City Commission - Regular Meeting

And now, from McAllen City Hall, a meeting of the McAllen City Commission.

And good evening, everyone. Welcome to tonight's City Commission meeting. We'll begin with the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by an invocation by Mayor Kofan.

Dear Lord, give us the virtue and give us the smartness to do the best for our city, for our citizens. And we pray that you keep our world peace and you have all the citizens of McAllen under your wing. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Okay, we have proclamations in the McAllen Public Library. all right hey

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, commissioners, city manager, and all of you here with us tonight. Thank you for recognizing September as McAllen Public Library Month. I'd also like to recognize members of our board here, Vice President Laurel McLeish and Dr. Joseph Ryan. We're ready for our proclamation. Okay, great.

I'm very honored to be giving this proclamation where we grew up, raised our kids over at the library. It seemed like every single week we were there. So thank you for what you do. Proclamation by the State of Texas, County of Hidalgo, City of McAllen. Whereas McAllen Public Library is a cornerstone of education, imagination, and opportunity, offering everything from early literacy programs to digital resources that support lifelong learning and personal growth. And whereas McAllen Public Library believes that libraries are for everyone, welcoming people of all ages and backgrounds and providing collections, programs, technology, and services that connect residents from cultures, generations, and experiences. And whereas McAllen Public empowers residents by providing trusted information, digital access, educational resources, workforce support and community service, and support the local economy by equipping students, job seekers, entrepreneurs, and residents with tools and resources to succeed, and whereas McAllen Public Library fulfills its mission as a place where people and ideas meet and connect, supported by dedicated staff who help residents access information, resources, and opportunities, and whereas McAllen Public Library offers more than 350,000 items for checkout, along with digital resources, technology, programs, and services that provide an estimated annual value of more than $48 million in library use, helping individuals and families learn, explore, and save. Whereas a McAllen Public Library card connects residents to those resources and services throughout the year, opening the door to reading, learning, technology, creativity, and opportunity for every age. Now, therefore, I, Michael Falick, City Commissioner of the City of McAllen, Texas, by virtue of the authority vested in me, and on behalf of the Mayor and the City Commission, do hereby proclaim September 2026 as McAllen Public Library Month. It's a tremendous resource here in the City of McAllen. So thank you all. Thank the Board.

So we brought along our real celebrity tonight, Marty the Library Cat.

Right, Marty.

Right?

Yes, so thank you Kate and Marty September is also a library card sign up month So it gives us the perfect opportunity to talk about one of the smallest things That you can carry that gives you access to a whole lot a free library card that card connects you to more than 350,000 items in our collection from books and movies to video games plus thousands of digital resources including ebooks audiobooks e-magazines online tutoring and more

And your library isn't just limited to one building. You can find us at Main Library, Lark Branch Library, Palmview Branch Library, and our digital eBranch, keeping MPL within reach whether you visit us in person or online. Our mission is to be a place where people and ideas meet and connect, and that happens every day across our library system and throughout the region that we serve.

And apparently people far beyond our region are discovering us too.

Yes, we're constantly going viral for Maine Library being the largest single-story library in America. People see it online and they say, what? Wait, is that a library? Although Marty would probably tell you that he's the reason that we keep going viral.

So we're not gonna argue with a cat, but what really makes McAllen Public Library special are the people behind it. Our library staff and our many community partners work every day to connect residents with trusted information, technology, educational opportunities, workforce resources, and services that make a difference. That work reaches beyond our buildings. When we help people learn, grow, and reach their goals, we strengthen McAllen and our entire region.

And this September, Marty has another reason to think that he's famous. We're unveiling a brand new children's library card design featuring Marty the library cat for children signing up for their first MPL cards. So yes, Marty officially has his own library card. And we want that first library card to feel special because it is. It is the beginning of a lifelong connection to books, learning, and discovery.

so during mccallan public library month we encourage everyone to visit us use your library card explore the e-branch attend a program or discover something you didn't know your library offered like free tutoring if you don't have a library card yet september is a pretty good month to change that and if you're a kid getting your first card you can even take marty home with you well marty on the library card we need the actual marty

Thank you to our mayor, commissioners, city administration, and to our wonderful library advisory board. We love you so much. We can't do anything without you. Our incredible library staff and all of our community partners, and especially the residents and families who continue to support McAllen Public Library. Thank you.

Thank you so much. And next we have Constitution Week. Commissioner Castillo. Oh, my God, you're more decorated than a general. That is awesome. I've got to put those other eyes on. I've got to put those other eyes on.

of mccallan proclamation state of texas county of hidalgo city of mccallan whereas the constitution of the united states of america the garden of our liberties embodies the principles of a limited government in a republic dedicated to rule by law and whereas september 17 2026 marks the 239th anniversary of the drafting of the constitution of the united states of america by the constitutional convention And whereas it is the privilege and duty of the American people to commemorate the 239th anniversary of the drafting of the Constitution of the United States of America with appropriate ceremonies and activities. And whereas public law 915 guarantees the issuing of the proclamation each year by the President of the United States of America designating September 17th through the 23rd as Constitution Week. And whereas we ask our citizens to reaffirm the ideals of the framers of the Constitution had in 1787 by the vigilantly protecting the freedoms guaranteed to us through this garden of our liberties, remembering that lost rights may never be regained. Now, therefore, I, Rodolfo Ricastillo, City Commissioner of the City of McAllen, Texas, the authority vested in me and on behalf of the Mayor and the City Commission, do hereby proclaim September 17th to the 23rd of the year of 2026 as Constitution Week.

Hello, everyone. My name is Mara Lee Motz, and I'm here with Cheyenne Zink. We are both daughters of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. And as every year, we have Constitution Week, always September 17th through the 23rd. We're here to proclaim Celebrate Freedom Week, as we do in our Texas education school districts across the state. Constitution Week as you know has a wonderful preamble that most of us learned when we were watching cartoons when we were younger and it was a wonderful schoolhouse rock to know and because of that I have memorized the preamble as many of us or maybe just some of us here have but we wanted to make sure that everyone knew about it especially if you are parents or caregivers and your children start coming home because their teachers have taught them about the Constitution, just please remember that according to Texas Education Agency Code, I believe it's 29.907, celebrating Freedom Week will now commence across the schools in our state. The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution are here to help you with those celebrations. As daughters, we are descendants of American Revolution patriots, and we are always here to help you with anything concerning historic preservation, patriotism and education thank you so much to the city of mcallen mayor villalobos and all council members we appreciate this proclamation and accept with heart filled gratitude thank you all right thanks so much and next we have national day of remembrance for murder victims

Good afternoon.

You know, it's very hard to lose a loved one. And I can just imagine how hard it is

Lucid violence and something very unexpected, something you're not prepared for. And I just want you guys to know that we stand by you. City of McAllen Proclamation, State of Texas, County of Hidalgo, City of McAllen. Whereas the National Day of Remembrance for Murdered Victims is not merely a local event or a symbolic gesture, but a national observance established through unanimous resolution passed by United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. And whereas September 25th provides surviving families with a moment to publicly speak about their loved ones' legacies and acknowledge the consequences of violent crime and know that their elected leaders see and hear them. And whereas the Rio Grande Valley Family and Friends of Murdered Children, or RGBFFOMC, has served more than 2,400 families throughout the Rio Grande Valley since 2013, providing support, victim resource information, and accounting voice for families affected by homicide. And whereas four McAllen officers have made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty, of which we recognize Officer Edelmiro Garza, age 45, Officer Ismael Chavez, age 39, Officer Reynaldo Lopez, age 47, and Officer Rosalind Suarez, Jr., age 23, of the McAllen Police Department. And whereas RGV FFOMC will host its 14th annual candlelight vigil on September 25th of 2026, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Jose Pepe Salinas Memorial Recreation Center in Pharr, under the message, Every Candle Tells a Story. Now thereof, I, Pepe Cabezada Vaca, Mayor Pro Tem of the City of McAllen, Texas, by virtue of the authority vested in me, and on behalf of the Mayor and the City Commission, thereby proclaim September 25th, 2026, as National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims.

Good evening, City Council Mayor, the Aloha City Commission for this distinguished opportunity to be here with you alongside with my victims. As you know that this tragedy can affect any and all at any given time because of the violence nature of it. Either it could be through murder by a handgun, a rifle, strangulation, fight vehicle, under the influence of alcohol or drugs. So it doesn't matter the walks of life. The journey of grief is real, as you see with my victims. How did we get here? My brother Rogelio Roger Garcia yesterday was somber for me. It was a reminder of the custom pain that I had in my family and the battle cry of my mother, Dalia Rosa Garcia, from Rio Grande City, that I was born and raised. My brother was more than just a statistic or a number. He was a mentor. He was a brother, a sibling, a loved one, an uncle. And he was also a veteran of the Coast Guard. Yesterday was 15 years. 15 years when I got a call from my mother, Dalia, that says, in Harlingen. My sister-in-law saw him twice while he was taking a shower at 6, excuse me, at 7.45 in the morning. As a third responder person that got there, I saw this crime scene put in there with two officers, and I saw an ambulance leaving. And I asked the officer there, where's my brother or who's leaving in the ambulance, because we didn't know what it was. And I remember specifically saying, well, there's somebody in the house. There's somebody laying down in the house. And I said, is that my brother? He says, I don't know, but there's somebody. My emotional raw immediately crossed the crime scene and went inside the house and I saw him in a pool of blood. Why am I telling you that? It's because I want you to know that they're victims. We're the forgotten victims because we don't see the victim daily because he's six feet under. But everybody has a name for it and I will read that name to you. Rogelio Roger Garcia, Efrain Garcia, Daniel Vega, Julio Villarreal, Freddy Otiveros, Kevin Gonzalez, Juan Nava, Lourdes, Paulina James Barrera. We simply call her baby Lulu. And of course all the officers. One of them was a friend of the family. Rosaline Suarez Jr. was a very close friend of the family. Her widow was her best friend and my sister. And I've been able to talk to Mary, which is a widow, for a long time. So when you see us, don't see us. We cry. It's a rough feeling. But understand the victims left behind. San Juanita Hernandez. A case here in McAllen that hasn't been solved for 40-some years. Her daughter's to my left. Why do I keep her in the line? She came to us and says, can I need help? I was adopted. I don't know where my mom is, my biological mom, and the baby that she was carrying of eight months. So they're not forgotten, we carry that burden. I carry that oath when my brother was murdered and the promise that I made Dalia, that their names will be alive and I've been doing it for 15 years. But I can't do it by myself, I need the families, I need leaders to support us, to seize us. And then, of course, the community. Yesterday, I had a call from Luis Sainz, the DA from Cameron County. They had a quadruple homicide in San Benito. And he told me, Mr. Garcia, I need you. I need for you to bring some members of your family to come and reach out to the family. 15 years ago, there was no resources. And I'm glad that now we have resources. But the ultimate sacrifice is them By the act of violence, by a choice that somebody made. So thank you again, Mayor. Thank you, city commissioners. Thank you to my victims. And I challenge the leadership to one more step. I've seen the chief of police in the past memorials, the past vigil. I hope I can see one of you all, or all of you all, to come and see us on September 25th. Thank you, God bless you. I think the list and the emotion, I wanna also mention Cynthia. Her name was Cynthia and Mr. Chavez, and Mr. Chavez is with us. So I apologize for not recognizing it when I did my presentation.

Thank you. As the next, we have public hearings.

Mayor, commissioners, good afternoon. The following items went to Planning and Zoning Commission on August 18th. The board recommended approval of two customer initiated rezonings and two conditional use permits. And of course, the city initiated rezonings. The first item, item number one, is rezoning from R1 to R2, located at 2700 South 26th and a half Street. This is the intersection of Jordan and South 26th and a half. Item number two is rezoning from C3 to C2, located at 3800 State Highway 107. This is on the northeast corner of Northware Road and State Highway 107. Item number three is the Conditional Use Permit for Associated Recreation. This is for a private neighborhood located at 10421 North 34th Street on the corner of Brazos Avenue and North 34th. This is a private subdivision is gated. Item number four is a conditional use permit for a cigar lounge located at 803 North 10th. This is on the northeast corner of North 10th and Hackberry. Item number five, the city initiated rezoning of 189 parcels. This brings our percentage up to 19%.

Okay, do we have anybody to speak against any of these items? Anyone to speak against any of these items? Second. All in favor? Aye. Against? Motion carries. I need a motion to amend the zoning ordinance in the city of McAllen. Second. All in favor? Aye. Against? Motion carries.

Item C. Item C is a public hearing on the McAllen proposed budget for the 26-27 fiscal year. You ready, Angie? Yes. We have our presentation up. okay here we go okay um mayor after uh conducting a series of workshop with the city commission um we are very proud to present your now recommended budget to the community we had some very robust discussions about matters of finance that the commission has not previously considered including an analysis of the city's debt capacity and our ability to take on some debt in the coming years we will continue those conversations But in the meantime, after a very robust discussion, we landed to recommend the adoption of the same tax rate that we had last year. And so that's 44.89 cents per $100 of valuation. We've recommended to you a proposed combined total budget of $647 million. um at least one of our workshops and i i think we've talked about the possibility of maybe 629 million 665 million what happens is we compile the budget the water and wastewater system is working on their budget at the same time we're working on our budget and the combined budget presented to the commission at this meeting for adoption is the merger of those two budgets and into one document and so i think when i was doing some of my estimates at one of the meeting i overestimated where i thought the desal project would come in this year but you'll see on our capital projects list we've got about 70 million there which results in the total appropriations for all departments including water and wastewater of 647 million 224 thousand five hundred and sixty five dollars uh this budget recommends a three percent cola uh for city staff they work very very hard sometimes it seems like they're here for days on end and they don't go home I promise they do go home we give them at least uh some time off in the evening especially in our convention facilities as we approach the holiday season you'll see a lot of staff here they work tremendously hard so the cola is in line with what our compensation study most recently presented to the commission recommends this year the economy I think justifies that increase for staff General fund appropriations are at $180 million, leaving an unassigned ending fund balance of $109 million and 235 days of working capital. That is 95 days in excess of our required minimum of 140 days. The budget also includes 12 new positions this year. most of those dictated by the soon opening of the center for urban ecology that will need to be staffed we'll talk about employees specifically in a moment on the next slide you'll see the budget covers with respect to the tax rate you'll see that the property tax rate remains the same you'll you'll notice though that the budget raises less revenue than the tax rate did last year with respect to the property values that were on the tax roll at the end of the year by about 675 000 that was largely due to the valuation required valuation of the appraisal district to go back and re-examine non-homestead properties and new business personal property tax exemptions that became available this year. You will see that this tax rate does raise $1.5 million approximately of new revenue from property added to the tax roll this year. The legislature also adopted um section 551 043c of the government code requiring some new transparency disclosures which we've included in this presentation for the community but that is so that taxpayers know the median homestead value within the city and how the tax rate affects those properties and so you can you can see that there in the slide the budget does include 647 million dollars 30.4 million dollars of debt service as we saw in the debt capacity analysis uh the city's uh debt that we carry is very very low as compared to most of our surrounding communities and in fact most communities around the state that are approximately our size and so we'll evaluate how we can leverage that in the future to tackle some additional capital projects we have capital outlay budgeted at 258 million dollars this year and operations at 359 million dollars this year What we have done, and I want to thank Michelle and the Development Center for helping me reevaluate how we're budgeting capital projects. We have more capital projects budgeted this year than we typically have in the past. We have those budgeted at more conservative numbers. The reason we're doing that is because incremental progress on those projects is critical to us competing for various categories of federal and state dollars that can help us leverage our efforts. And if we're not moving projects to shovel-ready, then we have a harder time doing that. And so rather than taking... 50 or 60 million dollars and and putting it towards one project and and waiting for uh environmentals to clear and and the legal department to uh move to right away acquisition and and move one project at a time we're trying to move projects incrementally together um so that we're making progress um a little bit more broadly than maybe we have in the past uh on the next slide i've included the top 10 capital projects that are included within the budget you'll see the water treatment plant you just heard a presentation on that by mr vega but we have a couple of projects at the airport the golf course the mcc industrial park which was just approved wastewater projects the underground trail at ware and some very significant convention center facility upgrades I mentioned earlier 12 new full-time positions. In the general fund, we're adding two photojournalists to the Office of Communications. since we have added irma to that department they are much more engaged in in-house production and they're doing a tremendous job and we're excited for them to have some additional resources to continue making some really important social media graphics and and other news releases that are going out to the community the traffic continues to be a topic of conversation and we want to make sure that the traffic department has the resources they need to keep up with our demand for improving our infrastructure and so there is no deputy director in that department we're adding one a designer for the engineering department and accounting supervisor for quinta mazatlan Convention Center is adding an operation coordinator, assistant director of bridge administration at the toll bridge, And then irrigation techs, custodian, groundkeeper, nature interpreter, and administrative assistance for the operator. I'm sorry, for the operations at Quinta Mazatlan. I would point out that although life is becoming much more expensive to operate, we've done our best to keep expenditures down. One day's operating expenditures for the city of McAllen increases from 438, $439,000 a day last year's budget to four hundred and sixty four thousand dollars a day in this year's budget and so that there is transparency to the Commission the three percent Cola has a two point four million dollar impact to the general fund so those are the budget highlights consistent with what we've talked about over the last six weeks or so if there are any questions from the commission i'd be happy to answer those and i would remind the mayor that this is a public and this is a public hearing if there's any comments any questions from the public

Well, then we thank the public for the confidence in us. What do we need here?

Just a public hearing? That's just a public hearing, Mayor. It's an opportunity for the public to provide their final feedback. Next meeting, we will consider adoption of the tax rate and the formal adoption of the budget.

Excellent.

Okay.

Is that also a public hearing or that's not a public hearing?

I believe it is. We have one more chance. I know it is. Excellent. Now we'll go to the consent agenda. It's items 2A through C. Do we need to pull any time? All in favor? Aye. Against? Motion carries. Item 3.

i wasn't sure who was here from engineering today mr cruz all right we're making progress on our golf course yes sir good afternoon mayor members of the commission uh deciding before you uh we're seeking uh concurrence on our evaluations committee's uh recommendation for the highest scoring um respondents that responded to our rfq for construction managers at risk using this model kind of similar to what we did at GINT that basically follows a two-step process. This first step, what we're looking for is approval to move on to what we call step two, of course, and move into interviews with the top three respondents and start looking at some budgetary numbers in terms of services for that. So with that, we're recommending our top three which was Heritage Links, Greenscape 6, and Mid-America Golf and Landscape. I'll open it up for any questions.

Motion to approve.

Second.

All in favor, any questions? Aye. Thank you. Motion passes. Next item.

Mayor, next item is 3B, award of contract for professional service, the annual land surveying services contract for the engineering department.

This item, we're seeking concurrence on the fee schedule. We were able to negotiate with the previous eight firms that we brought before you. for approval. We reached out to those firms. Essentially, this is kind of similar to our professional engineering services. We work on that, so we were able to negotiate a final fee schedule before you, so we're looking to move to those prices.

Motion to approve.

Second.

All in favor? Aye. Against? The motion carries.

Item C. Mayor, item C is consideration and approval of change order number one for the second street at Byron Nelson drainage improvements project.

And I think we also have a comment on that one.

No, that one's item seven there. It's one of the tabled items. Okay.

So this item, to clarify, change order one and final, this closes out our Byron-Nelson project. It's the last of the two 2018 bond projects. The other one was recently completed with an administrative change order. That takes all our original bond projects off the table. This item before you, we're seeking a change order to the contract in the order of 158. 120-105 and seven additional calendar days. The majority of the cost overruns were pavement reconstruction, where we came off a section of Byron Nelson where we had to readjust the original alignment due to an abandoned gas line or what we believe is abandoned that we left in place, and then additional water line adjustments that we did throughout the project.

Is that project considered already done?

Yes, that's done, yes.

What's going to happen with the parts of the hike and bike trail where the grass was damaged?

That's being brought up to... That's part of the... The contract itself has been closed, but the punch list items as far as general cleanup and everything, those go on until we release final payment.

Let's make sure.

Motion to approve. Second.

All in favor? Aye. All against? Motion carries. If you can.

our item four is consideration and possible approval of a resolution casting a vote for the tml irp board of trustees election i'm going to ask mr stevenson to present this one mayor commissioners this is the item we have until september 30th to cast our ballot for the intergovernmental risk pool mccallan is a member of the pool there are four places up for votes we have a resolution before you which would cast a vote for those which we think would best represent city interest Notably, for Place 3, we are recommending that McAllen vote for City Manager Isaac Tua. That's a toughie.

Motion to approve to make resolution.

All in favor? Aye. Against? Motion carries.

Item 5A is consideration of a variance request to not extend North 49th Street to Pecan. Mr. Omar.

Okay, we are recommending approval of this variance request not to extend 49th Street to Pecan. We are recommending approval of this request because of the location of 49th Street. It would punch out to Pecan right after the curb cut and then 350 feet away from North 40th. The property is located at 4801 Pecan Boulevard, just between North Taylor and North Benson.

Motion to approve. And you're already? Yes. You're recommending? You're recommending, right? You're recommending? Okay.

Second. You have a motion and a second.

It walked out on you.

You're it. Everybody in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye.

I'm going to post some sign. Motion carries. Mayor Pro Tem, item 5B is consideration of a variance request to not provide the north-south one-fourth mile collector for the proposed star subdivision.

That's 401 E Sticker Road.

Correct. We are recommending disapproval of the request not to provide the north-south quarter-mile collector for the proposed DAR subdivision. We are recommending disapproval because we still have vacant land between Dicker Road and the canal to the north. There is R1, R3, C3. This 30 feet will provide access to these properties. Yes, the property to the west does have frontage onto Dicker, but the canal improvements took about 480 feet of frontage to installation of the new guardrail. This would also... Put the access right about the middle of the South Digger and the canal to the west. This property is located at 401 East Digger, just west of South McCall.

This is not a public hearing item, is it?

No, it's not.

Okay.

So there's a difference between staff approval and what P&Z decided. Correct. Was there specific points that were made that?

The main thing was that they felt that the property to the west still had access to the property to the north. So however, it's just this quarter mile puts it right in the middle of the canal and of South McCall.

So staff recommends P&Z said no.

of course just we didn't point out that there is that 480 feet of guard rail to the west of it so it does it they do have a total uh the property of the west has a total about 1100 feet of frontage on dicker road however 480 feet are that uh awesome can you clarify if this item requires a super majority

It's not P&Z recommended approval. Is that my understanding?

Correct. And we're recommending disapproval.

Well, so both are recommending approval.

Staff recommended disapproval, but P&Z heard it, considered staff's recommendation and recommended approval. So this does not require supermajority to uphold P&Z's recommendation. What are the wishes?

Okay, but it's hard for me to understand it, okay? The quarter, you're trying to eliminate...

you're saying you don't want to eliminate correct the quarter mile please the quarter mile collector correct so we have the canal right here along the on this side and then we have the south mccall on this side so this would put the quarter mile right in the middle yes they still have furniture but then we kind of put wood off center it so we just it just provides a little bit of a issue you might want to bring that to commissioner

And that will follow where?

Well, eventually, not so much as it's going to go north, it's just it's going to give access to the properties in the back. We still have R1, R2, and R3, and then C3.

And then this property on number five, when it says number five there, how would it, if you didn't have that collector, how would they get access?

They would have to go through this private property, go this way, or this way.

But if it has a collector, they could just feed off of it.

Correct.

And that's why your recommendation is disapproval and to...

you have to give access to the to these people through the other ones even though there is one owner it's just they they got reduced to the frontage because of this is the same order yes this one is here how about number five uh it's different different owner on number five wait is four and five the same owners or they're different no that's what i was asking the different orders

seems to me like it probably would benefit both properties having the street to begin with no that's what I was asking actually sounds like we have somebody that might be this is not a public that's why I asked was a public hearing item no if you cross the street to the south on Dicker oh that's a dog oh yes

And so we're generally more or less is the alignment for the quarter mile. Is it that black line? Yes, sir. It is the black line.

What was the vote of the party that was already voted?

They all voted to approve it.

The elimination of it.

Correct.

the issues that we if we don't have it then then you said the tracks that are labeled in yellow four and five it's the same property owner i'm not i don't recall exactly how many i know of one of them is however so we have the r1 the r3 and the c3 and then of course oh r1 i didn't realize it was r1 yeah r1 r3 and then the c3

But that's the sonings. Correct. But the property owners are different. Forest has one owner. Five has another owner.

I would need a double check. I think that I know there's one of the larger ones is one owner. I just there's a smaller ones to the south. There are different owners to the east of this guy.

And why did the planning and zoning, what was the rationale that they used?

I'm thinking the main reason why there was the quarter mile just going north of the canal. We're not seeing it going north of the canal. We're just seeing it just for this general area. As far as, yeah, it might not cross the canal. It probably more than likely won't cross the canal. But it's just it'll still give access to that property in the back.

Right.

wasn't even going to be an easement for access i don't i don't see how i mean i feel like we're probably missing something in the conversation but without at least an access easement how do you not require that yeah street exactly

I could see it if we knew for a fact that all the tracks at 4 and 5 was one owner. Te lo paso, as we say in Spanish. But if that's not the case, I'm not inclined to grant the relief being requested.

Could you give me a second, though?

Sure.

Hmm.

Let's take the executive session items. Are you ready? Sorry. Executive session items.

Mayor, for items 8A and 8B, I recommend that the board entertain a motion to authorize the city manager and city attorney to proceed to describe the executive session.

All in favor? Aye. Against? Motion carries.

see we did something we're back to five feet so item area number four is one owner one owner and area number five is a different owner so we have two owners yes what are the wishes make a motion to deny the request uh made uh for the variance got it

Do I hear a second? Second. Okay. We're bringing a person to second. All in favor? Aye. Against? Motion carries. Advisory Board appointments.

Ms. Perla.

Good afternoon, Mayor and City Commission. This item is for advisory board appointments, and I would like to present the following advisory board nominations for your consideration. Commissioner Zamora has nominated Jonathan Stevens to serve in the Convention Center Advisory Board. Commissioner Aguirre nominated Jose Ivan Garcia to the Traffic Commission Board. Commissioner Rios nominated Alejandra Vallejo to the McAllen Housing Finance Corporation. Commissioner Felek nominated Juan Mujica to the Building Board of Adjustments and Appeals, which requires an approval by the entire city commission. And Commissioner Cabeza de Vaca has nominated Alex Lamela to the Traffic Commission Board. And additionally, I would like to remind you that the Convention Center Advisory Board currently has several vacancies due to a lack of quorum. The board has been unable to hold meetings, so if you have any additional nominations at this time, I will accept them.

One thing real quick, because I heard, can you repeat the Alex Lamela question?

alex uh lamella to the to the traffic commission i'm sorry yes no that's that's incorrect to the cboa board it's only important apologize for that i still don't have one for the convention center so i'll we'll bring it i'll get you one this week let's approve second

All in favor? Aye. Against? Motion carries. Feature agenda items. Anything else?

I would like to include beautification of Second Street hike and bike trail from south to north. Starting in the south.

To north.

To the north.

Mr. Mayor and City Manager, also I'd like to add the street light update that we've been going throughout the city in each of the various districts.

And I'd also like the update on the CPNL or, yeah, CPNL, AEP.

I think that's accordingly AEP update? Yeah, the AEP one. Yeah.

Where we're at there. I also want to know if they have made their arrangements in the south also because they're going to be in need. So they were working on the Mile 3 and also on the...

military highway I'll add on to the comment on the hiking bike trail the bicentennial hiking bike trail there's been some significant degradation of the asphalt in some of those areas and might want to visit on rehabbing some of those sections Excellent.

Okay. Then we have table item number 7A. Do we want it off the table?

Are we ready? Yes. Motion to remove said item from table. Second.

All in favor? Aye. Against? It's off the table. All right, Chief.

What are we doing? Mayor and Commissioner, thank you. The item that you have before you here is a recommendation to forward a contract to the highest-ranked respondent, Airstar Environmental and Construction LLC, in the amount of $174,400 for the airport rescue firefighting fire trucks.

There's a requirement. There are two different types of foam those trucks can use in the event of a catastrophe at the airport. One type is considered carcinogenic and no longer available for purchase in the United States, and it requires us to transition to a new type of foam. This appropriation is for us to accomplish doing that. It is a critical requirement. You can still use the currently allowed foam. However, once you run out of that stock, you can't use it. The trucks have to go in, be cleaned out, and to make sure that there's no contamination, cross-contamination of the products, or it won't work right. So this will allow the fire chief to make that transition. We do have some stock.

of the foam we will no longer be able to use and and we will dispose of that in a way to help offset the cost of this transition motion to approve second all in favor aye against motion carries we have five seven b and i think somebody has signed up on this one

yes mayor if we take uh if we take this off the table i know uh planning had worked and again this not being a public uh hearing item we did have a uh one one public comment off the table second in favor

So as we had discussed previously, we are recommending disapproval of not providing the sidewalk along South 8th Street and East Nassau and approval of the no sidewalk on East Pine Ridge. There are some photo locations. So of course, this is looking west onto Pine Ridge, which is where we said that we're okay with not providing sidewalks. And then this is looking south onto South 8th Street. So this is where I think we would benefit for sidewalks. And then the next one is this is looking west from East Nassau. ONLY ONE HOUSE HAS THE SIDEWALK ON EAST NASSA EVERY DAY. ON NASSA.

I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO BY AND CHECK THE PREMIER, CHECK THE PROPOSED SUBDIVISION. I AGREE WITH

With staff. We have Ms. Kelly Bella here also. She signed up today for this.

Oh, good. I signed up, but really it was just in case y'all had questions that I could answer or anything. I know that Mr. Vivaca was going to go by and take a look at it, so go ahead and finish what you were saying. Thank you.

So... I agree with them on Pine Ridge, not too required. There's only one sidewalk on Nassau out of like about 10 or 11 properties. So my recommendation will be not to go ahead and require it over there. I think we're going to need to require it in the South H Street. And one of the things that we can do not to get the burden for the developer to put it in is just to put it in the plat that each person that is going to start building over there needs to put the sidewalk into it.

So that's fine. We realize that that's actually the plat requirement is that it's built with individual lots and have spoken with the owner about

Doing 8th Street, which kind of makes more sense and that at least we'll have the continuous block Versus in the other sections where we only one or two lots and it doesn't have anything else to connect to I make a motion to approve the barrier seven stomach comment I'm gonna ask staff again on any of these three areas Is the city ultimately going to build the sidewalks?

I

all depends on funding and what we have at the time is the plan that the city will ultimately build the sidewalks in these areas correct so we're just taking the responsibility from the developer and on to the city if we ever get there yes if we ever get there and that's kind of always my issue to to benefit more private individuals if we have a plan

Why do we have a plan to build those sidewalks?

No, we don't. If we ever do get the funding for it, we don't have a plan.

Planning and zoning, their recommendation was the same as staff's recommendation? No, they recommended approval.

I don't think it was approval.

They recommended matching staff. Oh, they did? Oh, sorry about that.

Sorry.

On this one, which was a little of a confusion since we had them in next door.

Well, if I'm not mistaken, as I recall, no offense, but Nassau is an alley. Am I right? That's the one on the north side?

Yes.

Okay. I make a motion to grant the various requests as made by the petitioner to eliminate the sidewalk requirement for East Nassau and East Pine Ridge. So those are all east-west streets.

Is that contrary to the recommendation of staff? That's both, and that's what... That was pretty much what I was saying.

Yeah, that's exactly what you were saying. Mayor, if I could ask that we do them maybe separately, each street individually, just because some will require supermajority and some will not, depending on what the recommendation is.

Oh, I didn't realize that. So at this time, I make a motion to grant the petitioner's request to eliminate the sidewalk requirement for East Nassau Avenue.

So, Mayor, the motion that Commissioner Sumoto has made is to approve, which is in accordance with the P&Z's recommendation, so this vote will not require a supermajority.

Okay. Do you have a second? And that's not to require on us all.

Second. On us all.

Okay.

Do I have a second? Second. There was some ambiguity there. Aye. All in favor? Aye. Against? Motion carries. Do I have another motion on the other one?

Yes, at this time, Mayor, I'd like to make a motion to grant the petitioner's variance request to eliminate the sidewalk requirement as it relates to East Pine Ridge Avenue.

Okay, Austin, and this one requires super majority, and this comes with staff recommendation or without?

The last one did require supermajority, but I got it anyway, so.

There we go. We're just back into it, don't we? Okay. All in favor? Aye. Against? Motion carries.

I do want to amend my vote with that in mind on the first vote. There's still one.

Let's see. What do we have? Where are we at? H Street.

Well, H Street. Which one? South H. There's three streets.

Oh, there's three. Okay. What are the wishes of the commission on?

I will remain tacit. Tacit is quiet.

Who required that one?

No, no, no. Well, yeah. That's why I'm not making a motion on it, because I think that should be required. Second. Well, there's no motion on that? Okay, so it's a motion to deny. Yeah, so it's a motion to deny the petitioner's request to eliminate the sidewalk variance for a sidewalk requirement as it relates to South 8th Street.

All in favor? Aye. Against? Motion carries. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Is that it? Well, I'm a prosecutor. Okay. Well, I believe we've taken care of the executive. That's it. There being no further business, the meeting is adjourned.

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