Commissioners Court - Special Meeting

Michael. He's my audience right now. Oh, and behind, I've got Dion. Hi, how are you? And Ramon's here. My goodness. No, well, thank you for being here, and everybody is prepared for this particular executive session, or not the executive, but the special session. Thank you for being here, and I look forward to some great topics and some great interactions between all of us. Wishing all of you a great day and a great week. Thank you.

Well, thank you. I'm very impressed at how succinct and all of you are so true to a strategic plan, really understanding who your audience is. And you've made several comments yesterday and today, Dion, about what is it that they want? Because I think quality is defined by the customer, not by us. So I think really putting, you know, I see so many touch points between what you're doing and what we're doing. I think this is what an opportunity to share not only the experience, but your approach to a strategic plan, because I think there's a lot of things that we need to take to heart. For examp

So I think we have that commitment between the city and the county to make sure that, you know, I'm always thinking I don't want to do anything that indirectly impacts the image of government because then you guys are going to have to deal with it and vice versa, right? Something that you do that they feel government is not transparent or they're not doing what we'd like to see. So I feel very encouraged. I know it's way overdue that that we come out and show each other our strategic plan. But I can tell you, having been involved in a lot of Fortune 500 strategic planning, this is at that leve

You can go ahead. General and then we'll have Commissioner Stout.

Thank you Betsy. Commissioner Stone. Thanks.

Thank you all so much for the presentation on the strategic plan. It's good to see that we have a lot of alignment in some of the work we're doing and the values. As Betsy was saying, a lot of times people don't differentiate between the county and the city, right? And that's important. I'm glad we're able to sit down and see your strategic plan. I advocated for doing this for a while because I really think it's important for us to understand what other entities in the county. I mean, we're not just doing this with the city of El Paso. We've had others of the smaller municipalities come in as

THANK YOU, JUDGE, COMMISSIONERS. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING HERE TODAY AND FOR PRESENTING THIS INFORMATION. I think it's very insightful. I really appreciate the breakdown of some of the survey information so that we can see the demographics and by district some of the issues. I frequently, when I think about my relationship and as a function of my role as commissioner to the city, work really closely with the city council members, like Commissioner Stout said, that overlap in our precincts. And it's good to understand what those issues in the specific districts are so that I can have a bette

Thank you, Dionne. Thank you very much for the presentation.

Thank you. You know, I really want to commend you on some of the things that y'all are doing and focusing on. Particularly, I'm going to mention a couple things. I really appreciate the work you're doing on your parks, because you're certainly doing, over the years, have done a lot better than we have on ours. But we are focusing on those now, and we're really working on that. The other thing I was going to say is your focus on streamlining your permitting and licensing. I met with the contractors several times, especially last year, early last year. And they were very, very concerned about th

Well, good. I'm glad because some of the things I've heard from the contractors is like that they'll submit things and then they get back and then they go send them back again and they point other stuff that could have been pointed out earlier on at the same time.

I get it, but to them, it seems like it's just over delay and having to resubmit and then getting things that are in compliance when it should have been done completely, not piecemeal. Do you understand? At least this is what I'm hearing from them.

Okay. Thank you. And there's a couple other areas that I know we can work on, particularly in the area of public safety in terms of the DIMS participation from your law enforcement. I mean, you are the number one client, so to speak, that our county jail has in terms of bringing detainees. And so we'd like to see, you know, actually 100% participation with respect to some of those issues in terms of, and I know we have our issues with respect to our DIMs that we need to, and we're working on making sure that that's fully staffed throughout the entire week. 24-7. And so I think it's not going t

Okay, great. Because I'd like to see that down the road, maybe that the county can take back over their fire training academy at Ascata since we made that possible for you all to take over in the first place. Where do you all stand on that?

Okay, and just the other thing I want to mention is that we all have issues, the county and the city, with respect to our stormwater flooding that's happening, particularly in the northeast, central areas. I know that you all are concerned about that, but I'd like to see it in the strategic planning. I didn't see a whole lot of that in there.

Okay, and I think right now is a good opportunity for us to work together with respect to those water infrastructure issues, even though some of that responsibility is not, I mean, it is within the city, so, and I'm thinking there's a great opportunity right now, at least in terms of some of the industries that are moving in. that we can get some community benefit agreements for them to help and provide. And I know we can advocate alongside you all and other entities to make sure that we can get that done, including our legislative delegation, both on the state and the federal side. And I thin

Thank you. We're very, since I've met you, Deanna, your candidness, your openness about what's going on has been very refreshing. And we want to continue Betsy and I on some of these items and sort of the, like you might not understand what we might need and now we understand what you need. For example, I want to quote the mayor of Soneli. He says, why isn't everybody excited that we're the seat of the county? So he feels like it's only them that they're excited instead of the entire community being excited about that. So if there's anything that you could think about on the mission trail, we

thank you both we appreciate you thank you for your time i appreciate it thank you

Any questions Betsy anything to add to this you've got OK Commissioner Butler.

Yes, thank you, Judge. Thank you, Ferney. Thank you, Mr. Ream. So thank you for the additional information. I think it's really helpful. And it's really interesting to me to see the comparable average billing between the different water providers throughout the county. And it's concerning, too. It makes me concerned about the long-term sustainability of us managing a water system on our own when trying to meet real affordability challenges of the people who are our customers for the East Montana water system. I think that... it would be in the best interest of our customers to explore other op

Yeah, thank you. One of the other things that I found interesting and I wanted to ask about was, In the contract it says that we're required to pay a percentage due to water loss. Do you know if that water loss percentage is just for the East Montana water system area or is it system wide water loss percentage that we're paying for?

But the percentage that we pay through our contract with El Paso Water for water loss, is that for their water system or is it just for ours? Do you know how much that water loss is costing us per year?

And then just lastly, I just wanted to say that I understand that the 10% projection in increased rates is trying to... to account for the rise in costs, especially the pass-through costs from El Paso Water. I think they're raising the rates well above 10% this year, so we wouldn't even be matching that rate with this 10% rate. But also, we have that fund balance and that reserve that is above the target right now. So I would like to know if we, instead of approving a 10% rate, if we approved maybe a 5% rate, what would that look like in terms of impact to our fund reserve?

Have we done, do we have any data from El Paso Water on the, on how many delinquency or disconnection accounts we have within the East Montana Water System year over year?

Right. And one of the questions I have, sorry to interrupt Commissioner Ordean, is that still factually true? I mean, the last two and the next wastewater grant that we're getting in the East Montana water system is coming from El Paso Water Utilities. So has that landscape changed since we developed the East Montana water system? Have we confirmed with El Paso Water that they wouldn't pursue grants because they're doing it now for wastewater? So what would prohibit them from doing it further?

I have a question. Let's assume that, best case scenario, we're able to say we're gonna transfer this over to El Paso Water. How long is that gonna take? I don't know. What'd it take?

It's not gonna be real quick, is my guess, right? Plus, how does El Paso Water figure their rates in terms of an area that they service if they bring in an area? There's still gonna be a need for that infrastructure to our system. Are they just gonna say, okay, we're gonna spread it out over everybody else? Or is it just for those areas? That's another thing we need to look at because regardless who takes over, they're gonna have to pay for this infrastructure down the road. And how's that gonna pan out? Now we have other people saying, hey, why should we be paying if it's going to be spread a

That we're starting to look at recovering. Because my understanding is if we can't just turn it over, we'd have to pay off the debt, right?

Commissioner, I think those are all really important questions. And obviously, I mean, if there was an easy solution to this, we wouldn't. Like, this is a very, very complex issue and a critical one. We cannot, like, ignore it, right? We need to figure out solutions to this. I think what I'm asking and I think what Commissioner Holguin is asking is let's make sure that we're considering every alternative, that we're turning every stone, that we're thinking as innovatively and creatively as possible to both meet the goals, which is to provide water and wastewater to as many residents as we can,

And do we know what that, Barbara, what that break-even point is to cover or recoup the losses?

When you say break-even on the losses, what do you mean by that? What would it be the break-even point? In other words, that we're covering all of the expenses without even And I know this is off the cuff, but...

Well, and they don't have that. Maybe we ought to just reset it for down the road. I don't want to have to get people right now to start calculating.

But I think that regardless of what we decide, we're going to have to decide on some kind of increase for this coming year because otherwise, as we're told, we're operating at a loss. We can't continue this even this next year. Even if we decide we're going to... transferred over.

Yeah, and maybe we don't do the 9% or 10% this year, but maybe 6%, 7% or something like that, something that's not going to be, knowing that down the road, if we don't transfer it, we're going to take a higher hit.

And I think, Commissioner Lagina, we have to advocate for our constituents. And I think what you're saying is we don't have much control, and they decide what the rate's going to be, and then where are we in this whole process. So I think you're right.

Looking good. It's just some of the residents have been contacting us that what's taking so long, but I get it. I mean, they're just anxious to get this done. If we had kept the original, it would have been done. Because their park's been completely closed, so they don't have access to it.

But no, I think they're going to be happy with this.

GO AHEAD. WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS WILL TAKE?

Judge, are we ready for our afternoon break? Half an hour for lunch?

MS. JOHNSON, THAT'S QUITE A PRESENTATION. VERY COMPREHENSIVE, VERY INCREDIBLE. BUT I WAS THINKING, COMMISSIONER CORONADO, YOU FACE PROBABLY THIS SITUATION QUITE A BIT, SO I WANTED TO HEAR FROM YOU.

YES, THANK YOU, JUDGE, AND THANK YOU, JOMILA. CERTAINLY A LOT OF THINGS TO CONSIDER, AND I THINK HEADING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. OUR ESTABLISHING THESE NEW REGULATIONS Knowing that there's existing development already out there and current development that aren't gonna be subject to these rules, how are we going to be able to navigate that with existing development that might be nearby to where we're gonna put new rules on? How are we going to?

Commissioner, specifically with you, is that a situation where?

Yes, because there's a lot of development happening north of Trans Mountain.

A lot of it right now. Yes. And they're in right off the mountain, all the really the prime mountainside land left in the city is in the Northwest area going to deal and towards Anthony.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. It's going to be difficult for us to navigate through that with all the construction happening, and particularly from, like I said, north of Trans Mountain that's not in the city, and it's in our area. All the way up to Westway, there's plans already. I mean, the construction is ongoing.

Commissioner Guy, can I add something to that? Well, whatever you could do, the quicker you do it, right? The quicker we do it, the better. That you catch others.

Yeah, that's what I was going to say. It's really because I know that and I've seen already the large developers are already compliant. I know just there's a development just south, rather west of I-10 by the outlet mall where I know they've created their own large ponding area. There's like some apartment complexes. So then similarly east of the freeway between Trans Mountain and Westway large developments are they're constructing their own retention of flood issues I know they're working on that my concern is with exactly what you pointed out the other smaller areas that don't even pay atten

Yeah, some of them, they are helping. Those large developments are helping because they're taking on a larger scope in the area. My concern is with the smaller ones that don't. I guess we'll just have to I guess what you mentioned in terms of the great data policy provisions regarding enforcement is going to have to where that's going to come to effect. And of course, we're going to need the infrastructure for that, right? We don't. Do we have?

Yeah, no, absolutely. I guess in that respect, the sooner we get to this before the larger developers who are in sense, complying with that, but then the surrounding other development that comes around it that aren't as savvy about some of these things, that maybe we can get a handle on it. And so the quicker I guess we do it, the better this is going to be. I think we just need to get ahead of it and make sure that we have our inspectors and have enough as soon as we do this that can go out there in the community to stop some of these from becoming issues. Because I know that development, I m

Any other questions, Gilbert Johnson? Thank you so much. Thank you representation. Thank you, Jamila. Thank you.

Not only that, I apologize for interrupting, but I'm glad that we're getting this done because down the road on Bosque where you're seeing Los Mochis connect west of the river, eventually that area development is coming, the children's botanical garden, that it's going to bring a lot of traffic. And the only outlet there is Vinton, so this will provide another access out there.

Yeah, and it looks like it's heading right at the corner of where the current middle school and Gallegos Park is, right? Is that right, Norma?

And you know, Bosco Road coming out of the middle school was already a big traffic issue. So not only because of the other development, but even currently now, it's gonna help quite a bit. What is the projected?

Yeah, some of the residents are already asking or the constituents are already asking about a traffic light at Los Mochis and Donovan.

Thank you. I don't have a question. I do want to say thank you very much for going through this process. I remember early last year I sat down with the MPO and I asked how can we get the MPO to support funding for a road. I think I was talking about Ascension. And they said, well, is it in your major thoroughfare plan? And I didn't know when the last time we did it, and I didn't know if it was included. And we see it every day on the east side, how fast it's grown, how many new residents are there. and maybe just a gap in the foresight to understand that we're being as discerning and thoughtfu

Yeah, I think that's a key tool that we need to mitigate some of these future issues, but also be able to fund some of the larger roads that we need.

Chair, I don't know if I should bring it up on this one. Or five, but do you think, is this study that they're wanting to do, is it gonna look at alternatives to actually doing the project, or is it just to advance the project?

Yeah, but this is the highway that's going to connect basically to 375 or I-10.

yeah i mean i don't know i'm just worried like you know with this project um and i and i guess it's it's somewhat under underway but um it's gonna it's just gonna push like santa teresa truck traffic like through i-10 And it seems to me it would be better to push it around instead of through the city, right? I've talked about opposing the widening of I-10, but this also I think affects other parts of I-10. It's going to, I think traffic's going to bottleneck at Racetrack in Donovan. It's going to bottleneck at Sunland in Donovan. And of course, like one of the biggest bottlenecks that exists r

Yeah, I mean, it just concerns me like air quality, I think issues. I don't know if anybody's reviewed the environmental for the project or what the number of trucks that are gonna be added to the roadway here in El Paso or the highway, how that's gonna affect the air quality. I think some of the parks and entertainment, just like El Paso, when it comes to EPA and air quality.

Where's that traffic going now? Where's that traffic going now? If we don't hit that outlet. They're going down Artcraft, right? Correct, I believe so. All the way down to I-10, and there's the bottleneck there.

Yeah, but I still think it's a good opportunity to push using the Anthony Gap and that bypass.

Absolutely, but this is from Santa Teresa though.

Right, but they can still use that as a relief route to go out around El Paso instead of- Around the other way?

Yeah, but they still have a bottleneck going down Artcraft. Right now as it is, Artcraft is really getting, and that's why they're doing that overpass.

I think that construction is going to relieve some of that bottlenecking.

The problem is they didn't do it on the east side of I-10, and I don't think they can do it where Amazon is right now.

And then that would lead to the borderline expressway, I think, with that overpass.

If we were to be able to get that done, yeah. But see, it's not going to stop the traffic that's, you know, THAT'S GOING WEST ANYWAYS. THEY'RE STILL GOING TO GO DOWN ARTCRAFT. IT'S ONLY THE ONES THAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT THAT ARE GOING TO GO EAST. That would help. I don't know how feasible for someone's going to be that they're going to drive another 10 miles out north and then cut across and go back. I guarantee you they're still going to go down our craft, go down I-10 and head south. I mean east. It's they're still in other words, I think they're still going to head. DOWN I-10 TOWARDS DOWNT

I GUESS IF YOU'LL JUST KIND OF ASK SOME OF THOSE QUESTIONS OR TRY TO FIGURE OUT WHAT'S... And keep pushing the border on the expressway is like we should really be trying to divert traffic out off of I-10.

Judge, you're going up to the state to advocate soon, right? Next week. Next week, right? Yeah.

So the, the 100 million has been awarded?

So they're basically phasing out phase two now?

I guess that's encouraging. I'm just, I'm curious about what that timeline looks like then compared to the original timeline or even the latest one which was I think further extended than 28, so.

Okay, I'll take it if it's hopefully comes through. Thank you.

That's a big need out there out in Montana. The traffic out there is just,

Yeah, I appreciate that some funding was allocated.

And that's the phase where we granted them access right away in front of the detention center?

Not too bad. We have very few people left. Everybody have a good weekend.