City Commission - Regular Meeting

Did he say the virtual one? There was a virtual comment. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Good afternoon and welcome to the City Commission meeting. Mayor, may we call the meeting to order?

Yes, please.

Thank you. Pursuant to Chapter 551, Title V 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 September 1, 2026. The time is 5 p.m. Here in the commission chambers on the second floor of the Brownsville City Hall, old federal building located at 1001 East Elizabeth Street, Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas, 78520. We will proceed with the roll call starting with Mayor John Cowan Jr. Present. Commissioner Tino Villarreal.

Present.

Commissioner Norendra Kalonsky. Commissioner Brian Martinez. Commissioner Linda Macias. Commissioner Gustavo De Leon. Present. Commissioner Pedro Cardenas present. We do have a quorum to proceed. Please stand for the invocation that will be led by Pastor Brad Burks and following we will have the Pledge of Allegiance led by Iker Herrera with Scout Troop 11.

Standing after the prayer for the pledge and tonight we have one of our Boy Scouts leading the pledge so. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for your love, your grace and your mercy. and everything you are, Lord God. Lord, in this time we're in when there are so many competing ideas and making it so hard to discern what's true, I ask you to destroy all the deceptions and make your revelation clear to each of us. Lord, I ask you to lead and guide our mayor and commissioners tonight and give them divine wisdom and direction about what's best for the city of Brownsville immediately and long term. And Lord, we ask that everything that's spoken today be glorifying to you and beneficial to the city of Brownsville in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Say your say your name.

I am. I am.

And I will say the pledge the 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. 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.

Brownsville Proclamation of the City of Brownsville recognizing Ruben Hernandez and his commitment to community service. Whereas Ruben Hernandez is a proud United States Army veteran, Brownsville native, and dedicated community servant whose lifelong connection to Brownsville and the southmost community has inspired his commitment to supporting local veterans, children, and families. Whereas in 2023, Mr. Hernandez founded the veterans giving back toy drive after identifying a need to ensure that Children and families throughout the Brownsville community continued to receive support during the holiday season. Whereas through his leadership, Mr. Hernandez brought together veterans, local businesses, elected officials, community organizations, and representatives from the Brownsville Police Department and Brownsville Fire Department to support a shared mission of caring for Brownsville's children and families. Whereas the initiative grew through collaboration with partners throughout Brownsville and Cameron County, including Gladys Porter Zoo, the Brownsville Museum, and community supporters, demonstrating the power of collective action and the enduring spirit of hashtag Brownsville Strong. Whereas the toy drive was subsequently renamed to the Angelina Resendiz Brownsville Strong Toy Drive in honor and memory of a fallen soldier and daughter of the Brownsville community preserving her legacy through acts of compassion, service, and remembrance. Whereas Mr. Hernandez entrusted the continuation of his meaningful initiative to the veterans of foreign wars while maintaining his dedication to developing additional projects that support veterans, assist families, and strengthens the community. Whereas Ruben Hernandez exemplifies the values of leadership, generosity, patriotism, and service, reminding us that meaningful change begins when individuals step forward to care for their neighbors and invest in their well-being of their community. Whereas the city of Brownsville recognizes and appreciates Mr Hernandez contributions and his ongoing commitment to creating opportunities for hope, connection and support through out our city. Now, therefore, we, the members of the City Commission do hereby recognize and come in Ruben Hernandez for his military service. community leadership and dedication to the Children, families and veterans of Brownsville and encourage all residents to join in celebrating the spirit of service and unity that makes our community what it is today. Done on the first day of September 2026. Thank you, sir.

And for the record, we have, uh, uh, commissioner Martina's present. Thank you.

This is unexpected. I'm very passionate with what I do for the city. We, as Brownsville, have been going through a lot lately. But we're a city of love. I grew up in Southmost. My grandfather built the house with his own two hands. H-E-B was a drive-in movie theater. We used to walk to Pronto's Cisneros store. We were a community. Everybody knew everybody. And we're growing as a city, but we still need to know everybody. We need to connect. We've lost that over time and we need to start loving each other again. And this is for everybody. Somewhere we lost sight of who we are. We're Brownsville strong. We're one. I'm so sorry, but I'm real passionate for my city. When I got out of the military, I moved straight back home. I know what it's like to struggle. I know what it's like to succeed, and I know what it's like to have family supporting you. We're a city of hope, and we need to get back on track. We need to put things behind us and start loving each other again and supporting each other like we did before. I really appreciate everybody, all the commissioners, everybody that's here. And other than that, we did give the toy drive to the VFW. So anybody in the VFW, I thank you guys. Mr. Allengard, you made the initial phone call for this toy drive to get going. When Toys for Tots moved to Corpus, there was a void in our city. Somebody asked me, what do you gain from this? I gain nothing, but the kids, they gain everything. The community coming together. We're doing a turkey drive, and we're going to do this for the city. We're going to bring back hashtag Brownsville Strong because that's who we are. And anybody who's willing to donate to help, This is a time. This is a moment to show the city the love that they deserve, not just from you guys, but from the community also. So I love everybody. I love all you and I hope and pray that we get back on track like we need to. Thank you so much.

The next we have the proclamation.

Miss recognizing the possible dream of an adult high school at the Brownsville campus.

it's my honor to present this proclamation of the city commission of brownsville texas recognizing the possible dream adult high school brownsville campus whereas the possible dream adult high school opened in its brownsville campus in august 2025 with the mission to provide adults between the ages of 18 and 50 a second opportunity to earn a Texas high school diploma while preparing for meaningful careers and lifelong success. And whereas through the dedication of its students, faculty, staff, community partners, and supporters, the possible dream adult high school has grown from an initial enrollment of 23 students to serving 139 adult learners during its inaugural year. And whereas in August 2026 the school proudly celebrated the graduation of 45 adult learners who demonstrated perseverance resilience and determination by earning their high school diploma. Well 42 graduates also earned one or more industry based certifications that strengthened the local workforce. And whereas the city of brownsville recognizes the importance of adult education as a pathway to education educational achievement workforce development stronger families and a more prosperous community and proudly celebrates the accomplishments of the possible dream adult high school and its class of 2026. Now therefore, be it resolved that the City of Brownsville commends September 1st, 2026 as the possible dream adult high school graduation and adult education achievement day in the City of Brownsville, Texas, and encourage all citizens to recognize and celebrate the achievements of the graduates, educators, community partners, and supporters whose dedication continues to transform lives through the power of education. done on this the first day of september 2026 signed the mayor and the city commission

Well, good evening, everyone.

I'd like to start by saying this is a full circle moment. I remember last year, Commissioner Villarreal, Mayor Cowan, and Commissioner De Leon went to visit our campus to give us their blessing. And lo and behold, here we are a year later. We graduated our class August the 8th, first class, inaugural class of the Possible Dream Adult High School in Brownsville, Texas. Gracias a Dios. We graduated 46 students. We're back into the recruiting session right now. We just started classes on August 24th, and we are inviting everyone who needs a high school diploma, who, for whatever reason, truncated their studies when they were in high school. We welcome you. We will work with you. We will help you. We'll remove all the barriers and all the obstacles so that you can achieve your dreams. Thank you so much, Commissioners and Mayor Cowan.

Now we will move into the public comment period. Mayor and city commissioners, we did receive 62 forms by the deadline. And out of those 62, 32 are to be considered for the AI data centers, which is the public hearing number five. So if you did submit for public hearing number five, you will be held off to the public hearing portion of the meeting. and then out of the 62 and the and the 32 5 do not wish to speak but we will record their written comments in the minutes that we did receive those so at this time for this portion of the meeting we have 25 that has signed up to speak at the discretion of you all you can you know suspend the time and the amount of speakers as well so at this time i will ask for a motion if you would like to consider i'll entertain a motion here

I'll move to suspend the rules as per the number of speakers.

We have a motion. Do you have a second? Second. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? If not, all those in favor, please say aye. I do have discussion.

Are we going to do the three minutes? That is my motion. Yes, sir.

Okay. so three minutes until allow all 25 speakers okay yes so all those in favor please say aye aye aye aye all those opposed nay motion carries okay the first speaker is robert and susana they are attending virtual please state your name and your address for the record and the time will begin after it's robert and susan gutierrez

I'm at 4 Augusta Road, Brownsville, Texas. May I start? Yes. We are 65-year residents of Brownsville, Texas and native to Cameron County. We come before the Commissioner's Court to address the proposed removal of four heritage trees on the south corner of Boca Chica, Willoward, and Central Avenue. As a community, we respectfully ask for your help in saving the four heritage trees currently planned for removal due to development of the property. The four trees are over 250 years old and are living landmarks of this land in our community. Their size, age, beauty, and most importantly, their environment value makes them irreplaceable. Their destruction would represent the continual dismissal and damaging of our ecosystem. Once these trees are removed, they cannot be replaced with newly planted trees. I respectfully ask that the county commissioners in the city of Brownsville, as well as all parties involved, explore every alternative to preserve these four heritage trees. This would not only conserve these trees, but will set an example for a model for both the county and cities, but mostly it will serve as a model for our children and grandchildren, that you as our representatives listen to our community and care about the environment. environment they will inherit development and construction projects can also be sports if you as leaders set the example there are ways to modify set plans adjust construction boundaries or incorporate the existing trees into the project rather than destroy them preserving these four trees would provide significant benefit to our county including shade cleaner air wildlife habitat reduce heat and the preservation of the area natural character They contribute to the beauty and identity of the neighborhood and represent a connection to its history. I am asking you to please consider placing a hold on the removal of these four trees until a thorough review can be completed and preservation of options have been fully explored. I would also greatly appreciate the opportunity to participate in any discussion or public hearing regarding their future. I sincerely hope that together we can find a solution that allows progress and development while protecting these four valuable heritage trees for future generations. Thank you for your time, consideration and commitment to protecting the character and nature of the beauty of our community.

Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Next, we have Victoria. I see. I see ghetto. Please come to the podium. State your name and your address for the record.

Hello, my name is Victoria Oseguera. Before getting into my public comment, I want everyone in this room to acknowledge that the federal court has now made it legal for anyone to carry AI-generated content of child sexual abuse material. This monstrosity is protected under the First Amendment. This is what artificial intelligence was always meant for. AI was created for sexually exploitative material of anyone, but it disproportionately targets women and children. Those who continue the use of chat gpt or Ai after becoming aware of this should absolutely feel disgusted with themselves. Because Ai was always meant for deep fake porn and surveillance circling back to the data Center brownsville actually has an Ai factory on progress which i'm sure that none of you knew about but that's okay because we're exposing it here today. Last year in December of 2025 someone thought that this would be a good idea.

Hmm.

Did they really think that this was a good idea for our city? Or does it sound more like the ones who proposed this factory are receiving money from their friend who is the contractor? This contractor is then going to build this AI factory with our taxes. The article quotes that we need this AI factory to process data like, quote, public safety systems. flood sensors, traffic information, 5G connected devices, and more than 400 smart cameras securely, end quote. Wait, last I checked, AI is not secure. Also, what are smart cameras? Are they different than the flock cameras we currently have surveilling this entire city? Please stop. We do not need this. We do not want an AI factory. We do not want AI cameras, therefore we do not need an AI data center. You need to stop using buzzwords like keeping taxes low when you cannot back that claim with any form of evidence. You trust that the people of Brownsville are stupid enough to hear that and immediately believe inside with you. ChatGPT and all other forms of AI became popular because of lazy people. this proposed ai factory is for the lazy and untalented the only two possible explanation for this phenomenon of the need to use ai is either one you're too lazy to use your brain to generate original creativity or two you're a horrible human being because you understand the harms and simply do not care you do not care about your children's future so since the only thing you guys actually care about is money i brought my checkbook so please let me sign you a check Because we all know this is exactly what happens. We've seen this happen behind closed doors, like with corporations like SpaceX, LNG, Saronic AI weapons technology. Each and every one of you should feel shame for becoming the monster that you are today. Just because you go to Pride or just because you have children doesn't make you any less of a monster because you decided to sell out the city of Brownsville time and time again. So let me remind everyone that these guys are only in their seats until May 2027 and May 2029. And trust me, community members who genuinely love and have the best interest for our city will take your place this next election cycle. Thank you.

The next speaker is Christian Amistrada. He's attending virtual. If we can pull him up. Christian, please state your name and your address for the record, and the time will begin after.

Can you hear me okay?

Yes. Please proceed.

Yes, ma'am. So my name is Christian Amistrada. I've been a resident of Brownsville, Texas my whole life, 27 years. So I'd like to start off by saying I thank the commission for being fiscally responsible with the budget. So I definitely hope none of what I'm going to say comes off as abrasive, because I think you guys have done pretty well when it comes to the budget. I don't think anyone could have expected this amount of commercialization and industrial growth within the past five years. I think a lot of this has been brought on maybe a little bit faster than our city was able to manage, but I think it's ongoing. It's an ongoing process, but I think one of the three major points I really want to drive home today is more collaboration between a lot of the major organizations in Brownsville, putting technical people and field personnel in meeting rooms where a lot of these decisions are being made, and using industrial growth to help our public infrastructure. So as for point number one, I think there's a lot of organizations here that maybe, and there's a lot of people watching this meeting that there's a lot of eyes on this. And I'm reaching out not just to the city, but also to the county, TxDOT, major builders in the area and BPUB, a lot of these other major companies. And I think maybe there's a lot more room for collaboration. If we could maybe just put aside any past differences and reaching out, right? Sometimes it might just be as easy as picking up the phone and saying, hey, you know, we have this project going on. Can we lay fiber in this area? It doesn't make sense to trench an area in 2026 and then BPUB has to trench that same area in 2027, 28, and so on. And so I think this is a way to kind of incentivize helping public infrastructure, right? And as far as putting technical people, technical engineers, architects, the people that actually go and work on these infrastructures, right? Water, space, water, sewer, and electrical. I think maybe we're a little bit too admin heavy at the top. If we do create some kind of organization or task force, I definitely think we need to start bringing more like of the engineers, delivery or project managers into the equation. Don't get me wrong, directors have their place for authorization, but I think we need to move fast when it comes to a lot of the growth that's happening. Thank you.

Thank you. The next speaker is Miss Ricky Obero. Ricky Obero. Do not see will move on to Chris Wood. Please state your name and your address for the record. The time will begin after. Thank you, Sir.

My name is Chris Wood. I'm a lifelong Brownsville resident. Uh, good afternoon mayor and commissioners. I wanted to take a few minutes this afternoon to follow up on Saturday's meeting and more importantly to thank the commission. For being willing to make what I know was not an easy decision. I attended Saturday's special meeting and listened to the concerns about the SpaceX agreement, the process and timeline, and the questions raised by members of our community. These were legitimate questions, and it was clear that the Commission did not take these decisions lightly. But leadership sometimes requires making difficult decisions, particularly when those decisions can shape a community's future. I believe the decision you made Saturday was the right one for Brownsville. SpaceX's commitment of up to $220 million represents an extraordinary private investment in critical water and wastewater infrastructure that has the potential to benefit this entire community for generations. This investment also comes at an important time for Brownsville. We are seeing tremendous growth and opportunity across this region. That growth will bring challenges and it will require infrastructure, water, workforce development, and thoughtful planning to make sure the people of Brownsville ultimately benefit from it. SpaceX has already made transformational investment in this region, and this agreement has the potential to extend that impact well beyond the Starbase area. The de-annexation may have received much of the attention on Saturday and was incorrectly treated as the headline. The true headline, the one I believe we will remember years from now, is the partnership and investment that strengthen Brownsville's water capacity and help prepare our community for the growth ahead. It is easy to criticize difficult decisions after they are made. It is much harder to be the person sitting in your chairs who actually have to make those decisions. So today, I simply want to thank you for being willing to make those hard decisions. and for looking beyond today towards the Brownsville we are building for the next generation. Thank you very much.

Your word, Selena. Please state your name and your address for the record. The time will begin after

Gilberto Salinas, Greater Brownsville EDC, 500 East St. Charles. Mayor, members of the Commission, I want to personally thank you for your leadership and for being a forward-thinking group when it comes to Brownsville, its future, and for one of its most vital assets, that is water. In my experience, cities, when they become these huge successful metropolitan areas, there's always a moment in time when someone's going to say, such and such year is when our city went from good to great. And I truly believe that in 30 to 40 years from now, people will look at 2026 as a year that we went from good to great. That's the year when our leadership voted for water security and water reliability. Now, everybody here in this room, in these chambers, we're all in the same business. We're all here to build a city. In order to build this city, the future of this city Maybe a future MSA, metropolitan statistical area, or a super city. We need five things. We need an educational system anchored by a university. We need a robust health care system, planned infrastructure, and a pipeline of human capital. But most importantly, we're going to need water. A quick economic overview. For every $1 million invested in water infrastructure, it creates 10 jobs in high value add industries. That equals to almost $900,000 in wages. That adds up to about $2.5 million in economic output. And that generates $1.4 million in GDP. You multiply that by $200 million, That number starts to get pretty significant pretty quick. I'll leave you with this. The benefits of investing in water are high. But on the flip side, the consequences of neglect are much, much higher. I would dare to say pretty darn steep. Thank you for recognizing water security as being an economic pillar of our future. And for that future that I call my home Brownsville, Texas. Thank you.

Uh, next speaker, uh, Jerry, uh, uh, Briones, Jerry Briones. Thank you, sir. Please state your name and your address for the record.

Yes, ma'am. For the record, my name is Jerry Bidones with the Greater Brownsville EDC, Greater Brownsville Economic Development Corporation. Good afternoon, Mayor, Commissioners. I'm here today to thank you for your leadership and support of this important agreement and to briefly share what it means for our community. This agreement represents the largest private contribution to Brownsville's water future in this city's history. More importantly is an investment that can help reduce the burden on rate players rate payers less interdependence on the river already facing critically low water levels and give Brownsville the capacity to grow. I want to thank Mayor Cohen and the city commissioners for having the vision to act now and invest in long term water security before shortage becomes a crisis. This is a bigger than one company or project. It is an opportunity to make a generational investment in Brownsville's water infrastructure and help secure a more reliable water supply for our families, businesses, and future generations. Thank you for your leadership and for investing in Brownsville's future. Thank you.

Next speaker, Joanna Rangel. Please state your name and your address for the record. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Mayor Cowan, members of the Commission. My name is Jovanna Rangel. I'm with the Greater Brownsville EDC. I'm here today to simply say thank you and recognize the significance of the action you have taken for Brownsville and our community's future on Saturday. The 220 million private contribution is significant because these funds do not have to be borrowed. Financing that same level of infrastructure through utility revenue bonds could cost ratepayers approximately 15 million a year for 25 years, more than 370 million in principal and interest. At a time when BPUB customers have already experienced a rate increase and state grants alone cannot meet the scale of our infrastructure needs, this partnership provides another path forward, one that can make these critical investments without placing that construction debt burden on household utility bills. Mayor and commissioners, thank you for recognizing an opportunity to straighten Brownsville water infrastructure while also being mindful of the families who ultimately pay for it. Thank you.

Uh, next we have, uh, uh, Heron Danda, uh, Martinez and on deck, uh, Griselda Munoz.

Good afternoon, Mayor and City Commissioners. For the record, I'm Erendira Martinez with the Greater Brownsville EDC. I want to begin by thanking the Mayor and the City Commission for your continued commitment to supporting the economic growth and opportunity in our community. One of the most important financial benefits of this agreement is that Brunswick can avoid borrowing hundreds of millions of dollars to make this critical water infrastructure improvements. By securing funds through this project, we can improve our water system, build a long-term capacity, and support future growth without putting additional pressure on the city finance or utility customers. Thank you, Mayor and Commissioners, for your support and for making this important decision for our community. Thank you.

So we have Griselda Muñoz, and on deck is Jason Medina.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Commissioners. For the record, my name is Griselda Muñoz, Chairwoman of the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce. I appreciate the opportunity to be here today and commend the forward-looking approach the City Commission has taken with this agreement. Brownsville is growing rapidly, and our core infrastructure must be prepared to match the momentum. From the perspective of our local business community, reliable infrastructure is a bedrock of sustainable prosperity. Every new home, every local business, and every major employer creates additional demand for essential services, including water capacity. By building out significant capacity now, Brownville has to be proactive, and this is an opportunity to plan ahead rather than react under pressure. This also ensures that infrastructure constraints never become a bottleneck for new housing developments for commercial expansion or quality job creation. This agreement is about looking beyond immediate needs to strategically position Brownsville for where our community and economy need to be tomorrow so again mayor and commissioners your strong leadership today ensures our manage or grow responsible support local business landscape and remain fully prepared for the transformatory opportunities ahead so thank you uh next jason medina and on deck is uh jane lazano

Good evening, Mayor and City Commissioners. Thank you for your time and attention and execution on this MOU between the City of Brownsville and SpaceX. I understand that decisions like these come with many challenges and obviously not without criticism. I'm a proud resident of this beautiful city. This is where my roots are, my family and my business. I have no intentions of ever leaving. And my desire is to see my children, my grandchildren grow up here. I love Brownsville just as much as every resident in here tonight. I lost my place.

Just as much as every commissioner sitting up there.

And I'm sure it's why every one of you ran for the seat that you currently fill. It's no secret our city is growing. It's growing at such a fast pace that we have never seen before. And it can be both exciting and frightening. Major corporations are moving in. The industry is moving in. People from all over the world are moving in, in search of opportunities and high paying jobs. Brownsville now has the world's attention. And this growth does not suggest a stronger infrastructure. It demands it. And the MOU that the Commission signed with SpaceX is a clear testament that our leadership understands these demands. Growth is inevitable, and these monies to support water and wastewater expansion projects are critical. And as someone, a blue-collar worker, that has spent his career traveling the country supporting infrastructure projects for cities on the rise i clearly unders excuse me i clearly understand that this mou was of the utmost importance thank you mayor and commissioners for your collaboration on this support and support on this mou thank you uh train lasano and then on deck is uh esme

Good afternoon, Mayor and Commissioners. For the record, my name is Jane Lozano and I'm with the Greater Brownsville EDC. I'm here today to thank you for your leadership and support of this important agreement and to briefly share what it means to our community. As Brownsville continues to grow and attract investment, having the infrastructure in place to support that growth is critical. Water capacity is a major part of that, and this agreement represents a significant investment in brownsville is long term success. These two projects have the potential to add approximately 18 million gallons per day of additional capacity. 8 million gallons through wastewater reclamation and approximately 10 million gallons through the expansion of south most regional water authority water plant. To put that in perspective, Brownsville currently uses approximately 21 million gallons of water per day. That just shows how significant this investment is to our community. This additional capacity will help support our residents, strengthen our infrastructure, and better position Brownsville for future business investment, job creation, and economic growth. Thank you, Mayor and Commissioners, for supporting an investment that will benefit Brownsville for generations to come.

Next speaker, Rafael Vela, and on deck, Francisco Orozco.

Esmeralda Villarreal, President, CEO for the Bronzeville Chamber of Commerce, 1600 University Boulevard. Good evening, Mayor and Commissioners. First, I want to thank our Mayor, Mayor Cohen, and Commissioners for recognizing that water sustainability is fundamental for our future and for the leadership you are showing in making infrastructure investments that support our residents, strengthen our community, and position Bronzeville for responsible growth. As a member driven business organization, advocacy is part of our mission. Our responsibility is to listen to our business community, understand what businesses need to succeed, and advocate for the conditions that allow them to invest, grow, create jobs, and remain competitive. As we prepare for 2026 Washington DC flying for more than 50 bronzeville business and Community leaders will meet with federal policy makers, we recently asked your Members. What issues matter most to your business and to the future of bronzeville water resource management is one of our top priorities. So we're listening and we're advocating because from a business perspective, water is infrastructure and infrastructure is economic development. Our businesses need confidence that Bronzeville is planning for the capacity required to support investment, expansion, jobs, and long-term growth. This is why your bronzer chamber supports the water investments being advanced through the project quantum, including the portable reuse wastewater reclamation project and the south most regional water authority desalination plant expansion. These initiatives help diversify their water resources and increase capacity that is less dependent on the real grant. And that matters to businesses. It matters to the businesses that are already here and want to expand. It matters to the businesses considering Bronzeville for its next investment. And it matters to our ability as a community to compete for jobs and economic opportunity. We cannot control drought. We cannot control every variable in the Rio Grande, but we can control how we prepared and how prepared we are. And that is where chamber advocacy comes in. We advocate for business sustainability, not just sustainability of an individual business, but the sustainability of the business investment itself. Because we want business to invest for the long term, we have to build infrastructure for the long term. Our members identify water resource management as one of their top priority for long term sustainability. Most importantly, because business sustainability requires infrastructure sustainability. And water security is economic security. Thank you.

Thank you. Rafael Vela. Please state your name and your address for the record.

What was that?

Please state your name and your address for the record.

Rafael Vela. 851 Old Alice Boulevard. And for those of you that don't know me, I'm Carolina's dad. Um, but I'm here in my capacity as the CEO of workforce solutions, Cameron, as, you know, our 100 strong. Team is responsible for addressing the workforce needs of employers and job seekers throughout Cameron county. And as such regarding the project brought forward by spacex. The SpaceX team and approved by this commission, I'm here to briefly describe our role moving forward. The commission, the public should move forward with confidence. Our responsibility is to ensure that Brownsville and Cameron County residents are positioned to benefit from the opportunities that come from investments like this SpaceX initiative. We'll work with the TWC, local schools, training providers, trade groups like the AGC and the STMA and employers to ensure Brownsville and Cameron County residents are prepared to take advantage of these opportunities and this investment creates. We're also encouraged by SpaceX's willingness to be part of the solution to the region's water challenges. Investments that strengthen critical infrastructure while supporting continued economic growth are the kinds of partnerships that can create lasting value from the Brownsville and Cameron County community. On a personal note, and I'll take my hat off for a second, as a former BPUB board chair and by extension chair of the SRWA, along with commissioner galanski i first learned firsthand how critically important power and water infrastructure are to our future one thing we've learned in workforce development is the importance of rhythm a healthy workforce depends on a steady cadence of opportunity projects like this help our workers stay employed build skills and move from one opportunity to the next here not in other places steady predictable infrastructure investment is what allows industrial growth and the jobs that come with it to move at a healthy rhythm it gives employers and our entire workforce ecosystem the confidence to plan years into the future instead of simply reacting to an immediate need much has been said about the benefit risk profile of this project in recent days as with any major investment from a workforce perspective however this project represents something important the continued establishment of that rhythm and hopefully the beginning of even more opportunities to come we are pleased to support this kind of growth and any growth that creates jobs develops talent and expands opportunities for the people of brownsville and of cameron county thank you for your leadership francisco

And then on deck is Anna O'Quinn.

Good afternoon, Commissioner Francisco Orozco. I am the treasurer of the Greater Brownsville Economic Development Corporation, and I approach you tonight to thank you for the courage and the foresight you all showed in approving this water infrastructure agreement with SpaceX. It was not an easy decision. You made it under intense pressure in a packed and often heated room, but you made the right one, and you made it with our future in mind. Let's be clear about what's at stake. Our region is in a severe drought. As of last week, the Falcon and Amistad reservoirs were sitting at roughly 23% and 38% capacity. Right now, the majority of our daily water comes from the Rio Grande, a river we share with Mexico, fed by dams way out in the high desert, hundreds of miles from here. As we have heard previously, and some of us understand through experience, That has long been a problematic and unpredictable source. We cannot keep betting our city's future on rain we may never get or on decisions made far beyond our borders or outside of our community. This agreement changes that. It brings up to $220 million to double our capacity for water production, upgrades the SRWA and PUB facilities, and it steadily reduces our dependence on a river we simply do not control. Just as importantly, it prepares us for what's coming. We're expecting 25,000 new jobs, hundreds of new homes, and dozens of new subdivisions over the next five years. Growth like that demands water. Without these upgrades, we face an eventual crisis. With them, we face it with independence and confidence. Other communities, as we know, have kicked the can down the road. And they're paying for it now. chose a different path you chose to plan to protect our neighbors and to secure water for the residents who depend on it our children and their children will thank you and thank you so much for that decision thank you for your foresight thank you for the opportunity to speak to you uh anna o'quinn is next and then on deck is uh ben pena

Okay.

Next, Ben Pena.

Good afternoon, Honorable Mayor and Commissioners. My name is Ben Pena. For the record, I am the past chairman of the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce, so I'm speaking on behalf of them today. I wanted to talk a little bit about the SRWA expansion and why it's crucial. Each day, our water supply levels inch closer to alarming levels. we can't seem to catch enough relief from our rains. Our water supply is slowly evaporating from our rivers and lakes into thin air. The state of our water supply infrastructure is inefficient, outdated, and has not kept up with the current climate conditions, and even the state of Texas has recognized this as well. We lose tons of water through leakage in the ground, and to evaporation along the waterway canals. These rob us of the precious water that we need to survive. In addition, Mexico can't and won't fulfill its water obligations because they prioritize Mexico first and certainly not us down here in Brownsville downriver. And as they say, now is the time to act. And you'll have done that each of you had taken have taken a bold step toward the water infrastructure solution and an in ground water desalination expansion plan as part of the solution. we're on the right track, the future is a real brandy alluvium which chairman had out of the from the PV shared with me right before this meeting the alluvium is a underground aquifer, so to speak, which is a new source of water. It's hidden from the sun, and all we have to do is draw it out. And from what I understand, SRWA is the only one drawing from this alluvium. That's a new source of water, and it seems that it's almost infinite. So for that, we thank you. Keep doing what you're doing. Your leadership on this is exemplary. Please know that we stand behind you and your decision 100%. Thank you so much for your leadership and keep doing a great job. We appreciate it.

Next speaker, Elude Cavazos. Elude Cavazos on deck is Alexis Diaz.

hi everyone good evening uh mayor and commissioners my name is eliot cabasos i'm the ceo of 57 concrete we are already mixed company uh from here from the rio grande valley we have different locations brownsville mission san benito we started company in 2020 and today we employ more than 250 employees and we run over 67 trucks and operate on concrete, aggregates, labs. Pretty much we are representing those families. I'm here for a specific reason, to say thank you to you and the commissioners for this decision. For many years, communities like ours have been told that same thing. We build infrastructure first, give up incentives, then hope that investment follows. Here happens the other way around. We have an industry leader willing to put more than $200 million into our plant infrastructure that service not just its own operation but its neighbors private capital meeting a public need that is not how it usually goes and this commission should be proud of it i want to say something about what a partner like this means to the businesses already here When a company of that caliber commits to a region, it changes whether the region is capable of erasing the engineering standards. It forces every manufacturer, every contractor, every lab in the Valley to get better, to have more processes, better processes, better documentation. So with that, you have better salaries, more people you can train, and you can develop. All value workers that we have have been that bar every time, every single day. This is the part I want on the record. This kind of investment doesn't just create jobs, it creates better jobs, quality control technicians, lab staff, skilled operators and drivers with real careers ahead of them. It gives our young people a reason to build their lives here instead of leaving to another cities. Mayor and commissioners, you engaged with this sincerely to make this difficult decision. That takes leadership, and leadership isn't always rewarded in that moment. So on behalf of the 250 families that I represent, thank you to all of you. You are betting on this region, and we'll keep proving you you are right. Thank you.

Next speaker, Alexis Diaz. On deck, Jesse Gonzalez.

Good afternoon, Commission. My name is Alexis Diaz. I'm a Brownsville resident. This isn't my first time speaking with you guys, but I just want to Say something real quick. The frustration that the city feels towards the decision that was made on Saturday is palpable with the people that I've talked to in my inner circles and just people that I know. I understand that there's an infrastructure problem that needs to be solved and that is something that you guys have to think about. But the basic morality of just giving away land or property because of a threat is insane. I was here in this room when they were given, when those, sorry, I didn't prepare a speech this time just because it's so frustrating to, you know, like go to these meetings and not feel heard at all. And you guys have an opportunity today to at least show somewhat of a little bit of a spine after what was this Saturday, genuinely. Hearing that representative come in and say that you must take this deal at our time, at our deal is insane. I would never accept a neighbor to come over to my house and say, hey, I want your car. Here's 100 bucks. Take it or leave it. Either way, I'm going to take it. That is insane. I don't know what kind of neighbor you guys would want in your neighborhoods, but that's exactly a neighbor that I would not want. It is ridiculous to keep caving in on these demands, to keep caving in on these kinds of things, especially when you have so many people going against the principle of all of this. You have another opportunity today by saying yes to the moratorium. I would strongly encourage you guys to please make sure that it's extended next time, a full 180 days. Don't let these companies, don't let these people fool you into something that not everybody understands. The effects of these things are still coming out. They're still not a good thing to have. It's a very, very fickle economic pursuit that will not show any returns anytime soon and will only show greater cons in the future. I use the rest of my time. Thank you.

Next speaker. Jesse Gonzales on deck. Jackson Ewan.

Hello, commissioners and mayor. My name is Jesse Gonzalez and before I go on with my agenda comments, I'd like to say that as a member of the community born and raised here. I feel a great betrayal from you commissioners. Never have I seen leadership so weak and so hollow easily breaking down things that are sacred. And if the dread I feel here is this great, then I can only imagine the pain the people in Palestine, Sudan, Iran, and Ukraine, and how their suffering goes on thanks to the cycle of bureaucratic violence that you have continued here. Everything relates to everything, and we urge you to take into consideration and to listen closely to the workers and not CEOs and billionaires of our community. Moving forward with my comment about today's agenda. Today there are three agenda items regarding Brownsville's Metro grants funding and applications. Items 14 and 20 are both application requests to the FDA Federal Transit Advisory. We in the community would like to see these funds go through and reallocate them into productive efforts. These items additional have additional wording mentioning local funds going towards replacing old paratransit and regular vehicles in Brownsville Metro. In addition to local funding going towards these refurbishments, we in the community would like to see more local funding to swap to a fare-free system for the elderly and disabled. Let me remind you that Brownsville has a poverty rate twice the national average, currently 23% and rising. Many in our community simply cannot afford what you demand, and many suffer to that simple fact. I am an avid user of Brownsville Metro. I actually come to the bus every two weeks to come speak in front of all of you. I am lucky in the fact that I am young and able-bodied. That is a luck that many people here do not have. Many people have to come in the heat of the summer. People have to bring their children and cough up even more money. The luck that I have is not for everyone and Brownsville has not taken into consideration the elderly. the disabled, women, and children. We in the community urge you to take swift action and use the year 2027 to improve and reorganize Brownsville Metro. You were swift to sign an MOU you had seen for only a few hours. We expect you to work swiftly for us as well. I'd like to work closely with you commissioners to make a Brownsville Metro that serves everyone in a better way. So I will be reaching out to all of you via email. Expect that soon. Thank you, and I yield the rest of my time.

Jackson Yuen, and on deck is Helen Yu.

all right good evening uh commissioners my name is jackson ewan from 8700 houston road i want to thank you guys very much for having this meeting today i also want to say thank you because on behalf of the youth the ambitious youth here in brownsville uh you know last week there was news from louisiana of uh starbase louisiana and for some of us that sort of create a little bit of a concern that Brownsville might not have as much of a place in the future as it would have. However, this MOU, this deal that you guys just signed, I believe secures some of that future. You know, as Brownsville being one of the cities with one of the highest poverty rates in America, I believe this is a great opportunity to turn into a world class city that's recognized internationally. um and i believe this will also in turn uh retain some of our local talent and also create a magnet for international talent to come here and just change the situation completely And this affects me emotionally because I also call this place home, and it sounds like a good place to be in where I won't have to go outside of Brownsville to search for a vibrant future. So I just want to say thank you very much, and I yield the rest of my time. Thank you.

Sorry, Helen Yu is not in person. So the next speaker is Ms. Shonda Leggett. And on deck is Irvin Martinez.

I don't mind. I'm going to speak on behalf of Helen Yu, my wife. Yes. Hi. My name is Jack Yuen, and I am the director of MSX, also located at Houston Road. I am closest of anybody, I think, to where the subject property is. We're about one mile away. I have been... Here for 6 years now, I, I. Unfortunately, I wasn't born here, but there was there was. Faith that brought us here, I met 1 of your residents about 10 years ago while I was walking the compass Della with my family. She is a member of the and she told us about this place. We came here from Saudi Arabia about 6 years ago where I was doing maker space activities there for Saudi Arabia. I'm a change agent. I come here to to try to help an area to. a transition to innovate, to change, hopefully for the better. I did that for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Before that, I was in Italy. And fate brought me here six years ago because of COVID. And I was able to meet several of the locals here. I met Gus at some point. I met Pedro at some point. I met Arturo Trevino. So I got to involve myself with the community. we started having events at msx to bring the community together with the spacex people we had spacex people living with us we had people we had people who wanted to work for spacex people who were locals people from illinois people from all over the country we even had people from other countries come stay with us and we would try to integrate them uh what i'd like to see is more of The 1st speaker who was here talked about love. And and community, we are community builders. We'd like to hear what people with what their concerns are. I always heard this thing about, um. What was it when a, when a, when a city becomes very expensive, the rents go up and. What do you guys call it? Gentrification. Okay. I understand. I mean, it's no fun not having enough money. It's no fun having rents go up. It's no good having property taxes go up. I think that there are solutions for that. And I think that as the commissioners, as the mayors, Yeah, we do have to give the nod to to people who are old. I'm an old person. I think I'm probably older than all of you guys. Okay. But yeah, the older people have issues about being able to pay for things. The young people need opportunities. I am really, really interested in finding solutions. Instead of having name calling, I think a lot of the things that were said. We're kind of unfair to you guys, unfair to the public. Nobody's a monster. Nobody's corrupt. Nobody's this and that. I wanted to thank you guys for making making a decision you had to make. I think there were only two choices. The choice was to say yes or no. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Shonda Leggett. On deck, Irvin Martinez. Irvin Martinez. Thank you, sir. Please state your name and your address for the record.

Yes, my name is Irvin Martinez and my address is 3148 Bass Drive, Roswell, Texas 78520. Good evening, Mayor Cohen, commissioners. I'm here to speak on a consent agenda item number six, which is the MOU between the city of Brownsville and South Texas Afghanistan Veterans Association. I know that it's a tough meeting. It's rough. But me personally, I wanted to say thank you from the bottom of the heart in my organization for having the partnership that we have to be able to continue to serve our veterans and our great community of Brownsville. that we could try our best to do with them, but we couldn't do it without your guys' support. And I just want to say thank you.

Thank you. We have two final speakers, Miguel Atamerano, and then ending with Mark Hodgson. So Miguel, what about Mark Hogson?

Good afternoon, Commissioners, Mayor. My name is Mark Hodgson, 5434 Dragonwick. Today I stand before you as a proud citizen of Brownsville and the chairman of the Government Affairs Committee for the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce. As the chair of that committee for the last two years, I've had the opportunity to meet with countless members of our chamber representing all sorts of businesses, large and small. And in those discussions, there have been several topics that we address on a regular basis concerning the growth of our community. And one of them is water resource and water resource management. seems to be an overwhelming topic of conversation. So much so, as Esme Vareal pointed out, the Chamber is leading a group of 60 individuals, 50 from Brownsville, to the front door of our federal government to take our legislative agenda to our elected officials in Washington. uh on the agenda item was water resource management uh as we allocate for funds in order to get there and lo and behold two weeks before we board that plane and carry our message we have a huge win uh and a huge win we should be celebrating so with that i'd like to say congratulations um leadership is never easy it comes with great sacrifice and personal sacrifice and i i'm thankful for your vision and your commitment to our community

to continue to lead us in the direction we need to be headed thank you all right thank you so much that concludes the public comment period and as a reminder if if you did sign up for for you to speak those comments will be addressed at the public hearing number five So moving on to the presentation, item number one, is a presentation by the Brownsville Public Utilities Board providing an annual report on the progress of the collaboration with the city of Brownsville as required by the city charter. We'll turn it over to VPUB.

Good afternoon. Gerardo Martinez, current board chair for your PUB. Mayor, Commissioner, it's a pleasure to be here tonight. I was here about a year ago. You guys remember? Here to bring the report for a lot of the annual activities and just be available for any questions. We put this together about two weeks ago. Obviously, there's been a lot of activity, so we're open for any questions, but I'll start off with some of the information we put in the presentation. We can go to the next slide. Oh, and Mayor, I mean, Marilyn Gilbert, the general manager and CEO will be doing the second part of the presentation. She's here with me as well, as you can see. Sorry about that. So part one, chair's update. I'm going to be covering some of the topics. and wanted to enhance the presentation based on last year's feedback and comments. Part two will be more of the report specifically aligned to the Charter. So it's a little bit more focused on some of the activities that we do together as PUB and the City. Just at the high level, wanted to talk about some of the structural organizational changes that we've been working on. First of all, From the board perspective, we've been focused on making sure that each of the different services are accountable to itself basically pays for itself. We've been doing this from different perspectives and one of them is through the just the accounting, you know, financial accounting. So we've been working on this. And also, we have been separating some of the policies that were combined, so we created the own electric service policy and separately we're working on the water wastewater service policy before these were combined, but now they're just too big and complicated and we wanted to create some more clarity there. In addition to that, we have been working on the cost of service, which basically means we work with a consultant to look at the actual cost of the services to the customer. And this updates kind of our view and understanding of our expenses and revenues. So we'll be sharing that a little bit more in a coming presentation. From the insourcing and outsourcing, we did get a lot of feedback from the community regarding some of PUB's legal expenses. with outside services, same with engineering expenses from outside services. So working with the team, we supported the decision to create our internal legal team, which is specific for utilities. In addition, we also are growing our engineering design in-house. So this is a way for us to be a little bit more in control of our destiny while cutting costs. We do have situations because of the growth that we still need external help. So we are outsourcing selected functions in order to help a lot of the development that's occurring so we can continue to provide that support. Lastly, just on partnerships, we do have PubCap, which is the PUB community advisory panel. It's essentially a group of people from the community that meet once a month. and they work directly with our executive team and a liaison to really understand PUB, what it does, how it functions, and so on. And this is very valuable to us because they're, like us and the board, they're community members. So we've worked with them in giving them tasks and shared with them some of the changes that are up and coming to get their feedback and make sure that we are taking as much information before we make some some decisions. We also just wanted to mention work closely with the Greater Brownsville EDC. There is a lot of activity, as you guys know, and we want to make sure that we're walking in lockstep regarding providing services to any future business coming to the area. lastly we created a joint committee with the port of brownsville which i am a part of and we meet with them and similarly discuss a lot of the needs that they have so this is very important because we understand that there's a lot of concern with the community around planning with the industry coming companies coming and i just wanted to share that we are being proactive uh and this isn't just now this has been happening already uh in taking all of the uh both electrical water and wastewater into consideration now focusing on to the organization itself We are looking to support in our executive teams, design of the organization and trying to improve the decision-making and updating policies to support the organization. So at the top left there, streamlining and talent, we provide support and the new design of the organizational chart. There has been a lot of activity since, Our CEO, Marilyn, came in just restructuring. And even more recently, we continue to evolve the organization to try and continue to be effective. We have been working on recruitment of director level talent as well in our engineering services, which is core, our human resources, and also in finance. Through the organizational effectiveness, we've been investing a lot in technology and just how the organization functions, defining a lot of the tools that we use. We are very careful with this just because there is a lot of cybersecurity expectations given that we have access to the network that controls our network, our electrical network and our water infrastructure. We also focus on asset management policies and just understanding and the management of our assets and. Lastly, the enterprise project management office, this is really a way for us to formalize project management within the organization and having a core not just in one department, but really. uh that covers all the different needs and this will help the capital projects to make sure that we are moving them along and that we're having control over them obviously we have a couple of big projects now coming soon and we want to make sure that we're on top of that and using best practices Moving on to policy updates. There was a lot of policies that we made. A lot of improvement and changes as recommended by the staff and also our feedback. These are some of them that we did in this last year specifically. Flexible work arrangements, community partnership leave. This is to allow people to participate in nonprofit leadership that they can leave work. Cost of living adjustment, this was a big one. You know, we had been, some of the raises have been absent, you know, within the PUB and given the rate of inflation this last few years, this was a core for us. So now we have a cost of living adjustment. We created the parameters for that. It's not automatic. The board still has to approve it every year, but at least we have some structure for us going forward. With that, we also created and help push performance evaluations. So as we continue to evolve just to making sure that everyone's doing what they're supposed to be doing. And just retirement we've been improving that just trying to recruit and keep top talent and lastly leadership training, just to make sure that the leaders supervisors directors are doing their best within the organization and making sure that we take care of the people within. Within pub. We recently had our first employee engagement serving we won't be sharing that today, but just wanted to let you know that we have completed that. In general, the results look good, this is the first time, so we don't have a reference but soon we should be doing an update and hopefully we can see progression there, and you know keep track of the actions that we're taking and how those are impacting the organization. Moving on cost reduction, this is always. In our minds as we make decisions, so I wanted to just read reiterate the line extension policy which I know. caught a lot of negative attention, you know the last year. has been having a tremendous financial impact for us this year and I continue to meet with developers on this specific topic. On the current and future cost reduction efforts, we have three that we added. The first one is the AMI. This is the advanced metering. This will cut a lot of the manual reads that we're doing for the electric and the water meters. And also we will be collecting data and this will help us proactively monitor for any leaks and help our customers in general. Our customers will have access to the data so they can be more in control of their usage and understanding their usage. Grants, we continue to go for grants. The last one we received, or one of the last ones, was a $3 million water smart for Rosaca de la Guerra. We're gonna continue that effort. I think we've been doing pretty good as an organization. And lastly, the Rosaca fee, which you guys are familiar with already, that was definitely a cost reduction for our customers and our rate payers, and we're happy with that decision. So I wanted to start the conversation on rates and our ERCOT works. So I'm going to keep it a little high level. I'm not the expert, but just working with the team here, I wanted to share and provide some highlights. So the way ERCOT works is that we have power generation. So the equipment that is providing the electricity to ERCOT, to the grid. A lot of times people think that the power that we're generating is the same power or specifically the same power that our businesses and our homes are using here in Brownsville. It's not necessarily the case. So everybody sells into the grid and then if you're going to be using the grid, you buy from the grid. So it's really like two activities, two separate activities happening at the same time. And the difference of that basically nets out the ratepayers cost. So that's why we have generation and that's, you know, we have to buy from the grid and we have generation really as a risk mitigation effort. And hopefully this will be a little bit clearer as we meet with you guys and update you on some of the rates and what we're doing around that. And lastly, there's been a lot of discussions as well with some of the state level government announcements around MOUs, municipally owned utilities. Just wanted to highlight here that the rates themselves are a little bit complicated. They have different components, different layers. So even though at the end we pay a certain amount per kilowatt hour, there is a complicated calculation happening in the background. It's many different layers, frankly, many different companies involved. In the end, we have, you know, the energy charge, which is the main one. But then we also have other charges around transmission, fuel and purchase power, taxes, fees, credits. Really what I wanted to highlight here, and you can take a look in more detail later, is that a lot of times when we're comparing The cost of power, you know, because we hear will be too expensive or, you know, lately we've been one of the lower cost. In the area. You know when they compare they they're comparing based on advertisements which don't necessarily include all of these components so it's important for us to use there's a specific website. Which is called power to choose.org so in there, you can see specifically who's providing power and you can compare rates more specifically. But some of these retail energy providers have a lot of discounts at specifically a 1000 kilowatt hour, which is kind of the standard. So even when you're comparing, if you just look at the 1000 kilowatt hour price, you may be choosing the wrong plan for you. In general, it kind of reminds me of the old cell phone plans, and probably I'm dating myself here. When the cell phones first came out, if you remember, there was night, you know, 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., free minutes, weekend, you know, free nights and weekends. And in the end, we were still paying, you know, $300, $400 a bill. This is the same thing happening with electricity. So luckily, at PUB, we keep everything,

easy to understand and uh we're doing our best to keep the rates down as well so that's it for me any questions before marilyn joins i do have a quick question go ahead thank you mr chairman uh if you can go back a couple of slides i believe it's called m ami yes the system so i know uh part of our city um does not have the smart meters is that what they're called amis aka Um, what's the goal or what's the direction that is going on? Um, because I know I was reading through, like, your update and one of your goals is the administrative, um, efficiency and working with the seller and allowing for that just accessibility to be there for both residential and businesses. Can you speak a little bit more to that?

Yeah, let me make sure. Um, I understood the question, but basically, where are we in the deployment where we are and where we're heading? So we are in process, I would just highlight in here that we continue to work on that this year. We do have a plan to get close to 100% of all the pub meters to be on a mind, so in fact we in this last meeting we just had earlier this month, we were discussing the. the project and we're actually doing it for less money and now we're expanding and making sure because of the growth we planned a certain amount and it took about three years for us to get there now there's another batch that we need and it's still within within the budget so they needed the board's approval for us to continue so we we went ahead and approved that And it's probably going to be completed in May 2027, something to that effect.

And just to clarify, is this something that would be requested by the client, or is this something proactive that PUP?

Yeah, no, this is not requested. This is going to be changed for everybody. And yeah, there may be a way for you to opt out. Um, I don't remember where we ended with that, but essentially everyone is taking the meters and we're installing them. So thank you.

Thank you.

Any other quick questions? Thank you.

It's a combination commissioners. My name is Marilyn Gilbert, general manager and CEO for the utility. And I am here today with my executive team. For those of you who have not met them all, but they are all here, we have a new CFO, Justin Locke. We also have Paul Gonzalez, which is our chief legal counsel, who's also present, as well as who else we have here, Constance Minor, and she is our chief administrative officer. Also representing a member of the board, we have with us is Dr. Holman, who is also the president of SRWA. So with that, I am going to start my slides and get back and forward on there. But I'm also going to say, first of all, thank you so much for approving the MOU. That is something that is on the core of this report that I'm going to give you about the core efficiencies. I'm going to read a sentence in the actual executive summary that is in the report of the things that we need to work through. And this is the fiscal year 2025-2026 report that ends at the end of the month, which was yesterday. So this report was compiled a little bit, you know, sooner to make sure that we met our requirements for charter. So this is under article four utility section four F miscellaneous. And in there it says, is the progress made towards advancing shared goals and collaborative initiatives between BPB and the city of Brownsville. So with there, you said throughout 2025, VPB and the city continue to strengthen their partnership through coordinated infrastructure investments. Think about what you just got did on Saturday. That's a coordinated infrastructure investment. And that is something that we will be reporting where we are on those two projects within the next reporting cycle. And thank you once again for that investment in the community. We have been also working on its administrative efficiency. Our chair just spoke about some of the various different things. have working on customer service enhancements community outreach efforts long-term planning initiatives designated to improve the quality of life for the brownsville residents and those long-term initiatives and one of them happens to be that srwa expansion has been on the books for almost 20 years when the plant was designed that was something that was contemplated always going to 20 you know mgds instead of the 10 capacity so now This is something that's going to come to fruition a lot sooner than intended. In addition to that, that plan is also part of the Region M, which is part of the state plan. That is so important for us as a state. Think about it. It's not just a brown soul. It's part of the state plan. In addition to that, we have this infrastructure reuse program that is part also of the state plan. And we're advancing these two projects on there. So with that in mind, I am going to go now through the presentation that was prepared sometime prior to this meeting, but also talking about the various different things. So there are four goals as part of this plan, and that is part of the charter requirements. But we also come and present on various different things that various of you have asked of us to come present. But one of the things is elimination of duplication of services. These are just a few streets that we've been working on and the advancement. A lot of these projects are multi-year projects and we continue to work through them. And the importance of that is that when a city opens a street, we make sure that we also improve our infrastructure at the same time. Because the worst thing that we can do is actually go in there and tear up a street after it has been paid. So those are really what we're trying to have is those efficiencies that we go through in coordinated efforts with that. Recording UDT upgrades with roadway work avoids reopening newly reconstructed streets, cutting costs and disruption for residents and businesses. In addition to that, as part of the duplication of services, right now we do a lot of backflow testing for the city facilities. So when BPV tests 127 backflow prevention devices each year at no cost to the city, ensuring that we are all in state compliance. The last thing we want to do is somebody come to the city of Brownsville, you know, for not having the state compliance. So we make sure that we are providing for all of that. On the next things that we have that we are reporting in the report, and of course, the report has a lot more details than everything that I'm covering, is the creating administrative efficiency. These are the things that we launched in the last 12 months, and we've worked together We had the wait well, a queue management system. We heard from you. We understood you. We heard the residents taking a long queue time. So we have that implemented, and we implemented that on October 2025. We also have an optimized staffing model. The vacancies absorbed across streaming personnel costs, so we make sure that we are actually having our succession plan within your utility. In February of 26, we expanded our assistant partners, the Come Dream, Come Build, Good Neighbor Settlement House. More information, again, is on your report. We also have in March of 26 the Silver Blythe portal, and that is a 24-7 account access that was actually implemented. And some of you are using, and for those of you who are not aware, we have more information that we can have on our website. And that also gives us the paperless billing and efficiencies that we're working here. The ring central is the voice chat and email callback instead of holding. So that is available that we re-implementing. And those are also the, we also upgraded the PEB domain. The old domain still works, but we wanted to make sure that we had a shorter domain as vpub.com. And that is something that we have here. So that way people can remember where to go to get the information. So when a residents hear something out in the community that we have a landing page. When a resident hear about SRWA, we have a landing page. About the project, there's a landing page. About the reuse, there's a landing page. So that is being more open and transparent. We, as the chairman mentioned, we did a customer satisfaction study in addition to our internal customers that are employees. Great Blue Research in the summer of 2025 presented to the board in October 2025 the customer satisfaction report. In addition to the administrative systems, we actually collect for the city of Brownsville. We collect for garbage, city maintenance, environmental compliance mandates. They're right on one PEB invoice as a convenience for the residents. In addition to that, we work with shared platforms like Accela and DigiPlan. That's one shared digital plan review workflow with the city staff. The next goal that we have is the joint infrastructure and lighting. So we have about 13,772 streetlights maintained. We also have converted 11,477. And we have also expressway fixtures that we maintained as well as part. Some of the additional things that we have, we have what we call the cable replacement. That is the underground cable. Some of the various different subdivisions had direct buried cable. And so what does that mean? We have a very acidic ground and so the salts that we have actually damage our infrastructure. So now we have better practices and we have now conduits that we put the cable in there. So those are the two design that we have and we have a plan that we looked at our worst performing subdivisions. So Galaxia and Timbers subdivisions plus the 2.12 miles at the airport district. The data is telling us this is where we need to invest and the money that we invest back into the community. We also have reviewed various different on the BTX Fiber. That's a joint project that we have with the city and nominee partner. We also have the Resaca de la Guerra, which was mentioned earlier, 90% complete, which is a grant plus the infrastructure investment that is a local contribution. And of course, the SBI Airport Reliability. It was completed on August 6 of 2026. The full circuit rehabilitation involved 23 poles, 13 transformers. We want to just make sure that we are constantly investing into our system. Every single dollar stays here locally and is reinvested into the system. The third goal in meeting our requirements is the community and communication preparedness, formal coordination channels and joint outreach and emergency preparedness training with the city. We actually had a city employee come with us and prepare for hurricane preparedness. And so that is very important for us for that city participation. Of course, the National Weather Service was part of that participation as well. The communication that we have, we have our chief administrative officer is a designated liaison, which a lot of you, thank you for bringing the concerns to us. And she will make sure that they get expedited in the timely manner of responding back to you. We also have weekly legal counsel meetings, especially this past three weeks. You know, our counsels, it wasn't just weekly. It was a daily, if not more than that. We also have monthly technical committee meetings between the staffs and the various to coordinate the various different projects that are in the way and see what it is. In the last year, we made two presentations. One was made by Dr. Holman, which was our water strategy soon after we presented, which you heard of some of these projects and we were able to advance them together in collaborating. So with that, we also want to say that although we moved to stage one, that doesn't mean the drought is over. You know, we have a big drought on us. I mean, and the levels keep on drawing, you know, drawing down. The magnitude of these two projects to provide that resiliency and water availability is impactful for generations to come and also for the systemic sustainability of our community. Brownsville is sitting nice in comparison to others because we have an alternate water supply here for our residents. And number four, goal four, we ensure that the quality of service at a lower cost. We have contributed about, in a cash, $12 million in the general fund transfer. We also have reduced municipal rates that we've provided an amount of $445,000. And of course, we also have an MOU in place between the two governmental bodies on how we're going to be working and addressing joint services when we're working to ensure that we are all providing services at the most efficient manner. Various different plans were completed. We completed the 2026-2030 strategic business plan, which I presented earlier this year and provided where we're at. We had the 2025 integrated resource plan that was approved on October 13 that was underway that I reported on that was also about to be approved. We are in the process of doing the electric race study. It was completed by Mugen, and right now we are working towards the water and wastewater studies. So we have a comprehensive plan provided to the city at that time. And of course, we are looking through the valve and hydrate asset management. It's a new system in July 2026. And with that, that completes the portion of that presentation. And I'll be happy to sit with you individually or together or however, or answer any questions. But it is a fairly lengthy report that provides a lot more details meeting the charter requirements. Thank you.

Thank you, Marilyn. Any comments or questions?

I actually did have a quick question, Marilyn. This is specifically on goal number three. I saw that there was your efforts on the community outreach. Yes. Just curious, do you have a department or a person specifically for community outreach?

Yes, we do. And that department is under the leadership of Constance Minor, Connie Minor. And so that community outreach department is there. We'd be happy to give you The plans that we've had in place and the various different things. And if you recall, our board chair did mention about we they we provided a policy to allow all of our employees to be a part of the community and provide and I guess volunteer hours to the various organizations to be able to do the community outreach.

One more thing. Good afternoon, first of all. On that same page, the VICC resident town hall, I know we already had one. I think we're a little late now on having our second one. I believe we had said about two months. So we got to start planning on that and get it done as soon as possible.

I believe there's a date set.

We are coordinating a work meeting with PUB. We've had trouble getting that date. We have constantly kept the people at VICC informed that we're working on that. Yes, we are late, but we try to keep the communication open.

Because I did get a text message today just stating, hey, it's been more than two months.

We agree.

We're on it. Thank you.

And I personally have also been in communication with some of the residents that have reached out to me about and where we're at in coordinating, making sure that we have the information. And we have met with city staff, and we will provide that date soon. I think they're on the calendars.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Marilyn. Hi. Uh, I just want to thank you on the weight. Well. Uh, we used to get a lot of those calls and and, uh, definitely, uh, I know that people are experiencing a much easier, uh, lobby wait time. So whatever strategy that. Was phenomenal, um, and also just that I don't think we've said it ever enough. Thank you for however you guys are doing it to keep the rates. I see rates all over the state spiking high, and I don't think we celebrate that Brownsville PDB has the lowest rate, I think, in the state for I don't know how many months now. How many months is that now?

Oh, probably about two years.

About 20 plus months where we have the lowest rate in the state. So thank you.

I can't do this alone. This is really a team of 650 people that all working together to cutting cost efficiencies and working together.

My understanding is it's not only electrical, it's also our waterways, correct?

Some of the neighboring utilities. I've seen a lot of rake heights that are coming through. And even though we have small little increases that we've made, yes, we can come and give another presentation about on rates specifically when you all are ready.

Oh, one other thing. I mean, you started with the MOU that was passed when we started this presentation. I think it is important for us to – I mean, I received a lot of messages, right, positive, negatives, and all. But something that I did think was very important is for us to put a dashboard on there and figure out how it is exactly that it's moving along, where the money is, and be super transparent with it.

Of course. We will take that consideration, and we're in the process of developing that website. All of this just happened the last two weeks, so –

Understood. Thank you. Thank you, Marilyn.

And once again, thank you for your leadership and your support that you have given the Brownsville Public Utilities Board.

Thank you so much. Now moving on to the next portion of the agenda, which is the City Manager's Update for the National Preparedness Month. We'll turn it over to Mr. Gard.

Oda Leal and her staff, come on up. This is our emergency operation department, led by Ms. Odie. They had their photo opportunity earlier with CMD, so now they're going to make a short presentation, and we will then move on to the consent agenda. Thank you, Odie.

Good evening, Mayor, Commissioners, and city leadership. On behalf of the City of Brownsville Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, thank you for recognizing September as National Preparedness Month. Preparedness is more than having a plan on paper. It's about building a community that is informed, ready, and resilient before an emergency happens. Our Office of Emergency Management cannot do this work alone. Preparedness is truly a one-city effort. but it is also a regional effort. We are grateful to our partners at TDEM, Texas Department of Emergency Management, LRGVDC, Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council, Cameron County Office of Emergency Management, and our first responders, city departments, community partners, and residents who work alongside us to strengthen preparedness and resilience throughout our community and region. This month, I encourage every family to take one simple step, make a plan, build or update your emergency kit, stay informed and talk with your loved ones about what you will do when an emergency happens. Thank you for your proclamation and for your continued support and partnership. Together we prepare, together we respond, together we build a more resilient Brownsville. Thank you.

I would say come out for a picture.

And as you guys come up here, I'm going to go ahead and read the proclamation because it is an honor to be recognizing you all for all that you do. So we're here recognizing the National Preparedness Month, whereas emergencies and disasters can occur without warning and may impact our residents, businesses, infrastructure, and essential services. And whereas the City of Bronzeville recognizes that preparedness is an ongoing commitment to identifying risk, reducing vulnerabilities, straightening capabilities, and building a community ready to respond to and cover from all hazards. And whereas as Brownsville faces a variety of hazards, including hurricanes, flooding, extreme heat, severe weather, public health emergencies, technological and cyber incidents, and other natural and human-caused threats, now therefore be it resolved that the City of Brownsville reaffirms its commitment to preparedness, resilience, and collaboration, and encourages all residents, businesses, and community members, partners to take proactive steps to plan for emergencies, Straighten readiness efforts and support a safer and more resilient Bronzeville. Now, therefore, we, the members of the City Commission of the City of Bronzeville, Texas, by virtue of the authority vested by the charter of said city, do hereby recognize a national preparedness month by reaffirm our commitment to proactive emergency preparedness by embracing innovation, straightening partnerships, improving coordination and continuously enhancing our ability to prepare for emerging threats and challenges done on the first day of September 2026.

No emergency phone for persons? United. Tell him.

Tell him.

See you again.

Thank you, team. Next, we will enter into the consent agenda items for your consideration, which is items 1 through 32.

I'll entertain a motion. Move to approve. Second. All right. 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. I just have a motion carries.

OK, it passes 7 to 0. Now we'll enter into the public comment or actually the public hearing portion of the meeting and we will move up item number five for the public hearing to be considered first. So it reads item number five is a public hearing and action on the first of three public hearings on on imposing a temporary moratorium on the acceptance, processing and approval of the application for high intensity data processing facilities. The event centers, the private game clubs, the automotive quick lube facilities and self-storage facilities all within the city of Brownsville and its extraterritorial jurisdiction pursuant to the Texas local government code 212.1. 131 through 212.139 in action on the resolution 2026-121 directing the city manager to initiate the process to adopt a 90-day moratorium on the aforementioned uses and to ratify direction to the city manager to reactivate the city of Brownsville at the environmental and conservation task force that was tasked with providing advice in the recommendation to the City Commission, to the City Council in regarding the data center policies and development regulations. We'll turn it over to the staff.

Good evening, Mayor and City Commission. Before you, you have a the commencement of the moratorium process. And so just to give you Some background of to how this came about on July the 1st. Of this year, um, the city received a data center zoning application for the former Walmart building. Um, it was at that time that I think that the city commission and staff realized that data centers were coming to the city. Um. When we reviewed our UDC, we determined that we did not really have any regulations in place to address them. And I'll go into more details about that shortly. A moratorium was discussed and we started the process on July 29th of this year by publishing the first public hearing, which is today. The first public hearing cannot be, uh, the publication has to be 30 days before the first hearing. And so the first public hearing is tonight. We're also going to have you all adopt resolution number 2026 121, which will go into detail about what that entails. The second public hearing, which has to be at least 30 days between the first and second public hearing will occur on October 6, 2026. And for the general public, I have added the different sections that these provisions site to stands for Texas local government code. Within 12 days from the 2nd public hearing, the city commission must make a final determination. Um, which will also serve as the city commission's 1st reading and approval of the moratorium ordinance. Um, as you all recall, this city charter requires two readings, uh, to adopt an ordinance. And so we have used the October 13th action date as the first reading for the ordinance, the second and final approval of the ordinance by state law. They have to be about 28 days apart will be on November 17th, 2026, and it must be approved by a three fourth vote of the city commission. And it's not of those attending, it's of the body. The first day of the moratorium would begin, would be November 18th, 2026, and it will run for 90 days till Tuesday, February the 16th, 2027. The reason for the 90 days is only because the state government does not allow us to have more than 90 days initially. 90 days is the first initial moratorium. What we are planning to do is, on December 30th, 2026, we will publish notice of a moratorium extension. That has to be at least 15 days before the extension hearing. On January 19th and then February 2nd, we will have the first and second readings of the extension ordinance, which would extend it an additional 90 days to May 17, 2027. Um, ultimately, the maximum amount that the state legislature has allowed cities to adopt a moratorium for is 180 days total. We cannot exceed that. And once adopted, we can't enacted again for two years for the same harm area or type. So we're limited to a moratorium for 90 days. We have to extend it with a certain publication notices and hearings for another 90 days. And then we can't enact a moratorium for another two years for this particular use. The requirements for adopting a moratorium, you have to have the specific notice in public hearings, as we just said. Uh, written findings that justify the moratorium must be adopted. It will be part of the ordinance that we will have before you all. The initial duration again is 90 days and just it sounds redundant, but I want to make it clear that that's the limit that we can do. That's the maximum for the 1st moratorium. We are allowed 1 extension, which is an additional 90 days with certain steps and written findings adopted. And then the city must adopt at the end of the conclusion of the moratorium. We must adopt regulations. We can't have a moratorium just to have a moratorium. now the limits of the moratorium we cannot regulate issues that are outside the city's authority we cannot prohibit a lawful land use it would not apply to projects that have become vested or approved by the city and essentially those are grandfather projects and for two years again we cannot oppose another moratorium for that use, and we also must include an appeal process. So even if we have a moratorium, there is an appeal process that the state requires that we adopt. So the first use, there's, I believe, five uses that we're recommending for moratorium to allow us to study. Um, of the 5 uses, my understanding is, as you all recall, we were running this parallel. With, um, amendments working on amendments to the is the unified development code so that we can have regulations in place to address these. we realized that we might have the amendments adopted first before the moratorium would become effective. But that was a risk we wanted to take, and more so because we weren't sure what additional questions or research you all would like us to do. And so with the last four uses, we do have amendments before the planning and zoning commission for review at their september i believe it's third this thursday and we will then bring forward whatever their recommendations are to you all so we might have adopted regulations for those by then now with data centers is a little different and i will explain why shortly so currently right now when we have a use that is not 100 defined The interpretation is up to the planning director. The planning director is, this is the unified development code. It's on the city's website. It allows the director to determine what is the most nearest and closest use. And if there's any questions for planning, I believe planning staff will be here to answer those. With that said, The interpretation by the planning department is that a dentist center is all other utility related uses other than listed. And the definition for that in the UDC is a facility or area for a utility installation not specifically listed in this UDC. It's important to know that this particular classification is allowed by right, which means it does not have to go to zoning commission and it does not have to come to city commission either. It's allowed by right and heavy industrial and it's allowed by right and light industrial now in regional center, which is what the Walmart proposed site was, which was withdrawn. That one was a regional center. And so the interpretation was that that required a specific use permit. And so that is one that would come before planning and zoning and then subsequently city commission. Since we've instituted this process for the moratorium, the governor did effectively pause approvals for new data centers. seeking to connect to ERCOT grid pending a comprehensive audit and verification process. Some people, some attorneys will see this as a temporary moratorium. Others see this as just one more hoop that they have to jump to, to essentially then connect to ERCOT. So not necessarily a statewide moratorium. It's more ERCOT is studying it. If they can show that they won't, affect the rate payers, then that particular data center may be licensed and allowed to connect to or are caught. This is the city limits, and the various colors are different zoning designations. There are currently 1,059 vacant properties throughout the city of Brownsville. And the average size per lot is about 1.8 acres. The largest being 76 acres for a total acreage combined of 1,965 acres. Then pointing where light and heavy industrial zones are, they're the light purple and dark purple in the maps. And so you see by 550 toll road and between the interstate we have a couple of properties there and then on the other side of the world birding center we have um a large light industrial site there now these are not vacant they might actually have development on there but just for purposes of showing you where the industrial zoning is we wanted to um just show you captions of on the city zoning map um throughout this side of this town You see the various arrows that point out to the light and heavy industrial. The airport is one as well. Of course, the airport is subject to federal regulations. And then over by the heavy industrial, you see where the landfill is by that site. Down over by Valley International Country Club, you have a little south of that, you have one heavy industrial site. And data centers. So the moratorium is so that we can study data centers and understand how we regulate them. There's various types. I believe you've seen this depiction before. There's evaporative cooling, closed loop cooling, and air cooling. Each has a different level of water usage, different output of emissions, and also different use of electricity. The resolution that is before you does a couple of things. It initiates the process to adopt a 90-day moratorium, which is the first moratorium that we can adopt. It directs regulatory review of data centers, and it directs the city to undertake a review of what the noise impacts are, what the municipal water supply impacts would be, coordinate with regional electric utility providers to find out what the impact is, evaluate land use compatibility, building scale, and mechanical infrastructure, and then develop amendments if necessary to the UDC city code or water manual. It also directs the city manager to reactivate the Environmental and Conservation Task Force. It's a task force that was created in 2000, I believe. It didn't take off, though, because of COVID. So that was one that they couldn't meet. And so the resolution will reactivate that. That task force would be charged with providing and studying the issue and providing a report with recommendations to the city commission by a specific deadline. The areas of study, again, are electricity and energy use, water use on local resources, land use, and the neighborhood impacts as well, economic development and fiscal impacts. Now, this is recommended and this can be amended. But members with representation from two economic development business sectors. It's recommended that you include GBEDC and BCIC. One member that's familiar with data center operations. One environmental natural resource management member. Two members from Brownsville Public Utilities Board for the reason that they serve the city with water and of course electricity for the most part. Two environmental advocacy organization members. three community members, and then one city representative that would serve as ex-official member. Now, this is just a proposed makeup. Y'all can design the board however you want. The second use that is subject to the moratorium is poker lounges or social private clubs. We have seen an uptick in permits for these particular uses. It is a currently defined as an indoor amusement establishment. It's known as social or private clubs, and they're allowed in these various zoning districts, commercial corridor, regional center, traditional neighborhood, et cetera. Regulations have been proposed. If y'all recall from the work session that we had, there were some recommendations for these. Those are going before the zoning and planning commission this Thursday for review. And so hopefully we'll have a recommendation for them to adopt regulations for this use. I'll just speed through these slides for a bit. Quick loop, oil change facilities. There's currently 12 locations within the Brownsville city limits. And the little blue dots on the map are where the locations are. If you recall from that workshop, it is defined in the UDC, but there's additional regulations that staff is proposing. They're also regulated in Texas by the TCEQ. And some of the recommendations was the separation from residential uses that they're recommending. Again, this one will go before the planning and zoning on Thursday. And so we hope to have those recommendations for you at the next meeting. Now event centers as well. There are about 46 locations within Brownsville city limits. The average distance is about 0.14 miles. Those are the blue dots. It is defined in the UDC. And so with these that are defined, it's a little bit easier for us to amend the regulations that currently address them. And currently right now, event centers are only allowed with a specific use permit citywide. Those are just some of the current regulations and then self storage and many storage indoor outdoor. There are approximately 27 locations within the city limits. About a little over each one is about point 67 miles to the other, and this is currently defined as well and it's allowed in certain zoning designations commercial corridor is one regional Center. And this one also has regulations from the last workshop that is going before planning and zoning for consideration. And so there's various other five uses. We have been able to create some regulations for those. Since they're already in the UDC, we're just having simple amendments. For the data center, though, the moratorium is predominantly for the data center. the the task force is before you all tonight for action and this is also the first public hearing that is required by the state to have and so at this time if you have any questions um be happy to answer those if not then we'll go to public hearing do you have a quick question counselor sir is it possible to have more than one moratorium active at one time yes

And my second question was if you could speak a little bit on the appeal process you mentioned for the moratorium.

Yes, so the state requires us to have an appeal process for the moratorium. Essentially, you have a appellate body, which we would propose be the city commission. They would have to meet certain things. Some some recommended. REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DATA CENTERS WOULD BE THAT THEY HAVE TO SHOW THAT THEY HAVE RECEIVED PERMISSION FROM ERCOT AND THE PUC TO CONNECT INTO THE GRID. WE COULD ALSO REQUEST, YOU KNOW, WHAT IS THEIR WATER USAGE AS WELL. SO THOSE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS THAT WE CAN LOOK INTO. BUT THE APPEAL PROCESS WOULD BE BEFORE THE COMMISSION AND IT WOULD BE IN A PUBLIC MEETING.

And then my final question is just the legislative impact on data centers as a city. You know, we have our hands tied sometimes with statutes that happens, for example, in the zoning of the high of the heavy industrial. They can necessarily, like you said, they don't have to come to us for permission. But what my question is with this upcoming session, has there been any is that one of the priorities have you heard for the regulation?

Right.

So every

Depending on who you ask, you either hear that the state is addressing voter rights in the sense of less governmental influence or impact.

Or you'll hear that they're eroding local government's ability to regulate.

And so zoning is one that has been modified in the past. I don't know if from the interim reports that they have issued. I don't know that zoning is necessarily, um, being attacked this year. It's more your property taxes, the bill, the city's ability to budget. With data centers, it's difficult to see what the state will do. I know we're in election season right now, so it's an interesting time. But once November occurs, that filing starts after election, so we'll see them filing bills. And so we always follow and track to see how the city's powers are getting eroded. I guess you can tell where I stand on the issue, but it yeah, it's. Been difficult 1 of the issues when you talk about legislation, you got me started 1 of the issues when you talk about legislation. We used to be able when we were adopted a moratorium the day you publish. 5 days later, the more time is in effect. And in the last legislative session, they took that away from cities and made it more difficult. So you went from publish five days, more time is in effect, to now it's a process that drags out for 90 days. And so that's one instance, I think, where the city's ability to regulate itself is eroded at the state level.

My question just stemmed from, you know, this is before us, but this was introduced by the state. And when they don't have regulations or any parameters in place, it makes it really difficult for the municipalities to be able to really have control. So I would hope that on that, that they have that as a priority in this upcoming session, because this, this continues to be a topic that comes up and we need to have better tools in our box rates for the city.

We're not just the only, I mean, I know Harlingen has adopted their moratorium after an applicant application was submitted, but there's several other cities that are in the process right now, like us that are adopting moratoriums. We acted quickly as we can, so our moratorium will come in place in November. There's some bigger cities that, because of, for whatever reason, they're not having their moratorium kick in until January, February. So they're a little late. Thank you, Councilor.

Will, I do have a question about How did, if the state allows 90 days and then another, an additional 90 days, how was it that Heart Engine did like 120 days?

I have no comment on that. So is, I guess. Well, so what I will say is that previously, The state law, when you would publish, you used to be able to have a temporary moratorium five days after you publish. And then when you adopted your moratorium, it was for 120 days. But state law has changed.

OK. So we cannot, like if we wanted to do a 120 day, a one year moratorium,

could not do that if we don't want to get challenged and lose we can't do 120 or 180 days we would have to follow state law and do 90 days and we have already calendared these dates um for city staff so we can you know we don't want to miss the day um but for us to be able to withstand a challenge to a company that has the money to fight we would have to follow state law and check off all the boxes and ensure 90 days is the minimum or the max. We did that. And then we'll extend it for another 90 days. I can't speak for what hard engine did or didn't do.

Sure. I was just asking about state law. Like, I just want to know if however they did that, what our maximum could be, if it could be larger than the 90 days.

Right. Yeah, my, my, my, um, my chief duty and responsibility is to you on the taxpayers and not to grandstand, but, um. It's important that in every decision you make, we. Verify the risk and I would recommend not adopting 120 or 180. I would recommend adopting just a 90. because then that to me is what state law requires. Anything other than that would be contrary to state law.

Okay. Do we have to come back to extend an additional 90? Like, do we have to come back and do another public hearing in a second public? Yes, yes. And actually just make it an automatic renewal, right?

We have already, um, set December 30th is the day where we're going to publish the notice. So that's when it's going to be published in the newspaper. We already spoke with Brownsville Herald and understand that we're going to send them a week before the publication notice. And then we have on the agenda already, um, drafts where January 19th of next year is the first public hearing and February 2nd is the second and final reading. And then following the timeline, it would be, it wouldn't leave a gap. Correct. This will follow the timeline so that we can do 90 and then another 90 and we would have a total of 180 days. So even if we end up adopting the regulations, the moratorium will still be in place. Thank you.

I have a couple questions. Just to confirm for the public, this calendar that you provided, that's the quickest we can implement the moratorium based on the state requirements? Correct. And when do you anticipate having an ordinance in front of us to adopt to restrict data centers prior to the moratorium being in effect?

Yeah, we have a draft that contains their final determination. We can, it's a draft, we can publish it. We can do that whenever. We usually just release it with the packets as the packet goes, but we do have a draft already.

Okay. Potentially at the next meeting we could, it could be in front of us? Yes. Okay.

Yeah.

Thank you. We would not have you take any action on it, but we can have it before you want.

Will, I have a question. I'm trying to understand. I know the mayor just asked about it being the fastest time, but I, I think you can gain a couple of days if you do special meetings. Am I wrong with that? I'm looking at. October 2nd could actually be the 28 days. That would be actually 3031 days instead of 30. that is i don't know if it's a saturday or friday then could we do the following day if we were to set it up with enough time can we do two in a row i mean i understand that this is something that has to be done quick we've had other special meetings so why not have it for this if it's possible and then the third thing would be the last one i believe it could be november 2nd instead of november 17th and if we do it that way we're actually gaining two weeks so can you make sure that that is the best numbers that you can get

Yes, I will verify. We used a, um, a calendaring application that we use for litigation. And so September 1st, October six is approximately 30 days.

It is. I mean, it's over 30 days. What is it? 3536 days. So that's what I mean. We do 30 days or 28, whatever that number is. I'm sure everybody will be here on a Saturday. So, um, If it's necessary, if it's Saturday.

Right, right, right.

Disrespecting the Sunday is what I'm trying to do.

Right. At this point, it would be difficult because we wouldn't have the public hearings published within the time frame. But we'll go back and look to see if we can modify some of the dates.

Please, yeah, try to get it as soon as possible. Thank you.

And then I have another question. Can we exclude categories of this moratorium? Like, say, if the other uses besides data centers we want to remove from the moratorium while, I mean, you mentioned that there's ordinances already coming. Right.

We don't need them. Yes. So that is true. And that's what we anticipated when we started the process for both the amendments as well as the moratorium. We started the process so that we can have the if we were to have planning and zoning's recommendation in time we would have them before you all for adoption we wouldn't have to adopt the moratorium now with data centers is a little bit different because there is a task force that you all have asked to bring back so that they can study the the matter and then provide input for you all and so that one more than likely would continue through the moratorium process

Mr. Gard, thank you for Digging in there and finding the environmental and conservation task force so that we don't have to adopt a new task force and just bringing it back with this with this resolution. What would how often how frequent would you think or both of you that this task force should gather from now until they come up with their suggestions to the Commission for for the ordinance moving forward for data center.

Well, first of all, I want to mention we have an awesome city secretary staff who has a great institutional memory about this task force. So that was very helpful to us. I want to recognize that. I think. I think a committee like this can meet as often as they would like, and staff would be happy to organize those meetings, make sure they're properly noticed and attend and provide note taking and research as required. We would want to do the work fairly quickly within the 90-day period, but knowing we have the 180-day period, that would give us a little cushion to make sure that it gets all the research and answers and information that it needs to bring forward to you the best possible policy.

Can I recommend, I mean, I know it's difficult, but I think with this subject more than anything, Could that be streamed or viewed when they meet? Absolutely. Absolutely.

Any other questions or comments from the Commission? Just for the Commission, are you okay with this composition? The Board?

I think, yeah, it's a fair question, but by adopting that today, Mr guard or will do we have an ability to move like to appoint or to amend the representation? Yeah. So after today before the second reading, right?

Well, this is just well, this is this will put this into effect today. The resolution. So if you want to modify the representation, it would be approved as amended.

But as far as like appointing individuals to these, no, I'm not talking about maybe the appointment today. I'm talking about if because we're adopting it today are we adopting it as it states right now or can we adjust how many members or where they come from yes you can adjust we don't okay right yeah you can adjust yeah we can adjust right and a point today yes oh we can appoint today well you yes so the the resolution is written in such a way to where the city manager would be um

asking individuals to serve on the task force with input from you all. So it will be a situation where he's, you know, what do you think about this individual, blah, blah, blah. And so the reason for that is because normally when we create an entity, we then take applications and then we end up having appointments at the next meeting and that takes time. And so we wanted to get this rushed as fast as we can for that purpose.

We would be able to modify our application system online to include whatever categories you want to have there where they can check boxes and say, I do this, I know this, I'm familiar with that, so that the application process would bring some folks in. And I'll be happy to discuss all of those with you. And feel free to

recommend to people tell them to go online and fill out an application as well i would i would feel more comfortable waiting to a point and just be able to have a community engage and submit their application i agree commissioner any other questions comments well on this i do have a recommendation i think every commissioner should have at least one appointment and then on the two economic two one somebody who knows the data center those six um We should have our input on it, except for whoever is going to actually go sit on there because it says one city representative. I don't know if it's going to be a commissioner, but at least everybody should have one appointment on there. That's all I got for that.

I can support that.

Any other questions or comments? All right. So this is a public hearing. Mayor Mrakas, So if there's anyone here that wishes to address the Commission on this item, please step forward, I know we have a list of people that that have signed up that want to speak on this item so i'll let the city secretary. Mayor Mrakas, procedure, yes, thank you mayor.

As we enter into the public hearing portion, I just want to remind all the speakers that you did acknowledge that you will follow the city's public conduct rules, which will be displayed on the screen, and you will be allowed to speak up to three minutes. You will state your name and your address if you don't feel comfortable with your address. You may state that you are a Brownsville resident or a commercial owner. Also, when you make your comments, please do not address the City Commission as one individual member. Please address them as a whole, as well as be respectful in your comments. So we will open it up, starting with the first speaker that we have that we submitted is Elisa Barron. Elisa Barron. Did not see Elisa. Next, uh, euro, uh, capital. Please state your name, your address, and the time will begin after you state your address.

First up, huh? Okay, my name is Uriel Gavito. I am a Brownsville resident. So November 18th, that's from the presentation, the fastest, sometime in November to get this data center moratorium passed. But for SpaceX, immediately. Is this democracy? if in fact spacex does turn that land into a data center is this just a joke i mean i would be concerned for y'all if they do that i would and let me give an olive branch here we have something similar There's a lot of people in Brownsville that are very upset and are mad at you and are looking at you. I'm pretty sure there's a lot of people at SpaceX looking at me. So if we want to actually have a democracy, I'm willing to engage with y'all. I have some questions real quick. I was seven minutes late. Why was I intimidated when I was coming up here by police if I am media? In fact, why am I the only media here? There should have been media here Saturday. Where are the local news stations? Is this not a historic deal? I keep hearing this. This is a historic deal. And it's not enough for the new stations come here. That's insane. So I call upon media from all across the nation. I call upon the Texas Tribune, AP News, anyone, everyone who could see through what's going on here. I, again, I'm willing to engage with y'all. But if y'all aren't willing to engage with us, then we have a bigger problem here. If you keep talking and having these people come in and say, oh, great job, let me give you my stance real quick in 36 seconds. A wise person could hold two things that are opposing as true at the same time. Does Brownsville need water? Of course it does. I built a platform speaking for the community based on me saying water. But the fact that you were bullied by SpaceX and you are too afraid to admit it is a bigger problem because if we depend on them for anything and everything, then what is this for? Thank you.

Uh, next speaker of Pablo, uh, is Camille and on deck is Yolanda space. Please state your name and your address for the record.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the commission. My name is Pablo's QL and I was born and raised here in Bronzeville, Texas. I graduated as an engineer here at UTRGV, and I am here because I'm still digesting that hard pill that was forced on me to swallow last Saturday. The 444-acre deannexation and the water deal made possible by SpaceX Ultimatum. Early in that special meeting, I was escorted out because I couldn't handle the discernment that it was clear as daylight. The decision had already been made and our commissioners were just justifying the regardless of public comments and concerns. It was difficult to understand how, even though we had a higher hand, you guys still managed to fold and gave out our land and water. Anyways, I guess the NYU couldn't wait for this, for this meeting. I request the commission to ban any data centers from coming through our city rather than just temporarily halting them. I believe data centers are the biggest scam in our lives right now. They require to trade farmland. They require us to strain our power grids and water systems, accept the pollution they bring, and pay the development ourselves through tax subsidies and rate increases. In return, what do we get? A complex building full of servers that provide, that collect and process all personal and private data, feed them into powerful artificial intelligence systems. These data centers are causing a huge radical change nationwide. And the question is why? Why are these data centers pushed so hard and so fast on us by the billionaire tech corporations? Why do we have to bargain our land, resources, and liberties for an AI control system? If data centers are so great, why are they being done in secrecy? The fearmonger, the idea that China will beat us on the race for AI, but honestly, fear is only a manipulation. Fear is only used for manipulation. And in my opinion, manipulation is a real motive for these data centers. Eventually, data centers will be able to access bank accounts, communication systems, and all mass surveillance cameras that are rapidly spreading through Bronzeville. It's funny, because those cameras are from flock safety. The word flock means a group of assembled sheep. Evidently, this does not seem a conspiracy theory anymore, as we see it being built before our own eyes. You may call it data centers progress, but I call it tyranny.

All right. Thank you, sir. Your time is up.

Thank you. God bless you all.

After this speaker, we have Gustavo Sanchez on deck.

Didn't you just say London Space? Yeah. Okay. On deck.

All right.

Well, my name is Yolanda Speece. I'm from a Brownsville resident. So my question is, what is trigger happy? Trigger happy is when someone is eager to use violence or rash force without careful thought. When this is found in the police culture, it's called a warrior mindset or killology. Critics and researchers use these terms to describe specific aggressive law enforcement training methods that emphasize extreme threat perception and quick resort to violent force. This is why my arm is the way it is. There were witnesses too. Do you know how many officers made themselves big to crowd me out of the building? The officers were trigger happy to the point where an officer said that I should be grateful I wasn't arrested. The officer should be grateful he didn't do more damage because then there would be not only a lawsuit, but he'd lose his badge. I know that none of this matters to any of you. Clearly, even though you took vows to serve us, we don't matter to any of you because if we did this entire meeting on Saturday would have gone completely differently. But as the Mexican singer Jose Jose would sing yellow, well, what is before us is the incompetence of the Brownsville Police Department, the chief of police and his subordinates. The time This time, it was just a strain in my hand. What's going to happen when it's someone's life? I don't know what the chief of police and his underlings are saying about me, but when they camp out in front of both of my houses and just follow me around town, just feels like they're doing more than just their duty. When something seriously happens, how are you going to handle? How are you going to handle it? You know, are you going to circle the wagons and defend the corrupt police department? Or are you going to listen to us and do the right thing for the people who selected you? Food for thought. But do us a favor. If you can muster it and have the spine for it, don't choke on the lies you're telling yourself. and the ones that you're being told.

So our Mr. Sanchez is coming up on deck is Ms. Julia Farrell.

Please state your name and your address for the record.

Hello, my name is Gustavo Sanchez and I'm a resident of Brownsville and a student at UTRGV. The unanimous decision that took place on Saturday that allowed SpaceX, whose CEO is a pedophile Nazi, to exploit Brownsville, the Rio Grande Valley, and our planet was horrible. But all of you seem to not care about it. It has also enraged the whole city, the Rio Grande Valley, and the planet. It is also below all of your chances at reelection. I hope you all know that. And you just put a big sign for Brownsville that says it's for sale. Despite this, we still believe in peace and the democratic process, which is why all of us are here today. As of right now, all of you sitting in front of us have no regard for human life or any life in general because you allowed SpaceX to walk all over us. But I hope and believe you also can save your souls and our lives at least. You can do this by passing this moratorium for 90 days, then extend it for another 90 days to 180 days, which should give you enough time to make zoning laws that will no longer welcome data centers or industrialization into our city. I also want to add on that I'm so tired of people always saying and being brainwashed that, oh, but they have jobs and economic growth. I let you claim it's for my kids' futures. And I just think how stupid that is because is it really worth it if your children grow up to get cancer and early age because of all this LNG, all this SpaceX, all these pollutants in the air? Is it worth the entire world to suffer from climate change, which includes more natural disasters which kill actual people? Is it also worth waking up every day to 100 degree weather? That isn't normal. Isn't all this a wake-up call? God's punishing all of us because of the choices of the Epstein class, which are very few compared to all of us here. I'll be honest, I'm afraid. I'm afraid of using my own First Amendment constitutional right of freedom of speech. I'm afraid I'll be targeted because of my opinions by SpaceX and corporations and maybe even the city of Brownsville. As you see with all these police dragging people out when they give their own comments. Every day I wake up with depression and anxiety, looking at my city dying and the environment being killed and all of us here dying slowly from these pollutants from LNG, SpaceX and even potential data centers. It's all horrible. It doesn't make sense how we still keep on allowing it to happen. Isn't this enough? I mean, we've been telling you since day one, don't kill us. And y'all literally just did that every single day when y'all agree. Welcome in SpaceX with open arms, telling them, oh, we love you. Thank you for this. No, it's not worth it, man. Like, we're all trying to live our lives. You don't want to die early or get cancer or our kids. When is it enough? We deserve, all of us here deserve to live. Thank you.

We have Miss Julia Farrell, and on deck is Lee Hollingshead is on deck. Lee Hollingshead is on deck.

Good afternoon. My name is Julia Farrell. So the world is giving us desperate warnings that we must take care of it, and we're not listening. I come here as a concert citizen and mother. AI centers cause air pollution due to the immense amounts of electricity they require. They produce even more heat in the area, infernal heat that we already have to endure. They use a vast quantity of water, water we don't have. And no matter how many millions they are spent trying to obtain more water, water will run out if it's not conserved. So I ask you, It's a word sacrificing the health of our children, the children who go to the park, who play sports, who go for walks. What are they breathing? What more heat do they have to endure? They might not fall to the ground dead in five minutes, but they are being robbed of their right to more years of life and good health. their right to clean and financially accessible drinking water, if they're being robbed, they, the children, who are the future of this world. What does this hold for us, for our health, our water, our homes, our city? Who will not profit companies that don't care about our health, our lives, and our children's? But you are our representatives. You are the ones who make the decisions, and you are the ones who should be protecting us, who should be protecting our children. You should care, and if you don't, you're robbing us of our right to have more years of life and health, and then that makes you responsible for our lives. So I beg you, as a mother, to approve the moratorium, protect us, protect our children, and listen to the world. Thank you.

As the next speaker comes up on deck is Dr. Laura Cisneros.

Hello, my name is Leah Hollingshead and I'm a Brownsville resident. I find it exhausting that I have to be here today. I truly cannot believe that the best use of my time in my one short life is to stand before you and state the obvious by telling you that I don't want a data center in my backyard. We have all seen news stories about people across the country who suddenly find themselves in the shadow of a data center. They turn on their taps and no water comes out. Their energy bills go through the roof. If they can get energy at all, The citizens of Brownsville have made it loud and clear that this is not what we want. The citizens of Brownsville know that SpaceX wouldn't have put Saturday's MOU on the table if they wouldn't get more than they gave. The citizens of Brownsville know that a memorandum of understanding is not legally enforceable in the same way as a contract. The citizens of Brownsville know that using a false sense of urgency to push a deal through is the biggest scam tactic in the book. And the citizens of Brownsville know that as of today, there is a job posting on Indeed based in Brownsville to work for SpaceX as Senior Counsel for Data Center Development and Infrastructure. But the citizens of Brownsville shouldn't have to spend their spare time playing detective. It shouldn't take a law degree to be an active citizen. An MOU shouldn't be presented to the public only after public comment has closed. It shouldn't take getting thrown out of a meeting to have your concerns heard by city council. A corporation shouldn't be able to catch wind of a data center moratorium and strong arm a disannexation that exempts them from the rules. A city council shouldn't serve local corporations at the expense of its citizens. There isn't a single tech executive who lives within five miles of a data center. The citizens of Brownsville shouldn't have to either. I yield my time.

Good evening, Mayor, commissioners and everyone here. My name is Dr Laura Cisneros. I don't know that I can add much more than what has been said by so many people in the last couple of meetings, etc. I come here as a doctor, as a mother, as a citizen, and I'm very concerned. And a lot of people reached out to me and said, please, I know you have a lot of credibility. I know they respect you. Maybe you can make some sense out of it all. I don't pretend to, I'm not any smarter than anyone else, but we all know the drawbacks. We don't have to, be blindsided. We have a water issue. Even without the data center, we have a water issue.

We are told don't water your lawns. Don't do this. Don't do that.

So without a data center, we already have water issues, electricity problems. We live in the second most polluted city in the country. Well, Brownsville Harlingen, up to Raymondville. The American Lung Association said in 2026 that we were the second one with the worst fine particle pollution. We have a lot of people who have respiratory problems, children even worse. And data centers add to that. Heating problem, we know there's a thing. My thing, and I could go on and on and on, they mentioned cancer. Studies show that. We can pretend it doesn't exist, but studies show that. Location. Please consider the location. I drove and I went to the site and it's right in the middle of the neighborhoods. So how much is the distance? A mile?

That's eight blocks. That's nothing.

This noise is so unbearable that people's high blood pressure, anxiety, heart attacks, the children have problems learning, sleeping, So the question is, I'm not against technology and I'm not against modernization and economic development. All I'm asking is, please consider you love your families dearly. And we are your Brownsville family. We are your Brownsville family. And you all have the obligation to take care of us because we trust you. We put you there. As our representatives for you to speak for us, just like dad talks for his kids, you are supposed to talk for us and you are to protect us. And please consider the location. I saw homes. I got him. I saw home rooftops right from from the area. That means the house is on Lord this street. We'll be hearing all the noise. We'll be hearing all the air, all the pollution, everything. Thank you. I'm done.

So the next speaker, uh, uh, ethnic, uh, Rosas and on deck is, uh, Jacqueline, uh, Morales.

Hi, everyone. My name is Dr. Etienne Rosas. I'm a Brownsville resident. So last Saturday, SpaceX demonstrated that it never really intended to colonize Mars, but Brownsville. And they proved how far they've gotten when this commission hastily and unanimously voted in favor of disannexing Brownsville land at their insistence, allowing them to bypass public scrutiny, sidestep city ordinances like the data center moratorium we're now considering, all in exchange for the water infrastructure promises of a billionaire riding a speculative AI bubble now four times larger than the 2008 housing bubble. If you had waited for a proper long-term analysis, you'd know that we can have enough water to satisfy our community's needs, but we will never have enough to satisfy this man's greed. Across Texas, it seems our officials aren't fighting against billionaires' takeover of our communities, but negotiating terms of surrender. But now even that seems too generous because rushing a special meeting and voting just a week after SpaceX requested this annexation, providing no information on what it was planning to build there, makes it clear that SpaceX was not negotiating. It was dictating. The mayor described it as a take it or leave it deal, never asking why, if this is mutually beneficial, would it be take it or leave it? What difference would a month or two make in planning out such a critical project? It was rushed because SpaceX wanted it to be rushed. It needed that Landis annex, not in a month or even a week, but now. And just today, we've come across a SpaceX job listing for legal expert on data center development. Spacex told the Commission in Brownsville we want total full control of this land and we're going to get it the easy way or the hard way. That's how a colonizer makes deals, not an equal partner.

La mayoría de aquí somos latinos, hijos e hijas de inmigrantes. Los países de nuestros padres fueron colonizados y explotados económicamente por intereses corporativos que usaron la corrupción para arrasar con cualquier semblanza de democracia. Vinieron aquí con la ilusión de formar parte de esta democracia y aquí nos encontramos deshonrando su lucha y repitiendo la misma historia, borrando la voz de nuestra propia gente, vendiendo nuestros futuros a billonarios megalómanos que nos ven como obstáculo en planes perversos de conquista, y empoderan autoridades como ICE para quebrar nuestra solidaridad y mantenernos subyugados. No nos podemos quejar de que no tenemos voz y voto en este país si nosotros mismos la entregamos. La solución a nuestra autodeterminación y prosperidad no llega a través de someterse a billonarios, sino alzando al pueblo unido y solidario.

You cannot have democracy without transparency. You cannot have transparency without democracy. Leadership starts with listening to those you serve. I applaud the proposal for a data Center moratorium and environmental task force, but it also shows where priorities lie when you still require members of the EDC to be a part of that too. You had a chance to listen to the Community that chose you to speak for them and you listen to their oppressor instead. Trust takes years to build but crumbles in a few hours and those hours flashed by last Saturday for all of Brownsville to see. Plus can is billions and sick offense will fade but betrayal to one's Community will not.

Jacqueline Morales. On deck. On deck. Brady Garcia.

My name is Jacqueline Morales, and I'm an attorney in Brownsville. I just drove in straight from Austin. Luggage is still in the car. I hate that your decisions have been giving me an overwhelming sense of dread whenever I have to come back home from any trip. This morning, in fact, I was at the State Capitol. I attended a State Senate hearing on data centers in Texas. The committee senators on water, agriculture and rural affairs were asking questions to data center representatives and experts explaining the water-related aspects of data centers. These Texas senators expressed the common sentiment from their own constituents that no one wants data centers in their district. Experts testified about the water consumption used by data centers and said that all new proposed data centers around the state are actually enormous and require an average of 1,000 megawatts of power. That's enough electricity to power 1 million homes, typical homes. If our senators are just now asking these questions to experts, I'm willing to bet that Brownsville local officials have not yet started these discussions. And you know how important it is to stop and ask questions before making decisions. It's common sense. And you know what's not common sense? Being pressured by a private company into taking an ultimatum, giving the community only day's notice of a second reading of this land grab, not telling us that you were having meetings with SpaceX on this deal and not sharing information with us, not hosting a town hall meeting before the vote, not pushing for more time, giving away land for data center usage so that it's technically not under your jurisdiction. you're ensuring right now that brownsville ruin has your name on it and you can't hide behind the fact of these fake promises from self-serving companies you must have a memoir moratorium on data centers because you must learn the ins and outs of this invasive industry do you even know that data centers in hot humid environments like the valley actually require extra water and power to cool down Do you know what a massive 1,000 megawatt data center really requires? Do you realize that once a data center is established, it will only grow larger and consume more? I want to also point out there were differences from the information provided by the experts at this morning's hearing that I attended that is different from what the I guess city attorneys presented on data centers and that's important to note especially with cooling information this information was being handed by an expert on the on in that field and I feel like it's important for you guys to take the time to really learn this because that wasn't accurate from what I just saw this morning There are differences, and I would also recommend that you look into even the AMI metering that PUB mentioned. There's a lot of research to be done. 90 days won't be enough, so I expect you to continue extending the moratorium. San Marcos is the first city in Texas to ban data centers within its city limits, and it's encouraging other municipalities to follow. It's putting its foot down. It's a home rule city, just like Brownsville is, so it's possible. And yeah, they're getting pushback, but so what? Do it. Try it. Let people push you, but it's worth it. I, I want a group of commissioners. I just want one of you guys to put your foot down and stand up and be with us because we're going to support you. And it sucks to see that you guys are just doing it together.

So we have a brandy Garcia and then you go is that where I will be that.

Hey, hello, my name is Brandi Garcia. I'm here from Brownsville, Texas. I come as just like a super confused resident. You guys were claiming on Saturday that you were doing that deal for water. I want the elderly to be able to bathe and wash their dishes. I don't want my neighbors to go without water. And yet the fact that you're even considering a data center given all the information that's already been provided to you is just Mind-boggling. I don't even have words for you guys anymore. And I want to echo what people have been saying here before. Is this what you want to go down as, a spineless? And let me say I feel bad for you, because a lot of people are directing their anger specifically at you guys. I think it should also be at SpaceX. And you know what? This whole masturbatory first public comment session that you guys had, where it was just handshakes and circle jerking, The greater Brownsville EDC, a lot of people have now been logged in my mind as like, I don't think these people are for all of the residents of Brownsville. I think they are for a tiny percentage of the residents of Brownsville. every single thing that you guys do and and I hope you do not continue to do is just proving to the residents that they should not trust you I mean I almost think that you guys are going to give up on re-election next year because you guys are just down in the dumps you think that we're upset I'm sure that your little underlings have been seeing what has been said about you on social media you guys can't go anywhere without getting expletives thrown in your face i mean it's just it's amazing to me so that's why i said this is confusion i'm confused again and i'd like to ask did any of you meditate from saturday to now on what you did do you guys think Do you guys pray? I mean, I'm sure based on the demographic that you have to appeal to, all of you claim to be Catholic or something. So are you not worried about what this kind of treachery to the people of Brownsville is going to do to your immortal souls or whatever? Just think about it, I guess. One last thing that I would like to say is I don't know. I mean, I actually don't know. This is so insane to me. You guys are just lying and it's clear as day to everybody. So God bless y'all. I don't know what you're going to do after this, but I yield the rest of my time.

So we have Hugo Izaguera and then Becca Hinojosa on deck. I don't see Hugo Izaguera, so Becca Hinojosa.

Hello, my name is Becca Hinojosa. I'm with the South Texas Environmental Justice Network. We're a local organization. Our office is a few blocks over here. And I'm here to reiterate our opposition to the deannexation of the 444 acres. and reiterate our opposition to the terrible MOU that you all signed on Saturday. I am still exhausted since what happened on Saturday. I just want to reiterate that it is a bad idea to sign an MOU with SpaceX, a company that violated the Clean Water Act. This City Commission didn't even give us a chance to understand and see what Project Quantum is. You all presented it as soon as public comment had already closed. That is an example of bad government transparency. uh last city commission meeting we presented a list of demands demanding a community-led moratorium on data centers we will keep reiterating those demands what we need is a task force that has no ties to data center corporations And truthfully, we don't need the Economic Development Council and to have a part of that task force. They have never proven to us, they have never acknowledged pollution and the harms that SpaceX is causing to our community and the environment. I need proof that and EDC cares about pollution and the environment. I haven't seen it yet. We will continue to be vocal. We will continue to demand 180-day moratorium on data centers minimum. We need you to pass ordinances that are so strong that no data center can be built in Brownsville and in any colonias. Thank you.

Next speaker. Viviana Torino on deck, Nathan Watson. Yes, Viviana Torino. Nathan Watson.

Good evening. My name is Nathan Watson. I'm the Public Affairs Officer of the UTIHV College Democrats of Brownsville. I'm a resident of Rio del Sol. This weekend should be a wake-up call that we have to be careful of who we let in lest they stab us in the back. There is a movie quote going around social media lately saying, you cannot reason with a tiger when your head is in its mouth. This weekend, we were in the jaws of a tiger and it bit down. We need to take a step back and see who we let into our community. We need to watch out for any bad actors. And I'm aware of a story regarding SpaceX, and I'd like to retell it here. A while ago, the county, along with some investors, went to SpaceX because they wanted to build a desalination plant at the mouth of the Rio Grande. SpaceX agreed, but then Elon added a catch. After a few years, he wanted control of the plant. The county walked away. Any deal with them always comes at a cost. Losing 444 acres was just the beginning. I wonder what they will ask for next. Saturday was on a deal hashed out between the city and SpaceX. It was a shakedown. We were fleeced of our land so they could put a data center on it, as we've seen from the Indeed job opening. SpaceX saw the writing on the wall that we, the people of Brownsville, don't want a data center in the city, and they acted to protect their own interests.

Thank you.

Uh, next, uh, speaker, uh, Ms. Christopher, um, uh, and then on deck, uh, Martha Ramirez.

I'm Dr. Christopher Basaldu. I live in Brownsville and my ancestors have been here for 50,000 years, 50,000 years. And in these few years, this Nazi transphobe billionaire has stolen the land from us and is restricting all of us from having access to a sacred site. The mouth of the river, the whole river is sacred. The lands around there. are sacred and this man is polluting them and destroying them because in his mind there's nothing there but our ancestors are buried there and our non-human relatives live there and you guys are helping this man destroy life itself in this area back to the data center please approve the moratorium and consider a total ban if brownsville is a home rule city you can ban it you can ban them all together and even if you thought you had a chance at a david center you just gave it up to elon and they tricked you to get 400 acres out of it so now they're going to put a data center which is going to drain our water poison our water poison our air because it does not belong to him Data centers are not necessary. AI is not inevitable and it is not necessary. AI does not produce anything. It doesn't produce food. It doesn't produce clothing. It doesn't produce housing. It doesn't even produce a car. It produces nothing. Human beings can produce all the things that we need. AI produces nothing. Data centers produce nothing. So what are they for? They are for the richest in the world to take over and colonize and take our resources, control our air, control our power grids, control our water, and control you. But we don't want to be controlled. And my native and indigenous ancestors, they don't want to be controlled either. So we have to fight all of you. We have to fight America. We have to fight Texas. We have to fight Elon. And we have to fight all of these things because of your stupid and idiotic, cowardly decisions. It's still going on. Colonization, I'm glad Dr. Etienne talked about colonization. You know what colonization is? It is rape by another word. Thank you for making us so vulnerable and not protecting us. This deal was stupid. Do we need water? Yeah, we do. We didn't need to make a deal with Satan himself to get funding for water. You rushed into this and you all should be ashamed of yourselves. You should be ashamed of yourselves. And then on top of that, there's nine armed cops in here to threaten us. to threaten us. You work for us. They work for us. But if you look at the history of Texas, you know what cops do? They murder people of color. They murder black people. They murder native people. They murder. Thank you, sir. Your time is up.

As Marco Ramirez comes up on deck, Ms. Annalise Rosas is on deck. Please state your name and your address.

My name is Martha.

I'm a citizen from Brownsville, Texas.

Born and raised, I actually live real close by Casa Padre.

I'm here today because I refuse to stay silent while decisions are being made that could permanently change Brownsville and Cameron County. I'm asking you to vote against additional data center development because the true costs are not being paid by these corporations. They are being paid by our families, our environment, and for our future generations. Let's begin with water. So this Saturday, you guys already approved, from my knowledge, from my understanding, uh 220 million dollars and i also realized that 40 million within 30 days to speed up a local wastewater reuse project from spacex and then another 180 million goes towards expanding the south most regional water authority brackish groundwater plant over the next year and a half we need to make a decision as soon as possible in order to avoid that i do not want any data centers near my hometown I live real close to the island and I already see how much change it's already doing to us and how it's affecting the animals in there, our environment, our air, our water. There's a resaca in my neighborhood and that resaca is disgusting. Disgusting. Large data centers consume millions of gallons of water every year to cool those servers. South Texas already faces recurring droughts and water shortages. Every gallon used to cool computers is water that cannot be used by our residents, farmers, wildlife, future generations. Water is not an unlimited source. Once it's gone, it's gone. Experts across Texas have identified water demand as one of the greatest concerns surrounding data center expansion. Let's talk about electricity. Data centers are among the most energy intensive facilities ever built. The International Energy Agency estimates that data centers worldwide consume approximately 415 terawatt hours of electricity in 2024, and demand is expected to rise dramatically because artificial intelligence. We don't need AI. We have creativity. We have art. We have had history of beautiful art. We have a museum. We do not need AI or . Here in Texas, proposed data centers account for roughly 90% of new large electricity requests, placing unprecedented pressures on our electric grid. That is one of the reasons Texas has paused new grid approvals while officials evaluate their impacts. Who pays for the infrastructure? Too often, it is everyday repairs through higher utility costs and expand transmission systems. Now let's discuss our health. Many data centers operate large diesel backup generators that release fine particulate pollution and nitrogen oxides. These pollutants have been linked to asthma attacks, chronic respiratory disease, heart disease and premature death. It affects those who are pregnant and who try to have fertility rates up. tragedy already struggles with air quality challenges, and we're going to be adding another struggle.

Thank you, ma'am. Your time is up. Um, Annalisa Rosas on deck. Uh, I just said, uh, henna wholesale will be on deck. Just said, uh, henna wholesale. Please state your name and your address.

Annalisa Rosas, Brownsville resident. You might have noticed that my daughter isn't with me today. Today, I asked her dad to leave work early so that I could come here without her. This past Saturday, a man with the SpaceX crowd stood up, pulled his pants down, and exposed his behind to me and my daughter, right here in this room. He meant to moon someone else behind me, but unfortunately, the person closest to his hairy SpaceX butt was baby . This was shortly after SpaceX talk about them being part of this community. This is the type of people you invite when you please big corporations instead of your actual community. Because no, they are not part of this community. If they were, they wouldn't have their own schools. They wouldn't form their own cities. They wouldn't harm our ecosystems. The city of Brownsville, the people you're supposed to represent, do not want these big corporations. And since you're willing to give them away, and since you're willing to give away 400 acres of land to the richest man in the world for water, you know we can't risk having a data center that will just exhaust the resources we are already lacking. The people you represent do not want to live in a city filled with data centers. We do not want a city with even one data center. We demand a moratorium on these data centers. Do what's right.

We have Josette Hinojosa on deck. Jonathan Berg. Don't see Ms. Hinojosa. Jonathan Berg. No, they didn't indicate it will be virtual.

I'm here.

Oh, okay. Sorry about that. Go ahead and state your name and your address for your record. You will have three minutes.

My name is Joe said, and I'm from soul music. So good evening. My name is, or do I start or sorry? Well, good evening. My name is Joe said, Angelique Hinojosa, who was part of that MOU discussion that happened on Saturday, which again, I am also a community member, a mother, and co-founder of South Texas Environmental Justice Network. I am also a member of the Carizo Come Crudo tribe, and I was also The national delegate for Bernie Sanders, which, by the way, in case you all haven't seen or heard, he did, along with AOC, sign a data center and it was a moratorium act. So in case you don't feel super supported and in case you're afraid and, you know, because you had that spineless incident on Saturday, just know that the people are standing behind you, as well as Senator Sanders and AOC. Anyways, getting back to what we're talking about here is that we need a community led moratorium on data centers. We're going to keep talking about that, like Becca said, minimum of 180 days. OK, we need a community led task force. We need to guarantee that There is meaningful public participation and protect Brownsville's resources and community with ordinances that are going to be firm and strict on everybody who's trying to come in here. And like Victoria said earlier, it's disgusting that everyone in this commission has to sit with themselves, that they sided with this corporations. OK, this is a literal apartheid racist who is directly responsible for financing the current fascist administration that we see. The people will remember your lack of spines to stand up to a billionaire and corporations when you all had the chance. All anyone here continues to talk about is SpaceX money and their economy. But that comes with Brownsville being labeled as a city that goes against all of humanity because water is life. And so. With that being said, everyone in this chamber should be ashamed of themselves for doing business with modern day colonizers who need you all to roll out the red carpet, who need you all to sign off on tax abatements because historically speaking, colonization needs a government that is budget friendly because colonization actually costs a lot to do. So water is life and it is a precious resource and that is from a humanitarian perspective. because everyone keeps talking about from an economic perspective. But from a humanitarian perspective, water is life and it is a precious resource and not something that we should be allowing corporations to consume because we are already seeing the effects of this climate crisis and the shortage of water. And I just can't wait till Citizens United is overturned and that corporations are no longer able to do what they're doing. like they are currently doing in our city, in our county, by corrupting everyone and their minds and promising bullshit. Sorry, my time. All right, thank you.

Appreciate it. Jonathan Berg, on deck. On deck will be Hermelio Hernandez after Jonathan Berg.

good evening my name is jonathan berg i'm a resident of brownsville i'm here to urge the city to city commission to approve the 90-day moratorium on ai data centers as quickly as possible these data centers have been built across the country have been extremely detrimental to the communities and the resources where they've been built a typical data center consumes electricity equivalent to 100 000 households which is about adding another brownsville putting extreme stress on our energy grid To compensate for this energy, many data centers build gas and even diesel generators, which pollute our air. Meanwhile, Brownsville already has one of the worst air qualities in the entire country and a high burden of chronic illness. Also, since water is the current theme of the week, a data center can consume a few hundred thousand to a few million gallons of water every single day, putting huge stress on the RGV's precious water supply while we already deal with droughts. So once there are a few data centers built in the region, suddenly the water produced by the supposed SpaceX deal is a lot less. So an AI data center will degrade our health and environment while producing only a few dozen jobs and producing nothing of value. The City Commission must protect our community from predatory companies. We all saw last week On Saturday, what happens when we invite tech billionaires to build in our communities? They promise the world and so many wonderful things, and then they just take and demand more and more. This moratorium should be the first step in keeping AI out of Brownsville and should be used to develop regulations that ensure AI identitators cannot be built here.

Thank you.

So we have Camilo Hernandez and then on deck will be at him at Helene Martina.

Can he really speak on the phone? I have him on the phone.

No, sir. He will need to be virtual on the link.

Last meeting, you allowed people to speak on the phone. That's why.

No, sir.

Yeah. Yes, sir. Is that possible? Since we did that last meeting?

Yeah, we'll do that.

Yes.

OK. You're live for me. I want to start this up by saying.

Have him say his name and his address. Again.

OK. Yeah. All right. I want to start this off by saying my name. I am Erminio Hernandez, Jr. I am the engagement coordinator for YDSA Brownsville. I want to start this off by saying I've been at UTRGV since 2024, and I walked that bridge, and it's drying up. Never have I ever seen that river dry up. And I want to preface this by saying that the decisions you all are making disappoint me, disappoint the community. Words can't describe the disgust I feel. Lord knows that some things have happened where I can't be there right now to look each of you in the eye. But I want you to know that we're all sick and tired of this. I hope, I also hope that you know that this is the last time you're going to be sitting here in front of us. You blew your chance. That's it. It's over. Just so, so disappointed. You mean, I mean, you see everything happening online. Last thing I wanted to see is for it to happen where I call home. I mean, thank you. Thank you for exceeding my expectations of this appointment. Thank you for everything. Everybody. Right. There's not really much else to say. Um, thank you. That's it for me.

I Helena Martinez and on deck will be Hugo. EC get on deck and he's attending virtual commissioners mayor.

Adlemi Sanchez from Brownsville, Texas. I'm raising two daughters here in my hometown where I wish to continue to raise them. I also represent thousands of residents through Valley Interfaith and Mother Forward and many others. I want to be very clear that we are not against a water investment. We need water infrastructure, obviously. Our families need it. Our future depends on it. What we are questioning is that why is SpaceX behind it? And why are we being asked to give up an exchange? On Saturday, this commission approved 444 acre de-annexation along with a water agreement. and up to $220 million, but not guaranteed. We are told SpaceX will not accept the water agreement without a de-annexation. And this is where our concern begins because this isn't just about water anymore. It's about our land, our leverage, and the local control. That is why I support this proposed 90-day moratorium on data centers and extending it another 90 days as it is not enough. But I also want to make some recommendations. I want to use this time for the city to create permanent protections. We do not want to reinvent the wheel. Other Texas cities are already looking at stronger zoning, special use permits, buffers, water and energy requirements, and restrictions on where data centers can locate. Bronzo should use these models to create ordinances that work for our community and clearly identify and address what is already in the pipeline and what qualifies as grandfather during these hearings. We cannot spend 90 days or 180 days creating stronger protections while projects move forward under the old rules. Proceed to the fullest extent legally allowed. Preliminary conversations or requests should not become loopholes around new regulations. Allow local organizations to be part of the research process. There are residents and organizations already doing the work on water environmental justice, infrastructure, energy, and land use. Bring us into the room. Let us review the information. Let us ask questions and provide research and make those recommendations. There should not be a conversation only between city and developers. The people that live here live with those consequences, and we deserve to have a seat at the table. And finally, let's remember why this matters. We can support local investment and economic development without giving up our local control. We can invest in water without allowing private companies to determine what happens to our land and our water and our future. So yes, I support the 90-day moratorium and an additional 90-day extension. Let's use the time wisely to research, listen, and include our community organizations. Toronto is our home, our water is our future, and our voice should never be grandfathered out of the process. Thank you.

Then we have a virtual, so we'll bring up Hugo Izaguirre, and then on deck will be Melanie Velasquez. You're up, sir. Please state your name and your address. You will have three minutes.

Yes. Good evening. My name is . I live in Brownsville. I've lived in Brownsville for 33 years. I've been a Brownsville resident my entire life. I am incredibly happy. I support the idea of a Brownsville moratorium. Myself and many of my other colleagues have been begging you all city councils members since before the very first meeting that we all had, which is insane because seeing how fast SpaceX is able to get their deals done or get things done for them, even though they're not part of our city. um it you know it's it's it's it's lovely it's fascinating i love it i love it i love to see big money big epstein money taking over my city um so i i love this i love the idea of a data center moratorium being passed i would love it if it wasn't just a 90-day or uh moratorium i would love it if it was the full 180-day moratorium so that way the community could be involved in the legislation in banning data centers entirely. That's exactly what Brownsville needs because you guys gave SpaceX and every other big tech company that you just completely bent yourselves over for the past with letting them take that land to do whatever they want with the water. You know, we wanted water, right? Yeah, we got water. But now everyone else gets to use the water, including data centers. Screw the electric grid that we also don't have the support for, but we're still going to put the data centers here because big tech told us that we need to, that they want it. So like I said last time and every other time, I would love to see you all on this council to put people over profit. Just for once, just once, it'd be lovely to watch. It'd be lovely to watch. I apologize for being so cynical, but you guys did this. You guys did this to us. So please listen to us, listen to our concerns about data centers, and help us protect each other because clearly you guys don't want to. I yield the rest of my time.

Thank you. Melanie Velasquez and then Desto Huerta is on deck.

Okay.

All right.

Is this Melanie Velasquez? Okay.

Please state your name and your address. You have three minutes.

Okay.

Go ahead.

So good evening commissioners and my name is Melanie Velasquez. I was born and raised in Roswell, Texas. And so I'm afraid that there's so many ways to sugarcoat and use cheap marketing strategy strategies to glamorize the damage that will be happening to mother nature, especially Brownsville. If we condone the construction of AI data centers, however, I'm over the phone here today because I care deeply about the future of Brunswick, but I'm terrified of where we are headed. Summer after summer, our community endures dangerous waves that test the limits of our health, our electrical grid, and our families. Bringing heavy AI data centers into our city will consume millions of gallons of water and immense power just to keep servers cool. Adding that strain to a region already feeling the weight of climate change isn't just risky, it's unsustainable. This environmental stress is taking a quiet emotional toll on young people here. Many in my generation look at these incoming heat waves and generally wonder if it's fair or safe to bring children into this world. It is heartbreaking to feel that your home might become unlivable for the next generation. I ask you to protect our resources and our future. For future data center construction in Bronzeville, I ask that we totally ban corporate technology that put our communities I will first. Thank you.

Thank you. Uh, I guess, uh, that's the work that is next on deck. Uh, John, John color. You have 3 minutes to name your address afternoon.

I'm just so I'm here as an unpaid permanent district 3 resident. I was previously a rank-and-file union member of Unite Here Local 23 for two years until I moved here permanently to get my master's of social work degree at UTRGV. I don't know whether to face y'all or you all behind me because everything I say is not of corporate interest. Just making that clear, okay? As a new resident, even I know our public interests aren't why you are in those seats. Everyone behind me has already told you that, except for the rest of the paid SpaceX and Greater Brownsville EDC suits that are behind us. We keep telling you these corporations don't do anything but exploit our land, its workers, and your constituents. I grew up in a union family, and I'm telling you there are good jobs out there that benefit us all. like good green union jobs and green energy. And this isn't the first time I keep telling y'all this, every time I keep speaking. I'm not going to say thank you for even being the reason for this water crisis we have and the continued future impact, because let's be real, these billionaires only want our water, and not because they wanted to look out for us. Saturday night, you all said you care about us having access to water. The rehearsed consensus was the urgency of taking care of everyone's access, right? That's what you all agreed to saying to us Saturday night, right? It was crazy. It was like a dice roll, a continued dice roll. We still don't even know what it's going to be used for. A dice roll on our lives as residents. But I am here because I and my neighbors have been telling you what data centers do to the community to our access of water. So if you all had a consensus on taking care of everyone's access of water, this moratorium is not a dice roll. You know what this would do for us. So vote yes. At this time, amend the language to appoint a task force that is community led. Not with any corporate interests, please. Also protecting our water in the future, like our public utility board of Brownsville should not be supplying water or electricity to future data centers, especially those that exceed past city limits. Let's make that very clear, reminding you all. The water is an urgency, right? Remember, you said that discuss the current and future corporate use of our water, but discuss it with us. We know state law. We are asking for a 180-day moratorium, which means going through the 90-day moratorium and then extending it to 90 days. During this community-led moratorium, we want it to give people of Brownville the time and public process necessary to develop permanent data center regulations. Vote yes.

John, John Coger and then Gloria Galindo.

Hello, Mayor and City Commission. My name is John Cavalier, Jr. I'm a District 3 resident and I'm here with the SARGV to urge you all to vote in favor of a robust community-led moratorium on data centers. I think I'm speaking for most of the people in this room here today when I say that the decision that you all took last Saturday was a stab in the back to those of us who have been showing up to these meetings week after week. Instead of listening to your constituents' concerns about the possible impacts of data centers or this direction that the city is taking as a whole, y'all chose to double down and bend over backwards for the fascist billionaire in our backyard. And for what? A promise to help solve the problem that they also helped create? It's funny how limiting industry's water use doesn't seem to be on the table. You know, in the labor movement, we have a saying, which side are you on? Y'all might want us to believe that we are one city, but you can't have it both ways. It's us or them. So which side are you on commissioners? Are you on the side of the working class or are you on the side of the billionaire class? While I welcome the revival of the Environmental and Conservation Task Force, I want to remind you all of our joint demand to exclude anyone with corporate ties to data centers. I also want to point out that many of the greater Brownsville EDC representatives that spoke here today have spoken on behalf of our local workforce. And I strongly believe that workers should have the opportunity to speak for themselves. And I'd like to see this language amended to include representation from our local labor unions here in the RGV. I urge you all to put workers over billionaires to pass this data center moratorium and ensure that working class people have a seat at the table. Thank you.

So we have Gloria Galindo and then Kayla Garcia on deck. Gloria Galindo. Don't see Gloria. Kayla Garcia.

No, Kayla Garcia. Let's see.

Rodrigo Guerrero is the last one that was pre registered. Rodrigo Guerrero. That is all that's on my list that was pre registered that we received mayor.

Thank you. Is there anyone else that wishes to speak?

She already

I just wanted to give you all a reminder that based on y'all's action, we could be really emotional.

Can you say your name and your address again for the record?

I live here, citizen of Brownsville, Texas. Y'all's action can make us really upset, really emotional, which if it doesn't get fixed, we might have to lead into action as well. And we don't want that to happen because we don't want some sort of civil. Yeah. All I ask is if you can please just choose our health, choose our environment and choose Brownsville and keep on keeping Brownsville beautiful the way how it was before SpaceX took over Boca Chica and made it their own. before they took over the 444 acres of land another thing i would also appreciate from y'all is if y'all would sit up and not be on your phones while we're talking to you and proper icon thank you

Good evening. My name is Amelia Murillo. I am a resident of Cameron County. I want to thank everybody for speaking on behalf of all of us. I know we are not in agreement with data centers especially not knowing how This affects us what is going to be used for and our environments. All of us here are affected by this. Now, I saw earlier how our president called us being backwards and poor, not having the mentality of if we don't want data centers, we are not backwards and poor just because we do not agree with that mentality. And having said that, our community, our environment is not in any situation to support these data centers. It's not realistic. And having seen footage from the meeting that was completed this past Saturday, having the SpaceX representative making faces at everybody speaking, that was very disrespectful. Somebody not from my town making these accusations faces in our own city and just saying yes, take it, do whatever you want in our community. Please consider your decisions that you make that affect all of us here today and our kids in the future. Please don't take this lightly. Thank you.

Good evening again. I received a text message from the tribal chairman of the Cariço Comecrudo tribe, Juan Mancias. He would like to ask, I would investigate five interconnected impacts rather than just looking at the building of the computer centers. Electricity. Where will potential gigawatt scale continuous power come from? What new substations, transmission quarters, generations, gas infrastructure is going to be necessary? Water. What is the complete water balance, not merely the developers' projected potable water consumption on air pollution? If there are natural gas turbines or reciprocating engines, diesel backup generators, or other on-site generation, those emissions need to be examined separately from the data center itself because the data center uses power separately. Land and cultural concerns. Resources. A 1,000 plus acre industrial campus plus transmission lines, roads, pipelines, and utilities can create a much larger disturbance footprints than the actual footprint. For the lower Rio Grande Valley, I would specifically investigate archaeological sites, ancestral village areas, burial locations, traditional cultural landscapes, and wildlife habitat. Cumulative impacts. The data center shouldn't be analyzed in isolation from the LNG developments, their pipelines, SpaceX and Starbase expansion like a cancer. Board of Brownsville industrialization, transmission infrastructure, and other large industrial projects that are already affecting Cameron County and of course using power and too much water. And a stronger question is this. What new energy, water transmission, pipeline, road, and industrial infrastructure becomes necessary to operate an AI complex of this magnitude? And what is the combined impact of that infrastructure on , ancestral lands, waters, cultural resources, and communities? This is where I would concentrate the environmental and legal investigations. That's Juan V. Mancias, Chair of the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe. Thank you.

Hello, my name is Alfredo Medrano, Jr. And last meeting, I did register and did not get my name called at all. I went over the video again. So just to double check if I didn't hear clearly. No, I didn't get called. And that's okay. But the one thing I want to mention, do you guys know how rare our biodiversity is here? Not just that. Do you guys know how much nutrients are in our very compact clay soil and that's used great for farming native plants and, you know, our very rich biodiversity wildlife? Not just that. There's a lot of talk of development and stuff like that and not one mention of how all of this is causing more heat, causing more water loss due to evaporation. So instead of, you know, more industrial plants, more pollution centers, not data centers, these are pollution centers, they cause a lot of pollution. Why not plant more trees, plant more natives, have a stronger native plant ordinance for businesses and for residents, and also for it not to just be sable palms. I love sable palms, but that's just a cop-out and excuse for businesses to plant sable palms instead of actually planting more rich, biodiverse native plants that we do have that you can't find anywhere else in the world or in our own country, just like the Montezuma cypress trees that at the moment, we only had 35 registered that even Native American Trees Society has come and done samples and collections of, but we neglect these places. Our parks department neglects these places and we've had a few that are registered for being 50 to 100, 200 years old got knocked down due to the neglect. And these are rich, rich trees that back when first settlers came, they used them to develop woodwork and all this stuff. And it just sucks. It's a really beautiful tree. You don't find it anywhere else. And we only have less than 20 now. And we do have a lot of people like Eugene and Mr. Heap out in Harlingen Do grow these plants, but we need them everywhere. We need more like I've worked in community gardens urban farms. I've, you know, taught a lot to Ebony Paw Nature School, which your wife was the one that started that and It's kind of a contradiction having an ebony pod in nature school when you let in a bunch of businesses and corporations that are polluting our place. We need more native plants. We don't need more industrial plants because that's the reason why it's hot. That's the reason why we don't have a lot of rain coming because we don't have a microclimate anymore. We keep bulldozing all these trees, all these just to build subdivisions. And then these subdivisions just have turf grass that don't,

yield anything for our thank you sir you're out of time uh hello excuse me my name is angel reyna i'm the president of brownsville i go to utrgv here it's my third year here um i've never been to one of these meetings before uh but A lot of my friends who are in the political space and who want to get involved within the community and whatnot, they always tell me what's happening and stuff. And as someone who witnessed what happened last week, how the directors were so eagerly to approve of SpaceX and not give it any afterthought, I think it's really It's unjust. It's unjust. And to give SpaceX that authority, I think there's a deeper, like, something going on with the directors. I don't think it's right for them to do that. I think maybe something happened with the directors. I think that, I don't know, it's disappointing to see Brownsville kneel to SpaceX and especially to the likes of Elon. And I apologize for not coming here with the speech. This is just me speaking from the heart because of what happened last week. Yeah, the data centers, they're a huge topic right now. Everyone wants to build them, all these super trillionaire, Uh, millionaire companies, they, they all want these things to be done and the lower class and the middle class for saying no, because. It only benefits the rich and it doesn't benefit the lower class, middle class, all these stockholders, like, like, sorry, the voice crack. Um. all these people all these investors like it only benefits them and it's really disappointing and disheartening to see the i mean sure like there's like jobs going to be posted for like the middle class and whatnot right that's what the data centers are saying that oh like it'll help the economy and bring this and this and that but i just think that there's a better way to go about the water situation, kind of regurgitating what everyone has said about like, why are we making deals with SpaceX with the water situation? I don't think that they're the solution to the RGV in the Rio Grande Valley. And with that, I just yield the rest of my time. Sorry. Thank you.

Hello again, my name is a general says brownsville resident, so I just wanted to touch a little bit on the as my partner mentioned just up in Austin we were hearing about this. New research that is ongoing about data centers it really contrasts with what was shared here and much of it is because these experts are sort of coming up with this stuff as we're going along. That's problematic in and of itself, because many of these things have already been implemented and grown across the nation at a dizzying pace without really taking into account the repercussions, the long term implications for the environment, but also for the economy. And I think the bigger question that has never been asked, I've gone to Austin several times to Senate committee hearings and even the Westlake hearing on water. conservation and much of the issue there is about how data centers can be can be produced a more effectively more environmentally friendly, but a lot of the question that never gets asked is is why is it should they even. To begin with, and there's a lot of arguments that have to be entertained there because we are seeing this massive bubble in a infrastructure Ai accounted for about 75% of the. GDP growth in the country just last year. That keeps on expanding and we know that data company or big tech companies now are leveraged to the tune of 1.3 trillion on their books, but there's also a bubble of 1.7 trillion off their books. And this is happening at the same time that U.S. bonds are reaching the long-term U.S. bond, which is a good indicator of an economic recession incoming, is at one of its highest points since 2008. And this is happening across the developed world. So we are on the verge of some kind of economic collapse, or at least an economic recession of epic proportions, as I had mentioned before, four times bigger than the 2008 bubble. And all of this infrastructure that we are putting in resembles a lot the 2008 bubble and the huge build-out, the unprecedented build-out of housing that was not really sustainable and that was not solvent leading up to that. We're basically doing the same thing here. We're preemptively bailing out big tech because they are the ones running the show right now in the S&P 500. Big tech takes about close to 40%. So we're basically seeing an industry that continues to be fueled by this idea of something that is to be, but the fundamentals are just not there data centers take about two to three years to get built out. If the bubble pops before, then we will have invested all of this time and energy and resources into something that is simply not solvent that does not serve the Community that nobody really wants and it's just basically to. manufacture and fabricate this idea of what economic development looks like we have everything we need here sustainability can happen within the community we just have to find the right plan and i and i encourage you to instead of looking to edc who has had a hand in all of these uh projects environmental concerns are your time

Hello, Juan Perez, Brownsville. Data presenters just promises a utopian world. But what do they really produce? They don't do anything. All these industries that come over here, they promise jobs. And then other people that end up working there, for our local people, it's like, oh, we get a free custodians, we get a free security, which is pretty cool. But come on, they always bring their people from up north.

It's not real.

They're lies. Their lives. It happens every time. What does this? What does the data centers really produce? What are they? What they are is they are the brain of the beast of the surveillance state and the police state. There would feed our war machine and kill the kids and the kids and the moms who were looking for water in the Middle East. The AI helps I speak of the people. And there's thousands of people that go to jail because AI is like, oh, it was them. We saw them. But that's not what happened. Sometimes people get let out because they're like, oh, we just confused you all. You all look like the usual suspect or whatever. So that's what data centers really do. What else do they do? What are they trying to produce? They try to steal our labor. All they're doing is following us and seeing how we work so that later on they can replace us. They want to replace from the dude making burgers, doing DoorDash to our surgeons. That's what they're doing. They're not producing anything. They're stealing from us. They're stealing from our knowledge and our data from here. That's what they want to do. And that's why it's so profitable for them. That's why they want to build them everywhere. That's what the CEOs are saying. They don't hide it. They don't even care. They're like, oh, they say it out loud. We're going to replace y'all. We're going to do it. There's nothing you can do about it. Politicians are going to side with us, you know? And what else? And how does it affect our local communities? If you hear interviews of anyone that has a data center near them, Like they have a huge humming noise that disturbs their community. They want to build this a mile from where I live. Like this is personal. I don't want that hum. I don't want the increase in electricity. I don't want the increase in our water bills. If these data centers want to keep expanding, they need to get their stuff together. They need to be able to deal with the electricity and the water by themselves. But it's cheaper to sacrifice the surrounding areas. They need to get it together. Brown cell is short. All right, thank you.

Hi, my name is Ernesto Casas.

I'm a resident of Brownsville. I mean, where do I begin, right? so well i wanted to start by saying one of you um knows my mom and uh i don't know saturday was the most disappointing thing i've ever seen in my life i mean i've never seen something as anti-democratic as that one of you earlier during the meeting it might have been the gentleman over there said that you were doing this moratorium as fast as you can i mean i don't know i've seen you work faster i mean a week interesting i had the opportunity to pass out flyers for this very event on campus at utigv um everyone i spoke to was either against data centers or blissfully ignorant. And I mean, that's the kind of conditions these companies are banking on. We're poor, we're uneducated, we're vulnerable. We need people in power to protect us from unregulated, I mean, unsupervised venture capital. And I figured at least one of you would dissent. Maybe even abstain. But it was unanimous. You'll be the remainder of my time. Thank you.

Everyone has said something.

Oh, are we? Did you want to go ahead?

Would you like the last one? It feels like the last one. So I thank you. I want to say thank you for letting some of us speak twice. This is my second public comment tonight. Thank you. First of all, as an aside, I want to say that everyone here is hiding their address from the public record. Because we're scared. You don't seem to understand why we would be scared. I'm talking to you because you didn't know. Am I not supposed to highlight anyone out? I'm sorry. We are scared because we are public faces now resisting a trillionaire. I don't think we have to get too imaginative. To see why that's a little scary. So I want to highlight everyone who spoke here. These are real heroes stepping up for their community. OK, with two minutes left, I want to say. As for the way you handle business. I think I have some notes. You know you guys really like business here. It's like your main focus. I don't think there's anyone who would say you did a good business move. It was a pressure sale tactic. Business 101. They are going to get more than they give. It's a trillion dollar company. Look at how they did their IPO. They are masters at this. And we folded immediately. We believed them immediately. And not one person asked, are you going to build a data center? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember that. I will stand corrected. I will stand corrected, but I don't remember that. Which is crazy to me personally, because we've been here many times. Let me get back to business, right? I think it is fair to say that we could have gotten more money flat out if we're just talking money. No one even offered that. Secondly, it was so rushed. No good things come rushed. And I'm very concerned because someone spoke up and stood up and said, what are the cons? Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for asking what are the cons? The gentleman over there and the attorney spoke about the cons. I thought they were quite frightening. I thought that we should at least keep asking questions about these cons, the fine print. And we didn't. And now I want to read something from the Brownsville Herald. SpaceX would have the right to refund if no qualifying project was identified within a year of the initial escrow deposit, a process that includes a written resolution in the project describing scope and funding subject to milestones according to the present state presentation.

Your time is up. Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

First time to hear. My name is Luis Cano, and I'm from Brownsville, a lifelong resident. And yeah, it seems like I definitely think you're very sharp people. And so I'm sure you're very aware of the research that's happening with the data centers. And so I think it's kind of difficult to believe that you were coerced into anything or that you don't know what's going to happen, especially with stuff that happened on Saturday. It's the first time that I heard about those things. And so now I had to show up here to see what's going on with people. And so what fired me the most is seeing so many cops around here too. I just saw my friend getting escorted out for sharing food. And so I think it's a bad image to not only not listen to the residents is what I'm seeing, kind of being an outsider to what the politics are happening here. But also to have, like it was mentioned earlier, to have so many cops that are just scaring people. Like cops are scary. And so even right now, like this guy's a big dude. Like you must be like eight four, aren't you? And so I think it's a scary look. It's not a good look for you all to be having so many cops here, intimidating individuals. But also, I do believe you know what's best for Brownsville. I'm sure you know you messed up on Saturday, and I'm sure you can find a way to kind of resolve that. Jeff, thank you. Mayor, I move.

I move to close the comment.

We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? If not, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, aye. Ayes have it.

I move to approve resolution number 2026-121, directing city manager to initiate the process to adopt a 90-day moratorium and reactivate the City of Brownsville Environmental and Conservation Task Force. Uh, but I do, uh, my motion is for high intensity data processing facilities, removing event centers, private game clubs, automotive, quick loop facilities and self storage facilities.

I'll second the motion. All right. We have a motion and a second any further discussion on that.

I have a discussion.

Sure.

Um, just, uh, the composition commissioner, we are leaving it as is.

I don't think they asked Mr guard if we can adjust this and he said, yeah, it's not a I don't think it's a fixed composition and I don't think we're going to figure that out. I do believe that the composition should be from community members. Um, I do believe that I think it's important to to get community members on this board. I do also think, uh, uh, getting some experts on the board would be important. I don't know exactly what that makeup would be today, but I think that that's something that we can work on. But I do think it should be community-led.

Does that work, Will?

I'm sorry, does that work? Yeah, that'll work.

We can add on.

We can modify it.

Okay, to make sure that we have a great team to help us push this forward yes and one more thing i also want to give a shout out to the bronzewell herald who has been here there she is um oh no no i'm sorry the bronzel herald was here and they happened to leave a little while ago so just to let you guys know that media is here and they'll be And Nadia, OK, well, let's give Nadia a round of applause because she's doing a great job. And I also want to tell you, Uriel, you have nothing to fear. We welcome public comment. We have the position to close public comment. We don't always have to open it up. There was about 55 speakers today. And we welcome it. And we open up the floor because we want to ensure that you are being heard. And we want to make sure that you all have the opportunity to voice. um what your comments may be and they are on record as well so thank you guys for being here i reassure you there's nothing to um be scared about your thoughts are always welcome okay so really appreciate you guys for being out here and for staying out here because i know right now it is nine o'clock um and so thank you there's a first and a second there's a there's a first and second um all those in favor please say aye aye aye

Thank you. That passes. So we'll move on to the public hearing, going back to item number one. It is the consideration and approval on the second and final reading on ordinance number 2026-1820 to adopt the fiscal year 2027 annual budget. We'll turn it over to staff.

Good evening, Mayor and Commissioners, Stephen Muse, Financial Services Department. So we have a very brief summary for our second and final reading of the 2027 operating budget. Here's a quick summary of every operational budget that will be adopting the largest increases in general fund 3.2M followed by facilities fund at 1.1 and. The landfill fund also about 1.1M, and then, of course, we also have 2 new funds this year for operating budgets that will be adopting the stormwater drainage maintenance fund. with a budget of 2.8 million, and that's based on the residential units priced at $4.99. Then we have the Fiber Fund, and that is the operational expenses and the amount of revenue we'd need to generate from leases to cover those expenses.

Hey, Stuart, can you hold up a little bit?

Sorry.

Yeah, just hold up a little because I can't. I couldn't. A little bit of noise once we're... All right, go ahead, sir. Thank you. I didn't get the numbers.

That's really all I had. Is there any questions on that? Awesome. Thank you.

Any questions or comments? All right. This is a public hearing. If there's anyone that wishes to address this item, please step forward. Move to close. Second. We have a motion and a second to close public hearing. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye.

All those opposed say nay.

I have a motion 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.

Perfect. Moving on to item number two. It is the approval on the second and the final reading on ordinance number 2026-1821 to ratify the fiscal year 2027 budget that will raise more total property tax than last year's budget.

The Texas local government code requires a separate vote, uh, in addition to the budget as well as another separate vote for the tax rate after this, and this is just to ratify the revenue tax piece generated from the, um, tax rate that we'll be adopting.

Um, any questions or comments from the commission inside. All right, this is a public hearing if there's anyone here that wishes to trust the commission on the 2nd, please support to close. 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.

Second.

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

Aye.

Can we have a roll call?

Yes, we can. Starting with Commissioner Martinez. Aye. Commissioner Macias.

Aye.

Commissioner Villarreal. Aye.

Aye.

Mayor John Cowan. Aye. Commissioner Galanski. Aye. Commissioner De Leon.

Aye.

And Commissioner Cardenas.

Aye.

Seven to zero.

Moving on to item number three. I mean, it's a consideration and approval. I'm on the second and the final reading on ordinance number 2026-1822, a levy in the ad valorem taxes of the tax rate 2026 for the use and the support of the municipal government of the city of Brownsville for the fiscal year 2027, providing for the interest in the seeking fund of the fiscal year 2027 for the city of Brownsville, Texas, in the general obligation debt.

so this item is to adopt the tax rate used in the budget current tax rate is 60 cents the voter approval tax rate was actually 61 cents we elected to keep the same tax rate no increase from the current tax rate and the breakdown between the debt and amount going to general fund is shown below and for this item the state does have a specific language they would like us to approve it with

Any questions or comments from the commission? All right. This is a public hearing. So if there's anyone that wishes to address the commission on this item, please step forward.

I'll move to close the public hearing.

Second. 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.

I'll move to that the property tax rate being for the adoption of a tax rate of which is effectively an 8.03% increase in the tax rate. I just want to say I want to thank the staff with the financial department and the city management for listening for me last year that I was hoping not to increase the taxes. And even though we're required to say this language, that kind of negates the effect, but we are maintaining the same tax rate.

It does illustrate how confusing the law is because we're not allowed to raise taxes more than three and a half percent. But this is 8.03%. None of calculated according to the state formula. But it doesn't make sense to anybody. And I've been doing this for 40 years.

But thank you for honoring my request to like keep taxes.

Absolutely. It was our request.

All right.

We have a picture.

We have a motion to be of a second.

Second.

And then we'll do a roll call. Starting with Commissioner Cardenas. Aye. Commissioner De Leon. Aye. Commissioner Galanski. Aye. Mayor John Kelley. Aye. Commissioner Villara.

Aye.

Commissioner Macias. Aye. And Commissioner Martinez.

Aye.

It passes seven to zero. The last public hearing item is number four. It is a public hearing and action on the first reading on Ordinance Number 2026-1761B of the City of Brownsville to update the Master Fee Schedule of the City of Brownsville and amend the pertinent sections of the Code of Ordinances as reflected on those updates and dealing with related matters.

So this item is to update some fees for various departments. We have quite a few to run through. We have 114 new fees. 122 increases, 104 fee eliminations and 48 fee reductions. So, for the city secretary department, there's a several fee increase for their services that they provide. There's some new fees shown on the right side and there's the proposed amount in that 1 column. Then the field nominations are below that these are related to their operational transactions that they process. Department of health wellness and animal services foods division, this is the they have several sections, this is the vacant lot section they're proposing some increases to some lot sizes, as well as some decreases to the to the lot sizes. On the permits division, they're proposing fee increases for certain events from, for trials days, some temporary permits and the fee increase. They're also proposing increases to certain permits related to health, swimming, spa accounts, renewals. Some additional increases are for new establishments, various types of markets, tortillerias, fruit stands, those types of things. Uh, for the permits, there's also some new fees for food vendors and temporary food vendors. There's some decreases for restaurants of a certain size, and they're doing away with, uh, or reducing their late fee charges. And they have some fee eliminations for different, uh. Restaurants based on the organizational size. Some additional eliminations from the firm's department for more categories of markets, as well as some fee eliminations for technology-based accounts. There's also some food trucks and the tenaculate ones I mentioned on this slide. For bark, there's some fee increases. various items from the petting zoo to circus permits there's also some new fees for euthanasia cremation services and some other animal related products additional fee increases include city license tags additional euthanasia dispositions and microchips for implanting on the animals. And there's some fee decreases on their late fee charges as well as follow-up fees for the animal shelter. Planning and redevelopment has a number of fees increases as well. For technology and site development, there's some decreases for first Friday from $50 to $25. There's some fee eliminations for zoning permits based on acreage. And there's some fee eliminations related to different contractors and signage. There's also some new fees for preservation of commercial buildings and some other permits related to that. There's some new fees for wireless communication facilities, after hours inspections, and other services that they provide. landfill has a number of uh increases and these are baked in already to the ordinance these are the annual four percent increases uh that were already established in the ordinance and this is just a summary of those there's also some new fees for uh signage intended for new subdivisions or replacements the number of new fees are related to signages And there's also some new fees for temporary road closures and some rental of certain equipment that they can rent out. Fire Department has one new fee. It's an antibacterial injection. Parks and Recreation Department has some general fees related to their various facilities that they're proposing. They're also proposing to eliminate certain fees for disc rentals, bike and ride events, There's some fee increases for barricade rentals and the barbecue oven fee decreases for different disc rentals and other rental products and advertising. For the youth program, there's a new fee for the parking lot rental. There's a fee decrease on the fee per vendor and then there's some fee eliminations for certain items that were available for rent. The Aquatics Division has an increase on the Stingrays team registration, and there's a fee elimination for the lifeguard training program. Youth Athletics also has some new fees for several rental and marketing options, and there's some fee increases as well for the Little Dribblers and Independent Youth Leagues. There's also some free reductions for several programs. These are mostly standardizing the rate from the division between resident and non-resident. There's also some fee eliminations that are eliminating the difference between resident and non-resident as well. The Golf Center has some Couple fee increases and then there's a number of fee decreases as well related to their various services that they offer. The event center changing their rental rates for the various locations that they rent out fee increases. And then they did have a couple of fee reductions for several locations and then new fees on some items that are available for rent. Sports Park had some new fees, some rental equipment, and some fee increases for some other rental stuff. The Sports Park also had some additional fee increases for their tournaments, rental fees related to those tournaments, and other courts that they have available for rent. The fee decreases are for several rental items We're removing that 3, that non resident and resident differentiation. And there's some feed eliminations for certain items. The airport has a new fee proposed for lost tickets for the parking. Then a fee decrease for their transportation network. A fee per trip from 2 dollars to 1 dollar. The library has a new fee. for a couple of projects there and then two eliminations for their makerspace, related to their makerspace options. The Convention and Visitors View Department Mostly changes, increases, decreases in donations for their little store they have. There is three registration new fees proposed for the SpaceX vendors. $35 for an artisan vendor, $75 for a food vendor, and $175 for a food truck. Those are all the fee changes we have.

Thank you, Stephen. I have a quick question. Why are we moving away from resident-on-resident rates and standardizing them?

That's a good question.

Do we have anyone from parks that could move away from resident, non-resident prices and just standardizing it as one price?

I don't know an exact answer, but I think it's much easier to standardize it, especially a lot of those registrations are made online. And I just think it's easier to manage in terms of the registration system electronically. But I will speak with Parks and get back to you with when I see when I see the number the number we chose was the higher one for the non-resident so now a resident has to actually pay more correct in the standardization of it I will absolutely thank you and I know this is an awful lot of information this is the first reading I'm happy to discuss when you look through these if you see things that are odd I'm happy to discuss this with you before the next meeting.

I would like, uh, in that whole resident non resident for, uh, for you all to consider and I don't know what we do that. I didn't see that on here. Or, uh, the landfill. Do we have that? Yes, we do. But I think, uh, I was talking to someone who's who told me. That we charge, like, very little for non resident and he's a non resident. He's from heart engine. He's like, oh, it's awesome. I can go to the landfill. It's only like, whatever he goes, I would pay. Way more to be able to dump there. I appreciate that feedback the right? No, he was from. He was just like, I mean, I know you guys are trying to go through this. Preserve the landfill and he's like, I'm just telling you, I know you're a commissioner, but I mean, it's pretty cheap.

He's from Harlingen and he pays less than a resident. No, no, no, no, no. Okay.

That he would pay more. I think he does like the rate he does, but he would pay if we charged.

Like, uh, we do charge quite a bit more for, um, the, the, the, um, landfill that like Republic brings in from space X or like that. So he was talking about him. I know, I know, but he's an individual and there is a lower charge for that. We'll look at that.

I'll add one more item to that list. Uh, Alan, I believe it's $6 is the fee for parking at our airport. And for you to lose your ticket and have to pay $50 sounds a little over price to me.

I'll get an explanation for you. I think the reason is we're going to mostly an electronic system and there won't be anybody there to take cash. So I think there's a lot more to the system. In fact, Faisal will come up and explain right now.

Hey, Faisal. Hello, good evening. Um, yes, 1 of the reasons why we came up with a 50 dollar ticket is we did a calculation of different airports in the region and in the area and we didn't want, um, our customers using that as a loophole where they would park and lose their tickets and pay just a less fee thus diverting revenue from the airport. So we came to a calculation that 50 dollars was a fair rate that we can charge our customers at this time.

i'd like to continue the conversation if we can at the meeting and just so we can explore we'll do we can absolutely we can get some data for you as well thank you no worries any other questions or comments from the question this is the public hearing if there's anyone that wishes to speak on this item please step forward vote to close public hearing second all right we have a motion in a second any further discussion not all those in favor please say aye aye aye all those opposed say nay

I just have a motion passes five to zero. That was a public hearing.

Yeah, but just oh, yeah, that was five. 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. I just have a motion.

It passes five to zero. We will move on to the items for the individual consideration number one. It was a consideration and action to acknowledge the financial statements and cash investment report for the city of Brownsville for the third quarter ended June 30th, 2026.

So this is a third quarter financial report as of June 30th. The highlights are the general fund received 160.3 million in revenues. The expenditures through that period were 108.1 million. Sales tax revenues through June totaled $37 million, or 5% more than last year's quarter. Property tax collections totaled $68.6 million from our current levy. The cash transfer from PUB totaled $8.7 million, and the landfill generated $13.7 million of revenues. And the Veterans Bridge payments from the county through June were approximately $2.9 million. So here we have a look at our general fund revenues by category. Blue is last year, red is this year, and then the green is the annual budget. Everything is, for the most part, exceeding previous years. Current budgeted total is $142.9 million. That's with the mid-year amendments included. Revenues across all sources were $116.3 million, and it increased $13.2 million compared to last year. From our sales tax highlights, we have a slide on the left showing each quarter comparison over year to year. The trend is moving up. Last year we were at $35.3 million. This year we're at $37.2 million through June. And then on the right we have a rolling 12-month where we can compare Uh, the month to last year's month, uh, in April, there was a slight percentage decrease minus 3.40% in the next 2 months, May and June. Uh, we're both very close to double digit growth, 8.50 and 9.42% increases. Uh, from our property taxes, uh. Including our collections on prior years, we have 70.5M that's allocated between our general fund for maintenance and operations and a debt service fund to cover our capital improvement bond issuance payments. Here we have a look at our utility service and cash transfer revenues. The utility service revenues are the portion of the cash transfer that we allocate to offset the cost of the utility services from from. and we can see that the the red is the current year blue is the previous year has decreased the year this year which is a good thing on the cash transfer we've increased a bit by four percent compared to last year so we're doing well on both of those fronts here we have a look at our expenditures by classification Again, blue is last year, red is current year, and the green is the current budget. Everything's proceeding as expected. The amended budget across The categories are 149.5 million, and across all functions, it's about 108.1 million. Public safety, usually we see an increase, but last year we had some FEMA grants related to the shelter and services program that were reflected under public safety. That's why there's a little bit of a decrease. Usually we would see an increase if all things were equal. Our general fund balance as of June was $5,500. Million of that forty three point seven was unassigned and that translated to about nineteen days or nine point three million. This is before we did the end of year amendment. We changed our other fund summary a little bit previously, we had a table with a lot of numbers that made it a little bit hard to read. All that information is still available in the PDF report, but we just contest that to provide a summary. The big takeaway is, was there any big increases or decreases in the fund balance? We give you the beginning, the ending. All fund balances are relatively normal. The community development one, you might see it as zero because that is entirely funded by grants. We operate on a reimbursement basis. So the zero fund balance is the normal fund balance for that one. we are meeting our minimum fund balance for the bridge fund we currently have as of june 7.5 million our employee benefits fund the net position is 1.2 million we had 14.3 million in fund contributions and 11.2 million in disbursements on the left side you can see the breakdown 63% of the costs were for medical and dental claims, 22% for administrative fees, and that was followed by prescription drug claims at 7%, and then specific and aggregate stop loss, slightly lower than 7%, and then the healthcare consultant at 1% and miscellaneous, just a sub-percentage. On our Veterans Bridge, on the left side, you can see the revenues per year in the bar graph, and the line shows the quarterly comparison. So for fiscal year 2026, we're exceeding last year, very close to the year before that. And so we're reversing that trend of a decrease from fiscal year 2023. Then on the right side, you can see the breakdowns of vehicle traffic. And we're starting to see that trend up again from $495,000 last year, $495,000 to $511,000 with the biggest increase being commercial, sorry, motorcycle and auto vehicles. Our building permit analysis takes a look at the quantities and the base of the permits on the left. We can see, uh, the categories, the quantities and the values. Quantity wise, we issued slightly more about 4 permits more, but the value was about 30% higher than than last year. That's largely being led by new commercial permits. As well as apartments and new residences. On the right side, you can see the comparison of the full year, and the line shows the quarterly comparison. As you can see, fiscal year 2026 is exceeding the full year for 2025. The third quarter of 2026 is exceeding the full year from last year, so we're doing really well on permit values this year. For our investment report, we have $331 million Idle funds, including total city funds, including the CEOs. 71% of that is invested in public pools. 20% in money markets. We have 6% in US Treasury bills and notes. And then we have about 3% in our demand account to pay for our recurring costs, operating costs. On the right side, the top table will show you our investment policy limits and that we are in compliance with those limits. And below, we have our performance metrics. Our weighted average days to maturity is currently at 80 days. Our limit is 365. Below that, you can see our weighted average yield is at 3.72%. We are exceeding the three-month T-bill that was at 3.66%. Last year, we were lagging that T-bill by a little bit. This year, we're exceeding it, so we're showing improvement there. That concludes our third quarter report.

Just a quick comment. I just want to express briefly what joy it brings me to see that our enterprise funds are starting to produce money. This keeps us from having to fund our enterprise funds and our general fund can grow with the unassigned money and we can do things that are priority that come to our attention. So I just want to highlight that, that, you know, when I first started here, a lot of these enterprise funds were in the red, actually the majority of them were. So to see them turn around is just bringing me a lot of joy. So great job team. Thank you for bringing this together. I know it's been a lot about like our policy budgets, policies, you know, so just grateful from my office. Thank you for all the work that you all do. Thank you, sir. With that, I'll move to acknowledge.

Motion. Do we have a second? Second. Do we have a motion and a second? Any further discussion? Not all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. We have a motion carried.

It carries six to zero. Moving on to item number two. I mean, it's a consideration and action to award a contract number 141-26BMT-IFB to SGS LLC, doing business as Earthworks Enterprise in the amount of $1 million, $539,579 for the Southmost Nature Trail Phase 3 as budgeted.

Good evening commission. I'm Johnny Penny with a multimodal transportation department and the project that I have for your consideration is the construction of soft most. Nature show phase 3 project, the project spans about 2 miles starting from the South post public library. Going Eastward and Northward around the morning type park and ultimately ending at the morning sign elementary school. Along the, the, the project will be including lights, enhanced cross box for pedestrians and. you know, increasing safety along these roadways and, of course, adding some walkways to the Morningside Park and the Brownsville Public Library. So this would be connecting a public library, a public park and a public school. So it's just a great connectivity piece for this region. This went out for advertisement in April. We collected bids in May. And so there were three. The bid that you see here for Earthworks Enterprise was the second lowest, so the most responsible bidder. It is at the $1.5 million. If approved today, construction would be starting in October, and it lasts about 98 working days pending working conditions and stuff like that. But staff would recommend approving the award of this project. We think it's a great investment for this region, the connectivity for the pedestrians in this area. Do you have any questions?

No questions, just really excited for this project. I know that we had to refigure the area that it was going to, but I know we've had conversations about three times specifically. um you know getting kayak and just activating a lot of recreation at morningside park and to see uh if you just want to go back like one or two slides yeah yeah right there you can see that the the trail goes all along the resaca so it'll be a very very cool manatee added to the southwest community a lot of months a lot of years going into into this project so excited to see it come to fruition thank you uh i'll uh move to approve we have a motion second 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. Thank you, Commissioner. Thank you so much.

It passes 7-0. Moving on to item number 3. It is the consideration and action to authorize the approval of a tree removal permit as an alternative to the preservation of the protected and the heritage trees under the Unified Development Code Section 5.1.3b, the heritage tree for the proposed fuel station in the convenience store development on the property described as being 2.272 acre track of land that is situated in Jose Salvador de la Garza, All of called 1.08 acre track out of a certain 1.584 acre track and block 19 L heading a subdivision share a 27 ES grant Cameron County, uh, here located at four, six, six, zero, uh, Boca Chica, uh, uh, Boulevard in Brownsville, uh, 7, 8, 5, 2, 1 located in district one.

Good evening, mayor commissioners flying department. Tonight we will be presenting a request for a tree removal permit for both protected and heritage trees, similar to an item that we presented a couple of months back. Just to give you some additional context, back in June, updated provisions for the upkeep or the protection of protected and heritage trees were adopted. However, because this project started much before these new regulations were adopted, this particular permit is being reviewed under the old provisions. Therefore, um, I'll start with, uh, describing the property as mentioned, this property is located at 4, 6, 6, 0 book a ticket Boulevard. The request is to remove protected and heritage trees. The property size is 2.272 acres. The current zoning is commercial corridor and that the proposed uses for a convenience store slash fuel station. The property is fronting Boca Chico Boulevard and specifically located on the south east side or southeast corner of the intersection with Central Avenue. And so, as mentioned, this is on the southeast corner, it's fronting Boca Chico, which is a 120 foot primary arterial and North Central Avenue, which is a collector. This is a long map showing commercial corridor along thoroughfare of Boca Chica surrounded by residential single family. The review criteria are just to again provide you context and history on the previous item that was presented. There's two categories of trees, protected trees or any tree that are 12 inches, between 12 inches or 24 inches in caliper. And heritage trees are any tree that is 24 inches in caliber size or greater. So to remove any of these trees, the approval of a true remove permit is required through the City Commission. The review criteria, so for protected trees, whenever a protected tree is going to be removed, it has to be mitigated. to a one-to-one ratio. For every caliper inch that is removed, one inch has to be replaced. And any tree that is used to replace a protected tree must have a minimum of three caliper inches. For heritage trees, because they're more significant, they're required to be mitigated at a three-to-one ratio. So basically, for every inch that is removed or cut down, three inches have to be replaced. Location requirements for mitigation as part of this removal permit, the applicant does have to mitigate on site or pay a fee in lieu of. In this case, they will be doing a combination of both. They will be mitigating on site and they will be paying whatever it is that they weren't able to mitigate through the fee in lieu of. Again, the location requirements specify that any mitigation must be done within the property. So, for the fee in lieu of option, the city may establish a fee, which we already did through the new provisions. Now, it's 200 dollars per caliber range that is removed under the old provisions, which again, we're reviewing this particular permit. under those regulations the fee shall be equal to the cost of the replacement trees and shall include the installation or planting cost the applicant shall submit a written estimate from a nursery as verification of the costs so the applicant did submit um An estimate, and it was verified or sent to the city foresters office for verification. It came out to an approximate total of 67,000 dollars. That would be the portion that they would have to pay to the city for any inches that were not mitigated on site. Also, the code states that for any tree. That's considered a protected tree. The. if it remains or if it's preserved, the applicant does obtain credits. For protected trees, it's three trees that they get the credit of three trees if they protect a protected tree, and they get eight trees if they protect the heritage tree. So in this particular case, as per their Tree inventory, there are 2 protected trees that are going to remain on site, or that are going to be preserved and then there's several others that will be removed. Now, the total number of inches that will be removed of either protected or heritage trees is a total of 187.5 inches. This particular slide shows their tree preservation plan, basically what they're proposing to plant on site to mitigate the removal. They're proposing to mitigate the removal of of trees, of the existing trees, with 15 Chinese pistache trees, 10 live oaks, and 14 cedar elms. Each of these trees will have a minimum caliper size of four inches. So as mentioned, the ratio that's required for both heritage and protected trees, the total number of Uh, inches that are required to be mitigated in this particular case is 445.5 inches. Uh, in this case, they are only mitigating 156 and they will be. Paying for 289.5 inches of, of, uh, trees that were removed. So, just to provide you a detailed summary, the number of salvage trees was 2. The, those 2 trees that were salvage were protected trees. Therefore, because they're protected trees, each 1 gets a credit of 3. So, therefore they get a total credit of 6 trees. For the tree removal, as we can see here, there's four heritage trees that were removed, each specifying the size, their current size on site. And there's also four trees that fall under the protected category that were removed, also specifying the caliper inches that each measures. The total number, as mentioned, is 187.5. However, if we multiply the ratio that's required by the code, it gives us a total of four hundred and forty five point five per inches. I need to be medicated. So, um, as mentioned, one hundred and fifty six inches will be replaced on site and then there's two hundred and eighty nine point five inches left over. they will be paying a fee in lieu for those trees that they were not able to plant on site. Again, the approximate fee that they would be paying is a little bit over $67,000. So, as for the unified development code, uh under the previous provisions uh the city commission does have the authority to grant a tree removal permit for both protected and heritage trees if the developer's mitigation plan meets the minimum requirements or exceeds the mitigation standards either through on-site mitigation or a combination of both So, as per staff analysis, and also by collaborating with the city foresters office, um, the. Submitted a tree mitigation plan doesn't meet the minimum requirements. Through the replacement of trees on site and through the payment of the field.

In a few months back, we. We had a similar issue. Is it the same law or is it the law across the street? It's a lot across the street to the south of two gasoline stations, one in front of the other.

Right. So these about a year ago, we. uh data udc amendment where it limits one gas station per intersection this particular application started also before that uh provision or that new provision was adopted therefore it's vested under the old code that's why two gas stations are being permitted at this particular intersection

So that proposed 67,000 dollar fee, right? Is that is that money restricted towards. Um, replanting trees in the city, or is it. Is it, um.

The funds, it's similar, and I'll use the analogy of a park fee that we use for subdivisions. The money goes into a pot where that part of, or those funds are used to purchase trees and the city does have the authority or the right to plant them in parks along trails, or just invest them in existing

a tree canopy it does have a designated use that is correct alan is there any way that um when this happens and i'm not talking about just this case that we can go back to the dog park our dog park has no trees i think there's like cherries sure i mean trees would be great there but we're gonna need a little water system there too because there's sure these funds would definitely be eligible for that

We will address the dog parks regardless. Thank you for that feedback. Thank you.

So, Martin, here it says on the previous slide that we have the may approve the removal of one if the plan meets or exceeds the minimum. Right here. You guys are

not exceed them correct well to an extent it exceeds them a little bit based on the fee so and that's one of the reasons why in June we decided to standardize a fee to make it a set $200 in this particular situation if he came out quite a bit high because the developer was being a good developer per se, if we can call it that, where they picked the trees as close or resembling what was on site. We must point out that the code does have a list of eligible species and not all of those species have the same cost at a nursery. So, in this particular case, the developer pick the ones that were that resembled what was on site as close as possible. Therefore, it was, it was higher.

If this site wasn't a gas station, could that site be developed around the protected and heritage trees?

Well, based on the existing conditions, these trees were or the majority of them were in the center of the property. There's only one that's a little bit more to the south. It's sort of independent from everything else. But the main envelope of construction, which is located in the center of the property, it was occupied by trees. So more than likely they would have had to compromise one or two of them.

just to put some perspective for that sixty seven thousand dollars how many trees would that would that buy i think it would defer that i don't know we have just mr aguilar expert like how many trees would that we would be able to buy with that and that that are

Good evening, Mayor, Commissioners. My name is Alex Aguilar. I'm from Engineering Public Works. So just off the top of my head, a $5,000 grant that we got last year got us 40 trees, already good size, four inches in caliber and up. So we just multiplying Those are basically how we're going to get oaks. The ones that are mentioned are two live oaks and an aqua. So when they made the estimate, they made the estimate out of those trees that they want to remove. Yeah, that's about $800,000.

Perfect.

And remember, when we purchase them, because this is going into our tree mitigation fund, we actually have a discount with nurseries. They only sell to us and to developers. So our price of an oak tree is not the same as if just a citizen goes and buys it.

But can I ask you a question? Because I know I'm allergic to cedar. Are the cedar elms the ones that make people's allergies flare up?

That all depends the person. Yes. But the ones that are going to be purchased are for the city and we can purchase wherever we want. We prefer always natives.

Further questions or comments from the Commission? I'll entertain a motion on this item.

I'll move to protect the trees and deny the request to knock them down because I feel like there's already going to be one gasoline station in that area. And they had to get rid of some heritage trees from that lot to make it do. Second. I live around there and I drive by it, so I felt strongly about the trees. Thank you. I've got a second.

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

suppose they name i just have it it passes seven to zero there's no action needed on number four so that puts us at the executive session may we enter into executive session mayor so move second we have a motion in a second any for the discussion if not all is in favor please say aye aye aye aye starting with item number one is it It is a closed session pursuant to the Texas Government Code Section 551.071 and .072 and .087 related to Project Fulcrum. Number two will be tabled. Number three is the closed session pursuant to the Texas Government Code Section 551.071. uh regarding the ordinance number 2026-1797 in regards to the city code section 2-26 public comments regulations number four will be tabled so we'll move on to number five which is closed session pursuant to the Texas government code section 551.071 related to project tune-up the city commission is entered into executive session at 9 52 p.m Mayor, may we reconvene into open session?

Yes, please.

The time is 10.34 p.m. We're back into open session. There is some possible actions to consider. There's no action on number one. Moving on to the project tune-up for your consideration.

To proceed as discussed. All right. We have a motion. We have a second. Second. 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.

I just have a motion carries adjournment. So moved. Second, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? If not all those in favor, please say aye. I just have it. Thank you.

We're adjourned at 10 35 PM. Have a good night.