whether you are recently divorced, in the midst of a custody dispute, or facing challenges with child support, we stand ready to offer compassionate guidance and unwavering support. Our mission is to assist children and families during what can be one of the most challenging times in their lives, ensuring they have the resources and assistance they need to move forward confidently. We provide services both in person and virtually, collaborating closely with judges, attorneys, and service providers to address each family's unique needs. Our child support enforcement unit plays a vital role in ensuring that children receive the financial support necessary for their well-being. When a court orders child support, it represents not just a figure, but a commitment to a child's future. This unit consists of a team of attorneys, enforcement officers, financial specialists, legal engagement officers, parillegals, and administrative staff who assist with the collection and enforcement of child support and medical support. Domestic relations office attorneys decide what enforcement remedies will be used based on the particular facts of the case. We help enforce court orders by monitoring payments and maintaining accurate records, working with parents who have fallen behind, helping them understand their obligations and options, filing enforcement actions with the court when necessary, and helping parents modify

orders if their financial situation changes significantly. Because we know life happens and fairness matters. We know that every family situation is different. That's why our staff works with compassion, confidentiality, and professionalism, helping both custodial and non-custodial parents understand the process, meet their obligations, and keep the focus where it belongs, on the children. Another one of our core responsibilities is through our family court service unit, where we support the courts in making informed child- centered decisions in custody and visitation cases. In contested custody matters, when parents can't agree on who should care for the child, judges often rely on our skilled professionals to provide objective and detailed assessments. Family court services social workers or guardian adult items are appointed by judges to conduct thorough investigations and provide reports to the court based on the interests of the children involved. Either party may request the appointment of a guardian adal item for their case. In addition, family court services staff are appointed on some adoption cases to conduct evaluations. Our cooperative parenting program provides co-parenting classes which focus on the needs of children and parents in the aftermath of separation or divorce. Topics include parent, children and the involvement in the court, positive co-parenting practices, impact of divorce and separation on child development, communication, conflict resolution, and anger management. Classes are offered both in person and virtually and are open to everyone. No court order needed. Co-parents take the classes separately to ensure participants are comfortable discussing the topics. Individuals may register for classes by either visiting the domestic relations office website or by calling the office at 9152733533

or by picking up the form inside our office. Class schedules can also be found on the website. Once the registration is received, the individual will be contacted by the program facilitator to discuss attendance and answer questions via email or phone. Class schedules can also be found on the website. Once the registration is received, the individual will be contacted by the program facilitator. Our office is dedicated to providing essential legal assistance tailored to family law issues. We empower parents to effectively enforce and modify access and possession time with their children, ensuring that their rights are upheld. For those seeking to formalize agreements, we facilitate parenting negotiation conferences that transform your arrangements into legally binding court orders. At the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office, we're committed to helping families find solutions that work. So, please visit our website or give us a call today to learn how we can help you move forward. Hello. Hey. Hey. Ah, hey.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. N.

Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat up Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Hola, El Paso. Winter is almost over and El Paso County is springing into March with everything that is going on across our county. Now, let's take a look back at some of February's highlights. The countyy's second parks and recreation capital improvement bond project is now underway. A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Awad Dulce improvements project. The renovations to the park includes a paved parking lot with ADA accessible spaces, a new walking trail, a water fountain, and new shelters, which include amenities like picnic tables, benches, and waste receptacles to improve safety and accessibility throughout the park. The county's first ever animal shelter is one step closer to reality. As phase two of the facil's development was discussed in a community meeting, the public was presented with new design concepts inspired by the results of the first community meeting. Attendees were presented two options for the building's design and highlighted new kennels separated by a bark wall. The public was able to present their input on the new design options in person and online. The front entrance of the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse was decorated in colorful messages for the third annual Talk About Love event. In recognition of teen dating violence awareness month, the Center against Sexual and Family Violence in partnership with El Paso County Attorney Christina Sanchez and District Attorney James Montoya invited the community to participate. Community members were encouraged to create colorful sidewalk chalk messages that promoted respect, healthy relationships, and love. This interactive event raised awareness about teen dating violence while fostering positive conversations and community engagement. That does it for this month's county connects. Until next time, let's get

ready for spring and make sure to stay connected with El Paso County. Heat. Heat. N. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.

Welcome to the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office, where we're dedicated to helping families navigate the complex complexities of family law with empathy, clarity, and a commitment to excellence. As an integral part of the El Paso County Civil Court system, we strive to provide support during challenging times. We are dedicated to supporting parents, guardians, and children in navigating complex issues such as custody, visitation, child support, and beyond. Whether you are recently divorced, in the midst of a custody dispute, or facing challenges with child support, we stand ready to offer compassionate guidance and unwavering support. Our mission is to assist children and families during what can be one of the most challenging times in their lives, ensuring they have the resources and assistance they need to move forward confidently. We provide services both in person and virtually, collaborating closely with judges, attorneys, and service providers to address each family's unique needs. Our child support enforcement unit plays a vital role in ensuring that children receive the financial support necessary for their well-being. When a court orders child support, it represents not just a figure, but a commitment to a child's future. This unit consists of a team of attorneys, enforcement officers, financial specialists, legal engagement officers, parillegals, and administrative staff who assist with the collection and enforcement of child support and medical support. Domestic relations office attorneys decide what enforcement remedies will be used based on the particular facts of the case. We help enforce court orders by monitoring payments and maintaining accurate records, working with parents who have fallen behind, helping them understand their obligations and options, filing enforcement actions with the court when necessary, and helping parents modify

orders if their financial situation changes significantly. Because we know life happens and fairness matters. We know that every family's situation is different. That's why our staff works with compassion, confidentiality, and professionalism, helping both custodial and non-custodial parents understand the process, meet their obligations, and keep the focus where it belongs, on the children. Another one of our core responsibilities is through our family court service unit, where we support the courts in making informed child- centered decisions in custody and visitation cases. In contested custody matters, when parents can't agree on who should care for the child, judges often rely on our skilled professionals to provide objective and detailed assessments. Family court services social workers or guardian adult items are appointed by judges to conduct thorough investigations and provide reports to the court based on the interests of the children involved. Either party may request the appointment of a guardian adel item for their case. In addition, family court services staff are appointed on some adoption cases to conduct evaluations. Our cooperative parenting program provides co-parenting classes which focus on the needs of children and parents in the aftermath of separation or divorce. Topics include parent, children and the involvement in the court, positive co-parenting practices, impact of divorce and separation on child development, communication, conflict resolution and anger management. Classes are offered both in person and virtually and are open to everyone. No court order needed. Co-parents take the classes separately to ensure participants are comfortable discussing the topics. Individuals may register for classes by either visiting the domestic relations office website or by calling the office at 915-2733533

or by picking up the form inside our office. Class schedules can also be found on the website. Once the registration is received, the individual will be contacted by the program facilitator to discuss attendance and answer questions via email or phone. Class schedules can also be found on the website. Once the registration is received, the individual will be contacted by the program facilitator. Our office is dedicated to providing essential legal assistance tailored to family law issues. We empower parents to effectively enforce and modify access and possession time with their children, ensuring that their rights are upheld. For those seeking to formalize agreements, we facilitate parenting negotiation conferences that transform your arrangements into legally binding court orders. At the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office, we're committed to helping families find solutions that work. So, please visit our website or give us a call today to learn how we can help you move forward. Hey. Hey. Hey. Ah, hey.

Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey,

heat. Hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Heat up here. Hola, El Paso. Winter is almost over and El Paso County is springing into March with everything that is going on across our county. Now, let's take a look back at some of February's highlights. The county's second parks and recreation capital improvement bond project is now underway. A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Awad Dulce improvements project. The renovations to the park includes a paved parking lot with ADA accessible spaces, a new walking trail, a water fountain, and new shelters, which include amenities like picnic tables, benches, and waste receptacles to improve safety and accessibility throughout the park. The county's first ever animal shelter is one step closer to reality. As phase two of the facilities development was discussed in a community meeting, the public was presented with new design concepts inspired by the results of the first community meeting. Attendees were presented two options for the building's design and highlighted new kennels separated by a bark wall. The public was able to present their input on the new design options in person and online. The front entrance of the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse was decorated in colorful messages for the third annual Talk About Love event. In recognition of teen dating violence awareness month,

the Center against Sexual and Family Violence in partnership with El Paso County Attorney Christina Sanchez and District Attorney James Montoya invited the community to participate. Community members were encouraged to create colorful sidewalk chalk messages that promoted respect, healthy relationships, and love. This interactive event raised awareness about teen dating violence while fostering positive conversations and community engagement. That does it for this month's county connects. Until next time, let's get ready for spring and make sure to stay connected with El Paso County. a m He ah a ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah Hey, hey, hey.

Hey hey hey. Welcome to the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office, where we're dedicated to helping families navigate the complexities of family law with empathy, clarity, and a commitment to excellence. As an integral part of the El Paso County civil court system, we strive to provide support during challenging times. We are dedicated to supporting parents, guardians, and children in navigating complex issues such as custody, visitation, child support, and beyond. Whether you are recently divorced, in the midst of a custody dispute, or facing challenges with child support, we stand ready to offer compassionate guidance and unwavering support. Our mission is to assist children and families during what can be one of the most challenging times in their lives, ensuring they have the resources and assistance they need to move forward confidently. We provide services both in person and virtually, collaborating closely with judges, attorneys, and service providers to address each family's unique needs. Our child support enforcement unit plays a vital role in ensuring that children receive the financial support necessary for their well-being. When a court orders child support, it represents not just a figure, but a commitment to a child's future. This unit consists of a team of attorneys, enforcement officers, financial specialists, legal engagement officers, parillegals, and administrative staff

who assist with the collection and enforcement of child support and medical support. Domestic relations office attorneys decide what enforcement remedies will be used based on the particular facts of the case. We help enforce court orders by monitoring payments and maintaining accurate records, working with parents who have fallen behind, helping them understand their obligations and options, filing enforcement actions with the court when necessary, and helping parents modify orders if their financial situation changes significantly. Because we know life happens and fairness matters. We know that every family's situation is different. That's why our staff works with compassion, confidentiality, and professionalism, helping both custodial and non-custodial parents understand the process, meet their obligations, and keep the focus where it belongs, on the children. Another one of our core responsibilities is through our family court service unit, where we support the courts in making informed child- centered decisions in custody and visitation cases. In contested custody matters, when parents can't agree on who should care for the child, judges often rely on our skilled professionals to provide objective and detailed assessments. Family court services social workers or guardian adult items are appointed by judges to conduct thorough investigations and provide reports to the court based on the interests of the children involved. Either party may request the appointment of a guardian adel item for their case. In addition, family court services staff are appointed on some adoption cases to conduct evaluations. Our cooperative parenting program provides co-parenting classes which focus on the needs of children and parents in the aftermath of separation or divorce. Topics include parent, children and the involvement in the

court, positive co-parenting practices, impact of divorce and separation on child development, communication, conflict resolution, and anger management. Classes are offered both in person and virtually and are open to everyone. No court order needed. Co-parents take the classes separately to ensure participants are comfortable discussing the topics. Individuals may register for classes by either visiting the domestic relations office website or by calling the office at 9152733533 or by picking up the form inside our office. Class schedules can also be found on the website. Once the registration is received, the individual will be contacted by the program facilitator to discuss attendance and answer questions via email or phone. Class schedules can also be found on the website. Once the registration is received, the individual will be contacted by the program facilitator. Our office is dedicated to providing essential legal assistance tailored to family law issues. We empower parents to effectively enforce and modify access and possession time with their children, ensuring that their rights are upheld. For those seeking to formalize agreements, we facilitate parenting negotiation conferences that transform your arrangements into legally binding court orders. At the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office, we're committed to helping families find solutions that work. So, please visit our website or give us a call today to learn how we can help you move forward. I don't know.

Ah, hey. Nah. Aha. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat.

Heat. Heat Heat. Heat. Hola, El Paso. Winter is almost over and El Paso County is springing into March with everything that is going on across our county. Now, let's take a look back at some of February's highlights. The county's second parks and recreation capital improvement bond project is now underway. A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Awad Dulce improvements project. The renovations to the park includes a paved parking lot with ADA accessible spaces, a new walking trail, a water fountain, and new shelters, which include amenities like picnic tables, benches, and waste receptacles to improve safety and accessibility throughout the park. The countyy's first ever animal shelter is one step closer to reality. As phase two of the facility's development was discussed in a community meeting, the public was presented with new design concepts inspired by the results of the first community meeting. Attendees were presented two options for the building's design and highlighted new kennels separated by a bark wall. The public was

able to present their input on the new design options in person and online. The front entrance of the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse was decorated in colorful messages for the third annual Talk About Love event. In recognition of teen dating violence awareness month, the Center against Sexual and Family Violence in partnership with El Paso County Attorney Christina Sanchez and District Attorney James Montoya invited the community to participate. Community members were encouraged to create colorful sidewalk chalk messages that promoted respect, healthy relationships, and love. This interactive event raised awareness about teen dating violence while fostering positive conversations and community engagement. That does it for this month's county connects. Until next time, let's get ready for spring and make sure to stay connected with El Paso County. a Hey, hey, hey. Hey,

hey, hey. Hey hey hey, hey. Welcome to the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office, where we're dedicated to helping families navigate the complexities of family law with empathy, clarity, and a commitment to excellence. As an integral part of the El Paso County Civil Court system, we strive to provide support during challenging times. We are dedicated to supporting parents, guardians, and children in navigating complex issues. Go ahead.

Go ahead. Okay. Commissioners, court has reconvened to special open session. Item 4 F or actually item 4E. receive and discuss a presentation and update from the bond performance team regarding the voter approved bond projects in the capital improvement plan. Were we uh done with this item? Yeah, we finished. Yes. Okay. Item 4F, discuss and take appropriate action regarding regional transportation planning and funding and the county's input on the El Paso Metropolitan Planning Organization's upcoming transportation policy board meeting agenda.

Good afternoon, commissioners. Michael McCoy, Planning and Development. Uh we uh are pleased to be able to have the opportunity to give you a brief on what the MO uh uh transportation uh policy board will be receiving in tomorrow's meeting. So to get to it, uh items two and three on the agenda will be executive director's annual performance review. Um, these will however be sent uh through a separate communication from from uh the executive director directly to the TPB board members and uh we might anticipate that uh item being in executive session. So um the TAC did not hear this item. Um so be looking forward to that one. That's items two and three. Item four on the agenda is a discussion and action to consider renewal of the legal services agreement between the MO and Kemp Smith, their legal adviserss. So, this particular item is a one-year renewal with Kemp Smith for legal services. Uh the contract has a do not exceed clause of $50,000. Uh two lawyers are in that contract. Deborah Tjo, uh, Camp Smith attorney, is agreeing to an hourly rate of 355 $350 and Nick Himemenz for a fee of $260 an hour through that contract. Uh, the transportation uh, policy advisory committee uh, did not hear this particular item either. Uh, most of the items on that I'll be briefing with you, the TAC did not hear. Uh, next up would be items five through seven. They're all related. Uh these are consider authorizing the executive director to uh approve the statement of work between the no and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality TCQ uh for use of the Texas Ryder 7 state and local air quality planning grant uh funding which is to say for ozone in particular matters uh research for work associated with air quality research and

modeling at international border crossings. Uh so item five is the scope of work. Uh item six is what's called task order four. It's an agreement with TTI, the Texas&M uh transportation institute to conduct border crossing traffic data collection and analysis and integration of their traffic uh demand model for an amount not to exceed $379,920. Uh item seven is what being called task order number five and it's to execute an agreement with TTI to perform travel demand model integration and air quality analysis for an amount not to exceed $100,030. TAC did not hear this item either. Item eight on the agenda for tomorrow is consider authorizing the executive director to execute task order number seven with WSP Inc. for support in the implementation activities identified in the approved Border Plex safe mobility plan an amount not to exceed 199,85956. You might recall that the um uh safe mobility plan was approved by the MO in November of last year and essentially it seeks to reduce uh fatal and serious traffic accidents in our region. So this particular uh task order if approved would be to identify a uh short list of lowhanging fruit uh easily actionable items that the no could focus on. It would provide um uh some uh public uh public uh community sessions and would provide also uh grant assistance in terms of being able to apply for particular grants that address those uh um easy to uh address things. Things

that uh the NO shared with us would be like signage and striping, crosswalks, um those kind of easily um implementable things. So TAC did not hear this item either. Item nine is consider approval of amendments to the amended regional mobility strategy RMS 2050 uh metropolitan transportation plan MTP and RMS 202528 TIP the U transportation improvement plan TIP to program the following projects using CAT 10 national electric vehicle infrastructure funds in fiscal 26. Uh so this project is uh to uh program into the plans two particular projects, one in Anthony uh one in Horizon City to install uh fast uh DC chargers for electric vehicles at two locations. And so these are just really projectoriented getting them in the in the workflow of the plant and also not only construction but five years of operations and maintenance for those electric chargers. TPAC did approve this item unanimously. Item 11 on tomorrow's agenda for for you will be consider authorizing the executive director to sign the first amendment to interlocal agreement for local match international border crossing systemwide analysis to extend the termination date agreement from May 31st 2026 to May 31st 2027 with each of the following entities. the city of El Paso, El Paso County, uh, Camino Rial Regional Mobility Authority, and the New Mexico Department of Transportation. You might recall this one is an agreement that we brought before to the court uh last year to do uh uh international border crossing study and the court approved uh doing that with uh VRF funds. And so because of the VRF funds

that they also had to execute an agreement with this RMA too. And so the reason why there is a time extension, and this is only for a time extension, is that they had delays in getting approval from the Federal Highway Commission, uh, which delayed their start date, and so they're simply seeking for us to extend our contract with them an additional year so that they can perform the work. Michael, I think we skipped 10.

Oh, I'm sorry if I did. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, I did. So, uh, I don't have anything. So when things that uh pertain to New Mexico in particular uh we haven't particularly shared with the court uh but if you want us to um do that henceforth we certainly can.

Okay. And last item would be uh item 12. It's consider revisions to the uh no attendance policy requiring in-person attendance by the TPB members at TPB meetings. So uh as a policy the MO uh TPB members have to be present at the meeting to be given uh or they're counted absence but they have to be physically present. Uh now uh Texas Open Meeting Act does allow a virtual option if the um if the person presiding over that meeting is actually physically present at a place that is open to the public. So uh a meeting so part of the discussion for uh the TPB uh tomorrow will be revising or not those u that internal no policy did not hear this item either. And lastly items 13 through 15 are simply reports. With that said uh that's my brief to you and if you have any questions I'd be very pleased to answer those for you.

Questions?

Questions? Um, Commissioner, I am um interested in um item number 13, which is a report on UTP funding projections and fiscal constraint strategy. And I've looked over the presentation and I'm just trying to figure out um uh and I'm sure Bill discussed this, but um why certain projects were moved out. I one of the the trends here is that projects were typically moved back a year um in in the slides that are presented here. Um and um and so I'd be curious to see what the um justification is for for those projects that were moved out. Um is it actually a funding issue or are they just prioritizing higher price projects earlier in the UTP? Um, and then I know that we had requested that Montana phase 2 be moved up and um, it is still programmed here in this list for 2030. Um, so it doesn't look like that timing has changed at all after we sent that letter to text dot. And so um um if you wouldn't mind just asking on

and I'm not sure if TAC um if y'all had more um if you had discussions about this item, but it is it's funding. It's completely funding. So in order to uh maintain fiscal constraint without defunding projects, um several projects had to be pushed back by one year. Uh I don't did you all just discuss this? Honestly, I I'm not ultra familiar. I'm familiar, Commissioner Butler, with the the matters you speak of and and the efforts the court has done, but why why the why the MO may not have adjusted per those things, I can't speak on their behalf.

There's less funding available, which is why we had to do it or we're potentially going to have to do it. But I can certainly ask about uh the Montana phase 2. Yep. It's still listed under um FY 2030 here. Thank you. Wonderful. Thank you all very much. Thank you, Michael. Michael,

we'll take no action for item 4F. Item 4G, budget hearing, receive a presentation and provide feedback on the El Paso County Health and Dental Plan design for plan year 2027. Good afternoon, commissioners. Vetinosa with the human resources department. Each year, the human resources department plays a critical role in the development of the county's annual budget. Our team analyzes and presents key personnel related expenses to the court, including cost of living increases, step increases, new personnel, reclassifications, elected officials pay, and the county's medical plan. While we are still in the early stages of the budget process, we recognize the significant impacts these factors will have on the county's overall financial outlook. Today, our focus is on the county's medical plan and projected costs for the 2027 plan year. We also uh will present key trends, the anticipated plan design, and the uh comparative data from other local government entities. We would like to note this presentation has been presented to the county's rispull board during their regular meeting on March um 18th and has recommended approval. Should any significant changes arise throughout the year that impact today's presentation, we will bring them back to the court's attention. Otherwise, our intent is to present this preliminary information now and obtain the count uh the court's favorable approval. Presenting today will be our HR manager and benefits Joanna Foga. Right. Good afternoon, commissioners. Joanna Fawa from the human resources department. So, the county self-insured medical plan has a significant financial impact on

the county's budget and on employees health care costs. The slide before you highlights annual trends in two major cost areas, which are the medical claims and prescription drug expenses. For medical claims, we anticipate a 9% increase in medical claim costs, which aligns with national trends and is primarily driven by inflationary pressures in the healthc care sector. For prescription drug costs, we expect an increase of about 12% largely due to the growing prevalence of high-cost specialty medication and inflation. This trend is also consistent with the national average, which is currently around 10%. Please note, we listed the actual percentages that were estimated at the end of 2025, which is that middle column. These projections provide a critical foundation as we assess the financial needs of the county's medical plan for 2027. Looking ahead to the 2027 plan year, we anticipate maintaining key components of the current plan while implementing a few strategic changes. Under continuations, the human resources department anticipates the medical plan will maintain its tiered coverage structure, including options of employee only, employee and spouse, employee and children, and employee and family. The plan will continue to fund the wellness staff, the annual wellness budget and wellness initiatives such as the plan a lifestyle and transformation program which we all know as the plant program which launched back in 2023. There have been four cohorts completed so far, resulting in successfully graduating 19 participants.

These participants have embraced a healthier lifestyle and are inspiring those around them. We aim to build on this momentum for fiscal year 27 and encourage even more employees to adopt healthier well-being habits. For the dental plan, there will be no change in the dental premium amount for the employeeon tier for those employees that are enrolled under a medical plan. Lastly, the plan will continue to offer the medical plan discount wellness incentive. This consists of awarding employees with 6% reduction in their medical pre premium should they complete their wellness screening with catapult. Some key changes are under the health savings account which is the HSA is for employees who are enrolled in the high deduct high deductible plan which is the CDHP within HSA have demonstrated more costconscious healthcare decisionmaking to encourage continued enrollment and in addition to employee enroll employees enrolled in the high deductible plan with dependent we propose increasing the county's HSA contribution for employees enrolled in the employeeonly tier from $1,200 to $1,300. And for those enrolled under dependent tier plans, increasing the employer contribution from $1,500 to $1,700. If you may recall, last year we increased the dependent tier contribution from $1,200 to $1,500. These increases are contingent, of course, upon the risk pool fund reserves remaining at a healthy level. The continued increase in employer contributions will continue to incentivize enrollment in the high deductible plan while helping offset the high deductible by allowing the county

to fund a portion of that cost. Currently, there are 50 sorry, 58% of our plan members are enrolled in the CDHP, which is an increase of 4% from last year. As a result, members under the CDHP have a lower claims cost impact. Moreover, dental claim costs have seen an increase in these past few years. This has led for the county dental plan to be underfunded by $323,000. To ensure we move closer to closing that gap in funding, we are proposing an 8% increase on the county and employee contribution on all tiers. Please note this will not impact those that are enrolled with the medical plan as their rate will continue to be at no cost. Due to the increase in employer contributions for the dental plan, we are proposing a corresponding decrease in employer contributions for the medical plan. This adjustment will offset the additional cost, allowing us to remain budget neutral with no impact to the general fund. Overall, these key changes reflect the county's ongoing commitment to improving employee health while maintaining cost efficiency. Here on this slide, it represents a breakdown of the anticipated budget impact for both the 27 fiscal year and plan year incorporating the changes outlined in the previous slides. The projected cost of raising the HSA from 1,200 to,300 for employee only and from 1,500 to $1,700 for the dependent tiers is $139,050 for fiscal year 27 and will impact the risk fund.

Now, how do we match up against the other plants? So this slide provides a comparative analysis of the county's premium rates against those of other local entities. Across all the tiers, county employees pay significantly lower premiums than their counterparts in neighboring cities. Here I've circled the example, which is a county employee enrolled for the high deductible family plan pays an average of $434 a month. whereas a comparable city employee in the same tier would pay $810 a month. This competitive positioning underscores the county's commitment to maintaining affordable and high quality healthc care coverage for its employees. Additionally, we've also added a dental premium comparison here at the bottom. This comparison displays the employee premiums monthly cost per local entity. As you can see, they are structured differently than us. However, the county remains competitive. In the chart, you can see that employees enrolled on the medical plan pay zero with us, whereas in all the other entities, they would have to pay regardless of medical plan enrollment. In conclusion, staff is seeking feedback from the court on today's presentation. Do we have any questions?

No. No questions. Thank you. Okay. So, um, as stated earlier, staff is seeking the court's favorable approval under the action slide. However, should any significant changes arise throughout the year, the imp that impact our presentation, we will bring them to the court's attention. I'm sorry. And the actions would be increasing the county HSA contribution from 1300 to sorry the county contribution of $1,300 for employee only tier and $1,700 for employee dependent but we're not posted for action. Right. It's just to give feedback on that. So no action. Okay. And the increidental. Sorry.

Okay. Yes. Um do we know how much in dollars the 8% is for the tiers? So per plan per tiers it is an average of about $2 depending on the plan. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Item 4. Receive a presentation and provide feedback on strategic goal 7.5 alternative work week county business hours. Hello Sam.

Good morning, commissioners. Sam trio from the human resources department. So, in alignment with the court's strategic goal of valuing the El Paso County family and maintaining an A+ workforce, the human resources department was tasked with researching an alternative work week model. Um, particularly those that would involve a shortened work week um shortened work week hours and presenting those findings, our review, our feedback and um get some direction from the court as well. So, we're here to do that today. In this presentation, we share our uh our comprehensive assessment um of how modified work schedules may support the county's dual goals, as we see it, of enhancing employee well-being while maintaining or even improving operational effectiveness. Two members of our HR team are here today to walk us through this presentation, which will include an overview of the county's current policies and practices that are related to employee work schedules, a review of external models from other counties, um, school districts, international governments, um, that have all implemented shortened work weeks. We have a summary of feedback that we have received from internal stakeholders uh elected officials and and department heads and we have um created several uh options for the court's consideration moving forward. So to begin with this pre presentation, I'd like to call on Cynthia Deafuente, who is from our compensation and classification team, and she'll provide an overview of the county's current policies related to work schedules and our definitions.

Thank you, Sam. Good afternoon, commissioners. Cynthia de la Fuente with the human resources department. So the next slide will cover the current county's current policy as it relates to employee work periods and scheduling. I was uh I was behind. Sorry about that. As part of the court's strategic commitment to employee well-being and operational efficiency, the county's existing work period and schedules policy authorizes department heads and elected officials to establish work hours that meet their operational needs. The policy already allows for the approval of compressed schedules, flexible schedules, and other modified work arrangements. Currently, a small number of elected officials have adopted compressed business hours. For example, some may have business hours uh longer business hours Monday through Thursday with shorter hours on Friday with employees still completing the 40 hours per week. Some departments maintain standard business hours Monday through Friday, 8 to 5:00 p.m., but allow employees to have compressed schedules. Shortened work weeks have been adopted with varying degrees of success by counties, school districts, and public agencies across the US and abroad. While our research focused primarily on comparable local and regional uh governments, we also reviewed international pilot programs and studies to grow to gather broader broader insights. We'll begin with the international examples and move on to regional comparisons.

The largest shortened work week pilot program began in u the UK in 2022 with 70 employers and over 3,000 employees. Employers reduced working hours from 40 hours to 32 hours without reducing pay for 6 months. Each organ organization chose chose its approach in implementing either staggered schedules or full day closures on the specific day of the week. After the six-month initial pilot time frame, 56 organizations maintained the policy and 18 made the change permanent. Findings from this initial pilot program indicated that they had reduced turnover, increased productivity, better job performance, and increased talent attraction. As of early 2026, over 200 employers and 5,000 employees have now participated. Shortened work week models have been tested internationally for over a decade, offering help helpful insight into what works well and what challenges can arise. In Sweden, a limited pilot program implemented in hospital and nursing homes reduced shifts to six hours with full pay. While productivity gains were noted, the program was discontinued due to increased staffing costs. highlighting the financial considerations of these models in Iceland from 2020 uh 2015 to 2019 about 2500 public sector workers transitioned from 40 hours to approximately about 35 to 36 hours per week with no reduction in pay. productivity stayed the same or improved and by 2021 roughly 81% of Iceland's um workforce gain the right to a shorter week through collective bargaining.

Norway and the ne Netherlands emphasized strong work life balance through shorter average work weeks that was about 32 to 34 hours and strict overtime limits rather than the formal 4day work uh week policies. And both Portugal and Spain have tested government supported pilots using the 180 model. That's 100% pay for 80% hours with um expectations of 100% productivity. Early findings mirror the UK indicating higher satisfaction and talent attraction with mixed results on the cost. If we look state side, a notable small county example is Sanan, Washington with a population of 18.5,000. Facing financial difficulties in the face of rising wage and inflation pressure, the county implemented a 32-hour work week in lie of salary increases in the fall of 2023 for members of their ASME employee labor union. Despite reduced hours, salaries were maintained and which equated to a cost of living adjustment plus the benefit of time off. Departments were given the ex uh the flexibility to manage the 32-hour work week in a way that maintains services, including maintaining business hours by staying open 5 days per week or shifting schedules to a 4 day uh per week schedule. After two years, the data did show reduced turnover and sick time, increased in increase in job applicants, less time to fill this uh the the positions, and fewer voluntary separations. While there were some citizens concerns

about receiving the same level of service services before departments uh reported greater collaboration, efficiency, and overall cost savings. As of January 2026, the contract was renewed with a permanent 32-hour work week. Further, the county is also allowing non-union managers to work the 32 hours per week. However, their sheriff's office employees are still working 40 hours per week. The Quinnalt Indian Nation established a 32-hour work week with no impact to pay for their 700 plus employees in October of 2025. They accomplished this by reducing their business hours for non-emergency services. And closer to home, the San Elizario Independent School District implemented a 4-day work week in 2023 to address teacher recruitment, retention, and wellness. San Lizario is now one of over 180 districts statewide that have adopted the new schedule. The district's headquarters and its six campuses are closed on Mondays, which aligns with most federal holidays. students still accumulate the required instruction minutes for the year. And as reported in July 2024, the school district saw savings of nearly $300,000 in both salaries and utilities. I will now turn the presentation over to Valeria to review internal feedback, benefits, and considerations. Thank you, Cynthia. Valia Fernandez with the human resources department. At a December joint meeting with department heads and elected officials, the human

resources department provided an overview of this initiative and solicited feedback and responses were collected over the following month. This slide shows a summary of the responses. Out of the 85 department heads and elected officials, we received responses from 12, which is about a 14% response rate. Although the response rate was low, the concerns raised were consistent across respondents and centered around operations, public perception, and workload distribution, which is plotted on the second chart. Some of the concerns are around the detrimental effect of this proposal on operations and county revenue. Similarly, some of the concerns are that the workload would increase for exempt employees and that the volume of work won't go away with a reduction in work hours. Other concerns are related to the perception of this program to the citizens and that it may imply that the county has excess staffing capacity. Another official shared that with recent increases in tax rates, it may be viewed unfavorably by the constituents. They also shared that the county's ability to implement the program uniformly across all departments would be difficult for those whose operational hours um may not be able to be compromised. Another concern expressed is that reversing a shortened week would be difficult without significant employee morale consequences. Despite concerns, several constructive suggestions were offered which are reflected on this slide. Suggestions ranged from reducing the number of

working hours by two to four hours per week, establishing a pilot program for a limited number of departments and employees. Another option is to allow for an additional week of leave for employees similar to what the court has approved in the past two fiscal years by providing additional winter holidays. This could provide 40 additional or extra hours that departments and employees may be able to schedule around. Alternatively, a reduction in the working hours by 2 hours per week equates to 104 hours annually. This will be illustrated on the following slide. One suggestion is to offer up to a 30 minute 30 minutes of worktime exercise per week for employees with department head approval and clear guidelines. Lastly, some departments suggested to allow for alternative work schedules within the 40hour per week structure. As Cynthia previously shared, this is already an available option for employees with department approval. The chart on this slide illustrates how the reduction in hours requires an increase in the hourly pay rate to maintain the same annual pay for employees with a shortened work week. For example, the shift from a 40hour to a 38hour week requires an approximate 5.26% 26% increase in hourly rate to preserve the same annual salary. This is accompanied by an annual reduction of 104 hours of productivity. So to share a little more about the chart along the bottom you'll see both

the weekly and the annual number of work hours. The blue bars represent the percentage increase in hourly rate needed to keep the annual salary unchanged at each reduction level. And the orange line shows a total reduction in working hours over the course of a year. Please note that by maintaining the annual salary but reducing work hours, employees will not benefit financially unless a reduction in work hours is also accompanied by an increase in wages. This next section will summarize the overall benefits, challenges, and opportunities for shortened work weeks. Ultimately, an adjustment to the work schedule of employees and/or departments could result in benefits to the citizens by achieving financial stability by the county maintaining a sustainable budget. Further, efficiencies may be realized by a focus of the county to streamline operations. The county would benefit with the financial stability as an organization and there may be some cost savings realized from reductions in turnover and sick leave usage, increased leverage for recruitment efforts and by having a workforce that is more satisfied, happier and healthier. Lastly, employees would appreciate the flexibility and the improved work life integration. Uh work life integration is different terminology from work life balance which um I think we may all have heard before. Work life integration is a modern approach that blends professional and personal responsibilities rather than separating them fostering a harmonious flexible lifestyle. Unlike strict balance, it allows for overlapping

priorities such as taking a meeting while at home or managing personal errands during the workday to increase efficiency and satisfaction. Um, in an article about shortened work weeks published in 2024, Okonnell and Pierce right, to effectively implement initiatives like this, companies must undergo significant work redesign to reduce hours while maintaining productivity. This model cannot be successful if the ways of working, key performance indicators, and expectations all remain the same for employees. Yet they are expected to do it in less time per week. Adjusting this requires streamlining operations, leveraging technology like AI to eliminate administrative tasks and focusing on high impact work. Therefore, in this initiative, the key facets will be to streamline operations and use technology to redesign the current work. As mentioned in the previous slide, there are several challenges to fully implementing a reduced hours schedule across all departments and employee groups. When work hours are reduced for non-exempt employees, one possible outcome is that exempt employees, particularly middle management, may need to absorb additional tasks. There is also a risk of reduced productivity or increased budget impact if non-exempt employees regularly work beyond their scheduled hours, which could lead to additional compensatory time or overtime. From the citizen perspective, shorter employee schedules could result in longer wait times if it is the same volume of work that's handled by fewer employ fewer

available staff. Additionally, there may be concerns or perceptions that taxpayer resources are not being used efficiently. The success of a reduced hours model relies heavily on streamlining operations and leveraging technology to redesign workflows. If those improvements are not implemented effectively, the intended benefits may not be realized. We may also see staffing requests increase from departments who are not able to operate with reduced productivity hours. Further, with a current 16-week hiring waiting period, departments are already operating with limited staffing hours. Finally, if this model is implemented without other increases, it will not financially benefit employees in a time of rising inflation and cost of living. This slide outlines the key opportunities of moving to a streamlined reduced hours model. We can see potential cost savings from lower turnover, reduced training time, and faster time to fill vacancies. Employee satisfaction and retention are likely to improve, and offering more flexible schedules can help us attract stronger talent. We also expect reduced absenteeism and higher productivity as operations become more efficient and technology is used more effectively. Finally, these changes support better work life integration which helps employees stay focused and engaged. The county already has a policy that permits flexible and compressed schedules at the discretion of each department. One immediate opportunity is to expand awareness around these options so departments can use them more

consistently. Another approach is to continue recommending additional holidays in the FY27 budget. This option provides employees with more time off in a way that is easier for departments to plan and schedule. A third approach is to explore new wellness focused work redesign opportunities such as the exercise during worktime concept suggested by one of the directors. If the court wishes to move forward with broader schedule changes, HR can support pilot programs to test a a a shortened work week by staggering schedules to maintain 5day public service while offering employees a 4-day schedule. or shortened work week hours. HR is prepared to assist with developing guidelines, providing training, and supporting departments through the pilot and evaluation process. In closing, the shortened schedule options and other work redesign initiatives offer a meaningful opportunity to support employee well-being while also improving operational efficiency and encouraging innovation. Although there is no universal model, the success of any program depends on careful planning, departmental flexibility, ongoing evaluation, and transparent communication. And at this point, we welcome your questions or feedback. Thank you. The only um concern I have is uh I think a lot of those same concerns that we saw from the feedback from the elected officials. I think the biggest one though is public perception. I think the public is going to feel that there's less opportunity for them to receive the services that they need from the county, which is already something that we hear. Um, so that that's probably my biggest

concern is public perception and and I don't know that all of our departments and services would be able to take advantage of this and so we'd have a disproportionate um you know like the courthouse is real difficult to

so just a couple this we brought this forward this was a discussion the commissioners had um and it was part of strategic planning commissioner Stout actually was the advocate for um the county exploring this and the concept was not to reduce our business hours. The concept is to keep our hours the same but have to schedule employees accordingly. Um I know I I don't think Commissioner Stout is online but this it did make it into the strategic plan. So we wanted to bring forward the presentation and the option for the court's consideration and for any feedback or discussion um from the court about the proposal but that the concept was not to reduce business hours but to reduce staff hours and without reducing uh wages. So and if I know this wasn't an option that uh Valia presented. I will tell you last year when we were looking at um our our budget challenges, I did look at one of the ways we could have done uh an offset is instead of doing the extra holidays that we did in December, I thought you could take those same amount of hours and distribute them throughout the year so that you still get paid the same, but maybe just for as an example, you're only working or scheduled to work 39 hours or 38 hours, but you're still getting paid for 40. What it would do to departments is it would place scheduling demands on them. Um, if you've, you know, I I've worked in, uh, retail and areas where that was like part of what we had to do, but we're not used to that here to be, unless you're a 247 operation like some of our departments, a lot of our departments aren't used to that. Like, how do you make sure you

have coverage? How do you um make sure your schedule is consistent? Um but that's that that's another way that we could do that what we did this year. There's I know Valletia, you offered the option of an additional holiday period. Um one of the feedbacks I've the some of the feedback I've heard on that is it is nice when we give those extra holidays because everybody is out and so you're not like your work isn't piling up while you're out. And uh of course the cons to that is not everybody can take them at that time. So some people do have to spread those holidays out throughout the year even though we have a time where we're closed. So those are just some of the options. Um we wanted to bring it forward to make sure we followed through with the action and the strategic plan for any feedback or or direction from the court. I am, you know, I'm I'm not opposed to disruption or innovation in how we do things. Um, as long as it's addressing an issue or a problem that we're trying to solve. Um, so, so I guess my question is, um, if what is the is, is there a significant problem with like employee burnout um or being able to offer services um that we're trying to address with this? I I don't want to speak for Commissioner Stout, but I believe I from what I recall when we had the discussion during strategic planning, part of it was also um being more family friendly. Um people spending less time at work, more time with family, more time um you know, having more time to impact and influence um children and and uh whether

and also like family care. So it was more of a work family balance um approach with also without and I know he had also had a big focus on not impacting wages. So um it was a way of giving somebody a higher hourly rate without um but by reducing the number of hours they worked.

I mean I I I can see that. I just I think that um we do take care of employees and families in a lot of other ways. I think um you know our our employee benefits packages as we just discussed a little while ago are some of the best in the county. Um and and unless we had like I don't know like some kind of data to show you know how how much reducing a work week by two hours would improve quality of life. Um I I do I do worry that it would be incredibly disruptive to county operations without a lot of um measurable impact or gain. But I wish Commissioner Stout was was online to talk to us more about that.

He is online. I don't know if he can hear us. Um and I also I can't I mean I'm trying to think of several of the issues that he brought up during the discussion. I know he talked about just general mental health. Um you know some of various various things but I don't know if he's able to unmute himself another week and take a vacation. Think about that.

But see, how about in instead of say that we reduce the work hours per week, we're talking about you were saying on some of those like one or two hours, we're talking, you know, how about if we you know, a lot of a lot of our employees really enjoyed the week off or the the time that we give them off in the holidays. Why don't we do like around the 4th of July, just give them, you know, we already give them a holiday. Maybe join one other holiday and give them that whole week off. additional holiday times so that they can actually take vacation with their kids. We can definitely look at those options, bring some of those options back. Maybe that might be

um I I will tell you I think I shared with you all recently in my conversation with some of the larger counties. um some of the count like not like at least two maybe three of the larger counties they actually like they don't give they don't give the time off but to me it was a vacation idea they said that commissioners court doesn't meet like in the month of July and I was shocked like how do you do that you know how do you take off a you're a large county um but they usually during budget

but they have a lot of they they said July which usually is not our budget time but um but there's things like that where we to look at um what is a time of year where a lot of people are taking leave and instead offer like a holiday or like spring break or a holiday period. As a matter of fact, this week, I think it was this week, um there's been a lot of people out because I mean I go in the garage and it's almost empty in some floors. Spring break, right? So, because of spring break. Yeah. Spring break and then in July we we see the same thing.

Yes, sir. So, we could we could do some evaluation on leave use and timing and see if that would be an option for the court's consideration. We'll go back and and research that and uh incorporate it into our budget presentations for consideration. Thank you for great presentation. Thank you. Thank you. Item 4 I, receive a presentation and update regarding the El Paso County FY26 budget.

Hi Carmen. Hello. Good afternoon. Good afternoon Commissioner Ga, members of the court. Um, Carmen Candelad, the budget and finance director for the county and I'm here to give a budget update for the month of March. So, you've seen this slide um with regards to the fiscal year 2026 budget. Uh so, today I'm really going to focus on the general fund because I'm going to give you a budget update um on the progress for our fiscal year 2027. Yes, we're already talking about fiscal year 2027. So, first of all, fiscal year 26, our general revenues. So, here we have our revenues through the month of February. uh February 28th, you can see that our revenues uh for February were 44,289,000. And so our year to rate year-to- date revenues, our 313,659,000 against a budget of $495,486, our remaining budget to collect is 181,827,000. So we've collected our uh 75.48 48% of our current year revenues, 63.3% of our total available funds. You'll see uh 94.92% of our budget has been collected in property taxes. Um and I have a slide later on kind of sharing the comparison that Commissioner Coronado wanted me to uh present. So I'll present that then. Our sales and use tax is 26.97%. At this point in time, we've only recorded three months of sales tax. And so that um in the prior uh prior year uh was a catch-up year. They recorded 13 months. So they had recorded four months of pro of uh sales tax, but that'll catch up. There'll be a full 12 months

of revenue that's collected in that sales and use tax. And then our uh charges for services remains at 50.34% which is uh good for this point in time. We're uh at 41.67% of the year that's been elapsed or five months. We're five months into the fiscal year. So you can see that red line in the middle of where we're at uh with the uh with the orange still those amounts that still need to be collected. There is one category, the vehicle inventory taxes, where the budget has already been exceeded. Uh we've collected 167,247 against a budget of $90,000. Here's our projection for the year. So, we're a little bit better in some of the revenue categories as I've been going over those uh um during these presentations. So, first and foremost, in the property taxes, we think we're going to be up about $4 million with our levy coming in, higher than what was certified um back uh at the time that the budget was adopted. So, our projection is 288,649,000 against our budget of 284,710. As I indicated earlier, we've already collected $270 million of our property taxes there. Our charges for services we still are uh projecting because of the federal detainee revenue coming in. So we are uh projecting that we'll be on that particular category 11,684,000. Our interest uh is our uh negative amount that we think uh we're not going to meet budget there. Uh our budget was 9,98,000 and then our projection is 7,896 or a decrease of 1.2. And that really is due to the interest rate u environment that we're in right now. So overall we

think we're going to be about 15,867,000 better than budget um right now. So that's our revised projection. I'm sorry before you move on um the reduction for uh charges no intergovernmental re revenues what is that reduction um attributable to? I'll have to look into that. I I didn't look at it was so it was it was a small amount. It's a small amount. I'm just curious. Yeah, I'll definitely look into that for next time I have an answer. Okay. And um where are the in vehicle inventory taxes? Um uh so the vehicle inventory it's uh the fifth the fifth

is that the taxes we get on um vehicles that are sold in the county. Oh, okay. Sales tax should be quite a bit higher. I don't know if this is an inventory tax. I have to look it up in our fines MP's report. Yeah. And it's not um it's I'll have to look it up as well. Um and it's not a recurring like a normal collection. It it looks like it hits every once in a while. Okay. So, I'll have to look into what that is specifically. So, we don't expect to collect any more of that for the remainder. I think that's I think that's uh pretty the amount that it's going to be, but I'll definitely look into that. It wasn't I don't think it's coming in every month.

Okay. Okay. Because we didn't collect some for the first couple months or so if I recall correctly. Any other questions?

Okay. All right. Um Commissioner Cornado, this is your slide that you had asked for. It asked for a comparison um at this point in time. So, if we look at our uh collections that we uh have made through uh fiscal year 26, we're at that 313,659 um,000. But if you look uh on the um fifth column over uh on the fiscal year 2025 actuals, we had collected at that point in time $287,773,000. So, if you look at it from a dollar difference, you're at $25,885,000 positive um in the categories pretty much in line with with where we're at with compared to budget. So, our property taxes are up from a dollar perspective, but from a percentage perspective, it is down. So we had uh we've collected 94.92% but we had last year we had collected 1.1% higher at this point in time but our dollar difference is the 26,880,000. Okay. But we are on track to collect like I said a little bit more than than um our budget.

Okay. Okay. And then our sales tax uh is down $4,70,000. And that is again because of that uh the 12 month versus the 13-month um recording accounting there. So we would expect that difference to be down as well. And then our charge for services is again um uh better at this point in time 2,80 2,84,000. So, I'll continue to keep track um of this uh of this on over month-to-month, but as of the end of February, we were only uh 1.69% off from uh year-over-year comparison

year-over-year. And I just historically, I know, you know, I I don't remember what our our collection rates have been for the property uh uh collection for the advorum taxes. I'll I'll definitely look at that. I I don't have I don't recall the percentages exactly. So I'm not because we don't budget for the full 100%. Right. We did budget 100% for the less and our and our collection rate is certified at 100% from the tax office. Okay. So it is certified at 100%. Um and we did budget because I went back and actually calculated the levy and it is our budget as is exactly our budget. Okay.

Okay. So, but again, um the the um the levy is that was certified our our levy that was build was actually higher than the amount that was certified. That is and then we do end up having some delinquent payments. So, there's an offset. So, of course, some people don't don't pay them. And so, and then we have another section where Barbara tracks delinquent payments that we do eventually collect. Correct.

Yeah. Because I know u in other when I've been at the school district, we would budget exactly what we felt our collections rate, not the collection rate, not delinquent. And so for some years when we'd collect the delinquent taxes, it would increase collection rates sometimes beyond 100%. But as far as budgeting it, we'd rally budget on exactly what it is we felt we'd collected during that actual year. So I don't know if we're doing that or here we do we do we do budget right at what we certify and multiply or calculated based on our tax rate. That's what we budget for the Okay. Q.

Yes. Okay. Now looking at expenditures and where we're at. Again, we're uh at this point in time, if you were to look at 5 months uh divided by 12, the percentage of the year that's lapsed is 41.67. So that's one barometer that we look at when we're evaluating our our expenditures. So for fee February, uh 34,177,000 for the month. Our year-to- date, we've spent 150,885,000. Um and we've encumbered to date $22.2 million of incumbrances, actual POSs that have been entered into the system. So we have um at this point in time we have available budget 322,369,000. Our public safety is the one that we are keeping track of. Uh that list at 47.01, 01 a little bit higher than what we'd expect. But if you back out the encumbrances um and those are incumbrances that go throughout the whole year um our public safety is 38.9% without the incumbrances still slightly before that target spent uh that uh percentage of the year that's lapsed. So we are we are looking at that and continue to monitor that very closely and it is it is um one of the major categories of our budget. And then we did the same thing we compared the expenditures at this point in time um as we did the revenues. So fiscal year 26 actuals about 150,885,000. So we have spent uh 5,863,000 more uh at this point in time uh spending in fiscal year 2025 $145,21,000. So if you look at the percentage of budget that had been spent in 26,

we're at 30.45 compared to 31.05% of the budget in 25. So we are actually um a negative variance of 6 60% we have spent less percentage wise but dollar difference is more is higher. Okay. Um so good information. One of the good things about the county is that it is it is pretty consistent in its spend over year over year. I've looked at some of the numbers in prior years and it's been pretty consistent um year-over-year. Um so with that, I'm going to go over our budget process. On March 17th, we had our budget informational session. We had quite a number of employees or people that were on the call. Over 130 people were actually on the call. Um and where we rolled out our budget informational session for fiscal year 2027. Um, so good participation. Um, and so we talked about our budget priorities going into fiscal year 2027. First and foremost, our compensation and support for our county workforce. You heard Mr. Trillo and his staff talking about how critical it is for our employees. Um, and one of the components is critical is a raise to be able to give a raise to all of our employees that were able to retain our talented workforce. Uh the second thing that we looked at is aligning our current revenues with current expenditures and maintaining those general fund reserves. Uh we want to spend within our means, maintain our current uh uh reserves uh but maintain our credit rating as well. That's important to have reserves and then reserves also allow you to generate interest. So I talked about the interest and how much how much dollars that that interest brings in. So that definitely allows us to use that as a revenue stream. Uh the third one is restoring small capital allocations so that we're

able to replace furniture and small equipment that we use in our day-to-day operations. Restoring funding in our capital improvement program to continue to maintain our county buildings and our infrastructure which is critical to our operations. as well assigning uh economic impact fund allocations to ensure we have funding available to uh be able to attract companies uh to our county and to stimulate economic growth and continue to grow our our SAS valuation. But in order to achieve the goals and priorities, this is going to be a cut year. We do not expect any new positions um that uh will be requested during the uh budget process due to the budget constraints and priorities. And as part of the budget team, one of the things that we did was we sent out departments a target allocation this year to try to get to um that um to our uh targeted amount and which is to reduce uh our budget so that we're able to do some of these budget priorities. So it will be a challenging year but we are looking forward um to moving forward. Today I want to focus on that last u budget priority which is to assign economic fund um economic impact fund um allocation. So in the budget for 26 there was $2,865,000 that was allocated of current year revenues and excuse me current year budget to the economic impact fund and 500,000 for the healthy food financing initiative. The goal has been to set aside $10 million on an annual basis for the fund. However, in the past when we look back, all of these monies weren't necessarily used uh during um any fiscal year. Therefore, what it does is it ties money up from the current year budget uh to be utili that could be utilized for

other other purposes in the general fund. So, the idea is to assign fund balance over a two-year period to accumulate to that $10 million uh for the economic impact fund. And so we've assigned fund balance um that can be then appropriated in the fiscal year 20207 um budget process and then you can budget that usage um and then replenish it in a subsequent fiscal year as you use it. So I'm going to talk a little bit about our fund balance classifications and how they are defined and then how they're reported and then ultimately how we will use them. So there's uh five fund balance classifications uh that are um used in our financial reporting. So we have our non fun non-spendable fund balance and these are funds that cannot be spent because they are being used uh for they're not in a spendable form or they're legally or contractually required to maintain in tax. So in other words, inventory prepaids, these are things that are not spendable. You cannot spend that fund balance because they are in non-spendable form. They're inventory. They're prepaides. Okay. Restricted fund balance. This is amounts that are restricted for specific purposes and that are constraints are placed on the use of resources by either external creditors, grtors, contributors or laws or regulations of other governments or imposed by law through constitutional provisions or enabling legislation. In other words, there is a specific restriction that cannot be used um that it cannot be used for just general. So I give you a grant fund balance for example is a typical uh definition. So we have grant fund

balance that can only be used for a for the purposes of that specific grant. So they're restricted committed fine fund balance are these are amounts that are going to be used specifically for um that have been imposed by formal action of the government's highest level of decision makingaking authority. In this case, the court, the court says, "We are going to commit these amounts of money for this specific purpose." So, you pass an action. You pass a resolution. We're going to commit these monies for this purpose. Assigned fund balance. This is um represents amount that are constrained by the government's intent to be used for a specific purpose, but they're neither restricted nor committed. So, in other words, you haven't passed a resolution to restrict it or commit it. Um and the commissioner's court has delegated that authority to the budget director that would be myself and we can make these assignments after the fiscal year end. And so we have done so prior to the this next reporting cycle. Um they can be used um when it's necessary to utilize reserves to balance the budget or in the event or in the event of unforeseen circumstances that may arise. Okay. So that's assigned fund balance. So it's it in this case is delegated to the budget authority and so we assign the fund balance for a specific purpose. Um it's not committed it's not required it's not passed by the commissioner's court. Okay. And then you have assigned fund balance. So this represents that residual amount where all the other things after you have all the other fund balances taken out then you have unassigned fund balance. Um so you might think of this as the reserve uh that credit ratings look to uh to to determine the days and fund balance and an entity's fiscal health. So they look

at the unassigned fund balance and say how many number of days do you have in there and the uh GFO the government finance officers association u says that anywhere between 60 and 90 days should be in that unassigned fund balance. So, here's looking at our balance sheet as of the end of September 30th, 2024. Our last full audited year. I know we're really close um to almost getting the the next year's finalized according to Miss um Miss Parker, our county auditor. So, here is our fund balances from the ACER. Um and I referenced the page number. So, let's take a look at uh the categories that I just talked about. So we've got those non-spendolum amounts that we can't use for anything else. 30 uh 30,000. So this is represented in thousands. And then you've got 1,168,000 in prepaid. So that money you cannot use. But then dropping down, we don't have any committed items, but you can see in the non-govern the non- major governmental funds, there is some money there that's already committed for capital projects. Um and also some restricted. That's what I talked about with regards to um those amounts that cannot be used, but we don't have them in the general fund, which is our operating fund. So then you can see there on the assigned, we've got some change funds. So some deposits out there that we use for change funds uh here and there, 126,000. And then we've got our assigned general fund. That's 7,164,000 that is assigned for purchase orders for incumbrances that we have uh from the at the end of 24 that we need to assign for in 25. Okay. So that's where you see your increase in your um in your um in your revised budget because we budget for those purchase orders that have come

over from the prior year. And then you look at our assigned B fund balance that $87,793,000. So in total our fund balance is $96,229,000. So you can see those are the different fund balance classifications. And so we need to be able to look at what tools do we have that we can utilize to be able to balance our budget. And so the idea here is we're looking at just making sure that we stay within the parameters that the court has given to us. And so first and foremost, we've got some really good policies in place. First and foremost, we strive to maintain our unassigned fund balance uh reserve between 10 and 15%. So let's look at that first um marker there. That's unassigned general fund reserve 10 to 15%. So 10% of our unassigned fund balance is $49,548,000 um of our and that's 10 to 15% of the total adopted general fund operating budget. So remember our our budget was $495 million. So 10% is 49,548,000 15% of that is 74,322 74,322,000. um our actual unassigned fund balance and I apologize that should be our estimate. So as of 9:3025 we're almost there to the end at that this is a number that was given to me by the auditors at the end of um January I believe and we were at 88 million um and that is going to be a little bit better. I spoke to Miss Parker today and and that unassigned fund balance is actually a little bit higher number um closer to $95 million. So um um but that number we will not know until the the audit is finalized. Okay. But using that number uh there at 88,715,000

we are within that th those two targets. Now when uh we assigned the fund balance for um economic development uh wanting to get to the 10 million in two years because we know we can't get there in two year in one year but we want to get there in two years. So, we're going to we assign fund balance of $6,400,000. And in our fund balance policies under that section one of the classification, it talks about that assignment um that um that we can assign this in order to be able to balance our budget and and stay uh within the parameters uh that we want to and it and and we are within those parameters. We're going to assign that fund balance and then we're going to budget and then if we need to use that money, it's already it's going to be budgeted but it's going to be set aside for that and then we will not um consider that in the um as part of the uh regular budget uh um it would just be continuously assigned every single year and then when we do do and we do use it for example if a project comes along then we would consider replenishing that budget. at that time. I'm going to stop there and and answer any questions that you might have with regards to this this strategy because what this strategy does, it takes that $2.8 million and allows that to be used as part of our current year revenues. Uh, excuse me. It takes it out of the the budget process and allows us to um not have to appropriate that as part of our regular budget um considerations. I'd like to add to what Carmen is proposing. Um, so I actually I like this approach. I do think what so what we did originally when we started creating the

$10 million economic impact fund, we wanted to have that identified fund already established so that if in the middle of the year some major opportunity came up and we needed something to really um make the case to get that opportunity and it wasn't just to give as an incentive. Another idea of this economic impact fund would be uh one of the things that we' talked about a lot is if there's a there was a company that did want to come. There was a specific company that wanted to come but they needed the rail spur extended and it was going to be $21 million to extend the rail spur. And there were other partners who were willing to pay for a portion of it, but we were going to need $7 million. And the only other option we would have had was to go out and get a loan, to get out some kind of fast loan. And we wouldn't be able to do for that type of a benefit of a private um company, we wouldn't be able to do a a traditional non-t taxable um uh bond. So we t we started talking about having this fund available. Now, it could be used if the court if there was some company that was going to bring wonderful jobs or major capital investment, the court could use it as an incentive. Um, when we put in a submission for Amazon um headquarters, we we put in an application to be considered for Amazon HQ2, we offered up all of our economic impact money. Um, but it's also there was another large development that was going to need uh a lot of infrastructure built in. And I always lean towards the infrastructure because if the company leaves, the infrastructure doesn't. Um, and we've also used economic impact funds for major investments in the workforce. But it's to have that money available if we do need it for one of those

opportunities. But the majority of time we would not use it because nothing was on the table of that significance. So by doing it this way, it also doesn't um drive up the amount of fund balance that we need to have because right now when it's over in the general fund expense side, that increases the amount of fund balance we need because it looks like we're going to spend it all when in reality we're not. So this is just another way. Now, what will happen is if we ever do spend it all, we would either have to agree to like put it back in in increments, which is what how we built it up the first time, or we would have to take a pretty significant um reduction in budget to be able to f build back up the fund balance to for the whole 10 million. I think we would probably most likely build it back in up over time, but the it's just another way of accounting for the funding without it being in the active general fund expenses.

Yeah.

And I think the other thing too that we talked about was uh you know, we we can as a county as a core could say, look, we we want to draw companies here and we've set aside we're committed $10 million when we get there in two years, but we can say we are committed $10 million. We we want to be able to to to show that and you can show that very um uh you can show that very clearly by just looking at the at the uh balance sheet and saying look we've committed $10 million for this economic development incentive. And I think that's a huge draw for the county uh when companies are considering coming uh coming here. We're we're putting our capital up, if you will, and it doesn't tie up current once the fund is established. It would not tie up current year um revenues.

It sounds like a good point. I'm okay with that.

Thank you so much. Um okay, so one of the things that we are also looking at is revenue growth opportunities. So um we are we had a meeting yesterday with the central appraisal district to giving us a status of the growth um in the county. So we can I can I can tell you that that it looks like we are growing and so the assessed valuations are coming in a little bit better. Of course remember the preliminaries uh values come in in April and then they're not certified until July. And so there is always that reduction that comes in, you know, between the time that the the numbers come in in the preliminary and then the the numbers that are certified. But we're looking to increase property taxes through for new construction uh and economic development activities that have occurred. There's a lot of activity out happening particularly in the um east side of the county. um our federal detainee revenue has improved and so um u I think that uh the auditor's office will be able to certify more than the 2.7 million in the budget that that is in the budget for this year. But one of the things that we're also doing is we're reviewing all of the fees to determine if there's opportunities to raise or impose new fees comparing uh we've been doing some work comparing to other governmental entities. We've also asked departments as well as we are also trying to determine the cost of providing the service to determine if the costs are being recovered by the imposed fee and if not is there an opportunity to raise that fee. Uh we're also developing an inventory of fees to set as a baseline for the future. Um and then we want to make sure that we ensure that their legal requirements are met when they're imposing a fee. So we are planning right now to come back to the court and present a schedule of fees of all fees that we assess uh in June. Um so we want to make sure that we come forward as part of the budget process

with that all of the fees for all that we impose countywide. Um and then we want to also encourage departments um to improve the collection of revenue to ensure that the county is recovering that revenue it is due so that we can again continue to look at these revenue growth opportunities. So these are some of the things that we're looking at. So we also have um are looking in fiscal year 27 at our top three revenue streams. Uh so our property taxes of course and I' I've listed there the growth from 23 to 20 uh estimated 26 our sales and use tax uh there again in fiscal year 27 with that growth of one one month our federal inmate revenue which is recorded in the uh charges for services as I indicated we budgeted only 2.7 uh this in this year so these three revenue streams represent 89.45 45% of our revenue. So, looking closely, a little bit closer at our property tax rates, just a reminder that these are been the tax rates that the court has adopted um year-over-year um going from 24 to 25, you do see that increase to account for the 2024 um u um general obligations bonds that were voted in. Um so you see that almost 1.5 cents which is the barometer that we use there. Uh so we went up from 5 cents to 6.3 cents and then our tax rate did go up about 2 cents on the M side from 3761 to 3952. And just a reminder, as I said, our preliminary assessments come in in April, they certify in July, and then we set our tax rate in 2026. In September of 2026, here's our sales tax. And again, you can

see that uh that that entry that I talked to you about in fiscal year uh 25. In 24, we had the 12 months. In 25, we had 13. And then we're forecasting a little bit better in our sales taxes there. Our budget was 77 million. And then our our estimate is 79,849,000. But again, if the growth is more than 4%, then any excess sales tax received over the prior year is used to pay down debt per state statute. The auditor does a calculation and then um makes the entry as appropriate. Um here is the federal detainee revenue. Again, this is just actual versus budget um that we've received. Um the estimate, just to give you a little bit more information, the estimate for fiscal year 26 was just based on three months of revenue at the 101 daily rate at that time. Uh, and we've projected that we'll think we'll be out about 13.7 million because of that cost per day that was renegotiated under the US Marshall's contract of $134 which went into effect on February 1st. I know we talked about in January where commissioner's court did um express a desire not to rely on this revenue for fiscal year 2027. So, we'll be taking that into consideration as we move forward in the budget process. Um and as we talk through during the strategic planning sessions uh that we'll be having on April 29th and 30th. Um so then um just looking at 27. This is the budget register. We've added a small amount down at the bottom. These are items that the court has actually uh taken action on and are going to impact the budget for next year. Um so there's just that one item. And then um on other potential future

impacts, wanted just to note we uh we should have added the fire code impacts here. That's something that we are tracking um and and should have been noted here. So we're also looking at some of those impacts uh for for the future and could potentially impact us in in 27. Here's some very important dates. uh we are um on April 13th we have our operating uh requests that are due from all of the departments. So, we actually moved out from April 1st to April 30th from the original calendar to give it a little bit more time. And then we uh set that specific date because of April 29th and 30th when we have our strategic planning sessions with the court. Um and so that we have enough time to compile all that information uh for all of you so that you can have uh the information for for those sessions. And one of the things I'm really excited about is to be able to work with all of you um and um the communications office of course to finalize some of the details for some of these meetings. I I I don't think we've had them for maybe a couple years. Um but I am excited to be able to work with each one of you. So thank you so much for setting those dates uh for us. And so we'll be preparing those presentations. We'll be ready at um at to go at each one of your precincts. And we'll have also have a general meeting here in this in this room. We'll have a general open uh in-person session on June 24th. And then we'll have also have a virtual meeting for those individuals that cannot attend. And we'll also tape that meeting as well and put it online. Um we want to schedule that for July 1st at noon. And so again, this is part of our community outreach to make sure that that we engage our community, that that they know um you know what we're what we're doing, where their tax dollars are going

to. Um so we're really excited uh to be able to to bring that to you and work with you on that. So with that, um any questions that you might have? Well, thank you so much. Appreciate you. Thank you.

Thank you. This now brings us to item five, executive session. Uh we do have a legal memo for one of the items for item 5C. Good afternoon, Commissioner Sevas Rodriguez, assistant county attorney. So for item 5C, staff is asking that the item be taken into executive session pursuant to Texas Government Code section 551.07. 0 0725. The county is currently in negotiations with Worldwide LLC with regards to proposed amendments to a chapter 381 economic development agreement. The county staff is seeking direction from commissioner's court regarding terms of the mentioned agreement as well as providing business and financial information related to the same. The commissioner's court must be free to critically analyze business and financial concerns without undermining the county's negoti negotiation position and ultimate ability to reach a final agreement. As your legal adviser, Jacob uh Jacob Reynolds, assistant county attorney, has determined that deliberation in an open meeting concerning business and financial issues relating to these contracts would have a detrimental effect on the position of the commissioner's court in negotiations with Worldwide LLC. Thus, we are requesting that commissioner's court unanimously vote that deliberations in an open meeting would have a detrimental effect on the position of the commissioner's court in negotiations and that all said deliberations take close and uh take place in close session. We would further request that commissioner's court direct the county administration commissioner's court reporters to ensure that all proceedings in close session be recorded. If the commissioner's court agrees, I need a motion and a second and a recorded vote at this time, please. And that was for item 5C for which is pursuant to Texas government code section 551.0725 discuss contract negotiations between the county of El Paso and Worldwide LLC

regarding a chapter 381 agreement which governs the meta El Paso Data Center. Um do we have a motion? Thank you. We have a motion to approve uh Commissioner Butler, second by Commissioner O'Ne. The voting is open. I hold I my computer is not Commissioner Stout, are you available?

Commissioner Stout is absent. Motion carries. And before we go into executive session, we did receive a public comment for one of the items um that was presented earlier for item I'm sorry, it was for 5D. I'm sorry. 4 D received an update from the El Paso County Women's Commission on their ongoing progress and accomplishments highlighting key initiatives such as the upcoming domestic violence summit. We did have a public comment um submitted by Melissa Hardcro which is which was good morning county judge and commissioners. I am the district 3 commissioner for the women's commission. Thank you for the opportunity to serve the public. Our commission is very proud of the work we have done in in the past three years since the commission's inception. We have spoken to countless community partners, gathered data, and conducted factf finding regarding domestic violence in the county. The summit and resource fair serve as an opportunity to educate and empower partners and service providers with the information, tools, and points of ne contact necessary to support the needs of not just domestic violence victims, but the perpetrators as well. The commission is certain the summit will be a successful will be success will be successful and are hopeful it will be a recurring event and reduce domestic violence. Thank you for trusting us on behalf of the women of El Paso County. End of public comment. We will now go ahead and recess for executive session for items 5 A through C pursuant to Texas Government Code section 551.071 and 551.0725. Commissioner's court will reconvene to take official action. It is 3:09 p.m.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Heat up here. Hola, El Paso. Winter is almost over and El Paso County is springing into March with everything that is going on across our county. Now, let's take a look back at some of February's highlights. The countyy's second parks and recreation capital improvement bond project is now underway. A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Awad Dulce improvements project. The renovations to the park includes a paved parking lot with ADA accessible spaces, a new walking trail, a water fountain, and new shelters, which include amenities like picnic tables, benches, and waste receptacles to improve safety and accessibility throughout the park. The countyy's first ever animal shelter is one step closer to reality. As phase two of the facility's development was discussed in a community meeting, the public was presented with new design concepts inspired by the results of the first community meeting. Attendees were presented two options for the building's design and highlighted new kennels separated by a bark wall. The public was able to present their input on the new design options in person and online. The front entrance of the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse was decorated in colorful messages for the third annual Talk About Love event. In recognition of teen dating violence awareness month, the Center against Sexual and Family Violence in partnership with El Paso County Attorney Christina Sanchez and

District Attorney James Montoya invited the community to participate. Community members were encouraged to create colorful sidewalk chalk messages that promoted respect, healthy relationships, and love. This interactive event raised awareness about teen dating violence while fostering positive conversations and community engagement. That does it for this month's county connects. Until next time, let's get ready for spring and make sure to stay connected with El Paso County. Hey, hey, hey. He ah hey a hey a e a. Hey, hey, hey. Hey,

hey, hey. Welcome to the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office, where we're dedicated to helping families navigate the complexities of family law with empathy, clarity, and a commitment to excellence. As an integral part of the El Paso County Civil Court system, we strive to provide support during challenging times. We are dedicated to supporting parents, guardians, and children in navigating complex issues such as custody, visitation, child support, and beyond. Whether you are recently divorced, in the midst of a custody dispute, or facing challenges with child support, we stand ready to offer compassionate guidance and unwavering support. Our mission is to assist children and families during what can be one of the most challenging times in their lives, ensuring they have the resources and assistance they need to move forward confidently. We provide services both in person and virtually, collaborating closely with judges, attorneys, and service providers to address each family's unique needs. Our child support enforcement unit plays a vital role in ensuring that children receive the financial support necessary for their well-being. When a court orders child support, it represents not just a figure, but a commitment to a child's future. This unit consists of a team of attorneys, enforcement officers, financial specialists, legal engagement officers, parillegals, and administrative staff who assist with the collection and enforcement of child support and medical support. Domestic relations office attorneys

decide what enforcement remedies will be used based on the particular facts of the case. We help enforce court orders by monitoring payments and maintaining accurate records. Working with parents who have fallen behind, helping them understand their obligations and options, filing enforcement actions with the court when necessary, and helping parents modify orders if their financial situation changes significantly. Because we know life happens and fairness matters. We know that every family situation is different. That's why our staff works with compassion, confidentiality, and professionalism, helping both custodial and non-custodial parents understand the process, meet their obligations, and keep the focus where it belongs, on the children. Another one of our core responsibilities is through our family court service unit where we support the courts in making informed child- centered decisions in custody and visitation cases. In contested custody matters when parents can agree on who should care for the child, judges often rely on our skilled professionals to provide objective and detailed assessments. Family court services social workers or guardian adult items are appointed by judges to conduct thorough investigations and provide reports to the court based on the interests of the children involved. Either party may request the appointment of a guardian adal item for their case. In addition, family court services staff are appointed on some adoption cases to conduct evaluations. Our cooperative parenting program provides co-parenting classes which focus on the needs of children and parents in the aftermath of separation or divorce. Topics include parent, children and the involvement in the court, positive co-parenting practices, impact of divorce and separation on child development,

communication, conflict resolution and anger management. Classes are offered both in person and virtually and are open to everyone. No court order needed. Co-parents take the classes separately to ensure participants are comfortable discussing the topics. Individuals may register for classes by either visiting the domestic relations office website or by calling the office at 915-2733533 or by picking up the form inside our office. Class schedules can also be found on the website. Once the registration is received, the individual will be contacted by the program facilitator to discuss attendance and answer questions via email or phone. Class schedules can also be found on the website. Once the registration is received, the individual will be contacted by the program facilitator. Our office is dedicated to providing essential legal assistance tailored to family law issues. We empower parents to effectively enforce and modify access and possession time with their children, ensuring that their rights are upheld. For those seeking to formalize agreements, we facilitate parenting negotiation conferences that transform your arrangements into legally binding court orders. At the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office, we're committed to helping families find solutions that work. So, please visit our website or give us a call today to learn how we can help you move forward.

Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat

up here. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hola, El Paso. Winter is almost over and El Paso County is springing into March with everything that is going on across our county. Now, let's take a look back at some of February's highlights. The countyy's second parks and recreation capital improvement bond project is now underway. A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Awad Dulce improvements project. The renovations to the park includes a paved parking lot with ADA accessible spaces, a new walking trail, a water fountain,

and new shelters, which include amenities like picnic tables, benches, and waste receptacles to improve safety and accessibility throughout the park. The county's first ever animal shelter is one step closer to reality. As phase two of the facility's development was discussed in a community meeting, the public was presented with new design concepts inspired by the results of the first community meeting. Attendees were presented two options for the building's design and highlighted new kennels separated by a bark wall. The public was able to present their input on the new design options in person and online. The front entrance of the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse was decorated in colorful messages for the third annual Talk About Love event. In recognition of teen dating violence awareness month, the Center against Sexual and Family Violence in partnership with El Paso County Attorney Christina Sanchez and District Attorney James Montoya invited the community to participate. Community members were encouraged to create colorful sidewalk chalk messages that promoted respect, healthy relationships, and love. This interactive event raised awareness about teen dating violence while fostering positive conversations and community engagement. That does it for this month's county connects. Until next time, let's get ready for spring and make sure to stay connected with El Paso County. a

m He ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Welcome to the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office, where we're dedicated to helping families navigate the complexities of family law with empathy, clarity, and a commitment to excellence. As an integral part of the El Paso County Civil Court system, we strive to provide support during challenging times. We are dedicated to supporting parents, guardians, and children in navigating complex issues such as custody, visitation, child support, and beyond. Whether you are recently divorced, in

the midst of a custody dispute, or facing challenges with child support, we stand ready to offer compassionate guidance and unwavering support. Our mission is to assist children and families during what can be one of the most challenging times in their lives, ensuring they have the resources and assistance they need to move forward confidently. We provide services both in person and virtually, collaborating closely with judges, attorneys, and service providers to address each family's unique needs. Our child support enforcement unit plays a vital role in ensuring that children receive the financial support necessary for their well-being. When a court orders child support, it represents not just a figure, but a commitment to a child's future. This unit consists of a team of attorneys, enforcement officers, financial specialists, legal engagement officers, parillegals, and administrative staff who assist with the collection and enforcement of child support and medical support. Domestic relations office attorneys decide what enforcement remedies will be used based on the particular facts of the case. We help enforce court orders by monitoring payments and maintaining accurate records, working with parents who have fallen behind, helping them understand their obligations and options, filing enforcement actions with the court when necessary, and helping parents modify orders if their financial situation changes significantly. Because we know life happens and fairness matters. We know that every family's situation is different. That's why our staff works with compassion, confidentiality, and professionalism, helping both custodial and non-custodial parents understand the process, meet their obligations, and keep the focus where it belongs, on the children. Another one of our core responsibilities is through our family court service unit, where we support the courts in making informed child-

centered decisions in custody and visitation cases. In contested custody matters, when parents can't agree on who should care for the child, judges often rely on our skilled professionals to provide objective and detailed assessments. Family court services social workers or guardian adult items are appointed by judges to conduct thorough investigations and provide reports to the court based on the interests of the children involved. Either party may request the appointment of a guardian adel item for their case. In addition, family court services staff are appointed on some adoption cases to conduct evaluations. Our cooperative parenting program provides co-parenting classes which focus on the needs of children and parents in the aftermath of separation or divorce. Topics include parent, children and the involvement in the court, positive co-parenting practices, impact of divorce and separation on child development, communication, conflict resolution, and anger management. Classes are offered both in person and virtually and are open to everyone. No court order needed. Co-parents take the classes separately to ensure participants are comfortable discussing the topics. Individuals may register for classes by either visiting the domestic relations office website or by calling the office at 9152733533 or by picking up the form inside our office. Class schedules can also be found on the website. Once the registration is received, the individual will be contacted by the program facilitator to discuss attendance and answer questions via email or phone. Class schedules can also be found on the website. Once the registration is received, the individual will be contacted by the program facilitator. Our office is dedicated to providing essential legal assistance tailored to

family law issues. We empower parents to effectively enforce and modify access and possession time with their children, ensuring that their rights are upheld. For those seeking to formalize agreements, we facilitate parenting negotiation conferences that transform your arrangements into legally binding court orders. At the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office, we're committed to helping families find solutions that work. So, please visit our website or give us a call today to learn how we can help you move forward. I love you. Ah, ah.

Hey. Hey. Hey. Okay. Heat. Heat. Heat. N.

Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat up Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Hola, El Paso. Winter is almost over and El Paso County is springing into March with everything that is going on across our county. Now, let's take a look back at some of February's highlights. The countyy's second parks and recreation capital improvement bond project is now underway. A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Awad Dulce improvements project. The renovations to the park includes a paved parking lot with ADA accessible spaces, a new walking trail, a water fountain, and new shelters which include amenities like picnic tables, benches, and waste receptacles to improve safety and accessibility throughout the park. The countyy's first ever animal shelter is one step closer to reality. As phase two of the facilities development was discussed in a community meeting, the public was presented with new design concepts inspired by the results of the first community meeting. Attendees were presented two options for the building's design and highlighted new kennels separated by a bark wall. The public was able to present their input on the new design options in person and online. The front entrance of the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse was decorated in colorful messages for the third annual Talk About Love event. In recognition of teen dating violence awareness month, the Center against Sexual and Family Violence in partnership with El Paso County Attorney Christina Sanchez and District Attorney James Montoya invited the community to participate. Community members were encouraged to create colorful sidewalk chalk messages that promoted respect, healthy relationships, and love. This interactive event raised awareness about teen dating violence while fostering positive conversations and community engagement. That does it for this month's county connects. Until next time, let's get

ready for spring and make sure to stay connected with El Paso County. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. N. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.

Welcome to the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office, where we're dedicated to helping families navigate the complexities of family law with empathy, clarity, and a commitment to excellence. As an integral part of the El Paso County Civil Court system, we strive to provide support during challenging times. We are dedicated to supporting parents, guardians, and children in navigating complex issues such as custody, visitation, child support, and beyond. Whether you are recently divorced, in the midst of a custody dispute, or facing challenges with child support, we stand ready to offer compassionate guidance and unwavering support. Our mission is to assist children and families during what can be one of the most challenging times in their lives, ensuring they have the resources and assistance they need to move forward confidently. We provide services both in person and virtually, collaborating closely with judges, attorneys, and service providers to address each family's unique needs. Our child support enforcement unit plays a vital role in ensuring that children receive the financial support necessary for their well-being. When a court orders child support, it represents not just a figure, but a commitment to a child's future. This unit consists of a team of attorneys, enforcement officers, financial specialists, legal engagement officers, parillegals, and administrative staff who assist with the collection and enforcement of child support and medical support. Domestic relations office attorneys decide what enforcement remedies will be used based on the particular facts of the case. We help enforce court orders by monitoring payments and maintaining accurate records, working with parents who have fallen behind, helping them understand their obligations and options, filing enforcement actions with the court when necessary, and helping parents modify

orders if their financial situation changes significantly. Because we know life happens and fairness matters. We know that every family's situation is different. That's why our staff works with compassion, confidentiality, and professionalism, helping both custodial and non-custodial parents understand the process, meet their obligations, and keep the focus where it belongs, on the children. Another one of our core responsibilities is through our family court service unit, where we support the courts in making informed child- centered decisions in custody and visitation cases. In contested custody matters, when parents can't agree on who should care for the child, judges often rely on our skilled professionals to provide objective and detailed assessments. Family court services social workers or guardian adult items are appointed by judges to conduct thorough investigations and provide reports to the court based on the interests of the children involved. Either party may request the appointment of a guardian adel item for their case. In addition, family court services staff are appointed on some adoption cases to conduct evaluations. Our cooperative parenting program provides co-parenting classes which focus on the needs of children and parents in the aftermath of separation or divorce. Topics include parent, children and the involvement in the court, positive co-parenting practices, impact of divorce and separation on child development, communication, conflict resolution and anger management. Classes are offered both in person and virtually and are open to everyone. No court order needed. Co-parents take the classes separately to ensure participants are comfortable discussing the topics. Individuals may register for classes by either visiting the domestic relations office website or by calling the office at 915-2733533

or by picking up the form inside our office. Class schedules can also be found on the website. Once the registration is received, the individual will be contacted by the program facilitator to discuss attendance and answer questions via email or phone. Class schedules can also be found on the website. Once the registration is received, the individual will be contacted by the program facilitator. Our office is dedicated to providing essential legal assistance tailored to family law issues. We empower parents to effectively enforce and modify access and possession time with their children, ensuring that their rights are upheld. For those seeking to formalize agreements, we facilitate parenting negotiation conferences that transform your arrangements into legally binding court orders. At the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office, we're committed to helping families find solutions that work. So, please visit our website or give us a call today to learn how we can help you move forward. Hello. Hello.

Heat. Heat. Okay. Okay. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat

up here. Hola, El Paso. Winter is almost over and El Paso County is springing into March with everything that is going on across our county. Now, let's take a look back at some of February's highlights. The countyy's second parks and recreation capital improvement bond project is now underway. A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Awad Dulce improvements project. The renovations to the park includes a paved parking lot with ADA accessible spaces, a new walking trail, a water fountain, and new shelters, which include amenities like picnic tables, benches, and waste receptacles to improve safety and accessibility throughout the park. The county's first ever animal shelter is one step closer to reality. As phase two of the facilities development was discussed in a community meeting, the public was presented with new design concepts inspired by the results of the first community meeting. Attendees were presented two options for the building's design and highlighted new kennels separated by a bark wall. The public was able to present their input on the new design options in person and online. The front entrance of the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse was decorated in colorful messages for the third annual Talk About Love event. In recognition of teen dating violence awareness month, the Center against Sexual and Family

Violence in partnership with El Paso County Attorney Christina Sanchez and District Attorney James Montoya invited the community to participate. Community members were encouraged to create colorful sidewalk chalk messages that promoted respect, healthy relationships, and love. This interactive event raised awareness about teen dating violence while fostering positive conversations and community engagement. That does it for this month's county connects. Until next time, let's get ready for spring and make sure to stay connected with El Paso County. He ah ah ah ah Heat. Heat. N. Hey, hey, hey. Hey hey

hey, hey. Welcome to the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office, where we're dedicated to helping families navigate the complexities of family law with empathy, clarity, and a commitment to excellence. As an integral part of the El Paso County Civil Court system, we strive to provide support during challenging times. We are dedicated to supporting parents, guardians, and children in navigating complex issues such as custody, visitation, child support, and beyond. Whether you are recently divorced, in the midst of a custody dispute, or facing challenges with child support, we stand ready to offer compassionate guidance and unwavering support. Our mission is to assist children and families during what can be one of the most challenging times in their lives, ensuring they have the resources and assistance they need to move forward confidently. We provide services both in person and virtually, collaborating closely with judges, attorneys, and service providers to address each family's unique needs. Our child support enforcement unit plays a vital role in ensuring that children receive the financial support necessary for their well-being. When a court orders child support, it represents not just a figure, but a commitment to a child's future. This unit consists of a team of attorneys, enforcement officers, financial specialists, legal engagement officers, parillegals, and administrative staff who assist with the collection and enforcement of child support and medical

support. Domestic relations office attorneys decide what enforcement remedies will be used based on the particular facts of the case. We help enforce court orders by monitoring payments and maintaining accurate records, working with parents who have fallen behind, helping them understand their obligations and options, filing enforcement actions with the court when necessary, and helping parents modify orders if their financial situation changes significantly. Because we know life happens and fairness matters. We know that every family situation is different. That's why our staff works with compassion, confidentiality, and professionalism, helping both custodial and non-custodial parents understand the process, meet their obligations, and keep the focus where it belongs, on the children. Another one of our core responsibilities is through our family court service unit, where we support the courts in making informed child- centered decisions in custody and visitation cases. In contested custody matters, when parents can't agree on who should care for the child, judges often rely on our skilled professionals to provide objective and detailed assessments. Family court services social workers or guardian adult items are appointed by judges to conduct thorough investigations and provide reports to the court based on the interests of the children involved. Either party may request the appointment of a guardian adel item for their case. In addition, family court services staff are appointed on some adoption cases to conduct evaluations. Our cooperative parenting program provides co-parenting classes which focus on the needs of children and parents in the aftermath of separation or divorce. Topics include parent, children and the involvement in the court, positive co-parenting practices,

impact of divorce and separation on child development, communication, conflict resolution, and anger management. Classes are offered both in person and virtually and are open to everyone. No court order needed. Co-parents take the classes separately to ensure participants are comfortable discussing the topics. Individuals may register for classes by either visiting the domestic relations office website or by calling the office at 915-2733533 or by picking up the form inside our office. Class schedules can also be found on the website. Once the registration is received, the individual will be contacted by the program facilitator to discuss attendance and answer questions via email or phone. Class schedules can also be found on the website. Once the registration is received, the individual will be contacted by the program facilitator. Our office is dedicated to providing essential legal assistance tailored to family law issues. We empower parents to effectively enforce and modify access and possession time with their children, ensuring that their rights are upheld. For those seeking to formalize agreements, we facilitate parenting negotiation conferences that transform your arrangements into legally binding court orders. At the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office, we're committed to helping families find solutions that work. So, please visit our website or give us a call today to learn how we can help you move forward. Hello. Hello.

Ah, hey there. Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here.

Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Hola, El Paso. Winter is almost over and El Paso County is springing into March with everything that is going on across our county. Now, let's take a look back at some of February's highlights. The countyy's second parks and recreation capital improvement bond project is now underway. A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Awad Dulce improvements project. The renovations to the park includes a paved parking lot with ADA accessible spaces, a new walking trail, a water fountain, and new shelters which include amenities like picnic tables, benches, and waste receptacles to improve safety and accessibility throughout the park. The countyy's first ever animal shelter is one step closer to reality. As phase two of the facility's development was

discussed in a community meeting, the public was presented with new design concepts inspired by the results of the first community meeting. Attendees were presented two options for the building's design and highlighted new kennels separated by a bark wall. The public was able to present their input on the new design options in person and online. The front entrance of the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse was decorated in colorful messages for the third annual Talk About Love event. In recognition of teen dating violence awareness month, the Center against Sexual and Family Violence in partnership with El Paso County Attorney Christina Sanchez and District Attorney James Montoya invited the community to participate. Community members were encouraged to create colorful sidewalk chalk messages that promoted respect, healthy relationships, and love. This interactive event raised awareness about teen dating violence while fostering positive conversations and community engagement. That does it for this month's county connects. Until next time, let's get ready for spring and make sure to stay connected with El Paso County. He a m Hey,

hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, Hey, hey, hey. Welcome to the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office, where we're dedicated to helping families navigate the complexities of family law with empathy, clarity, and a commitment to excellence. As an integral part of the El Paso County Civil Court system, we strive to provide support during challenging times. We are dedicated to supporting parents, guardians, and children in navigating complex issues such as custody, visitation, child support, and beyond. Whether you are recently divorced, in the midst of a custody dispute, or facing challenges with child support, we stand ready to offer compassionate guidance and unwavering support. Our mission is to assist children and families during what can be one of the most challenging times in their lives, ensuring they have the resources and assistance they need to move forward confidently. We provide services both in person and virtually,

collaborating closely with judges, attorneys, and service providers to address each family's unique needs. Our child support enforcement unit plays a vital role in ensuring that children receive the financial support necessary for their well-being. When a court orders child support, it represents not just a figure, but a commitment to a child's future. This unit consists of a team of attorneys, enforcement officers, financial specialists, legal engagement officers, parillegals, and administrative staff who assist with the collection and enforcement of child support and medical support. Domestic relations office attorneys decide what enforcement remedies will be used based on the particular facts of the case. We help enforce court orders by monitoring payments and maintaining accurate records, working with parents who have fallen behind, helping them understand their obligations and options, filing enforcement actions with the court when necessary, and helping parents modify orders if their financial situation changes significantly. Because we know life happens and fairness matters. We know that every family situation is different. That's why our staff works with compassion, confidentiality, and professionalism, helping both custodial and non-custodial parents understand the process, meet their obligations, and keep the focus where it belongs, on the children. Another one of our core responsibilities is through our family court service unit, where we support the courts in making informed child- centered decisions in custody and visitation cases. In contested custody matters, when parents can't agree on who should care for the child, judges often rely on our skilled professionals to provide objective and detailed assessments. Family court services social workers or guardian adult items are appointed by judges to conduct thorough investigations and provide reports to

the court based on the interests of the children involved. Either party may request the appointment of a guardian adal item for their case. In addition, family court services staff are appointed on some adoption cases to conduct evaluations. Our cooperative parenting program provides co-parenting classes which focus on the needs of children and parents in the aftermath of separation or divorce. Topics include parent, children and the involvement in the court, positive co-parenting practices, impact of divorce and separation on child development, communication, conflict resolution and anger management. Classes are offered both in person and virtually and are open to everyone. No court order needed. Co-parents take the classes separately to ensure participants are comfortable discussing the topics. Individuals may register for classes by either visiting the domestic relations office website or by calling the office at 9152733533 or by picking up the form inside our office. Class schedules can also be found on the website. Once the registration is received, the individual will be contacted by the program facilitator to discuss attendance and answer questions via email or phone. Class schedules can also be found on the website. Once the registration is received, the individual will be contacted by the program facilitator. Our office is dedicated to providing essential legal assistance tailored to family law issues. We empower parents to effectively enforce and modify access and possession time with their children, ensuring that their rights are upheld. For those seeking to formalize agreements, we facilitate parenting negotiation conferences that transform your arrangements into legally binding court orders. At the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office, we're

committed to helping families find solutions that work. So, please visit our website or give us a call today to learn how we can help you move forward. Come on. Ah. Ah, hey.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hola, El Paso. Winter is almost over and El Paso County is springing into March with everything that is going on across our county. Now, let's take a look back at some of February's highlights. The countyy's second parks and recreation capital improvement bond project is now underway. A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Awad Dulce improvements project. The renovations to the park includes a paved parking lot with ADA accessible spaces,

a new walking trail, a water fountain, and new shelters, which include amenities like picnic tables, benches, and waste receptacles to improve safety and accessibility throughout the park. The county's first ever animal shelter is one step closer to reality. As phase two of the facilities development was discussed in a community meeting, the public was presented with new design concepts inspired by the results of the first community meeting. Attendees were presented two options for the building's design and highlighted new kennels separated by a bark wall. The public was able to present their input on the new design options in person and online. The front entrance of the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse was decorated in colorful messages for the third annual Talk About Love event. In recognition of teen dating violence awareness month, the Center against Sexual and Family Violence in partnership with El Paso County Attorney Christina Sanchez and District Attorney James Montoya invited the community to participate. Community members were encouraged to create colorful sidewalk chalk messages that promoted respect, healthy relationships, and love. This interactive event raised awareness about teen dating violence while fostering positive conversations and community engagement. That does it for this month's county connects. Until next time, let's get ready for spring and make sure to stay connected with El Paso County. Hey, hey, hey.

Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Welcome to the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office, where we're dedicated to helping families navigate the complexities of family law with empathy, clarity, and a commitment to excellence. As an integral part of the El Paso County civil court system, we strive to provide support during challenging times. We are dedicated to supporting parents, guardians, and children in navigating complex issues such as custody, visitation, child support, and beyond. Whether you are recently

divorced, in the midst of a custody dispute, or facing challenges with child support, we stand ready to offer compassionate guidance and unwavering support. Our mission is to assist children and families during what can be one of the most challenging times in their lives, ensuring they have the resources and assistance they need to move forward confidently. We provide services both in person and virtually, collaborating closely with judges, attorneys, and service providers to address each family's unique needs. Our child support enforcement unit plays a vital role in ensuring that children receive the financial support necessary for their well-being. When a court orders child support, it represents not just a figure, but a commitment to a child's future. This unit consists of a team of attorneys, enforcement officers, financial specialists, legal engagement officers, parillegals, and administrative staff who assist with the collection and enforcement of child support and medical support. Domestic relations office attorneys decide what enforcement remedies will be used based on the particular facts of the case. We help enforce court orders by monitoring payments and maintaining accurate records. Working with parents who have fallen behind, helping them understand their obligations and options, filing enforcement actions with the court when necessary, and helping parents modify orders if their financial situation changes significantly. Because we know life happens and fairness matters. We know that every family situation is different. That's why our staff works with compassion, confidentiality, and professionalism, helping both custodial and non-custodial parents understand the process, meet their obligations, and keep the focus where it belongs, on the children. Another one of our core responsibilities is through our family court service unit where we support the courts in making

informed child- centered decisions in custody and visitation cases. In contested custody matters when parents can agree on who should care for the child, judges often rely on our skilled professionals to provide objective and detailed assessments. Family court services social workers or guardian adult items are appointed by judges to conduct thorough investigations and provide reports to the court based on the interests of the children involved. Either party may request the appointment of a guardian adal item for their case. In addition, family court services staff are appointed on some adoption cases to conduct evaluations. Our cooperative parenting program provides co-parenting classes which focus on the needs of children and parents in the aftermath of separation or divorce. Topics include parent, children and the involvement in the court, positive co-parenting practices, impact of divorce and separation on child development, communication, conflict resolution and anger management. Classes are offered both in person and virtually and are open to everyone. No court order needed. Co-parents take the classes separately to ensure participants are comfortable discussing the topics. Individuals may register for classes by either visiting the domestic relations office website or by calling the office at 915-2733533 or by picking up the form inside our office. Class schedules can also be found on the website. Once the registration is received, the individual will be contacted by the program facilitator to discuss attendance and answer questions via email or phone. Class schedules can also be found on the website. Once the registration is received, the individual will be contacted by the program facilitator. Our office is dedicated to providing

essential legal assistance tailored to family law issues. We empower parents to effectively enforce and modify access and possession time with their children, ensuring that their rights are upheld. For those seeking to formalize agreements, we facilitate parenting negotiation conferences that transform your arrangements into legally binding court orders. At the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office, we're committed to helping families find solutions that work. So, please visit our website or give us a call today to learn how we can help you move forward. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Okay. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Heat.

Hola, El Paso. Winter is almost over and El Paso County is springing into March with everything that is going on across our county. Now, let's take a look back at some of February's highlights. The countyy's second parks and recreation capital improvement bond project is now underway. A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Awad Dulce improvements project. The renovations to the park includes a paved parking lot with ADA accessible spaces, a new walking trail, a water fountain, and new shelters, which include amenities like picnic tables, benches, and waste receptacles to improve safety and accessibility throughout the park. The county's first ever animal shelter is one step closer to reality. As phase two of the facilities development was discussed in a community meeting, the public was presented with new design concepts inspired by the results of the first community meeting. Attendees were presented two options for the building's design and highlighted new kennels separated by a bark wall. The public was able to present their input on the new design options in person and online. The front entrance of the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse was decorated in colorful messages for the third annual Talk About Love event. In recognition of teen dating violence awareness month, the Center against Sexual and Family Violence in partnership with El Paso County Attorney Christina Sanchez and District Attorney James Montoya invited the community to participate. Community members were encouraged to create colorful sidewalk chalk messages that promoted respect, healthy relationships, and love. This interactive event raised awareness about teen dating violence while fostering positive conversations and community engagement. That does it for this month's county connects. Until next time, let's get

ready for spring and make sure to stay connected with El Paso County. I ah hey Hey, hey a hey a Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.

Welcome to the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office, where we're dedicated to helping families families navigate the complexities of family law with empathy, clarity, and a commitment to excellence. As an integral part of the El Paso County Civil Court system, we strive to provide support during challenging times. We are dedicated to supporting parents, guardians, and children in navigating complex issues such as custody, visitation, child support, and beyond. Whether you are recently divorced, in the midst of a custody dispute, or facing challenges with child support, we stand ready to offer compassionate guidance and unwavering support. Our mission is to assist children and families during what can be one of the most challenging times in their lives, ensuring they have the resources and assistance they need to move forward confidently. We provide services both in person and virtually, collaborating closely with judges, attorneys, and service providers to address each family's unique needs. Our child support enforcement unit plays a vital role in ensuring that children receive the financial support necessary for their well-being. When a court orders child support, it represents not just a figure, but a commitment to a child's future. This unit consists of a team of attorneys, enforcement officers, financial specialists, legal engagement officers, parillegals, and administrative staff who assist with the collection and enforcement of child support and medical support. Domestic relations office attorneys decide what enforcement remedies will be used based on the particular facts of the case. We help enforce court orders by monitoring payments and maintaining accurate records, working with parents who have fallen behind, helping them understand their obligations and options, filing enforcement actions with the court when necessary, and helping parents modify

orders if their financial situation changes significantly. Because we know life happens and fairness matters. We know that every family's situation is different. That's why our staff works with compassion, confidentiality, and professionalism, helping both custodial and non-custodial parents understand the process, meet their obligations, and keep the focus where it belongs, on the children. Another one of our core responsibilities is through our family court service unit, where we support the courts in making informed child- centered decisions in custody and visitation cases. In contested custody matters, when parents can't agree on who should care for the child, judges often rely on our skilled professionals to provide objective and detailed assessments. Family court services social workers or guardian adult items are appointed by judges to conduct thorough investigations and provide reports to the court based on the interests of the children involved. Either party may request the appointment of a guardian adel item for their case. In addition, family court services staff are appointed on some adoption cases to conduct evaluations. Our cooperative parenting program provides co-parenting classes which focus on the needs of children and parents in the aftermath of separation or divorce. Topics include parent, children and the involvement in the court, positive co-parenting practices, impact of divorce and separation on child development, communication, conflict resolution, and anger management. Classes are offered both in person and virtually and are open to everyone. No court order needed. Co-parents take the classes separately to ensure participants are comfortable discussing the topics. Individuals may register for classes by either visiting the domestic relations office website or by calling the office at 915-2733533

or by picking up the form inside our office. Class schedules can also be found on the website. Once the registration is received, the individual will be contacted by the program facilitator to discuss attendance and answer questions via email or phone. Class schedules can also be found on the website. Once the registration is received, the individual will be contacted by the program facilitator. Our office is dedicated to providing essential legal assistance tailored to family law issues. We empower parents to effectively enforce and modify access and possession time with their children, ensuring that their rights are upheld. For those seeking to formalize agreements, we facilitate parenting negotiation conferences that transform your arrangements into legally binding court orders. At the El Paso County Domestic Relations Office, we're committed to helping families find solutions that work. So, please visit our website or give us a call today to learn how we can help you move forward. Hello. Hello. Hello. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey.

Ah. Go ahead. Commissioner Court has reconvened to special open session. We have completed all the items on the agenda today. Great. Well, thank you everyone. Have a good rest of your Thursday. Thank you. Nice rest of the week. Have a good CAD meeting.

This concludes today's meeting at 4:53 p.m. Thank you.