City Council - workshop

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. Sinead, do we have any citizen comments?

No, sir, we do not.

Okay. City operations update. City manager.

Thank you, Mayor. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. We have three updates for you. I'd like to ask April to come up first for last month on ICTN. April.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. April Reiling, Director of Communications, pleased to present the June edition of Last Month on ICTN, which celebrates our new HEB coming into town. We had some fun with World Cup and, of course, coverage of the Irving Connector program.

Your ICTN team produced 36 videos in the month of June.

Our commitment isn't just inside the four walls. When we commit to a city, we're here as a great citizen to take care of the community.

The City of Urbans puts this event on every year like clockwork.

We're here to celebrate our freedom and just have a good time. There is no event like this event. You cannot go anywhere where you get this much steak, all included in your ticket.

The Lone Star Youth Orchestra has had so many opportunities, including performing prelude to the Las Colinas Symphony Orchestra. It's just so amazing.

Every country is different, but I'm happy that everyone is, in general, welcome to be here and cheer and celebrate Warsaw.

Today's match features two of the top doggos in the world. Germany's Zeus, a three-year-old German Shepherd. And from the USA, it's Taybone, a one-year-old American Bulldog.

You look so grown up and beautiful. Thank you, you look beautiful-er. Thank you. I feel like the overall theme would be how powerful the relationships between people can be. Do we want with blood or without blood? It's both in there.

We just love horror movies and we love selling and we love supporting the community. When you come and see live theater, you're right there. And we're right with you. And I think you will never get that anywhere else.

We're on the Connector 225 route here on the Irving Connector by Via. It mirrors the old Dart 225 route, which is perfect.

Stay up to date by subscribing to our YouTube channel at youtube.com slash the city of Irving.

Thank you.

All right. Thank you, April. Next, we have an update on our sparks and stripes with a recap.

Fantastic. Mayor Zabanta, council members, executive team, and all my colleagues. I'm Kyle Conway, special events supervisor for the Parks and Rec Department here in the city of Irving. I'm here to deliver a recap of a pretty incredible weekend that happened on July 1st. third and fourth, and I want to say that most of you participated either directly or indirectly in this event, so thank you for that. It was a little warm, but the weather cooperated, and in the special event world, that's all we need is a fighting chance, right? Just a little window. I'm going to start the presentation off with a really cool video that April and her group put together. Fantastic video. Thanks again to the communications folks. for doing that. This slide kind of talks a little bit about what I visited with you about a month ago, which was when I was here last month, we were talking about what we were planning on doing. And I'm happy to report that actually what we did plan to do, we did. And some of the highlights obviously are here. This slide has been updated with the actual shots from the drone show, from the pyrotechnics show. But just a real high-level recap, you know, the mayor's video, the national anthem, a perfectly timed flyover, two bands, a Texas Music Office presentation, the largest drone show we'd ever done, and then the largest and most complicated fireworks show that we'd ever attempted. And it went off very well. It's a screenshot from this Texas Music Office presentation. I know those of you that were here in Mayor and Council that participated, thank you for that. It was a little bit loud backstage, but we worked it out. That's Jeannie in the middle. She is from the Texas Music Office in Austin, and we visited with her. I think you all got to visit with her as well, but she said that this was probably the largest presentation of this certificate that the Music Office had done. And I think there's, I don't know, there's over 50 cities that have done this. But we blew it out here in Irving, which was fantastic. Again, a bit of a recap from last time that what we were planning on doing. And again, we did it. I visited last time with some operational people. Little operational changes. This shot down here in the bottom showing a little bit larger and more clear lanes, not only for our attendees to get where they wanted to go, but also from a public safety standpoint should there be an issue. And those maintain themselves for the most part. They did fill in. But obviously, the complimentary bottled water is always a big thing. We don't ever charge for that. We did increase. We doubled the amount of toilets, which came into play. We did some other operational things backstage, and then opening up some of the event grounds a little more than we had in 2025. We felt pretty confident we would need that extra space for attendees, and we were right. As you'll see here shortly, we absolutely definitely needed all the space that we could. It's a fantastic shot. The one on the left, 641 p.m. It was about 97, 98 degrees at that moment in time. We were a tad concerned about, you know, what time people were going to start showing up. But it was incredible. I think the first person came out around 2 o'clock and started setting up umbrellas and tents. And then obviously right at 9 o'clock, you know, we had – pretty much full capacity. And some of the logistical things that we did, we changed over from last year to this year, was kind of cleaning up this backstage. Those are the drones that are positioned right there. This is before they took off, obviously. The bathrooms were added. which opened up some of the additional space again that we definitely needed. I also want to point out at this point, when you look at a picture like this, you really got to think about the logistics and planning that it took to get A, those people in, and B, getting them out. And that is a huge undertaking by our police department, by fire, traffic. We had a lot of Parks and Rec staff that were staffing the parking garages. So it's just a monumental undertaking. But again, just really beautiful shots right there. Mayor? Having drones and pyrotechnics going off simultaneously is not something that happens all the time. This is fairly new technology. Needless to say, the communication between the drone company and the fireworks company is absolute paramount. Each one needs to know where the other ones are so that, you know, we don't lose any drones because those are expensive. And so this shot is a really good example of these two things happening simultaneously. This was new. This was something that we wanted to implement this year. I think it turned out really well. This was, as we talked about last time, this was a brand-new pyrotechnics vendor that we used. We'd never used them before. They had worked with our drone company before, and that's why we went to them. And they did a fantastic job, and, again, the two companies worked very well together. together. Another new thing that I'll point out is the pyrotechnics there that were shot on the promenade, that's never been done before, alongside with the other stuff that's shot out on the on the barges. And so when you have a drone show, people aren't really ready and looking forward to or see any sort of pyrotechnics coming. And so it provided a really interesting thing to what normally in a drone show is just music. I knew it was coming, and it scared me to death. And so I hope that was the case with you all as well. There we go. Another great shot of, again, shooting from the promenade there. Also, from the barges and back, from a perspective standpoint, it also is a really interesting and incredible viewing experience. Again, these are things new that we wanted to implement for the 250th. And when you're seeing it, you're not quite sure what you're seeing, but that's how that's accomplished. And again, incredible amount of precision and timing and planning on behalf of our amazing vendors. FOR THAT. ANOTHER AMAZING SHOT, OVERHEAD. I DON'T KNOW IF YOU ALL WERE ABLE TO NOTICE OR EVEN PAID ATTENTION TO THE AMOUNT OF PEOPLE that ring Lake Carolyn. It is staggering. It really is. And so, you know, we plan for our folks being right in the plaza and, and all of that logistics, but there is so much more that goes into it, especially if these folks, I know I'm sure a lot of them live there, but they're, you know, I'm sure a lot of them also had parties and stuff like that. So it's additional people coming in again. Another hats off to our fire and PD for getting these folks in and out and getting them safely. On to the parade. Again, the weather cooperated. It was warm, but it's July 4th, so there you go. It's what we expected, over 50 parade entries. We kept the route. nice and local. Last month went over watermelon and pies that were part of our sponsorship with H-E-B and then the ever famous pie eating contest. Talking about police and fire, but obviously this is a truly all-hands effort and everything that goes into an event this large. That is a list of the departments, and I hope we didn't leave anyone off. But, again, everybody plays a vital role in this, whether it's indirectly or directly. And I mentioned last time I was here, I've worked with a lot of cities, both as an employee and as a consultant, and most cities don't do it as good as Irving does. So, again, hats off to everybody on that. Sponsors are important, but for this event, the right sponsors are even more important. And so we wanted to keep it pretty local here and give a lot of exposure to just a few sponsors as opposed to having a whole bunch of sponsors that just get a very watered down amount of exposure. So those are actual shots. from the sky with the Caterpillar logo and the H-E-B logo and I've seen a bunch of drone shows and I've never seen or heard a crowd erupt in applause when a grocery store logo was flying over their heads. But if you remember that happened and it's pretty it's pretty unbelievable so just as a final note again you know if you see these these brands around town tell them thank you because they're supporting they're supporting us Final slide here, you got 2025 last year on the left and then 26. So you kind of see the operational and layout tweaks we did if you look backstage on both pictures. Obviously on the left, we opened up that area added some bathrooms, and, you know, it just made for just an amazing experience, as we had thought that we would have a larger attendee group. But, you know, stuff like this is... Most people don't pay attention to, and nor should you, because it's boring, but it makes a difference. And with the amount of planning that goes into things, you try your best to anticipate as much as possible what the event is going to need. But with the increased drones and the increased fireworks show, the the mayor's video with the national anthem with the jet flyover i mean all of this stuff was just it was planned uh... but more importantly it was executed and you know there's always room for improvement on things like this specially of this size uh... but you know great vendors great partners is what makes this happen but nothing more important than the employees of the city of Irving. It's amazing how many there are, and it's amazing how good they are. They do their regular jobs, but then they transform into something completely different when it comes to putting on this event. Lots of room for improvement. I've asked a lot, but I'll ask again if there's, please let me know if you have some thoughts on ways, some things that you saw, because we all can't possibly be everywhere. I think my notes, note page is up to seven pages of notes for next year. And so I have one more little treat for you from the the communications department, and the last thing I'll say is the August 4th recap, or the recap is August 4th for this. It's already on the books.

Irving's very own all-funk radio show had residents and visitors from across North Texas feeling it at one of the most historic Sparks and Stripes ever.

We have live music, but just, you know, be able to enjoy each other's company.

This is the first time I've been here. This is the most popular event in Irving.

We liked it last time we came, and I heard it's going to be bigger and better this year because it's 2015.

This Sparks and Stripes was a big one. You could feel it in the air between the savory dishes and ice cold desserts. People didn't have to beat the heat for too long for what came next.

I like the airplanes. I hear the airplanes are gonna be pretty sweet.

There were stars in residents' eyes as the stripes flew across the sky, delivered by decommissioned military jets.

We're gonna shuffle a little bit. We came to celebrate. Happy birthday, America. Come on, Irving, let's go.

And as headliner Kafei Anderson took the stage, it was easy to see two and a half centuries of American pride on display. What does tonight mean to you?

We have an opportunity to continue the American experience. Still being lived out. Right here, I mean, look at this. Peaceful celebration, unity. Even though we don't all agree politically, we're just so grateful for the city, the state, and the country.

As someone that actually did go in the Marine Corps and I served for five years, it does mean a lot to me. I have never seen a drone show before, so I'm excited for that and obviously the fireworks.

And that show came after sundown, as 700 drones and more than 1,600 firework shots lit up the night sky. It was a sparks and stripes to remember, where the joy of America's today and the hope for America's tomorrow converged right here in Irving.

Really hope we focus on the children, because obviously they're the future. 50 years, my daughter's going to be here, you know, and I probably won't be, but hopefully it's just a better future for our kids, really.

We are so proud to be in this time. This is a historical moment for our country and for our city.

We are that city. We are the most diverse city in Texas. And guess what? This is about our American dream. For CitySource, I'm Nick Long.

Great recap.

Comments, anybody? I just have a question if you can go back to the slides where we can see the comparison between both years. What is your estimated number of people, 2025 versus 2026? What was the increase there?

We have a staff in the Parks and Rec that's really good with artificial intelligence. But we actually took these pictures and put them in. And the 2025 estimate is about 18,000. The 2026 estimate is about 25,000. And that's just in Levy Event Plaza. And again, it's an estimate. There's no possible way to know exactly what those numbers are. And if you really want to look at the whole picture, you look at all the way around Lake Carolyn.

No, that's what I was asking. I figured you wouldn't count them one by one. That would take a minute. No.

It would take a minute. Yeah, that would be a ticketed event, things like that, and obviously we don't charge for this event, and so it's purely speculation.

You were saying suggestions maybe for the float. We still ran out of candy, though. I mean, that's – We need a candy sponsor. Yeah, I mean, HEV, you know, candy.

Noted.

No, but great work. Excellent stuff. Anybody else at the council like to say? I mean, it was a really, I couldn't even walk without trying not to step on somebody. It was so crowded. I mean, it was just fantastic. And I just have to tell you, it really makes you feel like you're part of a great country. And to separate and do it, 250th anniversary, I mean, it doesn't get any better. So thank you for just a great, Joe, where are you? Don't be hiding on me, Joe. Thank you, my man. And April, thank you. I mean, you know, our communications is just getting better every time you're up there doing it. So thank you again. Any other comment? Yes, excuse me, go ahead.

I just want to echo what Mayor is saying. You guys delivered a phenomenal event. I spoke to so many residents that were there. They were loving it. They were enjoying it. We were loving it. What was really phenomenal was everybody that was volunteering and working that night, and then they showed up again next morning. with cheers and smiles on their faces, delivering another great event. So very, very impressed by the team. Great job done. Hats off to you guys. Thank you. Thank you. Let me, go ahead.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Kyle, and thank you to Joe, your entire team, and to every single employee that was out there for a very long two days, but a very successful two days. Thank you for all your hard work. and making sure that our residents have a great experience, because that's what this is for and that's what this is all about. I know there's always after action components, there's always something we can change and fix and I appreciate The meeting coming up to walk through some of those. The one that I wanted to bring up here is the next night on July 4th, I actually ordered some takeout from the Italian Cafe, and as I was driving over to pick it up, I saw all these cars driving down Las Colinas Boulevard. And after I picked up my food, I drove down to Levy Event Plaza and there were hundreds of people going in and parking and waiting for the fireworks on July 4th. Is there maybe a way we can talk about it in our after action to put some maybe messaging or some message boards out there saying, sorry, y'all missed it. Look forward to seeing you next year type of thing. But there were And I talked to Hammond, and Hammond said that they had estimated that there was over 1,000 people that showed up the next night. So I think maybe to help them out and get to another area if they wanted to see some fireworks, but just a thought. It's good to know that we're that popular that they were showing up again for round two the next night.

Thank you.

Yeah, I think, well, first of all, I don't know what If any of you saw on the access road south of 114 up along the knoll all the way from MacArthur to Rochelle, hundreds of people, maybe thousands of people that were up there camping. I mean, it had to be more than 25, maybe 26, 27 when you start putting it out there, but What a real home run. And so I want to thank you for that. And thank everybody. I mean, this is something, so everybody out there, everybody having a good time. And we got a little bit lucky. It was hot, but we had a little bit of a breeze, so that kind of helped us all. But you know, it's an interesting point, Chris, what you brought up. And that is, you know, we're all used to celebrating on the 4th of July. And I don't know other than the parade was part of it, but maybe we ought to think about doing something else because it just fell on a Saturday. Maybe on that occasion we could have done a little bit of something. I don't know what that is, but that's something you all might think about. I just think that you hate to not have. a session that we started on Friday the 3rd and here's 4th of July and everything just went smoothly and everybody, by the way, the parade had a great, a lot of people along the parade route. I thought that was also a big win. And at the end of the day, I think I saw Ahmed out there trying to give candy to kids and so where's my police officer? I'm going to yank him back on the float and not let him do that. That's a safety violation, by the way. So where's the chief? Don't let him do it again. Okay. Other than that, I just want to thank you all. Any comments? Anybody from our friends that are here? Anybody want to stand up and say something? Okay. Well, let me give you some insights that I got from people as I was walking through there. They asked for the first aid tent. And I don't know if we had one, but people are used to looking for a first aid tent. That might be something that we may want to think about so that people can come in, maybe co-located or close to where we have the port-a-pot, these things of that sort. It's just a feedback that I got. And I think that was number one. But at the end of the day, I don't really have anything more to say. Anybody? Sinead, you're quiet. You're smiling. Where's my chief of fire? Right there. Chief, come on up here. Your guys did a great job. Do you want to say any comments on this?

Even though we had fireworks, I know you handled that pretty well. I just think we need more candy. Yeah. No, it's an amazing show. I've heard a lot of people brag about all the things that were going on. I don't know. that the whole Metroplex has gotten worried about what Irving is doing, but I think a large majority has, and that's why you're going to see bigger and bigger crowds. I think we addressed 95-plus percent of the concerns at that venue. Joe and his team, excellent job. There's really nothing negative that I can say about the event. It's all positive. So congratulations to the city of Irving, and I look forward to better events as we move forward. Thank you, Mayor. Chief, may I have you up here?

Did we have any incidents where people were coming looking for our EMS or a site where they either were sun-stroked or had some kind of medical emergency? Did you all have any?

We have a lot of medics roaming throughout the crowd on bikes, e-bikes. We've also got our off-road ambulance out there, and we did have a tent there. I think maybe we need to make it more visible, something in the air with the cross on it, you know, and let people know that the medical tent's where it's at. There's always minor injuries and getting overheated and stuff like that, but all in all, it was very successful. I really thought so. Great music.

The only last comment I'll say, people were wanting to hear it. They were way in the back part, and I think that's another one. All this is not anything other than to say, hey, great, we learn every time we do this. Thank you.

And if I could make a couple more comments, just real quick. There was a first aid tent, and I think the chief is right. I think with crowds like this, we're going to have to look at getting signage up in the air. There was a lot of signage on the ground, but at some point, whenever you start getting the crowds that we had, that signage is only good for a couple of hours, and then it just basically is gone away. I heard of, I think, four overheatings, four people that were overheated that Nobody was transported or anything like that. They were sat and given fluids and things like that, and there was no issues, which is phenomenal.

Where was the tent located? Oh, towards the entrance.

Yes, sir. Okay, over in here. Yes, over there.

Okay.

That's where the water was being distributed, the fine water, and so around this area is kind of our central command.

Okay. All right, Luis, you want the last comment? Just one comment. I mean, you mentioned 25,000 people. That's about, maybe some come from outside the city, but still it's 10% of our total population almost. And that's an incredible achievement. So congratulations on that. And in my view, whenever we organize city events, this is what we should be looking to achieve. Because sometimes it seems like we do events where 40 people and it's always the same 40 people and it's like, okay, what is the value for the residents here if it's always the same small networks that show up to them? This is incredible. This is exactly something that also helps build the identity of Irving and a pride in our city. So congratulations, thank you for that, and I hope we can do not just July 4th, but maybe some more things like this. This is definitely worth it.

Great. We look forward to your help in finding a sponsor or two. How's that? Okay. Thank you, everybody. Appreciate it very much. Okay. Next, I think we've got Texas Municipal Courts.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council, Jennifer Buzorgnia, Court Services Director. This afternoon, I have the privilege of recognizing someone whose leadership reflects not only excellence in the judiciary, but also the city of Irving's deep commitment to public service. Earlier this month, our presiding judge, Michael Acuna, was named the 2026 Jurist of the Year by the Texas Municipal Courts Association. This is one of the association's highest honors, presented annually to a municipal judge who exemplifies integrity, judicial excellence, leadership, and a steadfast commitment to the fair administration of justice. Out of all of the municipal judges serving communities across Texas, this year's honoree is right here in Irving. As many of you know, Judge Acuna joined Irving during a pivotal time in our court's history, as an entirely new judiciary came together with an opportunity to build a strong foundation for the future. From the very beginning, Judge Acuna has led with humility, collaboration, and an unwavering commitment to fairness. He understands that every case represents a person and that every interaction with the court is an opportunity to strengthen public trust. His partnership with our judiciary, court staff, prosecutors, law enforcement, and city leadership has helped foster a culture where judicial independence, operational excellence, and exceptional customer service work hand in hand. Judge, this recognition reflects not only your outstanding service on the bench, but also your character, integrity, and leadership you bring to our court every day. On behalf of our entire City of Irving team, many of which are represented in the audience today, Thank you for your partnership and your unwavering commitment to serving our residents with fairness, integrity, and compassion. Congratulations on being named our 2026 Texas Municipal Courts Association Jurist of the Year. We're super proud of you.

Great.

Good afternoon, Mayor Sponta and honorable members of the council. Thank you very much for inviting me to be here this afternoon. To be selected as Outstanding Jurist of the Year by a statewide organization representing all those who serve in the over 900 municipal courts across the state is a humbling experience, and I'm grateful for this honor. This award is a shared recognition for everyone with whom I'm blessed to serve at the Irving Municipal Court. Our team members have faced numerous challenges, but they have triumphed over them through hard work and a commitment to a shared vision of what our court can be. We have more work to do, but I am confident that we will continue to enhance our court procedures for the good of all in compliance with the law. I am very fortunate to be their presiding judge, and I'm thankful to be here. Thank you all. This moment would not be possible without a few people I'd like to especially recognize. The first one is my amazing wife, Kathy. She's not here this afternoon, but I need to recognize her. She has endured me missing dinners, after-hours calls, late arrivals, and other personal sacrifices due to my job. As public servants, we knowingly sign up for these obligations, but our loved ones do not. Yet her support has never wavered, and words cannot express the depth of my gratitude to her. Another is my colleague, our honorable court administrator, Jennifer Bezorgnia, along whom I am honored to serve. Her generosity in sharing her expertise and her willingness to participate in a collaborative effort to more effectively serve those who enter our court is a blessing for which I am profoundly grateful. I greatly treasure our ability to meaningfully and honestly communicate.

Thank you, Jennifer.

I am also immensely appreciative of Jennifer's leadership, clerical, and city marshal teams. I'm also deeply thankful for the support and collaboration with my judicial colleagues, Judge Michael Huebner and Judge Jeffrey Cornell, my administrative assistant, Ms. Priscilla Pena, Chief Miller, his leadership team at IPD, Mr. Hellman, Rachel Wood, KO, Janet Spugnardi, and their prosecution team led by Mr. Matthew Salima. The accomplishments of the last year and nine months would not have been possible without their cooperation and help. It is much easier to succeed when you work in conjunction with a superlative team, and I do. I am mindful that as our state legislature recognized in House Concurrent Resolution 75, which passed during the 23 legislative session, more people encounter municipal courts than any other type of court. And their experience in the municipal court affects their perception of the greater Texas judicial system. I recall the legislature also stated the resolution that municipal courts play a vital role in preserving public safety protecting the quality of life for area residents and deterring future criminal behavior i am most grateful for the support of the city council i praised you when i first arrived for creating an atmosphere of courtesy professionalism and collaboration and i still feel the same way being appointed as presiding judge by you has been the greatest honor of my professional career I remain cognizant of the enormous trust and responsibility you placed in me to serve as presiding judge, to lead the court, and to ensure that we administer justice in a fair and transparent manner in adherence to the law while treating everyone with dignity and respect. It's an honor to be recognized for work you love to do. President Coolidge stated no person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he has given. I'm grateful for this honor, recognizing past achievement, but please know it will inspire me to keep giving during all future endeavors. Thank you very much for inviting me to be here this afternoon. Thank you.

Thank you, Judge Vicuna. I'd like to have your team, and if your judges are here, if they would either come on up so everybody can see them.

Sir, yes, here they come. Judge Huebner, Judge Cornelius.

Jennifer, do you want to invite your people up too, please?

Let's have all the court staff come on up.

Come on in.

Our court crew is coming up.

There they are. So first here, Mayor, we have Judge Michael Huebner and Judge Jeffrey Cornell.

Great.

All these illustrious folks are folks who work in Jennifer's... April, I know you got a photo...

ready to go, right?

Thank you. And prosecution.

You can just move them all the way. Keep going all the way over, Judge. Come on over. I wanted to do this because we don't get to see you all very often, and it's really important that we know who's behind our judicial system here.

Great, thank you.

Judge, thank you.

Okay, thank you. This is really an inspirational day so far. So let's see if we can get into the more, I don't want to say mundane things, but things we're going to have to get into here to have the preparation for our council tonight. Okay, at this point, do you have any comments before I get into the regular? Okay, at this point, For those of you, I'm gonna introduce my granddaughter. Okay, so she's my oldest granddaughter. She's over there with Kayo and Janet. Thank you, Samantha Brockett. And she's now a sophomore at University of Texas A&M. And she's, you know. I may have to talk to her a little bit more because she wants to be a lawyer, so she's doing pre-law. So I put her over there with our pros. And so either you really got her going or I'm not sure what's going to come out of it. But thank you very much for doing that. And so she wanted to see what we were all about. Well, here it is. Okay. We're going to be going into – there's no city operations update at this point. Yep.

Okay.

Thank you. Item number two, public hearing. Public hearing to gather input on the 2026-2027 annual action plan submission for the use of federal funds from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. Administrative comments? Do we have any?

We do have a brief presentation.

Okay. We're ready. Who's going to do this? Lisa. Okay.

Good afternoon. Delisa Gerling, Community Development Manager. Tonight is also the public hearing for residents to speak on. So tonight, today's the second and our final public hearing for the annual action plan. I'll just go briefly over the budget, our consolidated plan, action plan process, proposed budget, and our public service allocations and our next steps. So if you're not aware, the community development side of the Community and Economic Development Department is funded through grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. We receive very little general funds for our department, our division. The city of Irving is considered an entitlement city due to the city's population, number of residents in poverty, number of overcrowding, and many other factors. The city receives the following grants through the entitlement process since 1999. We've been receiving the Community Development Block Grant, the Home Investment Partnership Grant, Emergency Solutions Grant. So as an entitlement city, we must complete a five-year consolidated plan yearly, excuse me, with a yearly action plan and associated yearly budget. During this annual process, the city engages the community with two public hearings and a 30-day public comment period. The city staff works with the Housing and Human Services Board to create the annual budget, and then the completed action plan is forwarded to city council for approval to be submitted to HUD for their approval no later than August 15th to begin spending funds on October 1st. So to get resident feedback during this process, the city staff holds two public hearings and a 30-day public comment period. We advertise in the Irving Rambler newspaper the public hearings on April 18th and the proposed budget on May 30th, as well as on our website and on email for those residents who enrolled into the city's listserv program. From previous resident feedback, this year we held our first public hearing on a Saturday morning on May 2nd. The 30-day comment period began on June 16th and it will end this Friday and July 17th at the close of business. Anyone who still wishes to submit comments may do so. I'll go quickly over our grants that we receive. Community Development Block Grant or CDBG is our most flexible grant we receive. No more than 20% of the funds can be used for administration and the city uses these funds for our in-house rehabilitation program where qualifying residents may receive assistance with home repairs such as a new roof or plumbing or electrical. The city also uses these funds to enhance qualified recreational centers or update playgrounds in eligible areas as well as funding public service agencies. This is where the city is able to provide up to 15% of CDBG funds to area non-profit agencies to assist community programs. The Home Investment Partnership Grant or HOME. This grant provides decent and affordable housing for low to moderate income households. No more than 10% of funds can go to administration. The city uses these funds for our down payment assistant program for first-time qualified homebuyers and for the creation of affordable housing, as well as we partner with the Community Housing Development Organizations, or CHODOs, to rehabilitate or construct affordable housing for our community. The ESG or emergency solution grant, this is our most restricted fund as well as our smallest grant. No more than seven and a half percent can go to administration. The city focused these funds on our rapid rehousing program. This program rapidly rehouses homeless individuals and families into apartment and assist with rent for up to one year. So for the upcoming fiscal year, the city will receive approximately $3.2 million in the funds for all three of these grants together. As you can see, there was a slight increase in these grants from last year. HUD notifies the city annually of our funding amounts so that we can set our budget through the annual action plan process. Funding amounts can vary from year to year, so we have to be flexible because the community development side of the department depends on these funds for the program and staffing cost. Since we depend on these funds, programs offered and staff time are restricted to the eligible activities that HUD allows and those eligible activities we describe in our annual action plan. This is our proposed budget for this coming year. In CDBG, we would use these funds for administration, home rehabilitation, public services, the repayment of the Section 108 loan, public facilities, housing services, and site development. In home, we'd be using these funds for administration, the total reserve, and the creation of affordable housing, which does include down payment and the creation of affordable housing. And ESG, we'd be using these funds for administration and rapid rehousing cost. As I mentioned before, we can provide up to 15% of CDBG funds for our area non-profit providers in the Irving community. This is a competitive process where the City solicitates applications and the applicants interview with the Housing and Human Services Board and then the Board determines the allocations to be included in the recommended budget. At the last night's Housing and Human Services board meeting, the board did approve the action plan and the associated budget to be presented to city council for final approval at next council meeting. The recommendations were to include these three agencies, Irving Cares, the Visiting Nurses Association, and My Possibilities. So our next step, once the public comment period concludes, staff will finalize the action plan and present at the council on July 30th. And then we will present the plan and submit it to HUD before August 15th for their approval. And there is still time for public comments. We have until Friday to close of business to be submitted to Patty Denko at pdenko at irvingtx.gov. And you can find the full document at our website under the publication and reports web page under the action plan tab. Any questions?

Okay. Councilman? Dennis?

Yeah, I got several questions, and also a request, and probably won't happen again, but would you please not have a public hearing on the day of an election? Because the public hearing that you had, the first one happened on May 2nd, the day of the election, that morning, which is probably why you got no comments. So just kind of keep that in mind as we plan these type of events. Not a criticism, just a concern, just so you know. The 2025 action plan, as it relates to the home ARP $2 million, is it a non-courting gun shelter or domestic violence shelter? Which one of those is on the 2025 plan for that money?

I'm not... I'd have to go back and look at the 2025 one.

Because it was my understanding that the 2025 plan, that $2 million is still for a non-congregate shelter. So I assume in the 2026 plan, that's being changed to go to the domestic violence shelter.

It should be. So on this action plan, it only goes over those three grants. For the Home ARP, we have a separate allocation plan for that one. Right.

I understand that. But it's part of your action plan.

They're two separate documents.

Not in this one.

So in the action plan, we have to ask or answer certain questions of how we're addressing homelessness. So there is made reference to the Home ARP allocation. Right. We did update this year's action plan to reflect that the non-congregate shelter is going to be limited to the DV per the direction of council. Last year, I don't believe at that time we had updated it and it still had it as just the non-congregate shelter at that time as the acquisition. It wasn't updated there. To answer your question.

So that means that As of this very moment, that $2 million can be used to go toward a non-congregate shelter, not a domestic violence shelter.

So two things. It's going towards a non-congregate shelter. Right. And how that money is administered is per the Home Art Plan. We only make inclusion of it in this plan just to show all efforts that are happening. So this document doesn't dictate how the home art dollars are used. We're just showing all efforts. What dictates the home art dollars is the home art plan. We do need to update our home art plan to say that we are now limiting our non-congregate shelter to serve the DV population. We have not gone through that substantial amendment yet due to the timing of conversations that we've had regarding ensuring we have funding to build it. So that is a step that we do need to take on updating the home art plan. But as of right now, The home ARP has $2 million going towards a non-congregate shelter.

Okay, that's what I thought. To the council, you know, I would respectfully again ask that that $2 million be not used for a domestic violence shelter. And then my second question is, of the $400 and some thousand dollars that, and I'm talking about the ARP plan, that was designated for homeless services, how much of that money has been spent on homeless services?

We have had that on hold as we've worked through what we were going to do with the shelter. And now that that's moving, that will be in the works to start distributing. So $0 of the $400 have been distributed or allocated or awarded. We have to go out for RFP for those dollars. Same as we do with our public services. Nonprofits will have to apply to utilize those dollars.

And so does the nonprofits know that there is $400,000-some available that they could apply for?

We've talked about it in the home ARP. We haven't been talking about it as much that it's there available because we have not released a solicitation for those dollars yet.

And we was given this money when?

In 21.

So we was given this home ARP money in 2021, and here it's 2026, and we still haven't done anything with it.

No, sir. Our focus has been on the shelter since there was a lot of discussion of what to do with the non-congregate shelter, and that's trying to develop that and ensuring we had the funds for that. So those were put on hold because capacity was going towards the development of the shelter.

Right, but I'm talking about the $400,000. That's $2 million.

I understand. From staffing and administering those dollars, our focus and priority was trying to move the shelter forward since that has to be open by September 30th of 2030, so we need to make sure we get it out and get it built. So that's where the conversation has lied, and we have not taken those dollars out.

Okay, and then it's my understanding that we're not going to make a decision on the domestic violence shelter until August of 2027. Is that correct?

No, we have an RFQ that's out right now for architectural design services to help evaluate which site or construction type. And then an RFP is out right now to select an operator for the domestic violence shelter. So those should be awarded later this fall and help us continue to move towards the decision that's now in the works is, is it going to be a rehab or a new construction is really where we're at.

It was my understanding from a previous presentation that we were given a no-go date in August of 2027 from the two vendors that responded to the RFI. Did I miss something?

Our no-go date is going to be based upon how our feasibility is. I can't recall if it was in August 27th, but we're trying to target 27 of next year being probably the spring, early summer. from the results on what the architect can tell us on cost feasibility.

Well, it was my understanding from that presentation that it was based on whether those two organizations could raise the funding that they needed to be able to operate. My understanding was they were going to go out and they were going to spend this year, whatever, raising the funds to see if they could actually operate a domestic violence shelter in our city. And then we were going to decide whether it was going to be a go or no go. I don't know if I've If I was sitting in a meeting somewhere else in some other city, I wouldn't have heard that.

No, that is a portion of it. But we haven't selected an operator yet. Once we select the operator based upon who responds to the RFP, they will then start working on their ability to raise the funds, and that is a part of the decision of the no-go. And that should be about the same time that we decide on what the construction type would be of a rehab or a new construction site. We're trying to have it happen as soon as possible versus waiting until August of 27 of next year.

Okay, well, I'll keep asking about this $2 million and this other homeless money because there's a greater need for homeless sheltering than a domestic violence shelter construction. based on the data in our city of the homeless we have. And when we start talking about prioritizing funding and we're telling HUD these things, we need to prioritize some of this money toward helping some of these nonprofits and helping toward our homeless problem, which is getting worse and worse and worse and worse as we are Finding out from some of the e-mails and the frustrations of some of the business owners downtown, you know, about the homeless sleeping downtown, Chris, I asked you this question a while back, and I'm going to ask you the question again. Do you need that $2 million to build this domestic violence shelter? Go ahead, Chris.

The cost estimate is going to be higher than the dollar amount that we have, but we will build to the dollars that we have.

What about any conversation about trying to actually acquire a facility to, instead of building one, acquire one to have a domestic violence shelter?

That is a discussion that Imelda had referenced. As opposed to acquiring, would there be a building that the city currently has, or do we need to build a new one? So that's what the current analysis is going through. And that's when the determination will be made, whether we do a rehab or a new construction. Okay.

Well, personally, I'll finish. I'll shut up. I think we need to prioritize that home art money not for domestic violence shelter but for homeless services in our city because it is more of a priority need than a domestic violence shelter. I'm not saying that you don't need a domestic violence shelter because we discovered last week when the police brought someone over to the day center who was fleeing domestic violence and they had nowhere to go. So, again, we need to put that $2 million, that $400,000 in the homeless services.

Okay, let me ask, I'm going to make an observation. I'm pretty sure that on our federal money that they mandate a date that we have to come forward with, like on this November, excuse me, May 1st date. And then again, Sinead? We don't call the date for the elections, and I think that comes out of either the- That was a county election.

We don't have, May 2nd election was Saturday. So I'm not sure, Dennis, what you're referring to, but that had to be a November or something election. We don't have hearings, public hearings on Saturdays. Our election is on a Saturday.

What you're referring to is the first public hearing that the staff hosted for this plan, which was held on Saturday, May 2nd. And your comment, and we'll take that into account, is next time, if we're going to have a Saturday one, make sure it's not corresponding to Election Day.

Okay, I didn't even know about that, so.

So we can make that call? Is that what you're saying, Phillip? Okay, good. Well, no, it's a good comment, Dennis. I hear you. We're good. Okay. Anybody else have any comments? Thank you. Appreciate you. We're now going to move into the consent agenda. Item three, four, and five are approving the minutes for special meeting June 23rd, 2026, work session. minutes on June 25, 2022, and the regular meeting minutes Thursday, June 25, 2026. Item number six is resolution approving the City of Irving's legislative program for the 90th Texas Legislative Session. Any comments at this point, either from you, Chris, or Mark?

Staff has a presentation if the council would like to see one.

Okay.

All right. Thank you, Mayor and Council. This is... Pretty much going to be formally adopting what you reviewed in the work session a couple weeks ago, but I'll take you back through it, and we can go into as great or as little detail as you like. So just another quick overview of the legislative session. So we're about just shy of 10,000 bills filed last session, and there will be several thousand of them related to cities, and a percentage of those will pass, and so this will help us identify which bills we want to engage on or not. uh... here's another review of our state legislative delegation and right now we're in the interim and that's why uh... we've come to you with the legislative program at the time that we're coming to you because right now we're in the space between legislative sessions the next session begins in january of twenty twenty seven and what the legislature does during this time is they hold hearings and they take testimony and they discuss bills that they may potentially file in the upcoming session So this work is underway right now. We're back and forth. I've been back and forth from here in Austin quite a bit in the last couple of weeks, and that process will continue through the fall. So I've got just a couple bullet points here on what some of the committees are studying that are relevant to cities. For example, managing data center growth, looking at hotel occupancy tax, and other issues such as that. The main theme of the legislative session will be tax cuts, and as a side note here, you may have seen that the governor and the lieutenant governor and the speaker advised state agencies earlier this week that they will be asking for 3% across-the-board cuts from all state agencies as a starting point for their legislative appropriations request. And we'll go further into the finance components in just a couple slides, but we'll also be looking at transportation issues, you know, some of which we've talked about here, such as autonomous vehicle technology. Also looking at water and wastewater fees. There is a committee on delivery of government efficiency that will be looking at the use of AI to detect waste, fraud, and abuse. Land and Resource Management Committee is actually meeting on Monday, and they will be discussing Senate Bill 840, which has to do with multifamily housing, as well as third-party review of building plans and third-party inspections, which we're interested in that as well, and we'll be looking forward to submitting some testimony on that. The State Affairs Committee is also looking at data centers, public-private partnerships. Again, more transportation issues. And then ways and means, we'll be discussing property tax relief. And again, this kind of ties back to, you know, right now, the 3% cut advisory that we've gotten from leadership reflects a sort of how they're viewing the appropriations environment that we're heading into in the next legislative session. And here's where I'll mention that Maintaining our existing property tax relief that has been passed over previous sessions is going to cost us about $50 billion in the next biennium out of a budget that'll be around $150 billion in state funds. So you can see where there is the potential for some cuts that need to be made or some streamlining or belt tightening as we go into the session. And then there is a new committee on governmental oversight. It's a select committee, and that committee is being tasked with looking at preemption and field preemption. In particular, in the last interim hearing that they just held last month, they discussed expanding the field preemption to cover the election code and the penal code. Again, just kind of digging into the various municipal finance proposals, the governor is talking about an expenditures cap, keeping that to the lesser of population and inflation or 3.5%, and that would apply to local governments. Also requiring two-thirds supermajority approval for any tax increases. And recall the way that tax increases are defined in statute doesn't necessarily mean raising the tax rate. It could include keeping the tax rate the same or lowering the tax rate. The Lieutenant Governor has a proposal that he has dubbed Operation Double Nickel, which primarily consists of lowering the eligibility threshold for the homestead exemption, the senior homestead exemption, from age 65 to age 55. And he has also suggested raising the exemption amounts. And I think I mentioned this in the last presentation, but I draw your attention to that bottom bullet there. And this is a direct quote from the Lieutenant Governor's press conference in discussing his plan, eliminating all property taxes, and that would be city, county, school district, would raise sales tax to about 25 to 26 cents to offset. There are a couple slides in here just on some recent announcements that have come from the government with regard to data centers. The governor has asked to require PUC to tell data centers they have to fully fund the cost of electric infrastructure and take some additional safeguards to ensure that residential and small business rate payers don't see their rates increase as a result of more data centers coming online and demanding more power. And the governor has also indicated he'd like to see a few different bills passed during the legislative session coming up that would address data centers, including requiring some water-efficient cooling systems, some accuracy in data reporting on electricity and water usage. And he also wants to take a look at tax incentives and other local control measures. so the timeline again this is why this is all relevant right now so interim hearings are going on right now and this is the time when the legislature is having discussions and about how to uh... frame these issues and look at them and consider what legislation they may be interested in filing in the upcoming session november third election day then the very next week we will open for pre filing which means that legislators can begin filing their bills for the legislative session Then all of these committees that have met over the summer and the fall will have to deliver their interim reports with findings and recommendations by December 31st. And then January 11th, our new comptroller, our acting comptroller, Huffines, will be presenting the biennial revenue estimate, which lets legislators know how much money they have to work with under statute and under the constitutional rules. And then on the 12th, the 90th Texas Legislature will convene and we'll be off to the races. So the agenda, the primary purpose that this serves is it is a playbook. It lets staff know which issues are important to the city and how to position ourselves on those issues. It is also a document that tells our values, what's important to us as a community, and it tells the story of who we are, where our priorities lie. in putting this together. I want to thank everybody that helped us and provided input on this. We got some great input from staff, from residents, from peer groups. This is a photo of the Irving ambassadors that did some great work in going through our agenda and helping us prioritize things. So this has really been a collaborative community process. And then we have the vision here, and I can read it. And it's the City of Irving prides itself on providing a safe, vibrant community where people choose to live, work, visit, and invest. We believe in the rights of local communities to advocate for their interests. We support state policies that empower communities to improve quality of life, attract economic opportunities, and sustain the services and infrastructure that fuel growth and prosperity. And that's sort of the preamble that puts this all into context. Then we break up the agenda into four main categories. Category one, support sustainable tax relief. And the key word there is being sustainable. We want to make sure that we can continue to deliver year after year. Protect public safety and quality of life. Strengthen collaborative development. And invest in local infrastructure. So looking at that first bucket, what that means, and this language describes what it means when we're talking about sustainable tax relief. It says preserve tax relief passed by the Texas legislature while exploring sustainable options for local communities to offer additional relief, such as increasing the optional homestead exemption, ensure that tax relief proposals account for the service demands of individual communities, and preserve the ability of cities to fund public safety, infrastructure, and city services. Avoid arbitrary constraints that could impact the city's ability to meet residents' service demands. And in the second category, we're talking about public safety, quality of life. They're both interrelated. Support legislation that enhances public safety and emergency response capabilities, including support for personnel recruitment and retention, equipment, public safety infrastructure, and municipal courts. Support tools that strengthen the ability of communities to address homelessness while preserving flexibility in local decision making. support policies that reduce barriers to employment and strengthen workforce recruitment and retention, support resources for high-demand municipal services that enhance residents' quality of life, including parks, libraries, recreation, cultural arts, and other community amenities. And the third category, strengthen collaborative development. And this is focusing on economic development in collaboration with the community being involved. Expand economic development tools such as project financing zones and economic development agreements that allow communities to support growth while reducing reliance on residential property taxes. Support state investment in travel and tourism programs. Repeal arbitrary by-right development mandates. and preserve the ability of residents to ensure neighborhood cohesiveness and guide development through local zoning, land use, and municipal codes. And then finally, invest in local infrastructure. Support expanded state investment in water, drainage, and transportation infrastructure while preserving local planning and decision-making. Support funding opportunities for the construction, maintenance, and improvement of local streets, sidewalks, and trails. Support modernizing the Dallas Area Rapid Transit governance structure and improving data transparency. Identify long-term funding to support regional transit. and that is the agenda recommended for your approval.

Any comments, any of the council members?

I got a question. Yes, sir. So on the committee hearings for the Senate Bill 840? Yes, sir. Do you have an idea kind of what are they looking to maybe like do some carve-outs, or you kind of got an idea of what that's going to be focused on in particular?

Great question. Let me find the slide here. So... So the Committee on Land and Resource Management is meeting on Monday, and one of the items that they'll be taking up for consideration is Senate Bill 840. And that bill was authored, or it was carried in the House, at least, by the chairman of that committee. So there have been a number of cities that have been called to testify on that bill, some of the communities that have passed similar ordinances impacting multifamily development. So there will be a robust conversation between the chairman and those that have been invited to testify. We will be interested in seeing how that conversation goes. We'll also be interested in seeing how the rest of the committee approaches that discussion. I think that it could go a variety of different directions. I think this is In all of the items that are on that agenda, this one, I think, has the potential to attract maybe the most attention or at least a lot of attention relative to some of the other ones. And I think after that hearing, we'll have a much better view of where both the chairman, the members of the committee stand on where we go from here.

Okay. And I take it you'll be there?

I'll be there. Yes, sir.

David. Oh, okay. I figured you'd want to go.

Yeah, that's a good point. That's something that we and the council will be working together with our city manager and Mark as to which one of us committee chairmans will be then being part of that process, okay? We're going to have to be really careful as to when we go down and who we deal with and who's coming from here. And that'll be coordinated. We'll all be aiming towards it. But Mark, thank you. I think what's an important piece is that I know in our visit that when I was down a week ago Monday, and it was from Royce West's key guy, Lewowitz, and he was right on it. I mean, he focused on what he felt was going to be the environmental impact of data centers, that he felt that was going to come out of it. Then he was starting to prepare what we're finding, and this is for everybody to get this... information that it was all three of the state senators that Beth Bowman and I visited with, Royce West, they were not there. This was their key staff people, along with Nathan Johnson's office and, of course, Tan Parker. The good piece of all of it is they were very pleased we were there early. And that's a message to us, that you don't go down at the last minute when they're having a hearing And I'm glad, I assume you're going to be down there Monday, Mark?

Absolutely. Yes, sir. And I agree with you wholeheartedly. We've got to be there now because now is when the discussions are happening. I think if we start to engage when the bills are being drafted, then it's too late.

One of the things that I thought was interesting dealing with Royce's key guy, and he'd been down there, what, 30 years, so he was an old hand at this. He said a couple of things in which I do agree. Some of the information that comes out of TML in particular is taking a look at what bills did not pass in the last session that are obviously going to be looked at and potentially be put on the calendar again. So that's kind of the good news, that we can kind of get a view of where that's going to happen. But he also said a couple of things. I thought that the two major associations that are down there, They're not, I guess, being as effective as they used to be. I'm going to be nice about it. But so that really brings it on to us that we're going to have to play a role down there, which, you know, I think is going to be critical. And, of course, the data centers will be there. I think the governor is now doing, you know, pretty much laying things out. He's been driven by, and I think... The speaker is going to have some say on this because it's coming from a lot from the rural areas in particular. The 840 is going to probably impact us and what we did as a city council and our ordinance going up six stories, eight stories, excuse me, because we're going to probably see some of that. I don't know what we've heard at this point, Mark. But I think the more we can figure it out, and then the interesting thing is the water one. Senator Betancourt, I thought it was interesting, because here's a guy that's not exactly a friend of municipalities, and he's now the champion of Kerrville and what happened up there on 4th of July last year. Kind of interesting. A little bit late to the game, but let's see what he does with it. Suffice it to say, We're going to have our hands full trying to stay on top of this. And so, Mark, appreciate you getting in front of this. I appreciate you at least laying it out for us. And we'll start to set a strategy up how we start going down there. And city manager, get ready with your key people, okay? Okay, thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Yes.

Thank you, Mayor. Mark, quick question. Is there any way that we could, what can we do to have the exemption from SB 840? with the cities like Irving?

MR. Well, there are a number of ways that we could seek to be carved out of statute as it now stands, and I think that's one of the conversations that we'll be actively having as we approach the legislative session. I'll be honest with you, and I think that the author of this bill uh... in the committee chair want to take it the other direction and make it more difficult for cities to uh... pass ordinances that affects multifamily housing so i think uh... you know there's going to be an opportunity for us to weigh in and and we're doing it we're doing it right now uh... and I think we'll learn a lot more about what everyone is thinking and how everyone is discussing this issue after Monday's hearing. And that's why we'll be there to listen and gather as much information as we can.

So if I understood correctly, the intent of this bill is to have density increases in the cities where there is low density. Now, the City of Irving, along with other 18 cities, which are more than 50, 55 percent, already we have it in the multifamily dwellings. So how do we get the exemption? That is what we have to think about.

MR. We'd have to get it filed as a bill, and then those are things that we're currently discussing. So there could be a possibility of having an amendment to this bill? It would just have to get filed as a bill, and the legislature would have to pass it to amend the statute to create a carve-out. But, yeah, that would be the mechanism through which we would change that. Thank you.

Mark, do you have a comment on this?

Yeah, there's different strategies, and Mark's going to get into all that. One thing you can look at is bracketing out based on our percentage of multifamily that we already have. That's just one of them, right?

Right. Yes, sir. That's a good question because at the end of the day, we are one of the highest populated apartment multifamily. So there may be a way that we'll see. We'll test the waters. Okay. Anybody else that might have any comments on this? Mark, thank you very much. Thank you. Appreciate your time. Okay. At this time, I'm moving on to the rest of the consent agenda, item number seven. Resolution approving the interlocal agreement with the City of Dallas for Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Grant. Item number eight, resolution approving the project specific agreement to the master agreement between the City of Irving and Dallas County, Texas for transportation improvements for the Valley View Lane Payment Project, MCIP Project 40711. Item 9. Resolution approving and accepting the proposal of SYB Construction Company, Inc. in the amount of $4,223,824.96 for the William Brewster Water and Wastewater Improvement Project. Item 10. Resolution approving the sales contract with Bayshore Group Inc. in the amount of $400,000 for the access, drainage, and electric easement, both on 2206 Ferguson Court and at 119 Ferguson Court, and a temporary construction license of 2400 North Story Road for the North Delaware Creek Channel improvement project. Item 11. Resolution approving request of Music Factory Portfolio LLP for the structural alteration to allow a covered patio at Building 1-B at Toyota Music Factory. Item number 12, Resolution 2026-152-PL, Final Platte, Delaware, Phase 3, Addition, Approximately 9.3 Acres, 500 West 6th Street, 271 and 22, excuse me, 722 Rindle, Rindy, excuse me, Street and 712 West. and 718 and 802 Hilltop Drive. Item number.

CHRIS RODGERS. Oh, mayor. Do you have a quick presentation on this one, Chris? Just a couple slides just to give us an update on. Thank you, mayor. CHRIS RODGERS. Yeah, of course.

This is the, Jocelyn Murphy, Director of Planning, this is the plat to kind of complete the whole process of the development agreement that we've been working on for years, the rezoning, and so they have to send the plat to the city council for approval since there are private streets. If they were public streets, they would have stopped at the Planning and Zoning Commission. So that's why you're seeing it today, is they have MUSE streets in here where they're facing the green, but their access will be on private streets.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, any other comments? Okay. We'll be doing item 13, resolution, approving amendment number three to the telecommunications license agreement between the city of Irving and 222 WLC owner LP. Item number 14, approving sole source purchases in the amount of $132,767.82 with commercial electronics for replacement of the city 911 and land mobile radio LMR recording system. That concludes that portion. Now we'll move on to bids and purchasing items. Item number 15, resolution approving the agreement between the city of Irving and the Hartford in the total estimated amount of $997,000 for a three-year contract for life insurance for City of Irving employees. Item number 16, resolution approving expenditures with McMillan James Equipment Company LLC in the total estimated amount of $250,000 for the service and repair of pumping stations and equipment through the Interlocal Ed Purchasing System program administered by the Region 7 Education Service Center. Item number 17, resolution approving and accepting the bid for North Star Elite Services LLC in the total estimated amount of 1,300,004 landscape services for a two-year period. Item number 18, resolution rejecting any and all bids relative to ITB number 027LF-26F for an annual masonry and stonework contract. Item number 19, resolution approving and accepting the bid at Dallas Harmony Construction LLC in the total estimated amount of $600,000 for masonry and stonework, JOC, or a two-year period. Item 20, resolution, approving the expenditure with JF Acquisition, LLC, DBA, JF Petroleum Group for the purchase and installation of a 500-gallon waste oil tank and 630-gallon oil product storage tank and related hardware in the total estimated amount of $130,000 through source well. Item 21, resolution renewing the contract with Nunley Trans Inc., DBA Eagle Transmissions in the total estimated amount of $220,000 per automotive transmission repair, rebuild, and exchange services for a two-year period. Item 22, resolution renewing the contract with Ervtex Automotive Sales II Inc. DBA Westway Ford in the total estimated amount of $400,000 for Ford OEM parts for a two-year period. Item number 23, resolution authorizing payment to Zones LLC in the total estimated amount of $104,947.56 for Adobe Enterprise software licensing through the interlocal purchasing system, TIPS, program administered by Regents 8 Education Services Center. Item 24, resolution, renewing the annual contract with Mobile Communications America Inc. in the total estimated amount $240,000 for access control and video surveillance hardware and service. Item number 25, ordinance, amending chapter 21 of the Code of Civil and Criminal Ordinance of the City of Irving, Texas. entitled, quotes, motor vehicles and traffic, unquote, to amend speed regulation for certain segments of state highways and other local roads. That completes that section.

Mayor? Yes. Thank you, Mayor. On 25, is there any, not presentation on this, but kind of an update on?

You got it there, Dan.

Just give us a heads up. This isn't the pink color, is it? The reflection?

This is relative to 161 and some of the speed limits over there.

Dan, Federal Traffic and Transportation. What we're doing here is the court had found where there's some inconsistencies. We're cleaning up ordinances. There's no pink slips. Your staff were for anybody else. associated with this, but this is when an officer does write a citation, the easiest one is really Riverside. It used to be called O'Connor. Everything was corrected. It just didn't get corrected in Chapter 21 of the city's codes. So we're just cleaning up here. Okay.

No speed limits have changed. We're not going to 85 or anything like that?

No, sir.

All right. Thank you.

Okay.

They're doing it anyway.

Thank you.

Thank you, Dan. Okay, now we're into individual consideration. Item 26, ordinance. Public hearing and designating approximately 19.247 acres of land as tax abatement reinvestment zone number 65. Any comments from anybody on this one? Number 27, resolution approving a tax abatement agreement between the city of of Irving and NVIDIA Corporation in an amount dependent upon annual qualifications. And that completes individual considerations. We're now moving into zoning cases and companion items. Justin.

I'm back.

All right. Again, Jocelyn Murphy, Director of Planning.

We just have four cases tonight, three of which are actually postponed cases. So I'll let you know kind of what we have heard and let other staff give input if they would like to. So the first two cases are the comprehensive plan and the zoning case for what we refer to as the Tesla case. So it's 4203 West Royal. The comprehensive plan future land use change is from business office to manufacturing warehouse. Staff recommendation was denial. We had one letter of support, none in opposition. P&Z's recommendation was denial six to two, and this was postponed from the May 7th council meeting. The reason it was postponed, if I'm sure you remember, there were some concerns about fire and police just understanding what the proposal is, how they could respond to some of this autonomous vehicles out there. You have in your packet, I believe it's under the zoning case, a letter from both the fire and police departments. So I'll run through my presentation, and I'm sure they're more than happy to come up and comment on those letters. Here's the location here in Freeport, Sun Horizon Way in Royal. This area has been redeveloped. It was originally an office building, has been redeveloped into three industrial buildings. So the future land use, sorry, let me go back, is currently a business office. When we went through in 2023, we looked at the future land use of this area and it was decided to keep this as business office because the office uses were predominant at that time. Again, here's kind of our thought process in 2023. These were the existing zoning districts in the area. In kind of a comparison of the freeway zoning and the ML20A and the uses that are allowed in those areas, both of these allow the manufacturing, the warehousing, and offices. We wanted to give you all a little understanding of what was happening in the area. We all have this kind of theoretical sometimes, but real also conversion of areas of properties that have the, even though they're future land use for office, they have the entitlement to be able to build the light industrial. And so if there were zone freeway or ml 20 a they didn't have to go through the zoning case in order to um demolish office buildings and build light industrial. So these were some a couple months ago when we did this, the status of the applications of properties where they were demolishing office buildings and rebuilding industrial. So again, this is the future land use case. And we get into the zoning case. The request is from Tesla, it's 202651CC, to rezone from freeway to SP1ML20A and adding the facility for storage dispatch service and repair of autonomous vehicles fleet. This again is for Tesla. Staff recommendation was denial. One letter of opposition, none in support. P&Z was denial, 62. And again, it was postponed. Same location. So here's their site plan. That office building is gone. There are now three industrial buildings on site. What Tesla is wanting to do, an area that had been identified for truck trailer storage, they're wanting to put their vehicles ready for dispatch in this location, and then they would use one of the tenant spaces for their repair, maintenance, whatever they need to do. And so they would travel. back and forth, probably constantly, on a daily basis for sure, between these two sites. And this is just kind of a zoom in of those two locations. This was the description of what they say they're going to do. It'll be autonomous electrical fleet vehicles. They've explained they're expected to be out in the field most of the time. They'll come home at night, get clean, get maintained, and they expect for them not to be in and out all day, but they can explain a little bit more of how they expect to operate their site. and just the properties of the new buildings here in this location. This is where the cars will be stored and more of the site. And again, you do have a letter from both the fire chief and the police chief in your packet. I don't want to speak for the chiefs, so I'll let them explain kind of what discussions have been held.

Okay, thank you. Chief Conley.

Victor Connolly, Fire Chief. I'd just like to say, first of all, Tesla has been very, very interactive with us. They've been very cooperative and collaborative. We've reached out to them. Now we've still got concerns moving forward, of course, with the storage area, but we're going to ask them and be pretty straightforward on sticking to the code, international fire code, on what they can and cannot do at this facility. We've got some concerns about repairs inside the building and the storage parking lot where you got multiple of these autonomous or EV vehicles parked next to each other, but that's not against code. So that'll just be a strategy tactics and how we address concerns at this location. I would like to have Chief Barlow, my assistant chief over training, share with all of y'all the interactions that we've had with Tesla. We've got training going on today with Tesla. It's emergency response procedures on how we interact with the vehicles and the operators at their central command. We've also asked neighboring cities to join in with us for this training, DFW, Capel, Grapevine, and I believe Grand Prairie, correct? So it's been very interactive. We've brought in our partners at Respond Mutual Aid that may have come across these vehicles as well. We want to make sure everybody's prepared and aware. But I'm going to turn it over to Chief Barlow and share some of the specific training that we've been going on with Tesla. Chief. CHIEF BARLOW.

Hi, Council. I'm Assistant Chief Hilton Barlow. So yes, Tesla is conducting training with us. Started yesterday and today and tomorrow, two sessions each day, three hours long. The sessions start off with a presentation on how we interact with the autonomous vehicles from a first responder point of view for encounter them, how we interact with their dispatch, how we are expected and know how their vehicles are going to respond to us and how we can also deal with interactions with people inside the vehicle. They have been very hands-on with us, open communication. We have a long training plan established with Tesla already, again, started yesterday. Today, tomorrow is step one on the autonomous vehicles with what they call the Model Y, and that's the autonomous vehicle that has the steering wheel and the pedals. When they have their cyber cab release, which is going to be their second autonomous vehicle, they will bring that out there, and we will have hands-on training with that vehicle as well. The difference between that one and the Model Y is the cyber cab will not have steering wheel and will not have pedals. It's a two-person, totally autonomous vehicle. We've incorporated additional training. At their request, they provided an additional hour each session for us solely dedicated to fire. and that is incorporated again at our drill field where we have had the opportunity to put our hands actually on the car, talk to their dispatchers, integrate the hands-on training, go through all the steps that we would incorporate in our emergency situation. We've also had our neighboring cities, as Chief mentioned. We've had DFW come out there, Capella's come out there, and Grand Prairie has come out there. All have had a very positive response, very positive interaction with Tesla. The next step is going to be when this facility opens up, we're going to start incorporating the fire marshal and our crews out there in the field to come out there and start doing pre-fire planning of the building, do on-site visits, and as the construction progresses, we'll continue to go out there. Then when the final product is done, we will have a comprehensive pre-fire plan established as well. In addition to that, Tesla is planning on bringing out more equipment, again, called Tesla Day. It's scheduled for around October 13th through the 16th, a four-day event where we're going to have all of our hands on all of Tesla products, pretty much, except for their rocket ship. All the other products will be out there, including their battery storage systems, their solar panels, all their vehicles, semi-trucks, everything Tesla will be out there. And again, will have us give the opportunity to have hands-on training, which is very unique. There's been no other company, no other EV vehicle company that's reached out to me or the fire department that's been this thoroughly prepared and welcoming for us. They are totally first responder friendly and want to put first responders and city safety at the forefront of their autonomous vehicles.

So as you can see, outreach has been good. Education has been good. I can't bring forward any negative thoughts at this time for this item not to be approved. I told them from the beginning, if you will bring us in, educate us, make us aware and prepare us, we will be an advocate for you. And they've done that. And so therefore, unless you have any further questions, this is our report to each and every one of you of our interactions with Tesla.

Anybody have any comments of our fire chief? Yeah, Mark.

I have a couple questions. Chief, did you look at other cities where Tesla already has these operations in place to see what kind of issues they've dealt with and if they've had any problems, both with the fire safety and also, I mean, I, for one, I think others on the council, too, have concerns about traffic backup and because for the EMS services, you know, accidents around that area. Anyway, just what have you seen from other cities that already have these operations in place?

Yes, sir. Councilman Cronenwell, we've reached out to Chandler, Arizona, Austin, Texas, Houston, Texas, and Dallas. And I'll say in Arizona, they have fought legislation to keep steering wheels and pedals in vehicles. That has not taken place in Texas. I believe there will always be challenges with these vehicles until it completely gets ironed out. And what I mean by that is there's been some challenges with the shooting incidents in Austin with a different company, but it was an EV vehicle, autonomous vehicle, where it stayed and it blocked vehicles from accessing the shooting area that took place in Austin. Also, the explosion of the apartment complex in Dallas, I believe that was a Tesla vehicle that was blocking access for vehicle apparatus getting into the fire area. I will not hesitate to tell my people to push those cars out of the way and get on in there. So the biggest vehicle on the road is going to win, and we're going to get in there and help our people when they need us. Yes, sir.

Throughout our training as well, Tesla has made it no bones about it. Should we have to move their vehicle, push their vehicle, drag their vehicle out the way, do what we need to do to their vehicle at their expense? So anything we need to do to get their vehicle out the way, they're willing to understand that we take priority and we will get their vehicle out the way.

So, yeah, we've got contacts, and Austin is a really good contact. They've given us some tips to look at. There's been some challenges also with pedestrians falling asleep in the vehicle, and they call the fire department to go out and wake them up. So they're actually looking at possibly putting ordinance in to charge those fees for doing that, sending out fire equipment to do that. Hopefully... There's some technology that they can put in place to prevent that from happening. But yes, we've definitely reached out to other cities and talked about challenges and you know some of the concerns there. What I will say is we'll also be looking to put a stakeholder group together. I hope to put. fire and police and traffic and some other stakeholders together to look at these challenges on a regular basis and see how we speak to the autonomous vehicle companies to make sure that they address them. We'll also want to work with our corporate communications for possibly putting a concern letter for people that actually ride in these vehicles to express concerns that they have with the company when they ride with them. We're trying to make it a 360 complete look at this company, learn to interact, be aware of it. It's technology. It's coming. We've got to get prepared, and that's what we're trying to do.

Well, that's great that you had those communications to be prepared, and it sounds like the word you got back from them was that the partnership with Tesla has been positive in those communities. Things are not going to be perfect as technology gets rolled out and you run into problems, but they're addressing them to make it better, and it's been good partnerships in those communities. Is that fair to say?

That's correct, yes. I do see challenges with 5,000 vehicles, but maybe as we roll it out, we can identify those challenges and get through them. And I know they're going to roll them out different hours a day, and I'm sure late at night is going to be their busiest time when they're out rolling, taking people to the airport or pick them up from restaurants or wherever, but... uh... hopefully will roll that it'll be a slow-moving process where we can address challenges that we see as we move forward with that those other cities have a similar similar volume to what they're talking about not not five thousand i talked to chandler which is kind of where it all started you know in the phoenix area and they've been dealing with it for years uh... the chief there has uh... spoken at uh... international events gone to dc so you're very very aware of all the challenges that go on with these vehicles but about 1,000 is normally what they deal with out there, but they've got a couple of different companies, so I'm sure it's more than that, but 5,000 is a pretty big number to deal with, and hopefully it'll take a lot of time before we get to that number, not right off the bat, hopefully.

And they have strategies to deal with that volume if it ends up causing backlogs. There's other places they can take cars to, as I understand it. Is that your understanding, too?

That's my understanding, yes, sir.

And you suggested before that... They're going to have to be compliant with the code, with the international code. What specifically are you talking about?

Well, recently, as you know, we adopted the international fire code 2024 edition, and we did some amendments there for EV vehicles, everything from charging. They're not going to be charging their vehicles inside the building. They're going to have to have a six-foot masonry wall around it. It cannot be within, like, 30 feet of the building. Got to have certain cutoffs where the fire department can shut the energy down rather than getting close to the vehicles, so... Only while charging primarily, not storage. And that's where I'm talking about the concern of having that many vehicles stored in a parking lot. So we'll make sure that storage is far enough away from hopefully the structure where it won't cause any damage there.

Are you expecting – there's no reason not to expect compliance, is there? No, sir. Okay. Thank you.

Anybody else?

Yeah, David. Thank you, Mayor. I was fortunate enough to go out to the training yesterday, and it was a lot more thorough than I – only that I inspected, inspected? Expected. Expected. But the technology on these vehicles and the on-demand systems were quite impressive as well. And talking with fellow citizens and city council, these cars are going to be coming through our city if we want them or not. And it's great that you all are getting trained and seeing what is coming. for probably the rest of our lives, to be frank with you. So I appreciate what they're doing, and I appreciate you all getting involved, us delaying this for you all to get really educated and give us this feedback. Because I told them as well, I said, if the Chiefs give me a thumb down, I'm voting no. So I appreciate it.

Well, I just want to say thank you, Council. Thank you for giving us this opportunity to get to be more familiar with these vehicles. I know that we've done some training in the past with EV vehicles. Not autonomous, but EV vehicles. So we had devices to break the high-voltage energy, and they work on these vehicles as well. So that was encouraging to know that we already had tools in place and on our apparatus to help us deal with these particular vehicles. But thank you all for putting your confidence and faith in your chiefs and make sure that we're ready and prepared. I appreciate that very much. Thank you.

Anybody else? Yeah, Chief, thank you for being out there. I think Luis and I took a right in it. I'm not sure I like the idea of not having a wheel or steering wheel because it was kind of cool when we rode around it. Something that really jumped out at me, Chief, and something that I think we ought to try to push on, is that if you're going to go through what you're going through and they're willing to front as much to really help train our people, it would really be great if we could get them to actually, and maybe they have it, a actual training manual for our fire department, but that could be, I mean, I guess what I'm saying, if we're going to do this, we need to be kind of the one that sets the standard because it's not getting done at the federal level nor at the state level. So we're kind of on the cutting edge. And secondly, I'd be curious where the other ones that are operating in the U.S., are they near a major airport like ours? And there's two major highways also. So it would be very interesting if, in fact, they want to be really nice to us and really help us, but you can actually help the rest of the fire departments throughout the country. Just a thought.

Yes, sir. And Tesla, again, is very first responder friendly. They have put the first responder in the forefront of their technology, and they have tested with Austin, DPD. They have gone down to their test track out there, tested with emergency vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles, all sorts of stuff for first responders, tow trucks, fire trucks, ambulances. And so they are very technology-driven, obviously, but very friendly and responsive to the first responder, understanding that we are the ones who are going to be interacting with these vehicles and how do they put us at a safe response as well, not jeopardizing our hazards. But one of the things that they have already created is a very, very, very comprehensive training manual that... every one of their vehicles will have a QR code on it. Should we need it, we can scan the QR code and pull up the training response manual, though it's very comprehensive and we as a fire department need to be more prepared than that because we won't have time to go through all of that on scene. It does provide us with this resource to do our pre-fire planning, our training ahead of time so that when we show up, we know how to interact. But Tesla's manual It's far better than I've seen anybody else's, and their safety record is way better than their competitors.

Yeah, Chief. Yeah, and I just want to wrap it up, and we'll get out of the way. You've got a very good point, Mayor, and that's part of why we want to put a stakeholders group together. So as comprehensive as it may be, there's always room for improvement. We know that. And by building this stakeholders group, we can take some of those ideas you're talking about and run it through the stakeholders group and maybe improve what they have.

Yeah, the bottom line is, whenever we come out of this experience, whether we approve it or not tonight, There's two sides to it. The one side is we can set the tone for the future as far as fire and police and safety to the other buildings that are going to be there, the other property owners. On the other hand, the good news would be is that we then are going to be able to really be sure we're protecting our property owners that are in that area, the people that are traveling between the airport, etc., etc. It could be a win-win, but we're going to be plowing new ground, so to speak. So I think that's really my – it's not my concern. I just don't know enough to say yes, yes, or no. My whole thing was on the parking because it's such a narrow area, as well as the maintenance shop and what's that going to be, how's that going to be protected. So you all know that and you're covering it. So thank you. Appreciate you. Thank you, sir. Okay, Irving Police. Oh, excuse me. Just a question. Yes.

Thank you, Mayor. Chief.

Yes, sir.

Is that 5,000 on the higher side, or is it they started from the day one, or is it going to increase?

I think that's the upper end of what we're shooting for. They're going to start at a lower number, and as they implement more and more vehicles and go fully autonomous, their goal is to reach to 5,000 is my understanding.

Because that is how they did it in other cities, so that's why I was just curious. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay. Police Department, you all have some comments on this? Because I'm sure there's, once they're out on the roads, I mean, we're talking about traffic, traffic safety, et cetera.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Council, John Ergman, he's Assistant Chief, and kind of echo the same thing as the Fire Chief. Tesla has been very honest and open with us and transparent with how we would respond to law enforcement related issues or concerns. So we have no unresolved public safety concerns. with moving forward with them. They, too, have offered us training. We're waiting to complete FIFA, which would end this weekend, and then we'll schedule that training out with them. It will be similar to what the fire department is.

Great. Great.

Okay. Any comments from anybody? So there's a phone number to call when there's a driverless vehicle there that is in distress?

Yes, there is. They have a command center, 24-hour, seven-day-a-week command center where we have a phone number available to us. More than likely, our dispatchers will have that number, and once they receive any calls, then they will make the initial phone calls, and then when we get on scene, we will also have a number available so that we can contact them with any issues that we have.

That's going to be really interesting to see how that holds. dispatching and connecting communication like this. Again, I guess the positive side of this, this could set a model for other parts of the country. I mean, what we're going to do here because of our volume, our airport, everything else. Or we might have a few things that will create some problems for us. But I have one last question. This is for our city attorney. Is there liability that might be applied to this from the city side?

In terms, like, different than? Well, whatever happens, it's a negative. They will be responsible and liable for that. Yeah, because we're passing this, if we pass it. Right. I mean, the zoning piece is a legislative piece allowing for the use, but certainly how they use their property and all of their vehicles will be their sole responsibility. You know, our... Our employees, we are a governmental unit, how we interface with them, it'll be the same as interfacing with any other vehicle. There is some exposure for us when we drive vehicles, but I presume we will not be driving these vehicles. We will be moving them off scene or addressing the issue.

Yeah, I guess my only thing is it's on our city streets, number one. But that's just something that just popped up. So to speak, we're plowing new ground. Yep, absolutely. Okay, thank you. Okay, Chief, thank you very much.

Yes, excuse me. Go ahead, Amit. Thank you so much. Have we been able to study the accidents or crashes, cases out of Austin?

No, not to my knowledge. We haven't studied any of those. We've spoken with the other agencies about some concerns that have come up, but really there haven't been any major concerns law enforcement related. There are small, minor things that they've worked through. And what I can say is Tesla has learned from all these other autonomous vehicles throughout these other cities, and they made improvements to the system. And I think they have a good product. And they're communicating with us quite a bit to make sure that things go smoothly.

Yeah, I don't doubt that they don't have a good product. So Austin reports about 18 accidents. So I would just recommend that we take a look to see what was the involvement and what was the cause of those accidents. There are additional cases that are reported where autonomous driving cars either – there are more cases of Waymo than Tesla just because they're more mature – but they have often broken down in the middle of the road and causing traffic impediments. That might be worth looking at. Are we able to tow them when we say we can move them out? Do we tow them? Do we forklift them?

So what we would do is we would have our dispatch contact their command center through that phone number. Either our dispatch or our police officer would contact that number. They have 24-hour, seven-day-a-week response teams that will respond to the location, whether it's a vehicle that's just stopped working or it's involved in an accident. They have people that are on-site, on-scene, 24 hours a day to respond to those.

Okay. I hope Tesla will have some of that data for us that How much of that is happening, their car either breaking down or running out of battery, or what kind of accident data they might have. And then the last concern I have, I think Mayor kind of brought that up too, is as they're coming overnight, stacking up. City of Houston reports that their cars, as they're coming back, they're stacking up, trying to get into the warehouse. And that has caused backup as well.

Yeah, that was one of the questions that we had as far as vehicles, the number of vehicles that they have or that would be coming to the factory at different times of the day and night and the parking that would be available. And they have a couple of hundred spots there. But they also have other off-site private parking where they can house some of those vehicles so that there is a backup on our roadways here. And they could... redirect those vehicles to other locations. That's what they're telling us they would do here.

Okay.

Thank you so much. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Chief.

Yes, Louise. Just a brief comment. Thank you, Chief, and thank you to the Fire Chief as well for clarifying a lot of the pending questions that we had. This is very exciting that the future is coming to us without us needing to do that much, and very encouraging that all the expectations were met and actually surpassed. That's excellent to hear, so I'm looking forward to see how it plays out.

Okay, Josh, the last question I have, you're still from the staff denying, recommending denying, or have you moved off of that because I see that the planning and zoning... had a 6-2 vote for denial. Is that correct?

Yeah, that recommendation was based on the future land use discussion that we had about maintaining the office environment. That's where that denial came from.

Okay.

Yeah, David.

Mayor? Thank you. Jocelyn, when we were out of the facility across the street, the old Citibank site looked like it was being demolished and redone. What is – have we permitted that for a – or zone that for a different use than it was, or is that still office there?

So that's one of those. Let me go back to zoning. This here is an SP2 for freeway. So that's part of the conflict in this whole area. We just talked to somebody else about it yesterday at another site. The ML20 and the freeway districts allow office and the manufacturing warehouse, the indoor warehouse type of use.

Right.

So they did not have to go through the zoning process to change it from office to warehouse.

And so right across the street we're having to do the procedure on the zoning change here.

No. This here, the Citibank, they're a freeway base by right.

By right. But the blue area where we're talking about right now.

It's because they're doing the outside storage component as the primary use. So we looked at the dispatch and the storage of the cars as the primary and the repair as the secondary.

Okay. Thank you very much.

John. Thank you, Mayor. On the zoning item, the last note is you have here is uh staff would recommend postponement to august if we don't just deny it is that still your right but it was because we wanted time for the police and fire to work yeah we probably didn't update that yeah okay okay so that's no longer no no that that's good good point all right

I think we're good at this point. Thank you, Jonathan. Let's move on to the next one, please. Number 29.

I want to add as well, too, you do have a traffic impact analysis we got at 5 o'clock yesterday. Traffic staff has not had a chance to even blink on it, but you do have that at your place. You should.

Is there a recommendation? Okay. Go ahead.

They haven't even looked at it.

Okay.

All right, our next case, another postponed case on 4149 North Beltline. They're requesting a SP2 for CN. They're wanting to add an auto service center minor in the 161 overlay. While CN allows the minor auto service center, the 161 overlay does not. So that is the purpose for the zoning request. Staff recommend denial. P&Z was denial 623. We had no letters from opposition. We had nine in support, six were in the 200 feet. I think we have a map in here of the distribution of those. And again, this was postponed from the June 25th hearing at the request of the applicant, the agent. So here's the site. It is partially flood plain, so all of the property is to the north. I think there are a couple houses here on this adjacent street. It's a zero lot line neighborhood. Future land use. So it is zoned for CN. So this is their site plan. It's supposed to be a Jiffy Lube, which we consider it a minor auto service center. So the side of the building would be adjacent to the single family properties. And, of course, they'd be on Beltline. This area down here to the south, of course, is still floodplain. And some pictures of the site. The residential to the north. This is the vacant lot, but just to see into the trees behind and across the streets. We reached out to the applicant, Jim Shell, is actually the representative for this case. We said, do you have any updates during this postponement period? And we got nothing. So I'm not sure if anything has changed in the last month.

Okay, comments? Yes, Abdul.

Thank you, Mayor. Jocelyn, this is on the corner of Beltline. I am very much familiar with this area. Yes, let me go back to Ariel. The question is to take out from the 161 layover.

It's not to remove it.

It's just to allow a use that the overlay does not allow today So the I think what this is my understanding and then just correct me The PNZ was looking that it is outs. It is within the area of 161 layover That's why they they denied whereas the in practicality. It's a commercial area Which is on the belt line corner. It's far away from layover area and And I think the residential neighborhood which they have, I think you have received all those in support. I don't see that the neighborhood is having any objection to that. So I think we should consider it, allowing that to be in the commercial neighborhood.

That's your prerogative. No. Okay.

I have a question, Mayor. Yeah, Mark. Justin, we don't have the letters in the packet that I saw, right? Letters of support.

We may not have added it this month. I know we added it last time, but we may not have added them this time.

And are they all on that Yusef court?

Yeah, the majority of them are. I think there's a couple on the south side and a couple on the north side. I know there was at least one or two that was the owner of this site that also apparently was the developer of the entire area, but owned also a couple of the lots.

So they're all from him?

At least two were, yes. I apologize we didn't put those back in. Okay, thanks. Okay, Dennis.

Yeah, when I was looking at this, I was curious about why does the 161 overlay come that far over to that line?

That I can't explain to you, yeah.

Yeah, it just, I'm like, to me,

I think at the time, and some people have been here longer than I have, I think at the time the thought was take it to Beltline and have the whole space between Beltline and 161 be kind of the larger office buildings like they are on 114 and just kind of piece by piece. It didn't work out that way.

So basically from my standpoint, the 161 overlay really is outdated compared to what's actually happening along Beltline to bring it that far over.

We could re-look at it if we're directed to do so.

Well, I mean, and the reason I said that is because, you know, P&Z, I guess their denial was based on it was in the 161 overlay. And the 161 overlay shouldn't be that far over. The belt line is my point. So I can't vote against it because it's in the 161 overlay. It's the point I'm making because it just, again, it don't make any sense for the 161 overlay to come that far over the belt line.

Thank you very much. What is on the south of this lot? That is also a commercial, right?

This here? Yeah. This recently was a case. I think it's just going to be a couple tenant spaces or something. They recently got a variance for a setback on a belt line. So, yeah, it's just going to be a small strip center or something. Commercial also. Commercial.

So the issue is not on the south side. The issue is the residential area.

Yeah, the residential. They have no problem with that. And the auto use, the auto use being so close to the residential. Everything has to be on the north side of the lot. Thank you.

David. Mayor, thank you. I had the same questions as Dennis on the 161 overlay. It seemed out of place going that far. The second thing is, you know, drive this area all the time, so that's a big swampy area back there. I'm not sure how much land use. We did the other zoning case to the south really for the setbacks because of that type of land right there. I did have a question on just general zoning on automotive. I was a little concerned that that would be an auto shop or something right there, but it's a jiffy lube. Do we distinguish between those type of establishments?

We do. A few years ago we went through and we scrubbed. We have minor auto service center and we have major. And so minor is the daily stuff. It's the oil and the tint and the windshield wiper, those types of things, where you don't leave your car and there's no overnight storage. You take your car and you go home.

And that's what this would be? That's what this would be. This is not the other use.

That's not the intention. If they convert over to that, then they'll be talking to code compliance.

Okay, great. Thank you. I asked Dan if he would give us a perspective. He remembers. He was around that time. So, Dan, if you would, put a little light on us here.

And federal transportation, i.e., sometimes land use. The whole area here north of the creek, this was with the 161 that was done some years back. Take Beltline as your north-south road. Take 161 as it goes up. That was all owned by health care, and they were going to put a hospital here. So when the 161 overlay was coming into be, they asked for that to be put into this for design standards and everything else that it has.

Great. Now we know. Thanks, Dan. Okay. Anything else on this? Okay. Everybody good? Okay. Dan, you look. You're not that old, man. I mean, I'm impressed.

He was 13 at the time.

Final item for our zoning cases.

Our one new case, this is at the Music Factory, so 3000 West Las Colinas. This is to take, I believe it was four parking spaces in front of Building B1. And they're currently parallel parking spaces, converting those into outdoor eating, an outdoor patio. So on your consent agenda earlier was the development agreement in order to make this change, and so this is the zoning change for the REB detailed site plan for the entire site. Staff recommend approval, P&Z approval, eight to zero, no opposition or support. Course the site. So this is south, you know, where the pavilion is. North is up here. So this is building B1. And so it's just these spaces in the front. I think I have it zoomed in. Yeah. And so they'll just be converting these into a little outdoor patio, be keeping the through sidewalk. And there's discussion or working through with inspections and fire just to make sure that The people who are eating here are protected from the traffic, and so they're going to work through that at the building permit. The parking, it takes away four spaces, so they've got plenty of parking and just some look of the current properties. I'll be happy to answer your questions.

Questions? Okay. Thank you. Thank you. We'll see. At this time, Chris, let me ask you a question. We've got our... Bond sales as well as the final item on wastewater. Would this be an appropriate time for us to take a break and also then get called back into executive session? Yes, sir. Or how would you like to go?

That works for me if it works for council.

Okay. Why don't we take a break, and then we'll come back and go right into executive session, and then we'll finish up with item four and five. Okay? Thank you.

I take care of that.

Irving's very own all-funk radio show had residents and visitors from across North Texas feeling it, and one of the most historic Sparks and Stripes ever.

We have live music, and just, you know, be able to enjoy each other for this couple years.

This is the first time I've been here. This is the most popular event in Irving.

We liked it last time we came, and I heard it's going to be bigger and better this year because it's 2050th. This Sparks and Stripes was a big one.

You could feel it in the air between the savory dishes and ice cold desserts. People didn't have to beat the heat for too long for what came next.

I like the airplanes. I hear the airplanes are going to be pretty sweet.

There were stars in residents' eyes as the stripes flew across the sky, delivered by decommissioned military jets.

We're going to shuffle a little bit. We came to celebrate. Happy birthday, America. Come on, Irving, let's go.

And as headliner Kafei Anderson took the stage, it was easy to see two and a half centuries of American pride on display.

What does tonight mean to you?

We have an opportunity to continue the American experience. Still being lived out. Right here, I mean, look at this. Peaceful celebration, unity. Even though we don't all agree politically, we're just so grateful for the city, the state, and the country.

As someone that actually did go in the Marine Corps and I served for five years, it does mean a lot to me. I have never seen a drone show before, so I'm excited for that and obviously the fireworks.

And that show came after sundown, as 700 drones and more than 1,600 firework shots lit up the night sky. It was a sparks and stripes to remember, where the joy of America's today and the hope for America's tomorrow converged right here in Irving.

Really hope we focus on the children, because obviously they're the future. 50 years, my daughter's going to be here, you know, and I probably won't be, but hopefully it's just a better future for our kids, really.

We are so proud to be in this time. This is a historical moment for our country and for our city.

We are that city. We are the most diverse city in Texas. And guess what? This is about our American dream.

For CitySource, I'm Nick Long.

I've been coming for years. I grew up here in Irving.

I've been coming every year.

This is my eighth time actually celebrating and coming to the Fourth of July festivities.

Irving's Fourth of July parade is one of the community's favorite traditions. It's exciting. I'm like a little kid about it.

I'm patriotic. My husband is a World War II disabled veteran, and I like to come in his memory as well as all the veterans that served our country. It's just a good time for all of us to come together.

They come together with family and friends to see several patriotic and lively floats go by.

You're going to see different groups from around the community. You're going to see the kids. You're going to see car clubs.

You're going to see the bands, the cheerleaders.

Well, we love to join the parade for Christmas and Fourth of July and particularly for Fourth of July to show our patriotism, how much we love living in Irving and are proud of that.

The celebration continues after the parade as everyone heads over to Heritage Park for live music

activities for kids, and some new additions.

And even a competitive pie eating contest. The city provided plenty of sweet treats for all to beat the heat while enjoying another festive 4th of July event.

So everybody coming out to see the friendly faces of everyone in the community, it's always a great thing.

Welcome back to Pub Cup 2026. Today's match features a contrast in styles. Germany is led by Walter, a one-year-old short-haired pointer mix. Meanwhile, Mexico will look to legendary manager Chiyo, a two-year-old chihuahua, for another brilliant tactical plan.

Walter's fancy footwork and elite dribbling skills make him one of the top strikers around. And check out that sprint speed as he runs the ball all the way to the goal.

Chio will have his paws full trying to slow him down, but he patrols the sideline with a tall presence despite that short stature. He loves everything about this sport right down to the taste of the pitch, and his sixth sense could be the difference maker today.

We're looking forward to another exquisite match here at Irving Stadium. And afterward, both of these incredible doggos are looking for a new team to call home. If you'd like Walter or Chiyo to lead your squad, visit irvingtx.gov slash adopt or head down to Irving Animal Services.

Irving residents now officially have another way to get around. The signs are hot off the presses, officially installed, and ready to point you to Irving Connector The Loop at Las Colinas. Whether you're heading to the Irving Convention Center, the Toyota Music Factory, or just want to take in the famous Mustangs, you can get there for free on The Loop at Las Colinas. Monday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., every 15 to 30 minutes, An Irving Connector van will be doing a figure eight around Las Colinas Boulevard and Lake Carolyn Parkway. Each van comes air conditioned with seats for nine people and they're wheelchair accessible. You can plan a ride in the City Mapper app and where you see the loop icon, that's how you can find stops around the urban center. And you can check out the route of the loop at Las Colinas right now on IrvingTX.gov slash transit. For CitySource. I'm Nick Lawton. The flag was raised, the fire hose uncoupled, and Irving residents helped push the engine into brand new Irving Fire Station 8, a project more than a year in the making. I pray a blessing on this place and the people that will call it home. I ask that you protect and guide them as they serve those in this district. that truly needed what the new station brings. Located on Riverside Drive in Las Colinas, where the old DART station was, Irving firefighters say call volume there has gone up 50% over the last few years. And on every call, every second matters.

Vital organs start shutting down after five minutes without oxygen. It's just a better spot to better serve our community, and that's what we're here to do, serve our community.

You as residents are in the most significant crisis of your life. You need immediate response.

In City Manager Chris Hillman's tenure, Fire Station 8 is the fourth new or renovated fire station in Irving and comes fully equipped to reach residents where they are.

They do hazmat response. They're a high-rise team. They're, of course, fire rescue. We've got an ambulance for medical response. We've also got the fire boat on the lake and the off-road ambulance to respond on the trails when people get hurt. So we've got a lot of things happening at this station. I come from a different generation of firefighter.

Irving Councilmember Dennis Webb served as a firefighter for 30 years. He says Fire Station 8 is just what the city and the men and women who will call it home deserve.

It's very important. Most firemen live probably about a third of their life at a fire station. So the more equipment, the better the station, the more comfortable it is, it really helps a whole lot.

And for the hundreds who came to break the new station in, it was just as much a celebration of them and their safety.

All of us together, our families, our young people, but more importantly, the people that wear the uniform. Thank you, because it is the community that makes this happen. And I'm super proud for the city. More than me or the department, I'm proud for the city because they deserve this. For CitySource, I'm Nick Long.

The sights, sounds, and splashes of summer. Irving spray parks and pools, like the stunning new Lee Aquatic Park, which opened last year, provide the perfect place to cool off during this scorching summer heat. And there are two new state-of-the-art facilities on the way in Irving. Renovations continue to progress at Centre Park, with a sparkling new year-round indoor aquatic facility on the way. Here's what the new Center Park Aquatic and Recreation Center will look like when it opens later this year. Construction is also well underway on the expansive new Mustang Park Recreation Center. At 127,000 square feet, this multi-generational aquatic and recreation center will set the standard in North Texas. This one-of-a-kind facility is expected to open in 2027. You can learn more about the City of Irving's bold vision for aquatics and recreation by visiting irvingtx.gov slash playirving.

Looking for something fun to do? The city of Irving is packed with entertainment the whole community can enjoy. We've got everything from a wide variety of dining options, many types of art to see, and breathtaking performances. Irving has it all. Big city excitement with small town charm. You can explore all the arts, culture, and entertainment the city has to offer on ICTN's Irving Spotlight.

Go on a dinosaur adventure with Brett Roberts. This wild and fast-paced magic and puppet show will teach children all about dinosaurs. Join the adventure on July 15th at 2.30 p.m. here at Valley Ranch Library. You saw the store's ribbon cutting on Irving Spotlight. Now enjoy a summer event here at Southern Petals and Poor. On July 25th, you can shop from a variety of vendors at the Red, White and Shop Market. And you can bring your kids to enjoy fun games, yummy treats and have a great time with the community. Sarah McLachlan comes to Irving for the Better Broken Tour. Her Better Broken album won Adult Contemporary Album of the Year at the Juno Awards, the Canadian Grammys. Her performance here at Toyota Music Factory starts at 7.30 p.m. on July 26th.

A change on the structure of the bass rates, and he'll run through what that looks like and why we're recommending that, so I'll turn it over to Chris.

Thank you so much. Again, Chris Eckert with NewGen Strategies and Solutions. Pleasure to be with you. As Todd said, we get to start out with some good news this year. What you see on the screen here is basically a comparison of the rate plan that Council had previously endorsed back in 2023. That was Resolution 2023-406. And what I want to point out for you is going into 2027, you'll see that that rate plan that was endorsed by council estimated 6.4% would be the overall needed average residential bill increase. I'm happy to report to you we're able to bring that in a little lower than anticipated. What we're recommending for next year is that increase be closer to 5%, 5.06%. So that's about a 1.35% difference from the prior plans. We're very excited to be able to bring that to you. Again, hats off to your staff. Hats off to you as a council for what you've done in terms of managing the utility well and controlling cost, allowing that to happen. And so I'll be working through what the plan is, what the recommendation is for next year. That average bill right now for 10,000 gallons water, 8,000 gallons wastewater for a resident, that bill right now is 101.85. Our recommendation will take that to 107 even next year as the monthly bill. So, again, I'll have more slides as we go through this, but just want to start with that, that we are ahead of plan, if you will. As we go back and look at history, going all the way back to 2017, you can see how that average customer bill has changed since that time. If you were to draw a straight line across, you're running an effective average annual increase over that period of about 3.6%. When we look at indices that are published by the St. Louis Reserve, they publish a utility index that we track. That utility index is actually running about 4.14% over that same period. So not only are you able to bring in rates a little lower this coming fiscal year than we anticipated, but you're actually running ahead of what other utilities are doing in terms of their increases and what they're seeing from an inflationary perspective. So again, you're managing your utility very well. You're able to provide very cost-effective service for your citizens. You do have a two-part rate. What you see here are the current water rates, a two-part rate, a fixed charge on the left-hand side. That varies based on the meter size. On the right-hand side, you see the volumetric rate. From a water standpoint, you employ what we call a conservation-based or inclining block rate structure that escalates or the unit rate increases as you use more water. So when you look at your pricing structure, you're sending a strong conservation signal to your residents and to your businesses. On the sewer side, you also employ a two-part rate structure, the fixed charge and the variable charge. The fixed charge escalates for those larger water meters on the sewer side, but you also include more volume allotment from a wastewater perspective for your commercial and industrial customers to recognize they're putting more flow into the system. Two key drivers for the utility when we look at costs going forward. One is wholesale expense. The other is capital expense. So again, you purchase some water from the city of Dallas. That's at the top. You see what that DWU cost is in millions of dollars. That's actually decreasing a little bit year over year. On the wastewater side, though, this is probably the most significant driver in wastewater cost increases historically and going forward. This is the wastewater treatment expense that you pay to the Trinity River Authority. You see year over year that's going up about 3.4%, but that represents about 62% of your overall wastewater budget. So this is a significant component that drives your wastewater cost overall. When you think about the utility, that wholesale service that you pay for, that represents the cost of goods sold. It's our recommendation that you pass the increase in the cost of goods sold on to rate payers. And for that to happen, that requires about a 2.1% increase in your rate just to pass through the cost increases that are being passed to you by TRA. So again, this is a significant driver, particularly on the wastewater side. Just as you have capital needs on your system, they have capital needs on their system as well. And so this is one of those drivers we did want to point out. As I said, capital is also another significant driver. When you look at maintaining your pipes, plants, pumps, all of these things that you have to maintain, you see what that capital plan is going forward. Again, we do have significant investment, but you're balancing that investment well between a solid mix of both cash investment and debt-funded or bond investments, you're maintaining a solid capital structure going forward. But again, these are big dollars. They do drive into the cost of service and what we need to charge in rates to recover that cost of service. As we look at the performance of the rate plan going forward, we look at revenue sufficiency. We also look at what our reserve position is projected to be as well as our debt service coverage. Recognizing that we do need to issue some debt to fund our infrastructure, we want to maintain a solid credit rating. By maintaining a solid credit rating, That gives us a lower cost of borrowing. So overall, it lowers cost to customers over time. So we do want to make sure we maintain adequate reserves and we keep that debt service coverage healthy. The projected rate plan that we've put together that we have in front of you does meet all of those metrics. It ensures we're in a revenue-sufficient position for the utility. In terms of policy, one of the elements that we've been working through in the rate structure on sewer, this actually started in 2023. On water, this began last year. But we're proposing and making changes to the fixed charge for larger meters. And so let's talk about that for just a second. When you think about a larger water meter, it can place greater demand on the water system. As those larger meters place more demand on the system, you as the city have to have the capital investment. You have to have the infrastructure in place to meet that demand. So those larger meters cause you to incur a higher cost of service. They cause you to incur more cost on the system. So it's our recommendation that those larger water meters should pay more. The way we structure these charges is we try to create an equivalency between your smaller meters and your larger meters, and we refer to this as a meter equivalency factor. As an example that you see on the screen here, a four-inch meter, if you look at the amount of demand it can place on the system, it is equivalent to 16.67 three-quarter inch meters. And so it's our recommendation that you move towards a charging structure that would reflect that equivalency. This is not something you want to move to immediately. You want to move to over time because this can have significant financial impact on those larger meters. And so we have been phasing into this and you'll see some of this here in just a second in terms of how we're getting there. We are monitoring this every year. We're making small gradual movements in this direction. because we do want to prevent rate shock for those customers. But again, it is our recommendation that you move towards these meter equivalency factors. Doing so helps protect your residential customers and ensures that those larger meters, which most often are commercial and industrial customers, that they pay their fair share of the cost of service. What you see on the screen here is how we develop these equivalency factors. We've got the capacity in gallons per minute that is recognized by the American Water Works Association. And in the middle column there, the AWWA meter equivalency factor, that's the factor that we want to move towards. The far right-hand side is where you are right now. So, for example, a four-inch meter right now, you charge 7.79 tons. times what a three-quarter inch meter is. Ideally, we want to move that over long term to be closer to that 16.67 mark. Again, this is a process that we move to over time. Just for some reference, we went and pulled other water fixed monthly charges for other communities in the Metroplex. You see the city of Irving there towards the right-hand side. But I do want to point out, as you look particularly at those larger meters, what Arlington, Fort Worth is charging right now, as well as Plano on the right-hand side. You see there's quite a bit of difference there in some of those large meters. Some communities choose not to do this. For example, City of Richardson on the far right-hand side, they still charge $8 regardless of the size of the meter. It's our opinion that that does not reflect cost causation. It's our recommendation you do look at charging those larger meters more. This slide just presents what that equivalency factor is right now. Again, you see where you are compared with other communities. Like I said, we've just put together a plan to move forward towards those equivalencies that align with the American Water Works Association. So this is that plan in terms of those percentage increases. This is something that we look at every year with water utility staff. We can always slow this down. We can spread it out if need be if those impacts are becoming too significant for those larger meters. So this is something we monitor. This is policy as you set these rates every year. So what we're proposing for those fixed charges, you see the current column, that's where you stand today. The fiscal year 27 column, that's what we're recommending for next year. Were we to get to those equivalencies, you can see where you would be by 2031, but we will continue to monitor this annually and determine what the appropriate rate action is in each year. On the sewer side, we do the same thing. You're actually a little ahead on the sewer side of where you are on the water side. But again, just phasing into those larger equivalency factors to appropriately reflect cost causation. Then finally, same thing for industrial. You do maintain two different charges right now for commercial versus industrial on the wastewater side because you reflect the quality of sewage that you're getting from those customers. So that does drive a differential in those rates. So as we look at bill impacts going into 2027, as I said, that average residential customer, 10,000 gallons water, 8,000 gallons wastewater, 101.85 is that current bill. Our recommendation takes that to 107. That's a monthly variance there for that average customer of $5.15. Again, that's an overall bill differential there of about 5%. We did estimate you would be higher than that at this time. We do always want to look at our smaller customers. This is our lower volume water users. This often represents our fixed income customers. And so we provide this comparison to you. This is a 3,000 gallon water customer, 2,000 gallons wastewater. So very low water use here. This is likely a single individual living in a dwelling by themselves, like I said, potentially on fixed income. Right now they're at $2,503 for that bill. Our recommendation is to take it to $2,590. That's less than a dollar a month in that monthly bill increase. But again, we do want to be cognizant of those low volume customers. On that average bill comparison, again, you see that change from the 101 to the 107. I would remind you when you're looking at these comparisons, this is not an apples to apples comparison. Every community is different. Every other community in the Metroplex is also having these same discussions right now. If you saw my calendar, you would see that we're in front of a lot of city councils at the moment having these same discussions. So what I'm comparing is your proposed bill with everybody else's bill today. If we were to rerun this in October or January, it will look different. It's possible that you will not change your position on this chart once other communities take the action that they're planning to take. Similar on the commercial side, looking at the average commercial bill, this is a four-inch average bill for commercial, 57,000 gallons water, 43,000 gallons wastewater. This is about a 6.36% increase. This is higher due to that increase in the meter charge. Also, this is a higher volume customer, so they're getting in to those higher blocks. As they use more service, they should pay more because of the water level they're using. When you look at those commercial customers, though, what you see here is just a comparison of just the minimum bill. And you see a little bit of bump here because we are changing that minimum bill. But when you add the volumetric component in, actually compare based on use, 57,000 gallons water, 43,000 gallons wastewater, right now that customer is at about $844 going to $897. But again, comparing your future bill to everybody's bill today. On a six-inch commercial bill, again, we're seeing a greater impact, about 8.8%, because of the impact of the increase in the fixed charge. That minimum bill increase, again, you see how you compare to other communities here. There are some other communities that charge those six-inch customers significantly more in that fixed charge. But when you layer in that volumetric use, you're about $1,075 a month going to $1,169. Again, comparing your future bill to everyone else's today. So a lot of numbers, a lot going on relative to that. But again, the good news, the key takeaway, the increase is not as high as what we anticipated. We are recommending that you do take the action that we're recommending going into fiscal year 27. But happy to answer any questions you may have for me today. Question?

Payment.

Thank you. Thank you, Chris. Once again, great presentation. As we go accelerate, I guess, the percentage on the higher meter sizes, does that Does that move your three-quarter-inch meter sizes down in the percentage rate increases, or is it going to stay at that kind of steady 5% increase?

Ideally, there will still be an increase there because you have so many three-quarter-inch meters, but they will not see the same level of increase overall. What it does is actually shifts more cost recovery to your commercial and industrial, takes some of the burden off your residential customers, so it should provide them some relief. All right.

And that presentation I sent you on data center, it goes directly to the same thing for uses on where the CapEx is coming from. Yes. So I really appreciate this, and I really appreciate comparative numbers to other cities so we can see if we're in line or out of line on something. So I appreciate the thoroughness of this.

Okay. Any other? Chris? Chris?

Thank you mayor and again council is Chris highlighted You had passed a resolution that was looking forward and identifying what we were anticipating rate increases to be over the next five years the good news is Next year's rate increase is lower than what we had estimated and so it's still going up But we're proud to report that it's not going to be as high which is good news Yeah, they're appreciated one one last question as well as

I guess in our control we have our water system, but our wastewater system, would you say that's 90% out of our control, or are we relying completely on T.R.A.?

Let's go back to the cost slide there, because that does help tell the story. Jump in there.

Well, you can see on the water, and this is broken out really well, it shows percent of water expenses, 17%, 18%. That's our Dallas cost, so that's the treatment. That's the buying, the water that we do buy from Dallas. Whereas TRA, I mean, it's almost two-thirds of our budget now, just the TRA, the wastewater treatment portion of it.

Do you see that always being the case or we're pretty much that's it, right?

Yeah, I think that will be the case.

And who controls that organization?

TRA has its own board approved by the state governor's office.

Okay, from the state governor's office. Yeah.

So I sit on an advisory committee of all the different customers. There's 21 of us. So we hear the presentations that they make. We make recommendations on the budget. We try to pull things down as much as we can, try to spread it out. But ultimately, it's their board that's going to make that decision. But we do get a chance to hear their presentations and provide input, but they're controlled by a separate board.

Appointed by the governor or?

Appointed by the governor, yes. Okay.

Thank you.

Okay.

Great. Great report. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Can't believe it's going down, not up.

Well, it's still going up, just not as much. Not as much.

Let me correct that.

Okay.

Let's go on to our next item, which is the I guess Brett can handle this? Or Brett? Brett. Okay, Brett. Bond sales, 2026.

Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council. Brett Starr, Chief Financial Officer. I actually have more good news for you. So if you'll recall, back on June 11th, the council adopted a parameters ordinance for the sale of debt. We had $77.3 million in three issues. We went out for a bid. The parameters ordinance gives us the flexibility to choose a date of the bond sales, which we think is most advantageous, working with Hilltop Securities. And we sold debt on June 30th, which was the week of July 4th, but doing it on a Tuesday. We had sufficient participation in the market to – TO GET A GOOD RESULT. FOR THE GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS, WE ISSUED $36.365 MILLION AGAINST OUR DOUBLE AAA RATING. INTEREST RATE WAS 3.684, AND WE WERE BUDGETING 4%. LAST YEAR THE INTEREST RATE WAS 4.13, SO WE GOT A CHEAPER INTEREST RATE. WE HAD NINE BIDDERS, AND THE WAY THE AUCTIONS WORK, WHEN YOU BID, It updates and you have the opportunity to make a counter bid to try to secure the best rate. We had 28 overall bid improvements off of the initial bid. Robert Baird was our winning institution. And so both nine bidders and 28 overall bid improvements indicates a robust auction process. For the tax notes, we issued $11.895 million. We got an interest rate of 2.667%, 11 bidders with 35 overall bid improvements, and JP Morgan was the winner on these bids. For our water and sewer revenue bonds, we issued $29.04 million. Again, because it's limited pledge water and wastewater revenue bonds, the bond rating was slightly lower. The interest rate was 3.807. Again, that is less than last year's rate of 4.33. We had 11 bidders with 60 overall bid improvements. And in prior years, when we've done an auction, we've left the auction open for 30 minutes. These were 10-minute auctions. We found in the past that when we left it for 30 minutes, everyone ignored it for the first 20 minutes and then jumped in at the end, so we just shortened the time period. PNC Capital won our water and sewer revenue bonds. With that, I'll take any questions.

Questions? For the notes, what was the estimated rate for that?

We were looking at 3.5%, and so they overperformed as well. So we got very, very favorable interest rates. One of the things we do when we do our long-term debt plan is we underestimate the growth of the tax base, and we overestimate what we're going to pay in interest. We sell the debt with 5% coupons, and so we look at a 4% to 4.5%. rate on the debt based upon the yield curve. And so we definitely have got a good value on these bonds.

That's great. We're working with Hilltop to identify those best dates, you know, for doing the sales and saving us money. Thank you for doing that.

All right. Okay. Thank you, Brett.

Before we go into executive session, the manager, anything you want to bring up? The last is that we've got an appointment for DCERD, and let me just make it really quick. We have two people that will be recommended, Rick Lindsey and Bobby Stewart, to fill unexpired terms, okay? And I think, David, you'll be making the motion. And I guess, Dennis, you'll do the second. Is that all right with you? Okay, good. We're good to go, I think, at this point. So, city attorney, you want to read us in?

Yes, sir, I'm happy to do that. There is an item for executive session. It's economic development negotiations pursuant to Open Meetings Act Section 551.087. And then, Mayor, on item number 32, there was a request to go into executive session on that. You are eligible to do that. And if you would like for me, I can read that item in as well. OK. At this session. OK, good. All right. All right, sir. I will include that. So this is item number 32 on your regular agenda. And under the personnel exception, Open Meetings Act Section 551.074, and the time is 3.52.

Irving's very own all-funk radio show had residents and visitors from across North Texas feeling it, and one of the most historic Sparks and Stripes ever.

We have live music, and just, you know, be able to enjoy each other's company.

This is the first time I've been here. This is the most popular event in Irving.

We liked it last time we came, and I heard it's going to be bigger and better this year because it's 2050th. This Sparks and Stripes was a big one.

You could feel it in the air between the savory dishes and ice cold desserts. People didn't have to beat the heat for too long for what came next.

I like the airplanes. I hear the airplanes are going to be pretty sweet.

There were stars in residents' eyes as the stripes flew across the sky delivered by decommissioned military jets.

We're going to shuffle a little bit. We came to celebrate. Happy birthday, America. Come on, Irving. Let's go.

And as headliner Kafei Anderson took the stage, it was easy to see two and a half centuries of American pride on display.

What does tonight mean to you?

We have an opportunity to continue the American experience. Still being lived out. Right here, I mean look at this, peaceful celebration, unity, even though we don't all agree politically, we're just so grateful for the city, the state, and the country.

As someone that actually did go in the Marine Corps and I served for five years, it does mean a lot to me. I have never seen a drone show before, so I'm excited for that and obviously the fireworks.

And that show came after sundown, as 700 drones and more than 1,600 firework shots lit up the night sky. It was a sparks and stripes to remember, where the joy of America's today and the hope for America's tomorrow converged right here in Irving.

Really hope we focus on the children, because obviously they're the future. 50 years, my daughter's going to be here, you know, and I probably won't be, but hopefully it's just a better future for our kids, really.

We are so proud to be in this time. This is a historical moment for our country and for our city.

We are that city. We are the most diverse city in Texas. And guess what? This is about our American dream.

For CitySource, I'm Nick Long.

Stars, stripes, and plenty of smiles are on full display at the city's annual 4th of July parade.

Close to 60 entries this year, I believe. Obviously, the theme, 250-year birthday for America. Happy birthday.

While the country celebrates a milestone Independence Day, Irving honors the occasion with a cherished tradition that has brought the community together for years.

We do this every year. We're getting out here at 7 o'clock in the morning, sometimes earlier, to grab our spot.

We've been coming here for 20-something years.

Yeah.

Born and raised here.

For me, this will be my 50th year.

We like to enjoy like all the different businesses and seeing all the community together and just get into, yeah, enjoy time together in our city.

The celebration gathers neighbors from all walks of life, united by patriotism.

All the people are here together celebrating in the same spirit.

That's good. We love America and what it stands for and the freedom and just seeing all the diverse culture that's out here in Irving. That's one of the things I love about Irving. It's a true melting pot.

If you want to see the proof of that, you come to parade today and you come to this event today. You'll see it. And the best part is everybody's united. Everybody's celebrating 250 years of freedom of America together.

The parade may be over, but the 4th of July fun is just getting started. The carnival is now taking center stage here at Heritage Park with games, rides, and plenty of family fun. The rising temps didn't stop families from making the most of the activities on the festival grounds. From competitive games and pie eating contests to a dunk tank that brought the biggest splash. Irving City Manager Chris Hillman gets in on the action.

So what was it like getting dunked by him? You know, I expected better. I was impressed he got me in there, but the water felt great so I couldn't be too mad.

Now it's the city manager's turn in the hot seat.

Yeah, that has to be the best job right now out here in the park because you get to get wet, you get to be refreshed, but most importantly people are having a great time, which is a lot of fun. And the kids are having a great time. Some of them can't quite throw it hard enough, but they love coming up and just pushing the button.

I did get to see Chris get dunked by his daughter on her first throw.

Well, she's always wanted to do that. But no, it's a lot of fun. The great thing is, whether it's my family, any family can come out here and just enjoy a great experience. This is what Irving is all about.

At the heart of the celebration is a chance for families, friends, and community to connect and create lasting memories.

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