Commissioners Court - Special Meeting

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Go ahead. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Today is Thursday, August 6, 2026. Commissioner's Court is meeting in special open session. Would you please rise and join us for the Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,

and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Judge, do you have some opening remarks for us this afternoon?

Well, welcome. Thank you so much for being here today. This is exciting. As you well know that the more people show up, the bigger the sample is of what we need to do and the information that is required. I'm very proud of the fact that so many people did come by. You know, sometimes we have difficulty in getting people to participate, and then at the end, it makes it hard on us to really truly understand what the community wants, what you're thinking, what you'd like to see, what's your vision, because we're very open. You have an incredibly commissioner's court open. They're ready to hear the information. Beforehand, I do want to thank you in advance for the level of professionalism the respect that is due to everyone that speaks, to be able to understand that we could do so much better if there's a level of respect and professionalism that takes place. I don't think that I need to say that, but I think it would be really important for us to have a very, very productive meeting and that we leave here really trying to understand the needs of the community. So once again, we truly thank you for being here with us today. It's always a pleasure and like I said, it's exciting when you're addressing so many individuals that care and believe in our community. Just for the sake of formality, I'm gonna read the statement just so that it'll be on the record and we keep it exactly as it should be. So, you know, this is a special session of Commissioner's Court. On behalf of myself and the commissioners, we thank you for being here on this important matter. Commissioner Olguin is at another meeting, a very, really important meeting at the county's interest on border issues. but her senior policy advisor is here with us tonight. The purpose of tonight's meeting is for our staff to go over the history on how we arrived to this point and to share the feedback they have received on the draft conceptual plan. Most importantly, we want to hear from all of you on what you would like or what you do not like in the draft design plan. And I want to thank the groups who have made this possible and the process that's taking place today. You are Escarate ambassadors, especially our fishing community. You have consistently posted updates on social media, gathered signatures, and have been vocal, passionate advocates. Also, our pickleballers, walkers, cyclists, wildlife enthusiasts, thank you. Together, we're working to give our community an improved park full of nature and beauty where more memories will be made every single day. Once again, thank you. We welcome all of you for being here. We're very proud of you being here, and I'll pass it on now to Lydia.

Judge, I'd just like to read the item in it. Okay, thank you. Item number three is public comment. We will be taking public comment after we receive the presentation. Item number four from the regular agenda. Item number four. Item number four from the regular agenda, receive a presentation and discuss the Azcárate Park bond improvements, including financial overview, public feedback received, options, and other information.

Good evening, Judge and Commissioners and our guests. Betsy Keller, I'm the County Administrator. Today's discussion is intended to provide Commissioner's Court with an overview of the community feedback regarding the conceptual design for Oskarity Park, with particular attention to the small lake commonly referred to as the duck pond. This is not to take away from the other concerns we've heard, pickleball, cycling, walking, neighborhood impacts, and more. We recognize that this topic, the small lake, has generated significant public interest and strong emotions for many residents. This duck pond is not simply a park feature. It represents family memories, wildlife, fishing, walking, quiet enjoyment, and a longstanding connection to the park. At the same time, the county is also evaluating important issues related to water quality, lake health, maintenance, sustainability, accessibility, safety, and the long-term investment needed to improve the park. The purpose of today's presentation is not to ask the court to make a final decision tonight. Rather, it is to transparently share what we've heard from the public across multiple meetings, surveys, written comments, and other feedback channels and to hear directly from the public. Staff has worked to organize the feedback by theme while preserving the substance of the comments received so that the court and the public can clearly see the priorities, the concerns, and that the values that were raised. As you will hear, several themes came through consistently, protecting ducks, wildlife, water, and the broader ecosystem, improving water quality and maintenance, preserving the experience and common values of the park, addressing pickleball demand, traffic safety, and neighborhood impacts, and ensuring that any future recommendation is based on transparent information, sound analysis, and meaningful public engagement. We appreciate the residents who took the time to participate even when there were some nights we were frustrated or concerned in this room. Their passion reflects how much this park means to our community and our goal today is to really make sure that feedback is heard, accurately represented, and used to help guide the next steps in a responsible and thoughtful way. It's my pleasure to turn this over to our project manager, Lydia Audius, who I also just want to mention my deep appreciation to all of our staff who have been here many nights collecting the feedback, really leading the charge on bringing this information together to present to court so that they can make those decisions in the future. And with that, I'll turn it over to Lydia. Thank you.

Good evening, everyone. Again, I'm Lydia Arias with the Public Works Department. And today I'm going to go over a little bit of the history, the finances, and we're going to do a summary again of the feedback that has been heard to date. And we will allow some time for the public to provide some comment on this project. We will close out the project with some next steps. Okay. So, Azcarate is one of El Paso County's most important regional recreational assets. This park serves thousands of residents and supports fishing, athletics, family gathering, community events, and outdoor recreation. This park is unique from other parks as it is the largest locally owned park, locally owned urban park in the county and offers a diverse mix of recreational amenities while preserving one of the area's most significant natural environments. Today we are presenting the public feedback we have received regarding the conceptual plan, which was presented a few months ago to the county by Exego Architecture. Exego and the team of specialty consultants was hired to do exactly this. bring ideas on how to help create a world-class park. The conceptual plan is intended to generate discussions, gather public input, and guide future design decisions. It is also important to note that the project has progressed beyond initial planning and development phase. The purpose of today's discussion is not to restart the planning or develop a new concept. We want to hear whether you like this or that. It is also important to remember that today's item is not an actual an action item, but it is important to emphasize that no final decision has been made. Starting out with the project history. In 2021, El Paso County completed its Parks and Recreation Master Plan with the assistance of half and associates. The planning process was designed to establish a long-term vision for how the county parks, recreation facilities, and programs would meet the needs of residents. Public participation was an important part of that process. Community members were given multiple opportunities to share their ideas, priorities, and concerns through online surveys, a statistically valid survey, stakeholder meetings, and public open houses. I believe we also had Zoom calls at that time. The master plan identified Ascarate as a major regional recreation destination. It highlighted the park's two lakes, which provide nearly 50 acres of water, as one of its primary attractions. It also recognized the golf course, the Delta 9, the 18-hole course, and the First Tee program. Together, these courses are among the most popular and affordable public golf opportunities in the region. This master plan and community input gathered through that process help establish the foundation for the improvements that are now being considered at Escarate Park. Stakeholder meetings in the 2021 park analysis identified several key challenges and opportunities for Escarate Park. These include improving access, internal circulation, connections to surrounding neighborhoods, and addressing lake leakage, shoreline stability, water supply, and water quality. The plan also identified opportunities to make Escarate a premier year-round destination for events, recreations, memorials, and community gatherings. additional concessions, improved signage, expanded trail connection connections and new revenue strategies to further support the operations and the long term maintenance. The vision of Azcárate Park included a broad range of potential improvements. Key concepts included a flexible large space event capable of accommodating multiple spaces, lakeside rental pavilions, and family gatherings. The plan also emphasized stronger connections to the lake through piers and bridges. Importantly, the design preserved the small lake and it designated it as a fishing lagoon. While the vision includes many additional possibilities, these are the primary elements that we wanted to highlight. The first step that the master plan recommended was to hire an expert. Sorry. There we go. The first step that the master plan recommended was to hire an expert and conduct a study for both lakes to determine if partial dredging or partial repairs for seepage were needed. The study was intended to determine whether targeted sediment removal or repairs were required to address the seepage It also identified opportunities to improve the water supply and aquatic habitat. In that study, as you can see in that image, the lake was originally designed to be a certain depth when we conducted studies. There was conflicting information which led us to believe that the lake was not built as deep as the original plan showed. From that plan, we also got a proposal for approximately 42 million to dredge the lake. Upon the completion of this study, we partnered with UTEP for additional feedback on this study, and we also had some conversations with El Paso Water. Now I'll turn it over to our parks director, Tim Fulton, so he can discuss a little bit more in depth those conversations that we had with UTEP and El Paso Water.

Thank you, Lydia. Judge, members of the commission, thank you. One of the things that we looked at with the initial study with the lake about the dredging and everything, we sought a second opinion. We reached out to our local experts at UTEP, University of Texas, El Paso, as well as El Paso Water. Some of the things that we were advised was, let's look at this lake as a complete ecosystem. It evolved over 80 years. the fish, the wildlife, the invertebrates, the plants that inhabit that lake evolved. And so some of the things that we are looking at is the water quality itself. And how does, in nature, how does water purify itself? So we knew, you know, oxygen levels needed to be increased. We needed to remove some of the sediments that occur in our well water. So one of the things that we were advised to do is do things like planting particular species of poplar trees that would help filtrate the water naturally. We looked at things that would help that lake recover. that could be a design working, I guess for a lack of better terms, biofiltration, what we could do there. The other thing when we started talking to El Paso Water was our water supply, right? What do we have available in our wells? Four functioning wells that feed both bodies of water. And so we were looking at that existing quality of water in the aquifer And as we know, we live in a desert and our water by nature is more alkaline or salty than other places. So what can we do to capitalize on what we have? And again, the idea of using the biofiltration systems as a way of doing that, something we could do naturally. It also became very apparent something that we need to do is get more oxygen in the water, airifying it. We do have a few bubblers out on the lake. But again, we realize that we need to get far more oxygen in there to help reduce some of the algae that we do have in the lake. Thank you.

Thank you, Tim. And also another conversation we've had with El Paso Water is they had a similar project where they dredged a body of water that they had. They didn't consider that to be a successful project. They dredged it due to the smell. They did partial dredging. They had scuba divers go in there and dredge. They didn't consider that to be a successful project. So because of all the feedback that we received from the doctors at UTEP, some of the information from El Paso Water, this project was pivoted to think of other solutions besides the dredging to, of course, improve the water and enhance the ecosystem. So turning away from the technical side, as part of the project history, we have the financial aspect of it. So while this was happening, in 2023, the county issued $6.1 million for the lake improvements. as well as the county bonds and Christian Martinez will be talking about that a little bit more. But along that same timeline, we decided to combine these projects for efficiency and for them to run together and be a cohesive project. So it is seen as one project even though the funding sources vary. We also, in December of 2025, EXECO presented to the public the conceptual design that we've been discussing. So I'll now turn it over to Christian Martinez. He'll talk a little bit more about the bond process.

Thank you, Ms. Arias. Cristian Martinez, Judge, Commissioners, with the County Administration Department, who helps oversee a lot of the financing and the management of the expenditure of the funds when it comes to the funding source for these capital projects. As Ms. Arias indicated and provided a good history with regards to the bond development, there was also a community engagement piece that was fairly extensive when it came to that pre-development of the voter-approved bond that went out to the public for consideration. And that includes the list of community meetings. You can see there on the slide, there was three primary rounds of community meetings that took place, the first of which took place between January of March to 2024 across a variety of areas of the county. The second round of community meetings taking place from May to June of 2024 and the third from September to October of 2024. all of which were intended to gather the community's input and feedback with regards to the development of these projects that ended up being finalized in the bond and were for consideration under that bond election. All of all that was going on, the county staff also under direction from the court engaged with a variety of civic organizations that you see listed there, including several rotary clubs, chambers, organizations, all to kind of get the word out and provide information with regards to that bond and gain some priorities with regards to which projects would be finalized for that bond consideration on that ballot. The last thing I want to mention before moving on from this slide is that while all that process was going on, the staff also facilitated a number of meetings with what the county staff calls the BOAC, the Bond Advisory, the Bond Oversight Advisory Committee. And what that was really was a selection of members from the public who got an in-depth presentation and look at the county's financial constraints and limitations, what its unfunded capital needs were, and potential recommendations for packages to be put on the ballot for the bond, for the voter-approved bond. And so the Bond Oversight Advisory Committee was the body that also came to the Commissioner's Court before the bond to provide a final recommendation representative of their viewpoints as members of the public before the court actually made a decision to move forward with that bond package. Moving into the next slide, we did want to provide to the court A bit of a recap with regards to the information that's been provided to the public on the financing piece. This information really comes as a result of many of the frequently asked questions that we received from the public over the last five community meetings. This information you'll find I think is consistent with the information we provide to the court via the monthly updates on the expenditure of bonds funded projects. But just to kind of review the information that was shared with the public, we talked a little bit, and this is something that Ms. Arias already alluded to earlier, but we talked about how there are a variety of, there are two really primary funding sources when it comes to the projects here at Escarote Park. The first being that 2024 general obligation bond, which was approved by voters back in November of 2024. And then as it pertains to these parks projects that are under consideration and discussion today, that approval resulted in an amount of $31.3 million of funds approved for issuing debt. related to these projects. And then there's also an additional $15.1 million of previously issued county debt, specifically that has been allocated for Escada de Parque improvements, all in all bringing a total funding allocation of $46.4 million for improvements at the Escada de Parque. That includes the various projects that Ms. Arias indicated earlier. One thing I'll highlight that we highlighted for the public on that specific piece of the information was that the different projects within Ascality Park are funded through different funding mechanisms. And so something we emphasize is that both funding sources are restricted to their authorized project purposes, right? And so because of that, there isn't really an opportunity to kind of move funds from one specifically bond portfolio to another bond portfolio because of the way in which they're authorized under specific languages and statutes. So now diving into a little bit about the projects that were funded from that in that middle portion of that slide, you can see the five different Ascata to Park improvement projects that were approved as part of that general obligation bond. That includes the festival area and outdoor stage, the shelter modernization, the pavilion parking expansion, the renovations for the walking trail, and the replacement of the overhead electrical at the park. And then within that $15.1 million of previously issued debt, there are two primary allocations. I think the key one under consideration and for discussion today is the $6.1 million for lake renovations, with the remaining $9 million being funding for an entrance expansion, island paving and parking, as well as remediation of some of the spaces at the Escarote Park that have lying unused or fallow for some time. And so the last piece of information we gave there on the rightmost part of the slide was really to kind of hone in on the piece of information that the public has asked us most about, which is the lake renovation piece. And we wanted to provide the public, over the last couple of meetings, a status update with regards to the current expenditures of those funds. One of the questions we received most frequently was, how many of these funds have already been spent? And so what is actually available for the project as it moves forward? And so we pulled a report as recent as July of 2026, and as I mentioned earlier, $6.1 million was allocated for the lake renovation project, and from that $6.1 million, $137,000, or approximately 2.2%, has been spent to date, leaving the remaining funds still available for spending as the court still considers and finalizes their decision on the design. One last piece I'd like to emphasize for the court, because it came up over the last couple public meetings as well, is what those expenditures were used for. And you can see part of that same reporting that we pulled from that July 2026 information You can see the breakdown there of how that $137,000 has been spent to date, including $38,000, a little over $38,000 already spent from that $6.1 million budget for a study by AECOM on the lake, which Ms. Arias and Mr. Fulton have described already what the purpose for that was. and then a little under $99,000 for architectural services from the firm Execo, which has provided a lot of the conceptual designs that we've seen in these public meetings to date. Happy to answer any questions from the court on any of the financing piece. If not, I'd like to hand it back over to Ms. Arias to talk about some of the community's input. Thank you.

So now we will turn it over or move to the feedback part of it. As you can see, this is a very interesting image that shows really a summary, a visual summary of all of the feedback that we've received. So the larger images show the most important things. It was quite a challenge to present all of the information that we've received, but we have several slides to show all of that information. We have an entire spreadsheet with all of the information from every individual that gave us feedback. So we've had five meetings since July, which is the post the conceptual design. And then we've had a total of seven meetings since December, including the pre-design. Over those meetings, we've had over 200 unique attendees for these meetings. And as you can see, these are the we had a survey at these meetings and we had the public fill them out as as they came in. And these were some of the general questions that we asked. What type of user are you for the park? And the highest was general park visitor. Walker Runner was our top two. And then the third would be the main lake users. These are the options that we provided. And then this one is in reference to the lake. This was specifically in reference to the lake. So for example, what was important to you in, I guess, in reference to the small lake. And the top thing was improve fish and health of, sorry, improve fish and health habitat. The second to that was improve water quality, reduce algae and odors, and improve wildlife habitat was number three. And number four was the shade and seeding. And after that was create more natural habitat areas, improve walking trails and lake access, improve fishing access, and conserve the water and improve safety around the lake. These are some of the written comments that we got. The first one says, I want to know for sure if the duck pond is not being removed. Second one, please provide all report survey data collected regarding the duck pond. Information is very valuable and this is the info vital to sound decisions. I do not like the idea of a stage festival area near the lake as well as the pavilion by the lake. Noise is harmful, deadly to fish. Renovate the duck pond. My only concern is losing the duck pond. All it will take is some aerators and bubblers to keep the duck pond thriving. Now, it's important to remember that these were categorized in the relevance to the duck pond. We had other comments that are not shown here, but these are relevant to the duck pond. My only concern is instead of having plans to replace the duck pond, why was there no plan to refurbish it? I hope the city county will prioritize preservation rather than replacing. Next comment, eliminate the permanent stage. Don't need it. Eliminate the bridge from Escada at the park to the lakeside area. There is already a bridge there. Prioritize drinking fountains at the park. Next comment. I know a well, not the big lake, was replaced. Two years. Why can't that one be used for the duck pond? And in, excuse me, and in interim, is the playground equipment along the highway going to be repurposed? When will the final decision be made? Please save the duck. Please save the pond. This is all we have. Upgrade. Save the pond. Fixing the big lake and the small pond, not so many sports activities. Are we not identifying the project by not having a renovation that is included the duck pond ready? Why an RV hookup section? Will you provide a dump station? Don't spend the money. Make sure we gain bank fishing space for handicap mobility, stress and all kids. We asked where the 6 million is from 2024. See every dollar spent on Army Corps of Engineers. So these were some of the key themes that we saw again in those cards. And these cards, I don't think I mentioned at the beginning, they were provided at the public meetings so that they could write their feedback and we could capture that exactly as they intended to. So the key themes, preserve and refurbish duck pond, keep blue space, alternative fishing, historic and mental health value, upgrade instead of remove. The other theme was stage and noise concerns, budget transparency, improve the large lake, access and safety amenities, access safety and amenities, and mix amenity views.

Lydia and that was from one of the public meetings, the ones the ones before were from the cards. This was the key feedback from the July 22nd meeting.

Yes. So so that feedback was taken by staff so that I collected that feedback and Miss Keller's team put that feedback together and created these common themes from the feedback that we received. Again, from the July 29th meeting, these were the key comments. Do not remove the small lake. Upgrade. Consider bond funding in future years. Outdoor stage pavilion noise and vibration harmful to fish. Research needed. Treat Escarate as an ecosystem, not only a park. Keep it simple. Improve. Do not reconstruct. Pickleball demand, need more dedicated courts, request for eight to 12 courts. ADA accessibility, separate hike and bike space for safety. More restrooms, at least three. Solar panels on canopy. No RV hookups. Yes, RV hookups, so we had both. Coin operated feeders for fish, ducks, turtles. Signage on what to feed, what not to feed wildlife. More piers. shade for fish, reduce evaporation, increase fishing area. And then these are the continued comments from that meeting. The ducks are now domesticated. What about studying the impacts to the surrounding neighborhoods? The traffic parking in neighborhoods and the sound will impact the surrounding neighborhoods during large events. Why not use some of the golf course space for extra fields or amenities? Keep the park more nature focused. Put the RV park in. Local contractors preferred. Cost figures seem high. Use the Army or UTEP for free or reduced pricing. Do not use nostalgia, family memories as value. This is not a good argument. Concern that park fees will go up once improved. Invest in improved maintenance of the park or improvements will deteriorate. These again are themes across all of the sources that we collected. Again, it's the duck pond, the state pavilion noise, amenities and recreation, water quality and habitat, transparency and cost, maintenance first. Now, I don't know if Ms. Keller wants to add anything else. Otherwise, I think we can start the public comment.

Do we have any additional comment from members of the court or staff?

Okay. Thank you, Lydia, for the overview and the presentation. I did have a question for Christian on the funding. Just for the benefit, one of the questions that I have is How were the projects, going back to the lake renovation, how are those figures determined, the 6.1 for the lake renovation? And then how were the categories and the funds established for the bond that was passed in 2024?

Yes, Commissioner. To answer your first question, we work very closely with our public works department to determine cost estimates for all of the projects, including the lake renovation project. And so these cost estimates, when first established, come from a variety of places that Ms. Arias can probably speak to as well. But it includes the design, the construction, a lot of the conceptuals preliminarily. and so these these uh these figures are used to come to the commissioner's court with a recommendation for the total issuance right and so when when that 6.1 million dollar figure is presented to the court as far as issuing debt for a specific project it's after an extensive coordination effort internally between county administration staff and public works staff to develop a funding package that will address the need and comprehensively cover the cost for any expenses Can you repeat the second part of your question? I apologize, Commissioner.

Thank you. How were the categories for the project that was on the 2024 Voter Approved General Obligation Bond, how were those determined and priced? Was it the same process?

It was a similar process and so we worked preliminarily with a consultant by the name of MNK to develop those cost estimates who has an extensive experience providing cost estimates. And so when we came to the bond advisory committee, we provided funding options or our funding restraints were informed by those cost estimates. And so when that Bond Advisory Committee then came back to the Commissioner's Court with a final recommendation for a bond package, it was informed by these cost estimates. Ms. Arias, I don't know if you have anything to add to that process as well.

I think that you covered pretty much everything. We did work with M&K to develop those cost estimates, and that's where those budgets were created.

The only the only other thing I would add is on the lake improvements as part of the parks master plan. The consultant on the parks master plan gave us a what he thought might be an idea of how much those improvements to the lake would cost. And that's where we originally got that that dollar amount.

Thank you. So I know there's a lot more discussion to happen, so I don't want to get ahead of myself. But if one of the central challenges is that there's not enough funding in this budget for lake renovations and we're constrained to the 6.1 million, Do we have any recourse to remedy that? I mean, are there legal recourses to maybe go back and recategorize or fund from other bonds if one of the central factors is not enough money for lake renovation?

Sorry? So, sorry, excuse me. There's other potential funds that could be used if the projects are completed and there's still funding remaining. So if there's other projects that were dedicated to parks that are completed and there's still funds that remain from that debt issuance, it could be reallocated. but I would be I would I think the first step would be to analyze whether or not the proposal on the lake what to know whether or not are we short on funding could we still do some of the improvements to the small lake and not as many improvements to the big lake to have enough funding Because there's some improvements in the design that are beyond, that were greater than improvements, I would say.

Okay, I have more questions, but they might come up later. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Any other questions? If not, we can turn it over to public comment. Okay.

I'd like to start by calling Mr. Henry Aguilar, and he will be followed by Aida Chavira. And I'd like to just remind speakers that there's a five-minute time limit for everybody. There will be a clock up on the screen. Everybody will be timed. Thank you.

Welcome good afternoon judge County Commissioners. Our fight has been going on for several years. We came up with several ideas to come up and try to meet everybody in the middle to saving the duck pond. We came up with an idea with instead of building another wetland that's going to cost us. I think they said close to $1,000,000. I asked if we can use that money instead of using there for that wetlands. If we can use it for the duct on the duck pond so we could save it. There's no need for another wetlands. I think we can use a small lake. I mean, all the ducks are there every day. If you guys haven't been, I invite you guys to come out. Not just that, I invite you to join us on the Scarletta Fishing Club. They come out here and they bring out kids. They do many events around the community for the school districts. Myself and my group, we're doing everything possible to get the kids engaged back into fishing, back into coming into the lake. Like I said, I don't think we need to get rid of the duck pond. The duck pond needs to stay, not just because it's there. I think it's been ignored for several years. I think the staff's doing really good. I know Ben Valles hasn't been on board for a long time, but he's doing a great job. I think if we focus ourselves more on fixing the duck pond, fixing the walkways, fixing the amenities that we have over there, the electrical. We need a ramp over there for more handicapped accessible people, like my friend over here. I think we can get it done. I think we need to really focus on what the community really wants. Thank you.

Thank you.

Aida Chavida, followed by Mr. Timothy West.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you County Commissioners and Judge Samaniego for the opportunity to talk about something that I love, pickleball. I am Aida Chivita and I am the president of Pickleball El Paso Association. And if I can really quickly, I want to acknowledge that we have a lot of members, a lot of players here. If you could just stand up really quick. These are just a few of our players who are not playing now who made the time to come to this meeting. So thank you guys. Our organization is dedicated to growing the sport that we love while advocating for the courts we need to meet the needs of our new players and our experienced players. Three years ago, eight pickleball courts at Escarate were dedicated. It didn't take very long for those courts to fill up, and now they're overflowing. One reason for this is because Escarate is centrally located, making it a natural gathering place for players from every part of El Paso horizon, and surrounding areas. It is convenient, it is welcoming, accessible, and it is safe. Adding to the popularity of Escarate are the connections that happen because of those games. It has become a place where community is built. It is where people meet before work, after work, after school. It is where church groups gather to play pickleball for team building activities. College students and high school students come to play as well as our military men and women. Families spend time together here, and strangers meet on the courts, they become teammates, and then lifelong friends. It's where everyone feels like they belong. That sense of community is something truly special. The growth we've experienced cannot be contained, and it shouldn't be contained. We need more courts, not less. If we have the space and the opportunity, we should invest in a community that promotes health, connection, and belonging. Every new court creates opportunities for friendships, mentorships, recreation, and wellness. I'll tell you, I and some of my senior friends, we are on the courts aging actively. We are lowering our A1Cs and warding off dementia, right? It turns out that pickleball is good medicine. The other people out here are the kids. The kids, they are off their phones. They are engaged. They are moving. They are interacting with other people. That's a pretty good thing, I think. I want to tell you, the other people that are out here are national competitors. We have people that compete nationally, and they win. We also have a lot of players that compete out of town. They bring home those medals. Isn't that what we want? Isn't that pretty cool to have El Paso represented that way? Someone who puts El Paso on the map? Yes, we want that. Reducing our courts means someone's going to be left out. So who do we leave out? Our national competitors? Our tournament winners? Our church groups? Our youth? Military? Or, better yet, who do we make room for? The possibilities are endless. Okay, 30 dedicated courts would be an amazing dream. 12 dedicated courts, however, is probably more realistic and achievable. Expanding the courts would also allow us to host tournaments that bring visitors to our city, that support our local businesses, and give our players the opportunity to compete on our home courts. I know, I know, nothing is free. There is a budget, that budget, and I know everybody has a want, a need, and like us, a dream. I respectfully ask that you please consider allocating funding for courts that will be used. We know additional pickleball courts will be used every single day. It would be an investment in healthier lifestyles for all populations, for new friendships, and stronger connections that we make with one another.

30 seconds.

It would be an investment that would benefit our city now and for generations to come. So I thank you, Commissioners and Judge Samaniego, for this opportunity to talk pickleball. Thank you.

Thank you.

Up next, we have Mr. Timothy West, followed by Claudia Contreras Siler.

All right, good afternoon. God bless all you all, by the way, and especially you law people. Okay, before I get going here, I was told, I'm from Roswell. I came down yesterday. I thought the meeting was going to be yesterday. Somebody gave me wrong information. But anyway, back again. I came down because I was also told that you guys was in charge of each project, who gets how much to each project. And when I first pulled in here, every single person in here knows someone here or grew up here or whatever, and they know this park as the duck pond and the lake from fishing and this and that. So my question is, why not put the money that needs to be done to make things right? Like yesterday when I came down, I brought an Austin ADA administrator for Parks and Recreation. We pulled in here. ghetto it looks so ghetto literally i've never seen like this i've been here since 2005 it is disgusting so we took the measurements we did this and that we want to know how anyone that has ada issues in their life can even get on that lake or the ones already there is 23 feet for someone to fish lots of people here in this crowd has had family members or a party there where they couldn't get their wheelchair walker or whatever around the lake. I know that for a fact, because I'm one of them. And we should have the rights of everything. So what I'm trying to get to is, once again, this place is known. What are we even doing here? This place is known for the park, for the lake, and the duck pond. We can go anywhere and watch basketball, baseball, pickleball, anywhere. And that's a proven fact. Now, where else here in El Paso can we go fishing? Right here, one place right here. So why would you even think about getting rid of it? I mean, we need to concentrate on the lakes. So another thing, I did a project of my own in Ohio where I'm from. And on my lake, we had to literally dig it deeper to make things go with the groove of life. And the very first meeting that I came to this here, I've been to all of them, we supposedly had $4 million to work with out of the $43 million. And I'm thinking, what? Come on. $4 million? So I did some more research and this and that. So then I brought up that I want to know where this money was spent from 2023 and 2024 or whatever, the $6 million, kind of where you were getting going. And I want to know that answer as well. But once again, this place, there is so much that needs to be done to the lakes that we need more money. I mean, we need more money to make it look nice. Then once again, I do a shoe thing on everything I do, all right? So put yourself in my shoes. I mean, you're in a wheelchair, you come here, you can't get around the lake, and this lake right now looks terrible. mean it is it's the ghettoest looking thing i've ever seen and that's that's not good we're known as el paso strong not el paso ghetto you know look at it what well i'm speaking right now and i appreciate everything but the lake needs to stay and so does the i i thought we were going this is what i thought was going to happen i thought we were going to do some tests by digging this lake this pond deeper and work on it and see how it works. And then if it works, then move over to the other pond. But it's going to take way more than that. And especially with the ADA stuff. The people came here yesterday. This park, there's some people who's going to be some questions going on. There's a lot of stuff here should never pass. But I went through that with the housing in 2010. I know how that stuff works here in El Paso. But anyway, I'm going to hand it. I appreciate all you guys. But once again, I was told i was told and i would like to know from you guys are you guys the ones that make the decision that would let's say we're going to put 10 million over here 5 million over here 3 million over here who makes that decision that was my question for you guys and then also about where's some of that money at and what's the spin on also really real fast there's some projects that can be done free free that from the army yes they can be done for free let's get a hold of these people and get it done for free That don't cost no money, it's free. All right, thanks, God bless everybody. 30 seconds. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Claudia Contreras-Ziller, followed by Patty Legarreta.

Hello, good afternoon.

Welcome.

I wanna read, look, 1248 for everyone who has been given much much will be demanded and from the one who has been entrusted with much much more will be asked i'm about to read a text message from our only wildlife rescue and i find it very interesting that it was spent $39,000 already on the lake and she was not called? She's our only wildlife rescue and how come she was not called about the lake and about our ducks? She texted me today, our county has very limited areas at which waterfall can access our ponds and lakes. In a very long migration from most northern areas, thousands of miles in flight, through southern United States to their winter grounds in southern Mexico and South America. It is one of the wonders of nature to see these flying miracles take wing to travel so far to reach a destination that affords them survival. During our winter months, El Paso is a major area at which the birds can get rest water and food to help them complete their long flight south. Many of the ducks at Azcárate are migrating south, stopping in El Paso on their very long journey. Leave the ducks alone. The real problem is twofold. El Pasoans know little to nothing about wildlife. El Pasoans buy baby duck, baby chickens, and ducklings to give to children during holidays, especially Easter. In a few months, these babies are grown and the parents lose interest. Time to dump them, these water birds, somewhere. And Azcárate is a perfect place. I see law enforcement there. These people that abandoned the ducks should be highly fined or the county should support these animals. Now the talk is all about removing the water birds. Where are the officials taking them? Are they being killed? Are they being sold for food? I am a certified wildlife rehabilitator and I'm asking for an answer. There are a lot of ducks that are protected by U.S. fish and wildlife. Have those been vetted? Does the staff that will remove the ducks know are protected from a non-protected species? Do county commissioners even know the laws protected by wildlife? Josie Caram, certified wildlife rehabilitator, her number is 915. 588-2788. She told me that a lot of the ducks here are domestic and don't know how to fly. And that's my concern. If Animal Services takes control, they're gonna be euthanized. And I was at the county, July 27, you guys can watch my video it's the hour 4 and 25 minutes and I think it should be easier for the community to go out there I presented 200 signatures of citizens that are against the removal of the dog pun and I think it's very unprofessional that FITFAM, I'm sorry, FITFAM is professional. And you guys just said 22 are for the dog pond when FITFAM conducted a survey and it's 4,663 for the dog pond, 292, 93 against the dog pond. And you guys show me that 22 are for the dog pond. You guys already invested $38,000. in the lakes and almost $100,000 in the architects that are selling us these plants. And I don't think it's fair that the architect went to the meeting stating that the families are for the removal of the dog pond. I don't see him there. I don't see him here. And he's saying that the dog pond is only two feet deep. when in reality we have evidence that is not two feet deep. This is an ecosystem and it must be protected. I just wanna prevent a contract to be signed, just like with Meta. We need to protect our water. And also I wanna say that Judge Samaniego does have a saying over the commissioners, the community needs to take care of our park. And I wanna say that Juana Maria Scarate was the cousin of my mom's great grandma, and she was an animal lover. Protect our ducks.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Patty Legarreta, followed by Lorenzo Marquez.

Good evening, Judge and Commissioner.

My name is Patty Legarreta, and it's pretty obvious why I'm here. I'm not a politician, I'm not an engineer or a financial expert. I'm simply an ordinary citizen who likes to kayak and who likes to fish. I know that some decisions should be guided by budgets, balance sheets and ethics, but morals are also a really big factor in this, right? And it's our responsibility as future generations. Today I ask you to look beyond the financial cost of saving the duck pond and instead consider the moral cost of losing it. The lakes are the heart of Azcárate. They are what draw people here. Families don't necessarily tell their children, hey, let's go look at the sports fields. Let's go look at the pickleball courts. Let's go look at the basketball courts. They say, let's go feed the ducks. Let's go walk around the lakes. Let's enjoy the water. The sports fields are valuable. I agree with that. My nephews play here all the time. But they are secondary, in my opinion, to the natural beauty and peaceful setting that has made Azcarate a treasured place for generations. For decades, grandparents have brought their children to these lakes. Parents who once fed the ducks as children now bring their children to continue that tradition. Countless memories have been made along these shores. Let's call them shores. This isn't just a body of water. It's part of our community's identity and history. I've brought Orly and my nephew Gavin to the Duck Pond for years when he was growing up. Judge Samaniego. We often talk about leaving a legacy. What legacy do we all here want to leave? one that preserves what makes a Zcarata special, or one that allows it to disappear because the numbers on the spreadsheet didn't work out. If this pond is allowed to disappear, the ducks that have called it home will also pay the price, just as Claudia mentioned. Many of them will ultimately have to be euthanized because there will be nowhere suitable for them to go. While that may be presented as an unfortunate consequence, it is still a choice. It is a consequence of the decisions made in this room, made by you all. It's your choice. I ask each of you to think carefully about what that means. The responsibility for that outcome will rest with those who choose not to preserve this beautiful place. This isn't about politics. This isn't about red or blue. It isn't about winning or losing. It's about compassion. It's about stewardship. It's about whether we value the living things entrusted to our care and whether we are willing to preserve a place that has brought joy to generations of El Paso families. I stand before you as just, again, one ordinary citizen who loves to kayak. Kayak has never been talked about here. I kayak weekly here. I've invited Commissioner Butler to join me. I've invited Commissioner Stout in the past. I don't have wealth. I don't have influence. But what I do have are morals and a love for these lakes. And the belief that doing the right thing isn't always the cheapest option, but it's still the right option. Please don't let future generations ask why we Everybody here stood by while a place they loved so much disappeared. Please help and choose to preserve the heart of Oskarata. Choose compassion, choose legacy, and choose to save the duck pond. You've been given a gift to participate in democracy. Please listen to the people. El Paso strong. Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Bruce Breimer, and he'll be followed by Benjamin Avalos.

Good evening. Thank you for giving us this opportunity to tell you how we feel about our lakes. There's only been one person that has brought up lakes in talking about this park. There are two. One's called the Duck Pond. It needs to stay. There are several things that need to be done differently on the plans that they have shown us. They have a bike plan. or I'm sorry, a bike trail next to the walking trail, which is not going to be very good for the elderly people, excuse me, older people that are walking around this lake in the morning. The people on the bikes are moving extremely fast and all it's going to take is one older person to stumble and it's going to be a mess. That has to be addressed. The plans are beautiful to look at, but they're not functional. for older people to be using that bike trail or the walking trail um with the architect i've talked to him a couple of times i've brought up points every time he's talked about the duck pond oh it's going to be too expensive to fix it oh it's just going to cost a lot of money but he's never given us any figures to show why it is not going to be able to be fixed The other part of that is neither one of these lakes should have been allowed to get in the condition that they are in. They needed to be taken care of a lot sooner than now. And the idea of getting rid of one of them because it's not acceptable is not acceptable. The lakes both need repair. Tim's crews need more money to be able to do the things they do. Henry has volunteers coming out here daily picking up trash around the lake. Lakes. Excuse me. But it's important that he has the funds he needs to get this place in order. This is not working. This is supposed to be a diamond here in El Paso. This is our lake. Excuse me. But they need to be taken care of. And he doesn't have the funds, otherwise I'm sure it would be getting done better. I'd it's it's hard for me to understand how you can have a piece of property this big and when you walk around it in the morning as I have been doing recently I walk around between the golf course all the way around on the back road all the way to where all this brand new asphalt has been poured two years ago over here on this side that they're gonna have to tear out put in a four-lane road that was money wasted if you can tear it out I mean the right hand doesn't seem to know what the left hand is doing. When I talk to the people that work for the architect, I got different answers as to how that was gonna be resolved. That's not acceptable. They're not even on the same page. If they can't come up with the same answer when they're asked a question separate from the rest of the group and they come up with different answers on how the problem's gonna be solved, that's not a good thing to do. They need to be on the same page to explain this to everyone so that everyone knows what's going to happen. When we ask questions, the answers we're getting are vague. How much is it going to cost to repair the duck pond? How much money is it going to cost? Oh, we don't have the funds. How much don't you have? You're telling us it's too expensive, but you aren't giving us numbers. Numbers is what Auditors look at. Numbers is what you're going to be looking at when you go to do the budgets. This gentleman needs more money. Because the park should not be in the condition it's in. And it's up to you to resolve that issue. He can't do it with what he's got to work with, otherwise I'm sure it would be getting done. The cost of the renovating the duck pond is something that no one has been able to tell me. I came up with an idea on how to improve the water quality in the duck pond that in my mind was a lot less expensive than what they are trying to do. And all it's going to take is a few pumps and some pipes. Because if you set this up to where you set a circulation system coming out of the big pond into the little pond and set it up on the other end so it goes back into the big lake, all of a sudden you've got circulation to where the water quality in the duck pond is going to improve tenfold. But it's too expensive. But we don't know what expensive is because nobody's telling us the numbers. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, sir.

Our next speaker is Benjamin Avalos and followed by Martin de la Rosa.

Good evening, commissioners and judge. um thank you very much for everything you do for our county and for the community my name is benjamin avalos born and raised here in el paso i'm turning 70 but i spent my life here and after i left the United States Air Force, I decided to raise my family here. Azcárate holds my heart dear to Azcárate Lake because when I was eight, nine, ten years old, my best friend, his dad would go to Kmart and buy us a tub of worms and bring us over here and we'd fish and catch catfish and perch and carp until we ran out of worms. And then I became a PE teacher, graduated from UTEP, and the Escarate Park Fishing Club would come to our school and teach, let the kids catch plastic fish, teach them how to catch fish, and then they invited us out, so I invited the parents and their kids to come on Saturdays in the spring, and we would have, they had Kid Fishing Day, It was wonderful and we didn't even have to use worms. Guess what the best bait is for the fish here? Hot dogs. They cut up hot dogs and they hand the kids a tub of hot dogs and the kids were catching fish out here. It was wonderful. But I'm here for another reason now. I'm a pickleball player. In 1980 when I was at UTEP, I went to a PE conference in Dallas and I learned how to play the game. um and i became addicted to the game i bought a set of four wooden paddles and i came back to el paso and i set it up in my backyard and i started teaching all of my friends and i was teaching at utep at that time and so i taught my tennis players my racquetball players how to play pickleball and so now i'm like i said i'm almost 70 and now in el paso we have thousands of pickleball players and it's like this is crazy in 1980 there was nobody that knew how to play pickleball but we sat with lydia and tim i think it was on monday discussing the plans uh the design plans and so we gave you a copy of the design plans and here's Here's what we would like is 12 at least 12 pickleball courts right now in the design plan if you look at it it's only 6 pickleball courts with no seating no shade no water fountains and the pickleball courts that we have now you have to run. Oh, about 200 feet to the bathroom. The ADA accessibility is not very good. My wife plays in a wheelchair, and when we come to play here, I have to get her to walk through the dirt and then get her wheelchair into the courts to get into the courts. So what we're looking for is In the plan there are six and Lydia mentioned that there's a limited budget there they're giving us the six dedicated courts, but there are also plans for two tennis courts and tennis players. When you had the tennis courts here, nobody was using them. I mean, they were just abandoned. Because the tennis players, they go to where they are. They can group to Memorial Park. They go to different places. And tennis players have over 100 options 100 courts in El Paso, over 100 courts. They can use the public schools. They can use the parks that have over 40 pickleball courts. I'm sorry, tennis courts. And so pickleball players, we have the four dedicated courts here and six at Skyline that we got last year. And so we have 10 courts in El Paso for thousands of pickleball players. When you drive out today, drive by the pickleball courts, and you're going to see that they're packed. and the lights are on and they'll stay there until the last minute. So what we're proposing is that you use those two tennis courts that you have in the budget and convert those and put all the pickleball courts together and then in the middle provide an area for seating, picnic tables, water fountains, some canopies there so that we could have a pickleball facility because Azcárate Park has been kind of the mecca of pickleball. The players come here to play, and it's a central location for everyone. And like Ida had mentioned, we have people from all over the area, the military, they come and they want to play at Azcárate Park. So thank you very much for your time.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Patricia Juarez, followed by Sergio Tarango. I'm sorry. Yes. I'm sorry. Martin de la Rosa, followed by Patricia Juarez, and then Sergio Tarango.

Well, everybody knows my name now. Thank you for letting me speak. Welcome. I just want to let you know I have a shared responsibility. We all have a shared responsibility to everything inside this park. and inside its boundaries. I'm a lifelong Lakeside resident where this park was my backyard and my playground. I was born here, I live here, I've been swaying, and it was the only time away was when I was deployed in my military service. I have three combat tours and seven deployments. As a veteran with PTSD, Azcárate has become a place of healing for me. It is an early morning or late night If I'm on a short hike or riding my bike on the trail or the street, I have always found tranquility that the lakes provide. With the geese and the ducks, there is something about the stillness of the night and hearing the goose call that always has a way of finding a peaceful place in my heart. It would be a shame to see the destruction of the place that my older sister used to play while the small lake was being constructed. where I collected feather when I was a boy for my sister who used them as crafts. I understand it needs a new pump, but the big lake has a three-year-old pump and also has been budgeted three new well pumps. I'm sure that one, the used one or one of the new ones could be used for the deck pump. A new trail could be constructed below the water barrier. It could be ADA compliant. and allow everyone access to the lake. And the water barrier could be resealed to decrease evaporation. The same money that you were going to use for the demolition of the duck pond could be used to make these small improvements and give the duck pond, the commission, and us lake advocates time to find grants and more funding to improve the island and the bridge. I'm all in for this regional park to become what it should become, a venue for citizens of El Paso County, Fort Bliss, New Mexico, and the Juarez Metro Ciudadanos. The park could become a destination like never before. If you remember when the zoo was recognized by the city government as a huge tourist draw and remodeled, the public attended the Lakewood draw even more people to fish, picnic, feed the ducks, geese, exercise and enjoy the sunsets, and play pickleball. Yes, I learned something today. It would become an El Paso County jewel. Last week I spoke with Mrs. Keller who stated she would like to get a citizen's patrol on busy days and not so busy days. I think between the fishermen, and us regulars, it's an achievable goal as we could do anything to protect the only two public lakes in the whole county that is accessible to the public. I'd like to thank you for your time and ask you if you have a shared responsibility to our park. Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Patricia Juarez, followed by Sergio Tarango.

Yes, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I have two very simple things I want you all to consider. Everything you're listening to, all the ideas come from local citizens. So the first thing is that those people making those choices should be all these people who are willing to be there. Because I really think, I also grew up here. a retired teacher I brought kids here for for field trips I come bring my grandkids here I'm an avid Walker almost daily here so I know what this park is like I know what it's been for years and all my 60-some years okay so improvements is the number one thing don't change everything around Improvements, just to improve what's there. What do we need? The water, the aeration, the proper care for the water so we can have healthy water for fish and ducks and people. So that's the number one thing, improvement. What else? We need to have access to the lake. Not tear down that middle road where people are going to have to walk further to get to that lake. Instead, improve the access to the lake. with more piers, more hubs, the fishing club, the kids, a safe way to get to the lake to fish. That's improvement. Also, I need more lighting. When I come here at 8.30 and it's starting to get dark, I kind of start getting a little like, well, maybe I better be careful, maybe I better not go over here. Lighting, why isn't it lit? If it doesn't close, what, 10, 11 o'clock? So the lighting is important. The shading. We need more trees, and not just any trees, but who are the people here from the wildlife? Raise up your hand, where are you, who know everything about trees? We had a couple of them on our other meetings. We got to get them involved, plant hundreds and hundreds of trees. Why can't we have trees that are native to this area? And I'll tell you a funny story with that, okay? My daughter lives in San Antonio, and when I showed her those pictures of those big, beautiful, laminated drawings, she laughed. She says, what, do they think you guys are in Florida or San Antonio or something? We can't have things that are not appropriate for this desert climate. And there's a lot of expertise in this city to get that done. So improvements. The sports playing facilities. Pickleball people. You guys need, every time I pass there, it's packed. Packed to the max and I'm thinking, wow, maybe it's something I need to start picking up. Because I leave at sometimes nine o'clock and there's still like hundreds of people out there playing. Okay, so more lighting, more shading, handicap accessible. That's not gonna take millions and millions and millions of dollars. we also need educational hubs come on people i'm walking here in the middle of the day there's out of town people who are asking questions about different trees different birds different ducks i don't have all the answers but i bet you somebody here does we need educational hubs for our people our young mothers and fathers who uh teach at home our homeschoolers they're out here in the daytime if you ever come in the daytime you'll see them trying to find things to do with their kids trying to find ways to educate their children additions a riding trail that playa drain facility it's beautiful but don't ask me to come over here when they're charging lots of money to come in here and i want to go walk and there's no parking to park to take that walking trail I don't know if you know that the only time there's parking is when the offices are open here on the county offices. Another thing, we need economical family events. What happened to our water splash pads? Who removed that? It's no longer even being talked about. And I'll tell you what, that is going to bring in more kids, more families into this area from around this area. And also the blue gill. Whatever happened to the blue gill? My gosh, I've been waiting for it to open, wanting to take my kids to rent out a little paddle boat. My grandkids, gone. I've had out of town people come in and ask me, when is this going to open? Oh, sorry, I don't think it's going to open. Isn't that pretty embarrassing? Yes. We need a small vendor hubs for markets, for people who come in and do what they need to do and more restrooms. For sure more restrooms. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Sergio Tarango and he'll be followed by Noel Castaneda.

Hello, my name is Sergio Tarango. Welcome. Thank you. I apologize if I'm not as in sync and everything nice and sharp. But basically, I'm coming just to promote that we preserve the blue space that we do have. And as far as the other amenities, I mean, just as the population grows, obviously, hopefully we can reach to have more pickleball courts. That's amazing. That's a cool sport. I learned to play in Seattle. That was cool. And biking, you know, that'd be cool to have a velodrome. And of course, you know, I do fish. And we're just trying to keep the little and very limited blue space that we have. When there was a survey apparently done Again, that mentioned something about out of 150 people, only 10 wanted to preserve the pond. I went ahead and did a little bit of homework and made the time to come to the lake to where the patrons were actually at. And it's been mentioned before about having over 200 signatures with clear names and telephone numbers if you want to. call them up and let them know. But they just want to preserve the pond. What happens with the funds, exactly what happens, that's kind of beside the point. We just want to make sure that the pond does stay, the very limited blue space that we have. By the way, of these 200 folks, over 220 people, maybe 20 of them were actually using the pond for fishing. Most of them were picnicking. just feeding the ducks, walking and whatnot. So fishing doesn't necessarily represent a big portion of this. Obviously as far as picnicking, we're talking about maybe having more camp out events and Miss Amy Wheeler is in charge of that and she did a great job last year when we did that and I helped out It'd be nice to be camping around blue space again. I'm going to repeat that word multiple times, versus camping out next to a parking lot. No offense to the pickleball players, the pickleball court. But like I said, pickleball rocks. But yeah, we just need that blue space, the very limited blue space. As far as monies go to renovate the pond and whatnot, there's been studies by our local fisher's biologist. Well, he's in San Angelo. Lynn Wright that for example one of the species hasn't been stocked in four years since 2022 too sorry because the lake is pretty successful and it's thriving enough so that he feels professionally that he doesn't have to invest money and put more fish in there so they're doing good some more empirical evidence includes posts multiple posts of large fish that were just stocked in 2022 and have gone from eight inches when they were stocked just four years ago to five, six, eight pounds. I have a picture of a carcass of a fish that was about 24 inches in length. That should be about eight to ten pounds. That's pretty amazing for growing in four years. So that means all that money that we're talking about putting into the big lake and not put into small lake doesn't necessarily have to go that route because based on once again the biologist who i just spoke with yesterday and i you know have his email talking about that topic so just also sometimes things that are presented maybe aren't totally clear for example this this pamphlet that was put out by the county it says responsible water management helps protect the health of the lake Why would they say the lake when we have two bodies of water? So that's almost like it's planned not to have the other one. That's not cool. Some of this data, for example, that they presented here also mentions about the golden algae. That's unfortunate. But again, from empirical evidence that we saw that they repaired a certain section of the small pond and they put the water that was in the bigger lake into the small pond. And since then is when we've had the golden algae issues. but again even if it has the golden algae issue life finds a way and the small pond is obviously not just surviving or as a big misnomer when somebody said that it was toxic whoever said that that was pretty toxic of that person to say that because it is actually thriving of course we did have folks go over and and fish it during the last time that some of y'all were there for the presentation the meeting not only did they fish it but best thing is that they were actually catching fish

30 seconds.

When people are catching fish, it's not just that the fish are surviving, but they're actually thriving enough to go in and bite your lure or presentation. So obviously, once again, just keeping that blue space, keeping the pond, pickleball courts. I hope we can build a whole bunch of them and more bikes, lanes, and a velodrome. That'd be so cool. But we can do that anywhere else. We can just keep the pond. It's already here, so we might as well save some of that money and just keep the pond, the pond, the pond.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Time.

Our next speaker is Noel Castaneda, followed by Eileen Graham.

Good evening, Judge Samaniego, members of Commissioner's Court. I'd like to thank you for being here this evening and spending time out of your busy schedule to listen to your constituents. I started fishing March of 2025. I owe my life to these lakes. My health was very bad and over the course of over a year, My health has just turned around that my doctors are saying, what the heck are you doing? I'm very blessed. But besides my health, I'm very blessed to have met so many people that are just amazing. The fishing clubs, the fishing going is over there. Make a Scott at the great again, bass grabbers and the club that's dear to my heart. My family right here. Yes, got it. The fishing club. I want to talk about the perception versus reality of this lake. First of all, when Exegol presented on June 18th at Commissioner's Court, we've held five previous meetings. I've attended all of them here. They said the theme is to have an open mind on the project. And during this process, the citizens have had some concerns on some of their projects. But the main concern is the one part is that small lake. At the June 18th meeting, it was mentioned that in February of 2024 that this big lake measured very low in toxic level, while the small lake measured very high that it was not stocked that year. But what was failed to mention to you was that since 2024, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife, the toxic level at the small pond has been on a downward trend. As of February of 24, 2026, both the big lake and the small lake have low densities. They did not mention that. El Paso is widely recognized as an inclusive, friendly, welcoming border community. It not only reaches human visitors, but also the many animals that visit the park. From the blown pelican to the cormorants to the ducks and other exotic birds, they stay because of the friendly atmosphere this park provides. It was mentioned that the ducks don't leave because they get fed. But nowhere around the park does it say don't feed the ducks or feed the ducks this. That's education. Also, they say that the small lake is very toxic because of what the food people put out. That Commissioner Butler that on June 18th, he said if this place is toxic and there's too much algae, what is their concern that we can't use it? During the meeting that we had here on July 18th there was a a fishing tournament and during that meeting in that little span over 23 fish were caught at that pond. Being near or in bodies of water known as blue space it promotes mental health by lowering stress hormones like cortisol, reducing mental fatigue, and triggering a calm meditative state often called the blue mind effect. Many people walk the park, fish, sit, listen to the ducks, listen to the water aerators flowing, but the friendly environment that both of these lakes leads people to be friendly with each other. Things that you cannot do at any other park around this area. Many parks have green space, courts, playing fields, but only one, only one has two bodies of water that the citizens of the County of El Paso can enjoy. And that's this one. One man's trash is another man's treasure.

30 seconds.

I have a fishing club at my high school. I'm a coach. Not many kids can go play sports. Not many kids can run, jump, and do all these things. But I bet you a bunch of kids can go fishing. And we can teach them how to fish. R.S. Scott at the fishing club teaches kids how to fish, how to be responsible anglers. So like the gentleman that's over here that's yelling that we don't care, that's our job. Our job is to take care of this small lake to provide opportunities to kids. Thank you very much for your time.

Our next speaker is Eileen Graham and she'll be followed by Luis Balin. Welcome.

Good evening, Judge Commissioners. My name is Eileen Graham and I'm here to speak about the walking trail. I didn't become aware of the meetings here at the pavilion until the third meeting in June. It was then I found out of the proposed plans and changes for the present walking trail. I listened to the commissioners meeting for June 18 and found out that there were six focus groups. but my question is why weren't the walking trail users identified as a focus group? Last week I talked to Public Works Department with my concerns. I am here advocating for the walking trail users. I could not understand how we were left out when we are here daily and one of the biggest groups using the park. There was mention at the June 18th meeting that there was extensive outreach, yet to this day, people on the trail are unaware of the changes that are going to affect them. I was informed that there would be two trails, a multipurpose trail for the walkers and cyclists, and a passive trail for the walkers and bird watchers only. We are asking that the present trail be left as a passive trail encircling the lake. People, families, seniors and disabled use the present trail. We come here because it's mostly a safe place to walk and be surrounded by nature and water. Some walkers are recovering from injuries as well. We come for our physical and mental health. It is well documented that walking next to a body of water is therapeutic. Science shows being near the water lowers stress, improves mood, helps you feel calm and refreshed. This is why it's so important that we continue with the path that encircles the lake being the passive walking trail. We feel that cyclists should have their own space with plenty of room. Cyclists speeding by are disruptive and share paths creating safety risks. There are unpredictable movements, blind spots, massive speed disparity. The difference makes rapid stops difficult with unpredictable movements. Walkers not hearing an approaching cyclist, no verbal warnings on an unpredictable movement. Walkers with headphones, dogs on long leashes, or children darting across a cyclist path in fractions of a second are the risks one can expect. There is not enough room on the west side of the lake to expand it There is barely enough room for three people to walk side by side, and there are parts of the trail that are only two or three feet away from the water. Widening the trail destroys ecosystem, which is abundant on the west side of the trail, causing environmental harm, destruction of native vegetation, root damage, and wildlife habitat. This is where you'll find rare birds. Sharing this trail ruins the wild, quiet feeling of nature that people enjoy. It is disruptive. Parks and Rec goals are about preserving, and this is environmental conservation. We want this to continue being the safe place for everyone to come to and enjoy walking and getting the benefits of walking next to the lake, being the only lake in El Paso. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Lois Ballen, and she'll be followed by Jaime Salas.

Good evening, everyone. Thank you for listening to all of us share. I am the urban wildlife biologist from Texas Parks and Wildlife for this region, and I am speaking and representing native wildlife and native plants for this region. There is an alarming decline right now in birds. We are losing birds. There's three billion have been lost in North America since 1980, and half of our migratory birds worldwide are in steep decline. There are many reasons for these declines. Modern farming techniques, pesticide use, insect die-offs, loss of habitat, altered landscapes, invasive and non-native plants, Feral cats is a real big one. They kill billions of birds every year. And of course, climate change with the warming temperature and unpredictable shifts in seasons really can throw the birds off. So why am I telling you this? Because birds are an intricate, essential part of the natural world. They are wondrous creatures that live amongst us and are an essential part of life on Earth, but they provide free ecological services, plant pollination, insect and pest control. If you want to know about pest control, you should see what the burrowing owls here are eating. They're eating all the gophers. I'm sure that all the maintenance people really appreciate that. I mean, I see the bones. So also seed dispersal, recreation, and other things that other people have talked about. But I wanted to focus on the burrowing owls and the duck pond today in the short period of time we have. Burrowing owls are a native owl, ground-dwelling, extremely charismatic. People love them, they love to see them. Asgardia Park has the most successful reproduction of burrowing owls in El Paso. I monitor all the city parks, burrowing owls, Rio Bosque wetlands, and Asgardia Park. So they're really important and I am very concerned about this plan and protecting those owls. So just right down the road we have owls breeding in an enclosed chain link fence that the park provided for us and also underneath a manhole. These are urbanized owls, desperate for places. So I just want them protected. I want everybody to know about them and at least consult me if you're even thinking about destroying their habitat. and we can work it out. So, the duck pond. We've talked a lot about the duck pond, and it is extremely important to resident birds and migratory birds. We have so many ducks using that pond now that are native ducks, more than in the big lake. We have the dabbling ducks, we have the diving ducks, we even have some sea ducks in there. So it's an oasis when you're migrating all the way from Canada or North Dakota, you know, going for your winter grounds. They see Ascari Park lakes and they stop and rest and feed and go on their merry ways. So I'm all in favor of the duck pond, although I do want to address the issue of domestic or feral waterfowl. Speaking as a biologist, representing biologists, these are very problematic birds. The hybridized with the native birds, and there are so many of them, their duck droppings are a real problem for the maintenance staff. They cause a real mess. They're not native. So I know there are issues with people wanting humane ways of removing the ducks. We can find homes for them. I'm not advocating that we kill them. I'm just saying that we need this lake for the wild birds, for God's sake. 30 seconds. They're the ones that need our help. These are just domestic duck feral things that you know really don't belong there so anyway please protect the burning elves please protect the duck pond and remove the domestic ducks and put signs up on what people can feed them and do not feed them cheetos bread or anything that ruins their wings causes diseases um there are a lot of education we can do and a lot of things to do thank you thank you

Our next speaker is Jaime Salas, and he'll be followed by Marta Hernandez.

Thank you. Good evening, Judge, Commissioners. Thank you for your time and your attention. As I sit here and I listen to all this, the most important thing is the duck pond. But the people that have talked about the duck pond and everybody involved have left out a couple of things. One, what I want you to do, I want you to close your eyes for five seconds. And I want you to remember that the closest body of water for us, if you do this, is about two hours, two and a half hours from here, which is 100 plus miles. Okay. And if we go there, our license is going to be $100. Okay. How many of you honestly have been here during the week or afternoon in the last six months? You're not here when the senior citizens are here fishing. You're not here when the veteran who has PTSD and all this is fishing. You're not here when I come, and several people with disabilities. I'll tell you a story, okay? And Tim, I'm not blaming you, okay? I come here fishing. One of the times that I came, I had to park way over there. The handicap entrance was far from where I parked, okay? My friend had to put me on the little wall, put my chair over and put me in. As we were going to the lake, I collapsed. My chair went over. Okay. Now I am inviting you, the commissioners, you to join me. I will provide you the wheelchairs so that you can come up here and see what it's like to live on a wheelchair. Okay. It's easy to say, well, you know, we brought in a consultant and he, no, the consultant tells you what you want to hear. Okay, now as far as the pond, come on, this is the only body of water that we have. You all can afford to go to Rio Doce, Caballo, there's a lot of us that can't. So I'm asking you, please don't think with your brain, think with your heart and think about all those people that put you where you're at. Okay, I even offered and I remember one time they were putting up a plaque about three years ago and I told them, if you like, I'll come down and I'll walk along, I'll go along with you and show you where improvements need to be done. Okay, unfortunately, I know that they do what you, you know, you're the boss. But the pond, I can't get to the pond and I would love to fish there. Now, it's got at the fishing club. Henry, okay, I got to tell you, they don't just teach about fishing, they teach about the environment. How many of you can tell me how long it takes for a cigarette to dissolve in the water? Or a soda can? Or a milk can? That's not what they just teach. They don't just teach fishing. They're teaching the kids to take care of our lake. So I ask you from my heart, consider what we're telling you. Okay? Because not all of us can afford to go to New Mexico or anywhere else. And I hope you really take that into account. I really do. I'm very excited to work with Tim and his staff because they've listened to us, but their hands are tight. This is on you. this is on you not them because when we ask them they have to depend on your answer so i'm going to ask you real kindly please from your heart consider the people of el paso and i'm not talking just the people of el paso the people from anthony texas all the way to fort hancock okay and consider that most of us don't have a vehicle that can even cross the city. Okay? So if you take that pond, we're in trouble. We won't be able to take our kids fishing. But consider everybody I tell you, the elderly, the veterans, the people with disabilities. I can only ask you to consider it from your heart. Thank you. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Martha Hernandez and she'll be followed by Jorge Acosta.

Good evening and thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak. I'm here to advocate for the additional pickleball courts based on two health reasons. Like Gaida mentioned earlier, I have diabetes. Like many, many people in El Paso, I have diabetes. And despite weight change, changes in medication, Diet and food, nothing was helping my A1C. So I kind of just accepted it, just the way of life. But in late April, I decided to join this wonderful pickleball group. Attended a free clinic, and I will tell you, I'm still a beginner, I'm still not very good, but I love it. And in April, I was going April and May. I went about two times a week. I got hooked by the end of May. So June and July, I was going three to four times a week. So at the end of July is the time that I go see my two regular doctors, my GP, my hormone specialist. They do blood work. When I went in to see them, they looked at me and said, what have you done differently? Your A1Cs dropped. And I'm like, what? And that's what they told me, that it had made a significant change. And the only thing I could tell them, pickleball, because that's the only change I made in my life. So I'm just here to advocate for pickleball. Yes, it's a lot of fun. Yes, we meet people, we have companions, we enjoy ourselves, but there is a health benefit to playing pickleball. And if anybody's struggling with diabetes, I strongly encourage you to come and give pickleball a try. The second area that I look at in terms of a positive health benefit from pickleball It's exactly Huascarate. And that's because they're outdoor courts. And we need the sun. Us oldies and goldies, we know what the sun does. Because our parents threw us outside in the morning and told us don't come back till the sun goes down. So we were out in the sun all day long. Nowadays, that just doesn't happen. And the sun provides vitamin D for our bodies. So vitamin D provides or promotes bone health. It promotes mood boosters. It elevates your mood. So all the people that are here for the ducks, yay, you're out there in the sun. You're getting that vitamin D. And it also promotes the moods and it lowers blood pressure too. Having pickleball courts and allowing them to be used that way is a big benefit to health. The only, there's only one negative drawback to pickleball, and that's the wait time. And that's what happens here at Askarate. Because they have very limited courts, you're having to wait. So anytime you're waiting more than a few minutes, your muscles start to relax, and it causes issues for people. So the less wait time we have, the better, because you sit down, two minutes later, your game's next. So you jump back in. But if you have to wait 20, 30 minutes, which I've heard happens here sometimes, now you're dealing with your muscles kind of relaxing, going cold. So you're going to be more likely to have an issue with muscles, pulled muscles, that type of issue. So based on those two factors, I really would encourage you to go ahead and consider those additional pickleball courts for the health reasons, not just the social aspect of it. And thank you again for your time.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Jorge Aposta, followed by Matt Sistrunk.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Jorge Acosta. I am a software engineer. I am a resident of the Riverside community. First off, I would like to thank Mr. Bracamontes and Mr. Fulton. They were very helpful at the meetings that I attended, both on the 22nd and the 29th. Thank you for hearing us out and hearing our concerns. I've also forwarded them my concerns as well in writing. Let me start by saying this is not about nostalgia. That word has gotten thrown out a lot in these meetings. This isn't even about whether you like ducks or not. This is about an ecosystem. This is an environmental issue. And it's not just about the wildlife. It is about the surrounding community. Having attended both of the meetings, both of the most recent meetings, the proposed plans don't really take a holistic look at the entire area. It keeps it to the perimeter of the park. And it's given the current condition of the park, the current state of the park through no fault of anyone in this room from years of decision making coupled with the plan that has been presented. This comes across as an amalgamation of disjointed ideas. And what I mean by that is what is the focus of a Scott at the park? Is this a city park with courts? playing fields is this a lake is this about fishing is this about the golf course what is the true focus here you've heard people come before me and say that this park is unique and I totally agree you have features within this park that are located nowhere else and those should be a priority and you should capitalize on that okay the lake the golf course that includes the duck pond okay The Playa Drain Trail. I'm here with my family. My mother, who is a retired teacher of 49 years with the Isleta Independent School District. My wife, who's a current teacher with the Socorro Independent School District. My mother, Mrs. DaCosta, is the brainchild of the Playa Drain Trail, an idea that came up in the 1990s with the Hidden Valley Lakeside Neighborhood Association with a purpose of helping the students from Riverside cut through the entire neighborhood rather than going through the mud and the snow. That idea was rejected in the 90s by the Public Service Board and it was rejected because you could not pave over the Playa drain. Fast forward to today and we find out the real reason why you could not pave over it. And the reason why is if you pave over it, it does not allow that water to seep into the ground and restore the water that has been taken out of the ground. As a result, they did that in the lakeside community that is right abutting this park. And as a result, several homes have sunk, some in half, to where half the home is at an angle and the rest of the home is straight. Removing the duck pond or any water feature in this park could potentially have a catastrophic effect on this neighborhood. Since 2024, when these meetings began, by your own staff's slides, not once was the Riverside community at the table for any of these meetings. You went to Jefferson. You went to Isleta. And before anyone gets on me that, well, you had six meetings at Ascarte, you went to all of these communities individually. And you brought in special interest groups that got to have a meeting. Riverside did not. And your plan, this plan proposed, calls for four lanes of traffic abutting the east side of the park, which is right up against the lakeside community. Four lanes of standing traffic for major events in an area that for decades has been battling a refinery, traffic on the port of entry, truck traffic on the port of entry, a six-lane border highway, and two refineries, of which we just had an incident two days ago with the refinery. Okay. The county really needs to go back and take a serious look and really scrutinize this plan. It's not just about the ducks. This is an entire ecosystem of which the ducks and the pond and the fish and the golfers and everyone else is a part of. And that needs to be heavily scrutinized. And Riverside has not been at the table for this. The county has hosted other events in the past. Fairs, music festivals. And the first ones to complain about it was the Cielo Vista Neighborhood Association because of the noise. But they didn't deal with half the stuff that this neighborhood dealt with. From here all the way down to Thomas Manor which abuts Yarbrough Drive. Those people need to be involved and those people need to be at the table. Thank you guys.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Mr. Matt Systrunk, and he'll be followed by Christopher Falk.

Good evening, Judge. Good evening, Commissioners. Good evening, everyone here tonight. Really appreciate y'all making this forum available for everybody here who really matters to have their concerns aired and I've been attending several of these over the past several months and I've been silently observing and trying to take note of first and foremost The values, everyone in this room, people who have lived here for generations, decades, and people who have come to love this feature, Ascarate Park, and the whole duck pond, lake, golf course, pickleball courts, everything about it is very unique, is very attractive. And I have come to value it a great deal really just in the last several months listening to all of you in here. And so what I want to make sure of is, like the gentleman who preceded me just said, take a real serious look at this plan because the first meeting that I attended several months ago, what I noticed were some very polished professionals from out of town trying to convince people who live here what they need and it did not reflect what they want and what they have come to value over decades and generations of living here. And so it concerns me that people from Kansas City can come down here and think they know what's happening here in the desert where we have very little water. We have the Ogallala Aquifer running out in 25 to 50 years. We have serious water problems here, and we're talking about getting rid of a body of water, right? And so I listen, I look, I observe, and I like to think this is something that we can actually solve because we have nine billionaires in El Paso County. okay and we have people who are capable of addressing the needs of people in this room right here not in kansas city or somewhere else out of town and so i think that we should listen to the people i got two minutes 43 seconds we should listen to the people who are here who have a value for el paso texas a value for a scarate park a value for the people who live here Right here in this community for decades, people who love to fish, people who love to paddleboard, or what do you call it, paddleboat, people who love to golf, people who love to play pickleball, people who love to feed the ducks, all of that stuff is really, really important. They're intangibles, okay? You can't measure them in a PowerPoint presentation, okay? You have to listen to these people's hearts, and represent them first. They live here. They're not in Kansas City or some of these other, you know, really grassy, wet lands that, you know, give them all kind of great ideas for what we need here in the desert. Nah, doesn't work, okay? We need to listen to people from here and come up with solutions to make this gem of a feature, we need to make it a destination, we need to improve it, Don't get rid of the duck pond. Don't get rid of stuff that's here. Just make it better. Just make it better. There's money to do it and all we have to do is incentivize the people who have the money to do it and make these people happy, right? And not worry so much about people from Kansas City who want to sell us on an idea. OK, so I've got a minute and 20 seconds and I think I said enough, you know. But anyway, I really, really thank you all for making this forum available. And I thank you sheriffs over there for keeping the order. OK, because you all represent the people here. You know, you are the sovereign law people in the county and I appreciate what you all do. You represent the people. And thank you for protecting the people's interests. And I thank y'all, judge and you commissioners and you staff, you guys are all very, very special people. We appreciate what you do. So thank you for listening to us tonight and God bless you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Mr. Christopher Falk and he'll be followed by Martin Santana.

Welcome.

Welcome you too. I'm glad to see you at the at the park. Thank you for coming and listening to us and I'm just going to add my voice to the numerous people here in support of the duck pond and I've heard a lot of good ideas. You know a lot of people have good ideas about the duck pond about the only thing. that I can add is that getting rid of the duck pond would change the whole character of the park. Now, I'm here, I walk here two, three times a week, three to five miles, and when I'm here on weekends, a lot of times there are charity walks and runs, and they usually start at that end and go up and when you're walking or running, you see on the west a lake and on the east a lake and you get a real sense of being not in the city but in a rural area and taking out the small lake and putting in basketball courts or skate parks, it'll change the whole character and the whole meaning of the park. So I'm with them. Now, the other thing that I've seen on these plans, and this has been going on for years, is by the handball courts, people want to make a bridge over into the lakeside area. Well, I walk the Playa Drain Trail occasionally, and the Playa Drain, we don't need a bridge there because there's already, if you take the Playa Drain Trail, there is a bridge over the drain that goes right through the lakeside neighborhood. And from where they want to build the bridge, it's probably 40 feet to the trail that's already there. And you can walk to the park entrance in 10 minutes. So I don't know why this keeps coming up when it's not needed. Third thing is making a permanent stage here. The 10 or 12 years that I've been coming here, I've seen a lot of concerts and fairs and everything, and there never seems to be a problem with people bringing their own stages or renting stages for, sometimes there's three stages, for their events. Now if we spend the money and build a permanent stage, Is it just going to sit empty? Are you going to book 20, 24 acts a year to make use of it, to make use of the taxpayer money? Well, then Iskadi Park will be changed from just a rural county park into like an event center where there's a lot of cars, a lot of traffic, a lot of people. So if we eliminated that, we'd have more money to fix up the duck pond. I know so I just don't see Unless unless we're getting into the parks getting into the entertainment business why we need a permanent stage there Okay, well that's that's it. Oh also the drinking fountains. You know I walk especially in the summer I walked this last Sunday. I walk about two miles, and I'm sweating you know and I start walking by 6 a.m. and I can't really carry a bottle of water with me in a pocket or something. So I wish we'd make a priority of getting some drinking fountains around the park so we could have somewhere to drink. And also, the picnickers. We have a lot of picnickers. What happens when they need water? Not everyone thinks about bringing their own water. The water fountains they have now, have spigots on the bottom so if you need a pail of water or to feed a pet, you have access to clean water. I don't know what people would do now except get a bucket and take it out of the lake. Oh, here's another thing. I walked, Sunday the 19th, I walked the Playa Trail. And there's a drinking fountain right at the entrance here at the park. There's a drinking fountain. It's not working. And so I walked a few miles further up the trail, and there's another drinking fountain. I said, oh, great, I'll get a drink of water. That wasn't working either. So I don't know what it is about drinking fountains. I mean, the Playa Trail should have more drinking fountains, or at least the two that are, they should work. And I think the park should have some drinking fountains too For people who are playing, kids who are playing, could get a drink of water. Picnickers or walkers like me could get a handy drink of water. Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Martin Santana and then followed by Adrian Monroy.

Welcome.

Evening, Judge, Commissioners. uh my name is martin santana i'm the president of the ascarita fishing club there is approximately five or six other fishing groups or clubs here at ascarita but we are the only non-profit uh club that is certified through texas parks and wildlife to teach basic angling we go into the schools teaching grades three to five we have outreach programs we have our kids derby we have four of them one per quarter, we have four a year, and then we also do other outreach programs. We've done kids with disabilities, veterans, adults with disabilities, Boys and Girl Scouts. So we do this throughout the entire year. We have taught, we were established in March of 2004. We've been here in Azucarate since 2004. so we've had a long standing position and residency here in oscar that teaching tens of thousands of children their parents about basic fishing and angling here at this lake and there's nothing better or greater than to see a child catch their first fish okay so i'm speaking from experience. Anyone here that is here fishing and they will go out of their way to help other children catch fish. So we do this all year long. We teach the kids how to fish. We teach the parents how to fish. We teach basic angling. We even do, we did the free fishing day where we had parents who do not fish, we had them come in with their children and we provided the fishing poles, the bait. Someone mentioned hot dogs and corn. Believe it or not, that works for catfish, carp, pretty much just about anything. So we go through this every year. And then the people that we teach, they teach their children. their teach their grandchildren so we're out here and we see people that we have taught basic angling in the schools the children fishing we see their parents here fishing and teaching their kids to fish we see their grandparents bringing their kids and they went through us got at the fishing club and now they're bringing their grandchildren here to fish and not only do they fish the big lake they also go and fish the pond. And we just teach the basic angling. And then as they progress, they pick what species they want to target, fish. And then they teach others. So this is an ongoing experience. We start at third to fifth grade, and they continue to teach others. And that's why we have five or six organizations now that fish here at Azcárate. because we teach them young, basic angling. We teach them about environment, habitat, safe handling, the care. Also, what you bring in, trash, so forth, you take out. You take out more than you bring in. So we make it a point in the school and out here that it's our responsibility to take care of this lake, both of them, and to teach and inform others that we have this This body of water that needs our protection, we have to take care of it. Now, the biggest thing is every plan that they've shown, every concept they've shown shows us losing the duck pond. Now, the only issue with that is if we lose the duck pond, we can never get it back. If we leave the duck pond, even if we spend all the money on the big lake right now and don't do anything to the duck pond, Three, four, five years from now, we can always see about getting another grant, a bond, or money to upgrade the duck pond. But if that one gets covered up right now and they put something else, we will never be able to get that back. We will lose it forever. And that is my concern. We have two gems here, two bodies of water. And they're talking about covering one up. And that will hurt. this this park we will lose that uh opportunity forever so i recommend we keep it we don't lose it and we once uh we come back and look at taking care of that one at a later date and time okay thank you our next speaker is adrian monroy and he'll be followed by victor boss welcome

Hello, good evening to everybody here. Thank you for holding this event for us and giving us a voice. A little bit about myself. I'm a registered nurse. I work at UMC. I was lucky enough to work ICU during the pandemic. And my one saving grace that helped me out through the workload, to say the least, of the pandemic was bicycling. I'd never done it before, other than when I was a kid, but it saved me. I was insanely stressed working mandatory overtime, which was fine. It was a pandemic. But I can't stress enough how much it helped me getting outside, getting some fresh air, sunlight, something we seem to forget in our cubicles and office jobs. And it warms my heart to hear the retired community or most of the retired community. I don't mean to be. disrespectful about it, but that you're active, that you're doing stuff. You have no idea how many people half your age don't have the capability to do the physical stuff you guys are doing. So keep it up. As a health care worker, it's inspiring to hear you guys talk about that. And I just wanted to say to Miss, I believe I got your name right, Miss Lydia Arias. The city of Albuquerque has a really great bicycling program. It's called the Esperanza Bicycle Safety Education Center. And it's a county funded organization where there's a few people that organize it that are city and county based. But it's mostly run, there's like a building where you could bring in your bicycle and repair it and they do workshops where they could show the community how to repair your own bike and they lead children on group rides or there's more slower paced group rides for people that have maybe physical disabilities. So that's a great platform or maybe a skeleton to maybe follow because Albuquerque has it down when it comes to bicycling. I also wanted to say that no one's really talked about when it comes to saving money for the projects, the proposed projects, I mean, the Romans used aqueducts for water transports, at least for the duck pond. Why don't we do a miniature aqueduct and show the community, wow, the Romans had it perfect thousands of years ago. Why can't we do that now? It's shocking to me. Why can't we use adobe? Texas is one of the few states where we could still have Adobe. I don't know, maybe sometimes it's a money thing. There's no money in that. How are the contractors of the city, of the oligarchs of the city gonna have that contract money if we use renewable sources like that? So just something to think about. Also, when it comes to funding, with my two minutes that are left, it's really frustrating where I think the one thing we could all unify with, whether it's the walkers that, yeah, there's some very uneducated cyclists, I'll give them that. Everyone in this room, I think all our concerns could be addressed if the money was spent properly. Seeing the way the money goes to the administrative level at the SISD school district, the fire department, these men in blue here protecting us and keeping us safe. My respects to you at the county hospital keeping a lot of us nurses safe. So much money goes to administrative positions and frivolous things that could be spent on us. All of us could have a piece of the pie, but it's just never enough at the top. So I think if we just spent the money correctly and transparently, where hopefully these environmental funds actually go to the parks, to the environment. They don't get siphoned off to tech stock like they always do. You know, the highway system, a lot of our, historically, look into it, a lot of our funding goes to tech stock. Also, again, I just want to really stress with the last 45 seconds I have left before I get off is just remember, guys, in this digital age, for better or for worse, just audit. Ask for audit. Ask for transparency. Where is every single dollar going? We could all have a piece of the pie if we just know where the money is going. Just like George Carlin said, it's a big club, but we're not in it.

Right?

So without saying names of the contractors of the city, please give us a piece of the pie. It's only so much that we ask for. Thank you for listening. Thank you. Our next speaker is Victor Vaughn.

Judge, Commissioners, I didn't bring anything in writing, so I'm just going to be all over the place. I grew up in this area right here, five, ten minutes down the road. I was raised 20 years, I lasted 20 years here in Tangerine. We'd come walking down Sparrow right here across the canal, barefooted, almost like Andy Griffin and his dad, Opie, I mean his son, Opie. We'd come running as kids, just like little rascals, to fish at the duck pond. We wouldn't go to the big lake, just the duck pond. Put our feet in the pond. Catching bluegill after bluegill after bluegill with their mom's masa, flour. Now, I care about athletics. I was disappointed when they put baseball fields and everything. I was upset. But you know what? I'm EP Gridiron. I founded EP Gridiron. We put pressure on the districts to put artificial turfs throughout the city because Dallas and Austin had all these... all these million-dollar stadiums and El Paso kids were hurting their ankles because they were all grass here in Bowie, whether it's Jefferson, whether it's... no matter where it was. I started EP Griddle in 2003 and your nephew, David Samaniego, not too many offers. This is off, like I said, I'm over the place of why we put pressure on the districts and they ended up putting the artificial turf eventually. and again my concern Lydia Butler on why the pond is important is the stout Tim the algae blooms the oxygen crashes you know how many fish get killed how much money is being lost there when that happens we go fish at the duck pond that's our backup when the big lake suffers those incidents in the past 10 years how many of mr. stout you know how many Many, many fish have died because of the algae blooms. And we have that backup of the duck pond. That's how important it is. If it happens, if you guys cover up the duck pond, What's the reason there's an algae bloom? What's the reason for coming to the park? The fishermen, that's us. Why are we going to come to the park? What for? It's going to be down for what, three months? Maybe more? I don't know. Depends on the algae blooms. So that's, I can go on and on, but that's basically my concern is the dug pond is a vital backup to Iscariot Park. It's not a sportsplex. It's a park. put the trees, fix up the lakes, that's that's all we need. See pickleball, I believe in athletics, that's why I started EP Gridiron, it's important, health, you know, but the the ponds being by the water, it does miracles. Whatever it did to me, I don't know, but I've been, I've done good for El Paso and helping a lot of kids going to Division I. That's why you see so many in the news going to Division I prospects because we send video through all of the colleges and that's why you see so-and-so's going to Division I, so-and-so's going to Division I. David didn't have that many opportunities. He went to UTEP. He didn't have that many opportunities because, hey, coaches weren't doing the exposure at that time. So I care about El Paso, but you know what? The lakes are important mental wise. I just can't stress that enough and I like what it did for me. Okay, so thank you guys. Good evening. Thank you.

We have several read-in comments that were submitted.

Thank you. The first reading comment is from Melissa Harcrow. Good evening, county judge and commissioners. I have reviewed the proposed concept for the park and support the planned improvements. Initially, I was concerned about the possible removal of the duck pond. I have heard, although I did not confirm, there are domesticated ducks living at the pond that have been abandoned by humans. While I don't doubt this to be true, what concerned me more was Exego's finding that families feed the ducks food that is not appropriate for them, and feeding the ducks attracts species that are natural to the area. I am not a specialist in animal or avian care, but as a vegan, I do believe animals have the right to exist peacefully and in a clean and safe environment. As mentioned in the proposal, non-native species of birds at the duck pond lead to poor water quality, disease risk, aggressive behavior, and impacts on other wildlife. Exego should, as they mentioned in their plan, work on making the main lake a suitable environment for the ducks. I would also like the county to consider educating and encouraging the public to not feed the ducks and give them space just as we would for any other wildlife. End comment.

Our next comment is from Elizabeth Luscombe. She begins, Thank you for this opportunity to comment on the Azcárate Park renovation plans. I am a native El Pasoan who has returned to the Sun City after living out of state for almost 40 years. Shortly after my return to El Paso, I began playing pickleball and am now an avid player in my retirement. sport is growing at an incredible rate nationwide and internationally which is why we are seeing a massive increase in court usage at parks around the city as well as at el paso's recreation and community centers while several private entities now offer courts and memberships such as pickle and par sun city pickleball serve tennis west and local country clubs they all require a fee This means that maintaining access to no fee public courts has to be prioritized so that the inclusivity upon which the sport is based is available to all. I attended last Wednesday's meeting, and upon leaving the park, noticed that the pickleball courts were completely full, even the sweltering afternoon heat. These courts are in use daily, morning, afternoon, and evening, and I'm certain that they are one of the park's more regular and consistent public draws. In fact, many of El Paso's elite advanced players specifically opt to play at Azcárate. More courts are needed at our city's popular venues, and Azcárate is easily one of the most popular locations for pickleball. Currently there are eight heavily used courts, six dedicated to pickleball, and two that utilize portable nets. Downsizing the available courts to just six will have an immediate negative consequence for our community. it will inevitably create severe bottlenecks and extended wait times, effectively turning away players, especially retirees and seniors, who depend on these public courts for their daily physical health and social well-being. Furthermore, restricting capacity directly stifles the growth of this booming sport and undermines the park's core mission of inclusivity. proposing only six courts in the new renovation plan is entirely insufficient. Thank you for your time and consideration. Respectfully, Elizabeth Luscombe.

Our next comment is from Jim Rolfe. Pickleball delivers your best return on investment. Most games are played as doubles and last an average of 15 minutes. So four players times four games an hour is 16 utilizations per hour. And you can fit four pickleball courts in the space of a single tennis court. Tennis doubles games can last an hour or two, so very poor facilities utilization. And pickleball courts are inexpensive to build, just a slab and a net. Additionally, anyone can play pickleball. You'll often see games where teenagers challenge 70-year-olds. The 70-year-old ones win. And entire families enjoy the experience. It is a healthy social and relationship-building activity. I appreciate your support of recreational pickleball in El Paso. End comment.

Our next speaker is Sylvia Carrion. Her comment begins. In your entire presentation at the pavilion, nothing was addressed as to the shades to cover the baseball fields at Azcarte Park. We desperately need to have shades over the baseball bleachers. End of comment.

Our next comment is from Therese Avalos. As an active senior citizen in the county of El Paso who plays pickleball in a wheelchair, I am imploring the county commissioners to consider maximizing the use of the facility at Azcárate by increasing the amount of dedicated pickleball courts as a part of the current renovation project. The tennis court adjacent to the existing pickleball courts is not being used at all by the tennis players in El Paso. The tennis court is being used heavily but only by the pickleball players who must bring their own nets. The four dedicated pickleball courts that were created for our community are always full even during the day in the heat of the summer. A dedicated pickleball complex which should include shade, benches, picnic tables, permanent restrooms, water fountains, and parking would be utilized daily by the pickleball community of El Paso. ADA compliance allowing full access for the disabled community to the proposed dedicated pickleball courts would be a tremendous asset to those who lack the ability to play this fun game at many of the commercial facilities that currently exist in El Paso. In summary, I am asking for the money that has been allocated for two more tennis courts to be better spent on at least 12 to 14 dedicated pickleball courts complete with shade, benches, picnic tables, accessible parking, and permanent restrooms. I thank you for your attention and time and comment.

Our next comment is from Robert Valles. He begins, esteemed commissioners and county judge, I'm writing this letter in regards to the Escarate Park renovation project as part of the county's 2024 capital improvement bond, Proposition A. I know the conceptual planning and design of the project with Exegoa has been tedious and ongoing. There has been a lot of public input regarding the duck pond. That is not my concern. What I believe is being neglected in this upgrade project are the pickleball courts. The existing number of pickleball courts at Azcárate is eight. The conceptual upgrade project actually reduced the number of courts to six. Any kind of reduction of courts would be a disservice to our ever-growing pickleball community. Keeping the current number of eight courts would also not meet the needs of an ever-increasing pickleball populace. Pickleball in El Paso has seen an explosion of participants in the last six years. These participants range in ages from 10 to 80 plus. There are players with all skill levels, from those once a weekend recreational players to professional players who compete in national tournaments. Families, friends, social clubs, veterans, military, public servants, corporate, nonprofits all play this game as a form of social and medical therapy, as well as just pure enjoyment. The eight courts currently at Azcárate were added only three years ago and are now experiencing over capacity with players having to wait their turn to play. Reduction to six courts would expand the waiting time and reduce the number of players. Increased waiting would eventually discourage people from using the facility. As a member of Pickleball El Paso Association and USA Pickleball, a national pickleball organization, I would like for you to favor and encourage the expansion of pickleball facilities to the Azcárate Park renovation project. The request is quite simple. Provide a minimum of 10 to 12 dedicated pickleball courts in one centralized area with full court space with runoffs 30 feet by 60 feet per court, spacing between rows of courts with fencing as buffer for safe play, ADA accommodations, north-south orientation of courts, covered seating, adequate lighting for night play, water fountains. Ideally, 30 courts would be the more progressive number to meet current needs and future expansion. The city of Albuquerque, New Mexico has a venue with 39 courts open to the public, but we could start with a modest 10 or 12 courts. I know that Eugenio Mesta and Exego are an innovative enough architectural firm to modify their conceptual plan and accommodate the pick of all courts requested. They can contact PEPA should they need any assistance. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, Robert Valles.

Our next comment is from Mario Baron. Save the duck pond. EP County only has two bodies of water to fish in. Don't remove the place where kids have learned to fish for generations. RV electrical hookups and spaces are not practical in a park that closes at 11 p.m. Don't spend money on these items. In future decisions for the county, strongly consider adopting the creation of community lakes within community parks, similar to New Mexico and Arizona. Save the duck pond, thank you.

Our next comment is from Darnell Applewhite. He begins, Good afternoon. My name is Darnell Applewhite, and thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Azcárate Park improvement projects. I'm a retired disabled veteran living here in El Paso, and I would like to direct your attention to and comment on the planned expansion of the pickleball courts at Azcárate. I have been an avid player of the game for the last three years, and I cannot put into words how much the sport has grown in this city over those years and what it has given me in return, just by being a participant. As a recently retired Army veteran, I was looking for a sport to participate in that would support my physical activity and aid in my mental health. Pickleball became that solution for me. I don't speak for all veterans, but in my case, I have over 35 plus surgeries and more pending and numerous mental health problems ranging from traumatic brain injury, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. I say all that to say that this sport is not just exclusive to my issues alone, it's inclusive to all who are battling mental and physical health problems. This growing pickleball community, whether they know it or not, has helped me in the transition to civilian life and aided in my mental and physical healing. The reason Azcárate is such an important location for pickleball players in El Paso is that it is a central location to play outdoors for free and is accessible whether you live in the east or west side of town. This is the only location I know of where players on the east and west sides can normally play against one another. Given the location's popularity, what we have right now is very inefficient and accommodating the daily volume of players using the courts. As a pickleball community, we always go out of our way to make it work by bringing our own nets, tents, and misting fans to address the lack of basic amenities at the current location. I know the commission has an initial plan for six dedicated courts, but if you can reconsider and push for eight or 12 courts with a shading and seating area, it would be more beneficial moving forward. Lastly, not to sound too cliche, but using the famous line from the movie Field of Dreams, if you build it, they will come. I guarantee you the pickleball community here in El Paso will do the same. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, Darnell Applewhite. End of comment. This completes all the speakers in public comment.

Thank you. I just can't begin to tell you how proud I am of the professionalism, how succinct. Nobody passed the time limit. I can tell you we took a lot of notes and it's such a learning experience because we get to hear like 20 different things. But what I learned today, it's a place of an ecosystem that addresses mental health, addresses the physical health. It prevents a lot of things that you talked about, the prevention. So I see it more like a system of things that we need to do at a high quality. and to make sure that we address. There's so many dimensions and individuals that will gain from what we do. And I can guarantee you, I have great relation with each one of the commissioners and I know where their passion is. And I know that we're gonna take this to heart in every way that we can and work really close with administration. But like I said, very, very proud of how you presented things because I now have a very different perspective and I respect everything that took place today and it'll be up to us to step back as we were told and then really look at it as a place that creates a beautiful experience for so many people. And we can't forget that. We can't forget what this place does for our community. So I thank you for that. Commissioner Stout.

Thank you, Judge. I'm David South, the commissioner that represents Precinct 2. I've had the honor of being able to represent this area where Escada de Parque is located over the last 11 and a half years. And I just wanted to thank everybody who came out to spend their time with us this evening and who has spent time with us in the numerous meetings that we've had leading up to this meeting I know that our staff and some of you may have heard me say this before but historical context when I when I came into office you know the county really wasn't heavily in the parks business and and it took some prodding to get the commissioners court to say you know what we want to continue to be in the parks business and and what does that mean if we're going to do that it means that we have to make meaningful investments in our parks AND THAT IS WHAT SUBSEQUENTLY LED TO US UNDERTAKING THE PARKS MASTER PLAN THAT WE DID THAT WAS SPOKEN ABOUT EARLIER IN THE PRESENTATION IN 2019 AND IN 2020. AND ONE THING THAT I WANT YOU ALL TO KNOW IS THAT I USED TO BE A JOURNALIST IN MY PRIOR LIFE. you know for me government transparency is really important and I and I also was very frustrated in seeing a lot of times local elected bodies making decisions without talking to the people who who are going to be affected by those decisions and so every I think at every turn that I that I've been able to At the county, I've asked the commissioner's court to have a very publicly led process when it comes to these big decisions that we're making. And so that's why we did the public process when we had the parks master plan. We did focus groups. We had dozens of public meetings where we tried to engage the public as much as we can. And of course, there's always room for improvement. We do make mistakes. Sometimes we don't get to certain groups. And I apologize if certain groups were not, if we didn't actively try to engage certain groups. I'm glad that folks are coming out and letting us know if they were left out so that we're able to get to get your feedback, but the concepts that came out of the parks master plan were publicly led and the majority of those proposals and concepts that have moved forward through this process came from public ideas, came from people who we engaged throughout the past seven to eight years since we started this process. And again, when we started to look at going out to bond and asking the voters for their approval to be able to spend the money, to borrow the money to spend on these projects, we also had a very heavily public process. We had dozens of meetings. over a number of months in all the precincts. Again, that's why we created the Bond Oversight Advisory Committee, so that they could also help us gauge what the community was asking us to do. And when we came out of that process, the most popular item on the list was parks. And then when we put that on the ballot, the item that got the most votes out of the three items that we put on the ballot was parks. And so we took that as a pretty clear mandate to do what we could to make sure that we invested in our parks. And so you all, the voters, gave us permission to spend close to $95 million on parks. And so it's not just Azcárate Park that's getting some of the expenditure. Oscarate is getting about a third of that. And I'm very happy about that, because when I came into office, it had been, I think, years, probably since when Western Play Line left, that there had been any meaningful funds dedicated to the park. And we started working operationally. to try to do upgrades here at the park. We worked on the swimming pool, we worked on the golf course, we brought the All Abilities playground, and a number of other projects that we've worked on over the years. But I really thought it was time for us to bring some meaningful spending. And $30 million, $40 million is no small amount, in my opinion. I just wanted to kind of give you all that historical context. I know many of you have been here through that whole process, and I thank you very much for your patience. I thank you very much for continuing to come and give us your feedback, continuing to come and engage in this process, because this is how democracy works. And, you know, I've often told people, and this is why I'm also, this is, I think, the first time I've ever seen a Commissioner's Court meeting held outside of Commissioner's Court downtown at the courthouse. And so I really hope in the future we can bring more Commissioner's Court meetings into the public. There is a law that says we have to do them in county facilities. And so we have to make sure that we follow that law. But I really like the idea of trying to bring these court meetings to you all and closer to you all because I know that a lot of times you're working, you have other things that are going on when we're having our public meetings starting at 9.30 a.m. and usually ending around 3 or 4, 5 in the afternoon. But again, I'm so glad that my colleagues were able to come and also listen to you. uh and and hear your feedback um i i'm only one vote on the commissioner's court so it takes at least three of us to be able to vote on something and move forward on something whether it's an expenditure whether it's a decision that we're going to make a contract that we're going to put out all of those things and you know i i for one have advocated very heavily for precinct two we're all within the city limits and a lot of times I feel that precinct two hasn't gotten as much of county taxpayer funding spent in our district as should be and so I think it's good to have the other commissioners here because I know that they all have priorities in their districts as well. They have parks, they have roads and bridges and things like water access and things that sometimes people in the city limits may not have or have access to that they don't. Close to 70 percent of our budget at the county is spent on unfunded mandates by the state legislature. That means we are obligated to spend on certain programs and services, And we are not provided funding to pay for those programs and services. And so really, at our discretion here in El Paso County, it's only about 30% of our budget. And so we don't have unlimited resources. Obviously, we want to be able to live within our means. We don't want to have to raise taxes every time that we need to do something. I think we've done a good job over the years. In the last 10 years, we've raised taxes twice. We've lowered them a number of times. I think we're poised to lower them again this year as a result of the fact that property values are continuing to rise. I just wanted to give you all some of that context and tell you that I'm so thankful that you all have continued to be involved, that you're here. And I want you to know that I, for one, am listening to you. I know our colleagues, my colleagues are here because they want to hear what you had to say. And I hope that we can do the best possible with the money that we have and make this this process something that makes so many of you happy and and just does so much more for our park so thank you once again muchisimas gracias thank you commissioner butler thank you thank you okay um thank you very much

Thank you very much, Judge, commissioners, everybody who came out. I know a lot of people had to leave earlier, but the fact that you all came out here and spent your evening with us means a lot. And I really enjoyed hearing all of the thoughtful, considerate comments from every faction of users of this park. It really taught me a lot and it really warmed my heart to hear everybody's comments. So thank you very much for sharing your stories and for sharing your passion with us tonight. I want to thank our staff, our communications team to do this, to bring Commissioner's Court to this facility is a huge feat. So thank you to our team over there on the corner. You can see all of the infrastructure that's involved and the technology that's required. So I appreciate the effort very much. I don't know if they want to do this very often, Commissioner Stout, but at least we could do it today. And I don't get a chance to come out to Azcárate Park very often or to interact with you folks in the room. So I really enjoyed that and I hope that we could continue that. I am going to go kayaking. You could find me out on the lake with Ms. Patty here from now on. So thank you very much. I think that now we have the information we need to go back and revisit not just this plan, but former plans and future plans, and hopefully moving forward, We can have these discussions and these meetings before a plan is put together. I think that's what I'm learning is this conversation needs to happen before the engineer comes and drafts something versus afterwards. So hopefully we can do that in the future.

Thank you, Judge, and thank you everybody for being here. You know, I'm really happy to see the engagement and the enthusiasm that y'all have for this park. You know what I want y'all to do now? Is show up at our meetings downtown. Show up. I see that y'all are interested in our parks. You want us to spend more money on our parks, but a lot of other people don't. They come to us and they call us corrupt because we want to raise taxes specifically to do things like provide services for parks and other things that the community wants. That's where we stand. We have to take all these comments, this reality that we face, okay? And I don't ever hear somebody going up to our meeting on budget time and say, yes, you know, raise the taxes because we want it for parks. I never hear it. I challenge you. Okay, because as Commissioner Stout said, 70%, what people don't realize is 70% of the funds that we spend, are things that the state requires us to do, period. We can't say, we don't wanna spend money on that state, we really don't have the money for it. No, we gotta do it. Guess what? The jail breaks down or something, the courthouse will break down and you all don't pass the bonds to fix them, guess what? We don't have to do them? No, we still have to spend money on it. And what happens? It costs us more. when that happens. That happened this last time I had the bond when the same park referendum was up. The community voted against dedicating money to fix our courthouses, to add a courthouse. Commissioner Butler's precinct has a courthouse annex that is a mobile home. To me, that's embarrassing. It's embarrassing. And the community said no. Do we still have to spend money on those annexes? Absolutely. Because the state requires us to do it. That's what a lot of people don't realize. When that happens, it affects everything else. Everything else. Now we can't spend more money on parks, on the lake, on doing all these things that you all want, because we have to dedicate money for these required services that people in the community don't vote for.

Commissioner?

It's, you know, unfortunate. Yes.

I'm sorry. We're only posted for Azcárate Park, so if you can just try to limit the conversation to the posted item. Sure. Thank you.

Sure. But you know what? I'm really happy that I see the enthusiasm in y'all, but y'all need to get involved a little earlier. I'm just challenging you. One of the things that I did when I ran for office and when I got into office is I wanted to work on, one of the number one things I want to work for is, and you can go to my website. It's been up there since we got into office. People, parks, and promise. Parks. Okay? And I've been a fervent advocate for that. And we've planted trees at Gallegos. I've advocated for a lot of the money. Even I wanted more money for Azcárate. More, because I thought it needed. You know why? This park is 86 years old. Does it look like an 86 year old park? Hmm? Do the trees look like they're 86 years old? Like we've invested 86 years into our trees? Into the condition of the lake? Into our walkways? Into our shade structures? No. I think we've neglected it. The county has neglected it all along. Our community has neglected it. Yeah, we have. We need to realize that. We need to face it. Do we need more money for everything that y'all want? Absolutely. Do we have it this time around? No. It's just the reality that we have to face and these decisions that we have to make. You know? Keep that enthusiasm. Keep it going because we need it. We don't get that when the meetings happen. We don't. We don't get it. You need to go out there and counter those other people that are telling us not to spend on things like parks. There's people out there that tell us that. You only need to worry about spending what you're required to do.

We hear that all the time.

And they call us corrupt for spending money on other things that we're not supposed to spend on. They just did it last Monday. Okay? We put a ceiling, you know, for maintenance operations, which includes the operation of Azcárate Park Council. And, you know, I think all the commissioners and the judge that are sitting here will always advocate that because when we go out and do projects and bonds and all your community approve it, guess what? Just spending the money on those projects, that's it? No. What happens? We have to maintain those projects, right? So then it flips over and we have to spend more money on the maintenance and operations side. That's exactly what's going to happen here with the projects we do for this park and all parks countywide. So you all need to show up and counter those other people that are telling us not to. At the meeting, every Monday. Every Monday we have Commissioner's Court meetings, except when we have a vacation day. When a vacation day or a holiday falls on a Monday, we usually don't have court then. But in the four years I've been here, I've never heard somebody go up and say, I'm for that. Yes, I'm okay with you spending money for our parks, even if you have to go above the no new revenue rate. Have we ever heard it? I haven't. None in the four years I've been here. And I've been probably the most fervent advocate for our parks. Look at our website. You know? And there's, you know, these, these, these, all these projects that the community approved for our parks countywide are going to have an effect eventually when they kick in, they're going to have an effect on our maintenance and operations.

Okay?

And, you know, most of us here are okay with footing the bill for that. We've ordered on the menu, and we're okay with paying for it. There's one other one that's not. Okay? They order from the menu, they don't want to pay. On the guise of, I'm the, you know, the savior for the community, for tax-conscious. But we have to face the reality. Yes, sir. Well, I'm just telling you that my website is specifically about parks and including everything in the county, including Azcárate Park. Absolutely. Yeah, I understand that. What I'm telling you is everything that y'all want has an effect on everything else. And I'm challenging you to really advocate for that because we have other people that are saying no. For specifically all these things that you're asking for this particular park. Okay, I you know, I appreciate all the comments. I thank you You know, there's a lot of more work to be done That doesn't mean that this is the end all these projects that we're doing these bonds at the end all for us got it that no It's a start But we need that Enthusiasm from you and we need you to get out there and go to the meetings and talk to these other people That are telling us not to do it so Thank You Commissioner

Once again, thank you for being here with us, and we look forward to more feedback and more information, but we're very excited about what happened today. And we're going to make sure that you understand that we just didn't sit here, but that we actually listened to you.

Thank you. So we actually, yes, thank you. Next, whoa, excuse me. We do have some additional information to bring back about and to continue to work through. We have additional information. Okay, now we're on. Thank you. There's additional information that we need to bring back to the Commissioner's Court about some of the costs, some of the questions you all raised this evening. We need to compile that information, bring it back to the Commissioner's Court, have additional discussions with the design team, additional community opportunities to see what those redesigns look like. Again, this was an initial conceptual plan. We need to have other information and other options and bring that back to the court for further consideration. And also an opportunity to look at the funding and what the other options would cost and how that would look to the overall budget. And those are the types of things that we'll be bringing back to Commissioner's Court.

Thank you, Betsy. Yes. Well, good night everyone. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you.

This concludes tonight's meeting at 9.03 p.m.