City Council - Regular Meeting

work session on the October Tuesday, October 28th, 2025. Uh, Councilman Eddie Mitchell, you lead us in a invocation. Right. Stand with us. Stand if you're able to. Father God, we come to you today. Thank you for another day's journey. We ask that you bless us while we're here. Bless this council. Bless the members. Bless this city and its employees. and bless the city of Odessa so that it may become beautiful and stronger and just strive as best as we can. Amen. Amen.

All right. First order business is discussing Odessa movie breakfast here. Oh, there you are. You guys come on up both of you. just to introduce yourself to council and tell us about our movie. Mayor, council, how you doing? I'm Breen Hager. Uh both sides of my family come from Odessa, so it's just truly an honor to be before y'all today and present this idea we have.

Good morning, mayor and council or good afternoon rather. My name is Ariana Barado. partner in the movie business and studied statistics before entering this field. First off, so ununiform grab that mic and just go perfect. Thank you.

All right. Okay. So, uh that's my company, Ununiform. I started it about five years ago. We principally produce and distribute feature films. Um so, uh a little side history on it. We also as well we do a little bit on the blockchain side of things. So we also sell what they call NFTTS as movie tickets in the past. I've made a Sundance award-winning director. More money selling those NFT tickets than Amazon. Um a little bit about myself. I was a captain at the University of Texas football. Uh I've been making movies my whole life. I later um finished my football career. here. I went on a blockbuster production called 12 My Or orphans. Got to work with Robert Duval, Martin Sheen. Uh I then did a about a $3 million horror film that uh went to Sundance, which is big for the independent feature film business. And then uh just recently I was able to direct uh my own feature film and it was about Pacis and we had a lot of success with it and that's why we're uh here today. and Arian you can. And I'm also the CEO of Kuniform and director and producer of all the movies we make.

Hello. So I a little bit I'm the COO of Ununiform. Um like I briefly mentioned I have a background in applied statistics and research methods. So my skills come in keeping things organized, just executing on our plans and strategies and helped alongside Breen producing and editing Born in Denver, which is funny enough about Pacis, Texas. All right, we'll get into this.

So that's a movie. This is uh really a dream of mine to to to be able to capture y'all's story at such an exciting time where every other news I see is about the Perian Basin or how many great things y'all are doing. We really like to focus on positive stories. So there won't be any negative tension or we're not looking for any dirt. We're just looking to portray all the great things uh that you're doing. We'd also, you know, need y'all to star in the movie uh as well. So uh we can get to the next slide. So, right now, uh, we have this big deal with Fox Nation and it includes a Texas trilogy. So, we've already gotten uh the Pacis movie uh completed and it was they love that movie so much. We've been talking about this idea as you know there's also Odessa down the street and then of course Abene and what Odessa is to me and Ariana and for really my whole life it just represents the American dream. I feel like this is a place that uh truly portrays, you know, not just the cowboy spirit or the wildcatterers, but that anything's possible here and there's a real a-political attitude and the I've just love to learn more about this community. And then, you know, uh Abene, they've agreed to be a part of this trilogy, the mayor, um and the the hotboard vice president. So, they have that Stargate technology. So, I don't know if you've noticed Fox Business have been doing a lot of stories about the Perian base and a lot of stories about Stargate. So, uh that's where these uh this trilogy comes from. So, our offering is we would uh obviously produce a feature film that's the you know cinematic quality uh of capturing Odessa, you know, over the years or however long it takes. Uh it takes a lot of time, but we've already have and I saw she's on the agenda. We've got

Sandre and Kirk Edwards. Both have agreed to be in the film. We'd need y'all to agree uh to be in it as well. We'd also handle y'all's red carpet, which is a great time. It's a community celebration. You know, usually would be a weekend celebration uh for Odessa. Uh we would enter into film festivals. So, let's say we got we're really close with the director of Can's film festival in France. we would, you know, uh, work with them and we'd like to bring everyone here from the the council into a villa. Big dreams, right? But, uh, that's the kind of idea we'd also take care of. Film festivals and then PR uniform. We run all of our own marketing, all of our PR. So, really what a movie does for y'all is just you're going to get press every week. We even while making the film, there's just constant uh, things to highlight. And uh last time we're talking to Mayor Hendrick about one of y'all's awesome new hot projects, you know, the biggest jack rabbit. And I just think that would be so cool to capture as well and uh get some press about that. We also take care of all marketing distribution and really it doesn't matter uh how good your movie is in today's time. It's all about your marketing dollars and your distribution partner. That's that's really and your relationships. So, like I said, we have a deal with Fox Nation, and that's why we're here uh coming to you because we think this is an awesome opportunity as well, what they offer, not only two million subscribers on their uh new streaming platform, but they would give, you know, the chance, the mayor, any city council members, the city manager, anyone willing to go on, let's say, Hannity or bring the Will Kane Show here by partnering with a Fox, whether we like them or not, look, I'm indifferent on it, but They loved our Pacus movie. They loved the Perian Basin. They love the attitude out here. Uh I don't know like who we vote for, where we stand politically, just as a business decision. They offer a ton of viewers.

They offer pennies on the dollars for y'all to go and uh promote your city. Uh and I think on a daily basis, they have around six million viewers. And fun fact about them, you know, actually more Democrats watch Fox News than they do on CNNBC or CNN, which would be, you know, HBO Max. That's where So that's it. Uh, but as well as Fox Nation, we're also allowed with them to do a standalone release through Apple and Amazon to give people more options to see the movie. So it wouldn't just exclusively live on Fox Nation. you'd be able to rent it on Apple TV, Google Play Prime Video. And I didn't put this on here because I just, you know, under promise, overd deliver is how I live my life. But, you know, on the Pacus movie, I was really trying to get a deal with Disney. They had Pacis bill. My pledge brother in college was Max Iger, Bob Iger's son. We're really great. One of our mentors is Chad Omen. He produced Top Gun. He just did F1. So, we've we've got the relationships to at least pitch this project to Disney. And the Disneys of the Netflix of the world right now, they're actually under a lot of scrutiny. A lot of people are cancelling their subscriptions. People are kind of revoling against the content they're choosing. And we feel like apolitical positive content, especially reality. Reality is really big right now uh in the film business. We feel like we still have a shot with Disney. We'll at least present it to them. Um, you know, as we do have a deal with Fox Nation, we're not before even any film is captured, we're going to come to y'all with a distribution deal and y'all will have the option to choose this. Like I said, it's a community project where we all work together as a team. Is there anything else Fox Nation offers?

Should we show the Oh, yeah. Could we go back one slide and just Oh, back button. And then could you click the marketing and distribution? There's a trailer of the p just so y'all could see the [clears throat] the the type of move we make and oh it's not going to pop up.

Okay, maybe in your free time. Anyways, we had we also in this pagus do we partnered with X for social media. So Elon Musk's platform once Twitter we were able to partner with their X movies account their official account and they would always post about us. They've got over 6.6 million followers. So, you know, there's a strategy to do both traditional and, you know, social media marketing uh as well. So, our recommendation to the city is we want the city to be first in. Doesn't have to be the whole amount right now. Uh but, you know, there's no point to make a movie under a million dollars. We recommend two million just because you've got it all. The majority of it goes into marketing and we'll show it um in the next slide. And we know you got y'all centennial coming up. Uh that's so exciting and what I think the time is now for if there's ever a time to make an Odessa movie. It's with this leadership. It's with everything that's going on um in the business world and all things, but we just want to capture the past, present, and future of Odessa. Respect the tradition and values, but also where y'all going into the future. Um and then we got a little uh glitch on here, but we could I mean we memorized it. So, the budget breakdown's really simple. So, you know, 10% of $2 million, we'd get $200,000 to get started right away. And what's that paying for? Well, luckily for y'all in such a cutthroat business, it's it's film is is really hard. But, um, and we would we take care of everything. We take care of producing. We take care of editing. We actually edit the movie ourselves. Uh, we distribute the film. We market it. Um, do we pay people in production to come in with their cameras and all those? Absolutely. We have great relationships. And then postp production, uh, we pay for that as well. We used an Emmy award-winning company in Austin last on the Pacus movie. Uh, so you're looking at, uh, the production of the film itself is and the post-prouction is

500,000. Uh, and then the rest is marketing. So 1.3 million of that $2 million spend, it's just a marketing budget. Obviously, we'd request this from the hot funds as it is promotion through the arts and it allows us to to film and market and promote all of your ongoing hotboard projects in a positive light um and really get y'all in front of uh millions of people. [snorts] Okay. So, as I just said, you know, first step in a project like this is we have to partner together. We've got to work together every step of the way. uh these films, these movies, it's a lot of hard work. Really, a lot of the work is uh before any of the films even shot, getting the distribution, marketing plan, getting all the people that are going to be in it, creating the shot list, uh of course picking a a great city council meeting that y'all would want to be in a movie. Whenever you'all have a stacked agenda of things you're really proud of, that's when you'd want to bring in the film crew. [laughter] Um you know with our last Pacis movie we've we had so many successes. One is as a tools we were able to attract new investments new opportunities for them and then people that were already working in Pacis when they saw the movie they were just so excited that their employees were working there or that they lived there and were doing a lot of hard work and you know we lived in Pacis for three years uh and enjoyed every bit of it. Uh but that would be first step is we'd have to partner with the city. Um and then um you know we'd need to start pre-production and do all the things we're talking about with the ad placements, festivals, influencers, all that stuff. Okay. So short-term and longterm impact of a movie. Uh you know the shortterm momentum includes your community will get excited. There will be a sense of pride here that yes, Odessa has been chosen for a movie and who's going to be in it and what opportunities are going on right now

that can be spotlighted that you know we can release a press article every week. Okay, it's this project. It's what you're doing here. Um there will be a buzz around town. when we got the film camera crews and even beforehand when we're really starting to investigate and uh when what we're going to show off, you know, the long-term impact of a movie, you you pay for the it's it's a big cost up front. There's no doubt about that. It's a lot of time. It's a lot of work, but then at the end of it, you're going to have a billboard for the foreseeable future of Odessa. The movie doesn't go away. It's not going to go away on Fox Nation. It's not going to go away uh on Apple, and Amazon. anyone at any moment can watch this movie be like, "Hey, I want to visit Odessa or hey, I want to go move here. Hey, this is where I want to start my business." Uh, so there there really is a long-term impact to be said about creating a movie uh [snorts] about the cities. Um, like I said before, we're able to promote current city projects and set the standard for future hot projects. Uh, we were incredibly transparent. You know, we uh we'd love to work with y'all and present every step of the way. Um, one thing you don't really expect when making a movie, and this happened, and I don't mean to bring up Pacis so much, but uh, we had three cast members in the film pass away before the movie was released, and they they're awesome people, but their legacy lives on. And you know, we were at one of their celebrations of life and uh you know, the family were watching, they had pictures of the movie, they're watching it before it and after it and we were just able to capture them in a great light and it's just an honor to be able to to get people in real time. You never know uh about tomorrow. So the road map, you know, oh part obviously partner with the city through first and funding. Uh we'd begin pre-production, filming, post

production, all that. Um the red carpet premiere, marketing and distribution, and then in phase four, it's released to the world. And I will say to the the red carpet premiere here is going to be unbelievable. being at the Marriott, giving back to the hotboard a little bit, you know, coming out here and and staying there. Uh the the red carpet is an awesome time to bring in celebrities, press, really throw a great party, as well as get local business leaders to sponsor it and and get get some big musical talent and uh whatever we decide. And then as well as really what's on our mind right now is Odessa's hot. Uh Odessa is unbelievably hot and you know we want to get to New York as soon as possible to Fox News headquarters. Get that deal, bring it to y'all. Uh give you all the ins and outs. It really is pennies on the dollars when when you partner with them. And uh a lot of those marketing dollars will be going to them. But uh that's that's where the next step after today is, you know, we just we want to land this partnership and get started on the distribution. Uh there's contact info for myself, uh Ariana and I's email, our social media, and then references. You're welcome to call Charles Lo, the Pac city manager. We love him. He's a he was unbelievable, still is in this process. Um Amber and Pacis hotboard president and Jonathan Harshman at Chevron. So Chevron at our red carpet, they were the keynote speaker. Jonathan was and they give us the largest donation um they've of any sponsorship to anyone they've ever given because they loved a red carpet and pis so much. I thought it was a brilliant idea to get the community together. Uh so you all are welcome to ask them any questions. I don't know if you have anything to add. I know you got a big agenda today.

Um that was the gist of it. Um, Breen and I just want to iterate how excited and honored we are to even be before you and present this massive idea. I know the hot board there uh nine criteria that a project would have to meet to be considered for funding. I do believe that we meet nearly all of them if not all of them one way or another. Um, so I just ask that you'd consider on those grounds. Additionally, everything we film, we're more than happy to share it with you. We've checked out your website and the awesome footage that's spotlighted when you're first checking it out. Mayor Hendrick on there. Just the community of Odessa. We would like to do everything we can. Um, including the movie, but volunteering, just becoming a part of this community. The Breen's family has a long history here and I've heard just so much positive stories and memories about Odessa. I'd be very proud and honored to experience it myself.

Yeah. And to back that up, there is no way to make this movie unless we completely integrate with the community. So, we'd obviously live here, volunteer, and um be available at any moment's time. So, and this is my dream movie, you know, for whatever it's worth. I I really want to make an Odessa movie and I want y'all to tell y'all's story. It's y'all's story and I just think the timing is perfect. Uh with, you know, whether it's the market value of reality content, the partnership we already have lined up before making it or that we're coming off fresh of of a similar movie. So, we're open to any questions or if you'all have to get to the docket too, we understand. So,

if you want to watch the Pacus movie, what where we go to watch the Pacus movie? You could go to uh Apple TV. If we don't have Apple TV, you could do Amazon. Amazon Prime. Amazon Prime. Okay. You can um watch it on our site, too, but that requires the blockchain ticket. So, don't worry. That's for a different crowd to be honest. So, that's not for So, what is the title? It's The title is Born in Denver. The Pacis movie. The Pacis movie. So, it's 15 minutes in Denver and then the rest is in Pacis. But we basically took a bunch of people from Pacis to Denver and then they come back to Pacis. Uh, and it was shot over the course of three years.

Oh yeah, the trailer would be helpful. Okay. And then I don't know if y'all could see that on your iPads, but we got We can. Oh, you can. That's cool. All right.

Is it turned off? So, where are you based out of? We're based out of Pacis and Austin. Pac and Austin. Yes, sir. Austin's becoming a big movie territory.

It is. Odessa is still way cooler than Austin, that's for sure. They've lost it. They've lost what who they were. While [clears throat] we're in a pause, you might not want to disclose it, but filming in Odessa, have you had any titles that you've been playing around with? We're No. Do you have a suggestion? No. Okay. Give me four minutes and I'll [laughter] Yeah. What is the length on your road map? I I remember seeing it, but what is what's the length of the process? A year or less? I mean, I just don't know what anything about movies.

Yeah. So, I would like for us to get our distribution deal done this year. I would like to, you know, in the next two weeks be in New York, have it, and then be with Disney, see if they're going to do it because I think that's our best option to get y'all, you know, on the Fox News or Disney. I don't think it's bigger than those two. But, I would say we could get all the the marketing and distribution done and then start shooting as soon as 2026, January. um and then maybe release it for the centennial uh shortly after that and have a huge community celebration with it. Okay. But it's it's hard to put an exact timeline on it, but we would go all in right away. [music]

Found that noise.

[music] You can hear that. [laughter] This is the best kept secret in West Texas. [music] If you look at Pagus, we are in the middle of what is considered West Texas. This is the capital of West Texas. How do we cryptoify it to like save Texas? You got to change them with the time. So you got to do what you have to do. I feel like we're like part of the story of the evolution of POS, you know, from cattle town [music] to energy to now internet.

We compete with Saudi Arabia and all the main people who produce oil. The oil and gas is here. And for how long? Who knows? We can't just dream, but you know, we can make dreams come true. So why don't I take the big dream? Saddle the horse up and go get it. I'm here. It's not I'm not a cat. [music] [music] Sorry. All right. Just a little scope. And the cat lawyer was in it. He was the pus attorney at the I don't not even get into that. You probably know already about him.

Okay. All right. Do you have any questions? I don't know that I have any questions, but I think it's a, you know, something I've mentioned that for the centennial we need to have, you know, some good documentary put in place and then the building of the rabbit I think would be an interesting one too. So thank you for so this is workshop we'll have put on the next agenda which is uh November 11th but we will bring it for vote on November 11th and we may not need you I mean we'll we'll reach out to you if we need you here. Okay we really appreciate bringing this we'll make sure we know what the ask was 2 million. 2 million. Yes, sir. Okay. I couldn't 2 million.

I didn't know if it's 10% of 2 million or 2 million. Okay. Yeah. 2 million. Can't get a million out of Kirk. Yeah. Hey. Hey. We'll try for the red carpet. Let me get George straight here. [laughter] All right. Well, thank you all very much. Really appreciate y'all coming in today. Thank you so much. We will we will get on the regular agenda next meeting. Sounds good. Looking forward to good to see. Thank you, too. Thank you. [clears throat] All right. Agenda item four is discuss purchase of a striker cod system for $67,000. Daniel Chavez, come up here. Chief Chavez have to do it every single time. works. Mayor, council, thank you very much. Especially welcome back, Councilman Lascos.

Thank you. Uh, no, I just wanted to discuss um the possible purchase of a striker C. Uh, this was actually one of the items that was approved during the 2526 budget. And one of the reasons I also want to bring it up for discussion is uh there is going to be a difference of 3,000. Well, let me back up. We were approved for the 64,000 in the budget, but we went over um by $3,58746 and we're asking that this can be reconciled with a one of our donation accounts to make up the difference. Uh the cost system is what we use to transport people in the ambulances, but I'll be glad to answer any questions. Okay. J, you going to use the other three out of your general budget?

Yes, sir. That power stretcher and loading system, what's it? um lifespan. So, it's a it's considered a medical uh device. So, typically five to seven years is kind of the industry standard. Yes, sir. We we try to align it with the vehicle, the life of the vehicle. So, that way we're not kind of overlapping and it's just kind of makes more fiscal sense to do it that way. Yes, sir. Any questions, gentlemen? If not, we look forward to having on the agenda next meeting. Yes, sir. Thank you very much. Our agenda item five discuss annual purchase of side loading refuge dumpers open top containers receiver and compactor. Mr. Rodriguez come forth.

Good afternoon mayor and council. Here to discuss the uh the annual purchase of sil loading refuge dumpsters and containers and the breakdown will be 153 cubic yard dumpsters. Those are the ones you usually see in the alleys and 50 of the four cubic yard dumpsters. and those usually go to the apartment complexes. Uh two 30 cubic yard open tops, two 40 cubic yard open tops, and these are many of the construction containers you see on construction sites. Uh so where and 40 cubic yard octagon standard receiver and 135 cubic uh self-contained compactor with power unit uh with a total expenditure of 201,57. Uh this annual purchase is to replace dumpsters, containers that have reached deteriorated conditions and or to add to new accounts. Uh all expenditures is budgeted within the maintenance of the equipment of the solid waste budget line item.

All right, gentlemen. Any questions? Just one. Um rolloff USA purchase from them, but the actual installation picking the old ones off, putting the new ones on. Who does that? Is that within Rolloffs USA? as as far as like fabricating them or working on them? As far as um taking old ones off and replacing them. No, we we do that ourselves. You do it yourself. Okay, that's clarification. Yeah, we just purchase and then the old ones we try to refurbish. If not, we just scrap them. Excellent. Excellent. Jake.

So, I'm curious about I think uh what does this do with the roll out carts that are going out through Mission and Lawndale? Like why wouldn't we replace these with those if that's the goal to get there? And and we are and we and we're using those uh Councilman for inventory like for new businesses come along. we have to replace old dumpsters under existing dumpsters uh that are within city limits uh and or we have to refurbish them, you know. So, yeah, we keep those. We refurbish them. If we have to put new lids, new bottoms, we put them back in the field, right? But I'm trying to

if if the trend is going to be to go to the rollout carts, why are we keeping why are we buying new dumpsters? Why don't we give them rollout carts? Well, a lot of them are going to be going to commercial accounts and and we're growing in that in that area as well. Yes, sir. And into and to the existing parts of the older parts of the city as well, right? Even if the whole city went to roll out, still going to have dumpster for commercial [clears throat] business. Yeah. Yes, sir. Right. Yes, sir. All right. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Agenda item six, discuss policy on naming city assets. Council Stoker. Well, I had this uh had asked to discuss this. We had uh certainly some items in the news about naming rights and whatnot. And I asked if I could see what our policy was. And my understanding is we don't have one currently about naming, renaming assets, whatnot. And so I just thought as a best practice um I reached out UTPB, Medical Center, ECISD, OC all have naming policies. Um nonprofits I've worked with all have naming policies. Um so I thought it probably would be a good idea to discuss implementing a naming policy. I think that there has definitely been some confusion about how either streets are renamed or named. Um, we've got parks that have names, buildings that have names. I think a policy would add transparency about the process. How do you do it? How do you go about it? Cut and dry. Here it is. It either follows a policy or it doesn't. We keep talking about clear is kind. So, um, without a policy, again, it's there's been some confusion about it. I do want to say that I did think that we would have already addressed Mr. Russell's topic before we got to this. So, you know, this is in no way uh meant to prevent anything like that from happening. This is just a we don't have it. Maybe we should talk about um considering one in the future. So, I did want to make that clear that this has nothing to do with with anything that was brought up other than it came to my attention that we don't have a policy. Maybe we should have one. So I included

uh naming policy for public assets have some guidelines in there. These are things that over and over again I saw. Um I did some community polling that uh got back some answers on, you know, if you could name something, what would you name? What would you change? What would you do? A lot of the comments were, why do we have to rename anything? Why can't we pick a new street? um why can't we do new parts? And so I I had something in here about, you know, let's let's give preference to to naming a new asset instead of I believe there are something like 177 residents on Maple that would have to change their driver's license, their bills, their businesses. Um, something we did talk about, I I remember bringing it up during the Murphy discussion, uh, could we just designate a street instead of renaming it like we did with Highway 80, Wilson and Young, I believe 191 is Chris Kyle, and I have a little attention over on the loop with my father, but those are not named. It is not the Racer Junior loop. It's just designated that portion. Could we um include that? And then uh really just um putting in some time for tensions to cool down should that be necessary. And then um just a naming rights policy. Again, it's kind of like our donor policy. We've we've got a donor policy. I'm not going to take gifts of land, stock, livestock, you know, sell that stuff and and donate the money. but just um applying this as well to new assets uh going forward. And I think um again with some of the things we've got going on, it's probably worth taking a look at. So it's my little pitch.

Have you seen any other cities that have a bad line? So, I looked at at um again the ones we have the nonprofit one. We we've discussed one with the library. I'm on that board. Uh what to do with the the donations and the naming rights there. Um I have been sent the one from medical center and UTPB. They're trying to get me the one for ECISD to look to see if there are common threads about uh how names are picked. Um, you know, certainly, um, again, as a as a jumping off point, I I think it's worth looking at other communities, how they do it. Other organizations certainly, we want to, you know, be fair and legal. But again, I just that was the point of bringing this is that we don't have one. Maybe maybe we should get one. I don't disagree with with the uh that suggestion that we ought to have one, but it seems to me it ought to go somewhere department. They ought to vet it or give us recommendation. I don't know where

this go with it. I'm I'm not proposing this to be adopted and signed and put into practice tomorrow. There's really two different ones. There's one on right, you know, naming assets, one on really sponsorship or paying for name, right? Either David or Keith. What department would this fall under that could could look at this for? Is it legal? Is it I don't know what it goes under? I don't know. You don't want it legal, but [laughter] I don't know what it would go under properly.

Well, I'm only going to be here a few more months. It'd be very easy for me to say, "Yeah, I'll take it to legal." Uh, I don't I don't really know, mayor. I mean, that's that's not much of an answer, but I would think city manager's office could designate a department to look at it. Uh, I don't know just how much of a priority is it for the council and where does it rank in the in this priority system? Well, I don't think it hurts to have some guidelines instead of just people just bouncing all over the place saying we want this, we want that. I think we need to put some guidelines in for that.

I think it's fair to everyone to know what the guidelines are. So, David, would you point there's two different documents. Would you assign it to either the same department or two different departments to bring us? Yeah, I'd say let's start with the administration, take a look at it, maybe put together a task force, uh, take some time to look at and bring it back to council at the appropriate time. Okay, I think that's good. Appreciate it, Council Stoker. Thank you.

I'd like to just add a couple points on there. And Craig, first off, this isn't the first thing that you have done constructively. Thank you, you know, for taking the time and digging into these issues, but a policy like this. Also, um, we're making a sausage. So, I would like to give you some ideas because I'm not sure if you're really aware that as I carefully read that, I I'm just finding it restrictive. So, let me just point out a few things. [clears throat] looking at the policy naming policies as it stands. If this had been effective um say several years ago, let me show you what I'm talking about. We have some presidential streets out there. There's like Adams, Jackson, Lincoln, Madison, Washington. They're political figures. They're leaders of political movements. Um I enjoy driving down those streets. Doesn't bother me whatsoever. But under this policy as it's written prohibited or restricted names that are political. So in in that case th those would be gone. Taking another example um we have a couple streets Peter, John and Paul apostles but under this policy it states prohibited and restricted names religious movements. Well there are certainly religious movements. Um a final example on that is uh I supported renaming Martin Luther King was there for the ribbon cutting and everything but under this policy uh what would have happened um all naming it says all naming and renaming action shall reflect of that's a historical identity. So I'm just helping to balance you know with some other ideas too. So you take uh uh Chris Cal, the Navy

sniper, uh born in Odessa, but let's go back to Dr. King. He wasn't, but he's an an American legacy. Um Dr. King's leadership in nonviolent resistance and his fight against segregation shaped the very values values that we hold today across America. So the point is this policy bans names tied to as as it's stated political, ideological or religious movements. Yet Dr. King's achievements were achieved through all three. His efforts uh inspired millions. Um and at least Dr. King did pass the other little role in there that you have to be after deceased 10 years has to pass. So he made that one. So, there's a few practical suggestions. Um, this is just to offset it because I think you're on to something there. There needs to be some rules in place. Yeah. But I'm giving you another balance of another way of looking at it. Uh, rather than making the process restricted restrictive, let's make it clear to facilitate community and civic part uh participation. Define the public petition numbers as needed. We don't have that in an ordinance. Establish clear public steps and procedures. Uh provide a guideline that um the anticipated public financial contribution toward cost associated with renaming a street expressed as a reasonable percentage of total expenses. And just to add, um, the process for public petitions to name new streets, new streets as assets should be new streets as assets should be easier and a little bit harder for renaming existing ones. I agree with that because it it can be an inconvenience to the citizenry. So, I'm just saying let's

craft some policies that serve the people, not policies that create government overreach. Restrict public input are stifle expression of our diverse community. We are one community yet multicultural and diverse. Our naming policy should honor the diverse, ensure fairness, and encourage public participation. That's a key point, public participation. While the intent here is to avoid controversy, um that's understandable, but creating a restrictive naming policy, risk crossing into council overage. We've got to balance this. Um leadership should welcome open dialogue and foster a living uh community spirit that will grow and change organic. And this will grow and change organically over time. We got to consider that just as well. So, thank you for the consideration. uh as a balance because it just seems too restrictive to me.

Right. And and again, this is not intended to be cut print. But again, thank you for uh putting some energy into it. There is some public input that's in there which would would require more notice of those meetings so that we would be sure to have the public u I don't I don't again I I total jumping off point. Yeah, let's do this. Senate to uh basically to uh see manager's office, let him create a task force, let them

produce something for us to take a draft look at and uh we'll move from there. How's that sound? Again, the supermajority for I thought was that was too harsh. Six out of seven. But again, let let somebody else work that up and bring it to us for review consideration. How's that sound? But that supermajor, the way that was written is if you came to us and said, "Hey, I've I've got this idea that's outside of these bounds, we absolutely could vote on it." So anyway, again, jumping off point. Okay. All right. Council, we do have a speaker card. Okay. Jeff Russell, Russell, come please come forward. Good afternoon, Mayor, City Council. Good to see you back on the dice, Mr. Vosquez. Thank you.

And uh but appreciate the opportunity to speak. I I don't have a lot to add. I think Mr. Canel and Mr. Stoker uh really covered a lot of ground there. Um you know, when I first saw it, I was concerned because I mean, and in in the one most concerning part as I read that proposal, you know, it bans divisive figures and I think divisiveness is often in the eye of the beholder. And uh I think I think Dr. King to use an example in his day, he was very divisive. uh he was right on a lot of things, but he was very divisive and there were a lot of people that felt otherwise. Um and so I I don't even disagree with the idea of looking to name new new roads and not rename old ones. Uh even as we move forward with the uh Charlie Kirk way uh to honor him, uh you know, we we we really don't want to do something that that uh inconveniences a large number of people or cost a lot of money. you know, we even uh you know, when we did that and I kind of stood behind it to say uh you know, if we can get this done, I'll cover the cost of all the resigning or we'll fund raise or do something for it. But, but uh because I felt that strongly about it, but but I also understand the need to maybe look at other, you know, thorough affairs. Mr. Canel and I had a conversation about this. I said, you know, I'd be open to those things. I said as long as we don't end up with the Charlie Kirk culde-sac which is one block long or something but I think I think it ought to be befitting uh the effort that has been put into you know I I brought a list of the of the people that had signed uh the petition we put out 1536 odessans uh there were about another 500 plus from from Gardenell from uh other places but uh so I think there's a lot of support for that I mean Charlie Kirk to speak specifically to him I He's a very important conservative figure and I think uh as as as history

has proven with Dr. King, I think it's going to prove a lot of things about Charlie Kirk's influence on our society, particularly on our college campuses. Uh and so I think his the the importance of his of his historical figure will only grow. But uh but but I I do think, you know, in our community, we try to work together. Uh we try to find that middle ground. Uh I think uh there's nothing wrong with having a policy but I think we need to proceed carefully cautiously uh and we need to seek input from a lot of a lot of quarters. I agree. Thank you. Thank you Mr. We appreciate your thoughts. All right, gentlemen. Let's go to Oh, go ahead. I'm sorry. Go ahead. [laughter] Council,

you backed up. It scared me. My only my only thought about it was is reading through what Craig presented was the uh city-owned assets. And of course, the first thing jumps to my mind is a sports complex. That's a public private partnership even though it's a city asset. Uh that train's left the station. those naming rights out there are going to be, you know, for private funds, uh, managed by the foundation.

And so they really, even though we have authority over that, they still those naming rights, you know, the new [clears throat] uh operator will negotiate those contracts. We've already got uh we've already got accidentals in progress. I guess, Mr. Stretcher, we do. We got accidentals in process currently. Uh so yes sir it's it's done basically it's back to the foundation.

Yeah because they you know they want they want to pay us. So anyway but that's just one thing that's I think we have to take in consideration too is that you know these public private partnerships that's kind of the new deal. Uh and so that we aren't always on the hook and that sports complex is a is a great example of that. So, uh, the new operator is going to when some because I don't know what a baseball field naming right is worth. Do you, Mr. Vosquez? [clears throat] You're a little short. It's worth what someone will pay.

Exactly. And so, anyway, we have a lot of opportunity there. And that that money in that foundation is designed to go to be housed with foundation for repairs and maintenance. and o over time. So, uh those people who put their names on that stuff and uh you know, Paul Evans carpet would be a nice one to put on the one of the soccer fields since they're going to be turf. Uh anyway, uh that's just my two cents. No, absolutely. Because public private partnerships, I think in my mind, are going to be more opportunities like that than not. For sure. And and that's what we're looking at with the library and that's come up in some of our conversations. So again, kind of top of mind.

I agree. Thanks, Kil everybody with their comments and and their thoughts to help us make the best decision for the city. Uh let's go to agenda item number seven. Discuss the water bills and credit card fees. Who's Nobody's name's on it. I guess this was my bringing up just a maybe a quick update about that.

That's okay. So the RFQ for the uh billing software should arrive. Everybody everybody's aware of it. It's been out about I don't know 30 days or something like that. Those come in tomorrow uh Thursday. So those will be here Thursday. Then we can vet those uh RFQS RFPs at that time and then we can uh take the next step of selecting a new company for the purpose of billing uh and customer service and meter reading systems if that makes sense. So that's that's really where we're at on that process. Uh so uh just to let you know it's not a quick process though, right? So once that RFP RFQ comes in, then there's the implementation of that software which could take up to a year to transition everything over.

Okay.

May I ask have we slowed that down where people are having problems with their bills? So folks that are so anybody having a and we're getting those as they come in. Folks that might have a problem with the bill a lot of times they'll reach out to a council member and then what they do is they uh forward that over to me and then we try and work with them on maybe one of the issues that they're having. Sometimes it's as simple as going out and um uh testing the meter right there in front of the customer um and then um turning it off on our side uh so that they can see that the meter is not running and then turn it back on and and sometimes it is running on their side to indicate that there is some unknown usage on their side what it might be. Uh sometimes um sometimes it is a leak, sometimes it is not a leak, sometimes uh it is uh a a um an RO system that's stuck in dump cycle. Sometimes it's a toilet that is just continually running that might be in a separate bedroom that they don't uh see that often. U sometimes it's an irrigation issue or something like that. But we try and work with them to uh find out that uh that issue. um what we can do internally but they're not able to do yet. Um that's what the new software for instance or some new softwares that we're looking at that people would be able to you log in and see real-time use. They can't do that right now. Uh we can see it on our side. So, often times, again, when someone calls, we'll say, "Hey, uh, looks like between 3:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. you're using about 1,800 gallons, just as an example, uh, over the course of a couple hours, which usually indicates uh, an irrigation issue, right? They're they're watering maybe more than they thought they were. Sometimes it's on and they didn't even know it." Um, so we try and just troubleshoot with people trying to find solutions.

Gotcha. M. Smith. Uh, the agenda item also mentions credit card fees. What's behind that? Uh, was that something you wanted to bring? Currently, we have like a 5% credit card fee, right? So, you know, if you come up here and pay your bill, you're you get a 5% credit card fee. If you pay it on our website, you don't. So, I think the budget this year is about $500,000 to cover credit card fees. I I don't city pays that. Pays it. Yeah. So that that might dovtail into what we had talked about again, which is a total fee schedule, which finance is working with other departments right now to create a complete fee schedule so that the council could see

all those fees out there, including things like a credit card fee. See, we need to change that because, you know, like in my my spot, the customer pays the cap. So we need to find a way for the customer to pay it or cut it out. I think we all can agree that it's probably not fair for the city to have to board those charges. Nobody else's. Nobody else does. So, we need to figure out a way to make that we and we canition and we can certainly do that. Again, I think the probably the most appropriate place for that would be in the fee schedule so that again you can see what those are along with a whole lot of other fees out there that you might not even be aware of.

Let's update. I think that's the key we're asking is to update that. And again, if it's going to cost you that percentage at the front door, ought to be the same if you do it from your computer at home or whatever. Right. Very good. And the other thing I want to make sure of, so the the water bills, but the sending out the bills, I've had several people reach out that um you know, I had mentioned that we spend what 600,000 on printing and mailing bills. So, how could how do we trend towards getting everybody an email bill? And I had several reach back out that said, you know, we signed up for email, but they still mail me a bill. So, I'm one of them.

Mr. Russell's one of them. I think Mr. Rose is one. So, I can certainly get with BNC to find out obviously where that where that disconnect is. You know, someone has signed up for eBilling online. Why am I receiving a paper bill? Obviously the point of this and I would say I think that the message is clear. It's pretty expensive for the city. In the next year I'd like to phase out and go everyone to get email address and that will save us over half a million 1.1 million right there. Million dollars right there. So we whatever we need to do to get that moving. Yes sir. So pushing out the ebilling I think would be an appropriate step. And then also again when that software comes out I do believe it will be more user friendly

to where that uh to where it looks similar to let's say your electric bill does on your phone or your gas bill does on your phone and I think that will be a better platform as well. Yeah, I sat in on the meeting and I I enjoyed the conversation and and you know giving preference to the ebilling. I said when I worked for AT&T you got a discount. you signed up for ebilling, you got, you know, a certain number off. If you signed up for autopay, you got another certain number off. So, I I think we can incentivize that a little bit, but I know one of the pieces of discussion was that the preference in new accounts would be you've got to opt in to receive the paper bill. So, and I and I know that that gets pushed back on, well, what if you don't have an email address? But most do.

Come on. Most do. All right. Thank you. [clears throat] One one question. Go ahead. Um, it could benefit people listening to this because my question is since you water issue this morning, but I've always found you, is it on our side? Is it on their side? That type of thing. And if a resident actually calls a plumber, you're you're it's costly to look at. And

so my question is and and Alex um utility sitting over there too for ear up on this question. So, if you advise a resident to turn all the water off in their house, um, give it a couple hours and go back out and and record the meter previous to that and see it. If it had moved, how much time would you really have to give? An hour, two, three, four, five. It depends on the size of the leak. I know. Probably not that much time actually just to check the meter and see if it's in eliminate that. That's free to do.

Yes sir. So just last week and you know they uh Roelio sent some team members out to somebody who was having an issue and again we didn't say it was a leak because we don't know that. We can't know the individual um habits of of a consumer, right? We don't know if they have a leak. We don't know again if they're if they're um uh you know their their RO system is in dump cycle. We don't know if there's a leak in uh we don't know if they're just using water, for instance, as irrigation and they're unaware of it. So, we don't like to use the word leak because we don't know. Uh we we know that there's maybe unknown usage. Uh but we can't say leak because that keys them in to say, "Oh, I need to go get a plumber." And we can't answer that question. We don't know. But we can go out to the to the to the customer

and again, we can turn off our side of the meter. Mhm.

If that makes sense. And that way we can show no no water's going through it, right? No, none's going through it. Then we can turn our side back on and all of a sudden that that water meter is going and we can see very little water going through it. Uh I mean you're talking I mean if there's just a little drip in the house, that meter is going to be able to read it. Uh so then sometimes they'll go in and they'll maybe make some adjustments uh and uh then all of a sudden they'll come back out and all of a sudden there's nothing going through the meter. So, they've maybe addressed it again. Was it with they reset their RO system or they uh you know flip fixed the flapper on a toilet? Something like that. And then all of a sudden there's nothing going through there. But uh by turning our side of the meter off, we can prove that obviously nothing's going through it. Um and then when we turn it back on, uh if there's some issue on their side, it will show just like immediately. It's not where you have to even come back an hour later. It's it's it's immediate. Okay. Senator could have followup. So it is not our policy when people call in to tell them they might have a leak

that we we we should not be using the word. So okay uh and that is uh so if if that's if if that is done they uh they need to be retrained on that. But we shouldn't be saying you have a leak. We should be saying there's there there's usage. We might not know what it is. It's unknown usage, but we can't use the word leak because or we shouldn't use the word leak because we don't want to tell someone that they need to go get a plumber because it might not be they may not need a plumber again. They may just need to reset their RO system. I'm glad to hear that. Or adjust their pool pump something, you know.

All right. Thanks, Al. Appreciate it. All right, gentlemen. Uh I entertain a motion to adjurnn. I so move motion by councilman Vasquez. Is there a second? Second by Councilman Thompson.