City Council - Regular Meeting

Check, check, mic check, one, two, mic check, one, two. Mic check one, two, mic check one, two.

Good evening everyone, my name is Cecilia Orozco and I'm the interim director of communications. Thank you all for being here today. This is the fourth budget input session in a series of seven sessions that we're going to hold throughout all five districts. So the format of this input session will include a few remarks from our city manager, Peter Zanoni, followed by our budget and management director, Amy Rodriguez. We'll also play a short video. After that, we'll transition to the Q&A portion of tonight's session where you'll be able to ask questions on the microphone. And just as a reminder, we do ask that you speak into the microphone so everyone watching on YouTube can hear your questions. Also, if you don't mind just saying what district you reside in, if it is here, that's completely fine. We're just taking note of who's saying what and where. Also, then we'll transition at 645 to the open house portion of tonight's meeting where you'll get to talk to different departments that are represented here. And that's it. So now I'd like to introduce City Manager Peter Zanoni.

Thank you.

All right. We always like those round of applause. So thank you. How y'all doing? It's good, right? Is it usually this windy? When I walked in here, I had to go first to the restroom to get my hair back in shape. Got to love that wind, right? But it is great to be here. I am Peter Zanoni, the city manager. And these are important events for us, which is getting community input and we do this throughout the year on various topics. We were here just recently few weeks ago on water and we heard some input from the Community on our water projects to bring more water supply to our region. But tonight we're here for the budget, and this is an annual conversation that we have with the community. I'm required, the city manager is required by the charter to prepare a balanced proposed budget and deliver that to council. And I did that earlier in the month, and actually late July we delivered that to council. And that's a proposal that takes review by the city council. We have a total of five workshops with the council, and it also takes a communication and conversation with the community, and that's your part tonight. So we want to hear from you on the budget. You may have seen it online, or you may not have seen it at all, and that's okay, because you're just here to talk about how our funds should be allocated, and that's what the budget is annually. We project how much revenue we're going to bring in, and then we show what we can do with that. And so your input tonight will help. I would say that this budget is the third in a row, three fiscal years in a row, where we've had to cut spending, cut services, because revenues are less than what they were four years ago. And so over the past two years, we cut a total of $20 million out of the budget. And this year we had to reduce another million. So about 21 million has been permanently taken out in recurring expenses to stay within our financial means. And so tonight's conversation is important because we would ask that if you come up and ask for more services, let's talk a little bit about how we could fund those or what would you be willing to do or have less of because we can't add more services without more revenue. And that comes from property taxes, sales tax, or fees for service, or cutting in some other area. And so that'd be good if we could get that input from you tonight as well. So with that, I do need to make a few introductions. So Mayor Pro Tem Paxson, who is also the district representative, will be here shortly. She's just running a little bit behind. We met earlier at City Hall and she's taking care of some of that business, so she'll be here momentarily. We do have Judge Lisa Gonzalez is here in the back. Miss Lisa, thank you for being here tonight. And then you all know, I don't have to introduce Flo, but Flo's here from the Flower Bluff Business Association. Is that the correct title, Flo? Yep. So we appreciate Flo being here. Thank you, Flo and the Business Association. I missed the last meeting that you all had because of a council, I think we had a council workshop. But I'm going to get to your next one to speak. Whatever Flo wants me to speak about, I'll go there and talk. It's always good to be connected to Flower Bluff. This area of our community has one of the best civic engagement communities in our city, and so we always like coming down to Flower Bluff because you all come out and help support it along with us. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to Amy Rodriguez, our budget director, who's worked hard, to talk a little bit more about tonight's program. And then I'll be around for questions and answers and just to talk to our community. So thank you again for being here.

Thank you everyone for joining us this evening. Before we get started with the question and answer portion of our evening or comment, we're going to begin with a short video that will lay the groundwork for our discussion this evening. Our wonderful communications department put this together. If you'd just turn your attention to that. Thank you.

Every year, the City of Corpus Christi develops a budget that serves as the financial plan for delivering services to our community. The budget determines how resources are invested to provide essential services residents rely on every day. including public safety, street maintenance, parks, libraries, animal care, code enforcement, and many other programs and services. The fiscal year 2027 proposed budget continues to prioritize long-term water security and wastewater management. police, fire, streets, and parks, consistent with community input and City Council priorities, while maintaining the City's commitment to responsible financial stewardship. The City operates on a fiscal year, which is simply a 12-month financial period. The City of Corpus Christi's fiscal year begins on October 1st and ends on September 30th of the following year. Throughout the year, City staff monitor revenues, evaluate service needs, and plan for future investments to ensure taxpayer dollars are used responsibly while maintaining the City's long-term financial stability. The budget development process begins months before the new fiscal year starts. Departments evaluate their operational needs, identify priorities and submit funding requests. Staff then reviews projected revenues, evaluates existing services and develops recommendations that balance community priorities with available resources. Throughout the process, the city continually evaluates revenues and expenditures to ensure the proposed budget remains balanced while supporting essential services and long-term priorities. Community feedback gathered during meetings like this helps inform those recommendations. The proposed budget is then presented to the City Council, followed by public input sessions and Council workshops before a final budget is adopted in September. The City's budget is made up of several different funds, each serving a specific purpose. Tonight's discussion focuses on the General Fund. The General Fund supports many of the core services residents use every day and is funded primarily through property taxes, sales taxes, franchise fees, and other local revenues. These revenues support services such as police, fire, parks and recreation, libraries, animal care services, code enforcement, neighborhood services, and many other daily operations that enhance the quality of life throughout Corpus Christi. Other funds include enterprise funds, which support services such as water, wastewater, and gas. These services are primarily funded through customer rates and fees. The City also maintains special revenue funds, capital improvement funds, and debt service funds, each dedicated to specific programs, projects, or financial obligations. One way to think about the General Fund is to compare it to a household budget. Imagine you have $100 available each month. Some of that money is already committed to essential expenses like housing, groceries, transportation, utilities, and insurance. Now imagine you would like to add a new expense, perhaps a gym membership, a streaming service, or a new family activity. If your income remains at $100, Adding something new may require reducing or delaying another expense in order to stay within your budget. Families make these decisions every day by evaluating what is most important and balancing needs with available resources. The City's budget works much the same way. While revenues can change from year to year, Resources are not unlimited. New programs, services, facilities or enhancements often require balancing existing priorities with available funding. That is why City staff carefully evaluate needs, available revenues, operational costs and community priorities throughout the budget development process. As the fiscal year 2027 budget is developed, the proposed 2027 budget continues to focus on long-term water security and wastewater management, police, fire, streets, and parks, while maintaining the financial discipline needed to continue delivering the essential services residents depend on every day. That is why community input is so important. Your feedback helps city leadership and the city council understand which services and investments matter most as they review the proposed budget and make decisions for the coming fiscal year. Thank you for participating and helping shape the future of Corpus Christi.

Thank you. Now I'd like to introduce Mayor Pro Tem and District Representative Caitlin Paxson.

Good evening everyone. Thank you for coming this evening and participating in our process. I'll be very brief because I know we have a question and I know we want to be respectful of your time, Ms. Fluist. But thank you very much for being here tonight. These budget input sessions are very important to us and I am very grateful for you taking your time. This is an important process every year for us. We definitely, especially with everything that we are doing charge of or taking care of through the city it's our top priority to hear from the residents because this is your city our tax dollars at work and so thank you absolutely for being here to offer that input so it can be incorporated at this important time of the budget process so without going much further than that miss flow I know you had a question real quick if you could lower that I wanted to tell the Can you, I'm so sorry, could you go on the mic? We can't hear you at all. Can you hear me now? That's much better, thank you.

I have to pick my grandson up from football, but I wanted to come on behalf of the business association and the community and tell you thank you for the new lighting on Flower Bluff Drive. It is absolutely amazing, and it's going to transform that whole area. So I need to run, but thank you, city. We do appreciate everything you do in this area. So keep up the great work.

Thank you, Ms. East. Just as she brought up that lighting initiative on Flower Bluff Drive, that was definitely a project that was a community-led concern, and it took a lot of time and collaboration, and I'm thankful to the staff for being able to pull that off, but that's just one example of why that input is so important. So, Mr. Zanoni or Ms. Amy, I guess you're next. Sorry about that, Ms. Amy Rodriguez, but thank you guys.

Thank you again for coming this evening. I do want to point out that our departments are here to answer your questions. We do have information available at the tables as well as department leadership representatives. Our budget department table is in the back. If you were here back in July when we came out for the development input session, I presented on a pie chart for the general fund. We do have that updated chart in the back of our budget table as well as copies of our proposed budget book if you'd like to review them. And at this time, I'd like to welcome anyone who has a question or comment to just step up to the mic.

My name is Bob Wilson. I live on Sweet Bay Street. I believe Sweet Bay is one of the worst streets in Corpus Christi. Maybe there might be a hundred people that live within a half a mile, but it'd be appreciated if the city could come down and put us a new street there. It's been that way for about the last five years. Also from Waldron, The Flower Bluff Drive on Yorktown is like a washboard. And now there are holes developing on the edge of the street. Someone will lose a tire sooner or later. It's not a question of if, it's a question of when.

Yes, sir. Thank you. And we do have our Public Works Department here. They can give you some additional information, if you like, on timing and scheduling. Anyone else?

Mhm.

Hello, my name is Autumn Hensick. I'm in District 2 right now, but grew up out here in District 4. Something I've been thinking a lot about is the library, I'm sure like a lot of others, and just thinking about how much, I guess, like understanding the importance of it as a school library, but thinking a lot about how much I used it as like a community library after school. So I'm hoping to learn more about the long-term plan there. Sorry, I'm out of breath. We were late, and I didn't realize we walked right into questions. But yeah, curious about the long-term plan there. And a couple of council meetings ago, I remember I think maybe Gil or somebody suggesting the idea of instead of using the money that we were looking at for a temporary wall solution, maybe putting that into a new library. So I don't know. I was hoping to get more information about that. Thank you.

Our library department is also here. They're on this side if you'd like to speak with them. And for FY27, the funding is the same for that library. There's no change there for operating. Is there anyone else? I promise we're not scary. The mic is friendly.

Hi, Amanda Breeland, District 1. Sorry, I wanted to come up here and say something, but I'm not sure. I guess I would like to know what the plan is for planting more trees and more greenery, especially now that we are out of Stage 3. I think... Are we in stage two officially? Going into stage one I hear potentially. So the last thing I was told by Parks and Rec was that once we're out of stage three that the plans to start planting again would begin. So I'd like to know what the plans for that are. Again, I'd like to see line item for trees. Our urban tree canopy is really important in mitigating heat. Retaining that water helps prevent runoff, multiple things. I would also like to know how much more is being invested in our libraries. I did take a quick glance. I haven't really dove deep into the new proposed budget for 2027. But I do want to say I did notice y'all separated fire and police, and I really appreciated that. It does show that y'all are actually listening. So, yeah, that's it.

Thank you.

My name is Barbara. I'm from District 4. I missed the last meeting on the water situation. How's that going to go with the plants? Anything on that? With the, I'm sorry, with the... With, no, with the building different thing to help all with the water. What's it called? The water.

You're talking about the water supply projects, right?

We missed that one.

Okay. Let me give you a quick summary. As we know, the western reservoirs are in better shape today from the rain that happened north of here about three weeks ago now. But we still need to implement more projects. We have two groundwater projects that are in development, a groundwater in Nueces County And then a groundwater project in San Patricio County. You may have heard the word Evangeline before. That's a groundwater project that we're working on in the Sinton area. That would be 24 million gallons of water a day, up to that amount. And the same thing in Nueces County, about 22 to 24 million gallons. When it comes to groundwater, though, it wouldn't be that we would produce that every day. It's only when we need it to try to preserve the water in the ground. We're working on several desalination projects. We know the city has looked at the Inner Harbor. We're working with the Nueces River Authority on Harbor Island. That's a desalination project with the Nueces River Authority and IDE would be the developer. We have another smaller desal facility in the ship channel with a company called Corpus Christi Polymers, CC Polymers. That would be about 10 million gallons a day. On a plant that's about 70%, 80% finished, a company would come in and finish out that plant and then sell us about 10 million gallons of water a day. And then we're looking at not too far from here, the Barney Davis Power Plant site with now CPS Energy to see if that's a good location and working a business deal with CPS Energy in San Antonio. We also have a very important effluent reuse project that would generate 16 million gallons of water. So just for some quick background context, we have six wastewater treatment plants across the city. And we discharge about 30 million gallons of water every day into the bays and estuaries. So more than half of that 16 million gallons we can start using, freeing up 16 million of fresh water that we sell to industry. And so they've agreed, three companies have agreed to buy that 16 million in effluent and use it for cooling purposes in their plants. and we get paid for that. And then at the same time, we free up 16 million gallons of water. So all of our projects are still highly in development and Mayor Pro Tem Paxson and I think the majority of the council have said what I'm gonna say, which is that even though the rain has benefited the Western Reservoirs, it doesn't mean we stop producing those projects and bringing them online. And so the city is very committed to doing that because we need better water resiliency. Okay, and since you mentioned it, since we're here, so when it comes to plants, P-L-A-N-T-S, we are in stage two water restrictions, which while it sounds bad, it's good because now we can water once every other week, our lawns and our landscaping in the morning and in the evening. And then that's with an irrigation system. But you can water with a hose any time of day, any day of the week. We recommend you do it before, I think it's 10 a.m. and after 6 p.m. just for reparation purposes. But watering now with a hose, a handheld hose is allowed. You could wash your vehicle in your driveway with a hose. And so the stage two restrictions are much reprieved from where we were for almost two years, which was no outdoor watering. Okay, yes ma'am. We're just gonna do a quick commercial interruption here. So Manuel, our Assistant Public Works Director, he's in charge of rebuilding our streets through our rapid paving program. We have another department that manages big capital projects like Flower Bluff Drive. And so we've asked Manuel. He's not the one that's overseeing, but he has enough information just to give us here this evening a quick update on the Flower Bluff Drive project that's going to be very important for the region. So I'm going to turn the mic over to him. Good evening.

So the Flower Bluff Drive project is anticipated to start here shortly. Right now, the contractor, Anderson Columbia, has begun communication with engineering services who will be managing the project, and they're working with our right-of-way department for the traffic control. I believe the limits are from Purdue to Yorktown. They'll be starting with some deep utilities to start off. If you have any particular questions into that, you can talk to me at the booth. I can write your name and questions down and we can get back to you with responses that are more specific to that.

Thank you. Do we have any other questions or comments?

Hello, my name is Lenny Compton of District 4. I've used the RTA system here a lot, but mostly it's to go to the same places, my campus and my workplace. But every time I have to go to the city, which is around, you know, if I have to cross town, maybe want to see a play or something like that, it's around like two and a half hours to get there and that's not even counting the time to get back after whatever event. For the average person that would be a 20 minute drive and I just wish that, I know that the special district funds the RTA system but I would really like the city to maybe also fund that as well because we have like the city is going to have more need for transit as well right and we really need to have more buses more drivers and more routes i know they're hiring right hiring right now but we definitely need that here thank you thank you can i ask about affordable housing

And which department would that come under in the budget?

It would be with our Planning and Economic Development Department. I don't think they're here tonight, are they? They are not here tonight.

Okay, so what kind of funding in the budget, in the city budget, is committed to affordable housing? And are there other funds besides our own budget?

The fund that comes to mind for me is we have a type B fund that is dedicated to housing. That fund receives $500,000 a year in revenue. And I believe we have an existing project in progress currently. to utilize some of those funds. Jennifer Buxton would be able to give you more information on any other projects that may be in the works.

Right. Well, I'm just asking here. I'm in communication with Jennifer, so I know some things, and maybe this goes to her, but I'm more interested in really low-income and lowest-income housing projects And I think it's not just Corpus Christi. I mean, across the country, we're experiencing a real lack of a supply of affordable housing. But a lot of people here in Corpus Christi are experiencing that. And so does anyone here tonight have any insight into plans or initiatives to address affordable housing, especially lowest income?

I'm not sure but I would recommend that you visit the development services table if anyone here has that information it would be that table and we can there on this side of the room and then we can also get back to you with additional information

then how could we begin requesting funding from the city budget to address that and i understand there's give and take you give it over here you're going to have to take it away over there so it may be just making a case that the lack of affordable housing is affecting all of us in a number of ways maybe obvious and maybe not so obvious but um tonight is there do we Do we make known a request for something like that to be included in the city budget?

Yes, so coming here tonight is definitely one of the ways that you can do that. And thank you for asking. I've heard a couple of times how do we get something added to the budget or included in the budget. So I would just like to say the budget is something that we develop all year long, right? And so you as constituents, you vote in city council members. um they represent you and so all year long you have the opportunity to communicate those needs and priorities with your representatives and then city staff as well we are here to support you we're happy to hear from you um so i think the more that that you come to these meetings and and speak with your representatives in each council district and at large and with the departments, then that helps us know where the priorities are for the community.

Right. Well, and thank you for that, because I'm in pretty good communication with the city staff and with the people that you're talking about, and I'm just wondering if tonight is a time we can emphasize a request for affordable housing to be included in the budget.

Yes, sir. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Amy, for that knowledgeable answer. I did want to just kind of piggyback on that. Everything she said, absolutely, and plus. So yesterday we approved a project, and this is more just to tell you what's coming down the pipeline. So there's a four-building project coming in on the west side of town that will be focused heavily on supplying space for low income. And so all 62 units of that project will be offered at various levels of below income status. And so that's something that was on our agenda yesterday that's going to be moving forward, which is good news because you're absolutely correct. My understanding is in some cases there could be up to a seven year wait list. for residents to get into affordable housing. And so it is an issue. With that also being said, was it this year or last year? Maybe it was early this year we authorized a study, a housing study, kind of like a need assessment. We know we need more housing. But this gets into that granular, what do we actually focus on? Where are the gaps specifically? And so working with the staff, I actually invited a member from Texas A&M University, a professor there, to come in and offer some insight. What could we add to that study to make sure that we're covering all the populations and demographics necessary and include that in the study for data so that while we're doing this study, It's done as efficiently as possible. It gives us the highest quality of data as possible. And so I believe that that study is already moving through. We're in the stage where I think we're going to start to engage stakeholders on it. So those are just two other pieces of information. And I know sometimes we say it's another study. It's another study. Believe me. Sometimes I'm like, we can see the obvious answer. Can't we just go in that direction? But something like this, being able to have that granular level of data really does help us focus on what do we need to incentivize, what do we focus our efforts on encouraging or making special contributions Highlights of policy for looking for those places those types of developers those projects coming down the pipeline so that we can meet those needs. Last year we reauthorized one position in the budget for homeless services that role has been coordinating a lot with our local agencies. So while I don't know what this year's budget is going to look like for that department That's why we're doing these is to hear this kind of feedback my My imagination is that once we have that study working with our housing corporation working with that department working with our other stakeholders We can begin to piece work that into the community and make that a meaningful and Impact and be able to to fill the gap now that we know exactly what the gap is fill that so I hope that kind of brought some insight

I would love it if Judy would follow up, but I want to say with appreciation, I'm aware of the demographer who's working on the data for the housing that's available and not available and what the gap is, and I understand that that has to happen before we can develop a comprehensive housing plan, which would include low and lowest income as well as luxury housing.

I'm kind of preaching to the choir here.

Yeah, and so I appreciate that that's happening. In the meantime, there are other things we can do that don't involve new construction, for instance, that we can make better relationships with landlords. We can refurbish some structures that are more available. So we don't have to wait for two years before we can start filling in that gap. So I'm glad to know that I'd like to know more at some point about the projects that you mentioned at first.

No, you're absolutely correct. And last year, when we were passing the budget and making the awards for the grants, whether those were our CDBG grants or those other emergency-type grants, we really put a focus on... highlighting projects and funding projects that touch exactly what you're talking about. And so the projects through, gosh, there's several organizations that individuals can say, I need help with my residence. I've got a dilapidated structure, but I reside here, and I do not have another method to bring this up to a safe standard. or those types of things. So we invested those funds to get behind the community, help make those structures safe in a condition that they're worthy of residing in. And I think that we copied that. And so going into this next budget, what we approved recently, I think it was just two meetings ago perhaps, was very similar. So we funded very similar projects We invested in the structures that are here that really needed those upgrades and continued to invest also in our local organizations that are offering that.

That's great. Well, I appreciate that. And if I can just make a plug for one more thing. Yes. And that is... but uh... as the demographer continues to gather the data uh... there's a a group of of actually a homeless community that has some maturity and some capacity and a part of an affordable housing action team who have been tasked by the action team to go uh... ask their peers with a survey that A&M helped to design and uh... a strategy for administering it and they're asking their their peers and people they know who are homeless or not so far out of homelessness, what kind of housing works for you to recover, to begin to grow and to develop, to live independently, single occupancy, double occupancy, tiny home, community? What would work for you? What is the best kind of housing for you to flourish? And they're getting that information, and so I just want to make a plug for making sure that the hard work that they're doing with their community gets to the demographer and gets to the table. That's the intention.

I'm very happy to hear that report because you kind of hit the nail on the head. That was a huge concern. Much more readily available is the data from individuals that we can knock on a door or place a phone call, a text message, or pull a data sheet from an apartment or something like that. it's much more difficult to talk to the respondents and the actual individuals who are not in such a structured manner. And so that was something that the university really brought to our attention is this is a demographic that really needs included in this study so i'm i'm glad to hear that their boots are on the ground and and now that we're being notified we can make sure that that carries over into that study great because they're doing a great job right now and they're they're out there doing the work and they're doing a great job so thank you and i just wanted that's wonderful getting into the to the system and into the budget thank you so much for sharing that thank you You wish she would and she did.

Mayor Pro Tem, thank you for being here. Good to see you here. Thank you. I think you add a lot to our council and the efforts that several of us in the community would like to see more of. Thank you. I'm Judy Telge and I live in District 2. And I'm on Santa Fe. Thank you for coming all the way out to District 4 tonight. Well, this was the only night I could. So thank you for having it. And I did get lost. Anyway. Father Bruce and I are two of several people who, at a very grassroots level, are working at getting the input that's needed to be able to include all people, including our lowest and no income people. Those are the folks that we're going to see eventually on the street corners doing the panhandling, being without a home. And they can be, the issues for those populations can be addressed if they're in the data pool. They are not. The information that's being collected now by the city is a great start, but unfortunately it excludes the lowest and no income folks. We asked for that to happen and it did not. So what we've even thought about, in addition to coming to places that are public where we can speak to this, we thought about doing our own surveys and we're kinda halfway doing that if the city is going to take the responsibility for all of the housing issues those folks have got to be included you heard what father bruce said that uh... what we're getting is the information directly from folks in homelessness and their peers so hopefully The staff involved with this will do a better job of including us to give what information we've been able to collect and are collecting. Certainly, it's not the resource that the city is and has, but we want to be able to work as partners for that. And I did notice in the budget you referenced there's one position for working with homelessness, and she's doing a really good job. Oh, wonderful. Yeah, she shows up at the right meetings. Go ahead. Says the right things and has demonstrated, at least to this point, that she's very interested in working on behalf of the city to end homelessness. We're not talking manage it. We're talking ending it, and that's going to take housing. It's going to take a lot. And a lot in addition to that. But it's going to take housing. And I did notice there's a zero next to somebody in housing in the budget. And I don't know if it was last year's or proposed for this year. But that's got to hopefully change. I know at one time there was zero. a housing and homelessness, I believe was the title.

There was, I think, three positions in that department previously. Exactly, exactly.

And I know there were issues that had to be addressed from a financial standpoint and understand how that has to oftentimes juggle in a way that was not necessarily what some of us want. Anyway, we're hoping it'll juggle back and we'll get at least one that could work hand in hand with the person who is a homeless coordinator. I believe that's her title. So I wanted to make sure to follow up with Father Bruce's comments and take on some more. And we're willing, as indicated, with our group to be able to help wherever the city needs us to.

Thank you, and Mr. Zanoni, perhaps since we are moving into that stakeholder phase, if we can have someone get Father Bruce and Miss Judy's contact so we can specifically make sure to include them in that. That'd be excellent. Thank you so much, Miss Judy.

Thank you all.

And this will be our last comment or question of the night. Just to respect everyone's time, after him we will transition to the open house portion where you can ask your questions directly to the departments. Good evening.

Greetings and salutations. My name is Daniel Restley and I live here in District 4. I was just curious as to the policy of code enforcement. Do they patrol or do they only operate on complaints when called in?

It's both. They do patrol of course with the volume of complaints that they address those as well. So it's both. We certainly encourage anyone to first of course submit something on 311 if you see something you believe is a violation. You should be able to track it through 311. You can also call if you don't want to use the app. If you're like me and you don't do the digital as much, you can call. And then you can always follow up and say, I reported this address or this issue on this day and I'd like to know a status.

Okay, wonderful. Is there a representative of cold enforcement here tonight?

Yes. Development service over here where all these friendly people are smiling and waving. I see the guy waving his hand.

Thank you very much.

I've been told they have the best candy. Sorry, CCW. He's my next victim. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all again very much. I'll let Amy take it away.

Once again, thank you all for coming out. Thank you for your comments and your questions. We've noted everything that was mentioned, and we appreciate you. So at this time, we'll end this portion of our evening and adjourn to the...

open house portion where you can meet with and discuss your questions with departments directly and just a reminder if you have additional questions or comments we do have comment cards in the back table where you can leave your remarks and someone can follow up with you if you do have a question also we do have three additional input sessions that you're able to attend. The next one is this coming Monday at the Police Training Academy, same time from six to seven. The following is next Wednesday at the Northwest Senior Center, also from six to seven. And then the last one will be back over at the Island at the Seashore Learning Academy. Thank you very much.