City Commission - Regular Meeting

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Good afternoon and welcome to the City Commission of the City of Brownsville. Mayor, may we call the meeting to order?

Yes, please.

So this meeting is called to order. The time is at at 4 PM. This is a special work session, so no roll call is required. So the first item to discuss is a consideration of the proposed zoning and development of regulations for the self storage facilities, quick lube and oil change establishments, poker lounges and or clubs at the data center and event centers, including the permanent location. and also the site development standards, the operation requirements, or the capability with adjustment properties. I will turn it over to staff for the work.

Mayor and Commission, thank you very much for being willing to meet early. The development staff has brought forward to our attention that they're getting a number of inquiries about these types of uses, and the UDC, as it currently stands, really doesn't have very specific guidance on that. So we wanted to take an opportunity to have a workshop with you, tell you kind of what the UDC does and doesn't do regarding these various uses, and then talk to you about what's going on out there with other cities and then get some feedback from you so we can start designing some tools within the UDC to help Brownsville manage these types of uses a little better than we are. So I'm going to turn it over to Daniel and his staff and let them present.

Thank you. Hi, good afternoon, Mayor and City Commission. Daniel Leal, Director of Planning and Redevelopment Services with City of Grantsville. Today's work session focuses on proposed updates to the Unified Development Code UDC, addressing five specific land use categories, data centers, quick loop facilities, self-storage, poker lounges, and event centers. These updates are intended to support Brownsville's long-term growth strategy and ensure that development in prime commercial corridors align with the community's goals and maximizes public benefit. in recent years brownsville has been evolving has seen evolving development trends in these sectors it's with the it's with distinct impacts on land availability infrastructure compatibility with surrounding uses and overall community character At the same time, our latest community survey shows that residents strongly prioritize smart growth, environmental preservation, economic development balance, and wise infrastructure planning as guiding principles for the city's development policies moving forward. with that direction in mind these amendments aim to preserve prime commercial and light industrial land for high value uses that generate stronger economic activity and sales tax revenue while ensuring that more intense or less compatible users are located appropriately in non-prime locations overall these five proposed udc changes work together to promote orderly growth protect the community's long-term economic interests and reflect the priorities residents expressed through the recent community survey. Staff will present each amendment in detail and outline how these regulations balance development opportunities with the responsible stewardship of our land, infrastructure, and community well-being. Mr. Carlos Guerra and Sam Nunez, senior planners with City of Brownsville, will now provide a detailed presentation on each of these uses. Thank you very much.

Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, Commissioners. Thank you all for making time for us this afternoon. Excuse me. Like Mr. Liao mentioned, our goal here is to establish clear, consistent development patterns across the city that provide assurance for property owners, developers, and the community that future development is compatible with surrounding land uses, local resources, while continuing to encourage development that supports the city's long-term vision and growth. So again, the purpose of this is to provide clear and consistent development standards for the five UDC amendments that we're proposing. This here is the city zoning map. We are located down there where you see the Brownsville label down in the south and the downtown core. If you look at the map, the blue areas are your more traditional neighborhood zones, your older neighborhoods. And then as the city expands to the north, you have more of your traditional single family homes in the pale yellow color. Also along the major corridors, along the interstates and other major roads throughout Brownsville, you see the red properties. Those are commercial zone properties. And so those are properties that are probably most affected by these UDC updates. The ones that are highlighted in red are vacant parcels. So again, we're considering the vacant parcels when establishing these UDC development standards to ensure that it's compatible with the surrounding areas. So, 1st off on data centers, we're confident that this regulatory approach allows the city to determine where and how data centers will develop and operate through specific zoning requirements, special use permits and performance standards and monitoring the public health safety and compatibility with the city. The following considerations that I'll present this afternoon were developed from other Texas cities, including San Angelo. Thank you. Round Rock Lockhart and Fort Worth, Texas. I believe Fort Worth is probably the best example that we're using right now is they're in the process of developing a specific use permitting process for data centers that includes monitoring and oversight and include some of the elements that you'll see in this proposal. So just to recap, a data center, it's a facility that houses computer servers, data storage drives and hardware. It serves as the physical backbone or brain of the Internet. It stores and processes everything in the digital world, including cloud files, streaming media to email, social media, banking transactions, and AI models. So these newer data centers, which are becoming more popular that we're seeing, are meant to operate efficiently without any interruption. So that means that they require a constant source of power and sometimes require a lot of water for cooling or consistent water. So there's three primary methods, three primary types of data centers. You have the first kind, which is the evaporative cooling method, which is The most water-intensive, this splashes water onto hot data servers constantly, and that hot air is removed through fans, and then that evaporates into the air. Again, this is the most water-intensive as it requires constant water usage. The second is the closed-loop cooling. So this is more water-efficient. There's an initial demand for water when they fill the supplies, and coolant is added to that. It passes through a heat exchanger, which goes through IT equipment to cool it down, and then the warm air evaporates through fans. So there is some loss of the water, but also since there are chemicals added to the water, there's a maintenance requirement that requires the system to be drained. This is done periodically, probably about every three years or so, but it does require another fill up of water. So therefore, the water consumption is about medium on this, you know, so it doesn't constantly require water, but every time it does require that fill up after a couple years or so, there is another need for more water. The third method is definitely the least applicable to the city of Brownsville. This is the air cooling method that's more common in Canada and Russia and places, you know, further north, where it basically takes cold air, massive fans pushes it through the i.t equipment and then the hot air escapes through fans this is high electricity use but low water consumption again not really viable in our south texas climate so again these are the proposed regulations that this funding department is considering and would like some guidance from the city council or commission on you know how we're doing this this again was developed from other cities models you know most notably city of fort worth but also the cities of San Angelo, Round Rock, and Lockhart, Texas. So first off, we would only permit closed loop systems. Again, going back to it, that's kind of in the middle as far as water intensivity. It doesn't require a constant source of water. On the zoning side, it would only be permitted with special use permit. in heavy industrial zones. So our heavy industrial zones are intended to be on the outskirts of the city, be away from residential uses, to not create a nuisance to those residential areas. And we're also proposing that any initial specific use permit would be limited to one year to allow for a compliance review and confirmation of availability of services and utilities. The reason we chose to go with the special use permit T. Approach is because this allows for operation specific requirements right, so if there's. T. Whenever there's a special use permit it does require public hearing, so it does require public notices. T. It goes before the planning and zoning Commission and then before you all the city Commission. T. So this gives residents and opportunities to voice their concerns with with the proposed data centers and also the sup since it's specific to that operation gives the Commission, the opportunity to impose additional regulations, depending on. residential adjacency, depending on neighborhood concerns or noise complaints, and allows it to be done on a case-by-case basis instead of doing a blanket approach for all data centers. As far as land parcels, data centers should not exceed more than five acres. So this would include the entire data center campus. This isn't just one five-acre building, if you will, right? And I'll get into this in a little bit, but this would also include landscape buffers. This would also include Building setbacks to ensure that the operation itself is isolated, you know, and noise has to travel farther in order to be a nuisance. And this would also apply to generators as well. The developer in this case would be fully responsible for any required infrastructure development or improvements for that operation. So we're also considering a buffer from any residential use property or any other data center, meaning that they could not locate within that said buffer. This would be measured from the property line along with buffers. We're also backup generators. You know, those generators could not be any closer than 300 feet to the property line. It would have to be kind of isolated in the middle of the property. Also, as far as screening, we are requesting a 20 foot landscape buffer that would exist around the entire perimeter of the property and should have an automatic irrigation system. That landscape buffer will require a minimum six foot height trees planted along along the buffer, and this is intended to mitigate sound. Sound pollution you're going past the property line we're also proposing that a masonry or solid wall would be installed around the perimeter of the property that wall should be a minimum of eight feet in height. And so that would be primarily if there's any adjacency to residential uses or residential zones. an eight-foot masonry or solid wall would be required to isolate the noise and not let that noise travel. This would also apply to any detached generators or detached equipment for the data center. As far as lighting, we're requesting that a lighting plan be submitted to ensure that the light does not encroach into adjacent properties. As far as water and electricity, these utilities, the developer would be responsible for coordinating with the local utility provider. and water provider to determine water and energy availability. So what we're requesting is that the developer would submit a letter from the utility provider that details the planned electrical load and water consumption. The utility provider would verify the capacity and provide any recommendations for infrastructure upgrades that would be the responsibility of the developer. The development will also have to provide a water disposal plan that's compliant with Texas Administrative Code Chapter 335, which relates to industrial waste rules and only be removed by a licensed transporter. You know, again, this goes back to the specific use permit, you know, depending on the size of the operation, it could be individually mandated on certain developments. And then going back to the one-year initial SUP, this would allow us to review any letters from the utility provider. So, you know, we could follow up annually with them to ensure that they can still meet the electrical and water demand for the data center, as well as continue to provide services to the community. As far as noise, several cities also do this. They establish a time when generators can be tested. So generators may only be tested Monday through Friday, 8 to 5 p.m., and must be consistent with applicable EPA and TCEQ requirements, as well as the city's noise ordinance. There's also a element of state compliance. So in doing this research, we found that a majority of data centers are not complying with the Public Utility Commission of Texas' annual survey. So this would require that they provide proof that they're complying with the survey, that they're submitting their water and electricity usage to the state, as well as any compliance with any new state regulations. So we know that the state is working out ways that they can regulate data centers. So this just kind of covers us and ensures that whatever data center comes in, is still complying with state regulations on top of the city regulations. As far as monitoring, the city would assign staff that would include planning department and code enforcement staff to ensure compliance with the specific use permit. So kind of going back to that one year initial trial period, after that one year, the staff would coordinate with the utility providers and the developer for reporting and annually review data centers for compliance. So this means submitting water usage reports, submitting electricity usage reports, and just verifying with the utility provider that those service levels can continue to be met as well as provide service to the rest of the community. We'll also document noise and any other code violations that would be considered when we present that after that one year, right? So say a data center is developed and they're approved for the one year initial SUP. Following that year, staff will, you know, check in with the utility providers, provide another letter of assurance that the demand can be met, and then also mention any noise or code violations that could determine whether or not they're being a bad neighbor, whether or not their SUP should be renewed or denied for the following year. And then, of course, violations and penalties, you know, any of the SUP requirements could result in revocation of the certificate of occupancy or require a brand new SUP in a new public hearing in order to be approved and to continue operation. And with that, if there's any questions on data centers or anything, any items that you would like to mention.

First, thank you for your presentation. You mentioned the cities that you modeled these proposed regulations after. Are there any other regulations in those cities that you did not adopt here that we could potentially consider?

I'm sorry, you're asking if any other cities have any other regulations? Are there any other restrictions that were not? The only other considerations that I've seen are proximity to residential zones. But through addressing this through a buffer, I don't think For example, we mentioned that a certain eight foot masonry wall would be required. Let me back up. So the city of Fort Worth requires a 300 foot setback from any residential zone, right? If we establish the buffer requirement through this, then we wouldn't have to worry about the 300 feet because we far exceeded through the buffer requirement. So those are the only other regulations that I've come across from in my research and they relate more to residential adjacency. But I'm confident that through the required buffers, you know, we can avoid that.

Now, I'd like just to for the for the public just to I know we talked about this at the beginning, but currently our our code does not specifically provide regulations for data centers. And the purpose of this workshop is to provide options for that framework as as we ensure that the community's needs are taken care of first. Right. I think it's essentially that's that's the objective here. But again, I appreciate the recommendations here um in terms of the moratorium um that that that we asked to to come here can you talk about what our options uh going forward

Yeah, so 1 of the things that we have proposed in the interim while staff are working on amendments to the unified development code. Is having the city adopt a moratorium we've there's certain requirements that the statutes require us to do. 1 of which was published notice 30 days before the 1st public hearing. So the 1st public hearing will be held. in september with the second public hearing followed in october um the way the process works is the moratorium would allow no um developments that are within the categories that we're discussing this during this work session to come into the town unless they have vested rights in other words they have already pulled permits that have been approved by the city Um, with that, their state also requires us to have an appeal process in place. So those that haven't pulled a permit would still be able to appeal the, um, the restriction of not being able to request a permit to come into the town. With regards to a lot of the regulations we're proposing, we are looking for an adoption date of early October based on the timeline of how long it has. We have to have two public hearings. We have to wait so many days. The moratorium might not be in place until November. So we might have the moratorium way after the time we adopted the regulations or amendments to the UDC. The reason why we're doing the two approaches at the same time, even though the moratorium may come after we adopt the UDC regulations, is so that we don't rush through the process, right? We anticipate being able to have the amendments before you all for adoption in October, but that doesn't mean there might be any delays or requested changes. As you all know, we have public hearings and through the public hearings, we usually find additional amendments that we want to make and sometimes even table public hearings. And so we wanted to allow the process to be fruitful while having a moratorium in place, given that the timeline is approximately 90 days before we're actually able to enact a moratorium.

So... DR. Also, for the public's benefit, just to confirm that there are no current data centers that have pulled a permit in Brownsville?

DR. To my knowledge, that's correct. I would have to defer to planning to verify that. DR. That's correct.

But at the moment, if one does want to, the UDC doesn't allow for it, so they would have to go after a covariance?

I'm sorry, can you repeat the question?

Because the UDC doesn't allow for them right now, would they have to go through a special process at the moment?

Right. It's my understanding if the moratorium is passed, they would not be able to apply for the SEP until that moratorium is up and we have these requirements established.

Right. I think the question is, Currently right now, because we haven't defined data centers in the ordinance, is the UDC describe the process by which a use that's not currently identified in the UDC come before the commission? And I think that's the question. And I think that's where they would have to apply for a specific use permit.

Correct, yes. That's why we had the previous applicant, which didn't go through with it. But yes, correct.

And what's the limit on the moratorium? How long can we have that?

The moratorium is limited to 90 days. The first initial thereafter, we can extend it for another 90 days. So the total that we can do a moratorium is 180 days.

I have a couple of questions. First, obviously, I think everyone in the room and a lot of us up here. Oh, sorry. I'll say it louder. Thank you. I'm sure that everyone in the room and a lot of us up here are concerned with multiple things. Let's just start with water and electricity. So obviously, you know, before approving any data center, And I know you're not the Public Utilities Board, but how have you and your research from other cities, how can we guarantee Brownsville residents that they're not going to see an increase in water or electric rates, reduce capacity possibly, or be responsible for infrastructure upgrades required by these facilities?

I think in writing the ordinance and requiring the developer to provide the infrastructure upgrades would keep that cost away from the community. As far as capacity, that's why we're requesting an annual review and an annual reporting with the utility provider because we have several within the city. That would ensure that they can continue to provide the same level of service to their residents as well as the center itself. which is the purpose why we go back to that specific use permit, right? So we have the initial one year, and then when that reapplication happens, the council can decide then to allow it for another year, another two years, or even in perpetuity, just depending on their behavior, not their behavior, but just their reporting techniques and their operations.

Thank you.

I know I saw... Industrial zone. Heavy industrial zones also permit for utility generators. So that's their own power generators. In the event that a data center is required to provide its own power, which the state is considering, that would already be permitted by rights. So that would not be another hurdle to development. They would just be worried about getting their specific use permit and maintaining those operations.

I just wanted to make a comment for the city manager and you and mayor and commissioners. I just think it's important for the moratorium. I do believe that it's important to analyze and have a discussion on determining, spending our time kind of looking at first determining why this would even be beneficial long term within the city limits of Brownsville before trying to figure out how to allow them or not allow them to be in Brownsville. I think that that's a great question for us to ponder and have 90 days to show like what's the long-term benefit here is there even a long-term benefit putting them in the city limits of brownsville and and i think that's very important um for us that have a vote and for all the people in the audience that that i know would love uh answers to that question

I think in that context as well, obviously, data centers don't create a lot of jobs. But they do provide a lot of property tax at the outset. But those data centers, from a tax perspective, depreciate quickly. And so that property tax benefit also goes down every year as the values get declared for property taxes. So I like to understand how those are treated and how can we potentially calculate the benefit For the community, um, because like commissioner very outside of support, understand both sides. Um, and and at the end of the day, it might not be worth. The headaches, uh, for the city to bring those those type of developments here. Um. Uh, especially as where we've been in drought. conditions for the last couple years and um and also there's a strain on the grid right and i think that's what people are worried about as well and so um at the end of the day though ai's is not going away these these developments will be going somewhere and so those communities um that do receive them will receive some sort of benefit as well so we need to understand what what the what the picture is for us yes sir

Are we expecting for the state to pursue additional compliance or other restrictions for data centers?

We're expecting it when that happens, you know, we beyond our control. But, you know, any again, you know, any S. U. P. That comes through would, you know, state compliance is a guarantee. They would have to fall within that.

Mayor and commission. I believe the governor announced some regulations today requiring these to be reviewed by everyone to be every one of these to be reviewed by the PUC for its impact on utility infrastructure. So that's that's a layer that's already being added.

Thank you. And just it's a workshop. So Mr. Gard, I think it's also important to to just note for we have a large audience here today and we started working on on our environmental protection for the city of Brownsville. And I just wanted you to give them an update because I know that often people, we hear that everything that's happening outside of our city limits, but there's ways for us to still protect our environment within these city limits. And can you give an update, a brief update on that, on where we are with it?

One of the items that came out of our citizen survey was they want to see smart growth. There's also a strong sentiment in our community about protecting the environment and green space. And I think in response to that, you sent me an email about a month ago and said we need to be having an environmental policy, not only how we can work with and regulate businesses within the Brownsville city limits, but how can we work with these new businesses and industries that are locating outside our city limits because many of their employees will indeed be Brownsville citizens. And so I put together a working group that includes public health, our environmental and public, our engineering and public works department parks. A number of our departments are already working on building a framework for that policy. and it will include regulatory items that we can actually enforce through ordinance, but it will also include policy statements and policy initiatives that we can work with the Greater Brownsville EDC as they try to bring industries here and statements that they can make for us for specific industries that are looking to relocate in the Brownsville area, not necessarily within the city limits. Um, as you noted, we can't necessarily enforce those regulations on businesses outside our city limits, but I think we can talk to them about being a good neighbor about being a good steward of the environment and make it clear to them that that's important to this community. And we want them to be part of this community, but we want them to be a good neighbor as well.

Thank you Mr guard and I, and I welcome everyone here for us to have a similar workshop when those, when that, when those environmental codes come and what ordinances we can do. So that we can have the input of of the individuals that are here today.

All right, I'll turn it over to our other senior planner. Mr.

If the city commissioner, Sam Nunez, some city planner under the planning and redevelopment department, I'm going to cover the next 4 items on this work session agenda having to do with poker lounges to start with otherwise known as social or private clubs. I'm going to try to present a definition regulations that other state level and local level authorities are using to kind of deal or regulate. Or I can enforce development practices on these uses, and then a recommended approach in terms of text amendments we can consider moving forward. So, beginning with social or private clubs, otherwise known as poker lounges, they don't currently have their own definition in our unified development code. But they are being classified or treated through the indoor amusement establishment definition and all of the requirements that the UDC would have for indoor amusement establishment. An indoor amusement establishment was really designed into the UDC to treat with businesses such as indoor basketball arenas, indoor soccer. your Dave and Buster's, your bowling alleys. So it really didn't envision poker lounges, but we are trying to find a way to regulate them presently. But we will need to develop a definition that specifically treats with poker lounges or social or private clubs. At the state level, there is the TABC, Texas Ministries for... The agency that regulates alcohol at state level, and they do have a definition for private clubs. It is a private club in Texas, and it's an association that's driven toward a common objective, such as a religious, fraternal, social, charitable objectives. And many of these private clubs also involve the selling or on-site consumption of alcohol. So they have a permit that essentially allows them to operate even within places that have dry county to issue, I guess, alcohol permits or alcohol sales on-premise. These are the current current zoning designations that allow for indoor amusement establishments or poker lounges would be the quarter commercial regional center, the traditional neighborhood mixed use district, the traditional neighborhood, commercial, downtown edge, downtown general and the downtown core districts. Uh, under the Texas penal code, uh, it does give them kind of like a loophole, uh, to be able to, uh, practice gambling, uh, within a private place or social club. Uh, it provides a form of protection against prosecution if they've made certain standards under that penal code having a do with. Uh, where the winnings are going and the prevention towards a housing advantage otherwise known as a rake. This Texas law applies to all private places or clubs that host poker or their gambling activities on their premises, regardless of the primary use that stated when they're going to apply for their certificate of occupancy. uh these this is kind of a list of the typical activity that would would see at a poker lounge uh we see that at these establishments there it's a place where people come and network uh to dine uh to use bar uh to host private events live entertainment indoor recreational games and sometimes even educational or charitable events. When we take a look at this typical activity that we see within poker lounges, they are essentially operating as a private bar or private event center Uh, without having to undergo an process that would typically be required of an event center. So they're kind of going under the radar somehow and that's why we're trying to propose these regulations or these amendments so that we can more responsibly. I just address the poker lounges that we're see we see coming into the city. uh activities that aren't specified such as smoking i know that there was an item to discuss smoking as it relates to some of these bar uses whatever regulations at federal state or local level would apply to a use such as a smoking bar would also apply to whatever we decide to consider moving forward for poker lounges it would just be an added layer of regulation Uh, other cities, um, what they're proposing, uh, to address social or private clubs or poker lounges, uh, they have an or special, uh, use a permit conditional use permit or an administrative process, uh, in place to regulate private clubs within their city limits. Uh, though they may issue an alcohol permit, uh, cities can still decide whether or not a public hearing. or an administrative process can be enforced on these uses that seek to obtain a certificate of occupancy in order to operate. Other cities are also kind of trying to catch them at the permitting process. This is an application that is usually routed through our city secretary's office and other cities have it in place as part of the multiple items that they have to check off on whether or not they're going to be. Uh, having alcohol cells on their establishment, and if they check off on 1 of those threshold limits that the city would adopt, then the zoning department, for example, would have to notify them that as part of this application process. They would also need to consider a special use permit that would go before the planning and zoning commission and city council for approval before they can get their certificate of occupancy. That's something that we're seeing other Texas cities use. Uh, we also see that there are specific categories whenever it comes to the permitted use chart. There is a definition that is given to poker lounges and another definition that is given to clubs that are more fraternal in nature, meaning that they are not engaging in gambling activity. Or alcohol cells are on site consumption that exceed the threshold the city may have in place. And finally, we are seeing that other cities have separation requirements for these uses whenever they are in proximity of residential zones or uses. They tend to have the separation requirement. They enforce during the permitting process. Uh, to say that if you are within, for example, 300 feet of residential zone or use, you would be prohibited from attaining a CEO to operate and same with similar uses. Uh, this is to prevent clustering of multiple, uh, poker lounges. Right? So we're trying to prevent a de facto entertainment district and other cities have it to where they could even enforce a 1000 separation requirement from similar uses. Our recommended approach is first to begin with defining a poker lounge, a social or private club and fraternal clubs. So we're proposing or recommending that a total of about three definitions go into the UDC and each definition would have its list of requirements during a permitting process that city staff would review and look out for. We're also recommending that either 1 of these, or a combination of these following regulations be considered beginning with a special use permit request to allow for the operations of poker lounges. This could be 1 that is indefinite. So, if they go through the planning and zoning commission and city council approves it. Then it would be indefinite. It would run with with the land. They would just have to transfer it once ownership changes. It could also be a renewal type type of use that would have to come every year or every two years for renewal or reconsideration. Other cities also have it to where it's just an administrative review process. So, whatever ordinance city council would approve or requirements in the, our development code would be considered and approved. City staff would just use that list of ordinances and enforce it during the certificate of occupancy process and issue a permit to any uses that would comply with that ordinance without having to bring it to a public hearing. We're also proposing that this use receive a specific zoning designation, and that would be the corridor commercial with separation requirements. Those separation requirement options that we're proposing for consideration would have a separation requirement for similar uses, and also we can consider a limit to the amount of poker lounges that come within a lot or a common plaza. We would also need to create some sort of monitoring process similar to the data center item. We would use the planning or code enforcement unit to kind of monitor these uses to see if they're complying with whatever conditions we decide to adopt into our UDC. And those would be all the items having to do with poker lounges. Amir for any questions.

Thank you so much for your presentation. I did like the separation requirement options. I know a couple of years ago, I think it was about two years ago, we received multiple phone calls from a PTA and a group of parents from Garcia Middle School. And the issue here with them was that vaping across the United States was a serious issue inside of campuses. And right in front of this campus, there was a vape shop. So the message was clear. Let's keep vaping away from schools. But right in front of the school was a vape shop. So we worked together. A reactive approach was to work together with city and we created a city ordinance that would Any other vaping shop that would try to come into the city was certain feet away from any church, any daycare and any schools. So I think those are great ways to safeguard communities, especially when the messaging is don't do this. But right across from that, we have the major issue right in front of us. It's all by choice. But at the same time, I think that cities have a say so. And there's methods in which we can safeguard communities for it. So thank you so much.

Yes, ma'am. there are no other comments or questions i i could move on to the next item yes all right so next we're looking into quick loops or old change facilities uh this map kind of uh is taking data from our permitting systems to to show where uh some of these have clustered as we could see there is a trend and that most of them tend to develop next to major corridors in our city Our UDC does currently have a definition for all change facilities. However, it's under this category known as auto repair and service minor, where it is a facility or an area for servicing and minor repair of motor vehicles within an enclosed area. And they're only limited to servicing or providing minor repairs to vehicles of 10 000 pounds or less and quick loop shops is actually included within that category but it does make a difference between this minor definition and auto repair and service major that focuses more on providing the services for diesel engine vehicles There are certain state-level regulations that oil change facilities have to comply with, particularly with those guidance or regulations published by TACQ having to do with how they dispose or deal with used motor oil, oil filters, antifreeze fluid, transmission fluid, or oily rags, and spill prevention and wastewater discharges into adjacent waterways. Uh, we've also observed that other cities have an or conditional use process in place for just quick loops and how to regulate them. Most of them use separation requirements. So, for example, if an oil change facility is proposing to come within. 300 feet of a nearby residential use or zone, then the SUP is triggered. Otherwise it's allowed by right. And it's kind of like in an effort to protect residential adjacency. Specific use permits are also required within commercial or industrial type zonings in some cities in Texas with specific conditions having to do with screening requirements, such as requiring a masonry wall at eight feet, landscape buffering to kind of buffer any kind of noise that would be produced during operations and vehicle servicing and outdoor storage restrictions. So many of these old changed facilities would have like say an outdoor storage of vehicles but some of these ordinances have it to where they would have to be within an enclosed area so we would prevent these uses into developing into something that will look more like a salvage yard with broken down vehicles outside other cities are also considering separation from residential uses as i've already mentioned many of them use the range from 300 to 600 feet to protect residential uses nearby. Our recommended approach would be to create a definition for quick loops or old change facilities separate from the UDC's current auto repair and service minor. And I provided an excerpt of what we're proposing. It could still be worked on or refined whatever city managers or this council would have for us to include into that definition we're happy and open to consider that we're also proposing zoning designations and sup process be created for all change facilities such as other Texas cities are considering our sup would be very different from what other cities have adopted our rsup one of those conditions that we are recommending would be that if a normal change facility would propose a building that would be adjacent to a major corridor within the city such as in the interstate or a primary secondary arterial it would actually prohibit the placement of that building and they would have to place that building away from that more major corridor So they could still come within a CC or an RC district. But if that CC district property, for example, is fronting or is a lot that fronts any of those major corridors, it would restrict them to the building placement. We're also proposing that they be allowed by right, such as when you go to a Walmart, there's a quick loop facility that is located away from what's visible from the major corridor. And they would also be allowed by right as an accessory to our car dealership. And most of these uses are already located well with sufficient distance to residential neighborhoods currently. We're also giving the following three separation requirement options. Some cities have actually prohibited that they share a boundary with residential zones or uses. Other cities are considering that if they share a boundary with the residential zone or use, that they provide an 8-foot masonry wall. But our code could actually consider just a straightforward prohibition. So if they're trying to come into where there's like three or five lots that share a boundary with that use our code could prohibit it during the certificate of occupancy process this is just an option the other option that we tend to see more often than the prohibition is just to require the sup if they fall within three or six hundred feet from the nearest residential property The only difference from ours to what the rest of the state is doing is that we are proposing that the measurements be from lot boundaries and not from entrances that tend to be a little bit more friendly when it comes to determining if an SUP would be required. or not. And finally, in order to prevent the clustering of multiple quick loops or other similar uses having to do with auto repair, we are proposing a 1,000 separation requirement from similar uses. And again, using that measurement method from the boundaries instead of from the primary entrances. And those are all the items for consideration with quick loops.

Thank you, Sam. I had a quick question on the quick loops. Is there a definition for body shops or mechanic shops?

Those would fall within the auto repair and service major. So whenever they're needing to repair something in the exterior that would involve a paint job or a major part to be replaced, they could only do that on an auto repair and service major zoning district.

My second question was, can you just

define it for better for me uh 300 to 600 feet or 1 000 feet how how how is that like a block or two blocks it it's almost if it's 1 000 feet that's about half a mile if i'm not mistaken thank you sir but quarter of a mile and i was mistaken thank you sir thank you yeah Okay, moving on to event centers, this is a map showing where they most of the existing event centers are in the city and they share a similar trend to the rest of the items where they tend to develop within or along major corridors in the city. The UDC has a definition under banquet or meeting facility that treats with event centers. And basically there are establishments that are leased for a temporary basis before the day of the event by individuals or groups who reserve the facility to accommodate private functions, including, but not limited to banquets, weddings, anniversaries, quinceañeras, business events. Such establishments may include kitchen facilities for the preparation of food or catering of food and areas for dancing, dining, and other entertainment activities. currently our UDC does now not allow this use by right in any of our zoning designations they must apply for an sup to be allowed within an RC DE and DG and DC District so our our UDC already has that restriction in place and we're trying to kind of refine it as we speak There are regulations that we would apply during the certificate of occupancy process having to do with a site plan requirement. So if an event center is trying to come into a vacant property, we would require that they submit a site plan that would show the parking lot. which show the dimensions of the building and even separation from the nearest residential. When we present banquet or meeting facility SUPs today, we usually require that they meet sound mitigation requirements as a condition for that approval. But in theory, since it's an SUP, we can put other conditions on that event center having to do with parking requirements as well as we've seen before. This following slide gives a summary of our recommended approach for event centers and we are proposing that they be allowed by way of SUP on the corridor commercial district, the regional center district, the downtown general district, and the downtown core district. The only difference between that list and our current zoning designations for event centers is that we are proposing the removal of the Downtown Edge District since the Downtown Edge District tends to see more residential uses existing at this time. We're also recommending that an SUP requirement be a renewal type. So every one or two years it would have to come back for reconsideration. Some of the SUP conditions that we can tie to that requirement we are proposing that we maintain the sound mitigation regulations we have in place. And to that kind of add an indoor event limitation on the operating hours that event centers would have. And if they say, propose an outdoor event activity that those sees at around 10 PM. If event centers serve alcohol or allow for BYOB event, Uh, any, uh, bar use or bar establishment regulations that the city has in place would kind of layer in to this. And those would require that they hire police staff or a license security guard to be there within hours of operation. Uh, there are certain, uh, separation requiring options that we're putting forth. Uh, the first one is similar to what we proposed for the other items, uh, prohibition if they decide to share a boundary, uh, with a residential zone or use. And even if they try to come into a multifamily mixed use building, where, say, for example, in the 1st floor, they would have a major event or banquet hall and then the subsequent floors floors 2 and 3 would have multifamily units. There may be some conditions that we could enforce. To kind of protect the residents that live in that mixed use buildings from any sound traveling. to the upper stories we're also proposing a 1000 separation from other primary event centers or all mixed use building types that provide banquet halls or event rooms and that measuring method would be from lot boundaries and finally for any outdoor gathering areas they should have a separation requirement 600 feet from residential zone or uses and those would be all the recommended approaches for this item

from the renewal, it would consider, you know, if there's any violations or there's not compliance, they won't be renewed.

Yes. During, say, for example, if we approve a one year or two year, we would have a record of any existing violations that were on the list from, say, our code enforcement department at planning. And we would have to present those during the public hearings just to notify the commission that, hey, these violations have occurred. And could weigh into however you guys would decide to recommend or approach the item. Yeah.

The only question that I have in reference to that is what system do you have? Does it notify you when those one or two years are up? You can do renewal.

What we've seen other cities do is that they keep a list of the SGPs for every event center that have been issued on an annual basis, and they keep track of those who are coming close to expiration. Some cities have it in place where they say if they are within 30 days of expiration, they receive a notice in their mail to let them know that, hey, your expiration date is coming close.

Thank you. Yeah, we just want to make sure that residents that do have that are able to know ahead of time and work on what needs to get done for the renewal that we give them that opportunity.

Commissioner, I'd also like to add this is Doro. We also have excella that will help track this question that you just asked.

Thank you. Yes. Okay, so this final item has to do with self storage or mini storage indoor and outdoor facilities. This map shows where they are located and similar to all the other uses they tend to develop within major corridors in the city. The current UDC definition for this is under self storage or mini storage. Basically, it's a facility that is open to the public where they can lease spaces for household items to be stored within any of the current zoning designations here listed. uh you bronzeville does have a specific regulation having to do with these uses coming into cc or tnc districts uh today and and it reads as follows self self storage or many storage facilities shall be limited to indoor storage where access is made through a common corridor entryway with an enclosed structure as is permitted only in the cc and traditional neighborhood districts This is a recommended approach. We do recommend that we create additional use standards. So basically this item would remain as an administratively approved or reviewed item instead of coming before a planning and zoning and city council committee meeting. We are proposing that the building placement, similar to the oil change facilities, that they be a restriction on whether or not they can come within an interstate primary or secondary arterial road. Variances can also be considered if they share a boundary residential or they are within, say, 600 feet of other residential uses. And if they propose overnight lighting, for example, for added security measures, we do have a set of regulations that would require them to install light fixtures to prevent light pollution into adjacent residential neighborhoods. zoning designations for self-storage uses can be as follows if they are proposing an indoor facility those would be restricted to an rc district or higher if it is an outdoor facility li district or higher would be considered And finally, separation requirement options are as follows, similar to the other items. They could be prohibited from sharing a boundary with residential zones or uses. They can also have a restriction or separation requirement that would apply to other similar uses. And finally, a separation from residential zones or uses that could total up to 600 feet. And these are all the recommended items for this use. Right. If there are no questions, this kind of concludes the work session presentation. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Yeah. Awesome. And then also for the next item, we will move this next item under the city manager update due to time as a regular meeting will begin here shortly.

I just want to clarify we are moving forward with the moratorium, correct?

Yes, that is correct.

mayor may we begin with the regular meeting yes please perfect pursuant to chapter 551 title 5 of the texas government code that the texas open meetings act notice is hereby given that the city commission of the city of brownsville texas in accordance with article 5 section 12 of the charter of said city will convene at a regular meeting on august 4th of 2026 at I'm at 5 p.m. here in the City Commission Chambers on the second floor of the Brownsville City Hall, Old Federal Building, located at 1001 East Elizabeth Street, Cameron County, Texas, 78520. We will move on to conduct the roll call, starting with Mayor John Cowan, Jr. Present. Commissioner Tino Villarape. President, uh, Commissioner, uh, Naren Galanski president. I'm virtual. Yes. Thank you, ma'am. Uh, Commissioner Brian Martinez, commissioner Linda Macias, president, uh, commissioner, uh, Gustavo de Leon, commissioner Pedro Cardenas here. We do have a quorum to proceed. We will have the invocation that will be led by, uh, by pastor Brad Burke and following, uh, we will have the pledge of allegiance that will be led by, uh, by the boy scout troop 11 Allen Hobbs. Please stand.

Please remain standing after the prayer for the Pledge of the Flags. Father God, we thank you for the leaders we have in Washington. Whether we agree or not, we ask you to lead and guide them, destroy any deceptions in any of their minds and hearts, and give them clear direction. Give them your revelation for what this nation needs right now, what the world needs right now. Lead and guide each of our leaders here today. Our mayor, our city commissioners. Lord, you know the far-reaching effects of every decision. And so I ask you to give them that divine revelation, that divine direction for the very best for the city of Brownsville. And Lord, we ask for all of these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. And now Eagle Scout Alan Hobbs.

Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.

Next, we will enter into the public comment period. We did receive 30 pre-registered speaker forms that were submitted before the deadline at 4 p.m., in which five have indicated that they do not wish to speak. So at this time, to accept all 25, you can suspend the number of speakers allowed.

Sure. I'll entertain a motion to suspend.

Second.

I will move to suspend the rules as to the number of speakers.

We have a motion and a second.

Any further discussion? If not, all those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed, say nay. Ayes have it. Motion carries.

Perfect. And also, all the speakers will be allowed to speak up to three minutes. And also, please state your name and indicate whether you are a Brownsville resident or a business owner in Brownsville. We will start with Yolanda Spies.

years ago i came and asked you for help resolving an issue i was told it's inappropriate that you come to me with your concerns even though my concern had to do with corrupt police who didn't know the law police protocol or city ordinances i even had commander paschal claim that the law was unenforceable and that it was a civil case even though a brownsville police officer broke the law and should have been fired along with several other police officers I was gaslit, lied to, and basically treated like garbage going all the way up to the chain of command to the chief of police and the city attorney and her incompetent behavior. Well, here we are nearly four years later, and now you are trying to gaslight all of us about SpaceX, LNG, and now the data centers. You're trying to deny that anything is happening, but we're slowly seeing through your filthy cochino garbage. It isn't just me alone with no attorney willing to represent me because of fear of the police union. now there are more people here pulling the curtain back and they aren't backing down because they've been intimidated the way you try to intimidate me and ignore me you can't get away with that with them This kind of reminds me of guys trying to get laid and they are doing everything they can to get some, even if the guys have to lie, shame and intimidate. Doesn't matter how much she says, no, he keeps moving forward. This is no different than when a guy tries to force himself on a girl. The citizens of Brownsville are making it clear. No, we cannot afford the luxury of the data centers. We're already in a drought and you don't care. All that matters is your bank accounts getting bigger at our expense. so between allowing the moment of silence for charlie kirk and your racist behavior you're not really making a strong case for us to re-elect you when i offered to pay for lunch you claimed it would not look good well how does all of this look between the racism the raping of our community and your lying city attorney and chief of police this does not look good for any of you especially those of you who are up for re-election i believe there are four of you do you think all of this is inappropriate, rapey, unprofessional. You think this behavior grounds for reelection? Do you think people will vote for you knowing you're trying to kill us? I see you and I'm not pulling punches. Do you think they're gonna pull punches? It isn't just me now, so keep an eye out. It isn't looking good for you. at all and any money you make from this, I hope you lose it as quickly as you get it. We don't deserve being treated this way and you don't deserve any of this money that they are throwing at you. think you need to think long and hard if this is really going to be worth it for you. How are you going to look us in the eye and say that you did all of this for us when it's a blatant lie? How do you sleep at night? And how do you face your kids knowing your actions have consequences? Not just for us, but your kids, too.

Is a huge hugo is a ghetto. Please approach the podium. The time will start after you state your name for the record and indicate if you're a Brownsville resident or a commercial business owner.

Hi, my name is Hugo Iziguirre. I've been a Brownsville resident for 32 years now, my whole life. I mulled over how exactly I wanted to say these words. A lot of the time it feels angry. A lot of the time it just feels sad. I hope that a lot of us can hear what a lot of our anger feels like. electricity we know that they raise the price of water especially right now that our city itself is in a drought we know that our infrastructure can't handle um the use of electricities and data centers so I I ponder the question at one point do we stop prioritizing profit over the people I hope it's a question that comes to your guys' mind. I want to believe that you guys are upstanding, decent human beings. I want to. I really do. But I don't trust you. I don't. I don't. I don't trust any elected politician, especially when they're always, almost always getting caught taking deals under the table, profiting over these decisions. and leaving it on us to pick up the slack. I strongly urge you all to really consider a permanent moratorium on data centers. Because not only would this data center have affected the people around us, but it would have affected everyone in Brownsville. And it's not fair to them. I yield my time. Thank you.

The next speaker we have is Luis Seguera. Please approach the podium.

Good evening, Council. My name is Luis Seguera. I've been a resident of Brownsville, Texas for over 30 years. I am slightly relieved to hear that most of you on the Council are in agreement with the concerns that the residents have brought up. in regards to the resources, the infrastructure that a data center might bring to our community, one pressing concern that I do have in the practices that a lot of these businesses do bring is the practice of signing NDAs with elected officials. For instance, a couple instances, Bessemer, Alabama, Mayor Kenneth Culley, the city attorney and the staff signed an NDA regarding a 4.5 million square foot development before public comment was even brought up. Salem, Oregon City officials entered an NDA with developers in April of 2025 regarding a prospective data center before public backlash and City Council moratorium. Hermantown, Minnesota City leaders signed an NDA for a large scale data center linked to Google before public record request exposed the deal. I believe that residents deserve timely access to information about projects that affect public resources, infrastructure and quality of life. with that being said i respectfully ask the council that any ndas presented to you or receive with the are received with the scrutiny and respect to freedom of information that residents deserve with that being said i would like to ask individually councilman martinez do you promise to not sign a non-disclosure agreement in regards to the development of a data center in brownsville texas look i'm sorry this is a public comment section the city commission cannot engage okay allow you my time then. And I hope that each of you will heavily consider the signing of an NDA in that room. Thank you.

Next speaker is Alexis Diaz. Please approach the podium.

Hello and good afternoon. My name is Alexis Diaz and I'm a resident of Brownsville for 25 years. I'm here to talk about the data center that is being proposed on Padre Island Highway. I think it is safe to say that most people want the future of Brownsville to be bright and exciting. However, our wants should never supersede our needs. The RGV in recent years has seen fast, rapid economic growth in sectors that are not just new for Brownsville, but across the nation. All across the country, you can see the damage that data centers cause, not just to our resources, but to the residents that live near and around them. Our energy costs will skyrocket, which some residents are already having a hard time paying for in this economy. They use a ton of water, to which we have seen a shortage of, as Mayor Cowan has pointed out. And just imagine having to hear a jet engine constantly while you live near one. Brownsville should continue to join other communities across the country that are taking a pause on a rapidly growing sector that has yet to prove its benefits to the communities it strives to intervene. And I yield my time.

The next speaker is Victoria Acegueda. Please approach the podium.

My last name is also get. i've been a resident of brownsville since I was born, I recently had the privilege of flying to Austin and on the flight back to brownsville. I got to see firsthand the absolute drought that we are in and the difference between how our land looks from above versus thriving cities like Houston and Austin. We have acres of land sitting plain without any trees or any form of greenery, just dry hydrophobic dirt waiting for what you all claim is development. The city of Brownsville is in a water crisis. As a matter of fact, our city officially announced this on the website. urging residents and businesses and business owners to strictly adhere to stage two water restrictions as the region faces ongoing extreme drought conditions and heightened fire risk. Aside from the dangerous amount of water that AI data centers use, they more importantly, plague surrounding areas with noise pollution. The city of Brownsville is central to our native and migratory bird population. Right now, you can go outside of this building and see red crown parrots, egrets, ibises, great blue herons, and hundreds of other species unique to our city, which also brings in a lot of tourists, which brings money to the city. Do you all know what a data center sounds like? It's horrible, and it is going to cause damage to our city as well as to the migratory bird population. I'm sure none of you guys are going to be living close to an AI data center, but picture all of the people that are going to be living near these data centers. Instead of wasting our time and yours entertaining the idea of introducing an AI data center to our city, we should focus that same energy on supporting our wildlife refuges like the Laguna Atacosa, the National Wildlife Refuge, the Laguna Vista Nature Trail, Resaca de la Palma State Park and World Birding Center, the Sable Palm Sanctuary, Boca Chica Wildlife Refuge as well. I would like to finish by saying that all of you cannot hide from the citizens of Brownsville. We know who regularly shops at Target and the natural grocers. We know what businesses you all frequent in the morning and evenings. If you decide to sell out the city of Brownsville again, you will hear from us online and in public spaces. We need a permanent moratorium. We do not need an AI data center. Please do the right thing and propose a permanent moratorium. or else you will face the consequences in public areas and at the polls during the elections.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Diablo Velez.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Anai Zepa.

Hello, my name is Anait Zapata. I am really excited because I'm here representing Ground Game, but also representing DSA as a co-chair. Brownsville Workers First policy initiative is on the agenda today, and I'm really excited that it's on the agenda today. I think it will help a lot of people. It prioritizes small businesses. It prioritizes in getting city grants, also limits big corporations or entities. if they're getting city grants so that they could prioritize hiring people locally also it's a great opportunity for the city to collaborate with unions right i know that previously um here the council or the commissioners and the mayor have talked about industry and growth and all of this stuff um pro you know um AI data centers, but in reality, what we need to do is focus on the people here, the workers here, making sure that we have safe working conditions, making sure that we prioritize industry that's here, right? And we can do this by welcoming the Central Labor Council of the Rio Grande Valley, asking them what workers need. what industries we should welcome into our communities that are gonna be helping workers and have standards for our workers, not just any corporation that's gonna make a fancy presentation for you like we've seen before, right? Also AI data centers, this is something that Tino Villarreal has mentioned before, how would this benefit our community? How would this benefit the people of Brownsville, right? I think there is a lot to consider here. I think there's more people outside. This room is packed just for the people who are online of people saying that they do not want a data center here in our city.

There is people outside in the hallway.

This place is packed, filled with people who are upset and outraged with the idea of a data center being here. And like Ms. Victoria said, elections are coming up next year. And beyond next year, there is going to be more elections. And the way that this, the state of our world is right now, if you guys don't listen to us, we will make sure that you are not in those seats. All right? Next year and beyond. Thank you.

Next speaker is Anthony Rosas.

Thank you and good afternoon. My name is Dr. Etienne Rosas. I'm a policy researcher, community advocate, and Brownsville native and resident. The people have repeatedly pushed back on this city's model of rapacious economic development with appeals to morality, environmentalism, and public health. But evidently, we now have a government by big business for big business. So let me approach this the way you seem to understand best, business. Data centers are a public credit line to big tech's irresponsible AI gamble. And the two possible results of that gamble are heads they win, tails we lose. Let me give you the story in numbers. The big seven tech firms driving this craze hold $1.3 trillion in debt on their books. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Beneath is $1.7 trillion in shadow debt financing, the whole charade. One of the reasons why this is happening in secrecy and through shell companies. It's a circular scheme. The chip maker buys the data center that buys the chips that generate the revenue that justifies evaluation that funds the next data center. These data centers will be obsolete before they're finished. Construction can take two to three years. AI hardware iterates faster than that, and each generation is less profitable than the last. Morgan Stanley estimates AI build-out costs at $2.9 trillion through 2028. These companies' cash flow covers $1.4 trillion. That leaves a $1.5 trillion hole. And guess who's expected to cover that difference? All of this hinges on unjustifiable imaginary future revenue. Since businesses are already switching to cheaper a alternatives that are 90% as good at 10% the price. return on invested capital across the hyper scalars has fallen from 40% 18 months ago to 20% today and still declining lastly electricity demand is expected to double by 2030. A bill that requires electricity in a scale that does not exist. And since we haven't invested in renewables like the rest of the world, high energy costs and environmental depletion are structurally built into our economy. So even if they win the gamble, we still lose. It's the epitome of socialized losses and privatized gains. A lawyer who works structural finance litigation after 2008 crash said that developments in AI data center financing feel like deja vu. with no transparency about financing structures at a scale that is astronomical. There is no mitigation fee high enough to cover their coming insolvency. We are again extending huge credit lines to compulsive, sociopathic gamblers, only this time they're not from Wall Street. They're from Silicon Valley. And like in 2008, we the people would be left holding the bag. We have a choice. We created this digital world to serve us in the real one. Let us not destroy more of our real world to serve the digital one. the ai economy is a financial powder keg and data centers will only move us closer to its blast radius to move away from it and mitigate its harms stop catering to billionaires interests and start addressing your constituents invest directly in what they've told you they need not ai but health care child hair child care clean air and water public education be as ruthless about defending your community as techno fascists are about destroying it say no to data centers in our town not now not ever thank you

Next speaker. The next speaker we have is is Amelia Moreno. Amelia Moreno.

Good afternoon. My name is Amelia Moreno. I am a resident of Cameron County. The request is simple. As you have heard, no data centers. I have seen secondhand the damages and disruptions it has caused citizens and the surrounding environments where one has been placed. I do not wish to see firsthand those same effects in our community and loved ones, our wild lands and endangered species. We cannot allow billionaire companies to pay their way into your pockets. to destroy the lives of the people you have sworn to represent and protect. People over pockets, I ask of you, do not sell us out for temporary monetary gain and permanent environmental and health damages. Do not let us become another sad statistic specifically without disclosing the true intentions and actual benefits to us behind these massive data centers. In case it has not yet been clear from all of the people, no data centers, no data centers. No data centers. Thank you.

Next speaker, Nancy Cruz.

Good evening, Mayor, Commissioners. My name is Nancy Cruz, and I'm a leader of Valley Interfaith and a concerned resident of Brownsville. you for holding this workshop and for giving the opportunity the space to you know giving us the opportunity to space out our voice and our thoughts i'm here this evening to respectfully urge the commission to approach the expansion of data centers in our city with during our hot summers data centers operate 24 hours a day pulling massive amounts power introducing these facilities into brownfield risks straining our local infrastructure which could lead to a higher utility bill for local families or worse localized power outreach outages when we need cooling the most second and perhaps the most critically is our water data centers require millions of gallons of water daily to cool their equipment in a region where water scarcity is ongoing it's an ongoing reality and conservation is vital to For our future, we cannot afford to prioritize the cooling demands of tech corporations over the basic needs of our residents, our agricultural neighbors, and our local ecosystem. Furthermore, these facilities take up massive tracts of land and create very few permanent, high-paying jobs for local residents once construction is complete. The math simply does not favor our community. I love Brownsville and I want to see our city thrive, but true progress means protecting the resources that keep our families safe and secure. I respectfully ask that the City Commission update our unified development code to heavily restrict data center zoning and establish strict caps and industrial water and energy consumption. Thank you very much for your time, your hard work and your dedication to protecting Brownsville's future. Thank you.

Next speaker, Nathan Watson.

Hello, good evening. My name is Nathan Watson. I'm a student at the university and I am the public affairs officer for the UTRGV College Democrats of Brownsville. Like many people present, I'm here to oppose data centers in Brownsville entirely. I'm a resident of Irut of Sol, which is a subdivision close to where the recent data center was proposed. My community is next to the port, so I'm already concerned with all the recent projects like LNG, surrounding technologies, and the recent oil refinery that was put on us. Sorry, excuse my nerves. This data center would have been another worry for my area. People all over the country share the same fears I have, that a data center will come into their neighborhood and affect the lives of their neighbors, family, and themselves. As we all know, the city and valley has been in a decades-long drought, and recently the city moved its drought plan to stage two. Data centers and the resource-heavy nature will hurt the city's efforts to conserve water and further push us to take more drastic measures. I have family in Corpus, and they joke about wishing a storm would come and fill in the city's lake and move them out of their drought. They have many big projects over there that consume water shamelessly, where residents are forced to conserve their water. We need to learn from their city leaders' mistakes and put a stop to these big projects. We don't know what the future will hold if we go through with projects like these, so I believe it is important to stop and think about what is best.

i believe we should have a moratorium on data centers in this city thank you so much uh next speaker is miss kayla garcia and on deck will be i will be jesse gonzalez kayla garcia

Hello, my name is Kayla Garcia. I'm here to speak against and express my concerns for the data center proposal. I know recently there was a proposal for our data center on Casa Padre and to our luck, the company withdrew its permit. And the reason why I say to our luck, it's because I feel that if they didn't withdraw their permit, you guys would have moved forward with it. I have many concerns on the effects that these proposed data centers will have to our community. It's slightly reassuring to hear that all of you guys are aware of the negative effects of these data centers, but that isn't enough and I would like for the City of Brownsville to have a permanent moratorium on potential data center proposals. I recently spoke to some of the citizens in Corpus Christi in which they have said that they are in a water crisis. they are running out of water due to these data centers and desalination plants and other industrial companies that are in their city it's so bad that their citizens can't even wash their own car or water their own lawn if they get caught they get fined for it i also have seen a lot of citizens in corpus displaced from their homes due to the increase of property taxes and bills we have the privilege to do all of these things and we should learn from corpus and stray away from these data centers Lastly, if you guys want to create more workshops for environmental justice, you guys should directly work with grassroots organizations.

Thank you.

Next, Jesse Gonzalez.

Hello, Council and Mayor. My name is Jesse Gonzalez. I'm a Brownsville resident my whole life, and I'd like to first praise my community for the victory in making the data center withdraw its special permit from Brownsville. The organization of our community, as well as coblinks made publicly by people here today and on social media, showed to the large corporate class that the people here do have the power and a say so on what goes on in our communities. I am proud of the united force in the community and what it's becoming. And I hope to see a future stronger growing front as time moves on. Secondly, I'm here to approve of the recent discussions of a moratorium and urge you council to go through with it fully. I also would like to see a wait period on data centers so that proper research can be done. I recommend three to five years so that thorough research can be done with People like PUB research such as the effects of data centers on our electricity costs, the cost of living, surrounding residential wellness, and resaca restoration have to be individually researched, and their effects on each other have to be taken into account as well. This is something that takes more than 60 days can offer. I ask you to reach out for me for more information with future decisions on what Brownsville could look like for better development to prioritize the many over the few. I respond quickest through text and email, which you have both of, and I yield the rest of my time. Thank you.

Next speaker is Veronica Medrano. And then following on that is Mary Gallagos. Let me just say my name.

Hi, everybody. My name is Veronique Medrano. I am a public figure and a constituent. Hey, you said for me to say where I'm from, of Cameron County and a citizen of Bronzeville. Can we please just chill on this? Like you guys just told me to do this. And I just walked the hall and all your beautiful pictures are there. And then right after we get through all your wonderful photos, there's this beautiful little plaque. I urge all of you to look at it. In 2007, the city received a Preserve America Award for preserving the cultural and natural resources for the benefit and enjoyment of the public from First Lady Laura Bush. And now almost 10 years later, we are fighting for the preservation of our natural resources. I've been born and raised here. I have lived out most of my adult life here. And over the last 10 years, a cavalcade of politicians have sat in these seats from the mayor to the commissioners and have told us that they wanted to bring progress and innovation to the city. Data centers are not innovation, they are thieves. I stand here with multiple others who ask you to put the voice of your citizens above this postured innovation. Look at the bigger picture and put a one-year moratorium. None of this complicated, oh, we're going to do a moratorium in a few days, and then after that, then we'll start the clock. No. Do it now. To put hard facts and data in front of you, the Texas Water Development Board has just drafted a 50-year state water plan to combat the ever-growing water crisis everyone talks about because the state don't got water. Do we want to become the next casualty of water and resource loss? Look at the yards of any house here in Bronzeville, dry, brown, and hanging on for dear life. The city is not on the border by the sea for no reason. So we don't want to be on the border by the data center. Bronzeville does not have the necessary infrastructure to handle the extra load of water and electrical use that is required for these data centers. I find it really interesting that the Unified Development Code gave you guys a really nice, clean presentation. Shoot, I would have even been sold. But of course, they're using some interesting data. Not the data that I could easily find, i.e. from San Antonio, which shows that the use of two prominent facilities have used approximately 463 million gallons of water over a two-year tracking period during drought conditions. I can email that to you since UDC doesn't have it.

Who will shoulder the cost?

Us. This isn't a trend or a fluffy cause. And as Willie Nelson said, the last thing we need in our The last thing we need is a loud water-thieving, light-polluting data center anywhere near our town or any other town.

Next speaker, Mary Galleros, and following will be Jacqueline Morales.

afternoon and thank you for the opportunity to speak.

My name is Mary Teresa Gallegos and I'm a Brownsville resident. I raised all of my kids here and I would like to present my very edited notes. I keep changing them as I sit here. Most of us here would like to see a total ban on data centers or a permanent moratorium as they've been calling it. But in reality, that's unlikely until we get a new government in Austin because of Abbott's 2023 Death Star law that prevents communities from passing ordinances like bag bans or data center bans. However, we are not powerless. Going forward, what we can do is create smart zoning laws that make us both unattractive to data centers and protect us should they, in fact, come here. One thing we need to do is be sure the footprint is limited. Five acres is enormous. They would have to be smaller than that. And the committee, although I think they did a great job, did not mention how many stories tall they could be. Five stories? 10 stories? They can be huge. They like to be multi-storied. So we would say limit it to one story. In addition, talking about water, If we can't keep them from coming here, at the very least, we could make them pay for their water. Currently, all non-residential businesses pay the same rate. That's ridiculous. A data center uses up to 5 million gallons a day. Why would they pay the same rate as a family restaurant? So we would have to do something about the cost of water. that would encourage them not just to not come here but if they did come here they would have to be more they would have to conserve water and also that would change the design of their of that data center the committee talked about lighting and noise so i don't think i have anything new to add to that beyond what you've already heard but nobody has brought up yet infrasound You would need to do research because it probably is something that's new to you, but those are the sounds with a frequency that's so low you cannot hear them. And those sounds travel so far and they're unaffected by sound barriers. Anybody within two and a half miles is likely to feel the effects, which include tinnitus, nausea, and vertigo. Your body can feel it even though you cannot hear it. That is something that has not been addressed by the committee and nobody has brought up yet. That's obviously something that would have to be accounted for before we ever let a data center come here. It would have to be in the zoning laws. These recommendations don't come close to addressing all the problems of a data center. People have brought up other things like electric usage, huge demand on electricity. Am I really out? OK, sorry, sorry. OK, thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Jacqueline Morales and then fostering will be Christopher Abasado.

Oh, I'm just waiting for the time to start.

Yeah, go ahead and please state your name.

My name is Jacqueline Morales and I'm an attorney for Cameron County and commenting today as a resident of Brownsville. I'm here taking time away from trial preparation as usual to, like many others here, taking time away from their job to protect my home again. And I want to start by sharing some information from an interesting Gallup poll that was conducted in March of 2026. And this is kind of before we have the Intense Data Center. Opposition already in March, seven in 10 Americans oppose local construction of data centers. Half of opponents mentioned data centers, excessive use of resources, including 80% mentioning their use of water and energy. Plenty of people had environmental concerns of pollution, especially noise pollution and air and water pollution. These are all things you will have heard. About one in five opponents are concerned with the impact on local quality life, including increased population, increased traffic, the land being they would prefer the land to be used for other purposes and so on. Also, the cost of living increases the cost of building the data centers, which would probably involve the use of taxpayer funds. And most of the remaining opposition stems from general or specific concerns about artificial intelligence, which we've seen time and time again. There are new problems coming up with that. Um, the opposition against data centers has grown immensely since that initial poll. It has only gotten worse. And the interesting part now is that we have new data from people who do live in these cities that have data centers and have the actual effects in their backyard. I want to remind you all where we live, I have been here my entire life I left to get my my degrees and I came back and I want to you know start my life here. And the environment is the reason why I came back I left Austin I came back here and it's heartbreaking to see it go away, I mean it seems almost it's like where's the common sense and letting that leave. so soon. I mean, we're seeing Saronic, we're seeing SpaceX. I mean, it's all related. LNG, they're all related. I feel like it is important to remember these things. Keep in mind the betrayed citizens. Look at the videos of people in Red Oak. I don't know if you saw the residents who were outraged when all these people showed up just like in this room to oppose, and yet there were still issues, and the data center was still passed. There are lawsuits currently. I want to you know bring up guadalupe county the commissioner's court um is the is being sued by local residents and taxpayers for the way that they handled the data center projects keep and keep that in mind there are repercussions for the way these things are handled You need to tread carefully. And again, it's unfair. You know, you got to think about future generations. It's unfair to make extreme decisions now and leave the burden on future generations to deal with. I mean, we have babies in this room here. They're the ones that are going to grow up and have to deal with this. You guys have kids. We've seen them. And you have to be thinking about the impact that they're going to have to carry. Thank you. Thank you.

next speaker uh christopher basadu and following we will have um adalima sanchez

I am Dr. Christopher Basaldu.

I'm a resident of Brownsville and I am a descendant and a member of the tribe of the original human beings that lived here before the United States, before Texas, before Brownsville. I'm also the co-founder of the South Texas Environmental Justice Network. That's my introduction. You can put me back to three minutes now. I ask you to please consider a permanent moratorium on data centers. These are environmentally destructive and they're not justifiably they're not justifiable for the destruction of not only water but air quality. You heard from your uh from the previous presentation that if these data centers do not have enough power coming from the grid that it's on their responsibility to try to produce their power you can look across the country they're using gas plants so methane burning gas plants that will destroy our air quality and increase our lung cancer rates our copd rates and our asthma rates just for these data centers these data centers are already obsolete they're being pushed by private companies so that they can get richer all of these are private companies it has nothing to do with making the public's lives better they pinpoint places that are non-white or in poor that are majoritively people of color in order to use environmental racism to get what they want So they're not targeting brownsville because they want to make our lives better they're targeting us because we are a majority people of color Community. On top of that, you can just look at all of if you're following any of the tech stocks of these major tech companies and Ai companies, they are tanking. And they are panicking because they want to keep their profits and they want the entire public of the United States to give them their financial bailout like the 2008 crisis that hurt lots of people. My own mom lost her house in that one. We have not enough people in this community with high wages. They are in danger of this type of predatory company like AI servers. Please pay attention to that. They're not going to be profitable. They cannot become profitable. The United States has already lost the so-called AI race with China and their technologies, which are better. They want to destroy our water and our air and make all of the public, the poor public, pay for their mistakes and pay for their worship of being billionaires and trillionaires. We demand a full permanent moratorium on AI data centers. We also demand that you cancel cancel your contract with flock because these data centers are only for the surveillance of the people in order to control us. And flock is one of those data companies that's doing it. Stop these data centers and stop the surveillance of our communities. Thank you.

Adelima Sanchez.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Commissioners. I'll be reading on behalf of Adelima Sanchez. My name is, I'll be reading verbatim. My name is Adelima Sanchez. I was born and raised in Bronzeville. Today I represent Valley Interfaith, Blue Bunny Brigade, RGB Movement, Mother Forward, and many citizens of Bronzeville. I am a lifelong resident and a mother raising two young daughters in the same community that raised me. Like every parent, I want my children to inherit a Bronzeville with a clean air, protected wildlife, safe, evaluating data centers because they can place significant demands on electricity, and depending on their design, may require substantial water for cooling, while also raising concerns about noise, infrastructure, and nearby neighborhoods. Many communities have responded by adopting temporary moratoriums and updating zoning regulations before approving future facilities. I respectfully ask you to adopt a minimum of one year moratorium

And the next speaker we have, which is Bebe Joel, she provided some written comments that will be shared with the body tomorrow, and then it will be recorded for this meeting. So the next speaker is, is Italia Salazar. And following we have Brenda Garza.

Okay.

The people that want to have the data center here, since we're Mexican-American, they think, oh, no, they're not going to speak up. They're not going to, they're going to let it happen. Pero no, son equivocados. and um there's a lot of good points i really want to focus a lot on the water point um we can see here in corpus we don't have to like go very far away I'm going to make this short and sweet because I have a very short attention span myself. Anyway, my name is Brenda Garza and

I have lived the majority of my life in Brownsville, Texas. I have been a Cameron County Master Gardener and I have grown vegetables here in this area through the community gardens and also through my greenhouse that I have on my property. I I know that Brownsville was recently in a stage two water restriction. Somebody mentioned that earlier. And so what I see is that the data centers are asking us for water that we don't even have to give. I mean, it doesn't make sense. Brownsville residents are being asked to conserve water and these people are wanting to come in and use millions of gallons of water each day. I don't see how that can happen. I am not prepared to support the AI creators and the IT staff and everybody that has to do and will benefit with the data centers. I'm not willing to support them because as they're getting richer, I'm having to make up the difference. economically, financially. I see that bill coming in my mailbox because we have let them come in and drain us. So what I'd like to say the bottom line is no water, no food. Okay, telling you here straight up. No water, no food.

every drop counts next speaker is caleb false and then the last speaker is angelina cortez hello i'm caleb foss you all know me you've sat at tables where i've taken care of you but tonight

I don't have a nice message. It's not that I don't want this city to be successful, but your backs and shoulders have to be tired from carrying the weight of American fascism on them. You are going to have a crater on the moon with your guys' name on it because you've allowed Elon Musk into this community. And if you let an AI data center into this community, you're not only going to create problems for all of these residents who aren't going to vote for you again, Because you already have terrible track records and there's no reason to reelect you. Some of you are pretty nice. Then you're going to create an international incident. We already have a fascist president who hates Mexico and limits people's access across our borders. But this water crisis isn't only about Brownsville. It's going to affect every city along the river. It's going to affect the people of Mexico. And if you want to celebrate Charo's Day again without a fake smile on your face, you should consider the water crisis in Mexico as well as Brownsville. Climate change is real. It's been scientifically proven. temperatures are rising precipitation decreases and evaporation goes up we are going to by the year 2060 we are going to have a deficit supply of almost 6 000 gallons per acre in the rio grande river basin Water levels are at historic lows as of 2024 where we have seen the only southern Texas sugar meal leave. If you bring an AI data center into this community, you're going to lose jobs. And when you've created jobs with SpaceX, we have a whole new epidemic of people who have come here and gotten addicted to drugs that have come across the border and that they get from their doctor. I walk home every night, downtown Brownsville, and every day there's a new guy from out of town who's doing drugs because you guys have allowed these fascists who don't care about people to come into our communities and tear it apart. But there is a solution to your guys' problem, and it starts right now. You stand up for what is right. You stand up for the people that elected you, and you stop taking money from the people that are gonna line your pockets, because you're all gonna die just like me with no money in your pocket, no one there holding your hand, and all you are gonna have are the decisions you made while you sit on this council. Because I tell you, if you allow an AI data center into this community, this will be the last public official seat you ever hold.

Angelina Cortez will be the last speaker.

Good evening. My name is Angelina Cortez. I am a resident in Cameron County and I am the president of the UTRGB College Democrats of Bronzeville. So today I am here to represent the young leaders in the community, my classmates, my group, and because I believe that our voice holds so much power than it already does, especially with this issue, because at the end of the day, we are the ones in the future who are going to feel the impacts. Therefore, I am here today to oppose data centers entirely in our community, we have seen so many people speak out and everything i'm going to say i'm going to refute you know. i'm going to repeat, I mean and. yeah we have seen so many people speak out about the recent data center proposal it's here in bronzeville and i think it is important to take the next step and that next step is to think about a moratorium on the data centers in the city there are so many communities around the county facing the same fears that we are that a data center will come into our community and disrupt the daily lives of our neighbors friends and even ourselves There are so many projects that worry the people in our community, from LNG to SpaceX and now Ceramic Technologies. There are so many projects that pose a possible risk to our ecosystem and well-being. We believe that it is important to stop here. We ask for no more big projects that we don't know the effects on the future they'll have in our region. And our region is quickly running out of water. We have had a decades-long water drought. and to exacerbate this issue with the water consuming projects like a data center is not only irresponsible but harmful to our communities and local environment we have seen what the people of corpus are experiencing and if we don't take the correct measures it is only a matter of time till that will be us so many of your constituents have spoken out against this today and even online and have made their opinion heard. And I believe as well as my fellow young leaders, it is time to take all of us seriously. As your constituents, we are here to voice our concerns. There are literally people, as was said before, literally sitting out in the hallway to hear what you guys, our community leaders have to say and what you're going to do. so from one community leader to another please put the people that you're leading before you and do what is right for our people and do what you were elected to do as a representative our leaders and make the right choice for us the people thank you and that concludes the public comment period now we will enter into the city manager's update

Mayor and Commission, the first item on our City Manager's Update, and we'll go through this very quickly, Stephen, is we did an interdepartmental call audit, kind of like a secret shopper. A little more than about a year and a half ago, one of the commissioners called around to several of our departments, and we found a lot of inconsistencies in the way we answered phones, how we responded. And so we've started some customer service training. We've had six cohorts, trained about 120 people. And our EPMO department did a follow-up call audit interdepartmental on that. And we found a number of issues now that we are working on dealing with. But I wanted them to present this to you to show you where our gaps are, talk about some of the things that we are doing to address it, and that we are going to be working with our The gentleman that helps us with training customer service, we're going to use this data to kind of create customer service training 2.0 using this data so that we can be more consistent in how we respond to the public through the telephone system. So with that, I'll turn it over to EPMO staff.

Good afternoon, Mayor and city commissioners. My name is Yolanda La Torre. I am currently the director of the Enterprise Project Management Office. And as Mr. Gard briefly mentioned, I will be talking about the recent interdepartmental call audit that was performed by our staff. so just to give you a little bit of background and providing more depth into what mr guard already mentioned so in early 2024 there was a an audit that was performed by one of our commissioners and we really do want to thank commissioner villarreal for performing that audit uh because it brought this to our attention and it let us know that it was somewhere where we really had to emphasize some training and making sure that our staff was providing a good customer service towards our citizens. So from that initial audit that was, or informal audit that was performed, a training was developed specifically for the department, which was our parks department and to this date, They do have training and courses available via our online platform. But of course, to follow up, we did perform a citywide audit in the fall of 2024. Um, after data was collected and I will be sharing what those 24 results were and how they compared to now, um, a customer service training was, uh, developed by our OD and HR department and MRG presentations to this, this state and starting from January, 2025. the most recent course being june 2026 there were a total of 12 trainings provided through four different cohorts and we were able to target a total of 223 staff members to attend these trainings and you'll see how the results have changed from that 2024 initial audit Just to provide some information on the 2026 audit. So we did perform a total of 68 calls through different departments that are listed on our city of Brownsville website directory. This audit was completed between June 1st and June 4th, which. Also, coincidentally, we had the final trainings happen in June 4. After the evaluation was completed, or how we completed our evaluation, was through compliance with our current employee handbook and telephone etiquette, the customer service standards and professional communication practices, and the same evaluation criteria and indicators and Likert scale that were used in the 2024 audit. This was just to keep it consistent. And after performing the audit, recommendations were provided to study leadership, which I will go ahead and share that with you So starting with our departmental responsiveness so in 2024 a total of 64% of the calls were answered we're now in 2026 we saw a total of 72% of those calls. answered, whether it was the first or second time attempting to answer. This year, we did have a 17% of calls that were not answered and anything that is labeled as NA would be calls that were made to numbers that are disconnected and we are no longer in service. Now, the first thing that was analyzed was the professionalism of the calls when they were answered, with a total of 68% of them at least meeting expectation as compared to 2024 with only 52% meeting expectation or above and beyond that. In these next three slides, The NA percentages will be the sum of the calls that were not answered and the sum of the calls that were disconnected lines. So you'll be seeing that 26% consistent throughout just because we were not able to provide an analysis on those calls. We also analyzed the overall helpfulness when the calls were answered. We see an improvement from 2024 from 55% to 65%, at least meeting that standard expectation. And of course still needing some improvement in about 10% or less than 10% of those calls. And the 26, again, that were not analyzed. And then the overall communication was rated as well, so I think this is where we see the biggest improvement from a 46% to a 67% at least meeting the expectation. So from. The audit, we provided a few recommendations to our department directors and assistant directors along with our city leadership. Some of these being to continue leveraging our online platforms for customer service trainings and providing trainings that are more specific to telephone etiquette and customer service. departments were also recommended to develop standardized phone greetings. We understand that every department is different, but we would still think that there should be a certain level of expectation when answering a phone. and also ensuring that staff are trained on the internal call transfer directories and routing protocols to ensure that we don't have residents going from one line to the next and and so on so ensuring we know who who calls need to be transferred to some recommendations that we found based off the review of our city website were alphabetizing the directory just to Make sure it's a little more user friendly, ensuring that departments regularly review the publicly listed phone numbers, ensuring that the interactive voice response systems are also up to date and include all divisions listed within the department's directory, and evaluating the need for publishing individual staff phone numbers and considering limiting public listings to public-facing roles. On July 2nd, we presented this same information to our city manager's office, our city directors and assistant directors, and we did have some feedback from them, some of them including using AI automated call transfer assistance to help with the volume of calls that are being received. um also leveraging the new service now chat bot that will that is currently in progress with our i.t department and just reiterated that departments review and update their website to ensure that all contacts on there are up to date and providing the standardized telephone greeting within each department These are the actions that have been taken since July 2nd. So we, I really do want to thank our directors and our assistant directors for working with us as well as the OD and HR department and our IT department for ensuring that these changes were taking place almost immediately after that July 2nd meeting. So some of the actions that have been taken by departments have been creating one of them, creating the IVR systems. So there were departments that weren't using them, but they felt that it might be a good use for their department if they had multiple divisions. And of course, the next one, making sure the departments that already had them in place were updating them to make sure that all the staff that was listed there, all the numbers that were listed there were still up to date. um on the city website we are still that specific action is still ongoing and will remain ongoing because as you all know we have new staff coming in or staff going out so we will be working with departments making sure that they are verifying and updating these for these phone numbers that are listed on our city of brownsville website And our staff training, so departments have also begun training staff with the information that we provided. We did provide individual department results. So based off the numbers that we called for each department, we gave them their performance and they began reviewing that within their own staff meetings and have begun in implementing changes with an emphasis on the expectation for professional telephone etiquette and standardizing the telephone greetings some future implementations that we can expect so we did also have a brainstorming session with our city manager's office and odn hr And we are looking forward to developing a customer service training 2.0, where we will be using the audit results to tailor the training specifically for phone call etiquette. And as I previously mentioned, the ongoing website updates, those will continue throughout changes with personnel and just ensuring consistency and accuracy. As EPMO, we will be conducting follow-ups with departments just to ensure that the websites are being updated periodically.

Do you all have any questions? No, thank you so much for this and Commissioner Villarreal for doing that because we always want to make sure that we are providing great customer service and this is how we improve. It's through the feedback, through the training and through that expectation that we set as a city.

Yes, thank you all so much for all this. I know it's a lot of work. Did you consider or have you considered weekend phone calls?

no so we kept the phone calls within um the operating hours of most apartments which is from eight to 12 p.m. and then from 1 to 5 p.m.

I understand from departments, but I'm saying let's say it's the weekend and there's some real pressing issue. And I tell the constituents, like many of us, just call 546 help. And sometimes I do also receive criticism that it basically sends you to a dead end after waiting for a while and you really don't have an outlet. I don't know what the answer to that is, by the way. I mean, I understand.

So in reference to 546 help, you can also write an email. I know what you're getting to write. And the portal, they do have an app that you can report things to and just in case you can, because I know that the help line, it's not an emergency line. So you cannot contact after a certain time. I know with 5 p.m. and I know with animal control, it also states on there on the website that any emergency call, you are to call 911. And then beyond that, For animal control, it's contacting the police non-emergency line. So I know that that information has been helpful for me to learn so I can regurgitate and give that. Because I feel like education really helps lessen frustration. And most importantly is reassure them that we can guide them to the right person depending on the situation.

And we will keep brainstorming, so that's very good feedback. Thank you.

Yeah, I would give you just the feedback of. I have no idea and we just got done with a massive presentation and listening to a lot of people opposing data centers. So it's going to sound weird that I'm going to. say, think about the chat bot, like the AI. Well, it's because AI can filter what's a real emergency, right? And I don't know if that's like you leave a message and it filters whether it sends it to a department Whether translate that translates that into an email that goes to a department, or says this is an actual emergency that gets pushed to the non emergency police line that somebody is equipped. To actually say, oh, this is a problem now that needs to be addressed somehow that calling 911 would not be the appropriate or 546 help or wait for Monday till we open.

Yeah, it is currently looking at exactly those scenarios right now. So we are experimenting with them and figuring out the right protocol. You know, the when when should it go here? When should it go there? So that's absolutely the direction we're going.

Thank you. Um, so is this planning to be a an annual process to benchmark against going forward?

yes i believe so we will continue with um the auditing um not sure and i wouldn't want to share if it's at this it will be at the same time next year but we will definitely look into how we can continue progressing on this item i think it's an opportunity possibly to work with hr to incentivize

uh you know advances here right i think that's you know by department or by whatever you know so that there's you know obviously it's the right thing to do to be professional but i think if people know um you know that everyone's working together as a team and there's there's something to be gained by it um it might help boost that number quicker absolutely mayor one of the things we are doing is improving all areas of our onboarding and so that

Even if you're a maintenance worker and you don't necessarily answer a phone, frequently the public will come up to you and ask you for a question. So we want to make sure all of our employees, no matter where they are in the organization, present in a professional way. I agree. So we can definitely add that as part of our onboarding process for all of our employees.

Thank you.

Thank you.

next we have is um is the second uh budget uh work session with the city commission for the fiscal year 2027 turn it over to that good evening mayor commissioners stephen news with the financial services department um through our budget process we've had one budget workshop and this is going to be our second one as we go through our preparation for the fiscal year 2027 budget so to start we'll do a brief recap of the previous budget workshop, go through our proposed budget highlights, what the compensation plan entails in this budget, and then our proposed budget for our various funds. Then we'll switch gears a little bit, talk about our capital improvement plan, as well as have a proposed budget from GBEDC and BCIC. So at the last workshop, we talked about our strategic planning process and the strategic alignment that goes into that. We talked about the citizen survey and shared the results. We talked in depth about the results and what it means. We talked about key legislation, Senate Bill 2 and HB 1822. We gave an overview of our budget process and we gave some end of year projections for this current fiscal year. We talked about our department operations to kind of show where the tax funds are being applied, where their money is being used. We also showed what the departments are asking for for this upcoming fiscal year. We also talked about the new stormwater fee adjustment. So the highlights from fiscal year 2027's budget for the general fund include the second phase of the compensation plan, essentially the same compensation plan that was implemented this fiscal year that was 50% to market. It will be the same adjustment 50% of the market this fiscal year. And there's also an adjustment to minimum wage, bumping them up to $15 per hour. Apart from that, operational services and core enhancements, there were, we were able to fund 2.2 million of those requests. Then we also were able to fund the, we had to fund the collective bargaining agreements for fire department that was completed previous year and the police departments were anticipating to complete this fiscal year. This is some background on what the compensation plan is and it was done by Evergreen Solutions and we have some highlights of their methodology and their metrics they used. But the big takeaway is that it provides an objective independent review of positions and ensures that employees are paid based on their roles and responsibilities and not necessarily simply a job title. Apart from compensation, another highlight was the potential for another holiday. This actually came up during our budget committee work sessions at the beginning of our strategic planning process. And some discussion was had. Charles Days was a holiday for our local event was being considered or put forth for consideration. Juneteenth was another one. And then the idea for a personal day so that staff could use it whichever one they prefer uh came up as well and odhr helped us with pushing out a survey to all the staff and these are the results uh 62 percent preferred the additional personal day i'm guessing for the flexibility if they really like juneteenth they can go to that first they like charlotte's they can go to that so uh we're looking for a direction on which one we should move forward with uh for next fiscal year if there's a preference by commission we can make that happen So moving more into the numbers now, we've seen this before. Sales tax, the big bar is the total annual sales tax and then the smaller bar is the change in dollar amount for year to year. So you can see an overall trend we're increasing in sales tax revenues, but then the change from year to year can vary. How much we're increasing, yes, but the variance can be higher, can be small sometimes. So that's one of the reasons why we budget 98% of the prior years. Property tax rate history on the top line, you can see that it shows the percent decrease from year to year. And overall, we had since 2020, almost 14% decrease up to 2025 and for 2026 we maintained the same tax rate. It's also broken down into our MNO and debt service rates. MNO in the pink and the blue is the debt service rate that funds our CIP. So speaking of property taxes, these are options for this year as calculated by the state mandated tax code. Our voter approval tax rate is 61 cents and three point six one three four four zero sixty one cents. No new revenue rate. No new revenue rate is point five six three four zero seven. And then our debt service rate is point two four nine nine two three. So the voter approval tax rate is the rate the state allows us to increase that they deem is reasonable as an increase from year to year. And that's that three point five percent cap. And it is, comparing to the current rate, it's only a 1.48% increase over the current rate, and it would yield about $44.6 billion. We went ahead and maintained or made an assumption to maintain the tax rate at $0.60, the current tax rate, by leaving an unfunded operational gap. of approximately $1 million. So when we look at our total revenues, that'll be shown with the calculation of $0.60 as the tax rate. What this means to taxpayers, we're showing two different methods or examples. You have the median value and you have the average value. They're both going to show you relatively the same thing. Whichever value is closer to your home value, that's around what you can expect to pay. medium values to provide a reference so the proposed rate maintains the same same rate as the current rate that you see in the top line where last year you paid 849 this year you will pay 937 and that's mostly due to the change in the appraised values so last year the median value was 140 and it went up 15 000 to 155 this year that's why that change or that increase is there and then that's with maintaining the same rate if we go with the voter approval tax rate uh which is 0.613440 taxpayers would have to pay about 15 more instead of 937 they pay 952 so 15 more which would yield the city about 1 million to fund operational costs so speaking of operational costs we have about a total of just under 17 million throughout the various departments and funds that we have. Here's another way to look at it. For general fund, you can see we have 10.3 million and we were able to fund 2.2 of the operational costs. Internal service funds, we had 0.8 million, 800,000. We were able to fund most of that, 700,000. On the special revenue funds, we had total requests of 1.4 million, We were only able to fund about half of that. And then for enterprise funds, we were able to fund about 70% of their 4.4 million requests. So a lot of needs, and not all of them were able to be met with our current revenues. And how we allocate or how we choose which items get funded goes back to our strategic planning process that was discussed with the budget committee. And this year, we also looked at the citizen survey. we took that into consideration as we you know made a decision what we could fund and what we couldn't fund so there was some positive comments that indicated that the citizens value a community a friendly community and a neighborly environment they value our culture and they want to preserve our heritage and they're a big fan of festivals and a lot of other metrics here right but on the flip side we also had some areas that the city could improve on The largest by far was roads and the other two are semi related to it. Traffic and transportation was the next highest city maintenance and infrastructure as well. And then there's a list of other things that they would like to see improvement on. So the way we stretched well, but we got from this citizen survey was that the public values strong neighborhoods. They want to protect our culture and have events to celebrate it. They value public parks and public spaces. Jobs and economic opportunity are very important to the public, as well as strategic infrastructure, mainly our roads, streets and drainage. And they want peace of mind from the safety police provide and the safety of mind that almost all our firemen, firewomen are also paramedics as well. So how do we maximize our dollar? We're trying to address or improve some things that they say we're doing good while simultaneously addressing some things that were indicated our concern right so to address the neighborly community and friendly thing we're also able to address the lack of community and cultural events and on the right side you'll see some of the items that the city is currently doing or planning to do that will improve or address some of these areas of concern so for for the top one we have the bright initiative First Friday, the Lunada type events that we hold for the culture and heritage. It also kind of ties into the community events, right? We have the new house preservation, San Fernando building restoration, events and festivals. We have the United Soccer League at the sports park. For cleanliness and beautification, as well as code enforcement, we're looking at another code enforcement officer for next year and a senior planner. To continue or further business growth and jobs, as well as improve attracting quality business and address concerns with lack of employment, we've initiated a comprehensive plan under our capital improvement program, as well as program the combination inspector into next year's budget. Positive city growth is something that's doing good, but there's also concerns about overcrowding and how that growth is managed. And to that effect, we are funding the housing master plan and congestion management study. We're doing well with downtown revitalization. We also want to attract businesses to there, and we've got the downtown master plan for that purpose. Parking amenities that we're doing well on, but we also need to do some improvements with what we currently have. The master plan for recreation facilities will address this as well as the elevator park that's being worked on. Walkability and trails as well as sidewalk improvements. We've got bus curbs and bus shelters planned as well as a bevy of trails through our CFP that we'll talk about in a little bit. We're doing well there, but there's also some concerns, especially as we've heard tonight, right? Some of the things that we're doing for that is green zones. The stormwater utility fee will also support flooding erosion and water control improvements that supports the environment as well. They value safety and security, and they want that improved as well. So we do have the public safety complex, a brand new building that will house our police force. As well as the collective bargaining agreement renewals that we've successfully completed, or are in the process of successfully completing. And the last but not least, good roads. We have some people saying they're good roads, and then we have a good number saying they need significant improvement. And the city has done a lot of work, put a lot of funds towards addressing some of those concerns through smart traffic signals. And there is a lot of road reconstruction throughout all of Brownsville to address this. So some other individual requests for fiscal year 2027 that were funded included the axon technology agreement for pd some operational enhancements for fire and ems emergency management they're being expanded to include an emergency services manager as well as some other digital software requirements the i.t department requested software cyber security and other licensing funding street maintenance requested additional funding and it was provided to address some of those concerns with streets. Green's division also had some regular operational expenses. A lot of these are basically towards regular operations, expanding demands and the needs that have been requested. It's not necessarily a new initiative, but it's an expansion of their current duties that we're trying to provide the funds so that they can address it. you'll see that throughout this theme there and then lastly we had personnel uh this year requests that were funded so some of these included the emergency services manager combination building inspector one code enforcement officer a vet tech and six greens maintenance staff but these are through an agreement with tech stock a wellness wellness specialist and a health ambassador as well as a customer service specialist The chief of police, canary maintenance worker, four park staff and three B metro drivers that are part timers, one seasonal law clerk. And then there were three positions reclassified from part time to full time this year. some of the items that were unfunded that we did not have sufficient funds to to provide to these departments were some maintenance routine airfield maintenance for the airport although it's routine it is costly some of these items can be costly buildings inspections wanted to provide more transparency in their in their board meetings we weren't able to fund those equipment for that There was some equipment and facility maintenance requested for the Canary public market that we weren't able to fund. There was some pavement markings and illuminated signs we could not fund either. Mention in tourism had quite a bit of operational cost requests as well as some facility improvements they wanted to attack, but we were not able to fund those. Some of the maintenance agreements for the fire department were not able to be funded, and then another fixed route for B Metro was not able to be funded this year. as well as some other professional services for planning. There was also some regular software subscription cost increases that we're having to strategically attack as well as some other general maintenance that we were not able to fund. And we also had additional personnel requests that we just weren't able to make space for in this current budget. So that included an airfield electrician, two maintenance worker one positions for B Metro, an investigative assistant and assistant city auditor, two traffic signal technicians, a special projects manager, a transit dispatcher, an additional attorney, five grant supported positions. Although they grant supported, there is a local match that we didn't have the capacity to support. Two code enforcement officers, operations manager for ODHR, and a community nutrition coordinator. So all those are listed to kind of explain that we do have a lot of needs and that we can't afford them with the current rate. And even with the voter approval tax rate, we can't meet all of those needs. But we could address some of these requests if we were willing to go above the current tax rate. So here we can see if we were able to go. above what the tax rate impact would be per line item. And these are the line items we feel would be the best candidates to be funded if we were able to go above the current tax rate up to the voter approval tax rate. So all this totals about $1 million, which is just under a penny increase to the current tax rate. And for the average voter, it would be maybe a $15 increase on their annual tax bill. So with all that said, we get to our proposed revenues for the general fund. On the left, you'll see the 2026 adopted budget. On the right, you'll see our 2027 proposed budget, and then the difference between the two years. So franchise fees, you'll notice a decrease there, and that's mainly due to the recycling fees being allocated to prolonging the life of the landfill. Our property taxes, the difference there, which is an increase, and that is prepared with the current tax rate of the numbers of the same based on the same tax rate. And then the other notable decrease was the intergovernmental, and that is related to state and federal funding. We've established 2 new funds to account for those outside of the general fund separately. So that if we're ever faced with a. federal government withholding funding or government shutdown, we know exactly how much, which personnel, et cetera, will be impacted and we can pivot and address those potential concerns in a timely manner. So, although there's a 3.2 million increase proportionally, it's relatively the same. Not much change in distribution of our revenues. Property taxes went down a percent. so did sales taxes just on the way it's distributed but overall not much of a change so moving on to the expenditure side again you've got your the adopted budget for last year and then a proposed budget for 2027 and then the variance right so most of them you'll see increases the the personnel increases as the largest one the first line item due to the compensation plans And there are some various increases throughout the other line items. Special projects decreased a little bit, just variances in year-to-year costs. And then the contingency was more related to some costs that were contingent. Contingencies last year actually allocated to individual line items throughout the year or to other departments. And then our transfers went up about $1.4 million. And these are subsidies to our enterprise funds primarily. And here's another look at it on a proportional basis. So although we're increasing on our expense side, it's relatively similar to what we spent our funds on last year. So culture and recreation increased by 1%, operating transfers to other funds increased by 1%, and then public safety and general government decreased by that 1%. But overall, still almost an exact distribution from the previous year. Looking at personnel, I had to throw in the decimals because it looked so similar. So although we are increasing our personnel this year, our operational activities and costs have increased as well. So we've stayed pretty proportional to what we spend on personnel versus what we spend on operating costs. Here's a look at our transfer summary. The transfers are, the general fund received some money from the bridge fund, the landfill, and from PUB. And that's reflected in the top graph. We're keeping that the same as last year, basically. We increased the transfer from landfill by 400,000. Then on the bottom is the transfers out from general fund. These are to either special revenue funds or to enterprise funds. our tourist fund uh we increased the transfer there because our property values are increasing increasing within the terraces so the amount of property tax we owe to that fund is going up accordingly uh street maintenance fund uh sorry street maintenance fund increased a little bit by 350 000 the airport fund by half a million and then the motor vehicle parking system has kind of evolved into a downtown fund and that went up just a little bit to eight by eighty nine thousand And we did have three funds that we were actually able to reduce the transfer because their revenues have been doing significantly better that we're able to reduce the amount we need to give them to provide support. So, uh, and a defense center, Brownsville golf and recreation and the Brownsville sports park have all been doing pretty well in that regard. And then, uh, public transit, we also increased their operating transfer by, um, about half a million and 2 million of that would be for local matches. so it will look at our internal service funds that includes facilities and the information technology fund fleet and facility increased by about 1 million this year and then information and technology increased about 863 000 and these two funds or departments support the rest of the city so in a sense we're funding the other departments as well when we fund them Uh, the special revenue funds, uh, commencement tourism fund gets its revenue from the hotel, multiple taxes primarily. And we're increasing that budget by almost 78,000. Treat and maintenance fund. There's a fee that PV collects on our behalf. Um, And that budget is increasing by almost 400,000. And then the new one you'll see here is the stormwater drainage maintenance fund. And that's a new fund to account for the stormwater drainage fee that's replacing the resaca fee. And that's based on the $5 per residential square unit. So lastly, we have our enterprise funds. These are balanced budgets. I'm just showing you the revenues. The budgets are exactly the same for revenues and expenses. So the airport has an increase of about $800,000 compared to last year. The bridge fund, relatively the same, just rounding up to $4.2 million because it looks nicer. The motor vehicle parking fund increased almost $50,000. The event center increased about $30,000. And again, that's mostly through their Their own revenue increases public transit fund increased the total budget by nearly 200,000 and landfill fund had the biggest increase from 19Million to 20Million. On the Brownsville golf center, just right sizing a little bit slight decrease there on the Brownsville sports park as well. Relatively small increase compared to last year. And then the new 1 we do have here is 2.6Million for the fiber fund. This is the amount of revenue that we need to generate from lease agreements to offset the costs of maintaining that fiber fund. So that is the end of the general fund budget portion. And we'll switch gears into the capital improvement plan. Was there any questions on this part of the workshop? Or anything I could clarify?

I have a question I saw in there that said, uh, the boards were not, they needed. Cameras or what was that, um.

Uh, video streaming for boards. Oh, yes, that was a planning. They wanted to live stream their board meetings. And that was not able to be funded, but who is not streaming. I'm assuming it's the department that provides the equipment and. City staff would stream the boards and put it on YouTube in coordination with CMD. Yeah. Does anybody know who's not streaming? Do you know who's not streaming?

Everybody is streaming.

In the handbook, it does identify specific boards that are required to live stream. their meetings, which is through their YouTube, but they're all being recorded virtually so participants can attend, but live streaming is at a different capacity.

But do you know who is not live streaming?

I believe there was five listed. I can provide that information.

So we're talking about the Board of Adjustment, the history preservation commission and i am forgetting and the building standards commission those should be you know or not streamed they should be live streamed and we haven't done that in the past and that's what the budget gap is about what is for is that basically just for the personnel who would it's the cost of the streaming service yeah and it was it was what about 60 000 i think yes that was about 60 000. the same streaming that we're having here today or we do at the planning commission you would do it here it would be scaling that up to all those other three commissions okay and then another question i had on it was and thank you um the licensing for a cella uh what does that mean i'm sorry it's you again

I mean, I understand that we've put so much money in it.

Yes, those are not hindering the core capabilities of Accela. all right these are a add-ons like ai additional services i'm just making sure that it's going to continue to work i mean yeah the core service remains with the current licensing we're talking about some additional services that this company is offering now and are optional i'm sorry can we uh daniel can we just clarify because you said we're not live streaming for boa pnz etc

Are you referring to live streaming on YouTube versus using Teams or the WebEx?

The means vary, but we are only live streaming for Planning and Zoning Commission. We should be, and we discussed this, we should be streaming also for BOA, History Preservation Commission, and Building Standards.

Right. But are you saying, because I thought we are providing WebEx and Teams.

the meeting we record them on teams but they they are posted online after the fact they're not live streaming oh okay i would be i don't know what the what we voted on when we did but i i believe that as long as we have them where people can see them that's i mean that's enough transparency for now do they but the idea would be probably to live stream in the future i would guess i i think more importantly do those boards meet in these chambers

Yes, correct.

And that's what it would cost to just stream like this. Right. There's no new hardware.

Every single meeting. It's every meeting. Imagine somebody who's back there every day.

So if I may, I can tell you that the Board of Adjustments does actually have call-in numbers that people have called in for on teams because I have represented the commission on that one. I'm not sure about the other ones that they've mentioned, but we are currently doing it for collective bargaining through the teams as well. So I'm not sure why they're not doing it right now.

Well, hopefully we can just get a clear answer on it for the future. And then the other thing is, I mean, I've watched like PUB, which I know, okay, it's a different board and all of it. It's terrible streaming. I don't know if you all have tried to watch it online. Yeah, you can't see anybody. It's just the...

That's how it was last time I streamed.

You all looked at it? Yeah, it's PUV. I understand it's, but hey, we got to still get it done. Yeah.

Yeah, we'll connect and to follow up.

Yeah. So when you watch it, it'll just show you like the, yeah, the presentation, but you don't know who's speaking. And I think for transparency, it'd be important. It'd be important for us to to be able to see who's speaking and then on. Hopefully you can get a price as well for those little buttons for when we float. Everybody knows how you voted and that's that is in process right now.

We're working on that system right now.

Thank you. Done currently replacing all the equipment to upgrade all that.

Yeah, no, I mean, I was talking about ours.

No, the PV is working on that.

Oh, thank you. Okay. Thank you.

Those were the 2 questions I had right now. I have a quick question just on a, I know our budget philosophy has been very conservative when it comes to sales tax, budgeting 90% every year. And obviously we've had great years with sales tax over the last few years, right? And that creates a lot, a big number for the mid budget adjustments or projects that we can use one time funding. But just a reflection of, you know, Not being able to fund core things that we might need. We might want to re, look at that policy at some level to see. You know, what what can be done to possibly. Put us in a better position. I don't know. I mean, I know, um.

We do have a big, a decent reserve, but it's 70 days, 75 days, 75 days. And if, say, 1 year.

Sales tax does not meet our budget. We can just be a lot more conservative next year. But I don't know. I think it's a topic to talk about. Maybe not this meeting, but going forward. I foresee sales tax being strong for a while. I appreciate that. With all the growth that we're having, I think that's going to be a strong, continue to be a very strong thing for the city of Brownsville. Yeah.

Since I've been here, we've done a couple of things policy wise. We changed the amount of sales tax that could be budgeted. It was 30%. We've increased that to up to 36%. And then we have conservatively budgeted what that number is. And you can see it's around 32 33% of the budget. What I have seen what I saw happening here. Historically, we continued that is that as we get to the mid year budget amendment, We are funding those items that you all have identified up there through the Mid-Year Budget Amendment, and then they permanently are becoming part of the budget. And so, in order to meet our policies, in order for, and, you know, I make my professional judgment, and you all can change that, so that's why I provide you with more lists than you probably care to look at. We had $10 million of requests, and I funded about $2.2 million of that. Um, knowing that when we get to the mid year, as I hear these things from you, then I'd start targeting those things. So when we get to March and we bring you the major budget amendment, you'll see streaming for those services typically also budgets. Many of the departments do not spend their entire budget, and so they start funding those other items with their savings, and then they become part of their permanent budget. Um, budget is not an exact science. It is definitely an art. Um, and one thing I will say is, uh, you all have had very strong financial policies for many years that leave us very well positioned. There are many cities that are cutting millions of dollars in next year's budget, and we are adding positions and we are adding services. The other thing I'll say is that we are being very creative on revenue initiatives next year. The methane gas that's being collected and will be sold through the landfill, we'll probably be able to add some funding to the general fund from that. We'll leave some for the landfill, but we'll also use some in the general fund. Also too, we're working very closely with IT to begin selling our dark fiber on the fiber system. The money you saw budgeted for that was just the minimal amount of revenue needed to cover our operations and maintenance. I believe that if we are good at selling that, it'll probably be more than double that. And I think the strategy then would be to pull IT-related items out of the general fund and put it into that technology fund, freeing up that general fund money then to pay for more things. So I think the steady changes that we have made in policy have allowed us to do a lot of new things. I agree with what you're saying. I would like to have us address those again incrementally each year as we go forward and keep building on it. Because right now doing that 98% of the prior year actual, if we have a bad year, we're not cutting anything. We just won't be able to add that mid-year stuff that we've been used to. And so that would be my recommendation for the approach. But you're absolutely right. And I think we need to keep looking at it each year with the budget committee and keep evolving it and changing it where it's practical and it doesn't put us in a potential unsustainable financial position.

I appreciate that. I think that's the right approach. I just I know from the perspective of, you know, we know we're going to I mean, if if if sales tax we know is likely going to be very strong going forward, it delays the implementation of projects or equipment six months or three months or it's just it. I think it we could. I mean, I think it's an opportunity to look at how can we more effectively budget and allocate and not have to go through the mid-year process as much.

OK, we will take a look at that. No, no, we'll take a look at it. We'll take a look at how we estimate that when we go into the 28 budget, and we'll come back to you with a potential change.

And I was going to say, we also need to be careful, too, because we're currently negotiating the CBA with fire. Police. I'm sorry, with PDE. I'm tired. The PD. And so we don't know all the additional funds that you have. We don't know how that will be. Correct. Thank you.

Thank you very much for the feedback. This is an absolutely solid budget. I know I heard you say we need to address code enforcement. I added one person. They asked for three. So there's two more on that list. Uh, we are opening the cannery and we want to make sure that is a very successful operation. We saw from the parks, health and recreation master plan. We needed help with with our that system. I think keeping the freeway looking good and funding folks in the greens department, I think addresses that concern. So we've tried to be very sensitive to the citizen satisfaction survey as well as the direction that we've heard from the commission. in putting this budget together. So thank you for your support. We continue to support improving wages and benefits for all of our employees, which I think makes us competitive in the Valley and continues to make this a great place for someone to make a career. So I really appreciate the support of the commission. We take all your feedback seriously, and we'll definitely look at figuring out ways we can get even more creative in terms of increasing our revenue to make some of these things more possible. Thank you.

Any other questions on this part of the budget? Thank you. We'll switch gears into the capital improvement plan. So looking at all the years, not just our five year, we've spent almost half a billion on projects, infrastructure for the city. And that comes from airport and runway expansions to the public safety complex. We're spending a significant amount on streets as well as trails and other development for downtown. So the first item we'll go over here is the public safety complex. It's currently just started bit package one, the construction for that in July and the completion of that of the central completion is expected in fall 2028 with the total estimated cost of 75 million. So by the time we're working on fiscal year 2029's budget, we should have a substantial completion of that. And then as we take a look at the streets, I'll invite Ms. Maribel to come up and take care of these.

Good evening, Mayor and Honorable Commissioners. Good to be here with you this evening. So I'll talk a little bit about some of the next few slides regarding our street CIP projects. So Coffee Road is a full reconstruction for phase one. There is a phase two, and I'll talk a little bit about that. But Coffee Road phase one extends from Ruben Torres to Paredes Line Road. The contractor, we awarded it to go underground for a cost of $4.5 million, a little bit. Our estimated date of completion is March 27. And overall, the project is about 25%. so we're doing really well this is a full reconstruction project which includes roadway with storm drainage and water wastewater utility infrastructure improvements curb and gutter a 10-foot bike and pedestrian sidewalk And a 5 foot sidewalk on the other side, recent work, we began installation of storm sitter conflict boxes. They've advanced to work with line stabilization grading and limestone based pavement for the street. And they've also the concrete crews are continue to do carbon gutter driveway aprons and sidewalk constructions are upcoming work for this project for the contractor. is that they are going to continue installing the storm sewer conflict boxes, pouring carbon gutter, and working on the subgrade end base. So Coffee Road Phase 2. This is from Barretta's Line Road to Old Port Isabel Road, so we're extending the second half. The construction budget is $8.6 million, so we have not awarded this project yet. It's still in design phase and we're still currently acquiring right away. So I don't have a real good construction start date except to say we're hoping that it's going to be in fall 2026. And again, this is also a full reconstruction project with curb and gutter, sidewalks, utility and drainage improvements on either side. So we're going from a rural cross section into an urbanized cross section. So, Jeanette road reconstruction, this is the limit from by this line road to Queens would the contractor is to or earthworks enterprise. They were awarded the contract for about 3Million dollars. The estimated completion on this is May 2027 and overall they just started. So we're at 5% overall project completion. Um, this also is full reconstruction with, uh, going from rural to urban carbon gutters, sidewalks, you know, some lighting and upgrades as well and utilities, 10 foot bike lane and a 5 foot sidewalk on the other side. The progress is a traffic control has been set up. Aggregate materials are also on site. We are pending the construction start date by the contractor, but we do anticipate that we're going to complete this in May 2027. So next year. All the Alice road, the limits for this roadway are for moving thought is Boulevard to frontage road. The construction budget is a two point nine. So three million dollars. We are still in the big phase. So we're finalizing design on this. The pre, I'm sorry, I'm mistaken. The pre bid meeting was actually held this morning and the actual bid opening of the. the bids that we receive from the contractors is scheduled for august 26th so we're very close in about a month we should have the bid opening so we are estimating the completion of this project in the fall of 2027 so about a year's worth of construction for the street Old highway 77, this is also full reconstruction. Everyone's really aware of this project. The limits are from Ruben thought is to Morrison road. The contractor is Macco. It is about a 14Million dollar awarded contract. The estimated completion for this project is April 27. We're about 33% on this project. so recent work on this project is the contractor has continued to pour concrete including the foreman and grading for driveways curbs and gutters they're also preparing the subgrade using lime material and their continued installation of storm sewer system so upcoming work for this project that we should see some great Advancement is that the contract will continue to install storm sewer installations the concrete work and subgrade stabilization and continual testing so again the completion date is for April 27th so we're hoping to have this completed next year Wild Rose Lane. This is another full reconstruction project. The limits are from Honeydale to North Korea. The contractor was awarded. contract was awarded to RBM contractors for about $3 million. The estimated data completion is fall 2026. And overall, we have a project completion of about 48%. So recent work on this project, the contract began forming and installing the sidewalks has completed the force main tie in their continued installation, sanitary sewer at the intersection of Central Boulevard, you've seen that closing. So it's continued work there. and the concrete the contractor will continue with the installation of the proposed sidewalk so they're continuing work on this project we're keeping visual eye on them for their progress and also for workmanship so intelligent transportation system these are its projects that were funded through the rgb and po were partially funded right it was a grant that we received through that contractor. The COB ITS capital improvements, this actual project is being handled by the IT department. James, would you like to say a few words on this? Or then I'll continue with mine. I don't want to speak for your project.

Good evening, Mayor and Commissioners. The ITS capital improvement projects, basically that is fiber and P5G infrastructure to the traffic signals in the City of Brownsville to make them work better. That's it.

Wonderful. All righty. So, I'll talk a little bit about our transportation system. So, 12th street traffic signal improvements. The design cost is about 608,000. It has the design consultant is half an associates. So, this project involves comprehensive modernization safety enhancement to the traffic signal infrastructure along 12th street. within the project limits of i-69 to east st charles street the project includes improvements to at 10 signalized intersections throughout this roadway the intersections with the scope are eight from elizabeth street all the way down to polk street and the estimated construction date once the notice to proceed notice to proceed has been issued it's about 207 to 720 calendar days The International Boulevard traffic signal improvements, this consists of comprehensive modernization replacement of obsolete traffic signal infrastructure at 8 signalized intersections along the International Boulevard with limited associated work on Elizabeth Street and I-69. so the existing traffic signal equipment was last substantially upgraded in 1994 and so it has exceeded its life service right so this project aims to enhance operational efficiency safety accessibility and system reliability the intersections are 11 intersections from st charles down to ringgold street along international boulevard The estimated construction date and completion is about 760 calendar days from the notice to proceed has been issued. The traffic monitoring and management of signalized roads. This project consists of furnishing, installing, configuring, and commissioning field equipment with existing traffic signal infrastructure to have the capacity to oversee the intersection in real time. So the intersections within the scope encompass 215 intersections, including 191 traffic signal controllers, 205 CCTVs, and 215 cyberlocks. very comprehensive improvement over our city. The estimated construction date and completion is 260 working days from the issuance of notice to proceed. So we're pending this. The last one is a traffic signal communications development. This project consists of furnishing, installing, setting up, testing and commissioning communications and monitoring equipment within the existing City of Braswell traffic signal infrastructure. The intersections within the scope are 198 intersections, and the estimated construction date and completion is 260 days from the notice to proceed. And that is it for me, unless you have any questions that I may answer for you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor, City Commissioners. The next few slides are the Trail projects, the Multimodal Transportation Department is currently working on. The first one we have is Monteo Trail Park. It connects the residence at Morrison Road to the Monteo Park. We're currently in the design phase and expect to have the full design by the end of December. The next trail project we have is a sample nature phase three. We currently are finishing up the design phase and the bid process. We did receive the three bits. We're currently analyzing the bits through our consultant, and then we'll be submitted to text that for their approval. Once they do give us the approval, we'll be coming back to this commission to award the contract for construction. So I'm going to throw phase four. This contract has been awarded by this commission. We're currently pending some right of entry forms from the residents to make sure that the contractor can go into the property to redo the sidewalk and some of the aprons for the driveways. Salmon Lake Trail Phase 5. This is currently in the design phase. We just started the design. We should be expecting a 30% by the end of this month. And this one's essentially connecting International Boulevard through 14th Street to the historic Battlefield Trail. Westward Trail amenities. This project has already started. The contractor already started moving some dirt. This project consists of several parking lots and the amenities like the fountains, shade structures, benches, trash reciprocals. And so the estimated completion is 1st of February of 2027. Westfield Trail to Sports Park. This is the continuation of the Westfield Trail on the north side where the flea market's at. And so this is a design phase. Again, we expect to have the design of this trail project by the end of December. And that's all my slides.

Good evening. I'm Diego Gomez. I'm the capital projects financial manager. So I'll be running you all through the CIP capital improvement plan for the next five years. And then I'll be diving into the fiscal year 27 capital projects. So kind of the takeaway from here is we're expecting to have $158 million budget from fiscal year 27 to 2031. And it's about 50% debt, 50% grant or other funding. And we're About 15%, 1-5, will be for heavy equipment and machinery, with 85%, the remaining 85%, will be facilities, streets, sidewalks, and trails. And as you can see, fiscal year 2031, it's in the process of being developed and proposed. That's the newest year that's been brought into the five-year plan. So jumping into fiscal year 2027, This, we have broken it up by department, and it's a $37.7 million budget with about 60% in CO debt, Certificate of Obligation debt, and 40% in grant and other funding. And yeah, I think the main takeaway from here is you have landfill will have about $8.8 million. It'll be the department with the highest funding. followed by engineering and public works, and then by parks and rec. So jumping to the next slide, here we have the distribution breakdown with kind of the percentage breakdown. So landfills at 23%, EPW at 21%, parks at 14%, and just kind of following around with multimodal 11%, fire and EMS at 10%, and airport followed by i.t planning and then internal services would be the breakdown of the departments based on how much budget they're receiving for fiscal year 27 on the projects and jumping into each department airport they have three million dollars for the land acquisition runway extension and that's a multi-year phased uh funding cycle so in total it's about 19 million dollars with 18 million dollars in fa grant funding so one million dollars coming from co debt um looking at engineering and public works Most of these projects are ongoing projects that will be funded regularly. For example, the pedestrian signal improvements for citywide downtown traffic signal control cabinets. The only one that is kind of a one-time would be the highway safety improvement program, the use signal budget. So to look at that, that's $7.9 million for UPW. And just to point out, the grant and other funding, $1.8 million is coming from drainage study fee funds. which that's a new funding mechanism that we're tapping into. Fire and EMS, most of those are heavy equipment and machinery. And the new downtown central fire station is the initial funding for like a design. For IT of the ERP system upgrades, and that'll be with all CO debt. internal services, you have the HVAC upgrades at the Brownsville Animal Regulation and Care Facility. So that's part of a broader funding of $4.6 million. And $4.1 million has already been funded. So we have the $0.5 million that's for this fiscal year or 27. And jumping to landfill, This what's unique about the landfill revenues is they are using their own revenues to pay down their CEO debt. So it's not coming from property taxes. It's the revenues that landfill is generating. So we're kind of, we are carving out the projects, their debt service, and it's being covered by their own revenues. And they have $8.8 million. Oh, just to step back. Most of this is equipment. Cell number six and equipment canopy structure or facilities. A multimodal transportation, we have two projects south most nature trail phase five, which is the second funding component they received about $2.5 million last year and CEO debt so 3.8 million becoming from text on this fiscal year. and park projects they're funded through bcic quality of life ordinance so that's why you see all of that in grant another funding so you see the new new city rec center park improvements in la posada park and la posada park is expected to be about five million so this is one fiscal year of multiple year funding and to wrap it up with planning and redevelopment We have about 2 million historic preservations being funded through the Capital Reserve and Economic Development Incentive Funds, which includes your new house and San Fernando building.

and i believe we're moving to our next presenter but do you have any questions on the capital improvement plan or any of the projects for this fiscal year i have a quick question on it on the historical preservation you mentioned that the million dollars would be to fund the new house and the san fernando building uh is that including the 400 was it that was already funded previously okay so this will be to on top of that yes

to start to to rebuild it yes i don't think we'll be done with this for both buildings see but we're not expecting to finish with this right now okay thank you you're welcome any other questions i have a question i noticed an item on the on a new on for your erp i know we're planning on on implementing a new another system is that was that it or is that that's it that's it okay Thank you.

So I'll pass it to Alberto Salinas.

Mayor and members of the City Commission, Before we get into the actual budget, I want to touch a little bit on strategy and what a return on investment looks like. So as far as economic development, the true power of an EDC is can you generate your own leads? Not only generate your own lease, but deliver on them. So just a little bit on what we've done here in the last year. 12 months ago, we started with a list, and that is a list of 57 qualified, or not qualified, but companies that we looked at that were in growth mode and what are considered a fit for Brownsville, whether it's for Texas or Southwest or on the border. So we started looking at different variables to see what companies qualify for that. Then from then we start sending our marketing materials and we'll get 313 responses. So those are already considered qualified leads. And just so you know, the leads, bulk of our leads are coming in internal so that's what we do our team our staff is trained to identify those companies and go after those companies so that's the number one source of our leads the second source is from the governor's office so we get a lot of leads from the governor's office as well as everybody in the state of texas and third is site selectors so whenever we're hosting site selectors is to build that site selector network because they also send us leads and some of you all have been involved in some of those events where we're hosting site selectors and then fourth is referrals so that could be another community another company uh referring a project to to us And then from the 313, we get down to the 84, which are our best bet prospects, which are the ones that, okay, now these are the ones that are a fit. We're engaged with them. And from those 84, we get down to 41 actual prospect visits. And that's when you're in the game. Once you get a visit from a company or you go and you visit them, that's when you know, okay, it's a real project. They have capital investment. They have funding, so on and so forth. So from those, we ended up with 23 active projects. And those ones you get from a prospect to active, okay, so now they're actually looking at Brownsville and we're in competition, stiff competition against other communities. From those 23, we lost two to our competitors. 11 of those projects are still active. And 10 of them ended up being closed deals, and I'll get to those here in a bit. But now just to kind of dissect the budget a little bit, which Salvador will be presented here in a bit. So for our budget, for every one of those companies that we identified, it roughly comes out to about $1,500 for every company that we identify that is a fit for Brownsville. For a site visit, once you're what we call in the game, once that company comes and visits us or we go visit them, which is hard to get to, we're looking at upward about just under $220,000. And then once you get to the deals closed. So when you close the deal for this last year, we're looking at about $900,000. So if it's a $10 million, $20 million, $50 million project that we introduce to the community, that's what it costs us, $900,000. Okay, so now looking at the deals that were closed, uh, Amazon, these are the ones that we're familiar with. There's been a promotion, uh, a PR done on these Amazon that came in, uh, just a little under a year ago. Uh, that's tech AI, 60,000 square feet of space that did not exist in Brownsville. a capital investment is about 33 million dollars and their economic impact or to our tax base for the city is 236 000 per year over a 10-year period 1.9 million dollars and then the list goes on with linda it's an energy project again you can see capital investment over about 100 million dollars for a 10-year period to the city city tax coffers we're looking at 7.6 million dollars superior manufacturing So on and so forth. And then we've got Nelnet and Teleperformance. Those are two call centers. Nelnet is new. It went into, I think it's the former site of Mr. Gaddy's. That's 300 jobs. And then Teleperformance, which is a project that this organization worked a little over 20 years ago. That's another 300 jobs that they added. And then Project Chiquita 1.5, actually some of you all have been involved in this project. That's a brand new project as well. They're in the process of adding some square footage and industrial space. And then we've got five speculative buildings, not necessarily manufacturers, but they're buildings that are coming in as a result of the manufacturing activity that we have here in the area. So in all, we're looking at a total of 1,100 jobs that have been created in the last 12 months. Projects that have been announced is 613,000 square feet of space that did not exist in this community. That's $191 million in capital investment. And again, over a 10-year period or on an annual basis, you're looking at $1.4 million coming in straight to the tax coffers through the deals that we've worked. Now the projects that we have not announced that are in the wings and they're not they haven't been announced for a variety of reasons it could be that they're just not ready to announce a the tech park we're still missing a couple little things before we can actually tie those projects up it might be one of those reasons so project vector brome that's a hundred million dollars and this is a space tech that's 50 jobs project uh movo 20 million dollars aerospace tier one aerospace supplier to lockheed martin Project Chiquita 1.0, which is not an extension, but a precursor of the other project. $300 million in capital investment, tier one aerospace supplier to SpaceX. Oxidize 2.0, again, another supplier, both for the automotive sector, the medical industry, and SpaceX. And then Red Planet, that is a space OEM, $650 million expansion, 400 additional jobs. Project Hercules, $3.4 billion in capital investment. And that one is the project, the ceramic project at the Port of Brownsville, as you can see, 10,000 jobs, and that's a shipyard. So now the reason they're in blue is because both Red Planet, which is a SpaceX project, and Hercules at the port, those are not within the city of Brownsville limits.

The other ones are.

What we like to say is in our office, we always go after what we call the trifecta or a three-legged stool, which is work with the companies. One, I mean, we're in the business of creating jobs, high-value ad jobs. And then where we can, let's make sure that we get them within the city Brownsville limits because we get to expand our tax base. And then if we can, have them hook up to a Brownsville PUB because that generates more activity, more revenues for PUB, more jobs, and that's revenues that comes back to the city. And coming back to the creation of jobs, that's a direct link to the increase in the sales tax revenue, Mayor, like you had just mentioned. All right, so now this is where the rubber meets the pavement as far as the numbers that we're providing. So total capital investment for the top 10 projects that the ones that have been announced and have yet to be announced, we're looking at $4.8 billion in capital investment. 761 million of that is inside the city limits of Brownsville. Jobs, 14,750. That's over 10 years. Indirect and induced, 21,500. So indirect is basically a supplier that comes in as a result of a of a job that's a company that's coming in that's creating a direct job so a supplier comes in that's an indirect job induced is somebody at staples right they say wow we're selling more paper or more office supplies so they add a couple more jobs to for that well indirectly is because of these companies that are coming in those are the induced jobs The economic impact is $19 billion to Brownsville per year. That's more than $200 billion over the next 10 years. Those are numbers that are on par with a DFW, Austin, or a Houston. Not sure we're going to see these kinds of numbers again, but this is a huge, and obviously, you know, both SpaceX and Saronic, And maybe some of the other projects that we have as well, that's what's creating this. And the governor said it himself in the press release for Soronic with Dino, one of the founders of the company, that Cameron County and Browsewood now is starting to get up there as far as one of the economic pillars similar to an Austin, a Houston, and a DFW. The ones with the asterisks, that is how we're expanding our tax base. 5.6 million dollars per year with these 10 projects that have been recruited over the last year that will now be coming into our city tax coffers. That adds up to about 60 million dollars over the next 10 years. So basically what that is, is the projects that we're working, minus the Saronic and the SpaceX, and then Brownsville PUV, we've been working with them closely with a lot of our projects. With these projects, it's somewhere between 37 to 40 megawatts of power that they will be providing for these projects, which obviously means more revenues for them, more jobs being created within their organization, and then that's a cash infusion back to the state of Brownsville. So wrapping up here, how do we get here? I mean, this is who we are. At the end of the day, we are a business recruitment marketing firm. What we do is we travel, we knock on doors, we're proactive, we're assertive. We have a young team and this team is not being trained to sit at a desk and answer phones. They're being trained to go and get those projects. Hence, that's what you're seeing here in the last year. We are creating a workforce and talent division. Because who would have thought now we're in a position where these projects are creating a huge demand for workforce, which years ago, we just wish we were in this position. So in order for these companies to have success, we need to create this workforce and talent division to not only recruit, but train and upskill the talent that they need. And everything that we do is based on research and intelligence. And that's how we proceed with every project, every trade mission, everything that we do as far as a recruitment of projects. And I'll close with this. We were with the Secretary of Energy, Mr. Wright, today. Commissioner, you were there today. And he was very impressed with, one, the reports. And I just touched on some of the, it was interesting, he was talking about the big stuff. And I'm like, well, I got some big stuff too that we can talk about. And his advice was continue doing what you're doing. That snowball, don't let it lose momentum, let it get bigger. Because all eyes are on you guys right now. And that was coming from him delivering a message from our highest level of government. So with that, I can ask further questions right now, or we can have Salvador come up and then answer questions afterwards.

16.8 million, and that includes a $5.2 million increase to the beginning fund balance. For the operating budget, we are budgeting $9 million in revenues and $9 million in expenditures, a balanced operating budget. The revenues fully support the operating expenditures that we are budgeting. For revenues, we are budgeting 93% towards sales tax, which is $8.4 million, and 7% towards interest income at $600,000. For expenditures, 52% towards operating at $4.7 million, 16% to job creation incentives at $1.4 million, another 16% to the City of Brownsville for airport commitments at $1.4 million, 12% in workforce initiatives for $1.1 million, and lastly, 4% towards strategic initiatives at $350,000. This slide here highlights the one-time capital activity for fiscal year 2027. We are budgeting 13.2 million in one-time revenues, as referenced earlier. That is coming from land sale proceeds of phase one of the Greater Brownsville Tech District. Of that 13.2 million, we are budgeting 8 million for the development of phase two for the Tech District, which is approximately 186 acres. That leaves us with approximately 5.2 in net capital activity, which would increase the fund balance. And then one key takeaway from this slide here is that the one-time revenues are not being utilized to fund operations. They are being reinvested into the industrial park. Lastly, in summary, the operating budget is balanced at 9 million. Again, we are budgeting 13.2 million in one-time revenues coming from land sales. That is being utilized to fund the development of Phase 2 of the Tech District at 8 million, and we're projecting to have an ending fund balance of 16.8 million, and that's including an increase of approximately 5.2 from the projected fiscal year 2027 beginning fund balance. That concludes the overview of the presentation. We'll be happy to welcome any questions or feedback.

I would love a copy of it, if possible, to my email. Can you send one? What was that?

I'm sorry?

A copy of the budget with line items? Sure. It should have been included. Is it on the packet?

I didn't see it. I have a physical copy. It should have been included in the digital packet. Increase of three positions.

And what positions, what category will those positions be going into?

As Gilberto mentioned, it would be for the workforce division, dedicated workforce department.

Questions or comments?

Thank you, guys. Keep up the great work.

Thank you.

Mr. Salinas, yeah, great job with the secretary.

Good job with you. Thank you.

Good evening.

Good evening, Mayor, Commissioners, City Manager, and staff. Thank you for allowing us to be here today to present our budget for this upcoming fiscal year. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I want to personally thank, and they want to thank, each of you for your continued support and partnership as we work together to advance economic development and enhance the quality of life for our residents. This proposed budget reflects our commitment to being good stewards of public resources while continuing to invest in programs, initiatives that support entrepreneurs, small businesses, neighborhood developments, as well as the quality of life for our community. Joining me today is Victoria Padron. She is my Chief Operating Officer. She has led the development for our upcoming budget, and she will go over the proposed budget, highlight the key investments, and explain how the budget aligns with our plan.

good evening mayors city commissioners um today i'll be presenting uh fiscal year 2027 budget which was approved by our board of directors on our july 27 board meeting i'll go over how the budget is funded uh the major allocations and how these investments support brownsville so first of all before we get into the numbers i want to start with where these funds go BCAC programs and investments reach every district in Brownsville. So most of our programs are available citywide. Now the big grants are focused on downtowns and city quality of life funding can support projects anywhere in Brownsville. So together these programs support business growth, entrepreneurship, community development, and quality of life across Brownsville. So how the fiscal year 2027 budget is funded. Our fiscal year 2027 budget is approximately at 10.1 million. We are projecting 9.3 million in revenue with approximately 82% coming from sales tax. uh the remaining revenue comes from interest from from interest the gbedc partnership federal eda funding and other program income we're also carrying forward approximately 700 709 000 in fiscal year 20 26 funds that were previously approved by our board but were not spent uh these are not new revenues now with uh with those funds included total sources equal total expenditures and the budget is balanced Now, this slide shows the comparison between fiscal year 2026 and fiscal year 2027. Projected revenues are up approximately 10%, while the total expenditures are down approximately 6%. The increase in revenue is mainly from sales tech growth and also the GBEBC partnership, as well as additional EDA funding and reimbursement from our eBridge fund, which is our revolving loan fund. The appropriated fund balance represents previously approved funds, like I mentioned before, that are being carried forward. So they are not new revenues. And I'll go through each item individually in the next slide. So for BCAC operations, it's approximately 2.2 million of the resources that we need to support BCAC staff, programs, and day-to-day operations. And then for the city quality of life allocation, it's approximately 4 million. That includes 3.5 million for city-designated projects and 500,000 for the Brownsville Sports Park maintenance and operations. For community development programs, we have approximately 1.9 million that's available for community development programs. That includes community initiatives and grants, the business improvement and growth, which is for downtown, the Big Lift program, which is citywide, and sponsorships for cultural events and marketing campaigns. For entrepreneurship and innovation, we're budgeting 1.1 million. Of that, approximately 785,000 or 67% is supported through the GEDC partnership. So this funding supports our entrepreneurship and innovation programs, help keep the Ebert Center active, and allows us to continue offering entrepreneurial training resources to our small business community. Now for strategic projects and investments, we budgeted $245,000. That includes $200,000 for strategic investment funds, which are board-approved opportunities such as grant matching, feasibility studies, partnerships, or other economic development initiatives. And it also includes $45,000 for eBridge infrastructure upgrades. For city service contracts, we're budgeting $446,000. That includes the administrative and the HR services agreement provided through the city and also the existing airport depth service commitment, which ends on fiscal year 2028. And lastly, the Ebridge Fund, which is a separate fund from our sales tax funded budget. This was established through our federal grant from the EDA, and it's maintained in its own account. So these funds are restricted to the revolving loan fund. It currently has approximately $1.3 million, $950,000 available for lending across Cameron County. So as loans are repaid, those funds are lent back to support future small businesses. And every loan is reviewed by our loan committee and also approved by our board. And so overall, this is a balanced budget. The budget was approved, like I said, by our board on July 27, and it's being presented as part of the city's budget process. Any questions?

Well, I'd like to say thank you, because this is the way I think it should have been presented a little while ago. Thank you for being so transparent with it.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

I appreciate it. Thank you guys.

That concludes our budget workshop. The next actions we'll take will be on the next commission meeting where we'll bring our first reading for these budgets that we went over. And then we'll have our second and final reading on September 1st and hopefully start the new year October 1st with no problems. Thank you all.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. Thank you, sir.

Next, we'll move into the consent agenda items for your consideration on items 1 through 11. Do want to make a note for the record on item 11 related to election matters. It is provided in the bilingual format as required by the election code.

Move to approve consent item agendas.

Second. A motion and second to approve the consent agenda. Any further discussion? If not, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. Ayes have it. Motion carries.

And it passes six to zero. Next is the public hearing item number one. It's a public hearing in action on the first reading.

Five.

Oh, five.

That's what I was. Yes. Commissioner Galanski.

Her camera's not on, so it's five to zero.

Thank you.

Thank you. Public hearing item number one is the public hearing and action on the first reading on ordinance number 2026-1818 making findings related to the Madera Espiritu Santo Public Improvement District number one, including the visibility of the special supplemental services, the estimated operations and maintenance costs, the boundaries of the district, the method of assessment, and appropriation of costs between the City of Brownsville and the district, updating the service and assessment plan, SAP, that established the Madera Espiritu Santo PID number one, levying the assessment and also providing the official notice of the PID's update, SAP, to the Cameron County Clerk as required by Chapter 372 of the Texas Local Government Code. We'll turn it over to staff.

Hello, Mayor and City Commission. This particular item is a request from the developer. They've had an increase in expenses and maintaining some of the property that would be deemed public once it's completed and dedicated. Um, so they've had to because of the drought situation, they've had to bring in additional water to. Keep a lot of the trees and greenery alive and so this increase in the assessment would be to provide for that reimbursement of that. It is a public hearing and. The ordinance does have the service assessment plan that accounts for the increase in maintaining the, uh. The public improvement district. Is there a cost to this?

There is a, well, the cost would be assessed against the property owners.

And so they're currently already getting assessed the fee. And I believe it goes up to about $300 per property owner. Thank you.

All right. This is a public hearing. So if anyone here wishes to address the commission on this item, please step forward. Please say your name out.

So, um, I am a resident of the well, not because I purchased the property there. I'm a data and it's actually a 30% increase from last year.

Can you just state your name for the record? Thank you.

Thank you.

Um, and so this is, um. It's a new development and really there's still properties that haven't been sold. There's homes that are still waiting to be sold and there hasn't been really much of an improvement that we noticed since last year to merit the 30% increase. We know that some of the districts actually reduced the PID when ours actually increased. So we would like to know a little bit more about that because how do you determine the individual costs? You know, because it is increasing the 30%, so we are actually opposed to that increase. So, I'm not sure if there's anything else that we can do on our end. I mean, you know, how. We can continue to fight it because this is again, this is a property that I, and I have my taxes that I paid from last year compared to this year and. I don't even have a home built. It's just a lot that I have. And it increased by 30%. So we would like your consideration in actually reducing that cost.

I appreciate you making the comments. If there's anyone here from the city or from the developer that can come and expand on why the cost is increasing 30%.

Anyone from the... Well, I have a question. Are you mentioning your... The price on your lot went up 30%?

No, it's actually the PID. The PID is the one that went up. And actually, the taxes increased as well. But the PID is the one that went up to 30% compared to last year. And like I said, there isn't a lot going on. I mean, there's trees. Yes, I can understand that the water, like they mentioned, is an increase, but a lot of the trees are actually dead. The grass is dying. We passed there several times, and I never see any irrigation. So I would like to know a little bit more about the cost.

My name is Santiago Tiveros. I also have a lot there at Mereda. And the same thing, the PID, because we didn't know that was going to increase. And from what I understand, there's still two more phases of development in Mededa. How is that PID going to be affected? Is it going to go up or down, be divided into all the lots that are coming up in the future? And right now, it's an increase that we weren't expecting. So we just want to know why.

And I'm sorry, I know that the developer is not here at the moment, but just looking at we do have a pit administrator that is overseeing the administration for the district. And in looking at their communications, um, the developer to the pit administrator, they had a increase in about almost 200,000. Um, and having to purchase water from the East Rio Hondo Water Supply Corporation. This was for maintenance of the landscaping. And the PID administrator said that last year the PID assessment was $1,078.67 per lot. Um, with the increase that's being proposed by the developer that will come out to 1398 with 19 cents per lot. So that assessment has an increase of, I said 300, but actual is 319 dollars and 53 cents from last year.

So, it's also, it's a part of the, uh. the property tax, and then plus PID, and then also the HOA fee, which is another 500 bucks.

So that kind of puts things pretty high. And I think it's important to understand what each of those fees that you're paying pertain to. I think that you need to have more information on that. And we'll be happy to help coordinate More information should you require it.

Hi, good evening. JC Ruiz. I just received the letter last week. Just purchased a lot of property there in Madeira a couple months ago. And we were not aware of this PID. We were aware of the HOA fees. But this is all new to us. So we would like to understand a little bit more. Thank you.

I appreciate it. I don't know if there's any more public speakers, but if the commission's not ready to proceed on this, you could leave the public hearing open, just tabling it to a date and time certain, which would be the 18th of August. That way we can see about having maybe the developer's attorney. Is the PID already developed? The PID is already created. It's created and a lot of the development has already been developed. Do they have a PID board in the meetings? They have, um, I don't believe the board has actually met and the reason being a lot of the developed properties have not been built on or sold out yet.

So these individuals just heard about it because you got a letter in the mail. You won't wait till you wait till you get there.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, Right, because, like, I mentioned before, um, there, it's, they're still on sold properties. And why is this? Where is there? Why is there such a big increase? I can imagine later when the community is developed, how much more is it going to go up? You know, and it's just 1 household that is being affected. I can just take into account everybody else. Um, and then some of the gentlemen here that they've mentioned, they didn't know about the, I guess when they purchased the property, they weren't made aware of it. But. And they just received the notice and that's how they found out. Some didn't even receive the notice.

Is there also a mud that's going to be created there?

No, this only has a pit. It's not like Paseo.

Are you saying that the tax rate went up or the assessment? Okay.

I mean, I guess both because the taxes also went up on the property, but I don't know if that's just in general.

Yeah, but that's based on home assessment. So as you see, as long as the tax rate remains the same, we have control over that. Now, in regards to the assessment, we have zero control over that. That's based off of demand and supply, what realtors price their homes at. So I just wanted to make sure that the tax rate didn't go up.

Well, we haven't voted on it.

Okay, so... No, she's talking about the pay-as-you-go.

Her taxes, well, we didn't go up on taxes last year.

Yeah, yeah, the same, the tax rate. But what she's saying is that the PID, it's going to go up by 30% or it already went up by 30%.

Well, we're thinking that it's already going to go up because we received a letter stating that it's going to be $1,398 for this new year assessment. And last year we paid $1,078. Right.

So that's correct, ma'am. It is proposed. So this is before you all for your all's approval.

So.

on this one it is to propose the increase correct since she already got her statement well so so we she didn't get a statement um by law when we bring forward a service and assessment plan we have to publish in the newspaper and send out notices to the property owners additionally property owners when they purchase the property there is a required disclosure that they have to sign that they acknowledge that they live in a pit But, but even after that, the letter that she's referring to is the 1 that was sent out by the pit administrator, letting her know that there is a public hearing that she can come and speak to and then, um. The proposed rate, which was the 13 sum per lot. And it's a little different than Paseo. Paseo is a cents per 100 valuation. The way this is broken up is they get the total number of improvements and they divide it by the number of lots. And so every property owner gets the same 1300. For those that haven't been sold, the owner of the development, which could be the developer themselves, would have to pay that assessment.

Okay, so I know in reference to the PID, I know in the district that I serve, they paid a PID for 30 years. And what we did as a commission, we ensured that we were able to select individuals from that precinct, which is Precinct 75 or the lower part of Precinct 5, to represent just to ensure that those tax questions were always answered. Because once you are on the PID board, you decide the tax rate based off of the needs of the area. So the PID will then and serves to pay for the trails, pay for the parks, pay for the trees, pay for the grass. And that's what the cost pays for. Now, I would have liked for someone from the PID to be here. And I guess my next question, since we have learned about this already in this last year is, Does the City Commission appoint PID board members the way that we did with Paseo de la Rezaca? Yes, but like that, you know, I could appoint her to be a part of the PID.

Yes, that's correct. But I believe the because it hasn't been completed yet. It's in the initial stages of the PID development. What has been completed has been the public improvements like the streets and the sewer and the water lines and the trails.

I would have liked from someone to be here, either the developer in the area, to be able to answer those questions.

I think we can table and leave it open.

I would say, first of all, thank you all for coming out here. And I would hate to have to bring you back if we table it. but I would rather you come back and have someone from the pit here to answer questions and for us to study this a little bit more before we make any decision and listen to you as well. And I can tell you for myself, I'm pretty sure everybody here the same way, please feel free to get our contact information and reach out to us. I would love to know more about your lot and about just that development in general, because we do want to make sure, like we did in that district, that you are represented and that when there are meetings that people have the ability to go listen and that it's the citizens themselves voting, right? It's not just a developer.

And paying for that. So that's very important. So I love the way that you all spoke. Thank you so much. And so the tax rate, we do have a say so on that the assessment we don't. So I just wanted to clarify my stance on that. So thank you so much. Well, thank you.

So I moved to leave it open mayor and table.

And can we table it to the next week?

Yes, if we can table it to.

Yeah, so we can have a motion to table it to 5.

I move to take mention of the August 18th meeting.

Second. All right, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed, say nay. Ayes have it. Motion carried. Thank you.

So August 18th.

And it passes five to zero. Moving on to the public hearing item number two. There's a public hearing and action on the second and the final reading on ordinance number 2026-1813. I'm amending chapter 54, the health and the sanitation. Article 6, the smoking in public places to modify the regulations related to smoking in public places to include e-cigarettes and other electronical a nicotine delivery system devices such as vapes that the regulations are relating to smoking in outside patios and the regulations for cigars and the hookah bars and the lounges. Turn it over to the team.

Hello, Mayor and City Commission. As you all recall, you approved the first reading. This is the second reading. And I did put before you a follow up draft that's different from the packet. There were some additional requests that the health department requested and we thought were really good for the ordinance. So we'll go briefly through it. Based on our discussion from last time, we were going to allow the cigar bars and hookah lounges to serve alcohol. um in the packet we had listed at least 40 of gross annual sales the ordinance before you that's on your dais is requesting a 50 to increase it a little bit um we did add in the requirement that a cigar bar or cigar lounge would have a walk-in humidor for the purpose of resell Cigar products. Reason for that is we wanted to prevent, you know, typical bars that might want to say, hey, we serve, we sell cigars and we serve alcohol. People can smoke inside the bar. What public health had provided for us was additional definitions that help define what humidor and walk-in humidor are. We also included the requirement that they post a notice letting others know that when they enter, It is restricted to 21 years of age and above, and that entering the facility may expose them to secondhand tobacco smoke. With regards to hookah lounges, because they don't utilize humidors, we did add a requirement that they have a prep station or hookah bar counter that's designed for preparing the hookah devices, and that they maintain an inventory of functional hookah water pipes, two-seat ratio of at least one commercial hookah pipe for every three seats of maximum building occupancy. A lot of cities that have adopted similar regulations have used AC per water pipe ratio to ensure that they don't have, again, bars that would want to adopt something like this so that they can become smoking facilities. Same requirement, they would have signage that notifies others about the 21 years of age and above and exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke. One of the main changes to the ordinance that has stayed the same is, of course, we are prohibiting electronic cigarettes or vapes from indoor facilities. But we are allowing individuals to smoke within outdoor seating at restaurants, bars, and private clubs so long as certain requirements are met. They have to be at least 20 feet from any operable windows, ventilation systems, or entrances, and that they have an air barrier or air purification system. Um, cigar bars, cigar lounges, hookah lounges, they have additional requirements within the ordinance that's in front of you. It's not in the presentation, but. They would have additional requirements of having a full enclosure so that the smoke from in the facility doesn't, um. Um, we go to another portion of the building or outside. Um, must also. Designate the, the, um. The indoor smoking lounges, cigar bars, or tobacco, poker lounges to have an operational walk-in humidor as part of its air quality and ventilation management system. Just reiterate that. They have to have an independent ventilation system. A lot of these are best practices for health purposes. Keeping a fresh air supply rate of 60 cubic feet. I think it's CFM. uh per person based on maximum permitted occupancy or higher rate if required um having a direct outdoor exhaust and mandatory signage and I'll let Dr Rodriguez um discuss these if there's any questions he's the expert and I have a quick question sir um I know in the past the council has uh brought up about the 20 feet buffer

and how some restaurants or bars don't have that kind of space. So if somebody wanted to step out and smoke, they would have to be in the middle of the street. Right. Did we address that in these amendments?

We didn't address that in these amendments. The 20-foot buffer has remained. What we did do is require, if they're going to have, besides 20 feet, they would require an air barrier or air purification system, and that would serve to help, um, as the doors open and close, right? Because people come in and out from the patio or whatever outdoor area that it would prevent that smoke from entering the facility where it's non smoking. Um, if the commission so decides they could reduce that to whatever, I think this impacts more like the downtown area where you have establishments right next to each other.

Right. Citywide, I think they have ample space to be able to.

Right. We could add a provision that changes it a little bit for downtown. I would have to defer to Dr. Art for actual.

Yes. Mayor, commissioners. Good evening. Commissioner Martinez, that question perhaps could be addressed. As an individual case, when a business submits individually, we do. modified ordinance does allow for the health director to review those unique circumstances and address those. So versus going back and re-tailoring in a broad stroke, one of the tools that this ordinance does allow is to be reviewed through the plan review and look at it for what would be an individual case-by-case basis.

Very good. Thank you.

just technically on that i know that commissioner cardenas stepped out right now but um that's the one that he was bringing up that technically right now in any about patio regardless of where it is um there are people who smoke there and that's technically a service area there's a table at a restaurant right like if you're in the patio of wings and rings

The outdoor area, because it's outdoors and there's no concentration of secondhand smoke, it was really more of the secondhand smoke making its way indoors so that it wasn't close to a door or window.

I know that he proposed on that one. And outdoor areas, you see how it says in outdoor seating or service areas of restaurants. And so he was saying, should that be entrances to the restaurant, 20 feet from the entrance? Because technically, any serving area or seating, you'd have to be 20 feet from that. So the entire patio of Wings and Rings is a service area. You wouldn't be able to smoke at all anywhere there or any other. I'm just using that one restaurant. It could be any. I've seen people, you know, Anywhere, in Toscafino, for example, that entire service area, the entire patio is a service area. You'd have to go 20 feet. So you'd have to go to the parking lot to go smoke with the current language. And I know that Commissioner Cardenas was questioning, should we change it from the door I don't know the answer to that. You're the, you're the, you're the man in charge, right? Absolutely. Because we are making a change to it. And that way we can be very clear to, to the restaurant owners and bar owners or whatever that may be. But currently it does apply to restaurants as well. Right?

No, I see. I see what you're saying. It's 54 dash 176 B, but I think that, It the I think the exception for serving areas is carved out because when you read it reads an indoor seating or serving areas of restaurants. Bars and private clubs and within 20 feet thereof that are not. And I think this is the carve out that we're adding that are not designated for smoking by the owner, operator, manager or other person who controls the establishment described in this article percent 2. And when they go to 54 dash 177 F. That is where you have outdoor seating at restaurants, bars, and private clubs designated as a smoking area by the owner, operator, manager, or the person who controls the establishment described in this article. Provided that smoking should not be permitted within 20 feet of entrances, operable windows, or ventilation systems of the enclosed areas. And then, of course, it talks about the air barrier. So I think with that amendment saying that the owner could allow an outdoor smoking area, I think that carves out servant areas. Perfect.

I was just making sure. That's fine. I was just, again, clarifying that the language that just said same, but I didn't know that it was linked to.

No, that's a good observation. But I think that I interpret it as this being carved out by that qualifier at the end of B.

Perfect. So yes, so it's definitely up to the owner and definitely, you know, from a ventilation door or any type of seating.

Right. A property owner can exercise to have an outdoor patio. So it's not by ordinance saying you cannot. If a property owner chooses to go that route, they may.

So we were discussing the, can you go back the slide? Commissioner Cardenas can see 54 176 where it says in outdoor seating or serving areas of restaurants. Remember that within 20 feet thereof. And so I was asking the question that you were, but they clarified that it's carved out. You want to read him that portion?

Right. So it originally says that, but then we added that are not designated for smoking by the owner, operator, manager, who controls the establishment. And then we cite it to 54-177F. And that's where it says that the owner essentially can create an outdoor smoking area so long as they follow 1 and 2. And 1 doesn't indicate that it affects 20 feet from serving areas. It's just entrances, windows that are operable, right, that open, or ventilation systems of the enclosed area. So this would make it open for them to have an outdoor smoking patio.

Yeah, thank you. I did read it.

All right. Okay, perfect. I just wanted to make sure. Yes, sir. Right. And then the final change that the health department had recommended was G, which is just reiterating that nothing in this ordinance is to be interpreted as prohibiting alcohol cells, right? The first reiteration had that we were prohibiting alcohol cells. This one is the opposite. G is not in the presentation. It's in the paper packet for you.

Thank you.

So any questions or concerns? To close public hearing? Is the public hearing right? Yeah, public hearing. Is it open or not? It hasn't been opened yet. To open it.

I mean, I don't think. They've asked if anybody from the public wishes.

Yeah, I moved to open public hearing.

There's a motion public hearing vote.

Hi.

Hi. Open public hearing. All right. Here is open. Anybody here who wishes to speak on this item? Please step forward.

Move to close. Second.

We have a motion and a second to close public hearing. All those in favor. Aye. Motion hearing. I'll come back.

It's been open and closed. I move to approve. Second.

We have a motion and a second to approve. Any further discussion? If not, all those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed say nay. Ayes have it. Motion carries.

And it carries five to zero. Thank you, doctor. Thank you. Public hearing number three. Public hearing and action on the first reading on ordinance number 2026-1814 amending chapter two of the administration article two under the city commission section 2-26 meetings and agendas in order to adopt the rules and procedures for executive session including the preserving of the confidentiality of topics discussed in executive session.

Mayor and city commission this will be very brief. Next slide please. And next slide. essentially what this ordinance does.

Sorry, Will, I have to step out to the restroom, but if I have to go, it's the eye on this.

Okay. This provision basically reiterates what's already in the Open Government, Texas Open Meetings Act, and basically that the The way we already do the process, the city secretary will announce the start and the legal basis under which we're meeting an executive session. We have to maintain a certified agenda. The one that's not part of Texas Open Meetings Act but we are recommending is prohibited from using or possessing any sound or image recording technology in executive session. And of course, TOMA, Texas Open Meetings Act, doesn't allow us or you all to take a vote or take action in executive session. We're also adding, based on conversations that we've had, is only appropriate city staff may attend the session. Limiting it to the posted agenda items, that just complies with TOMA. Votes must occur in open meetings. Remote participants, ensuring that whoever participates remotely ensures that audio and video are secure so that no one that's unauthorized would listen in. Disclosure to the public would be required and be done with TOMA and the Public Information Act. And that legal advice and other confidential deliberations must remain confidential. And then we're not creating a new, I guess, ordinance in the sense of Chapter 38 already has a provision in there that states that improper access or disclosure could be a violation of the ethics code. That's already codified in Chapter 38, Section 3834. And so we're basically just citing, too, within the Commission's procedures that disclosure of confidential information without following TOMA or PIA, Public Information Act, would be a violation of the code of ethics. Are there any questions, concerns?

I have two questions. I think you need to clarify the recording, because if there is a computer in there for somebody doing a presentation, make sure that it's allowed to be there. And then number two, make sure we have a phone in there for emergencies. Some of us do have kids who are not in town.

Right. Yeah, that's something that we are looking in with IT to make sure that the computer that's there is

not disturbed i mean it does have login credentials that you have to log into uh as well as a phone we'll get a landline in there yeah that's the only things i had to say any other questions or comments from the commission all right this is public hearing anyone that wishes to address the commission on this item please step forward move to close public hearing exactly the motion in a second to close public hearing any further discussion if not all those in favor please say aye aye all those opposed say nay i just have it motion carries who to approve second second motion and second to approve any further discussion not all those in favor please say aye aye all those opposed say nay i just have it motion carries and it carries five to zero yes

The next public hearing item, number four, is a public hearing in action to acknowledge the city secretary's certificate of sufficiency for the charter amendment petition proposing the Brownsville's first job and contracts policy, establishing the provisions in related to the local hiring, the city funded contracts, small business participation, workforce development, transparency and safe working conditions and an action on the first reading of ordinance number 2026-1819 ordering a charter amended election to be held on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2026, providing for the publication and posting of notice and providing for the early voting dates, times, locations, and dealing with all related matters. Also, the agenda caption is provided in the bilingual format as required by the election code. As you are aware, on June 24th, 2026, our office did receive a charter amended petition proposing to amend the charter of the city of Brownsville by proposing to adopt the Brownsville's first job and contract policy, which is displayed on the screen and is attached to the agenda packet, also referencing as Exhibit B. So this petition that was filed consisted of 1,236 petition sheets containing 8,195 submitted signatures. And pursuant to the Texas Local Government Code under 9.004, the petition was required to contain 5,339 valid signatures, which is representing 5% of the city's qualified voters that we received at I'm at 106,777. So the Office of the City Secretary did utilize the statistical sampling method that's authorized by the Texas Election Code, which is 277-003. which authorizes the verification of petitions containing more than 1,000 signatures through a reasonable, a statistical sample of at least 25% of the signatures or 1,000 signatures, whichever is greater. In this case, it was the 25%. So when we calculated out of the 8,195 signatures that we received, the sample was required to have, for us to sample was the 2,049 signatures. So upon the completion of the verification process that we conducted, the sample results were submitted for an independent analysis, which concluded that the petition is estimated to contain at least the 6,111 valid signatures, which is exceeding the minimum requirement. So the next slide, you will see On the right hand side is the analysis that was provided, which reflects the 95% of confidence that the true number that was submitted has the valid signatures provided. So based upon the sample that was conducted on July 28, 2016, 2026, I certified and determined that the petition does satisfy the requirements that is stated in the local government code, which is 9.004, and therefore it is sufficient. And the analysis report is provided to the agenda packet as well, you know, for the supporting documentation. So for this action item is not to consider the merits of the proposed charter amendment today. The action before you is to conduct the public hearing and for the action to be acknowledged that the city secretary's certificate, of sufficiency and to approve the ordinance of 2026-1819 to order the charter amendment election for the November 3rd, 2026. And the second reading will be held on August 18th, 2026. There is a draft motion for your consideration. I'll be happy to answer any questions should you have any at this time.

Any questions or comments from the Commission? All right, this is the public hearing. If there's anyone here that wishes to address the Commission on this item, please step forward. And please state your name again for the record. Thank you.

Hello, my name is Ana Itzapata, lead organizer for Ground Game Texas.

Hi, my name is Victoria Oseguera, another lead organizer for Ground Game Texas. We're here just to ask that you acknowledge this. The Brownsville First petition would help out our community members a whole lot because we have, as we know, a lot of new development here in the city. And since you guys love to approve all of these big businesses and all of these contracts, we want to make sure that at the very least, we hold true to our promises to hire Brownsville workers This petition will make sure that we encourage these businesses and these city contracts to first prioritize hiring people locally from the Brownsville or the Cameron County area and neighboring counties before hiring people outside of the area. It's also going to make sure that the taxpayers also get the best value for their dollar. So let's make sure that we keep our tax dollars local and support our local workers.

Overall, safety of our workers is very important, so we also want to make sure that OSHA 10, which is part of the policy, is being sought after when having these contracts. For example, if there's a construction company or something like that, we want to make sure that the priority of um not just hiring uh local workers but also making sure that these companies are keeping local workers safe overall this is an amazing initiative that the people of brownsville really want and um we are excited to vote for it in november thank you thank you both all right anyone else that wishes to address the commission

Move to close public hearing, Mayor.

Second. We have a motion and a second to close public hearing. Any further discussion? If not, all those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed, say nay. Ayes have it. Motion carries. Move to approve. We have a motion. Second. And a second to approve. I think we have a draft for the motion.

Just to assist.

Excuse me?

I said it was just to assist in the draft motion provided.

You want me to say it? I move that the city commission acknowledge the receipt of the city secretary certificate of sufficiency for the charter amendment petition and approve the 1st reading of ordinance number 2026 dash 1819 ordering a charter amendment election, authorizing all necessary actions to conduct the election in accordance with the city charter and applicable state law.

second all right we have a motion in the second venue for the discussion yeah i'd like to say uh congratulations i know it wasn't an easy feat i mean 8 000 some signatures i saw you all at the farmers market a couple of times uh congratulations i do also want to say that as a commission we not only are 100 supportive of local uh we actually voted a couple of maybe over a year ago now to add a point system a point system on our rfqs and rfps to give our local businesses a little heads up on it right so so we've been doing it and uh part number two is every company that does get an incentive from our gbic or g e v whatever it's called yeah no you're good you said it right uh has to have local uh so i'm proud that this will be on paper now i think i mean congratulations i do think we i mean you really forced us to push our amendments in as well because we were thinking they were going to happen until may but congratulations and and and i won't i

No, we completely agree. We definitely want to be keep it local as we always share out and we definitely fight for our constituents, our citizens to ensure that they have that first dibs. Now there are times where for as much as we want to go with this, we do by state as well law have to go with the lowest bid. So is ensuring that we're stretching out every dollar as well. And then there's sometimes some companies where I've asked, I know I've sat down with the chief. I'm like, why was this not local? He's like, Ms. Macias, that local company did not have the product that we needed. So we had to outsource outside. So I'm like, oh, okay. So for me, knowledge definitely lessens frustration, but it's always with the intent also to know that we're fighting for every day for our constituents.

I just want to thank you all for being here like at 3 45 and then still here to voice your concern and and and echo the sentiments of the two commissioners. Congratulations.

Yeah, I want to concur. I think you guys have shown the power in your voice. And again, we were fully supportive of ensuring that local preference and local talent matters and is important and should be prioritized. So I think having in the charters is a big deal. And I think it's the right thing to do. So again, congrats. With that said, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, say nay. Ayes have it. Motion carries. Thank you, guys.

Thank you. So it carries 5 to 0. That concludes the public hearing. Now we will move to the items for the individual consideration, starting with number one. It's a consideration in action to acknowledge the Cameron Appraisal District Chief Appraisers Certification of the City of Brownsville's 2026 tax roll.

news financial services department i have a few uh prison taxation compliance items the first one being that we acknowledge the certification of the appraisal role from the county tax assessor shows the market value being uh just under 17 million billion and the next next taxable value of 13 billion dollars with the market value under review at the time of this report of 57 million dollars we asked that the commission acknowledge this report

Move to acknowledge. Second. We have a motion and second to acknowledge. Any further discussion? If not, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. Ayes have it. Motion carries.

Next item, number two, is the consideration and action to acknowledge the Cameron County Tax Assessors Collectors Certification of the assessment of the ad valorem tax debt collection rate for the tax year 2026 and the excess debt tax collection for tax year 2025.

So the state requires a taxing entity to, that levies a debt tax rate to anticipate the collections. So our anticipated collection rate used for this calculation was 96.1%. And last year we had an excess debt collection of $3 million that goes towards reducing our debt service requirements for this fiscal year. We're asking that the Commission acknowledge this report as well.

Second the motion second to acknowledge any further discussion. If not all those in favor please say aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. Ayes have it. Motion carries.

It carries five to zero. The next item is number three. It's a consideration in action to acknowledge the finance director's calculation of the city's no new revenue and the voter approval tax rates for tax year 2026 which is fiscal year 2027.

So these rates are calculated in compliance with the tax code and tax form that we have to fill out to generate these numbers. And no new revenue rate comes out to 0.563407. There you can see the breakdown between the MNO and that service component between that compared to our current tax rate. And then we have a voter approval tax rate, which is the allowable increase limited by that 3.5%. of a point six one three four four zero and on this one that rate stays the same but the mno is a little bit higher at point three six three five one seven we ask that the uh commission acknowledge this uh calculation who to acknowledge second we have a motion and second to acknowledge any further discussion if not all those in favor please say aye aye aye all those opposed say nay i have a motion carried

Next item is number four. Is the consideration in action to discuss the possible ad valerum tax rate increase and to authorize a public hearing on August 18, 2026 to discuss the proposed ad valerum tax rate that will exceed the no new revenue tax rate?

Well, true taxation requires that The tax rate we propose be discussed at a public hearing. We're asking that the Commission authorize that public hearing for the next meeting. It must have a quorum of the governing body present, take place within the boundaries of the taxing unit and be conducted on a weekday and allow taxpayers to express an opportunity to express their views. So we're asking the Commission to authorize that public hearing.

Move to approve. Second. We have a motion and a second to approve. Any further discussion? Not all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed, say nay. Ayes have it, motion carried.

It carries five to zero. Next item for consideration is number five.

Before we move forward, I just, I did have discussion, but is it too late? My vote's the same, but I did have just discussion on action item four. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can go back. I just wanted to, because I just know that clarity is important and transparency is important. What we did here was put it so that the public can come and weigh in their opinion to it, because I'm going to read about this tonight that we approved a tax rate increase. Okay. I just wanted to make sure that we, make it very clear what we approved is the same way that we allowed 25 people come up here and speak to allow the same thing for whoever wants to come and speak on the same way we asked for people to come give their opinions on data centers the same way they can come and give their opinions that is democracy right letting people come up here and speak and that's all we did today we did not increase the sales tax okay And we just, the property tax, sorry, we did not increase the property tax rate for the city of Brownsville. All we did was open that microphone for people to come and voice their opinion in August 18th. Just wanted to make that clear.

I don't know, maybe it would be helpful if Alan, I've heard Alan decipher it before, but the nomenclature that the Texas legislature uses for the tax rates and It's confusing because it makes it look like we're adopting a tax increase or, you know, but we're not. So I don't know, Alan, if you want to break it down further.

No, I mean, I've just I've said it many times, the calculation is very complicated and very complex. It looks at property that was available in both years, but then there's new property. So there have been increases in valuation. There is new property. Overall, we get more revenue. we need to continue to provide the level of services that we know our citizens want. And every year for the past five years, even though tax rates have gone down, this community has paid more in property taxes to provide those services. But again, it's very complex. There's a lot of moving parts. The school district has a tax rate. The community college has a tax rate. The county has a tax rate. And what we do provide is an opportunity for our community to come and comment on it. The main thing I want to hear from them is, are you getting the services you want? And I think you need to understand this commission is very dedicated to keeping that tax rate as low as possible. The commission, as I've stated before, this and previous commissions, have adopted policies and diversities of revenue that have kept property taxes very low, and you really just can't read so much into the property tax rate. The greatest example I can give you is McAllen has a tax rate of 45 cents, full 15 cents less than we have here in Brownsville. But an average home in McAllen is about $70,000 more. And so an average home in McAllen pays close to $1,300 or $1,400, where an average home in Brownsville pays, we saw, about $930. So the tax rate and the value is what makes it up. You need to look at both. And you need to be thoughtful about it. And we have been enormously transparent. While we do follow these laws, I agree. It's gobbledygook. The way the state requires us to state it is confusing and complicated and complex. We have been very clear this is a tax rate increase, about 1.3%. I mean, it's not that big, but we're keeping the tax rate the same. The tax rate is not increasing. The tax rate is staying flat for the third year in a row. So that's kind of where we're at. Come and tell us if you're getting the services you want. That's what I want to hear.

And this item is to authorize for it to be on the next agenda.

Yes, sir. Correct. We'll be advertising in the Brownsville Herald as well as posting the notices on social media and our PEG channel as well.

Thank you. Thank you all very much for the clarity. I just I just know that right now it's no matter what happens, right? It's the commissioners are hiding everything from us. They're going to increase the deal. They voted for it and that's what they want. And it's like we have a job to do. Our job is to open this microphone, listen to the constituents, and we have to do that. And I think we've done that. I wanted just to triple clarify.

And if it's confusing, talk to your state legislator, because we have followed the exact letter of the law, exactly as they require it.

The next agenda item number five. Miss consideration and action. I'm a resolution number 2026 dash 112 to approve the the 2026 through the 2030 at the the regional consolidated plan in allocation of the city of Brownsville Community Development Block Grant CDBG Home Investment Partnership program home and the emergency of Solutions Grant ESG subject to the appropriation by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development HUD for the 2026 2027 one year action plan. Turn it over to that.

Good evening. My name is Ruth. I'm from the Grants and Community Development Department, and I'm here to introduce Miss Jennifer Alpha. She will be presenting our consolidated plan and our annual action plan. Miss Jennifer Alpha.

Thank you.

Thank you so much. Thank you for having us here tonight. I'm with TDA Consulting. TDA is a national consulting firm. We provide assistance to states, cities, counties all across the country on their housing and community development programs. We are nearly 30 years old, and I've been with for about half that time. So we're really excited to be working with the city again on the development of the consolidated plan, annual action plan and analysis of impediments to fair housing. So, next slide. So, this agenda might look a little lengthy, but I'm going to, I'm going to get through it pretty quickly. We're going to talk a little bit about the allocations that the city receives from hide. And then those planning documents that we've been working on will also describe our community outreach process and then. Discuss the priorities and the projects that are appearing in this year's plans and that will be submitted to hide for approval once they are. finally cleared through the city's processes. Next slide. So the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, provides support for community development activities through three separate programs that are covered by the Consolidated Plan. And those programs are the Community Development Block Grant Program, which provides the city with just over $2.5 million. The home investment partnerships program, which provides the city with nearly 900,000 dollars and then the emergency solutions grant program, which provides the city with 225,000 dollars. Each of these programs have specific purposes, so I'm going to walk through those here so that you have a better understanding of how the dollars can be used. Of course, with federal funds, we're always having to follow the rules. So, while those dollars are really important and can do a lot of good in the city, they obviously are restricted in terms of their uses based on the program requirements. So, the Community Development Block Grant Program benefits low and moderate income people and low and moderate income areas. Types of activities that can be funded with CDBG include things like infrastructure and facility projects, some housing activities, Economic development programs and public services, although it's important to note that for public services, you can only spend 15% of your overall grant on CDBG public services. So there is that cap. These dollars can also be used in the prevention or elimination of slum and blight and they can be used to meet urgent needs in. Some cases. But primarily this program is for benefiting low and moderate income people and low and moderate income areas. And then we have the home program, which you might guess is designed to provide decent affordable housing to lower income households. These activities include rental and home ownership opportunities. So, creating new rental and home ownership units for low to moderate income households, rehabilitating these types of units, and even providing tenant based rental assistance. Um, with all of these programs, the city gets to pick and choose among the eligible activity types. It wouldn't even be recommended to try to do all the things that you can do with each of these programs. So the city has to decide how it wants to use these funds to meet the needs that have been identified. But the home program is often used to expand the capacity of nonprofit housing developers by coupling home dollars with other sources of funds. Often the low income housing tax credit program. So this is really helping to strengthen the ability of state and local governments to provide housing and leverage those private sector dollars. And then finally, the Emergency Solutions Grant Program is aimed to address homelessness, and this program can provide funds for street outreach, emergency shelter, rapid rehousing, homelessness prevention, and the operation of the Homeless Management Information System, or HMIS. So, those are the different uses of the funds. Every 5 years HUD says, you need to tell us how you plan to use these dollars over the next 5 years. And you do that through the development of a consolidated plan. And that consolidated plan, you can think of that as a strategic plan. It's really a strategic planning document where we're going to set goals that are going to help guide the use of these dollars over the next 5 years. But the beginning of this 5 year planning process, we don't really know how much money you're going to get in each of these 5 years. So we're really using estimates for those 5 year numbers in the consolidated plan. All of the allocation process starts at Congress. So, depending on how much Congress gives to the program, then applies a formula and that tells. The city how much it will receive in a given year. So, as part of the overall planning process, the city also has to develop an annual plan every year of these 5 year consolidated plan cycles. So this is the beginning of the next 5 year plan. So we're doing the 1st year annual action plan at the same time. But over the next 5 years, you'll do an annual plan every year to. Tell hide how you're going to spend the allocation for that specific year. But always. In accordance with the goals that you set in your 5 year plan. And then our final piece that we're working on here is the analysis of impediments to fair housing. This helps to assess housing challenges, both related to housing protections under the fair housing laws. But also we look at the ability to access safe and decent housing. So, those are the 3 plans that we've been assisting the city in developing. We use data to develop these plans. So we look at a lot of data data coming from the census, the American community survey, local data sources. We also use many of the plans that the city has been working on, including the choice neighborhood plan, the downtown master plan, the parks plan. So, basically, any kind of information we can gather to help inform what community needs look like, we will use that information. Some of the best information though comes from our community outreach. So we take that data numbers are great. But hearing directly from the community is really how we understand what the community needs are. So we did a really lengthy community outreach process. We had 2 direct engagement meetings where we actually met with residents in person on site. We also had a regional meeting where we partnered with the cities of San Benito and Harlingen. To collect community outreach perspectives. And then we did individual interviews with stakeholders in the community. So these are people operating nonprofits and running city departments who are working on these types of issues every day. So, in addition to that, we had community needs surveys that were digital surveys, so that we could sort of. Expand our reach a little bit for folks who maybe can't make it out some meetings are interested in coming to an in person meeting. They still had an opportunity to provide their perspectives through an online survey that was available in both English and Spanish and we received over 300 responses to those surveys. And then our final piece was a focus group series where we invited stakeholders to come and have a interactive dialogue with 1 another and with us so that we could better understand community needs across a range of topic areas. And you can see there, we did housing and homelessness, seniors and disabilities, youth and education, neighborhood improvements, general services. And then we had also individual resident focus groups that were held online so that folks could join us online if they weren't able to come out to the in person meetings. So, next slide. So, with all of that input that we collected through the data and the community outreach, we develop a list of. Consolidated plan priorities by establishing the priorities in your plan, you can then translate those priorities into goals and I'll show you those goals here on the next slide. You can see here that the list of priorities priorities. in the plan range from housing types of priorities like rehabilitation, home buyer assistance, housing development, home repair, to things that are more neighborhood-based like public and community facilities, parks and recreation, transportation, and then different types of services like homelessness, youth, disability, seniors, health services, domestic violence, hunger relief, and then of course General homelessness prevention and emergency assistance. So a wide range of. Priorities that we've identified through the different data and community input that we received. But all of those priority needs then translate into 4 goal categories. And these goal categories are the category categories that HUD will expect you to pursue over the next 5 years. And then each of those individual plan years, you'll take your dollars and decide how to spend those dollars across these 4 goals. For the most part, your home dollars are always going to be spent on goal 1 for the most part. And then your dollars are always going to be spent on goal 4. So, goal 1, increase affordable housing opportunities. Goal 2, improve public infrastructure and facilities. Goal 3, enhance services for LMI populations and goal 4, address homelessness. So, those are the 4 goals that we established in the 5 year consolidated plan. So, as I said, those will help guide your funding decisions over the next 5 years. The annual action plan for 2026 is also included in this overall development process and the action plan does several things. It's going to talk about how you're going to spend your money, but it also gives had an understanding of your agency capacity by talking about outcomes. Um. It talks about target populations and talks about how you're going to implement and manage your programs. And then it gives those detailed funding discussions so that I can really understand how these dollars are going to be used in practice. Next slide. So, the important part, or the part that most people are most interested in understanding when we talk about our annual action plan is, how are the dollars going to be spent? So, as we talked about earlier, you had 3 different funding sources. So these next few slides describe how the dollars will be used within those different funding source categories. So. For the dollars, as I mentioned earlier, you can use dollars for a range of activities. It really is your broadest program here. So there are several capital improvement projects that will be funded with the 2026 allocation. and some of those projects I know have been talked about here already tonight. I heard folks talking about them as we were going through the different pieces of the agenda. So you've got your general administration dollars here, which are capped at 20% of the grant. You also have sidewalk improvement projects, demolition projects, Morningside Park improvement, bus stop improvement project, funds going to the home rehabilitation program and then the national fitness courts project. So, all of those total up to about 2.2, just under 2.3M dollars. And then for our service projects, remember for CDBG, you have to cap your services at 15% of the overall grant. So oftentimes we hear folks wishing that we could spend more on services, but that is a strict cap. So for this plan, just under $300,000 will be spent on services. And those include services for children through the Moody Clinic, uh coined it through also services for children through casa um services through good neighbor settlement house sunshine haven and tip of texas family outreach center and then also senior services for amiga through amigo still del valle sorry the print is very tiny here Okay, so that's your services and then that really rounds out your CDBG dollars. So now we're moving into the home program as, you know, home is primarily for providing affordable housing and the city is using its dollars in 2 ways. 1 is to provide new construction of housing and the other is to run a home buyer assistance program. And as I mentioned, it's really important for the city to look at its needs and decide how to use all these dollars. To address the need that we've identified and amongst all the different eligible uses that are out there. So, for home, we really looked at new construction and home buyer assistance as the top top ways that. The community was asking for assistance. And then finally we have the ESG program. The ESG program has about $225,000 allocated to it, which is always, we're thankful for every dollar, right? But we have to recognize that these dollars I have limited uses, so there are 3 specific organizations that the city will be working with to carry out its program. So, good neighbor settlement house, the, the ship, San Pedro. center and then also friendship of women so those three organizations will receive money for things like hms management street ouch emergency shelter and rapid rehousing all right so those are our projects for our 2026 year um every year as i said you'll go through this allocation process where you're splitting the funds across the four different goals that are in the consolidated plan. But for this year, the next steps beyond developing the plan are to submit the plan to HUD. The plan needs to be submitted no longer than August, no later than August 16th. It's already been through a public comment period and Once it is submitted, HUD may have some comments itself. It does have 45 days to review the plan and provide feedback. And we expect to hear a final decision on the approval of the plan by October. So, with that, any questions?

No questions, just comments. I thank you for being so involved with the community. I think as we grow as a community, these plans help guide us and make us fiscally responsible as well. So I'm really happy to hear that you all involved the community on this decision making and thank you for bringing this to us.

Thank you.

Any other questions or comments from the Commission? Move to approve. We have a motion to approve and a second. Any further discussion? Not all those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed say nay. I just have a motion carries. Thank you so much. Thank you.

5-0. The next item is consideration in action. Resolution number 2026-115 to approve a one-time waiver of the maintenance bond required for the construction of improvements serving the greater Brownsville Tech Park.

Mayor and Commission, we were approach by the GBEDC about waiving this particular maintenance bond requirement that we have since they are a quasi agency of the city. It's about $70,000 is what they were estimated and we told them we would bring it in front of you for your consideration.

What is this?

I think it typically covers a year or two of like a warranty for the infrastructure that gets put in at the industrial park? Yes, that's correct.

I'm waiting.

Did I get that right total?

Sorry, I couldn't unmute.

That's okay.

Go ahead. Yes, that's the cost to pay for a maintenance month. Based on our UDC, we require a two year maintenance bond. What they're asking for is the waiver of that maintenance bond, being that they're associated with the city. They would still be responsible for any issues that come up for the next two years. This is a guarantee that we have in place for developers to confirm that any construction that they complete, that they will provide any maintenance for the following two years after it's complete.

We provided this waiver in the past.

I'm sorry, go ahead.

Have we provided something like this in the past?

This would be the first waiver.

Right. And the resolution does have language that says that this is not setting a precedent. We're not going to do this for other developers. It's because it's a city-initiated project.

I mean, we have their budget, so I think we're okay. Yeah, I move to approve waiving the bond.

Second. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? If not, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed, say nay. I just have a motion carries.

It carries five to zero since there's no executive session.

There's adjournment.

So I'm going to adjourn. Second. We have a motion and a second to adjourn. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye.

Aye.

Ayes have it. Motion carries. Meeting adjourned, everyone. Thank you.

We're adjourned at 8.55 p.m. Have a good night.