Commissioners Court - Regular Meeting

Yes, thank you, Cesar. Good morning, everyone. So today we have a very special treat. We have a special Pledge of Allegiance video that was prepared for us by the Red Sands Elementary School Technology Club. So they're going to lead us in the pledge, but it's through a special video that they created specifically for us.

We do not have someone, but it's like the opportunity for a moment of silence. 9-11, just what an amazing situation. The number of people that were hurt, not only then at that particular point, but those that continue to die because of the tragedy. So very important. I'm very proud of what happened at UTEP at the Sun Bowl on Friday. Pretty amazing that... Almost 4,000 individuals participated in the 102, not stairs, but stories that they had to walk. And so it was very, very, very moving. You couldn't leave there with a lot of emotion, especially the memorials that they had there. So I would l

Well, thank you so much. And I do want to also appreciate that we have some great resolutions here today. And thank you for being here. It's always such a pleasure. And this is on behalf, obviously, of myself and our commissioners that we really appreciate care and appreciate all the participation, especially some of the other items that we talk about that are so relevant to the community. So thank you for being here. I think you're going to be very pleasantly surprised at the resolutions and the music around it and also some of the things that we have to look at, community members that have g

Hearing none, Commissioner. I just have a question, Cesar, with respect to the item O. Yes, sir. I noticed that Canutillo was left out on the...

I know they have an election November, early November.

Good morning, buenos dias. Very honored to be able to present this resolution celebrating Mexican Independence Day and recognizing El Paso County's deep historical culture and binational ties to Mexico. We're joined by the Consul General Mauricio Ibarra Ponce de Leon. Muchas gracias por estar aqui. We'll bring him up to the dais in just a second.

a special treat here in a couple of minutes after we read the resolution. But I think for our community, is just much more than a date on a calendar. It's an opportunity to really celebrate our history, our traditions, our music, our cultural and binational ties that have shaped generations of El Pasoans. Of course, our relationship with Mexico is reflected with our families, with our neighborhoods, our local economy, and the unique identity of the border region as a whole. And El Paso and Ciudad Juarez are part of one interconnected binational community. Although an international boundary sep

Well, thank you, Consul Ibarra. I want to also thank him for, it's not like a one day thing. Consul Ibarra throughout the entire year and his team do everything to bring our culture together, make sure that we remember. He has some amazing events there in El Consulado that really get us to understand. As a matter of fact, up there on the, right here we have the Yañez, the Señora Yañez that has an exhibition on raíces. And so we're constantly working together to do some of these great things. And so we're very proud of our relationship that you have with the commissioners and myself, and very p

Yes, I'm sorry. Oh yes, of course, please. Mic is yours.

Can we have each of the students just come to the microphone and just tell us their name, introduce themselves, and then as they come and line up here to take the picture. Thank you.

Thank you, thank you. Linda, do you mind being up here for us? I'll read the resolution, but you can wait there, because obviously you're the great author of what we're accomplishing today, and thank you for your courage and strength and for also being able to share with others this experience. So I'll read the resolution. where September is nationally recognized as Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, providing an important opportunity to raise awareness, promote education, support those affected by ovarian cancer, and encourage women to recognize and advocate for changes in their health. whereas

Is there anyone else that would like to say anything on behalf of Linda or the ovarian cancer?

Well, thank you. I think we all, go ahead, go ahead.

Carl, you forgot your phrase. I mean, come on.

Thank you. On behalf of the Congresswoman, you want to? I know you're hiding back there, but... Well, this is on behalf of the member.

Go ahead. You wanna, okay, are we ready?

Okay, now I just wanna, you know, Linda has been such an incredible warrior. I mean, if you look, I think she's like the advocate of advocates. I mean, because of her advocacy and the things that she's done for our community, being a representative of Elizabeth Dolph Foundation, which for caregivers, As you could see the solidarity, we've got two Veterans of the Year, David and Donna, Veterans of the Year here. But you could see the difference of being able to rally and showing that solidarity is very comforting. I could see as a good and beloved friend of mine, I feel like she's safe around t

Thank you all. I'm proud to be able to present this resolution and recognize September 2026 is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month here in El Paso County. I see we're joined by folks from NAMI here, NAMI El Paso, as well as Emergence Health Network. Welcome. Suicide is a very serious public health issue that affects people of every age, background, and in every community. Behind every statistic is a person, a family, a network of loved ones whose lives have been changed forever. This month is an opportunity to raise awareness, challenge the stigma that too often surrounds mental health, and rem

The resolution states whereas suicide is the second leading cause of death for people ages 10 to 34 in the United States and whereas suicide was the 11th leading cause of death overall in the United States claiming more than 49,300 lives and whereas more women than men attempt suicide but men are about four times more likely to die by suicide. And whereas the highest suicide rates in the U.S. occur among American Indian Alaskan Native people, followed by non-Hispanic white people, and whereas LGBTQ plus high school students attempt suicide at a more than three times rate than of their peers, c

We have Isidro Torres from NAMI El Paso, please, if you'd like to share a few words and then we can hear from our friends at EHN.

Can everybody at least introduce yourselves if you don't have anything to say? Thank you.

Thank you. Well, Commissioner Stout, as always, thank you for this resolution. It's very dear to my heart as a clinical therapist, the first part of my career. I had to see the crisis, the families, all these indications that were missed because we weren't aware. And I think you guys are doing such a great job of getting us to understand, and please, please, this thing about if they talk about it, they're not going to attempt it, is such a missed situation. I mean, it might not be that time because they're talking about it, but then maybe later on that's when they decide to So don't ever let a

Thank you, Judge. And again, thank you to all of our providers here doing amazing work. And it's just an honor to be able to see the impact that you all are having every day. And I really am glad that the county can be a part of that and partner with you all to make sure that people understand that help is there and we see them and we want them to be safe. Thank you.

Commissioner Holguin. Actually, we're going to ask that this resolution be postponed for one week.

Thank you, Carl. Thank you for all you do.

Is the savings that you indicate on the bottom? That net of the cost of refinance?

No, just Carmen, any additions or anything as it relates to our budget or anything that you want to comment on?

Thank you. Betsy, any additional comments?

Okay, well, thank you so much. We appreciate your presentation. Thank you. Pleasure. Thank you. Thank you, Christine.

Lisa, just on the last one, just curiosity, are we aligned with what the governor is saying that he'd like to do?

I was just curious if we had some alignment there.

Thank you, Alisa. Judge Commissioners, thank you for allowing me to offer this amended language. That really is just a bit more specific and encompassing of the discussions that are happening in the state legislature right now. Everything that's proposed in this language really does include those conversations that I've heard both at the hearings that are happening around data centers, but also the discussions that are happening within organizations like TAC and CUC. And really, mirror a lot of the language on the resolution that we approved here in Commissioner's Court a couple of weeks ago.

Betsy, can you help me on this one? Because I'm a little concerned about whether we know enough of, for example, what's the tax impact that it would have on the community? Like, I don't know if you know or not. And then the other one, like how many, would the county have a seat at the table? Those kinds of things. I don't know if we're...

The development of a locally governed groundwater conservation district. So I think at that point.

I actually think That might be even a little bit premature, right? I think that I know, we know that this is a priority for at least one member of our delegation. We've had a very thorough presentation and discussions about groundwater conservation districts. I really read this as us saying, yes, we support this effort and we don't have to say, you know, we're not saying how it should be developed, or whether we support one formation versus another, other than there should be a locally governed groundwater conservation district. I think that's very basic language, and for us as a county that d

And Commissioner, can we, because I'm concerned, like I want to support that obviously, but if we're creating another tax entity and I don't know the impact of that, that's the only thing that concerns me that it'll come back on us to say you're supporting one more tax entity. So is there another way that, because I would love to support it. I love Gonzales is really on top of this, but I just felt uncomfortable with like what's the taxation gonna be and we're gonna impose that taxation on that community if it happens. So I don't know if it would be better to support that we do everything poss

That's how I feel because I still don't know some of the and like I said, if a community's gonna get taxed on it, if it forms, we're the ones that actually supported that. So I don't know how you feel, Commissioner.

No, and that was gonna be my question. I'm not sure. So I know that she provided a lot of really great information and we had a very in-depth presentation several months ago. But I'm just wondering, do we know how it's progressing, what stage they're in, if there's support amongst the other members of the delegation? I feel like we don't really have any more information since the date of that presentation, which is already several months ago. Do you know, Elisa?

whenever you will verse it what do you think yeah i i also um think it would be a good idea to um understand a little bit more about where where we are in the process and what what um what the language looks like because you know i have the same concerns it's it's creating a new taxing entity it seems um and and though you know i do agree in concept with um the fact that we need to conserve our groundwater Absolutely. I just think it might be a better idea to to at least postpone unless unless you want to put it as at least as suggesting as a value statement for now and then bring it back up.

I really think this is something that we need to move forward with. There's only certain areas, if the state legislature doesn't take on the issue of these companies coming in and putting their own restrictions, we only have one other avenue and that's groundwater conservation district. 70% or 173 or so counties of the 254 have these groundwater conservation districts. Our neighboring counties, Brewster County has them. We don't. The major areas in the south of Texas, all of them have groundwater conservation districts. We don't. Some of them even have a collaboration of counties got together

And I think we want to do it, but I would like to tell the community what the impact of something we're supporting. And that's why I feel very uncomfortable that we're going to support something that we don't know the and it might be like Commissioner saying, but I would like to be able to tell the community. what that impact is gonna be and then we could support it versus we support it and then they have to deal with the tax implications of it. So like I said, I think we all agree the importance of it, but I think we need more information like Commissioner Stout said about who's supporting it

And I think, you know, again, when it comes, another question for me is the makeup of, if there is going to be a board, what the makeup is going to look like. Because I think that if El Paso is going to support the groundwater conservation district, that we should have ample... representation on that board, whatever it looks like, right? I feel like many times we have so few tools when it comes to regulation and sometimes we abdicate our authority to other entities or to other individuals. Kind of like what happened with the MPO when we moved forward with the ETA. And I just wanna make sure th

So we can just not take action on this item and not add it to the agenda, and that would be a de facto postponement, right?

Well, I just want to say before we move on that I think that, again, this language is very broad and our legislative agenda is a working document and so it could always come back once a bill is drafted for us to say we support or don't support this particular bill. But this gives us a way for us to be proactive in the drafting of that legislation and to have those conversations and to move this conversation specifically forward. And when I'm out there in the community, people are asking me, what is the county doing? If you don't have authority now, what are you doing to protect our community?

I like the priority, but not the part of the locally governed because I like I said, what do I tell the community that what kind of an impact is it going to have?

Well, all groundwater conservation districts have a local board. That's part of the. Right, it's it does. We're not saying. What the organization or entity should look like, but they all, from my understanding, a board made up of its local residents where the conservation district is.

So are we actually, have we been invited to be involved? Has our ledge team been invited to be involved in the quote unquote proactive writing of the bill language or are we just waiting for, have you been approached by any member of the delegation? mainly Gonzalez, right? Because she's taking the lead on this to help write the legislation at all.

so we can we can try again and like proactively try to get the draft or get involved in those in the coming weeks and then bring it for bring this item forward again or uh yeah i think if we're going to be proactive because the issue is you may be able to meet with her and understand what she's dealing with and and what she's writing but it seems to me it's it's it's better for the whole court to have our staff involved in our and our lobbyists involved because If you meet with her, I can't meet with her. Or he can't meet with her, right? Because we get into issues with quorum issues. I guess

Well, wouldn't this action kind of set up that framework for our team and our lobbyists to be proactive on this issue with our delegation?

Well, I think we need to understand what exactly is being proposed, right? So for me, it's important to understand. Again, I think we've talked about the things that we want to understand. But if you're talking about us being proactive in writing, helping write the language, I mean, we have a team that can help do that on behalf of the court instead of just one or two members. We can reengage, I guess, Representative Gonzalez and see if that's something that she'd like for us to do.

Which I think is the reason why we should put this on our agenda, to say the court agrees that this is a priority for the

but i think what we're saying though is that we want a little bit more information on the status of the process what if um so the second sentence what if we add that as a value statement that's very broad support tools that promote long-term groundwater sustainability protect existing i mean that's a very broad statement yes those are things that we want to do obviously a groundwater conservation district is potentially one of those tools but maybe that would be a good compromise

We're just wanting enough time to be able to get all the details. And like I said, I want to be able to tell the community what the impact is before I say I'm going to support it. And so a value statement to me would be that first step.

And then we continue working on the other issue.

I disagree. That's not what it's saying, that we support it in whatever establishment it comes back to. But that's one of the reasons why we could always bring it back once the bill is drafted.

Right, which is why we need the clarity.

Okay, so maybe adding that second sentence as the value statement, and then we continue working on the remainder of the issues and collecting more information.

I really think that We need to get this as soon as possible because I think adding it as a priority really should be the decision that this body makes. What that takes effect and what areas we have in terms of how the makeup is, it's a totally different issue. But I think making it a priority should be the value statement of this body in terms of what we've heard from our community. And I think that what form that takes is up for discussion down the road. I really think that we ought to, I think this is very, very imperative and we can't do any sooner than immediately to get this water conserv

So the motion that we're voting on is to include the second paragraph in our value statement?

So that was the motion that you made, Commissioner Butler? Yes. No, no, no, that was the motion that I made. The motion here is saying it's moved by Commissioner Butler and seconded by... No, it was a motion by Commissioner Olguin.

No, just thank you for including this language again, Judge and Commissioners. Two, well, water and wastewater infrastructure, definitely one of the most urgent issues we deal with here at the county, and I know that We have value statements supporting water infrastructure already, but I'm hopeful that if we're able to add this as a priority for us, we can be more engaged in that process with the relevant agencies at the state level. I know that it's really uncertain what funding is gonna look like and what the budget situation's gonna look like, but as much as possible, I hope that we're able

Thank you, Elisa. Sorry, I just wanted to thank Elise and our lobby team pump for the work that they've done on this legislative agenda, and I know that they'll continue to do. I think a great process was created that allowed many different stakeholders, including departments, members of our delegation, our court offices, other county officials to provide the input necessary to create a strong document. I know it's pretty heavy. We have now, I think, 10 or 11 priorities. Usually counties try to stick to like three to five to not overburden their teams. But I know that you all are hardworking a

Thank you Lisa and our team great team out there. Thank you. Thank you Lisa.

Whatever you feel. What's your comfort level at this point?

It wasn't clear in the presentation that, not just the initial 10 year phase, but the entire amount. So that was my question.

So none of the funds after the first 10 years are going to go towards any maintenance? Because I saw that there was administrative cost item in there.

But none of the funds that are directed to the TURs will be used for anything other, including after the 10 years. I'm not talking about the park now. You were talking about the park issue, but I'm talking about funds after that.

But none of those counties portion of it, and that's what was not clear, would be used for maintenance.

Okay, I think we just need to spell that out because y'all were intending to use part of that from the city's portion towards maintenance.

I don't have any other questions, Judge. I wanted to make a comment. This is a very important clarification. Thank you, Commissioner Coronado, for bringing that forward. I guess my worry is if we don't move forward because we now need to make this correction. I'm just worried. This is, I think, the second or third time that the folks from the City of Horizon have been here, and we haven't been able to move forward. forward it sounds like we're all now on the same page this um so i'm just wondering if there's any way that we can um just i thought we agreed given the considerations that have bee

Yeah, I just, I feel like, and it is a major issue that did need clarification, but as far as the changes, just specifying that it's construction, I mean, how much of the document is going to change?

I guess my question is, I just want to make sure, once we make this change, if we're ready to move forward, once we make this clarification. I would just hate for the city to have to come back again next week, and then we're finding ourselves in the same position again.

There's time sensitivity of what the horizon wants to complete.

Can this be brought back next Monday or Monday after? We have time to still post. Or the Monday after? Is that still within the time frame for action?

Preferably, the sooner the better, I think.

I apologize, I didn't recognize our mayor here today, and back to our other mayor, so we've got two mayors here.

And are you comfortable, because, I mean, this is the third time they have to bring the whole team over, and if that's the only item, and we're saying based on your, on legal, would it be okay to...

Or what if we vote to go forward, but giving you that opportunity, and then maybe that way next week it's on the consent agenda and we see it, but we don't necessarily have to make the entire City of Horizon leadership come to the meeting again.

Prove it subject to the revisions in the contract?

specifying construction only and then you all would essentially ratify it next week yes yes we'll make that motion no second i just i just want to um say that one of the questions i had was whether the county would be able to use the facility oh yes and so maybe that um that conversation can also take place over this week and it could be drafted into the absolutely yeah so this is

And I think the goal is to complement, especially with the sports park, right? Absolutely. We know that the sports park is not big enough to handle all of the softball and baseball tournaments, and so the idea would be to complement each other.

I think this is a great, you know, this is a great really project, you don't have to sell me. It's the details that we need to iron out. But, you know, as you know, you just look at my website for Precinct 4, we're all about parks. And I'm just hoping that down in the future, we all are equally supportive of regional parks in our entire county. Because I think that really benefits our entire county. And this, I think, is gonna be a great, great addition.

So I did have a couple of questions. So these would be three new positions, not including your current, because right now I think we have two historic preservation. Yes, ma'am.

And would all three of them have to be hired at once, or is that something we could do incrementally as we see what the need is?

And I know that we didn't get responses to the RFP. Did we ever reach out specifically to the city of San Elisario? I know that now there's been a meeting scheduled to talk to them about how they could help support and maybe help with some of the programming. But previously, did we ever...

I thought for interlocals we could because it's another government.

So one of the things that I have found very, very helpful, and I understand the Genealogy Society and Ms. Trujillo, she's, bless her heart, she's ready to retire. So I understand they can't keep going forward, but one of the things that I thought was a huge, huge benefit is that that entire group is physically located in San Elisario. And I can't tell you how many times it happened that, you know, we're taking a group out there and someone realizes we didn't actually, make arrangements for the jail to be open and literally we call her and two minutes later she's there. So I feel like it's real

I mean, I think I'd like to see how that might work. I, you know, we've been very hesitant to add new positions, and I understand this is hot fund funded and not general fund funded, these three new positions, but I just, I know that we've, as a court, I've been having these conversations about wanting to be careful and adding new positions. So I'd be interested to see if maybe there is a way to collaborate and enter into an interlocal with the city of San Isidro if they have the capacity to do it. It seems like they're interested in at least having those discussions before we approve hiring t

I think what I did like is the organic growth into tourism, because you've got Casa Ronquillo, and so if we limit our, to the city just on this one, we're still, I feel like we're still on step one, where I really want to, you know, I don't want to hear one more time, how come you're not like Mesilla? It's like it drives me crazy because they, you know, they seem more, you know, they want to make sure that that place works, it happens, and you've seen the results of that. And I feel that's what we're lacking is that we don't have this... a little bit of a foundation, and then from there we hav

And I don't mean to suggest that we'd let Sonnelli take it over or the management or take the place of the heritage tourism or the genealogy society. I meant if there was a way for the county, I do think that the county should be responsible for the programming and take much more direct involvement in the management, but I'm wondering If instead of just relying on hiring new staff, there's a way we could work together kind of a combination of the two where we're maybe able to subcontract some duties to the city of San Elisario if they're interested again. I know you all haven't had that meetin

But I'm just wondering if we can get a little bit more information on how something like that might work instead of just... And they might be, hopefully not, but they might be offended that we didn't consider them as... Because I saw his program. He presented, Mayor Chuck Cohen presented that overall kind of tourism and all of that. And I'm sure he's got to consider that as part of it. So I think maybe that conversation is very important as sort of a professional courtesy to say, hey, you know, this is what we'd like to do. Do you have any other, I mean, would it be better for you to participa

I have some questions, Judge. That's okay. Thank you. So I'm trying to get a better idea of the budget impact and the budget need for this position because The $208,000 for salaries and fringe doesn't include operations budget at all, and we don't know what the operations budget is going to look like.

have you started laying out a budget for operations? If you're anticipating hiring three new people, you're gonna do more exhibits, more events, more activities, have you drafted a budget for those things yet?

I understand that. I just think that if the goal is to enhance operations, there has to be an enhanced operations budget that's tied to that, right? I'm trying to get a better idea. Is it going to be closer to 300,000 a year or is it going to be somewhere in between? And one of the other questions I have, which is related in the document that was on the backup, it talks about performance metrics, which may include total annual visitor counts, number of guided tours and programs and workshops, educational outreach activities, number of community events. Do we have all of those benchmark now to

I think that it would be helpful for me at least to see what those benchmarks are, like what is currently the operational cadence and structure there. And so what is the goal to enhance those? And it doesn't have to be specified. I think that IF NEW PEOPLE ARE BEING HIRED, THEY SHOULD HAVE A SAY IN WHAT ENHANCEMENTS OCCUR, BUT ALSO LIKE WHAT IS THE MINIMUM HAPPENING NOW THAT WE WANT TO IMPROVE UPON SO THAT WHEN WE LOOK BACK AT THIS MAYBE IN A YEAR, WE CAN SAY THIS IS HOW MUCH WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO IMPROVE ACCESS OR VISITORS. AND THEN I DO THINK THAT IF WE MOVE FORWARD WITH THIS, IT SHOULD BE ON A

Do we know, we have any idea of what the metrics are in terms of what the ongoing process has brought in in terms of compliance with the hot funds?

What I'm saying is what has, in terms of, you know, the hot funds, obviously it's in compliance, but do we know how many people have been brought in because of that and whether they've spent the night, all those hotel rooms, do we have an idea of that?

I mean, I know y'all are meeting with the city of San Elisario on the 30th, so I would prefer maybe coming back to this discussion after that meeting in case there are some new ideas or there is some way that the city can support the county's direct management of the Los Portales, maybe something we just haven't thought of. So before committing to three new positions, I'd like to see what maybe those discussions look like. And I don't know if that would give you maybe a little bit more time to maybe get some of the budget information that Commissioner Butler is asking for.

We're talking about an increase in about $120,000 from what it is now, plus the operating budget.

I think include them in the executive when we get there.

I have a question, Judge. Is this $75,000 for the department already in the budget from previous?

Got it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I have, no, go ahead. Thank you, thank you, Carmen. So I think that we, as I mentioned last week, obviously see a trend in these numbers. We have a couple weeks left in the fiscal year. AND SO BASED ON THE AMOUNT OF SPENDING ON OPERATING BECAUSE I UNDERSTAND THAT IS KIND OF LIKE THE FIGURE THAT IS CHANGING WEEK OVER WEEK IS OPERATING EXPENSES OF ABOUT 500,000 has been the trend over the last couple of weeks. Can we forecast what we're looking at for the end of the fiscal year based on operating expenses that we've seen the last couple of weeks.

Yeah, I think, well, for me, that would be helpful, and I know we have it as an asterisk at the bottom of the chart. This is assuming no additional operating expenses, but it's probably not realistic to expect the largest department in the county to not have operating expenses week after week. And so if we have more detail on what those operating expenses are, is it gas? Is it food? Is it maintenance? What exactly is happening under those operating expenses that we can be realistic about what this number is going to be instead of setting a number and saying this is if

And my goal is just transparency, right? I think that we need to Be transparent about the fact that there are operating expenses that the sheriff's office incurs on a daily basis. And so the number we're seeing in front of us is going to change because they're operating. And so just making sure that that's as transparent as possible so that we don't have a sticker shock every single week. And how much it costs to run the sheriff's office on a daily basis would also be like the whole Sheriff's Office on a daily basis. I don't know if Danielle has some details.

So there's multiple transfers that you're waiting on making because of the missing documentation? Yes.

I have a question, Judge. The contingency on the request for your meals, does that 1.5 million that's been presented by our budget, Director, reflect those current numbers that you

Just to be clear, the amount remaining is the $8,674,000 and that is not enough to cover the expected salaries and fringe even if nothing else is spent in any other category.

One other question, Judge. Back in April when we took up the item, what was the projected deficiency back then versus what it is gonna be closer now?

And Chief Gailey, and maybe Ms. Sanchez can help me. I remember in April we had a discussion where the Commissioner's Court requested that we receive a breakdown of the overtime spent. So did we get, I don't remember seeing that. Did we ever get that breakdown of the overtime as we requested?

But those reports that we requested back in April, as far as you know, were never submitted.

It's just having that information I think would help us all better understand why the expenditure of overtime funds is so far above and beyond what we've seen in prior years.

And I don't know if we necessarily set a deadline, but I think we were just expecting to have continuous information.

But that's a training nature. Are we addressing that?

Thank you, Judge. Related to the issue of, you say you just graduated, how many, 17? 17, yes, sir. Okay, and is there a capacity of each class that comes in, or was the 17 the full amount that you can do, or is?

And so what is, are you taking as many as you can in terms of each time that you go through each of the classes for the detention officers?

Chief, there's a point, I think we're getting to that point where we would say no more overtime. What would be the, for the public and for others to understand, if we got to that point, what would you have to do to make that happen?

But we're talking temporarily. What about minimizing the overtime on the patrol side?

And in an effort to try, Christina, in an effort to try and encourage more applications in terms of the shortage that we have that we're seeing, both on the detention side and patrol side, Is it okay for us to, and I'm not talking about a different pay scale, but an incentive to apply to it? For example, a stipend for those that qualify. Would that become an issue or not? To encourage more qualified people to apply.

For the open positions. Just the vacancies.

I'm talking because that aside, going forward, I think that's also another issue because I've heard that we've kept having these issues in terms of not being able to supply enough of the people that graduate from our academies towards the vacancies. And you've just confirmed that.

I mean, I think that's part of the issue because, one, we're having to put overtime for vacancies that exist, right? Correct. At one and a half times rather than that. just 100%, right? At 150% we're paying on this overtime rather than 100% for individuals that we could, you know, if we were able to fill all those positions right away. I mean, that's part of the issue going forward and I've seen that that's been an issue for us for some time already. Maybe it's something we need to take a look at.

So is there funding for this purchase that was already made with a P-card or had that budget line item already been exceeded?

Okay, so Danielle, do you know? Can you shed some light?

Excuse me, Judge, may I? I see the $23,000 is for the elevator maintenance, right? Yes, sir. What is the $18,000 for? $18,459.

OK. And what were the replacement doors for?

Oh, because here it says to cover the cost of replacement doors.

Before you move on from that slide, I just want to make sure I have all the numbers. So the dramatic increase year over year in the general fund, the $45 million, you said that was partly due because of the higher appropriated fund balance of $22 million, and then also additional revenue. And that, I'm assuming, is the other $23 million in additional revenue?

That's not the associated additional cost for the required legal expenditures.

Just for the clarification, the legal required is also what we've talked about being called unfunded mandates.

Carmen, before we move on from this, I just had a comment and then a request. So I think this reflects a lot of the really hard work that took place over this last year, prioritizing COLA and step increases for all El Paso County employees. I was wondering, and I don't know if this has happened in years past, but perhaps after today or at an appropriate time, maybe a memo can go out to all county employees because I've gotten questions about this. Is the court going to ... I think there's questions amongst the employees about what actually we approved a couple of weeks ago and what we'll be ap

Carmen, real quick on that point. The reason that besides the school districts that went down, because of those issues, the rest of the taxing entities had to make up the difference in the reduction that the state that we passed a year and a half ago, right? Or a year ago, right?

Just the business property tax, but also the school exemption. Right. That made everybody, all the other tax synonyms, percentage of the entire county's percentage of taxes go up. If you'll notice, that's exactly what happened. UMC, even though they kept their budget the same, the percentage went up. So did ours. So did city of El Paso. And of course what happened is, uh, with respect to the, um, exemption that was passed for personal property that just shifted, it didn't really increase. It just shifted it to, uh, property owners.

Not just the small business owners benefited, but if those business owners also own property, their own building or their own property, I mean, they ended up having to pay for it anyways. That's what the state gave us. And they're stating that we are the ones that caused the increase in the tax rate, as well as the school district one, just to point that out.

well carmen thank you for your experience really came out extremely handy i mean we could tell the difference of someone who's been around and the things that you did to make things better for us keeping us in the loop and i know betsy as well has been you know expressed how uh how you know this process could be a lot more difficult and somehow you found a way to to make it happen, and so thank you, and you and your team, we really appreciate that.

I wanted to ask specifically about the East Montana water system and what was budgeted, what's reflected in this budget on those

That's what I saw in the book. I just wanted to confirm that the rates stayed the same.

Okay, thank you, Carmen. Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Stout?

Yeah, Judge and Commissioners, before we vote, I wanted to take this opportunity to share my view about this budget and where we've come As you all know, this is my 12th and final budget vote since I've been in office for the time being, and I really want to say how proud I am of the work that's been done. Thank you, Betsy, and to your team, our attorneys, all of our staff that have really worked very hard to do what the commissioner's court has asked them over the years. I also wanna take the opportunity to thank my colleagues on the court. It's always an interesting process and I feel like w

Great summer commissioner and thank you for your service and your dedication. I don't think anybody will ever doubt the commitment that you had for everything that we ever brought to the commissioners court. We could tell it was heartfelt. It was passionate and I personally feel you've done an amazing job.

It's been an honor. We're still here till December, but this is an important meeting, last budget, and so I appreciate y'all indulging me and sharing some of my thoughts, and here's to having a great fiscal year 2027. Very heartfelt.

Betsy, Judge, one question. What happens when individual departments by elected officials don't get filled, those vacancies that they don't fill them? That money doesn't get spent, right?

That money never gets spent. It has to come. Salary savings.

And, for example, the tax assessor collector's office, we can't tell him how to run his department. He's an elected official. Is that correct?

Right. And those individual departments by those elected officials can always, they themselves ask that those be reassigned or rather recalculated, is that correct?

I vote aye. Sir? I voted, but I guess it froze.

And having the bond situation on top of that going on at the same time, my goodness, you were doing an overhaul while you were driving. It's pretty impressive.

Judge, can we get a small break after this item? Can we get a small break after this item? Yeah. OK.

And Judge, if I may, this is a question that I asked of county administration. I noticed that a couple of weeks ago, and I apologize, I don't remember the exact date of the meeting, but we had two people sign up for public comment. And it turns out that both of the comments were for items that were on the consent agenda. But by the time, because we vote on consent before we hear public comment, we ended up hearing one of the public comment after we had already approved the item on consent and the other public commentor declined to comment because we had already approved that item. So my questi

And there's nothing that prohibits us from- That was my question.

If there was something that dictates this particular order.

I think it makes sense to move it before consent and have it, you know, first thing in the morning. I think that might give more predictability and reliability, too, about the timing for public comment. I'm not opposed to moving it.

Yeah, I mean, I think it's better for us to provide that opportunity to folks that take the time to come and call in and make sure that we don't miss them.

I agree. I think we should do, that should probably be the item before. At the school district, we've always had public comment right at the top before anything else is given. And of course, the public can always sign up for any particular item they want. That's clear.

And they can also just, and it's clearly stated on our agendas that they can pull any item. The public can ask to have any item pulled from the agenda if they would like to comment on that item. And then we can have public comment on that item as well. Because usually the regular public comment is for items that are not on the agenda. Right.

And Cesar's really good about saying that. I know he always says, he asks, does any member of the court or the public have an item they wish to pull? But I just, I don't think the public is just generally aware that they can do that.

Maybe we could say at the start of the next fiscal year. We might even be able to get it easier.

Yeah, and do some just public outreach so everybody's used to the sequence of events here. It might take some getting used to. Yes, we'll work with comms to get that word out too.

Thank you. Everybody have a great week. Class leaders, production team, everybody. Hope to see you tomorrow at the 9-1-5 celebration at noon. So, thank you.