City Commission - workshop

Thank you. Thank you. And now we move into a workshop of the McAllen City Commission held in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act. All workshops are open to the public and serve as an opportunity for city staff to present detailed information, reports, and updates to the commission in preparation for future action or decisions. While no formal votes are taken during these sessions, workshops play an important role in the city's policymaking and decision-making process.

we have for you this evening and we normally would have done this last week at the golf course but we ran out of time so we have the 26-27 budget wrap-up this is a session where we will go over THE ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS ARE CHANGES THAT WERE MADE TO THE ORIGINAL PRESENTATION IN THE BUDGET. AND I WILL DIRECT YOU TO PAGE ONE OF YOUR BUDGET BOOK. YOU'LL SEE THAT WE HAD A PROPOSED BEGINNING FUND BALANCE 10-126 OF $108.5 MILLION IN THE GENERAL FUND. PROPOSED REVENUES OF $178.5 MILLION. INCREASED REVENUES DUE TO OPERATIONS COMING ONLINE NEXT BUDGET YEAR AT THE CENTER FOR URBAN ECOLOGY OF $1.255 MILLION FOR TOTAL REVISED RESOURCES OF $288,358,351. IN ADDITION TO THE APPROPRIATIONS THAT WERE ORIGINALLY RECOMMENDED BY STAFF, THE FOLLOWING INCREASES WERE INCLUDED IN GENERAL FUND APPROPRIATIONS And that was building inspections and permits, vehicle replacement, and rental depreciation of $15,800 to cover an acquisition cost there. IT software. IT, we have made an effort to try to maximize efficiency in our use of software and licenses to centralize the acquisition of all software through IT And so that number to IT represents shifting a lot of those costs to IT so we can make sure that we're only buying licenses for services that we actually need. There was some CDBG funding awarded to FIRE that will pick up some expense there. And we discussed with the commission freeing up some rental depreciation to cover replacement of a pumper truck. Remember, we did have the benefit of the Section 108 loan, and so we were able to, in essence, acquire two apparatus for the fire department this year as opposed to the one we had originally planned. Quinta Mazatlan needs some much-needed maintenance, and so we've got AC replacements that we added to the budget at Quinta Mazatlan for $150,000, and then there at the bottom, of the page for the queue, you'll see the additional appropriations that are going to be required for operation of the center once it opens. And then you'll see agency adjustments up $450,000 from staff's recommendations. And those increases were an additional $20,000 to the Museum of South Texas History, an additional $13,000 to the McAllen Town Band, an additional $75,000 to the Valley Symphony Orchestra. an additional $2,000 to the McAllen Chamber of Commerce, an additional $300,000 to the Boys and Girls Club. That was 25% of the original recommendation to cover operations at the new center on the south side, an additional $40,000 to the McAllen Heritage Center. That leaves... Total appropriations at roughly $180 million, and revenue over expenses in the general fund for a balanced budget of $542,696, and a revised ending unencumbered fund balance of $109,078,026. If the commission has any questions, I'm happy to address any of those. Otherwise, we can move on to a discussion with the Development Corporation. AGAIN, BEGINNING FUND BALANCE OF $32,500,000, PROPOSED REVENUES OF $31,789,000. WE DID DISCUSS LAST WEEK AND THE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION APPROVED TODAY INCREASED REVENUES RECOGNITION OF THE EDA GRANT THAT WAS AWARDED ON THE MCC INDUSTRIAL PROJECT. WE DIDN'T KNOW WHEN THOSE REVENUES WERE GOING TO HIT. THEY DID HIT BEFORE. Adoption of the budget so we included that project that six million dollars is reimbursable. So Development Corporation is budgeting for that project seven point five million dollars that includes the six million dollar EDA grant plus approximately 1.5 million dollars in city and developer contributions on that project and We're road trail underground Passing that is a rollover project being budgeted at five point two million dollars, but that'll connect the Westside Park area of We're road to the Convention Center facilities and then again additional agency adjustments that the City Commission awarded two hundred and seventy thousand dollars to Christian's Manor an additional two hundred thousand dollars to MEDC and a decrease fund decrease funding to lift fund of a hundred thousand dollars and leaving a revised fund balance of $15,300,000 in the Development Corporation. We did also make additional appropriations in the Sanitation Fund, beginning fund balance of approximately $19 million, proposed revenues of $27 million. You'll have resources of approximately $46.5 million, We increased expenditures in the commercial box and roll-off categories to account for additional needed dumpsters and service containers for those processes, recycling bins, cardboard dumpsters. There has been a significant increase in demand for those items. And so sanitation being an enterprise fund, that will greatly assist. And then some remodeling within the facility. SECOND FLOOR CONFERENCE ROOM, CHANGING THAT INTO SOME CONFERENCE SPACE, FIXING SOME HVAC CONTROL ISSUES OUT THERE AND ADDING 10 FACILITY CAMERAS FOR BETTER VISIBILITY AROUND THE SITE. REVENUE OVER EXPENSES NEXT YEAR, $5.5 MILLION, WITH THE ANTICIPATION THAT AS ACCOUNTS COME ONLINE, THAT DEFICIT WILL BE RECOVERED IN A REVISED FUND BALANCE OF $13.444 MILLION. If there are no questions with sanitation, again, general depreciation, we did make some changes. Building permits and inspections with a small addition from the general fund is acquiring two needed half-ton trucks. And again, as a result of the Section 108 loan, we are able to APPROPRIATE THE $1.3 MILLION FOR THE ADDITIONAL PUMPERS. SO IN ESSENCE THIS YEAR, ACQUIRING TWO VEHICLES INSTEAD OF ONE. BEGINNING FUND BALANCE AND DEPRECIATION OF $17 MILLION, ENDING FUND BALANCE OF $13.5 MILLION, WHICH WE BELIEVE IS A REASONABLY HEALTHY BALANCE THERE. I DID WANT TO MAKE ONE NOTE. THERE IS BUDGETED FOR THE ROUNDABOUT AT SECOND IN WISCONSIN IN THE BUDGET. That was budgeted, and that project has been a project the city has been looking at for several years now, doing a roundabout at that intersection. I know that the commissioners that have had the residents in that area as part of their district have actually spent a lot of time talking to residents out there. about traffic control at that intersection in light of what the proposed construction costs would be for that roundabout. And it is slightly complicated because of the way that intersection is slightly offset. Engineering is also, at the same time, they're looking at design for the roundabout, looking at what a signalized intersection would look like. And that would be a more traditional traffic intersection with lights instead of the roundabout. When we know that number, we'll bring it back to you. And then we can reallocate those funds if the Commission decides that the roundabout is not the way that they want to go and would prefer a signalized intersection there. We're also waiting, we're working with Texas Parks and Wildlife on the $5 million grant that Senator Hinojosa helped us secure for some expansion of Bales Road and property around Quinta Mazatlan. Traffic and engineering are working on plans for signalizing Bales Road, which would allow pedestrians to cross the street there and then be able to walk from the Center for Urban Ecology to hotels closer to Wichita or have access to the mall, things like that. Supporting environmentally friendly modes of transportation and access to additional hotels to support any conventions or functions that are happening at the new center. In terms of impact to the budget right now, we don't think there's any need to change what has been appropriated, but we do want to make sure that you know that staff is working on those alternatives, and we will bring those to you during the budget year. We will have, as part of the meeting this afternoon, the first reading of the proposed tax rate. This was a very challenging year for municipalities across the state of Texas. New exemptions coming online. a concerted effort and we applaud Austin for doing this on the part of the state to bring down property taxes and valuations but that also puts strain on local economies just like in your homes your businesses it takes money to run your budgets the same is true for cities and so as the city grows and in and the cost of providing services increases over time, we have to be cognizant of ensuring that we will always have adequate sources of revenue to cover the services that our citizens demand, which is partly why, as part of the conversation today, we wanted to present the citizen survey results, community survey results, because that is something that we look at very carefully as we're thinking and making recommendations to you. on what is important to the residents and making sure that we're providing them their expectations of what McAllen is. And we're very proud of what this community is. And I would just note for the commission that this year in the budget that we propose you adopt, a one-day operating expense for the city of McAllen will be $461,758 with a general fund balance of 236 days based on the budget as it is written. I'd be happy to address any questions you have.

What is the minimum of days that we need to have the... 140 days.

So we're approximately 100 days in excess of our required minimum fund balance.

I appreciate it, Mr. City Manager, to bring up the issue about the $4.6 million that's budgeted for the roundabout around 2nd Street and I guess it would be Wisconsin or Auburn Road, however you want to call it. Is there a way... maybe off the top of your head or maybe through some memo later to kind of give us a breakdown because, you know, what is the largest cost associated with that, you know, or with time, maybe have engineering or this breakdown of what that cost was. In my history, with the typical traffic signal controlled intersection, it's $150,000, $200,000. I mean, that number sticks in my mind. This is about five, six years ago. Maybe it's more now.

Yeah.

But that's one of the things that said, hey, you know what? That's important to know.

Part of the challenge at that intersection is the alignment and the engineering that's required to put that infrastructure together. What I would propose is, as we continue to work through this, and this particular intersection has been part of the general conversation the commission has had about traffic circles for a number of years now, is that we bring this one back to you and show you the alternative designs and what traffic flow would look like with the alternative designs. And you can see dollar for dollar what a signalized traffic would get you in terms of traffic movement as compared to a roundabout, and then we can make a decision based upon the economies, just what makes sense.

I mean, I know Eduardo's here. I don't mean to put him on the spot, but what's the biggest number associated with that? Go ahead.

So I don't know if I need a microphone. You do. So part of the, there's no left turns, so first you gotta widen for the left turns. There's no drainage. The other thing, if I take you a step back, that project was put into the budget two years ago in two separate forms. The first one was just looking to get the road widened from Trenton all the way to Hobbs. And so some of that widening is taking place with that cost estimate. And so you have, if you look at the extents, east, west, north, south, it's just not at the intersection. It's putting in the infrastructure for drainage. There's no curb and gutter right now. So right now you have valley gutters and rural drainage system right now. And so that would be an upgrade to that system. And then it would be the roundabout on top of that. If we were just looking at the roundabout, we could probably do that at a reduced cost. And so right now we're breaking down numbers. If we pair that down just to a roundabout, um if we pair that signal i would still need to widen out for left-term bays and so there's a cost that i would have to do to have that function properly or efficiently i mean i could make it work properly even without left-term base but to make it work efficiently for the area So we're kind of working those scenarios out for the city manager, and we'll present those to them and get it in a memo format or whatever format is necessary.

But you're going to be utilizing funding to expand the road going north-south regardless, correct? Yes, sir. At some point in time, we would.

Curb and gutter. Drainage all that's gonna be done all the same time.

Yes, it's much more than just calling it around We won't we won't get all the way this doesn't take us all the way to Trenton But it does extend out a good distance there would be a minor gap To get to Trenton.

Could we also when whenever you get to where you're bringing in financial components? also bring us some information on studies or whatnot that TxDOT or TML or whoever may provide regarding roundabout versus traditional signalized intersections so that we can understand the functionality in addition to the financial component?

That exists. We're happy to bring that to the Commission. Most of that conversation centers around safety.

There's various non-financial matters that go into that conversation, so we just need to look at it as a complete picture.

Happy to bring that as part of that conversation, absolutely. Did you ever get a chance to go to Auburn?

No, I've gone. That's the most beautiful thing. Yeah, no, I've gone through that. The only one I think still that's ever been in an accident is me.

As far as I know.

There's exceptions to every rule, Matt.

It just would be nice to have some more formalized information regarding comparison between the two versus just our subjective experience.

We can absolutely bring that back. Thank you, Mr. Seaman. Yes, sir.

It was brought up two years ago, three years ago. of the functionality of the roundabouts compared to a signal light and everything. But it is good now that we're taking action to bring it all back.

Yeah, it's been a long time since we've talked about those studies here in a workshop, so I think it's appropriate that we do that again, maybe in a slightly abbreviated form from how we did it before, but we have some new members of the commission that haven't heard that, and I think it's always good to remind the community at the same time.

And again, it's much more than just the corridor. Of the intersection. Okay. But, yeah, we'll look at it.

So much of what we do in terms of infrastructure is something that the majority of our citizens don't see. They're assets that are buried underground but serve very critical roles in the functioning of infrastructure. of everything that we do. We're happy to bring that explanation.

Curb and gutter, it does not have curb and gutter right now. It's being drainage is valley gutters. So the improvement that would be made would be if we do it. That's why we'll look at it.

But we're happy. We're in the process of breaking all that down. We want to bring that to you so that we make the most informed decision that we can. Transparency with the public is tantamount.

Great. Separately, now you brought up funding on the development corp, when is there a time that we might hear from officials running the development corp and or the free trade zone and get some kind of baseline information.

Yeah, let me meet with you offline. We can talk about Development Corp. That corporation is administered by the City Manager's Office. I met with Liz Suarez last Friday, and she'll be here in a couple of meetings to present some projects and programs that she has going on over at the Chamber and MEDC to talk about those. But we can certainly show you

uh... development corporation uh... how it's fun how it's funded uh... what the assets are with the projects they have in queue and happy to go over that with you so i recently got to join that board so uh... feeling my way through it appreciated that but i think commission perspective to look back on it would also be good information and then similarly because i don't i know that i've never seen really anything about it but talking about you know, the free trade zone and the other components that go into that entire process and trying to make sure that everybody's pulling in the same direction. We have these different organizations that are run by different people, and it would be good from a commission level that I think we understand those various components because they do operate independently of each other.

Yes, sir, and we are certainly happy to put together for, in an appropriate setting, a discussion of our economic development tool. Great. WHAT I REFER TO AS OUR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TOOLKIT. THANK YOU. ANY OTHER QUESTIONS?

IF NOT, LET'S MOVE ON.

YES, REAL QUICKLY. THE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION... NO, EXCUSE ME, I'M SORRY. THE SANITATION FUND BALANCE AND THE GENERAL DEPRECIATION FUND, ARE THOSE TWO FIGURES IN THE 109 MILLION?

Yes, sir.

They're included in the $109 million fund?

No, sanitation fund is not. Sanitation is enterprise.

So the sanitation depreciation fund is an additional $13.5 million? Yes, sir. That is not in the general fund. It's not in the general fund. Okay. But the general depreciation fund is. I don't think so either.

Two separate funds.

Okay, so there's an additional $13.5 million from the general depreciation fund and an additional $13.44 from the sanitation fund in addition to the $109.

Each of these are independent funds.

Yes, okay. Good. I just want public consumption to know that we have additional money for these types of funds.

and all we're showing you today are the funds that the commission made changes on or suggested changes as we went through the workshop process all of the funds combined have appropriations round numbers and we'll have that for you when the budget is presented but about 665 million dollars this year good Mayor, if there are no more questions, CESOD is here. We'd like to go over the results of the community, 2026 community survey. Again, these were compiled, reviewed by staff, and they are always top of mind as we are working through recommendations for the commission.

Well, good afternoon, City Commission. So I'm here. I'm glad to present the 2026 Community Survey results. We've been very lucky to have worked with ETC Institute. So they're a company that we've done surveys going back to 2015. Every four years, we've done a survey 2015, 2019, 2022, and now 2026. So we have historical data. for our services or for the city. So the survey itself was conducted from March March 27th through May 15th of 2026, so it's a month and a half. And it was conducted via mail, via phone, online, and through calls to residents throughout the city of McAllen. The survey benchmarks the city of McAllen's results versus Texas cities, 24 cities throughout Texas. And it also provides benchmarks at the national level looking at data from 7,600 individuals from throughout the country. So the survey had 602 survey respondents that reflect the demographics of the city. And you can see the points there represent individual respondents from throughout the city. They've essentially responded to 120 questions, so it was a lengthy survey. And the results came back at a 95% confidence level, position level. What that means is, this is a very scientific survey in terms that If we were to repeat the survey 100 times, 95% of the time the results will come back exactly the same within that 3.9%, give or take. And so a lot of the heavy work of the survey company that are making sure that our demographics of the city, as they're gathered by the census, match the age, race, ethnicity, gender, and income, to match those demographics versus the actual respondents. So bottom line up front, McAllen is part of an overall decrease in satisfaction from 2022 to 2026 seen throughout the country. Two items that have led to that. One of them is economic pressures, right? Residents do expect a quality of life based on And so whenever there's economic pressures on them, the expectations for services increase. The other item that has led to that is increase in dissatisfaction polarization fueled by social media. And I'll talk a little bit about that, some of the metrics that we saw there. But when you take a step back and take a look at the city of McAllen's results versus our peers at the state level or even at the national level, you'll see that McAllen is rated much above the U.S. average in 53 of 63 areas, which is something to be proud about. And residents have a very positive perception of McAllen. 84% are very satisfied with McAllen as a place to live. 82% are satisfied with McAllen as a place to raise a family, which bodes well for this community. And then I'll get into the top overall priorities. These are based off of rankings on importance and satisfaction rankings. So the big insight is how are people actually receiving information from the city? And you'll see that social media, the consumption of information about the city has increased since the last four years. 23% has gone towards social media. And as you can see, it's... That's been done at a detriment to television, which is down 15%, local newspaper down 19%, radio down 6%. And so that tells you that there's been a paradigm shift in how people actually consume information and how we as a city should take a look at how we interact with the public. So as I mentioned, residents have a very positive perception of the city. Perception is 84% are very satisfied with McAllen as a place to live, 82% as a place to raise children, and 75% overall are satisfied with the quality of life here in McAllen. Regarding major categories, 80% are satisfied with public safety. So that public safety is your big category that includes fire, police, EMS services. 69% are satisfied with parks and recreation programs and facilities, and 67% are satisfied with customer service received from city employees. Regarding feelings of safety, 88% are satisfied with feeling of safety in their neighborhood during the day. 77% overall in the city. Some of the, on the lower side, you will see traveling by bicycle on the lower end, and also feelings of safety downtown after dark. Regarding benchmarking, this is, benchmarking is how we compare to our peers. McAllen rates above the U.S. average in 53 of 63 areas and above the state in 58 of 63 areas. So when you take a step back and take a look at where we are at versus our peers, we're doing very well. And so you'll see the McAllen performance versus our peers. You'll see McAllen in the dark blue lines there. National average In the pink line and in the lighter blue, the Texas average, McAllen rates 20% above the U.S. average in regards to public safety, 30% in regards to customer service, and 16% above the U.S. average when it comes to city communication, which is something to be very proud of, our performance versus our peers at the national level. 29% as a place to live, above the US average, and 25% as a place to raise children, to raise a family, which is a very good percentage. So what are the top priorities according to the 602 respondents? So we asked them, what should our city leaders focus on? And they included, the top three were traffic and congestion management. Second was maintenance of city streets. And third was storm water, storm water management system. So the survey company was able to provide us some rankings based both on importance, so the importance ranking is what residents find of value, and the satisfaction is their actual performance in terms of how satisfied are they WITH THE SERVICE. AND FOR OVERALL PRIORITIES, THE TOP FOUR INCLUDE TRAFFIC, SECOND IS STORM WATER, THIRD IS CITY STREETS, AND FOURTH IS ENFORCEMENT OF CITY CODES AND ORDINANCES. For maintenance priorities, the top three include traffic flow on major city streets, timing of traffic signals. Number three is pedestrian accessibility. And you'll see four coming in at street lighting for illumination in neighborhoods and sidewalks and other items after that. For public safety category, number one is quality of animal care services. Number two is visibility of police in neighborhoods. And number three, you'll see disaster preparedness public education. Essentially the education that comes from educating the public on how to prepare for any emergencies like hurricanes or other type incidents. This same data, you can take a look at it from a matrix standpoint. On the x-axis, you can see importance ratings. On the y-axis, you can see satisfaction ratings regarding major categories, regarding maintenance services, and regarding public safety. The other element of the survey results is we also requested open-ended comments. So we had a question about, you know, what feedback in general do you have for this city on improvements of your services? And when we filtered for the top items, we looked at some of the feedback we got was about traffic congestion, signal timing and traffic flow, drainage and flooding, street maintenance and infrastructure, animal care services, water utilities, code enforcement. lighting, especially illumination, whether it's at parks or in neighborhoods, parks and recreation itself, public safety, walkability and bike lanes, and the communication, the customer service that we provide on the government side. So each department, based off of these results, provided an action plan for some of these items. So for traffic flow and congestion, we have... YOU'LL NOTICE THE AREA, AND THIS IS SOMETHING THAT CAME UP DURING THE 2022 SURVEY, THE AREA AROUND I-2, THE IMPROVEMENTS THERE, AND THE DEPARTMENT WILL BE TAKING A LOOK AT CONTINUING WITH TRAFFIC CONGESTION SIGNAL TIMING STUDIES, EAST-WEST CORRIDOR SIGNAL TIMING STUDIES IN THE FUTURE. WORKING WITH AP ON LIGHTING, STREET LIGHTS BY DISTRICT, AND A FIVE-YEAR PLAN FOR PAVEMENT MARKINGS AND MAINTENANCE THROUGHOUT THE CITY. FOR STORM WATER, THIS IS A PROJECT This is a project that Public Works and Engineering works on. On the Public Works side, some of the performance measures, the KPIs, are cleaning storm inlets and cleaning storm sewer manholes throughout the year. And the Engineering Department will continue to take a look at potential projects based on master drainage studies and long-range planning tools. FOR MAINTENANCE OF CITY STREETS, AGAIN, THAT'S SOMETHING THAT PUBLIC WORKS AND ENGINEERING TAKE ON. ON THE ENGINEERING SIDE, THEY TAKE ON IN TERMS OF WORKING CLOSELY WITH THE COUNTY AND TECH START PARTNERS ON THE PUBLIC WORK SIDE BY ADDRESSING POTHOLES AND PATCHING FOR LONG-TERM MAINTENANCE IN NEIGHBORHOODS AND MAJOR STREETS. For code enforcement, one of the items that came up was, for example, For example, the demolition of substandard structures. We know they do a good job taking that project on, doing that kind of work. But the matter of tooting their own horn, letting the public know that code enforcement is doing the work is also important. And that can be resolved simply by taking on public service announcements, letting the public know that they're out there, taking on these top priorities, whether it's high grass accumulation of junk, abandoned vehicles, or removal of those dilapidated structures. For pedestrian accessibility, METRO, AGAIN, THIS IS A PROJECT THAT BOTH PUBLIC WORKS AND METRO TAKE ON, BUT METRO IS ACTUALLY WORKING ON A TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT FEASIBILITY STUDY. AND THERE WAS ONE NEIGHBORHOOD THERE, I DON'T KNOW IF YOU CAN TELL RIGHT THERE IN THE MIDDLE, THERE'S AN ORANGE SQUARE WHERE THE FEEDBACK WAS WE'D LIKE TO SEE MORE SIDEWALKS OR UPDATED SIDEWALKS. And so that area is one of the areas that Metro's actually taking a look at for their transit-oriented development. Some of their consultants are actually taking a look at that area, specifically North 23rd Street. And so it goes hand-in-hand with our long-range planning of improvements there. For animal care services, one of the issues is illegal dumping of dogs in rural areas, and you can see that in the northwest part of the city. And for that, it's a matter of, one, connecting with the community, making sure they report that kind of thing, but also putting up cameras to be able to capture some of this illegal dumping of animals, and then building trust with the community so people can report any issues that might be happening regarding animal care. Regarding visibility of police in neighborhoods, one of the areas, you'll see it there, the feeling of safety downtown after dark. This is something that the police department will adapt staffing in the downtown area in accordance with adopted revitalization plans. You can see from the map there some of the orange areas and some of the neutral areas regarding feelings of safety downtown. Regarding emergency management education, so this is something that keeps coming in at either third or fourth place depending on the year. The idea of the game plan there is reach out to our customers using the various formats, whether it's delivering presentations citywide or sending out mailers or meeting customers where they're at, right, which is social media. or engaging directly with them to get them prepared for some of these potential disasters. Parks and Recreation came up more on the open-ended comments, and so some of the feedback we got from the public was regarding illumination at parks for safety, and more green space. You heard from the Parks Department regarding some of their plans regarding the project across the street from MARC, connecting hike and bike trails, upgrading park equipment, amenities in particular through CAP or grants, and then also updating the website, the park's website. And so in summary, we're in a good spot in terms of our numbers, how we're doing versus our peers. One of the things that I'll mention because THIS PHENOMENON OF SOCIAL MEDIA AND GETTING BAD FEEDBACK BECAUSE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT JUST UNIQUE TO OUR COMMUNITY. ONE OF THE THINGS I'LL MENTION IS THAT OTHER COMMUNITIES ARE ALSO DEALING WITH THAT, AND SO THERE'S TWO WAYS THAT I'VE SEEN COMMUNITIES ATTACK THAT. ONE IS EITHER BY BUILDING COMMUNITY, AND YOU CAN DO THAT EITHER THROUGH ONE-ON-ONE, RIGHT, The other way is building community through social media. And you've seen some of that work, that community building, for example, at La Cancha, right, where everybody came in, the entire community participated in this feeling of oneness, right? And then one-on-one, you see that every day through our programs. So that building a community is for sure the antidote to some of the negative aspects of social media and the polarization and all that. I'll end with that. Are there any questions regarding some of the results of the survey? Like I mentioned, we do this every four years. This time around, we got the results. We have the maps as well concerning the individual census tracts, but we also ASK FOR A VERY NICE DASHBOARD WHERE, FOR EXAMPLE, OUR GRANTS DEPARTMENT, OUR DEPARTMENTS CAN TAKE A LOOK AT THE DATA AND USE IT TO BE ABLE TO APPLY FOR GRANTS OR APPLY FOR POTENTIAL FUNDING DOWN THE LINE. SO ALL THIS DATA IS AVAILABLE TO THEM. LIKE I SAID, WE HAVE A DECADE'S WORTH OF INFORMATION AT THEIR FINGERTIPS WITH THIS INFORMATION.

No questions. Thank you, sir.

Great study. Wait. I said wait. So looking at the priorities, I imagine that this information, the data you're going to share with traffic, you're going to share it with public works, right, and code enforcement. But how is that going to be implemented for them to look at the data and to actually identify projects? Are you leaving it up to the department to do that?

Well, that's where the action plan comes in. So we've shared the information. So we've shared the information with the departments, and they've put together an action plan based off of that data.

And how soon can we expect, you know, like something concrete, like written or e-mail or something to say? In other words, I'd like to see how the data that we collected and spent the money on the survey is going to actually be implemented, and then within what cycle? Like how long? Are we looking at four or five months, six months?

It depends on the item. If it's something that can be addressed immediately, then we'll take that on and address it immediately. If it's something that needs to be worked into our long-term capital planning, then we take the feedback from the community and we work it into the long-term capital planning. One of the things that I attempted to do this year through the budget process was outline how we tackle a larger amount of capital improvement projects and address the concerns of the citizen and not develop projects that sit on a shelf waiting for implementation. uh... in the budget you've got uh... i think roughly round numbers a hundred twenty million dollars in i can't remember the exact number of capital improvement projects but one of the things that i've asked a challenge staff to do is to make sure that we are constantly making incremental progress of these so that we can get them ready I'm sorry 245 million dollars of projects so that we can get all of these moving eligible for grant funding whether it's through MPO EDA CDBG, whatever it might be, or move them along with funding we either have or debt capacity that we can secure in the near future. So we are happy to report back. The other thing CSER does is build all of this data into the strategic plan document that we write, and we use that document to track our progress on all the projects that come from the feedback that we receive. I'm trying to remember, if you're referring to the strategic business plan?

Yes, sir. Because I know it's kind of a big document. On those items, because I know they're little light items there, have those been identified where it came back as a result of the study?

I'll address that. So if you look at the goals, the main goals, they're all tied back to the results of this survey. So if you look at the last two or three years worth of those strategic business plans, the language that supports each of those goals is based off of the last cycle's numbers. That was four years. Four years. So this time around, I'll be updating that information based off of this data.

VERY GOOD. THANK YOU. GOOD ANSWER, MICHAEL.

EXCELLENT. BASED ON THE SURVEY, THE CITIZENS ARE DEMANDING MORE TRAFFIC CIRCLES. THEY WANT TO EASE CONGESTION. OKAY. WHAT DO WE HAVE NEXT? WE HAVE 15 MINUTES UNTIL EXECUTIVE SESSION. the workshop and we'll recess the workshop.

This concludes the workshop of the McAllen City Commission. Workshops are held on the second and fourth Monday of each month at 4 p.m. in the City Commission Chamber located on the third floor of McAllen City Hall. The public is always welcome to attend or view online. Thank you for staying informed and engaged with the City of McAllen.