Remarks by Jackie Butler
74 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 2 of 3
- Play at 9:30:02
“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…”
Commissioners Court · Sep 14, 2026
- Play at 9:44:29
“I wanted to ask specifically about the East Montana water system and what was budgeted, what's reflected in this budget on those”
Commissioners Court · Sep 14, 2026
- Play at 9:44:58
“That's what I saw in the book. I just wanted to confirm that the rates stayed the same.”
Commissioners Court · Sep 14, 2026
- Play at 10:15:01
“Judge, can we get a small break after this item?”
Commissioners Court · Sep 14, 2026
- Play at 10:15:06
“Can we get a small break after this item? Yeah. OK.”
Commissioners Court · Sep 14, 2026
- Play at 10:20:14
“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.”
Commissioners Court · Sep 14, 2026
- Play at 10:21:52
“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.”
Commissioners Court · Sep 14, 2026
- Play at 1:00:52
“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…”
Commissioners Court · Aug 20, 2026
- Play at 1:39:20
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
Commissioners Court · Aug 20, 2026
- Play at 1:41:47
“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?”
Commissioners Court · Aug 20, 2026
- Play at 1:42:37
“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?”
Commissioners Court · Aug 20, 2026
- Play at 1:42:47
“Do you know how much that water loss is costing us per year?”
Commissioners Court · Aug 20, 2026
- Play at 1:43:11
“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?”
Commissioners Court · Aug 20, 2026
- Play at 1:49:27
“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?”
Commissioners Court · Aug 20, 2026
- Play at 2:00:33
“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?”
Commissioners Court · Aug 20, 2026
- Play at 2:06:39
“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…”
Commissioners Court · Aug 20, 2026
- Play at 5:03:00
“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…”
Commissioners Court · Aug 20, 2026
- Play at 5:04:43
“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.”
Commissioners Court · Aug 20, 2026
- Play at 5:22:00
“So the, the 100 million has been awarded?”
Commissioners Court · Aug 20, 2026
- Play at 5:22:33
“So they're basically phasing out phase two now?”
Commissioners Court · Aug 20, 2026
- Play at 5:23:10
“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.”
Commissioners Court · Aug 20, 2026
- Play at 5:24:05
“Okay, I'll take it if it's hopefully comes through. Thank you.”
Commissioners Court · Aug 20, 2026
- Play at 5:24:18
“Yeah, I appreciate that some funding was allocated.”
Commissioners Court · Aug 20, 2026
- Play at 27:38
“Thank you very much, Judge. I wanted to take a few minutes this morning to thank a couple of groups of people that responded to the heavy rains and flooding that happened, particularly in East El Paso over the weekend. Precinct 1 had a few inches of rainfall. We saw Mother Nature's power on Saturday. We had lots of people without electricity for a few hours on Saturday into Sunday. So I wanted to thank our utility workers, El Paso Electric. They were outside in my neighborhood at all hours of Saturday night trying to restore power to people who were affected by power outages. I want to thank…”
Commissioners Court · Aug 17, 2026
- Play at 1:19:49
“Thank you, Judge and Commissioners. It is my honor to bring forward this resolution today in support of Job Corps and their graduating class. As you may remember, Job Corps has a special place in my heart. My mom was a counselor at Job Corps for many years, many years ago, and really believed in the mission of Job Corps to lift up the youth in our community. So I'll go ahead and read the resolution, and then we'll hear from our guests.”
Commissioners Court · Aug 17, 2026